April’s celebration of National Poetry Month is well underway, and if you haven’t yet, check out our 40 Books to Celebrate National Poetry Month as well as poet and author Eloise Greenfield’s spotlight article. Other books of interest that will excite poetry lovers are novels in verse. Novels in verse are usually quick reads but that doesn’t mean they’re not substantive or affective. Complex topics, such as racial identity, substance abuse, violence, foster care, and suicide are explored in some of the books for middle-grade and young adult readers. To find more books by the authors visit their listings here in the author directory. Happy Poetry Month!
Catching a Storyfish – Janice N. Harrington
Garvey’s Choice – Nikki Grimes
The Crossover – Kwame Alexander
Locomotion – Jacqueline Woodson
Words with Wings – Nikki Grimes
Chess Rumble – G. Neri
The Way the Door Closes – Hope Anita Smith, Illustrator – Shane W. Evans
Keeping the Night Watch – Hope Anita Smith, Illustrator – E. B. Lewis
Becoming Billie Holiday – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Floyd Cooper
The Red Pencil – Andrea Davis Pinkney, Illustrator – Shane Evans
Running Back to Ludie – Angela Johnson, Illustrator – Angelo
Brown Girl Dreaming – Jacqueline Woodson
The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo
Long Way Down – Jason Reynolds
The Death of Jayson Porter – Jaime Adoff
Street Love – Walter Dean Myers
Solo – Kwame Alexander
American Ace – Marilyn Nelson
Have you read any of the novels in verse featured? Let us know in the comments below.
