Memories, Musings and Wishes about Middle Grade Novels in Verse, a guest post by Jean Holmblad

When I started my first professional library job, at the Newton Free Library in Newton, Massachusetts, I was “voluntold” to do writing programs for children. I had never done that before, but I had written poems, was the editor of my high school literary magazine, and truly loved poetry. I agreed to try to do a poetry program. For the course of 22 years, I led a wide variety of poetry programs for children, tweens, and teens. I led Poetry Fests, edited a poetry journal, and wrote weekly haikus for our Twitter account. I taught third graders in their school classrooms how to write haikus.  I was inspired by the Typewriter Rodeo folks to start a Typewriter Poetry Program for teens, where we typed up poems for patrons on the spot. During the pandemic, we had Teen Zoom Poetry once a week for a year.

So, it made sense when novels in verse for youth started becoming popular that my colleagues asked me to focus on this new form. No one else in our large department was particularly interested in poetry, so again, I was “voluntold.” For over 20 years, it has been my great joy to immerse myself in novels in verse.  Middle grade novels in verse have had a long, continually developing history. I would like to highlight some of the events and changes, focus on a few new titles from the past year that knocked my socks off, and finally, present my wishes for further development and change.

Memories

The first middle grade novel in verse I ever encountered was Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, which received the Newbery in 1998; which was extraordinary. Hesse followed up with Witness, another historical fiction, this time showcasing eleven different voices, in 2001.

Then came Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog about a boy, Jack, learning to love poetry in 2001, followed by more of Jack’s story in Hate That Cat in 2008. Books about boys coming to grips with writing poetry? This was an Aha moment: novels in verse can appeal to choosy readers, and are not just for those girls who can read a book a day.

In 2003, Jacqueline Woodson’s first novel in verse appeared: Locomotion. Here was the start of middle grade novels in verse written by diverse authors, writing about diverse kids.

In 2004, we were greeted with Helen Frost’s Spinning Through the Universe: A Novel in Poems from Room 214. She utilized 22 different poetry forms, including the exceedingly difficult villanelle and crown of sonnets. She explained all of the forms in the backmatter, educating both students and teachers!

Ann E. Burg’s All the Broken Pieces, in 2009, beautifully combined historical fiction and baseball. Novels in verse can include sports stories!

In 2011, we discovered the fabulous, Planet Middle School, by quintessential author, Nikki Grimes, about an African-American girl who loves playing basketball. And the diversity just kept coming: in 2011, with Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, in 2012, another prolific novel in verse writer, Margarita Engle, with The Wild Book, and in 2014, Padma Venkatraman’s achingly beautiful A Time to Dance.

In 2015, the children’s literary world would never be the same with the triumph of The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, receiving the Newbery medal. Another aha moment: an African-American author writing a novel in verse about African American boys playing basketball. 

In 2019, we were greeted with an explosion of even more diversity with K. A. Holt’s Redwood and Ponytail. Finally, a book about two girls falling in love, showcasing both of their voices, with a Greek Chorus of Alex, Alyx, and Alexx, mixed in.  More own voices: Chris Baron’s All of Me, about a Jewish boy’s bar Mitzvah; Aida Salazar’s The Moon Within, about a Latina girl getting her period, and her relationship with her best friend, who is transgender; and Jasmine Warga’s Other Words from Home, about a Syrian refugee in America. This trend continued in 2021, and to this day, with Reem Faruqi’s Unsettled, Rajani LaRocca’s Red, White and Whole, and Joseph Bruchac’s Rez Dogs.

Musings

Here are the five recent novels in verse that knocked my socks off:

Isabel in Bloom by Mae Respicio. This is a wonderful story about a Filipina girl that includes fully developed characters, a poignant treatment of immigration, the healing power of gardening, and a gorgeous intergenerational theme. In addition, Respicio embraced gorgeous different forms of poetry, including shape, two voices, reverso, limerick, and tanaga. Don’t get me wrong, I love free verse, and it is one of the easier forms for me to write, but as a poetry geek, I tend to prefer novels in verse where the writer has explored different forms, and those forms are explained in the backmatter. You can tell in this book that Respicio has carefully constructed each and every poem in this book, depending on the character, theme, and plot of the story. On page 360 she stated, “Writing this book was a bit like gardening. I took every poem one step at a time, giving each one love and care, until I had a poetry garden of varying textures and lengths and tones. “ Indeed!

Aniana del Mar Jumps In by Jasmine Mendez. I cannot stop talking about this book. Mendez has written some of the most beautiful shape poems I have ever encountered. “Turtle Shell” on page 92 took my breath away. Her line breaks, playfulness with fonts, and spacing make this book a visual delight as well. She also uses different poetic forms, and discusses them in the back. This illuminating book about a Dominican American girl with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, who loves the sport of swimming, will enchant you.

Game Face by Canadian author, Shari Green. I love that there has been an influx of novels in verse about boys that have mental health issues, and actually talk about their feelings: John Schu’s Louder Than Hunger, Alicia D. Williams Mid Air, and Aida Salazar’s Ultraviolet. In Game Face, both father and son have anxiety, and have to cope with the loss of their wife/mother. Again, to my delight, Green utilizes a wide variety of poetry forms: list, concrete, tricube, ekphrasis, and two voices. This is a fabulous hockey and friendship story, to boot. On page 262, check out one of the best short poems about poetry I’ve encountered!

Wild Dreamers by Margarita Engle. I’ve been an admirer of Engle’s works for years, but this one particularly intrigued me with its love story between Ana and Leandro, its environmental themes discussing youth rewilding and helping with wilderness crossing, and its fabulous magical singing dog, Cielo. The story is told in Ana, Leandro’s, and Cielo’s voices, with the poetry changing for each character. And okay, the cover is gorgeous!

Garvey’s Choice: the Graphic Novel, by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Theodor Taylor III. This book is based on the novel in verse by Nikki Grimes from 2016. I was so worried about this book. I read the graphic novel adaptation of The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile, with great anticipation. However, after reading four pages and seeing that Alexander’s original line breaks were completely changed, and much of the real poetry was lost, I nearly threw the book across the floor! Luckily, in this particular graphic novel version, two- thirds of Grimes’ original tankas are kept intact, with a few spacing changes. The illustrations are wonderful, and really enhance the text.

Wishes

A Wider Variety of Genres

I wholeheartedly agree with Marica Kocel’s Blog post: A Manifesto in Support of Middle School Books, from May 30, 2024.

Like Marica, I would like more murder mysteries in verse. There is only one middle grade mystery that I know of, the fabulous Kaleidoscope Eyes by Jen Bryant, 2009. Middle graders love mysteries, and a clever author can weave a magical novel in verse with red herrings, multiple suspects, and clues hinted along the way. Most novels in verse these days are either realistic or historical fiction. I would also like more horror, science fiction, fantasy, and sports please!

Marica is also right in wanting more humor. I love that novels in verse tackle difficult themes and emotions, but sometimes, you need funny! K.A. Holt wrote a great one called Rhyme Schemer. Why not write a book in limericks? Or rhyming quatrains, such as the oldie but goody, Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston. I loved this book when it came out in 2008, and I loved it a second time when I read it a week ago. And, it turns out, there is a recording of it by Alan Cummings! I only listened to it for five minutes, and I was smitten! The book also has quirky illustrations, and wandering lines, by the way. Do check this one out!

More Illustrations

I know world building can be difficult with these books that tend to be short, but why not include some illustrations, or perhaps turn it into a graphic novel? We all love the white space in novels in verse, but I was delighted with the few illustrations in Mid Air. The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park is another fine example of an illustrated novel in verse. More novels in verse in graphic format please, as long as most of the poetry shines through in its original text, line breaks, spacing, and fonts.

More Different Forms of Poetry

I will repeat: more novels in verse with more than just free verse. It will make the poetry geek in me happy, and many middle grade poetry enthusiasts as well. We need more authors like Nikki Grimes, Helen Frost, Margarita Engle, Jasmine Mendez, and Mae Respicio that relish exploring new poetry forms.

A Diversity of Voices, in Characters and Authors

More intersectionality, please! More LGBTQ+ authors, more men, more novels in verse by two or more authors, such as Mascot by Traci Sorrel and Charles Waters. More novels in verse with multiple voices of characters,  please!

The Sound of Music

Let’s broaden our senses: more novels in verse with playlists, please! While I was reading Garvey’s Choice, I would have loved to listen to the songs that Garvey references. I would have loved a playlist in the back, or maybe a web site with that playlist, or maybe a QR Code that directly links to a recording!

Lastly, here’s my big dream: someone write a middle grade novel in verse as a musical, please!!  And then have folks perform it on stage. You could write ballads, sonnets, limericks, rhyming couplets, hip hop, rap, blues, etc. Many tweens love theatre and musicals, such as & Juliet, Six, Hamilton, so I think they would love this! 

Meet the author

Jean grew up in the Chicago area, and got her BA in anthropology from Grinnell College, in Grinnell, Iowa. She moved to Boston and got a masters in social work, working with children and families. Alas, she burned out, but then worked in an independent bookstore in Newton, MA, where she ran the children’s remainders section. Alas, she broke her foot, which never fully healed. She then got her library sciences degree from Simmons, focusing on youth services. She started volunteering  at the Newton Free Library in 1998, eventually moving from library assistant to full time youth services librarian. She was passionate about middle schoolers and teens,  helped expand teen services, and was instrumental in establishing and developing the new teen/tween area. Jean retired from the Newton Free Library in 2022, but she still volunteers there, focusing on updating booklists, and re-cataloging the non-fiction books. She still manages a Teen Zoom Poetry Program, has started a blog, Book Musings with Jean, and is still pondering about more library adventures to fill her days. She lives with her husband in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a beautiful neighborhood of Boston.  She bleeds Boston Celtics Green, frequents J.P. Licks Ice Cream, owns a typewriter from 1939, still sends snail mail, and can never see enough plays and musicals. She reads all sorts of books (print), and in addition to poetry, she loves Latinx books, graphic novels, mysteries, non-fiction, and horror.

Jean is on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jean.holmblad), Instagram (jeanholmblad), and Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-holmblad-2783a512/. Her blog, Book Musings with Jean, is at:

https://bookmusingswithjean.wordpress.com/2024/01/23/a-new-adventure/.

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