Young Adult & Middle Grade Black Verse Novels

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.

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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.

 
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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.

 
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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.

 
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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.

 
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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.

 
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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.

 
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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.

 
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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.

Black Bisexual Young Adult Literature

Here is a list of four books by Black authors which discuss the spectrum of bisexuality. They discuss bisexual asexuality, bisexual girls, bisexual boys, and the spectrum of sexuality that can exist within a person.

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Let’s Talk About Love

Author: Claire Kann

Description: Let’s Talk About Love is a contemporary love story between an African American bi-romantic asexual girl and a Japanese American boy.

Includes: #bisexual #asexual #biromantic #LGBTQIA #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #japanese #femaleprotagonist #contemporary #interraciallove

Citation: Kann, C. (2018). Let’s Talk About Love. Swoon Reads.

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.

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Little & Lion

Author: Brandy Colbert

Description: Little & Lion is about a bisexual Black girl coming to terms with her identity and her white step brother who is dealing with his recently diagnosed bipolar disorder. Both are both are falling for the same girl. This book also has lesbian characters, a prominent biracial Korean/Black character who wears a hearing aid, interracial relationships, references to abortion, and discussions around what it means to be loyal and what it means to care.

Includes: #bisexual #LGBTQIA #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #contemporary #mentalhealth #bipolar #judaism #youngadultliterature

Citation: Colbert, B. (2017). Little & Lion. Little, Brown.

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.

Odd One Out

Author: Nic Stone

Description: Odd One Out is a contemporary novel about three friends and their complicated love triangle. The triangle includes bisexual love interests and three alternating perspectives.

Includes: #bisexual #lovetriangle #interraciallove #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #latinx #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist

Citation: Stone, N. (2018). Odd One Out. Crown Books for Young Readers.

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.

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Home and Away

Author: Candice Montgomery

Description: Home and Away is a contemporary coming of age novel about a Black teen girl from a wealthy family. She goes through a journey of thinking about her identity as Black and what that means to her. She also builds a friendship and relationship with an artsy bisexual boy.

Includes: #black #bisexual #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #contemporary #femaleprotagonist

Citation: Montgomery, C. (2018). Home and away. Page Street Kids.

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.