Novels in Verse

As April is National Poetry Month, we should definitely talk about novels in verse.  There are many insightful children’s books written in this lyrical style.  They are relatively quick reads, yet lend themselves to reading aloud together and rereading to examine how an author uses  words concisely to express thought, emotion, action. In addition to the titles highlighted below, teens might want to choose from this list of 100 YA Must Read Novels in Verse put together by Book Riot.

The Crossover and Booked by Kwame Alexander.  Recently, Alexander’s The Crossover, which tells the story of brothers who love basketball, won the Newbery Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor award.  Now, in shoots Booked.  Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Inside Out & BackAgain by Thanhha Lai.  A young Vietnamese girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave their war-torn country and resettle in Alabama. A National Book Award winner and Newbery Honor book.

  Love That Dog and  Hate That Cat  by Sharon Creech.   A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem, revealing his sorrow over the loss of his dog.  (Cat lovers, don’t despair;  he discovers he doesn’t really hate cats.)

Shark Girl and Formerly Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham.  After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes it imposes on her day-to-day life and her plans for the future.

  Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. A multiple award winner. "Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement…"--The New York Times Book Review.

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost.  In a remote area of Alaska, twelve-year-old Willow helps her father with their sled dogs when she is not at school, wishing she were more popular, all the while unaware that the animals surrounding her carry the spirits of dead ancestors and friends who care for her.  Frost ingeniously use the diamond “diamante” poetry form with additional Hidden Messages that summarize the narrator’s feelings.

Dancing Pancake by Eileen Spinelli.  Eleven-year-old Belinda "Bindi" Winkler and her family find their way through tough times with the love and support of the community that grows around their newly opened restaurant, "The Dancing Pancake."

American Ace by Marilyn Nelson.  Acclaimed poet Nelson has written a proud piece of family history into an intriguing what–if: suppose you find out your father’s father was not who he thought.  Sixteen-year-old white Connor tries to help his severely depressed father, who learned upon his mother's death that Nonno was not his biological father. His  research reveals Dad's father was probably a Tuskegee Airman.