The very first novel in verse I ever read was A Bad Boy Can be Good for a Girl [2] by Tanya Lee Stone. I’m by no stretch of the imagination a fast reader and picking up a book of poetry (in any form) is usually not my first instinct. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Stone’s book was not only an incredibly quick read (I’m talking about a couple of hours – if that – one afternoon), but that the free verse poetry was accessible and enhanced the storytelling. Since my first experience with a novel in verse, I’ve read and enjoyed many. If you’re looking for a quick read – maybe you don’t have a lot of time but still want to get your read on OR you need to find a fast read for school – I would definitely recommend checking out a novel in verse.
Quick Picks: Novels in Verse
- I Need You More than I Love You and I Love You [3] to Bits by Gunnar Ardelius
- Displacement [4] by Thalia Chaltas
- Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck [5] by Margarita Engle
- Nothing [6] by Robin Friedman
- Hidden [7] by Helen Frost
- Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials [8] by Stephanie Hemphill
- Cold Skin [9] by Steven Herrick
- Crank [10] by Ellen Hopkins
- Shakespeare Bats Cleanup [11] by Ron Koertge
- Exposed [12] by Kimberly Marcus
- After the Kiss [13] by Terra Elan McVoy
- Amiri & Odette: A Love Story [14] by Walter Dean Myers
- Chasing Brooklyn [15] by Lisa Schroeder
- You are Not Here [16] by Samantha Schutz
- Purple Daze [17] by Sherry Shahan
- Orchards [18] by Holly Thompson
- Becoming Billie Holiday [19] by Carole Boston Weatherford
- Glimpse [20] by Carol Lynch Williams
- The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic [21] by Allan Wolf
- Make Lemonade [22] by Virginia Euwer Wolff
- Teens [23]
