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| Frost, Helen |
Keesha's House
Keesha's house is owned by
Joe and its door is painted an inviting blue and is always open
to teenagers who need a place to stay and think, or just stay.
Seven teenagers find themselves needing the refuge of Keesha's
house, including a young girl with loving parents who finds herself
pregnant and is terrified of facing them, a young man who was
kicked out of his house when he came out to his parents, a young
man who was born in prison and just tired of abusive foster care
homes., among others. There is an poem for each teen, introducing
the character and then at least two more to complete their interludes
at Keesha's house. Very affecting book. |
| Fullerton, Alma |
Walking on Glass
The free verse journal of a young man, whose name we never learn, who is dealing with a family tragedy poorly. His mother lies brain dead in a hospital, his father can't bear to turn off life support, his best friend is a gang member wannabe and he is on the brink. This is a quick, very painful, very incisive look into the soul of despair. |
| Glenn, Mel |
Jump Ball: A Basketball
Season in Poems
I am becoming a huge fan of novels told in blank verse. There
are some great books out there and Mel Glenn has perfected the
art. Jump Ball follows the Tower High School Tigers from
pre-season to the bus ride to the championships. Senior Garrett
James is the team's star and seems destined to be recruited by
a division I school and future NBA glory. We hear from a lot
of different people involved with the team as well; from the
coach's wife through a retired postman who hangs around to help
out. This book would be a fun way to learn about irony and foreshadowing.
Many of the simplest poems are quite thought-provoking and may
be cause for some interesting debate. |
| Glenn, Mel |
The Taking of Room 114
This book is subtitled A Hostage
Drama in Poems. Mr. Wiedermeyer's senior history class has been
taken hostage, not by an angry student but by an angry teacher
near the last day of school and graduation. The series of poems
reflect the thoughts of various players in this drama, the principal,
police chief, various bystanders, the teacher and the students
themselves as they reflect on their four years at the school
and wonder if this will be the last day of their life. |
| Glenn, Mel |
Foreign Exchange: A Mystery in Poems
Residents of bucolic Hudson
Landing are playing host to students from Tower High for a weekend
cultural exchange program. Not all the residents are in favor
of this nor are they in favor of the presence of a large supermarket
which has had a financial impact on some of the other store owners.
The manager of the supermarket has a stunning daughter, Kristen,
who is definitely having an impact on the teenage population,
especially the males and this fact isn't endearing her to the
female population.
When Kristen's body is fished out of the
lake, all eyes turn to Kwame, a student of color from Tower High
and the last person seen with Kristen. This book did not engage
me as intensely as Glenn's other books have.
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| Glenn, Mel |
Split Image
Laura Li is perfect in every way. Beautiful, smart and hard-working.
Her parents have immigrated from China, her father, a businessman,
whom she adores, is rarely home and her mother makes constant
demands for excellence and devotion. This novel in blank verse
takes place at Tower High School, home of Glenn's previous books.
She has the difficult task of assimilating into American culture
and achieving the American Dream while maintaining her old culture.
Everyone thinks they know Laura, they've labeled her and pigeon-holed
her and all are shocked when she finally takes a stand. |
| High, Linda Oatman |
Sister Slam and the
Poetic Motormouth Road Trip
Laura Crapper, aka Sister Slam,
graduates from high school and longs to get away and compete
in a poetry slam in Tin Can, NJ. She is a misfit whose mother
died when she was eight, whose father works in a pie factory
and who is grossly overweight. Her best friend Twig and fellow
slammer agrees to go with her and the two set out from Pennsylvania
to New Jersey in Laura's beat up old bomb. The entire novel is
told in slam poetry by Sister Slam and is something of a Cinderella
story, at times unbelievable, at times clever, at times funny. |
| Koertge, Ron |
The Brimstone
Journals
This is a slim book of free
verse told from the point of view of 15 high school seniors.
Reading this book is like putting a puzzle together and it becomes
quite suspenseful as we learn that an angry, racist student is
stockpiling weapons and putting together a "hit list"
of students and teachers. |
| Levithan,
David |
The Realm of Possibility
Twenty high school students
ponder life and the nature of love in all of its forms in Levithan's
second book. Anchoring the book are two poems told from the points
of view of Daniel and Jed, a couple about to celebrate their
first anniversary, but the rest of the poems come in all shapes
and sizes from a girl struggling with an eating disorder to a
boy who competes with Holden Caulfield for his girlfriend's affection.
Many of these poems require several readings to get, some sit
easily, others ruffle feathers. |
| Sandell, Lisa Ann |
The Weight of the Sky
Sixteen-year-old Sarah, self-professed band geek with a hopeless crush on the varsity quarterback of her high school's football team is feeling all the stress and pressures of junior year. While she is less than thrilled with her parents' gift of a trip to Israel, she decides she will work on a kibbutz. Once she arrives, she falls in love with the country and is amazed at the changes in herself. Changes she feels instantly. In Pennsylvania, she was the only Jewish student in her town and felt invisible, in Israel, she's among people who understand and she is considered attractive. But Israel is also a country used to suicide bombers and terrorist threats and when Sarah comes face-to-face with it, she must also make some important decisions. |
| Smith, Kirsten |
The Geography of Girlhood
Ninth grader Penny Morrow is waiting- waiting for junior high to end and high school to start, waiting for her first kiss, waiting for her two best friendships to end, waiting for tips on growing up from her beautiful older sister and waiting for a mother she knows will never return.
Some of the poems in this blank verse novel are funny and some are sad. They all connect to paint a picture of a typical adolescent girl. This book is a nominee for BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults).
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| Sones, Sonya |
what my girlfriend doesn't know
This sequel to what my mother doesn't know is told from Robin Murphy's point-of-view and is at turns hilarious and sad. Robin is convinced that his relationship with Sophie will not last returning to school after winter break because it would be social suicide for Sophie, who is popular. Robin, who is not, can't believe his luck when Sophie embraces him at school.
Robin is a talented artist and is auditing an art class at Harvard. His running commentary on his life reflects on nude models and his normal preoccupation with sexual thoughts.
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| Sones, Sonya |
What My Mother Doesn't
Know
Sophie's story is told in free
verse. She is almost fifteen, in love and confused about a lot
of things, parents, boys, her body and all sorts of things. The
poems in this book are often laugh-out-loud funny. Some caused
me to cringe in sympathy; other made me cry. Also recommended,
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy
by the same author. |
| Sones, Sonya |
one of those hideous
books where the mother dies
(sic) Fifteen-year-old Ruby just buried her mother and is on
a plane heading to live with a father she never knew because
she left before she was born. Her father lives in Los Angeles
because he is a big movie star and the only time Ruby has ever
seen him was in the movies. Now, her mother is dead and he wants
to be her father. This touching, often laugh-out-loud novel is
written in blank verse and told by Ruby herself. She is likable,
funny, trying so hard to cope with her losses and adjust to a
completely alien life among the rich and famous. |
| Turner, Anne Warren |
Learning to Swim
This is a very difficult book
to read, but is beautifully written about a sensitive subject.
It is a collection of poems written by Turner about the summer
she was six, learning to swim and was sexually abused by a neighbor's
son. |
| Wolf, Virginia Euwer |
Make Lemonade
There are two books so far in this series. They are written in
very readable blank verse and are about LaVaughn, a 14 year-old
girl who lives in an un-named ghetto with her mother who is strict
about most things. I happened to read the second book, True
Believer, first, not realizing that it was a sequel. I like
the second book better than the first but I liked both books.
LaVaughn inhabits a different world than most of us in Bergen
County. |
| Wong, Joyce Lee |
Seeing Emily
Sixteen-year-old Emily is the perfect daughter and perfect student. |
|
Verse Biography |
| Engle, Margarita |
The Poet Slave of Cuba: a Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano
While this is technically not a blank verse novel, but a biography, I have placed an annotation here as well as in the biography section since many students are enjoying the blank verse style of storytelling. I have also placed it in the YA section because the brutality that Juan Francisco endured through his life at the hands of his owners was unimaginable.
Juan Francisco Manzano was born into slavery in 1797 in Cuba. He showed an early aptitude for memorization and recitation and his owner liked to parade him to entertain her guests. Soon he taught himself to read and began composing his own poetry, some of which mocked his owners. He refused to stop creating despite food deprivation and beatings, one which crippled and nearly killed him.
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