Poetry & Novels in Verse for Young Teens

Updated March 21, 2025
L
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Happy Valley Library
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Black star
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book The thrilling second book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Door of No Return trilogy stars Kofi's granddaughter, Charley, who's set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball but who...
Iveliz explains it all
Arango, Andrea Beatriz
Paper Book
NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER * In this timely and moving novel in verse, a preteen girl navigates seventh grade while facing mental health challenges. A hopeful, poetic story about learning to advocate for the help and understanding you deserve. "Powerful." --Lisa Fipps,...
Hidden powers : Lise Meitner's call to science
Atkins, Jeannine
Paper Book
From the acclaimed author of Finding Wonders and Grasping Mysteries comes a gorgeously written biography in "deliberate, delicate verse" (Kirkus Reviews) about the pioneering Jewish woman physicist whose scientific prowess changed the course of World War II. ...
Eb & Flow
Baptist, Kelly J.
Paper Book
A ten-day suspension has tweens De'Kari and Ebony seeing the world with a fresh perspective. Don't miss this poignant novel in verse from the award-winning author of Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero. Two kids. One fight. No one thinks they're wrong.   ...
They call me Güero : a border kid's poems
Bowles, David
Paper Book
Bluebonnet Award Master List 2020-2021 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book, 2019 ALSC Notable Children's Book, 2019 Walter Award Honor Book, 2019 This collection of narrative poetry explores a year in the life of a Mexican-American boy: caring, talented, and irrepressibly...
Force of nature : a novel of Rachel Carson
Burg, Ann E.
Paper Book
Celebrate spring with this beautiful, hopeful story of a young, impassioned naturalist who grows up to change the world. A great gift for nature lovers and everyone who cares about our fragile planet. Perfect for fans of Wishtree and Wildoak. Jane Addams Children's...
Rima's rebellion : courage in a time of tyranny
Engle, Margarita
Paper Book
An inspiring coming-of-age story told in prose and "spare, lyrical" verse (The Horn Book Magazine) from award-winning author Margarita Engle about a girl falling in love for the first time while finding the courage to protest for women's right to vote in 1920s Cuba. Rima...
Wave
Farid, Diana
Paper Book
Thirteen-year-old Ava loves to surf and to sing. Singing and reading Rumi poems settle her mild OCD, and catching waves with her best friend, Phoenix, lets her fit in-her olive skin looks tan, not foreign. But then Ava has to spend the summer before ninth grade volunteering at the hospital, to...
Golden girl
Faruqi, Reem
Paper Book
From the award-winning, ALA Notable author of Unsettled and Lailah's Lunchbox, this is a captivating coming-of-age middle grade novel in verse about seventh grader Aafiyah Qamar, a Pakistani American girl who hatches a special plan to help her family but finds that doing what...
And then, boom!
Fipps, Lisa
Paper Book
A gripping new novel in verse by the author of the Printz Honor-winning Starfish, featuring a poverty-stricken boy who bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him Joe Oak is used to living on unsteady ground. His mom can't be depended on as she never stays...
Starfish
Fipps, Lisa
Paper Book
A PRINTZ HONOR BOOK . Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant novel-in-verse. "In her debut novel, Starfish, Lisa Fipps confronts diet culture and fat phobia head-on. . . . The book reads as if Ellie herself is writing these poems, which...
Dear Mothman
Gow, Robin
Paper Book
Halfway through sixth grade, Noah's best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Lewis was adventurous and curious, always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders...
Legacy : women poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Grimes, Nikki
Paper Book
From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance--paired with full-color, original art from today's most talented female African-American illustrators.
Alias Anna : Zhanna Arshanskaya: a biography in verse : a true story of outwitting the Nazis
Hood, Susan
Paper Book
A Sydney Taylor Book Award 2023 Middle Grade Notable! A Jewish Book Council Award Middle Grade Finalist! The moving true story of how young Ukrainian Jewish piano prodigies Zhanna (alias "Anna") and her sister Frina outplayed their pursuers while hiding in plain sight...
Lifeboat 12
Hood, Susan
Paper Book
"This page-turning true-life adventure is filled with rich and riveting details and a timeless understanding of the things that matter most."--Dashka Slater, author of The 57 Bus "Brilliantly told in verse, readers will love Ken Sparks." --Patricia Reilly Giff, two-time Newbery Honor...
Good different
Kuyatt, Meg Eden
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book An extraordinary novel-in-verse for fans of Starfish and A Kind of Spark about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference. Selah knows her rules for being normal. She always, always...
When clouds touch us
Lai, Thanhha
Paper Book
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award finalist! Inspired by the author's own childhood, this stunning novel in verse, the sequel to the award-winning #1 bestseller Inside Out and Back Again, picks up two years after Hà and her family arrive in Alabama as refugees from the Việt Nam War....
The order of things
Langley, Kaija
Paper Book
A heart-rending novel-in-verse about a girl beginning to learn it is possible to go on even after a great loss. Eleven-year-old April Jackson loves playing the drums, almost as much as she loves her best friend, Zee, a violin prodigy. They both dream of becoming professional...
Onyx & beyond
McBride, Amber
Paper Book
Praised as "a story of perserverance and love" in a starred review by Kirkus, here is a story about keeping dreams alive. Onyx lives with his mother, who is showing signs of early-onset dementia. He doesn't want to bring attention to his home -- if Child Protective...
Aniana del Mar jumps in
Méndez, Jasminne
Paper Book
Pura Belpre Author Honor Award ** Four starred reviews!** A powerful and expertly told novel in verse, by an award-winning poet, about a twelve-year-old Dominican American swimmer who is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis. Aniana del Mar belongs in the water...
Cast away : poems for our time
Nye, Naomi Shihab
Paper Book
"Nye at her engaging, insightful best." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Acclaimed poet and Young People's Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye shines a spotlight on the things we cast away, from plastic water bottles to those less fortunate, in this collection of more than eighty...
Kareem between
Safadi, Shifa Saltagi
Paper Book
This award-winning, heartfelt coming-of-age novel in verse tells the powerful story of a seventh-grade Syrian American boy and his struggles, big and small, as he navigates middle school. "The exact type of book I would've loved, and needed, as a kid." -Jasmine Warga, New...
A seed in the sun
Salazar, Aida
Paper Book
**Four starred reviews!** A farm-working girl with big dreams meets activist Dolores Huerta and joins the 1965 protest for workers' rights in this tender-hearted novel in verse, perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Pam Muñoz Ryan. Lula Viramontes aches to one...
Ultraviolet
Salazar, Aida
Paper Book
A PURA BELPRÉ AWARD HONOR BOOK Sometimes life explodes in technicolor. In the spirit of Judy Blume, award-winning author Aida Salazar tells it like it is about puberty, hormones, and first love in this hilarious, heartwarming, and highly relatable coming-of-age...
Amber & Clay
Schlitz, Laura Amy
Paper Book
The Newbery Medal-winning author of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! gives readers a virtuoso performance in verse in this profoundly original epic pitched just right for fans of poetry, history, mythology, and fantasy. Welcome to ancient Greece as only genius storyteller Laura...
Louder than hunger
Schu, John
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book "Every so often a book comes along that is so brave and necessary, it extends a lifeline when it's needed most. This is one of those books." --Katherine Applegate, author of the Newbery Medal-winning,...
Black girl you are Atlas
Watson, Renaee
Paper Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renee Watson. In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renee Watson writes about her experience...
All the blues in the sky
Watson, Renée
Paper Book
# 1 New York Times bestselling and Newbery Honor author Renée Watson explores friendship, loss, and life with grief in this poignant novel in verse and vignettes. Sage's thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend...
Mid-Air
Williams, Alicia
Paper Book
Longlisted for the National Book Award A tender-souled boy reeling from the death of his best friend struggles to fit into a world that wants him to grow up tough and unfeeling in this stunning illustrated middle grade novel in verse "full of vulnerability and hope" (...

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