6 Must-Read Middle Grade Novels in Verse
As a teenager, I remember reading my first novel in verse. I never expected to like poetry. But just a few pages in, I found myself engrossed in the story. More than that, I became fascinated by the language, the use of space on the page, how beautiful everything sounded when read aloud. I’d never enjoyed reading poetry like this before. I was smitten.
Years later, post-college and grad school, I found my way back to novels in verse via middle grade. One of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Woodson, had a new book out, a memoir in verse that followed her childhood in Greenville, South Carolina. She possessed such control over her poetry, using each page to progress the story while still remaining true to the lyrical quality of her beautiful writing. Reading Brown Girl Dreaming—the language, imagery, and storytelling—took me back to my childhood. I’ve been in love with poetry novels in verse ever since.
Now, I’m an adult and not the target audience for middle grade. But like the child me, middle graders love novels in verse too. They encourage younger readers with their playful use of language. There’s a lot of space on the page, making them accessible to struggling readers. The writing is so lyrical and beautiful to the ear. What’s more, novels in verse often tackle difficult topics in an age-appropriate way, giving adults an opportunity to talk to kids about big ideas. So, here are a few of my favorite novels in verse, perfect for adults and kids alike.
Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
Kareem loves football more than anything else. He dreams of becoming the quarterback for his school’s team, so much so that he’s willing to break the rules to do it. But when the president enacts the “Muslim ban,” Kareem’s mom is in Syria visiting family, and she isn’t able to come home.
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
When Jude and her mother go to stay with family in Cincinnati, they leave her father and brother back in Syria. What starts out as a short trip turns into a longer and longer stay. Everything in America is too loud and too fast. Jude desperately misses home. But the longer she spends in America, the more she comes to see this otherworldly place as home.
Louder Than Hunger by John Schu
Jake has a voice in his head that tells him he’s not supposed to eat. He’s not worth it. While everything else feels out of his control, if he limits what he eats, that will prevent the worst from happening. He’s confident he doesn’t have an issue with food. But after his mother and grandmother send him to a residential program for anorexia, Jake begins to think he may have a problem after all. Through talking with his therapist and receiving the other help he needs, Jake begins to develop a healthier relationship with food and to work through the underlying issues that made him start restricting food in the first place.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lại
When Hà is just ten years old, she and her family flee Vietnam at the end of the war and make their way to America. In Alabama, Hà and her brothers attend a new school. At first, Hà struggles with the language, but slowly and surely, she begins learning English and better understanding the new world she calls home.
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
Reha feels caught between worlds: at home, she’s surrounded by Indian food and culture. At school, she just wants to be like the other kids. But when her mother becomes seriously ill, her entire life feels as if it’s been turned upside down. All she wants is to make her mother well again. Maybe if she’s the perfect daughter and does everything her parents want her to do, her Amma won’t be sick anymore.
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
This is the book that started the revival of my love for novels in verse. In Brown Girl Dreaming, Woodson shares the story of her childhood and adolescence growing up as a young Black girl in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s and 1970s. As we move through her memoir, we see young Woodson come into her own and begin to make a place for herself in the world.
Whether you are new to novels in verse or are already a huge fan, there is sure to be something on this list for you. For more kids’ poetry, here are 50 Must-Read Poetry Books For Kids. For more great books in verse, check out 100 Must-Read YA Verse Novels and 20 More Must-Read YA Verse Novels.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
We love a good cover, and this week, we’re highlighting a list of the best short story covers. Trust us when we say that these will look so demure on your bookshelves!
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In the course of writing about great book covers, there’s one thing that I’ve noted several times: short story collections have some of the most innovative, memorable, and eye-catching covers of them all. Why is that? Perhaps part of it is because short story collections are a harder sell to the average reader, so the first line of marketing has to be for the bookshop browser, whether they’re perusing on or off line. Perhaps part of it is that many great short story collections are coming from smaller presses, so pushing boundaries with design is part of what’s possible because there are fewer stakeholders to please in the process. Perhaps it’s also simply that short story collections, by nature of their diversity, invite more creativity into the cover design process.
Whatever the reason or reasons, I suspect anyone who appreciates a good book cover is here for it.
Let’s take a look at some of the banging short story book covers that have hit shelves this year, as well as look at some of the upcoming covers of collections you’ll want to pop on your TBR ASAP. If you’re reading this when the piece publishes in mid-May, know you’ll be reading it in time to partake in Short Story Month, too. Any month can be short story month, of course, but May gives extra reason to dive into bite-sized fiction.
As always, caveats abound here. It is still unnecessarily difficult to track down cover designers and artists for book covers, especially if you don’t have the book in your hand to double-check. Many publishers still don’t put this information on the landing pages for these books, so it takes good Googling and a lot of luck to dig up names to credit.
Autocorrect by Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston (May 27)
If you’re looking for a collection of darkly funny stories, this cover is not going to steer you in the wrong direction. It’s a squirrel that’s clearly been launched right into the book title, and he looks completely unfazed by it all. There’s a lot of nice movement in this design, especially as it is very simplistic.
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