Novels in Verse
FIC-VERSE WIL
Based on the true story of Sophie Scholl, her brothers and friends, who put their lives on the line to speak out against the Nazis and paid for it with their lives. Sophie wants to do more, wants what she's doing to matter. She sees the injustices and can't understand why others won't speak up. But more than anything, she wants what she's doing to matter. A story of standing up and doing what you know is right, no matter the risks to your own personal freedom.
Novel in Verse, Historical Fiction
Read this if you liked: Paper Hearts, Rose Under Fire, The Boy Who Dared, The Light in Hidden Places
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
FIC ATT
Michael never feels like he's quite enough. He's not enough Black, he's not enough Greek, he's coming to terms with being gay, with coming out, and finding his place in the world. His mother is incredibly supportive and for the most part, is accepted by his family and friends. There are bumps, and they hurt, but he continues to strive to be the best he can be. When he goes to college, he finds a drag society and finally feels like this is where he belongs. Beautifully written.
Novel in Verse, LGBTQ
Read this if you liked: Felix Ever After, I Wish you All the Best, Little & Lion, Radio Silence, If I Was Your Girl
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
FIC ACE
Told in verse from the points of view of Camino, a girl living in the Dominican Republic, and Yahaira, a girl living in New York. When their father's plane crashes on his way to visit Camino, the girls learn a secret that has been hidden from them their entire lives - their father had two wives, two families, two lives. One here, one there. One comfortable, one struggling. Can either girl forgive their father for his lies and deception? Can either girl get over their grief? Both struggle with their fates and learn to accept what their father could give them, and what they could be to each other.
Novel in Verse, Realistic Fiction
Read this if you liked: Picture Us in the Light, Sorry For Your Loss, American Panda, Gabi, Girl in Pieces
Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes
BIO GRI
Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this memoir, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards - ordinary and extraordinary - of her life - goodreads
Novel in Verse
Read this if you liked: Glass Castle, A Child Called It, Educated, Speak, The Way I Used to Be, A List of Cages
People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins
FIC HOP
Another winner from Ellen Hopkins, this one tackling the gun problem in our country. The book starts with an accidental shooting; a man mistakes his wife for an intruder and kills her. He sells the gun and the gun travels through various hands until we find out what it does at the end of the book. The gun itself is a character, a very strong, seductive voice enticing its users, coaxing them into using it on their enemies. In addition to the gun, the story is told in several voices, all have issues, all could potentially use it. In the end, although a gun is used, people can and do die in various other ways. So guns don't kill people, people kill people, and guns aren't the only way.
Novel in Verse, Realistic fiction
Read this if you liked: Anything by Hopkins, Light it Up, Violent Ends, This is Where it Ends, Hate List, Give a Boy a Gun, How it Went Down
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
FIC ACE
Xiomara is an angry young lady. Her mother is a religious fanatic who wants her to do nothing but go to church and pray, stay away from boys, and 'do the right thing,' which she can never live up to. Her father is there, but doesn't interact with his family. Her twin is hiding something from her. Her best friend tries to understand her, but thinks she can be better. Her boyfriend didn't stand up for her when she needed him to. And the kids at school are mean - they taunt her and objectify her. So it's no wonder that Xiomara always wants to fight and scream. She has no outlet but in her poetry, where she pours out all her feelings. The novel is written in verse and tells her story beautifully. 2018 Printz Award Winner.
Novel in Verse
Read this if you liked: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Long Way Down, Swing, You Bring the Distant Near
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
FIC REY
Will's older brother, Shawn has been shot. Will knows the rules - Shawn taught him - no crying, no snitching, and get even, so he knows he has to avenge Shawn's death. The book, in verse, takes place in the elevator in Will's building. As the elevator stops at each floor, another person in Will's life gets on. Each person is someone who has been shot because of the rules, and then he finally sees Shawn. Will doesn't know if following the rules is the right thing to do and looks to each of these ghosts to help him figure it out
Novel in Verse, Magical Realism
Read this if you liked: Monster, Read Between the Lines, The Outsiders, iBoy
Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (Series Triangles, book 2)
FIC HOP
Tilt follows three people trying to learn what love is: Shane, Mikayla, and Harley. Mikayla thinks she’s madly in love with her boyfriend Dylan, but when Mikayla gets pregnant it affects every aspect of her life. Shane, who is openly gay, falls in love with Alex even though he is HIV positive. Shane is dealing with his sister’s terminal illness, and doesn't know how will he accept knowing Alex might not live a full life too. Harley wants to be love so badly that she falls for a bad boy who pressures her into doing things, but how will her desire for love shape her as a person? ~ Reviewed by Sarah Horsman
Genre: Romance, Novels in Verse
Read This If You Like: Triangles, Burned, Perfect, Crash, Glimpse, Butter
Pattyn is not like most girls who grow up with the freedom to date boys and express themselves. Instead Pattyn comes from a strict and very religious home with an alcoholic father who abuses her. Her father sends her away to live with her Aunt for the summer, but for the first time in Pattyn’s life she has the freedom to to what she wants and fall in love. She feels like she’s loved and accepted, like she can be herself, but at some point she has to go back to her abusive home. Pattyn might have temporarily escaped, but she can’t erase the truth of her life. ~ Reviewed by Sarah Horsman
Genre: Romance, Novels in Verse
Read this is you like: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden, Impulse, Cut
FIC BRO
Told in verse, this is a moving first-person narrative as experienced by a young survivor of the tragic Donner Party of 1846. The journey west by wagon train promises to be long and arduous for nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Graves and her parents and eight siblings. Yet she is hopeful about their new life in California: freedom from the demands of family, maybe some romance, better opportunities for all. But when winter comes early to the Sierra Nevada and their group gets a late start, the Graves family, traveling alongside the Donner and Reed parties, must endure one of the most harrowing and storied journeys in American history.
Novels in Verse, Historical Fiction
Read this if you liked: The Watch That Ends the Night, Salt to the Sea, Audacity, Paper Hearts
FIC WIV
Based on a true story, this novel in verse is the story of two friends who survived the Auschwitz concentration camps through sheer will and determination. Zlatia made a paper heart for Farnia's birthday, which she kept through the marches and through liberation, and for her entire life. It meant the world to her and she donated it to the Montreal Holocaust Memorial museum as testimony.
Novel in Verse, Historical Fiction
Read this if you liked: Audacity, Then, The Boy who Dared, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Milkweed
Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen
FIC JEN
Mira is just beginning her senior year of high school when she discovers her father with his male lover. Her world–and everything she thought she knew about her family–is shattered instantly. Unable to comprehend the lies, betrayal, and secrets that–unbeknownst to Mira–have come to define and keep intact her family’s existence, Mira distances herself from her sister and closest friends as a means of coping. - Amazon
Novels in Verse, Historical Fiction
Read this if you liked: Glass, A Northern Light, Shark Girl
FIC CRO
Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the twentieth century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. - goodreads
Novels in Verse, Historical Fiction
Read this if you liked: A Northern Light, Riot, Enchanted Air, Paper Hearts, Out of Darkness
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
FIC ALE
Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family. - goodreads
Novels in Verse
Read this if you liked: Full Cicada Moon, Enchanted Air, Booked, He Said, She Said, Crush, The Playbook
Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Hepperman
FIC HEP
Addie and her boyfriend are careless one night and she ends up pregnant. Addie makes the difficult choice to have an abortion. And after that—even though she knows it was the right decision for her—nothing is the same anymore. She doesn’t want anyone besides her parents and her boyfriend to know what happened; she doesn’t want to run cross-country; she can’t bring herself to be excited about anything. Until she reconnects with Juliana, a former teammate who’s going through her own dark places.
Novels in Verse
Read this if you liked: True Letters from a Fictional Life, Look Both Ways, Skyscraping
FIC HOP
In Crank, Ellen Hopkins chronicles the disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and father. While under the influence, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree. Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank. - goodreads
Novels in Verse
Read this if you liked: Twisted, Cut, Stoner & Spaz, Go Ask Alice, Speak, Over the Meth Moon
