Ages 4-8; PrK-Gr.3.
Equal parts heart-melting and stinky, The Smell of Wet Dog is a must-have illustrated poetry book for every young canine fan. The smell of wet dog is not a good smell. When a dog is wet it's easy to tell. Imagine moose and skunk perfume. An odiferous stench, a paint-peeling plume. Beloved author and illustrator Barney Saltzberg offers up twenty-seven poems on the evergreen topic of human's best friend.

Ages 8-12; Gr.3-7.
This heartfelt coming-of-age novel in verse tells the powerful story of a seventh-grade Syrian American boy and his struggles, big and small, as he navigates middle school.

Ages 4-8; PrK-Gr.3.
Cece Bell loves music and collecting old record albums, especially albums featuring animal artists. The bouncing harmonies of the Barbershop Beagles, the elegant crooning of the elephant Ella Fontaine, the hilarious rhymes of the Hip-Hop Hedgehogs--all are represented in this quirky ABC book that draws on the creator's personal collection of albums, memorabilia, and lyrics dating between 1944 and 1984, the heyday of album design.

Ages 12-17; Gr.7-9; Coretta Scott King award author honor, 2025; Walter Dean Myers award, 2025.
In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renée Watson writes about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender. Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power.

Ages 1-5; PrK-K.
Discover the timeless magic of Muggleswick Wood in this beautiful treasury of five interlinked bedtime stories. From fairy revels and mysterious kelpies to troublesome moles and wishing beetles, the wood is a place of magic and adventure--all brought to life in delightful rhyme that celebrates the beauty of the English countryside.

Ages 8-12; Gr.3-7.
Three women narrate a perilous wagon journey westward that could set them free--or cost them everything they have--in this intergenerational verse novel that explores the history of the Black homesteader movement.

Ages 10-18; Gr.7-9.
Millions of Africans were enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade, but few recorded their personal experiences. Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is perhaps the most well known of the autobiographies that exist. Using this narrative as a primary source text, authors Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge share Equiano's life story in "found verse," supplemented with annotations to give readers historical context.

Ages 10 and up; Gr.5-8.
A tender-souled boy reeling from the death of his best friend struggles to fit into a world that wants him to grow up tough and unfeeling in this stunning illustrated middle grade novel in verse "full of vulnerability and hope" from the Newbery Honor-winning author of Genesis Begins Again.

Ages 7-9; Gr.2-4.
Lurking at the center of our galaxy and in the farthest reaches of space are black holes. Once unseeable and unknowable, these cosmic devourers--sometimes born from the death of stars--swallow even light itself. What exactly is a black hole? And how do we even know they exist? In a kid-friendly, rhyming narration, the elusive astronomical object introduces itself as both a behemoth star-eater and a shy, rarely-spotted phenomena.