Children's Books in Verse

Check out this list generated by our Youth Services Librarians for the Scotch Plains Public Library's annual summer reading challenge.

Updated April 27, 2023
Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium Scotch Plains Public Library
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The crossover
Alexander, Kwame.
Paper Book
Series streaming now on Disney+, with executive producers including NBA great LeBron James! The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning middle grade bestseller! Basketball and heartache share the court in this slam-dunk novel in verse. "With a bolt of lightning on my...

Enjoy this book? Check out other novels in verse by the same author: Booked and Rebound.

Odder
Applegate, Katherine
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wishtree and The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate, a touching and lyrical tale about a remarkable sea otter, also an instant #1 bestseller! Meet Odder, the Queen of Play: ...
The canyon's edge
Bowling, Dusti
Ebook
Hatchet meets Long Way Down in this heartfelt and gripping novel in verse about a young girl's struggle for survival after a climbing trip with her father goes terribly wrong. One year after a random shooting changed their family forever, Nora and her father...
Closer to nowhere
Hopkins, Ellen
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins's poignant middle grade novel in verse about coming to terms with indelible truths of family and belonging. For the most part, Hannah's life is just how she wants it. She has two supportive parents, she's popular at school...
Red, white, and whole
LaRocca, Rajani
Ebook
Newbery Honor Book! A heartbreakingly hopeful novel in verse about an Indian American girl whose life is turned upside down when her mother is diagnosed with leukemia. * Walter Award Winner * New England Book Award Winner * An NCTE Notable Verse Novel * Golden Kite Award Winner * Crystal...
The red pencil
Pinkney, Andrea Davis
Paper Book
"Amira, look at me," Muma insists. She collects both my hands in hers. "The Janjaweed attack without warning. If ever they come-- run." Finally, Amira is twelve. Old enough to wear a...
The Dancing Pancake
Spinelli, Eileen.
Paper Book
DELICIOUS PANCAKES!! FREE!! ALL YOU CAN EAT!! COME TO OUR NEW GRAND OPENING!   The grand opening of the Dancing Pancake isn't the only new thing in Bindi's life: new friends, a new apartment, maybe even a cute new crush? But there are other changes, like her dad's...
Like bug juice on a burger
Sternberg, Julie.
Paper Book
I hate camp. I just hate it. I wish I didn't. But I do. Being here is worse than bug juice on a burger. Or homework on Thanksgiving. Or water seeping into my shoes. In this sequel to the critically acclaimed Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, Eleanor is off to summer camp. At first she's excited to...

Check out the first book in this series; Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie.

Before the ever after
Woodson, Jacqueline
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson's stirring novel-in-verse explores how a family moves forward when their glory days have passed and the cost of professional sports on Black bodies...

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