Stuff for the Teen Age, Poetry, Biblio File
National Poetry Month: 5 New York-Based Novels Told In Verse
April is National Poetry Month, which means it’s time to explore the wide, wide world of poetry! Today, we'll focus on narrative poetry by looking at a selection of novels told in verse.
Narrative poetry has been a method for telling stories in verse for hundreds of years, and includes epics and ballads. There’s been a recent resurgence of novels told in verse—giving us all far more narrative poetry options if Beowulf just isn’t your thing.
Narrative poetry is awesome because a) it doesn't have to rhyme, and b) it can be told within any type of genre!
So, here are five novels, all told in verse and all set in New York! No matter your favorite genre—historical fiction, suspense—there’s something for you.
1. Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside A Cereal Box by Juan Felipe Herrera
Yolanda, a Puerto Rican girl, tries coming to terms with her painful past as she waits to see if her uncle will recover from injuries suffered when the World Trade Center towers collapsed on September 11, 2001.
2. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
There are three rules in the neighborhood: don't cry, don't snitch, and get revenge. These rules lead Will to take his dead brother Shawn's gun and get in the elevator on the 7th floor. As the elevator stops on each floor, someone connected to Shawn gets on. Someone already dead by teenage gun violence. And each has something to share with Will.
3. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
In her Harlem neighborhood, Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide. Ever since her body grew curves, she has learned to let her fists and fierceness do the talking. Fighting against social pressures and her mother's expectations, Xiomara pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook. When she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she can't stop thinking about performing her poems.
4. Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen
In 1993 New York City, high school senior Mira uncovers many secrets, including her father having a male lover. But Mira finds that's not all her father has kept hidden, as a shocking health scare brings to light his battle with HIV. As Mira struggles to make sense of the many fractures in her family's fabric, and redefine her wavering sense of self, she must find a way to reconnect with her dad—while there is still time.
5. Audacity by Melanie Crowder
Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who came to New York at the turn of the 20th century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. For years, Clara devotes herself to the labor fight, refusing to accept substandard working conditions in the factories on Manhattan's Lower East Side, fighting against societal conventions, and speaking up for those who suffer in silence. In time, Clara convinces the women in the factories to strike, organize, and unionize, culminating in the famous Uprising of the 20,000.
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