Stairs fly as straight as hawks;
Or else in spirals, curve out of curve, pausing
At a ledge to poise their wings before relaunching.
Stairs sway at the height of their flight
Like a melody in Tristan;
Or swoop to the ground with glad spread of their feathers
Before they close them.

- Flight of Stairs by A.S.J. Tessimond

Read the entire poem.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.

Author Sara Holmes told me she read many great books this year, but she had the strongest emotional reaction to the following titles.

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Sara nominated this book for the Cybils. "I loved every word of this amazing book. The writing is breathtaking, and the plot just pulls you along. And most of all, you completely believe in the inner world of the main character, which is incredible because this is a girl with an long-dead explorer for an imaginary friend."

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Sara posted about hearing John Green speak at SCBWI-L.A. She said he was "honest on the page, and honest in person."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

"I love books like this: books that set up an improbable approach to a story and then totally pull it off by the sheer toughness and brilliance of the writing. As a writer, it's like watching an author do a high-wire act. He's not going to try THAT, is he? OMG, he is!!!

"Some may say that parts of this book didn't work for them; I loved every last gutsy bit of it. It engaged all of my reading self: the emotional side, which rode waves of anxiety and grief and anger and joy with the characters; and the intellectual/writerly side which reveled in the language and the wry jokes and the metaphors. And then to sate the visual side of me, there were wrenching and brilliant illustrations to savor as well."

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

"Makes the short list of 'Books I've kissed' this year. Yeah, I love it that much."

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!