Novels in Verse Reads ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1
Novels in Verse
Recommended for Grades 7 through 12
After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy
In alternating chapters, two high school senior girls in
Atlanta reveal their thoughts and frustrations as they go
through their final semester of high school.
Audition by S. Ward
When sixteen-year-old Sara, from a small Vermont town,
wins a scholarship to study ballet in New Jersey, her
ambivalence about her future increases even as her
dancing improves.
Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas
The youngest of three siblings, fourteen-year-old Anke
feels both relieved and neglected that her father abuses
her brother and sister but ignores her, but when she
catches him with one of her friends, she finally becomes
angry enough to take action.
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Seventeen-year-old Pattyn, the eldest daughter in a large
Mormon family, is sent to her aunt's Nevada ranch for
the summer, where she temporarily escapes her
alcoholic, abusive father and finds love and acceptance,
only to lose everything when she returns home.
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter, but she meets a
boy who introduces her to drugs and becomes a very
different person, struggling to control her life and her
mind.
The Death of Jayson Porter by Jaime Adoff
In the Florida projects, sixteen-year-old Jayson struggles
with the harsh realities of his life which include an
abusive mother, a drug-addicted father, and not fitting in
at his predominately white school, and bring him to the
brink of suicide.
Exposed by Kimberly Marcus
High school senior Liz, a gifted photographer, can no
longer see things clearly after her best friend accuses Liz's
older brother of a terrible crime.
The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith
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.
Hard Hit by Ann Warren Turner
A rising high school baseball star faces his most difficult
challenge when his father is diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer.
I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
When her recently deceased boyfriend, Jackson,
reappears as a ghost, Ava is thrilled to have him in her life
in any way she can, but when she finally begins to move
on with her life, Jackson must find a way to let her go.
Identical by Ellen Hopkins
Sixteen-year-old identical twin daughters of a district
court judge and a candidate for the United States House
of Representatives, Kaeleigh and Raeanne Gardella
desperately struggle with secrets that have already torn
them and their family apart.
Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay
When her father starts dating a man, fifteen-year-old
Marcie's depressed mother takes her to New Hampshire
but just as Marcie starts falling for a great guy her father
brings her back to Iowa, where all of her relationships
have become strained.
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by
Sonya Sones
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.
Orchards by Holly Thompson
Sent to Japan for the summer after an eighth-grade
classmate's suicide, half-Japanese, half-Jewish Kana
Goldberg tries to fit in with relatives she barely knows
and reflects on the guilt she feels over the tragedy back
home.
KA 8/13
Novels in Verse Reads ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2
The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan
A variety of students at the same high school describe
their ideas, experiences, and relationships in a series of
interconnected free verse stories.
Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ronald Koertge
Fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland, poet and first baseman,
is torn between his cute girlfriend Mira and Amy, who is
funny, plays Chopin on the piano, and is also a poet.
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
An ancient race of lycanthropes has survived to the
present day, and its numbers are growing as the initiated
convince L.A.'s down and out to join their pack. Paying no
heed to moons, full or otherwise, they change from
human to canine at will--and they're bent on domination
at any cost. Caught in the middle are Anthony, a kindhearted, besotted dogcatcher, and the girl he loves, a
female werewolf who has abandoned her pack
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
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.
The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic
by Allan Wolf
Recreates the 1912 sinking of the Titanic as observed by
millionaire John Jacob Astor, a beautiful young Lebanese
refugee finding first love, "Unsinkable" Molly Brown,
Captain Smith, and others including the iceberg itself.
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
A series of poems reflect the thoughts and feelings of
Sophie, a fifteen-year-old-girl, as she describes her
relationships with a series of boys and as she searches for
Mr. Right.
Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill
A fictionalized account, told in verse, of the Salem witch
trials, told from the perspective of three of the real young
women living in Salem in 1692--Mercy Lewis, Margaret
Walcott, and Ann Putnam, Jr.
You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz
Annaleah's grief over the tragic death of seventeen-yearold Brian is compounded by the fact that her friends did
not like him, while his friends and both of their families
knew nothing of their intimate relationship.
Street Love by Walter Dean Myers
This story told in free verse is set against a background of
street gangs and poverty in Harlem in which seventeenyear-old African American Damien takes a bold step to
ensure that he and his new love will not be separated.
True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Jeremy Marsh, a science journalist and professional
skeptic, finds himself in over his head when he arrives at
the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, and falls
head over heels for the granddaughter of the supposed
town psychic.
Unlocked by Ryan G. Van Cleave
While trying to impress a beautiful, unattainable
classmate, fourteen-year-old Andy discovers that a fellow
social outcast may be planning an act of school violence.
KA 8/13