Novels in Verse (YA)

Poems are short things, often tiny
Written with precision and great pain
Imagine a novel written in poetry

Embrace this ancient form’s fantasy
Try something interesting, out of your domain
Poems are short things, often tiny
Imagine a novel written in poetry

Updated August 11, 2024
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The black flamingo
Atta, Dean; Khullar, Anshika
Paper Book
"Intensely moving and heart-warming" Cosmo "Bold" Guardian "I loved every word" Malorie Blackman This is not about being ready, it's not even about being fierce, or fearless, IT'S ABOUT BEING FREE. Michael waits in the stage wings,...
The boy lost in the maze
Coelho, Joseph; Milner, Kate
Paper Book
Bull
Elliott, David
Paper Book
Much like Lin-Manuel Miranda did in Hamilton, the New York Times best-selling author David Elliott turns a classic on its head in form and approach, updating the timeless story of Theseus and the Minotaur. A rough, rowdy, and darkly comedic young adult retelling in verse, which NPR called...
The crossing
Mann, Manjeet
Paper Book
Powerful, compassionate and ultimately hopeful. Observer WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2021 - a trailblazing novel about two teenagers from opposite worlds; The Crossing is a profound story of hope, grief, and the very real tragedies of the refugee...
Dear Medusa
Cole, Olivia A.
Paper Book
This searing and intimate novel in verse follows a sixteen-year-old girl coping with sexual abuse as she grapples with how to reclaim her story, her anger, and her body in a world that seems determined to punish her for the sin of surviving. "This is more than a story about sexual...
Enter the body
McCullough, Joy
Paper Book
"At once tender, poetic and ferocious, Enter The Body breathes new life into the Bard's most tragic heroines. More than a tribute to Shakespeare, this kaleidoscopic, ambitious novel-in-verse gives Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia the chance to tell their own stories full of passion,...
Finding Baba Yaga : a short novel in verse
Yolen, Jane
Paper Book
Finding Baba Yaga is a mythic yet timely novel-in-verse by the beloved and prolific New York Times bestselling author and poet Jane Yolen, "the Hans Christian Andersen of America" (Newsweek). A young woman discovers the power to speak up and take control...
Full cicada moon
Hilton, Marilyn
Paper Book
Inside Out and Back Again meets One Crazy Summerand Brown Girl Dreaming in this novel-in-verse about fitting in and standing up for what's right It's 1969, and the Apollo 11 mission is getting ready to go to the moon. But for half-black, half-Japanese Mimi,...
Home is not a country
Elhillo, Safia
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD   "Nothing short of magic." --Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X   From the  acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" list, this...
House arrest
Holt, K. A.
Paper Book
Timothy is on probation. It's a strange word--something that happens to other kids, to delinquents, not to kids like him. And yet, he is under house arrest for the next year. He must check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist, and keep a journal for an entire year. And mostly, he has...
Iris and me
Werry, Philippa
Paper Book
So begins the story of Iris Wilkinson, who wrote poetry, novels and journalism under the pen name Robin Hyde. In January 1938, she left New Zealand for England. On the way, intrigued by glimpses of China, she ventured inland despite the war raging there, becoming one of the first women war...
Moonrise
Crossan, Sarah
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2017SHORTLISTED FOR THE YA BOOK PRIZE 2018SHORTLISTED FOR THE CBI BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2018LONGLISTED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019'Devastating ... Any reader with a heart will weep buckets' Sunday Times<...
Not hungry
Quinn, Kate Karyus
Paper Book
June is fat. June also has an eating disorder, but no one sees. When she doesn't eat, her friends and family think they see a fat girl on a diet, not someone starving herself. When June's secret is found out by Toby, the new boy next door, she is panicked. Then she learns he also has a secret....
Nothing burns as bright as you
Woodfolk, Ashley
Paper Book
Five starred reviews! From New York Times bestselling author Ashley Woodfolk, Nothing Burns as Bright as You is an impassioned stand-alone tale of queer love, grief, and the complexity of female friendship. Two girls. One wild and reckless day. Years of...
The poet X
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award! Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award...
Punching the air
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Paper Book
New York Times and USA Today bestseller * Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor * Walter Award Winner * Goodreads Finalist for Best Teen Book of the Year * Time Magazine Best Book of the Year * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * Shelf Awareness Best Book of...
The realm of possibility
Levithan, David.
Paper Book
This collection of linked poems from David Levithan, the author of the New York Times bestseller Every Day and the groundbreaking classic Boy Meets Boy and the co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green), will introduce you to a world of unforgettable and...
The Seventh Raven
Elliott, David
Ebook
Best-selling author David Elliott examines the timeless themes of balance, transformation, and restoration in this evocative tale about a girl who will stop at nothing to reverse a curse that turned her seven brothers into ravens.  And these are the sons Of...
Swing
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
In this YA novel in verse from bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo), which Kirkus called "lively, moving, and heartfelt" in a starred review, Noah and Walt just want to leave their geek days behind and find "cool," but in the process discover a lot about first loves,...
Switch
King, A. S.
Paper Book
A surreal and timely novel about the effects of isolation and what it means to be connected to the world from the Printz Award-winning author of Dig. Time has stopped. It's been June 23, 2020 for nearly a year as far as anyone can tell. Frantic adults demand...
Three things I know are true : a novel
Culley, Betty
Paper Book
Fans of Jandy Nelson and Marieke Nijkamp will love this deeply moving novel in verse about the aftermath of a gun accident. Life changes forever for Liv when her older brother, Jonah, accidentally shoots himself with his best friend Clay's father's gun. Now Jonah needs round...
Toffee
Crossan, Sarah
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG YA AWARD 2019The astonishing new novel from the incomparable, multi-award-winning and Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan. I am not who I say I am.Marla isn't who she thinks she is.I am a girl trying to forget.Marla is a woman trying to remember. Allison...
Vanilla
Merrell, Billy
Paper Book
  A bold, groundbreaking novel about coming out, coming into your own, and coming apart. Vanilla and Hunter have been dating since seventh grade. They came out together, navigated middle school together, and became that couple in high school that everyone always...
Voices
Elliott, David
Ebook
"Stunning . . . elegant . . . arresting . . . supple and harrowing." - The Wall Street Journal ★"An innovative, entrancing account of a popular figure that will appeal to fans of verse, history, and biography." - Kirkus, starred review In...
The watch that ends the night : voices from the Titanic
Wolf, Allan
Paper Book
"A lyrical, monumental work of fact and imagination." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Arrogance and innocence, hubris and hope -- twenty-four haunting voices of the Titanic tragedy, as well as the iceberg itself, are evoked in a stunning tour de force....
We are the ashes, we are the fire
McCullough, Joy
Paper Book
From the author of the acclaimed Blood Water Paint, a new contemporary YA novel in prose and verse about a girl struggling with guilt and a desire for revenge after her sister's rapist escapes with no prison time. Em Morales's older sister was raped by another student...
We come apart
Crossan, Sarah
Paper Book
YA rising stars Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan join forces to break readers' hearts in this contemporary story of star-cross'd lovers. Jess would never have looked twice at Nicu if her friends hadn't left her in the lurch. Nicu is all big eyes and ill-fitting clothes, eager as a puppy, even when...
Where the heart should be
Crossan, Sarah
Paper Book
'A beautiful, perfect, moving read' - Cecelia Ahern, author of PS, I Love You The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger. <...
White Rose
Wilson, Kip
Paper Book
"In a searing indictment of silent complicity, White Rose shines a light on one remarkable young woman's insistence on the power of truth, no matter the cost. A timely call to resistance." - Joy McCullough, author of Blood Water Paint "White Rose is a resonant...

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