Novels in verse offer the best of both worlds: a solid plot with characters that pull you in and a lot of white space on the page, so the story is all meat and no filler. Here are some great new titles from the last year or so. (MS = middle school)
In Nikita Gill’s book Hekate, young Hekate finds herself an orphan, unwanted by the Titans or the victors of the divine war, the Olympians. Raised in the underworld by Styx and Hades, she becomes the solution to ending the war of the immortals once she finds the source of her powers.
Adina King’s novel, The House No One Sees, follows Penny as she is pulled into the past when, on her sixteenth birthday, she receives a desperate text from her estranged mother. Entering her childhood home distorts reality and surfaces painful memories for her, forcing her to confront her mother’s addictions if she is to be free.
Hayley Chewins’s novel, I Am the Swarm, shows Nell gaining her family’s magical powers right after her fifteenth birthday, as a swarm of yellow ladybugs alights on her piano keys when she searches for the right melody. Her mother and sister’s magic betrayed them in key ways, and now she sees it will do the same to her.
Dean Atta’s latest, I Can’t Even Think Straight, tells how Kai struggles when his closeted best friend forces him out of the closet to protect himself.
Margarita Engle’s latest, Island Creatures, follows Cuban childhood friends Vida and Adán as they reencounter each other in a Florida wildlife refuge, now a talented photographer and a baseball star. MS
Idris Goodwin’s debut novel, King of the Neuro Verse, follows Pernell as he struggles with another summer of school, a bullying teacher, and his ADHD. But when his friend and crush gives him a digital recorder, he finds his voice in lunchroom rap circles.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins’s debut historical novel, One Step Forward, follows Matilda, the youngest in her family, as she decides whether to risk her family’s stability and her own safety in the fight for women’s suffrage.
In The Siren and the Star by Colby Cedar Smith, Lula wins a chance to sing and study in Venice, but after she is attacked, she is unable to sing until she learns about a famous woman composer from the 18th Century.
Ryan Wolf’s novel, Songs for the Offseason, tells how Dustin’s dreams of playing baseball in Japan during summer break are dashed by the sudden death of his athletic cousin. When a distant relative’s new stepdaughter attends the funeral, Dustin must learn to like her (and her playlists), finding new ways of looking at the world in the process.
In Solo by Gráinne O’Brien, passionate classical musician Daisy has her life turned upside down when her boyfriend suddenly drops her and a mysterious new girl befriends her. Can she find her way back to her old self, or will she have to grow into a new way of being?
In Jasminne Méndez’s novel, The Story of My Anger, Yulieta wants desperately to lead her school’s drama production, but fears that her activism may hurt her mother’s health condition and strain her family. When school censorship threatens to take away some of her favorite books, she sees she must act, no matter the cost. MS
In Hannah V. Sawyerr’s novel Truth Is, slam poet Truth faces mean teachers, high expectations from her mother, and an unexpected pregnancy. When she decides to have an abortion, a video of her secrets goes viral, with unanticipated consequences.
Arriel Vinson’s novel, Under the Neon Lights, tells of Jaelyn’s love for her local skating rink, the place where she first falls in love, even as news spreads that it is going to be torn down in a wave of gentrification. MS
Rex Ogle is famous for his gritty memoirs, and his latest novel, When We Ride, is just as uncompromising. Benny needs to borrow his mom’s car to get to his low-paying job, and his best friend Lawson needs rides to get to his customers, people buying drugs. How long can Benny keep giving Lawson rides before their friendship falls apart?
~Posted by Wally B.