novels in verse

"Sixteen-year-old Lucille hopes to one day open a school alongside her best friend where girls just like them can learn what it means to be Haitian: to learn from the mountains and the forests around them, to carve, to sew, to draw, and to sing the songs of the Mapou, the sacred trees that dot the island nation. But when her friend vanishes without a trace, a dream-a gift from the Mapou-tells Lucille to go to her village's section chief, the local face of law, order, and corruption, which puts her life and her family's at risk. Forced to flee her home, Lucille takes a servant post with a wealthy Haitian woman from society's elite in Port-au-Prince. Despite a warning to avoid him, she falls in love with her employer's son. But when their relationship is found out, she must leave again-this time banished to another city to work for a visiting American writer and academic conducting fieldwork in Haiti. While Lucille's new employer studies vodou and works on the novel that will become Their Eyes Were Watching God, Lucille risks losing everything she cares about-and any chance of seeing her best friend again-as she fights to save their lives and secure her future in this novel in verse with the racing heart of a thriller"--Provided by publisher.

In the room beneath a theater stage, the ghosts of Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and other teenage girls who died tragically in Shakespeare's plays, share their experiences and trauma and get the chance to retell the stories of their lives in their own terms.

Told in alternating voices, determined to make a difference and heal from their troubled pasts, teens Ana and Leandro fight to protect California wildlife and the endangered puma.

In 1924 at the Angel Island Immigration Station, teen Chinese immigrant Soo Tai Go is awakened to the political realities of his new home as he waits to find out if he and his family will be allowed into the country.

Living under the Salazar dictatorship in 1960s Portugal, Sonia must find her voice as a poet and an activist after the government arrests her boyfriend and shuts down her family's business.

After drowning and making a deal with Death for a new life, Andres Santos starts over in Miami where he forms a polyamorous triad with Renee and Liora, but when Liora ends up in a coma, Andres and Renee embark on a journey into the underworld to retrieve her spirit and reunite it with her body before it is too late.

"In the summer before her first year of middle school, word-chanting, rope-skipping Phee skips her way to imagined fame, writes down her innermost secret thoughts from the safety of a treehouse, and imagines in horror that her new classmates will eat her alive. Suddenly, her well-worn alley world feels too small. So when Mercy Jones moves next door, along with Mercy's skateboard and her don't-mess-with-me attitude, Phee sees the chance for her universe to expand. Even if it means leaving some things behind . . . It is a time of dares, of a legendary dog named Bull, of stretching comfort zones, and of old friendships made over in new ways. And it all takes place over the course of one alley summer."--Publisher's description.

Bad girl. No matter how hard Samira tries, she can't shake her reputation. She's never gotten the benefit of the doubt--not from her mother or the aunties who watch her like a hawk. Samira is determined to have a perfect summer filled with fun parties, exploring DC, and growing as a poet--until a scandalous rumor has her grounded and unable to leave her house. When Samira turns to a poetry forum for solace, she catches the eye of an older, charismatic poet named Horus. For the first time, Samira feels wanted. But soon she's keeping a bigger secret than ever before--one that that could prove her reputation and jeopardize her place in her community.

What-ifs rattle around his brain at the worst times, like when he's in the middle of a playoff game. What if he lets his teammates down? What if he can't make it pro? And the biggest what-if of all, the one he keeps to himself -- what if he's like his dad, whose life is controlled by anxiety that has only gotten worse since Jonah's mom died in a car crash? To prove that he's not like that, Jonah is determined to succeed in the high-stress role of goalie. He and his best friend Ty have big plans for their hockey futures. But when Ty suffers a medical crisis during a pivotal game, Jonah's anxiety ramps up to new levels. It takes courage to ask for help, but Jonah starts to realize that his team goes beyond the people who lace up their skates with him every week, and maybe it's okay to look for support on and off the ice. From the adrenaline rush of sudden-death overtime to the weight of worrying about letting your teammates -- and yourself -- down, this novel in verse will hook readers from the first line.

After her arrival in a wildlife sanctuary with friends Ivan and Bob, Ruby is reunited with a beloved caretaker from the elephant orphanage in Africa where she was raised. With Ivan and Bob there for support, Ruby relates her happy and sad memories from her time in the African savanna.