middle grade novel in verse

Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Alone

Posted on February 24, 2025February 4, 2026 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Alone (Aladdin, 2021) by Megan E. Freeman is a fascinating near future novel-in-verse that shouldn’t be missed.

Twelve-year-old Maddie wakes up in her small Colorado town and finds herself completely alone. No family. No friends. No neighbors. Not even strangers. Maddie discovers a rottweiler named George, and must keep them both alive without electricity, running water, or anyone to help.

This was a hard to put down story. I love that we along with Maddie don’t know what happened.

And it has won many awards:
Alone is a “New York Times bestseller, winner of the Colorado Book Award, the High Plains Book Award, the California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Japan, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Vermont Children’s Book Awards, an NCTE Notable Verse Novel, and named on dozens of ‘best of’ book lists.” Wow!

Just this month, a companion book set in the same story universe, has come out. It’s called Away. I’m really looking forward to it.

Read about Megan here.

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Starfish

Posted on November 29, 2021February 4, 2026 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

This book is for the big girls. And for those who need to understand how hurtful words can be. And for those needing more love.

Starfish (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2021) by Lisa Fipps is so well written.

This novel-in-verse is such a heart-wrenching believable story of Ellie who is often called Splash or Whale. It felt so true I found myself getting angry at Ellie’s mother. Why doesn’t she stop Ellie’s siblings from teasing her? Why doesn’t she see her daughter’s strengths? But with help Ellie learns how to speak up not only to bullies at school but to her own mother.

And I’m not alone in thinking this book is great. Go here to see all the Best Book lists it’s being put on.

This is the author’s debut novel. Can’t wait to see what else she writes. Read about Lisa here. (I enjoyed her sense of humor!)

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Other Words for Home

Posted on November 15, 2021February 4, 2026 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Other Words For Home (Balzer + Bray, 2019) by Jasmine Warga is a Newbery Honor book and a New York Times bestseller. It’s written in verse and is a story of bravery. I wish everyone could read it to help their understanding of refugees and immigrants.

Jude and her mother have to leave Syria because of the violence and come to America to live with Uncle Mazin in Cincinnati. It’s so hard to leave behind Baba and her older brother. She quickly learns that her English isn’t good as she thought. As her brother told her, she must “be brave.” At first she dreads her ESL class until she learns the others there understand how difficult it is to find the right words. But her cousin doesn’t want to associate with her at school. Finding a few friends helps Jude have the courage to follow her dreams and she tries out for the school play. Will being in the spotlight make her life better or worse? And what about the dangers her brother is in?

Jasmine has written another middle grade novel called The Shape of Thunder and has published three young adult novels. Read more about her here.

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Somewhere Among

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Susan Uhlig

SomewhereAmong Somewhere Among (A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, 2016) by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu is such a good book. It’s told in verse and the sparse language works so well.
Ema has a Japanese father and an American mother. Usually, she gets to spend the end of the summer in California with her mom and Grandpa Bob and Nana. But this year, her mother is expecting a baby and needs rest, so beginning in June, she and Ema will stay with Jiichan and Obaachan in western Tokyo. And it’s not going to be easy–especially with Papa working so far away. Then shortly after school starts, the whole world changes with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Listen to Ema herself:
At home
with Mom and Papa
I am
between
two cultures
two languages
two time zones
every day.
Everywhere I go
here or there
I am different.
Doesn’t that just pull your heartstrings?
Read about the author and her family here.

Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Inside Out and Back Again

Posted on September 17, 2012February 4, 2026 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

The Newbery honor book Inside Out and Back Again (HarperCollins, 2011) by Thanhha Lai is written in verse snapshots. Here’s a brief summary of the story:
It’s 1975, 10-year-old Hà, her mother and 3 older brothers must leave Saigon, Vietnam. Schools were closed a month early, the president has resigned, the communists are coming. They pack up and head for the Navy ships to escape. They end up on the island of Guam and then in Alabama.