Tag Archives: novel-in-verse

When My Sister Started Kissing

Posted on November 2, 2017 by

Helen Frost‘s masterful novel-in-poems When My Sister Started Kissing features Claire and Abigail at their summer cottage on the lake, where they navigate a new stepmother, boys, kissing, and memories. Claire, the younger of the two, is the main narrator, and can’t … Continue reading →

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Loving Vs. Virginia

Posted on April 21, 2017 by

Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell and illustrated by Shadra Strickland is a large, beautifully made historical novel-in-verse. Well-researched (there are lists of the author’s interviews and sources in the back) … Continue reading →

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Full Cicada Moon

Posted on March 5, 2016 by

Set in 1969, Marilyn Hilton‘s Full Cicada Moon is Mimi’s story of moving to Vermont, where finding acceptance is difficult because her mother is Japanese and her father is black. What’s more, Mimi wants to be an astronaut and is interested in woodworking, rather … Continue reading →

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True Believer

Posted on December 22, 2015 by

True Believer, second in the Make Lemonade trilogy by Virginia Euwer Wolff, is an honest look at faith, friendship and romance as seen through the eyes of LaVaughn while she navigates high school. Determined to stay on track for college though the odds seem … Continue reading →

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Make Lemonade

Posted on August 21, 2015 by

When fourteen-year-old LaVaughn finds a babysitting job in order to earn money for college (and no one in her whole building has ever been to college), she ends up taking care of Jilly and Jeremy, the children of a seventeen-year-old mother … Continue reading →

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The Crossover

Posted on February 26, 2015 by

I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel-in-verse with this sort of pace and feel to it. Usually novels-in-verse are on the quieter side, but this book changes the whole genre. There’s movement and depth. After reading it, I know exactly why Kwame … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's novels, Poetry, Rhyme | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

Posted on February 19, 2015 by

Beginning with June of 1939, Daniel, a German Jew, flees Germany by boat. He is alone because his parents only had enough money to pay for one person’s passage. The boat’s passengers are refused entry to the United States and Canada, … Continue reading →

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The Lightning Dreamer

Posted on January 2, 2015 by

Margarita Engle‘s biographical and historical novel-in-verse (it is a fictionalized account of the young Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda) dives into the heart and soul of a young poet who is not allowed to read books because “girls who read too much are unladylike”. Tula … Continue reading →

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Heartbeat

Posted on November 12, 2014 by

Annie runs barefoot with Max, her neighbour, and sits with her grandfather who doesn’t leave the house much anymore. She jokes with her mom and dad about the alien baby which grows into a pumpkin baby which grows into the baby … Continue reading →

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Shark Girl

Posted on January 8, 2014 by

When Jane’s arm is amputated due to a shark attack, she has to negotiate new aspirations and friendships, along with learning how to button her pants and make scrambled eggs. In her poems, we feel the pain, the irritation, the … Continue reading →

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