Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is on books that are Novels in Verse! Novels in verse are stories that are uniquely told through a series of poems instead of paragraphs; even if you are not the biggest fan of poetry I promise you will enjoy these!! You may not even realize that you are reading poetry as you turn page after page to get to the endings. We have everything this week from sports to historical and survival. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthverse as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new Middle Grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Booked by Kwame Alexander--Nick Hall, a bright eighth-grader, has trouble paying attention in class. Most of his brain time is taken up daydreaming about soccer, or the girl he likes, or his bully problem. Meanwhile, problems at home give him other things to worry about, but he gets help from his best friend and teammate Coby, as well as rapping librarian “The Mac,” who points Nick to inspiring literature when his dreams of soccer take a disappointing turn.
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga--Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative's home in Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries about the family members who were left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises.
American Ace by Marilyn Nelson--One moment, 16-year-old Connor Bianchini is confident in his tight-knit Italian American family identity. The next, his grandmother is dead and has left behind a pair of pilot's wings, a gold class ring from Wilberforce University, and a letter which reveals that Connor's grandfather was not who Connor believed him to be. In truth, Connor's biological grandfather was Ace, an African American fighter pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. Connor and his father Tony embark on a quest to find out just who Ace was, if he is still alive, and what this new racial identity means to them.
House Arrest by K.A. Holt--Young Timothy is sentenced to house arrest after impulsively stealing a wallet, and he is forced to keep a journal into which he pours all his thoughts, fears, and frustrations.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai--When her homeland, Saigon, falls during the Vietnam War, young Ha flees from the country with her mother and three older brothers. Through a series of free-verse poems, Ha chronicles her life-changing journey in 1975 from Guam to America, resettling in Alabama. Ha struggles to assimilate to American culture; the different food and language, the odd landscape, the mean kids, and she still misses her father, who's been missing in action for 9 years.
May B. by Caroline Starr Rose--Living on the Kansas prairie in the late 19th century, Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, May B. for short, knows just how much her family needs money. Because of this, she begrudgingly plays along when she is told she will be hired out to live with and help a family of homesteaders living 15 miles away – but only until Christmas, her father promises. Things start out well enough, but take a dangerous turn when May realizes she has been abandoned in the family's sod house with winter fast approaching. As her food supplies begin to run out, May realizes she must prepare on her own if she will survive and make her way back home.