In honor of Poetry Month, Kathy Erskine decided to feature a “Verse-Novel-a-Day” on her Facebook page. She has graciously allowed us to use those to put together a blog post–and the result is a pretty excellent survey of this powerful art form.
 LibertadBy Alma Fullerton Alma’s my co-faculty at the Novels in Verse workshop! |
 The CrossoverBy Kwame Alexander Also check out Booked! |
 Brown Girl DreamingBy Jacqueline Woodson There’s a reason it has all those stickers on the cover — a LOT of reasons. |
 Silver People: Voices From the Panama CanalBy Margarita Engle Having just visited the Panama Canal, this really enlightened and touched me. |
 AudacityBy Melanie Crowder Thinking of the beautiful audacity of Loree Griffin Burns who refused to let me be stranded at Logan airport last night and coordinated a grand rescue plan despite the snowstorm… |
 Love That DogBy Sharon Creech If you have a 9 year old who thinks he doesn’t like to read–or can’t read– give this to him and watch him mark up the pages (in a good way) with his thoughts. |
 A Time to DanceBy Padma Venkatraman Padma’s our special guest at the Novels in Verse workshop! |
 Words With WingsBy Nikki Grimes I LOVE that it has Mr. (Ed) Spicer in it. |
 Serafina’s PromiseBy Ann E. Burg I often use this in talks to show how we authors pile problem after problem on our characters’ shoulders. |
 Coaltown Jesus By Ron Koertge Hilarious and poignant. |
 Dust of Eden By Mariko Nagai Powerful Japanese internment camp story. |
 What My Mother Doesn’t Know By Sonya Sones A classic and I love the updated cover! |
 The Red PencilBy Andrea Davis Pinkney How art and creativity can transcend even the most horrifying events. |
 The Watch That Ends the NightBy Allan Wolf Epic tale (thoroughly researched) of the Titanic, which sank 105 years ago. |
 How I Discovered Poetry By Marilyn Nelson This is one of those “how can so few words say so much?” novels. |
 Paper HeartsBy Meg Wiviott So beautifully done I didn’t want it to end. You know that feeling? Yup, that. |
 Death Coming Up the HillBy Chris Crowe It HAD to be the choice for the 17th — read the novel and you’ll understand why. |
 CaminarBy Skila Brown A way to see a different country and a different life (makes things like rush hour traffic or the wrong kind of toilet paper seem suddenly as unimportant as they are). |
 SoldBy Patricia McCormick I always use her books as examples of the extraordinary research it takes to create an authentic story. |
 Becoming Billie HolidayBy Carole Weatherford The poignant and beautiful story of Eleanora. |
 Inside Out and Back Again By Thanhha Lai With immigration an issue again–or still– this is a particularly beautiful story. |
 May B.By Caroline Starr Rose Great, fast, survival story for any young reader, especially reluctant ones. |
 Etched in ClayBy Andrea Cheng Dave the Potter for the older crowd; beautiful. |
 WitnessBy Karen Hesse I love the voices — great example of how to make distinct characters even in a brief verse novel. |
 House ArrestBy K.A. Holt Wow. Really powerful, poignant and funny. And great voice. |
 October Mourning: A Song for Matthew ShepardBy Leslea Newman Oh, so painful and hard to read but so necessary. |
 Full Cicada MoonBy Marilyn Hilton This was named a Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book! |
 CrashBoomLoveBy Juan Felipe Herrera The words are almost spat out in frustration. In the end, even a tough teen needs his mom. |
 Under the Mesquite By Guadalupe Garcia McCall Beautifully written and the ultimate strong girl book! |
 The One and Only IvanBy Katherine Applegate For animal lovers of all ages. |
