Novels in Verse
 |
Aleutian Sparrow An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese. awards: Capitol Choices List: 2004, William Allen White Award Nominees: 2006 subjects: World War 1939-1945, Concentration Camps, Aleuts |
 |
A Bad Boy Can be Good for a Girl Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva all get mixed up with a senior boy who can talk them into doing almost anything he wants. In a blur of high school hormones and personal doubt, each girl struggles with how much to give up and what ultimately to keep for herself. subjects: Adolescence, Man-Woman Relationships, High Schools, Sex |
 |
By the River A fourteen-year-old describes, through prose poems, his life in a small Australian town in 1962, where, since their mother's death, he and his brother have been mainly on their own to learn about life, death, and love. subjects: Brothers, Single-Parent Families, Fathers and Sons, Death, Australia, Novels in Verse. |
 |
Call Me Maria Fifteen-year-old Maria leaves her mother and their Puerto Rican home to live in the barrio of New York with her father, feeling torn between the two cultures in which she has been raised. subjects: Puerto Ricans, Identity, New York (N.Y.) |
 |
Crank Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter, gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul - her life. awards: ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2005, ALA Popular Paperbacks 2005 subjects: Drug Abuse, Addiction, Substance Abuse, Ice (Drug) |
 |
CrashBoomLove After his father leaves home, sixteen-year-old Cesar Garcia lives with his mother and struggles through the painful experiences of growing up as a Mexican-American high school student. awards: Americas Book Award: 1999, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2001 subjects: Mexican-Americans, High School |
 |
The Geography of Girlhood Novel in poetry about a girl navigating the unknown, the difficult limbo between youth and adulthood. A novel written in verse follows Penny Morrow in her transition from middle school to high school as her father remarries, she acquires a new stepbrother, and she experiences her first dance, first kiss, and other hazards of growing up. subjects: Novel in Verse, Teenage Girls |
 |
God Went to Beauty School In God Went to Beauty School Cythia Rylant imagines a God whose curiosities about the world He created inspire Him to go out and experience human things. But what would God do if He could live in a human world? Would He write a fan letter? Get a dog? Make spaghetti? awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2004 subjects: God |
 |
Hard Hit A rising high school baseball star faces his most difficult challenge when his father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. subjects: Fathers and Sons, Baseball, Cancer, Death, Grief |
 |
Hugging the Rock Through a series of poems, Rachel expresses her feelings about her parents' divorce, living without her mother, and her changing attitude towards her father. subjects: Mothers and Daughters, Children of Divorce, Fathers and Daughters, Novels in Verse |
 |
Jinx Jen is different from other teenagers. Unlike other teenagers, Jen is absolutely perfect in every way. She always hands her homework in on time, she can always be counted on, she never stays out late, she's boring, dull, safe, etc. That is, until Jen's very first boyfriend dies. To Jen, it's just a streak of bad luck. Until her second boyfriend dies as well. Jen, now referring to herself as Jinx, for that's what she is now. A jinx. awards: Black-eyed Susan Award Nominees: 2005 subjects: Self-Perception, Friendship, Interpersonal Relations |
 |
Keesha's House Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and how they found home again. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004, Capitol Choices List: 2004, Michael L. Printz Honor: 2004, I Tayshas Reading List: 2006, Garden State Teen Book Award Nominees: 2006 subjects: Home, Family Problems, Interpersonal Relations |
 |
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2005, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2005, Tayshas Reading List: 2006 subjects: Fathers and Daughters, Moving-Household, Actors and Actresses, Grief, Interpersonal Relations, Homosexuality, Los Angeles (Calif.) |
 |
One Night In this novel written in free verse and narrated by alternating characters, a teenaged girl decides to have her baby and care for it on her own after a "one night stand" results in pregnancy. awards: Texas Tayshas Reading List: 2006 subjects: Pregnancy, Teenage Mothers |
 |
Out of the Dust In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the depression. awards: John Newbery Medal: 1998 subjects: Dust Storms, Depression, Farm Life, Oklahoma |
 |
The Realm of Possibility Enter The Realm of Possibility and meet a boy whose girlfriend is in love with Holden Caulfield; a girl who loves the boy who wears all black; a boy with the perfect body; and a girl who writes love songs for a girl she can't have. These are just a few of the captivating characters readers will get to know in this intensely heartfelt new novel about those ever-changing moments of love and heartbreak that go hand-in-hand with high school. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2005 subjects: Interpersonal Relations, Conduct of Life, High Schools |
 |
Rubber Houses A novel in verse that relates seventeen-year-old Kit's experiences as her younger brother is diagnosed with and dies of cancer and as she withdraws into and gradually emerges from her grief. subjects: Grief, Death, Brothers and Sisters, Family Life |
 |
Shark Girl 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. subjects: Amputees, Artists, People With Disabilities, Self-Acceptance, Interpersonal Relations, Novels in Verse |
 |
Song of the Sparrow In fifth-century Britain, nine years after the destruction of their home on the island of Shalott brings her to live with her father and brothers in the military encampments of Arthur's army, seventeen-year-old Elaine describes her changing perceptions of war and the people around her as she becomes increasingly involved in the bitter struggle against the invading Saxons. subjects: King Arthur, Coming of Age, War, Knights and Knighthood, Historical Fiction, Novels in Verse |
 |
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy In a story based on real events, and told in poems, Sones explores what happened and how she reacted when her adored older sister suddenly began screaming and hearing voices in her head, and was ultimately hospitalized. awards: ALA Popular Paperbacks: 2002, Texas Lone Star Reading List: 2002, ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2000 subjects: Mental Illness, Sisters, Family Problems |
 |
Street Love This story told in free verse is set against a background of street gangs and poverty in Harlem in which seventeen-year-old African American Damien takes a bold step to ensure that he and his new love will not be separated. subjects: African Americans, Love, Harlem (New York, N.Y.) |
 |
Things Left Unsaid After a lifetime of conforming to the image of what her parents and high school friends want her to be, Sarah must come to terms with her own identity when her destructive best friend tries to commit suicide. Told in the form of free-verse poems. subjects: Identity (Philosophical Concept), Friendship, High Schools |
 |
Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?: A Mystery in Poems Free verse poems describe the reactions of students, colleagues, and others when a high school teacher is shot to death as the school day begins. subjects: High Schools, Teacher-Student Relationships, Death, Mystery and Detective Stories |
List updated July 2007—Patti Cook
