Booked - Kwame Alexander

Verse novels are becoming increasingly popular and I think they can make great 'readers' for classes (esp. in something like form time reading). This is a simple coming-of-age story following 13 year old Nick and his passion for football, trouble at school with teachers and bullies, divorce and first crushes. Nick's dad is a "verbomanic" (word addict) and insists that Nick reads his Dictionary of Unusual Words. This leads to playful flourishes where Nick incorporates unusual words such as "limerence" or "callipygous" and footnotes them. I enjoyed the story more as it progressed.