novels in verse

It is impossible not to root for Ceti, almost fifteen, who tells her story of growing up in shelters, learning soccer from her Gramps, and sleeping in her Mom's red truck where they listened over and over to Rolling Stones discs someone left behind. Following in the steps of her hero, Lionel Messi, Ceti is a shooting star on the field. A U.S. scout is coming to watch her play in the State Championship; she has Ruby, her best friend since kindergarten rooting for her, and a crush on a boy who lives in her building, Will. But at home, she'll find a spoon in the sink, a ball of tin foil and a needle in the trash. Her Mom, who used to be beautiful with her long honey hair and green eyes is now wasted and track-marked. And she is pregnant. Ceti's life goes up and down with a mother who wants only the next high. Her Mom's menacing and goofy boyfriend Foxface is always hounding Ceti; their junky friends start a fire in Ceti's apartment; and on the day of the semifinals, Ceti finds her Mom bleeding profusely. She steals a new iPhone for her Mom but is caught and disqualified from playing in the Championship game. Then Ruby decides on private school for next year, and Will stops hanging out with Ceti. When her Mom promises they can start over in New Hampshire, Ceti is hopeful. Instead, she finds her Mom has overdosed. Ceti, too, would be one more dream slipping away if she didn't have the courage to hold on to what she loves the most.

Based on a true story and told in alternating voices, follows the growing friendship between thirteen-year-old American Claire and Karl, a young German POW hired to work on her family's Michigan apple farm in October 1944.

"On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam built to create a man-made lake for America's wealthiest businessmen collapsed, unleashing twenty million tons of water onto the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, below; told in the voices of six children and many others this is the story of the ordinary people of the town, their losses and their survival--and of the bitter aftermath when those for whom the dam was built denied all responsibility for the shoddy dam and the unnatural disaster which it caused"--Provided by publisher.

After months of rebuilding a new life in Bangladesh with her family, Samira decides to become a Bengali surfer girl of Cox's Bazar, in this novel in verse about a young Rohingya girl's journey from isolation and persecution to sisterhood, and from fear to power.

"Twelve-year-old Nora's mom manages The Knight, a medieval theme restaurant on the verge of shutting down for good. When Nora and her new friend Mavis stop by The Knight to borrow costumes for their school play, a snowstorm hits. Nora and Mavis are trapped overnight with Diane, the restaurant's eccentric cook. Nora is familiar with Diane's many tall tales, so she doesn't pay much attention to her strange theory about hidden gold. But when they find evidence that Diane might be telling the truth, Nora starts to wonder if treasure really is hidden in the crumbling castle--and if it could save the restaurant"--Back cover.

"Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she's the only Indian American student, and home, with her family's traditions and holidays. But Reha's parents don't understand why she's conflicted--they only notice when Reha doesn't meet their strict expectations. Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma, although their names are linked--Reha means 'star' and Punam means 'moon'--but they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick. Reha, who dreams of becoming a doctor even though she can't stomach the sight of blood, is determined to make her Amma well again. She'll be the perfect daughter, if it means saving her Amma's life"--Provided by publisher.

"Frances Chin, a 10-year old Chinese-American girl, lives with her immigrant parents and older sister, Clara. At school Frances copes with bullies and the loneliness of not quite fitting in. And at home, her parents are preoccupied with work and worry about Clara, whose hair is inexplicably falling out. But, with the help of her friend Annie, Frances is determined to solve the mystery of Clara's condition"--.

A fictionalized account of the experiences of a Polish Jew, Moishe, who with his parents, brother, and sister, struggles to survive the Nazi invasion and Holocaust.

A multi-generational family history told in the voices of the author's ancestors, spanning enslavement alongside Frederick Douglass at Maryland's Wye House plantation, service in the U.S. Colored Troops, and the founding of all-Black Reconstruction-era communities.

In 1930s Newark, NJ, best friends Tommy and Benny are torn apart when Tommy attends a Nazi youth camp for German Americans, and Benjy forms an anti-Nazi vigilante group.