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
Paper Book
Stonewall Book Award Winner * A Time Magazine Best YA Book Of All Time A fierce coming-of-age verse novel about identity and the power of drag, from acclaimed poet and performer Dean Atta. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Jason Reynolds, and Kacen Callender. Michael is a mixed...
The Boy lost in the maze.
Coelho, Joseph.
Paper Book
From the UK Children's Laureate comes a spellbinding YA novel in verse blending the ancient myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with the quest of a modern-day teen in search of his father. Theo, a seventeen-year-old London schoolboy with a single mother, is desperate to track down...
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...
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...
Moonrise
Crossan, Sarah
Paper Book
From Carnegie Award-winning author Sarah Crossan comes a poignant and thought-provoking novel that explores life, sibling bonds, and forgiveness as a teen tries to reconnect with his brother on death row for a crime he may not have committed. Seventeen-year-old Joe hasn't seen...
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....
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
Here’s what I know about the realm of possibility— it is always expanding, it is never what you think it is. Everything around us was once deemed impossible. From the airplane overhead to the phones in our pockets to the choir girl putting her arm around the metalhead. As hard as it is...
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-the-clock care...
Being Toffee
Crossan, Sarah
Paper Book
I am not who I say I am, and Marla isn't who she thinks she is. I am a girl trying to forget. She is a woman trying to remember. Allison has run away from home and with nowhere to live finds herself hiding out in the shed of what she thinks is...
The watch that ends the night : voices from the Titanic
Wolf, Allan.
Paper Book
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. Millionaire John Jacob Astor hopes to bring home his pregnant teen bride with a minimum of media scandal. A...
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...
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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