Get Poetic with These New YA Verse Novels

Told in 14 voices, this is a verse novel based on the true story of the final group of enslaved Africans brought to America. When the Civil War ended, the survivors created their own community called African Town. This is their story through those years and experiences.

Eliza is passionate about fighting climate change. Five years ago, a hurricane impacted her and her community in New Jersey, and since, she’s been passionate about protecting an area of marshland locally–it’s been slated to be turned into buildable lots.

Then Eliza meets Milo and much as she wants to hate him, since he’s the kind of rich tourist turning her community upside down, she begins to learn he’s got deep, Earth-shattering secrets.

A Heart in a Body in the World meets All the Rage in this verse novel about generations of women in the Dovewick family who’ve shoved down their experiences, thoughts, and realities into a series of journals that have then been passed down again and again. It is Mimi, our 2022 entry, who works to break the cycle.

This book dives into sexual abuse and high-profile #metoo allegations and the impact that has on the survivors and their families. Even deeper, though, is how stories like these have played out in every generation, wherein women are told to be one thing, pinned to a photo of that image, and are unable to break outside those lines for fear of what may or may not happen if they do.

Aaron and Oliver have always been close. Their small, rural town didn’t allow them to meet many other queer young people, and they’ve shared numerous milestones together as trans teens. When Aaron moves away, the pair are rocked and challenged, but they find solace in seeking out stories of American heroes of the past they believed to be queer. It’s through reclaiming the stories of the past that Aaron and Oliver — their adopted names — are able to better understand themselves and relationship to one another.

Set in 1930s Berlin, this novel follows Hilde, who, at 18, is trying to find a job. She takes one at a cabaret as a dancer, where she meets Rosa, another waitress and performer. It’s not a safe time to be queer, but even amid burgeoning war and protest, Hilde wrestles with owning who she is and who she truly loves.

Culley’s next novel is a moving story about a girl named Rynn. She knows she is adopted and even though her records are closed until she turns 18, she decides to seek out her birth mother. Her birth mother may no longer be alive, but when Rynn discovers she has a biological sister in foster care, she wants to reconnect. But that reconnection may cost her her adoptive family.

Set over a single day, Woodfolk’s first novel in verse is a story about queer love, passion, and about how the past and present braid themselves together.

Mack, who is 15, is a romantic. He’s over the moon when long-time crush Karim becomes his boyfriend, but when Mack’s father’s new job forces him to move to another country, Karim makes no effort to keep their relationship alive. Then Mack meets Finlay and starts to fall…and now he doesn’t know if, where, or how to tell Karim.

Poetry, prose, and vignettes tell Angel’s story in Browne’s sophomore novel. Angel’s prior relationship with Darius felt like it was solid, but then the incident happened. No longer was Angel in California but in a new home in Brooklyn. She believes every one in her school knows what happens, but she finds tremendous solace–and healing–in the poetry and novels of powerful Black writers in her literature class.