Tag: novel in verse

Girl standing on a hill with arms held out. She's facing fields and mountains. Her shadow looks like a bird. A dog stands next to her.
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Kestrel Takes Flight

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Kestrel Takes Flight* (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2026) by Joy McCullough is such a good read. This novel is written in verse and can be read very quickly, but contains important truths.

It’s the middle of the night and Kestrel’s mom sneaks them out of the house where they live with Grandpa. The two fly from San Diego to Montana for the summer. Kestrel is puzzled over the secrecy and doesn’t understand why they didn’t say good-bye to Grandpa. Or why Mom didn’t tell her about the trip ahead of time. On the plane Mom explains she is going to work at a bear institute. Well, really a dog institute. And Kestrel hates dogs. If Karelian dogs hunt bears, what will they do to a girl?

Intersperses with the poems are letters Kestrel writers in her journal to her grandfather. She plans to show them to him when they get back. In them we see how she changes. (I did feel some of the initial changes happened too quickly.) I love how the first and last poems bookend the story, and how she shows Kestrel’s life experiences expanding. I want to say more, but don’t want to give anything away.

The book is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

Read about Joy and see some of her books here. On this site you can check out her young adult books. Somehow I’ve only read one, Blood Water Paint, and it was fantastic.

*I received a copy for review from the publisher. Thoughts are my own.

cover of Mascot, illustration of white bricks with a painted out mascot logo, two feathers and a tomahawk blade are visible
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Mascot

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Mascot (Charlesbridge, 2023) by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell is a fascinating multi-point of view novel in verse that should be in all school libraries.

Six kids, six opinions about the middle school mascot, a tomahawk-wielding brave, and the first pep rally of the year.

For Callie (Cherokee Nation), it’s hate, fear, and disgust. Franklin (Black) loves the team and the fight song, “We are the mighty, mighty Braves!” and gets his face painted in red and yellow stripes. Luis (El Salvador) thinks all this celebrating should be for futbol–the greatest sport in the world. Priya (grandparents from India) believes the rally is racist. Sean’s (white) too shy to get his face painted but thinks the Braves bring people together. Previously home-schooled vegan Tessa (white) is shocked and thinks it should be stopped. All are in the same eighth grade honors English class.

The assignment: “Persuasive Writing and Oration, “Subject: Pros and Cons of Indigenous Peoples as Mascots.” Each student is matched up with a partner and the pair are told whether to be pro or con on the topic, no matter what they personally believe. No two agree on the issue.

I love how the emotions come through as each express their differences of opinion. Can each student change their partner’s point of view?

The book has received an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor and a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor.

Read about the co-authors here (Charles) and here (Traci). Traci’s books are here and Charles’ here. Previously, I recommended Powwow Day by Traci.

cover of Alone
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Alone

Posted on 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.

cover of The Red Pencil
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Red Pencil

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

The Red Pencil (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2015) by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Shane W. Evans is a book I missed reading, but am glad to have caught up with. Told in verse and with line drawings, it’s heartbreaking, yet hopeful.

In Darfur, Sudan, twelve-year-old Amira, wants the impossible–to go to school and learn to read and write. But her mother says her life will be farming and marriage so there is no need. After the Janjaweed attack her village, the family makes their way to a refugee camp. There a gift of a red pencil gives Amira hope.

Check out the awards and more info on the book here.

Read about Andrea and her other books here and Shane and his books here.

image of Starfish book cover
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Starfish

Posted on 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!)