Vanilla Milk has been honored as a finalist in the 2016 Independent Book Awards.
Chanel Brenner’s memoir told in poems, Vanilla Milk, was released by Silver Birch Press in October, 2014.
“Through poems and vignettes, Brenner’s moving debut memoir commemorates her son’s death. Brenner began writing poetry in earnest the night 6-year-old Riley died of an arteriovenous malformation brain hemorrhage…These free verse selections, mostly written in complete sentences, rely on alliteration, assonance and striking imagery rather than straight rhyming for impact. Perspective morphs subtly, starting in the third person and moving into a more intimate first-person present, with occasional outbursts of second-person address to Riley…A noteworthy exploration of a parent’s grief.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Vanilla Milk…is a surprising blend of formats which melds a memoir to poetry…Chanel Brenner is not the first to use poems to immortalize and capture the events surrounding a child’s death: Stan Rice’s Some Lamb is one example of an outstanding synthesis of poem/memoir – and Vanilla Milkdeserves to take its place alongside it, on the shelf of exceptional writings.”
—Midwest Book Review (D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer)
