Ages 8-12; Gr.5-9; Pura Belpré Author Honor Award.
Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani's stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease.

Ages 14 and up; Gr.7 and up.
In the room beneath a stage's trapdoor, Shakespeare's dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words. Bestselling author Joy McCullough offers a brilliant testament to how young women can support each other and reclaim their stories in the aftermath of trauma.

Ages 10-13; Gr.5-7.
The inspirational true story of how twenty-two-year-old Henny Sinding courageously helped smuggle hundreds of Jewish families in occupied Denmark to safety in Sweden during the Holocaust. In 1943, Henny Sinding, only twenty-two years old, and the crew of Gerda lll, a lighthouse supply boat, risked everything to smuggle their Jewish compatriots across the Øresund strait to safety in Sweden during World War ll.

Ages 9-12; Gr.5-7; Coretta Scott King author honor 2024.
An "imaginative and moving" portrait of a Black family tree shaped by enslavement and freedom, rendered in searing poems by acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford and stunning art by her son Jeffery Boston Weatherford. Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford's ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal yet all too universal.

Ages 10-12; Gr.5-6.
An insightful novel in verse about the joys and struggles of a Chicana girl who is a warrior for her name, her history, and her right to choose what she celebrates in life.

Ages 12 and up; Gr.7+.
A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America.

Ages 10-14.
From the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winning author Kwame Alexander, comes the first book in a searing, breathtaking trilogy that tells the story of a boy, a village, and the epic odyssey of an African family. In his village in Upper Kwanta, 11-year-old Kofi loves his family, playing oware with his grandfather and swimming in the river Offin. He's warned though, to never go to the river at night.

Ages 7-9; Gr.5-8.
This stunning meeting of poetic form and luminous artwork transports us out of the bounds of Earth, past a lunar eclipse, beyond the orbiting planets, and into glowing galaxies and twinkling constellations. Sally M. Walker uses her award-winning skill as a writer of nonfiction to explore space through clever haiku, accompanied by narrative explanations of wonders that are out of this world.

Ages 10 and up; Gr.5 and up.
Acclaimed novelist Ibi Zoboi illuminates the young life of the visionary storyteller Octavia E. Butler in poems and prose. Born into the Space Race, the Red Scare, and the dawning Civil Rights Movement, Butler experienced an American childhood that shaped her into the groundbreaking science-fiction storyteller whose novels continue to challenge and delight readers fifteen years after her death.

Ages 10-14; Gr.5-9
Thirteen-year-old Ava loves to surf and to sing. Singing and reading Rumi poems settle her mild OCD, and catching waves with her best friend, Phoenix, lets her fit in-her olive skin looks tan, not foreign. But then Ava has to spend the summer before ninth grade volunteering at the hospital, to follow in her single mother's footsteps to become a doctor. And when Phoenix's past lymphoma surges back, not even surfing, singing, or poetry can keep them afloat, threatening Ava's hold on the one place and the one person that make her feel like she belongs.

Ages 12 and up, Gr.7 and up.
From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" list, this powerful novel-in-verse captures one girl, caught between cultures, on an unexpected journey to face the ephemeral girl she might have been.

Ages 10-14; Gr.5-9.
From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance--paired with full-color, original art from today's most talented female African-American illustrators.

Ages 8-12; Gr.5 and up; Newbery award honor, 2022.
Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she's the only Indian American student, and home, with her family's traditions and holidays. But Reha's parents don't understand why she's conflicted--they only notice when Reha doesn't meet their strict expectations. Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma. Although their names are linked--Reha means "star" and Punam means "moon"--they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick.

Lexile measure HL630L; Ages 10-13; Gr.5-7; Printz Award Honor, 2022.
Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant debut novel-in-verse. Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she's been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules-like "no making waves," "avoid eating in public," and "don't move so fast that your body jiggles." And she's found her safe space-her swimming pool-where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world.

Gr.6 and up; Ages 12 and up.
You Don't Have to Be Everything is filled with work by a wide range of female poets who are honest, unafraid, and so wonderfully skillful at addressing the big feelings of coming-of-age - aloneness, longing, doubt, fear, sadness, anger, a need for approval, and an attitude that pretends none of it matters.

Ages 12-18; Gr.7-12.
The term "Apple" is a slur in Native communities across the country. It's for someone supposedly "red on the outside, white on the inside." In APPLE (SKIN TO THE CORE), Eric Gansworth tells his story, the story of his family--of Onondaga among Tuscaroras--of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds. Eric shatters that slur and reclaims it in verse and prose and imagery that truly lives up to the word heartbreaking.

Ages 12+.
A New York Times bestseller and one of 2019's best-reviewed books, a poetic memoir and call to action from the award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson! Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault.

Lexile measure 1080; Ages 12-18; Gr.7 and up.
A gorgeous and timely novel based on the incredible story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenged the Nazi regime during World War II as part of The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group. Disillusioned by the propaganda of Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl, her brother, and his fellow soldiers formed the White Rose, a group that wrote and distributed anonymous letters criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for action from their fellow German citizens.

Ages 10 and up; Gr.7 and up.
Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Mexican-American Poet Laureate in the USA, is sharing secrets: how to turn your wonder at the world around you into weird, wild, incandescent poetry.

Lexile measure 1300; Ages 12-17; Gr.7 and up.
Thousands of young Navy sailors are pouring into Los Angeles on their way to the front lines of World War II. They are teenagers, scared, longing to feel alive before they have to face the horrors of battle. Hot jazz music spiced with cool salsa rhythms calls them to dance with the local Mexican American girls, who jitterbug all night before working all day in the canneries.

Lexile 610L; Ages 12-14.
This poignant novel in verse based on true events tells the story of a boy's harrowing experience on a lifeboat after surviving a torpedo attack during World War II. With Nazis bombing London every night, it's time for thirteen-year-old Ken to escape. He suspects his stepmother is glad to see him go, but his dad says he's one of the lucky ones--one of ninety boys and girls to ship out aboard the SS City of Benares to safety in Canada.

Lexile measure HL800L; Ages 13 and up; Gr.7 and up; National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award.
Novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

Lexile measure HL640L; Ages 9-13; Gr.7 and up.
Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he'd give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy, including the loss of his mother.

Lexile measure 850; Ages 8-12; Gr.5-8.
Twelve-year-old Güero, a red-headed, freckled Mexican American border kid, discovers the joy of writing poetry, thanks to his seventh grade English teacher.

Gr.6 and up.
From the New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes an emotional, special new collection of poetry inspired by the Harlem Renaissance--paired with full-color, original art from today's most exciting African-American illustrators.

Lexile measure 1090; Ages 11-14.
Pamela L. Laskin's beautiful and lyrical novel in verse delivers a fresh and captivating retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet that transports the star-crossed lovers to the modern-day Israel-Palestine conflict.

Lexile measure 660; Ages 11-13; Gr.5-8.
Soccer, family, love, and friendship, take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Lexile measure 1120; Ages 12-18; Gr.5-8.
In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpré Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother's tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island.

Lexile measure 790; Ages 11-15.
This novel-in-verse about fitting in and standing up for what's right It's 1969, and the Apollo 11 mission is getting ready to go to the moon. But for half-black, half-Japanese Mimi, moving to a predominantly white Vermont town is enough to make her feel alien.

Lexile measure 990; Ages 8 and up; Gr. 5 and up.
National Book Award Winner Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place.

Ages 10-14; Gr.6-9.
Set in 1981 Guatemala, a lyrical debut novel tells the powerful tale of a boy who must decide what it means to be a man during a time of war.

Ages 10 and up; Gr.7-12; Coretta Scott King Author Award honor, 2015.
A powerful and thought-provoking Civil Rights era memoir from one of America's most celebrated poets. Looking back on her childhood in the 1950s, Newbery Honor winner and National Book Award finalist Marilyn Nelson tells the story of her development as an artist and young woman through fifty eye-opening poems.

Lexile measure HL620; Ages 11-15; Gr.6-9.
"Amira, look at me," Muma insists. She collects both my hands in hers. "The Janjaweed attack without warning. If ever they come-- run." Finally, Amira is twelve. Old enough to wear a toob, old enough for new responsibilities. And maybe old enough to go to school in Nyala-- Amira's one true dream. But life in her peaceful Sudanese village is shattered when the Janjaweed arrive. The terrifying attackers ravage the town and unleash unspeakable horrors.

Ages 8-12; gr.5-8.
In this outstanding picture book collection of poems by Newbery Honor-winning poet, Joyce Sidman, discover how animals stay alive in the wintertime and learn about their secret lives happening under the snow.

Lexile measure 590; Ages 10-14; Gr.5-8.
Serafina has a secret dream. She wants to go to school and become a doctor with her best friend Julie Marie. But in their rural village outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti, many obstacles stand in Serafinas way: little money, never-ending chores and Manmans worries.

Ages 11 and up; Gr. 7-12.
Calls up ancient forms of the spoken word and translates them into the twenty-first century.

Lexile measure 1170; Ages 12-15; Gr.7-10.
Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away his ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba.

Book level 6.4, Ages 12 and up; Gr.7-12.
It is 1896. Cuba has fought three wars for independence and still is not free. People have been rounded up in reconcentration camps with too little food and too much illness. Rosa is a nurse, but she dares not go to the camps. So she turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her.

Book level 3.5; Ages 12-16; Gr.6-10.
A 15-year-old girl named Jessie voices typical--and not so typical--teenage concerns in this unique, hilarious collection of poems. Her musings about trying out new makeup and hairstyles, playing volleyball and cello, and dealing with her annoying younger brother are never boring or predictable.

Ages 10-15; book level 5.9; poetry, middle school & high school.
Two renowned poets tell the story of Prudence Crandall and her black students, who endured the cruelty of prejudice and hateful actions for the sake of their education.

Lexile measure 890; Ages 13-18; Gr. 7-12; Guided reading Z.
An award-winning novel about growing up and making choices Virginia Euwer Wolff's groundbreaking novel, written in free verse, tells the story of fourteen-year-old LaVaughn, who is determined to go to college--she just needs the money to get there. When she answers a babysitting ad, LaVaughn meets Jolly, a seventeen-year-old single mother with two kids by different fathers.

Book level 5.4 ; Ages 12 and up; gr.7-12.
This story told in free verse is set against a background of street gangs and poverty in Harlem in which seventeen-year-old African American Damien takes a bold step to ensure that he and his new love will not be separated.

Grade level 4.7; Poetry & rhymes, gr. 5-12.
Presents poems and brief biographical notes about such well-known African Americans as: Arthur Ashe, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Louis Armstrong, Martin Luther King, Jr., Satchel Paige, Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, Jesse Owens, Marian Anderson, Malcolm X, Wilma Rudolph, and Billie Holiday.