|
|
Novel-length narratives told in free-verse poetry
|
|
|
Bull
by David Elliott
The best-selling author of the Evangeline Mudd series updates the classic story of Theseus and the Minotaur in a darkly comedic, versed adaptation specifically tailored to the interests of today's young adults.
|
|
|
The poet X
by Elizabeth Acevedo
The daughter of devout immigrants discovers the power of slam poetry and begins participating in a school club as part of her effort to understand her mother's strict religious beliefs and her own developing relationship to the world. A first novel.
|
|
|
Blood water paint
by Joy McCullough
In Renaissance Italy, Artemisia Gentileschi endures the subjugation of women that allows her father to take credit for her extraordinary paintings, rape and the ensuing trial, and torture, buoyed by her deceased mother's stories of strong women of the Bible
|
|
|
Long way down
by Jason Reynolds
Driven by the secrets and vengeance that mark his street culture, 15-year-old Will contemplates over the course of 60 psychologically suspenseful seconds whether or not he is going to murder the person who killed his brother. By the National Book Award finalist author of When I Was the Greatest.
|
|
|
To stay alive : Mary Ann Graves and the tragic journey of the Donner Party
by Skila Brown
Evocative verses impart the first-person experiences of a young survivor of the tragic Donner Party of 1846, describing how 19-year-old Mary Ann Graves, her family and the Reed family became victims of freezing temperatures and starvation during one of the most harrowing journeys in American history.
|
|
|
Death coming up the hill : a novel
by Chris Crowe
A tale told in weekly verses recounts a year in the life of a 1968 teen who observes such challenges as his father's racism, the actions of his peace-activist mother, the escalating war in Vietnam, the Democratic Convention in Chicago and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
|
|
|
Stone mirrors : the sculpture and silence of Edmonia Lewis
by Jeannine Atkins
A historical portrait in verse by the author of Borrowed Names traces the life of half Native American, half African-American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, who in the years after the Civil War was denied an education because of false accusations before embarking on a successful career as a sculptor in Italy.
|
|
|
Kiss of broken glass
by Madeleine Kuderick
A tale told through evocative verse chronicles a mandatory 72-hour psych evaluation of a teen who has been caught cutting herself in an effort to feel alive. A first novel.
|
|
|
The crossover
by Kwame Alexander
A middle-grade novel in verse follows the experiences of twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan, who struggle with challenges on and off the court while their father ignores his declining health.
|
|
|
Loving vs. Virginia : a documentary novel of the landmark civil rights case
by Patricia Hruby Powell
A tale inspired by the landmark 1955 civil rights case follows the relationship between two young people who challenged period segregation, prejudice and injustice to pursue a relationship at the center of a Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage. By the award-winning author of Josephine.
|
|
|
Like water on stone
by Dana Walrath
Shahen, a youth who dreams of moving to New York, his twin Sosi, who never wants to leave her home, and their little sister, Miriam, flee the horrifying Armenian genocide of 1915 and struggle for survival in the aftermath of their parents' deaths.
|
|
|
Girls like me
by Lola StVil
Fifteen-year-old Shay Summers is trying to cope with the death of her father, being overweight and threats from a girl bully in school, so when she falls in love with Blake, a mysterious boy online, she's too insecure to tell him who she is until her two best friends (as well as Kermit and Miss Piggy) help love prevail.
|
|
|
Out of this place
by Emma Cameron
A powerful story in verse follows the experiences of three Australian teens who struggle with hardscrabble realities—from Luke, who does shift work at the local supermarket and tries to stay out of trouble at school; to Bongo, who drinks to avoid the pain of his abusive family; to Casey, who longs to escape her controlling father.
|
|
|
All the broken pieces : a novel in verse
by Ann E. Burg
Although being raised by a loving family in the United States, Matt Pin struggles with the horrific things he saw during the Vietnam War before being airlifted to safety two years prior and now must find a way to come to terms with his past in order to find true happiness in the new life he lives.
|
|
|
Ronit & Jamil
by Pamela L Laskin
A lyrical novel in verse retells the story of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of the modern-day Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, where an Israeli girl and a Palestinian boy are brought together by their distrustful fathers' business arrangements and fall into a forbidden love.
|
|
|
Keesha's house
by Helen Frost
Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.
|
|
|
Sold
by Patricia McCormick
When she is tricked by her stepfather and sold into prostitution, thirteen-year-old Lakshmi becomes submerged in a nightmare where her only comfort is the friendship she forms with the other girls, which helps her survive--and eventually escape.
|
|
|
This impossible light
by Lily Myers
The YouTube slam poetry star of Shrinking Women presents a novel in verse centering around the challenges of body image, tracing the experiences of a teen who develops bulimia in her effort to find purpose, control and confidence in response to her family's dysfunction and a best friend's estrangement.
|
|
|
Rumble
by Ellen Hopkins
Matthew Turner doesn't have faith in anything—not in his family, which is in shambles after his younger brother was bullied into suicide; or his so-called friends or some all-powerful creator; but when a horrific event plunges Matt into a dark, silent place, he begins to question everything he's ever disbelieved.
|
|
|
|
|
|