Graphic and Verse Novels

Created by Stacy Kitsis, AHS Librarian. Last updated: March 11, 2025.

Background Reading

• "Connecting Across Borders by Reading Without Walls: Using Non-Prose Narratives to Multiply Multicultural Class Content" by Karly Marie Grice, Rachel L Rickard Rebellino, and Christine N. Stamper (English Journal) ("The authors propose non-prose narratives—specifically verse novels and comics—as texts with great potential to incorporate diversity into the classroom") 

Exploring Verse Novels (and Memoirs) by Theme

🔍 Identity, Belonging & Voice

• The Black Flamingo — Finding identity through performance and poetry.

• Brown Girl Dreaming — Growing up Black during the Civil Rights era, in verse.

• Home Is Not a Country — A teen navigates faith and belonging after 9/11.

• The Poet X — Slam poetry becomes rebellion and self-definition.

🌎 Family, Immigration & Culture

• Clap When You Land — Two sisters, two countries, one secret father.

• Enchanted Air — Between Cuba and the U.S. during the Cold War.

⚖️ Violence, Justice & Moral Choice

• Long Way Down — One elevator ride questions revenge.

• Bull — The Minotaur tells his side of the story.

📜 History, Memory & Survival

• African Town — Survivors of slavery build a town.

• Ordinary Hazards — Poetry as escape from trauma.

Exploring Graphic Novels & Memoirs by Theme 

🧠 Identity, Assimilation & Representation

• American Born Chinese — Myth + middle school + stereotypes.

• Ms. Marvel: No Normal — A Muslim teen becomes a superhero.

• Fun Home (mature) — Family secrets and literary puzzles.

🏛️ Civil Rights, Government & Power

• March: Book One — Inside the Civil Rights Movement.

• They Called Us Enemy — Japanese American internment.

• V for Vendetta (mature) — Masked rebellion in a surveillance state.

• Watchmen (mature) — Flawed heroes in a fearful America.

💔 Trauma, Family & Survival

• Hey, Kiddo — Growing up with addiction—and art.

• Speak — Silence after assault.

• Stitches — Medical trauma and neglect.

• Maus — A son records survival.

🧭 Journeys, Society & Work

• The Odyssey (GN) — Epic monsters and travel.

• Trashed — The hidden world of garbage jobs.

Looking for print? Check the AHS Library catalog and the Robbins Library catalog to see where these books are available in hard copy. Or click here for cover art.