Well Versed

Xiomara hides her poetry from her religious family, but when she joins a slam poetry club, she must decide whether or not she's ready for her voice to be heard. Learn these words from the acclaimed novel-in-verse by slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

After she is sent to Cincinnati to escape unrest in Syria, twelve-year-old Jude struggles to adjust to life in the United States.

Twin brothers Josh and Jordan Bell clash both on and off the basketball court. How high can you score on this list of words from Alexander's award-winning novel in verse?

Fleeing to America to escape the Vietnam War, Hà and her family end up in Alabama, where they must adapt to a new culture. This novel in verse was inspired by author Thanhha Lai's own experiences.

Growing up in Renaissance Italy, Artemisia becomes a talented painter — but her father gets credit for her work. This novel in verse tells the story of how Artemisia finds her voice, both as an artist and as a young woman.

In this novel-in-verse, Will spends a sixty-second elevator ride weighing whether or not he should avenge his brother's death. Learn these words from Jason Reynolds's innovative and powerful exploration of gun violence.

In this powerful novel-in-verse, a twelve-year-old Sudanese girl must make her way to a refugee camp after her village is attacked.

Written in free verse, this Newbery Medal-winning novel details the struggles of an Oklahoman teenager during the dust-filled years of the Great Depression.

Best friends Noah and Walt bond over their shared love of baseball and appreciation for jazz. With the help of some vintage love letters (and some intervention from Walt), Noah tries to express his true feelings for his long-time crush, Sam. But as Walt and Noah attempt to "find cool," division and prejudice within their community cause their lives to take an unexpected turn.

After learning a devastating truth about his unstable, rock-star father, 17-year-old Blade travels to Ghana in order to come to terms with his family history and forge his own identity.

In this verse novel, a young immigrant from Africa adjusts to life in the United States.

Garvey loves reading and astronomy, but his father pressures him to be an athlete. Then Garvey is chosen as a soloist in the school choir — and music might provide a way for him and his father to connect.

Each week, students in a high school English class step up to the mic to share original poems.

After the death of his father, Chuck Bell spends the summer with grandparents and finds solace in basketball. Learn these words from the prequel to The Crossover.

In a series of autobiographical poems, Jacqueline Woodson vividly brings her childhood and adolescence to life. This memoir in verse won the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Newbery Honor Award.

ZJ's father, a beloved football star, begins suffering from memory loss and mood swings.

In this verse novel, eleven-year-old Lonnie reflects on his life in foster care.

This novel in verse follows twelve-year-old Joylin as she navigates the trials and tribulations of middle school.

In this verse novel, a sixteen-year-old boy is convicted of a crime he didn't commit.

In this memoir, told in verse, poet Nikki Grimes explores her traumatic childhood and the development of her love of writing.

This fictionalized biography, written in a combination of prose and verse, imagines the early life of Cassius Clay, better known as Muhammad Ali.

This verse novel chronicles the daily life of a Mexican-American twelve-year-old.

In this novel in verse, two teens take a road trip in order to learn about their pasts and find ways to move forward.

In this novel in verse, a teen struggles with feelings of disconnection from both her family's homeland and her suburban American life.

In this verse novel, 13-year-old Reha grapples with her identity as an Indian-American while trying to cope with her mother’s illness.

In this novel in verse, a girl befriends a stray dog while quarantining with her grandparents on a Wabanaki reservation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this novel, narrated in a mix of prose and verse, a Puerto Rican girl adjusts to life in New York City.

Ellie, an eleven-year-old girl from Texas, learns to stand up for herself and confront bullies who tease her about her weight.

In this verse novel, elementary school student Gabriella describes how she has trouble paying attention in class because she loves to daydream.

In this verse novel based on Romeo and Juliet, Ronit and Jamil are star-crossed lovers who try to overcome geographical and familial barriers in Israel and Palestine.

In a small California town, twelve-year-old Etan Hirsch has trouble talking when his life is shaken by earthquakes and the hospitalization of his mother.

Told from different perspectives, this novel-in-verse was inspired by the true story of the ship Clotilda, which transported West Africans from Dahomey to Mobile, Alabama, where the slaves emancipated after the Civil War founded their own town.

Unable to share her troubled feelings with anyone, twelve-year-old Iveliz Margarita Snow Medina addresses her journal in poems that describe her life in Maryland.

Worrying about all the possible things that could happen, sixteen-year-old Sadie Dixon has difficulty leaving her house in Oakland, California, especially after she witnesses a violent injustice.

In this sequel to Inside Out & Back Again, twelve-year-old Hà must learn how to adapt again when her family moves from Alabama to Texas.