There are loads of verse novels out there and these are just a few by Black authors. Most of these authors have written multiple verse novels, but only one or two of their verse novels are listed here. If you would like to learn about more verse novels, look up these authors or reach out to us so that we can point you in the right direction.
The Poet X
Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Description: The Poet X is a verse novel about an Afro-Latina girl growing up in Brooklyn as she questions her faith, struggles with her family, and learns how to share her voice as a poet.
Includes: #latinx #afrolatinx #dominican #black #versenovel #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult
Citation: Acevedo, E. (2018). The Poet X. New York: Harperteen.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Crossover
Author: Kwame Alexander
Description: The Crossover is a verse novel about family, basketball, growing up, and the consequences of following the rules. This book centers around a male protagonist.
Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #versenovel #sports #contemporary #middlegradeliterature
Citation: Alexander, K. (2014). The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
The Black Flamingo
Author: Dean Atta
Description: The Black Falmingo is a verse novel about a biracial Black Jamaican and Greek gay teen growing up in the United Kingdom. He struggles to feel like fits in to either side of his identity until he starts University and finds a way to express himself through drag, under the drag name The Black Flamingo.
Includes: #jamaican #british #greek #black #versenovel #contemporary #LGBTQIA #drag #biracial #maleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult
Citation: Atta, D. (2020). The black flamingo. Balzer + Bray.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Dark Sons
Author: Nikki Grimes
Description: Dark Sons is a verse novel told through alternating perspectives of Ishmael from the Bible and a contemporary Black teen boy. Both grapple with the abandonment of their fathers and their love of their half-brothers despite the fact that their father’s seem to love their half-brothers more.
Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #christianity #family #versenovel #contemporary #biblical #youngadultliterature
Citation: Grimes, N. (2007). Dark Sons. Jump At The Sun.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Street Love
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Description: Street Love is a verse novel retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in an urban context.
Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #femaleprotagonist #versenovel #contemporary #youngadultliterature
Citation: Myers W. D. (2006). Street love. Amistad Press.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Long Way Down
Author: Jason Reynolds
Description: Long Way Down is a contemporary verse novel told during the span of one elevator ride in which the protagonist has to decide what he is going to do about the death of his brother. The book features an African American male main character.
Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #intergenerationalviolence #grief #trauma #versenovel #contemporary #youngadultliterature
Citation: Reynolds, J. (2017). Long Way Down. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Brown Girl Dreaming
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Description: Brown Girl Dreaming is an essential verse memoir of the author’s childhood. Woodson shares the experience of growing up as a young Black girl in the 1960 and 1970s in South Carolina and New York where the civil rights movement was growing. Despite having difficulty learning to read as a child, Woodson’s love of writing grows and grows.
Includes: #black #africanamerican #versenovel #memoir #femaleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult
Citation: Woodson, J. (2014). Locomotion. Speak.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Locomotion
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Description: Locomotion is a verse novel about an 11-year-old black boy in the foster care system. The book is told through 60 poems and traces the story of the protagonist as he learns how to share his voice as a poet.
Includes: #black #fosterhome #versenovel #contemporary #maleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult
Citation: Woodson, J. (2004). Locomotion. Speak.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.