Why choose poetry instead of prose? Gwendolyn Brooks described poetry as “life distilled,” and John Wain compared poetry to dancing. There is a magic in poetry–in its sounds, in its rhythms, in its meaning. It can capture the vitality of the human experience. Like dancing, poetry moves and grooves. It reflects life and is perfect for storytelling.
In honor of National Poetry Month, we have curated this list of young adult novels in verse. These stories capture the beauty of being a teen and the myriad of experiences one can have.
Teen High
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people. In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance–and Papi's secrets–the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
The eBook and eAudiobook of Clap When You Land are available through Libby.
Michael is a mixed-race, gay teen growing up in London. All his life, he’s navigated what it means to be Greek-Cypriot and Jamaican–but never quite feeling Greek or Black enough. As he gets older, Michael’s coming out is only the start of learning who he is and where he fits in. When he discovers the Drag Society, he finally finds where he belongs–and the Black Flamingo is born. Told with raw honesty, insight, and lyricism, this debut explores the layers of identity that make us who we are–and allow us to shine.
Nic Chen refuses to spend her senior year branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. To redefine her reputation among her Ivy League-obsessed classmates, Nic begins writing their college admissions essays. But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of herself, the kind of person she is, and whether her moral compass even points north anymore. Provocative, brilliant, and achingly honest, 500 Words or Less explores the heartbreak and hope that marks the search for your truest self.
Time has stopped. It’s been June 23, 2020 for nearly a year as far as anyone can tell. Frantic adults demand teenagers focus on finding practical solutions to the worldwide crisis. Not everyone is on board though. Javelin-throwing prodigy Truda Becker is pretty sure her “Solution Time” class won’t solve the world’s problems, but she does have a few ideas what might. Truda lives in a house with a switch that no one ever touches, a switch her father protects every day by nailing it into hundreds of progressively larger boxes. But Truda’s got a crow bar, and one way or another, she’s going to see what happens when she flips the switch.
Disillusioned by the propaganda of Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl, her brother, and his fellow soldiers formed the White Rose. A non-violent resistance group, they write and distribute anonymous letters criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for action from their fellow German citizens. When Sophie and her brother are arrested for treason and interrogated for information about their collaborators, they know that speaking out against Hitler's regime is punishable by death. Is it too late to try to save their lives?
Teen Middle
11-year-old Kofi Offin loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father's father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. Some say he moves like a minnow, not just an ordinary boy, so he's hoping to finally prove himself in front of Ama and his friends in a swimming contest against his older, stronger cousin. But before this can take place, a festival comes to the villages of Upper and Lower Kwanta, and Kofi's brother is chosen to represent Upper Kwanta in the wrestling contest. The match is over before it has barely begun, when the unthinkable–a sudden death–occurs. As his world turns upside down, Kofi soon ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea and away from everything he loves.
The eBook of The Door of No Return is available through Libby.
Punk rock-loving JJ Pankowski can't seem to fit in at his new school in Greenpoint, Brooklyn as one of the only white kids. Pie Velez, a math and history geek by day and graffiti artist by night is eager to follow in his idol, Jean-Michel Basquiat's, footsteps. The boys stumble into an unlikely friendship, swapping notes on their love of music and art, which sees them through a difficult semester at school and at home. But a run-in with the cops threatens to unravel it all.
Seventh grader Aafiyah loves playing tennis, reading Weird but True facts, and hanging out with her best friend, Zaina. However, Aafiyah has a bad habit that troubles her—she’s drawn to pretty things and can’t help but occasionally “borrow” them. When her father is falsely accused of a crime he hasn’t committed and gets taken in by authorities, Aafiyah knows she needs to do something to help. When she brainstorms a way to bring her father back, she turns to her Weird but True facts and devises the perfect plan. But what if her plan means giving in to her bad habit, the one she’s been trying to stop? Aafiyah wants to reunite her family but finds that maybe her plan isn’t so perfect after all. . .
The eBook and eAudiobook of Golden Girl are available through Libby.
Twelve-year-old Emmy is the only one in her family who can't make music to save her life. And now that her dad's symphony job has uprooted her to a new city and school, everything seems even more off-key than usual. Until a computer class changes her tune–Emmy discovers that her coding skills can really sing. Now life is starting to seem a little more upbeat, especially with computer whiz and possible best friend Abigail around to share tips and tricks with. But can Emmy hold on to her new found confidence with bad news and big secrets just around the corner, or will her new life come to a screeching halt?
In a warlike land of wind and sunlight, "ringed by a restless sea," live Rhaskos and Melisto, spiritual twins with little in common. A Thracian slave in a Greek household, Rhaskos is as common as clay, a stable boy worth less than a donkey, much less a horse. Wrenched from his mother at a tender age, he nurtures in secret, aided by Socrates, his passions for art and philosophy. Melisto is a spoiled aristocrat, a girl as precious as amber but willful and wild. She'll marry and be tamed–the curse of all highborn girls–but she'll risk her life for a season first to serve Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Bound by destiny, Melisto and Rhaskos - Amber and Clay - never meet in the flesh. By the time they do, one of them is a ghost. But the thin line between life and death is just one boundary their unlikely friendship crosses.
The eBook of Amber & Clay is available through Libby.
Brittany
Information Specialist
Post Road Library
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