Book Review: The Rose That Grew From Concrete

 The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur

Bibliography:

Shakur, T. (2009). The rose that grew from concrete. Mtv Books/Gallery Books. (Original work published 1999)

Plot Summary:

This collection of poetry from Tupac Shakur illustrates the struggles and difficulties of his young life. It is a must read as it gives you insight into his innermost thoughts. Containing 72 poems, they range from titles like Love is Just Complicated to After the Miscarriage to How Can We Be Free.

Critical Analysis:

This book of poetry is fascinating because you are privy to the intimate thoughts of a person who navigated his life and grappled with his struggles through words. Reading this book could lead to reading other poetry books opening up this genre to your community. Through lines like “Please wake me when I'm free I cannot bear captivity 4 I would rather be stricken blind Than 2 live without expression of mind” the readers can feel and understand his struggle and his desire for freedom, peace and a good life, and that is something that we all want.

Connections:

This book could be used to teach poetry, to compare and contrast to other poetry and other poet's works. Due to the interest in the life of Tupac Shakur, this could be a good way to draw in readers and writers.

Use as a model to write poetry.

This book could be used to model what life was like for Tupac. This could bring representation for some students' experiences.

Book Review by Barbara Jean Thompson