Following the character introduced in Locomotion, Woodson switches from poetry to letters to show how 12-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion, aka Locomotion, maintains a bond with his younger sister, Lili. He reminds her of their past: "There was a time before your foster mama came and said, 'I'll take the little girl but I don't want no boys.' " Besides missing his sister and their late parents, Lonnie has other problems to cope with (his foster mother's son returns from Iraq disabled and traumatized). In his letters, Lonnie shares the big and small details of his days, works through philosophical struggles (a friend tells him that "Miss Edna was my mama now"), and includes some of the tender poems he composes. Although the epistolary motif makes for some stilted writing, Woodson creates a full-bodied character in kind, sensitive Lonnie. Readers will understand his quest for peace, and appreciate the hard work he does to find it. Ages 9-12. (Jan.)

. . . the spare, beautiful prose - both the dialogue and the fast first-person narrative - is as lyrical as the first book.

Gr 4–6—Lonnie (Lonnie Collins Motion), a 12-year-old African-American boy, and his younger sister, Lili, are in separate foster homes since their parents died in a house fire some years earlier. Desperate to keep the sibling relationship alive, Lonnie makes sure they visit and he also writes letters to Lili that document their lives and his intention for them to be together one day. In Jacqueline Woodson's sequel (2009) to her National Book Award Finalist, Locomotion(2003, both Putnam), the whole concept of peace and war comes into Lonnie's life as his foster mother's son returns home from the war without his legs. Lonnie's growing sense of peace and the futility of war becomes a large part of this story, and each letter to Lili is signed "Peace, Locomotion." Dion Graham's narration sounds exactly like that of a boy whose world is constantly shifting. His expert use of prosody makes each and every letter come alive. Lonnie's job in his family is to be "the rememberer," and Graham's performance is equally memorable. Woodson's well-developed characters, lyrical text, and important themes and Graham's superb narration make this engaging audiobook a must-have for library collections.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Lonnie, of Locomotion (2003), is turning 12. He writes letters to his sister, Lili, to keep in touch between occasional visits arranged by their respective foster mothers. He is happier living with Miss Edna now, but is concerned about forgetting his "real" parents, who died in a fire years ago. Miss Edna's got her own worries, with one grown son "over there fighting in the war." Woodson successfully develops characters that readers will feel close to, but this epistolary narrative does not sparkle as the novel-in-verse did for its predecessor. There, lightness of plot was carried by the energy and accessibility of the poems, which also supported a heartfelt voice that seemed genuinely 11-year-old-boy. Here, Lonnie's extraordinarily thoughtful and articulate letters are a little harder to swallow and do less to engage interest. The short length, the Brooklyn setting, the resonance of the characters' situations with those of many young readers and Woodson's undeniable literary talent still distinguish this among the reading choices available for this audience, but it's only for collections where the one title just won't suffice. (Fiction. 10-14)

* “Readers of Locomotion will welcome the chance to revisit Lonnie’s world. . . . While his confusion, pain, and loss are at times palpable, so too are the moments of comfort, love, and sheer joy. . . . The small details of his days drop readers into his Brooklyn neighborhood, surrounded by characters who seem to walk right off the page. Moving, thought-provoking, and brilliantly executed, this is the rare sequel that lives up to the promise of its predecessor.”
—School Library Journal, starred review
 
“A moving companion to the National Book Award Finalist Locomotion. . . . The spare, beautiful prose—both the dialogue and the fast first-person narrative—is as lyrical as the first book. The simple words are packed with longing and are eloquent about the little things people don’t think real hard about, little things that reveal the big issues of family, community, displacement, war, and peace.”
—Booklist
 
“Woodson creates a full-bodied character in kind, sensitive Lonnie. Readers will understand his quest for peace, and appreciate the hard work he does to find it.”
—Publishers Weekly

In her sequel to LOCOMOTION, Woodson's format has moved from poetry to letters in this epistolary novel. "Peace, Locomotion" is the sign-off of 12-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion in his letters to his younger sister, Lili. They’ve been separated by the foster care system since the death of their parents five years earlier in a fire. Dion Graham's mellow narration of Lonnie's life and letters is moving and amusing. Graham infuses the reading with Lonnie's sense of discovery as he copes with school, grief, missing his sister, watching her life evolve apart from him, and finally, helping his foster family cope with a tragedy of their own. In the end, Locomotion helps his foster brothers and mother find peace—"the good stuff that happens to all of us . . . sometimes." D.P.D. 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine