NOVELS IN VERSE

FICTION:

The Trial
By Jen Bryant (J BRYANT)
Nothing much happens in Katie’s town, until the man accused of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby son is put on trial.

Who Will Tell My Brother?
By Marlene Carvell (YA CARVELL)
"My eyes search for answers, looking for those who also see the shame and seeing no one."

The Fattening Hut
By Pat Lowery Collins (YA COLLINS)
Just like her mother & sister before her, Helen is supposed to undergo her pre-marriage initiation rites, which include a terrible custom Helen doesn’t want to have any part of.

Splintering
By Eireann Corrigan (YA CORRIGAN)
A family travels to Baltimore to help a sister with marital problems. They weren’t expecting to be attacked by a maniac with a machete.

Heartbeat
By Sharon Creech (J CREECH)
Annie loves her tight-knit family. When her mom becomes pregnant, and her grandfather is diagnosed with dementia, her comfortable world begins to unravel.

Love That Dog
By Sharon Creech (J CREECH)
Jack hates writing poetry. Maybe Ms. Stretchberry can convince him otherwise.

Keesha’s House
By Helen Frost (YA FROST)
Seven teens run away from home to escape their problems, from teen pregnancy to closeted homosexuality.

Foreign Exchange: A Mystery in Poems
By Mel Glenn (YA GLENN)
When a white teen girl is murdered in a small town, a black boy is labeled as the killer. In a town full of racial prejudices, will they uncover what really happened?

Split Image
By Mel Glenn (YA GLENN)
Laura Li is the most popular girl in school. Why does she want to die?

Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?
By Mel Glenn (YA GLENN)
“He does not see, hear or feel the bullet/That explodes his brain like a star-burst rocket.”

Bronx Masquerade
By Nikki Grimes (YA GRIMES)
Open mic Fridays at Mr. Ward’s class in the Bronx reveals the innermost thoughts and fears of the students, as they reflect on the Harlem Renaissance and how it relates to their lives.

Crashboomlove
By Juan Felipe Herrera (YA HERRERA)
At Rambling West High School, the sides are drawn: Hmongs vs. Chicanos vs. everybody vs. Cesar, the new kid.

Love, Ghosts & Facial Hair
By Steven Herrick (YA HERRICK)
Jack worries about everything: girls, his dead mother, and when he’s going to grow facial hair. Then he meets Annabel.

A Place Like This
By Steven Herrick (YA HERRICK)
Jack and Annabel are 18, and ready to set out on their own. When their car breaks down outside an apple orchard, future plans take a strange turn.

Out of the Dust
By Karen Hesse (YA HESSE)
A young girl’s dreams are destroyed while living in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression.

Witness
By Karen Hesse (YA HESSE)
“The kkk/is looking to rent the town hall for their meetings/why shouldn’t they?”

Sister Slam
By Linda Oatman High (YA HIGH)
Best friends Laura and Twig go on a road trip from Pennsylvania to New York to compete in a poetry slam.

Crank
By Ellen Hopkins (YA HOPKINS)
“Life was good before I met the monster.”

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
By Ron Koertge (YA KOERTGE)
Kevin has mono, which means no more baseball. How can he pass the time until he gets better?

The Realm of Possibility
By David Levithan (YA LEVITHAN)
Twenty students attending the same high school talk about their relationships and fears.

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
By Sonya Sones (YA SONES)
After her mother’s death, Ruby must leave everyone she loves to live with a father she barely knows.

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy
By Sonya Sones (YA SONES)
“Stop Pretending. Right this minute. Don’t tell me you don’t know me.”

What My Mother Doesn’t Know
By Sonya Sones (YA SONES)
At almost 15, Sophie finds her first love… and second love…and even love in cyberspace.

Jinx
By Margaret Wild (YA WILD)
“Do not get to know me. Do not ask me out. Do not love me. Be warned! I am Jinx.”

One Night
By Margaret Wild (YA WILD)
Helen has a one night stand with the best looking guy in school. She soon learns a lesson about how quickly her life can change--- in just one night.

Make Lemonade
By Virginia Euwer Wolff (YA WOLFF)
“One good thing you do in a day for somebody else don’t cost you.”

True Believer
By Virginia Euwer Wolff (YA WOLFF)
Surrounded by poverty & violence, LaVaughn struggles not to become just another statistic. She’s focused on making something of her life. Then Jody moves into her neighborhood…& threatens to turn her life upside down.

Locomotion
By Jacqueline Woodson (J WOODSON)
Orphan Lonnie discovers that his crabby foster mom isn’t so bad after all.

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POETRY/MEMOIRS:

You Remind Me of You
(811 COR)
Eireann was in & out of treatment centers. Docs told her she’d die if she didn’t take hold of her life. Then, in one gunshot moment, everything changed.

After the Death of Anna Gonzales
(811.54 FIE)
When Anna takes her own life, others’ lives go on. Too bad Anna won’t know how her life—and death—affected the people around her. She might have stuck around.

The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems
(811.54 GLE)
Students held at gunpoint in their own classroom. You’ve seen it on the news before. But this time, the hostage-taker is their own teacher.

Jump Ball: A Basketball Season in Poems
(J 811.54 GLE)
“She blames God/For me being as stupid as I am.”

The Brimstone Journals
(811.54 KOE)
Boyd is angry and scared. He has an arsenal in his basement, and a list of “everybody who ever blew me off, flipped me off, or pissed me off.”

Carver: A Life in Poems
(811.54 NEL)
The story of African-American botanist and inventor George Washington Carver in poetry.

Learning to Swim
(811.54 TUR)
Annie is supposed to be having a carefree summer. Instead she’s facing the unwanted advances of an older guy who threatens her if she tells.

Girl Coming in for a Landing
(811.54 WAY)
A girl in high school writes about dealing with friends, first dates, school dances, and family fights.

Talking in the Dark
(811.6 MER)
You watch your parents’ marriage break up. You realize you’re a boy who likes boys. Then you give up on love. But love never gave up on you.

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