Contemporary Teen Novels in Verse

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Teen books
• Contemporary time period
• Novels in verse

Make Lemonade
By Virginia Euwer Wolff
YA F WOLFF
“This word COLLEGE is in my house--and you have to walk around it in the rooms--like furniture.” So LaVaughn, an urban 14-year-old, tries to earn the money she needs to make college a reality by babysitting for Jolly, an abused, 17-year-old single parent.

Seedfolks
By Paul Fleischman
YA F FLEISCHM
One by one, a number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city into a productive and beautiful garden, and in doing so, the gardeners are themselves transformed.

Keesha’s House
By Helen Frost
YA F FROST
Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, foster care, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

Bronx Masquerade
By Nikki Grimes
YA F GRIMES
While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they’ve written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.

Glimpse
By Carol Lynch Williams
YA F WILLIAMS
Living with their mother who earns money as a prostitute, two sisters take care of each other and when the older one attempts suicide, the younger one tries to uncover the reason.