Top Ten Tuesday
Another "Poetry Month" theme for my Top Ten Tuesday posts, today I am off-the-board listing
Favorite Books Written in Verse
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo---
Amazingly the story is told from the point-of-view of two narrators and the poetry for each person's voice is decidedly different. Excellent.
Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo---
An award-winning novel by the same author as above. It is about a girl who finds slam poetry as a way of coping with her family life. Oddly for a novel written in verse, none of the slam poems were included.
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson---
This autobiography, written in verse, is by the author of Speak. It covers tough topics but one can understand where the 'inspiration' for her award-winning novel came from.
Audacity by Melanie Crowder---
This novel written in verse is based on a real-life person, Clara Lemlich, who fought for the labor rights of women working in the clothing industry after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that killed so many women. Crowder's poetry is top notch.
An Uninterrupted View of the Sky by Melanie Crowder---
Another excellent book based on a real-life problem in Columbia: the incarceration of poor people who cannot pay for legal assistance. A tough topic but the story was beautiful in verse.
Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough---
Based ona real historical figure and a phenomenal female artist, Artemisia Gentileschi, who was painting during the Renaissance when only men were allowed in the artists guilds. When she encounters a situation that would break most people she kept her head up and kept painting. I was tremendously moved by this book, written in verse.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds---
Reynolds is an awesome writer and I was even more impressed by him when I read this book which is about a boy who is considering the use of a gun as retribution for the death of a sibling. Boy, this book is powerful.
October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Leslea Newman---
Matthew Shepard was murdered because he was gay. This book written in beautiful verses about his life and his last day. Powerful and heartbreaking.
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott---
Elliott is a poet and experiments with a variety of poetic forms in this novel about a historic heroine. This is one to savor.
Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes---
In her own voice, author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a memoir in verse.
-Anne
As a style, books in verse and I wouldn't get along. Of this I'm quite sure. That said, I have heard LOTS of people love Elizabeth's books. :)
ReplyDeleteAudacity sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-id-gladly-throw-into-the-ocean/
The poet x was fabulous; I adore Elizabeth's writing style and long way down and clap when you land are both on my TBR! Fabulous list.
ReplyDeleteHere's mine: https://booksandbouquets.blogspot.com/2021/04/top-10-tuesday-books-id-gladly-throw.html
I have to throw in there Out of the Dust. I keep thinking about how much I liked this story as I slog through The Four Winds. Talk about a book I'd like to throw in the ocean....
ReplyDeleteA gal in my book club LOVES Four Winds and just about moved into it. Now I'll approach it with more caution.
DeleteLove, love, love how you approached this week. I'm a total sucker for novels in verse. I'll read almost any of them. Long Way Down and October Mourning are two of my favorites. I seriously need to get around to Clap When You Land, though.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad An Uninterrupted View of the Sky is on your list! I thought it was a really good book, but haven't seen anyone else who has read it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any books in verse yet (I think), but I've been meaning to try Elizabeth Acevedo for some time!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of books! I want to read Acevedo, too. I was led to believe Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo was written in verse, but it wasn't really, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to challenge myself to read more books in verse.
ReplyDeleteI love novels in verse!! The Poet X is fantastic. One of my favorites is Other Words for Home if you haven’t read that one yet!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds are a couple of my favorites. Great picks this week!
ReplyDeleteI love this! I cannot wait to read Clap When You Land. I'm glad to see it on your list!!
ReplyDelete