Book Recommendations: Poetry

A modern twist on the Theseus and Minotaur myth, told in verse.

When hospitalized for her clinical depression, Whimsy connects with a boy named Faerry, who also suffers from the traumatic loss of a sibling, and together they work to unearth buried memories and battle the fantastical physical embodiment of their depression.

Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez--a biracial Jewish girl--finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents' desire for her to pursue a more stable career. When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt's cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago

Tells the story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenges the Nazi regime during World War II as part of the White Rose, a non-violent resistance group.

Over the course of one wild and reckless day, two best friends become something more and the depth of their past, the confusion of the present, and the unpredictability of their future is revealed.

Sixteen-year-olds Camino Rios, of the Dominican Republic, and Yahaira Rios, of New York City, are devastated to learn of their father's death in a plane crash and stunned to learn of each other's existence. A novel in verse told in two voices.

All his life, Michael has navigated what it means to be Greek-Cypriot and Jamaican--but never quite feeling Greek or Black enough. As he gets older, Michael's coming out is only the start of learning who he is and where he fits in. When he discovers the Drag Society, he finally finds where he belongs--and the Black Flamingo is born.

Picked on at home, criticized for talking trash while beating boys at basketball, and always seen as less than her best friend, a girl struggles to like and accept herself.

For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean Mercury Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it. Until they're not.

Nima movingly unravels themes of belonging, Islamophobia, and the interlocking oppressions thrust upon immigrant women as she discovers secrets about her family and fights for her identity in a new country.

Zeke knows he and his mom will be stuck forever struggling to make ends meet if he doesn't find some money fast. When Zeke starts working at a local pizza place, he meets labor activists who want to give him a voice, and the living wage he deserves for his work.

Driven by the secrets and vengeance that mark his street culture, 15-year-old Will contemplates over the course of 60 psychologically suspenseful seconds whether or not he is going to murder the person who killed his brother.

Novel in verse about a boy who keeps his sense of humanity despite being wrongfully incarcerated.

Rex Ogle's companion to Free Lunch and Punching Bag weaves humor, heartbreak, and hope into life-affirming poems that honor his grandmother's legacy.

Walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement-from the well-documented events that shaped the nation's treatment of Black people, beginning with the 'Separate but Equal' ruling-and introduces lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation's centuries-long fight for justice and equality.

The author reflects on her childhood in the 1950s and her development as an artist and young woman through fifty poems that consider such influences as the Civil Rights Movement, the "Red Scare" era, and the feminist movement.

A memoir that shares the author's life, covering her rape at thirteen, her difficult early childhood, and her experiences surrounding her publication of 'Speak.'

Eric Gansworth tells the story of his life and family through poems about their Onondaga heritage, from the horrible legacy of government boarding schools, to watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to his fight to be an artist who balances multiple worlds.

Author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a compelling and moving memoir in verse.

he author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South.

The seven-time NAACP Image Award-winning poet unapologetically celebrates her heritage in a deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society and the depths of her own heart.

A powerful biography in poems about Augusta Savage, the trailblazing artist and pillar of the Harlem Renaissance-with an afterword by the curator of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

"Elizabeth Acevedo embraces all the complexities of Black hair and Afro-Latinidad--the history, pain, pride, and powerful love of that inheritance.

An ode to the poet's grandmother and childhood home, the Ida B. Wells Projects, both which the poet lost to city- and state-sanctioned discrimination. The poems investigates loss and gentrification, particularly their effects on black young people from Chicago, thier political movement, resilience, and ability to make celebration after pain.

A collection of poems written by rap artist and actor Tupac Shakur at the age of nineteen.

The presidential inaugural poet--and new voice in American poetry--presents a collection of poems that includes the poem read at the inauguration of the forty-sixth President of the United States.

These poems dispel the notion that there is one correct way to be a Muslim by holding space for multiple, intersecting identities while celebrating and protecting those identities.

A smash up of art and text that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now.

Jackie Wang's debut collection of poetry that attempts to speak in the language of dreams.

When You Hear Me (You Hear Us) is an anthology of poetry and personal stories centering the voices of those directly impacted by the incarceration of young people in the United States. These critical voices, uniquely combined, illustrate the ecosystem that surrounds youth who are incarcerated--and expose the ripple effects that touch us all.

Grouped by emotional experience, these poems offer wisdom, compassion, and permission let go of shame and perfectionism. By accepting your own contradictions, you can embrace the fullness of who you are-- and of who you are becoming.

Contains the first collection of poems by Natalie Diaz often focusing on being a Native American in the United States.

Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists insisting that Black Lives Matter.

A collection of poetry in which Danez celebrates friendship while also examining the lives of African-American men.