A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry, telling a story of novel-length through the medium of poetry rather than prose. There will usually be a large cast, multiple voices, dialogue, narration, description, and action in a novelistic manner.

We love a verse novel here at LoveReading4Kids and they are a brilliant way of engaging the most reluctant of readers, as well as offering something different to avid readers and lovers of poetry.

We'd like to share some of our favourite writers of the form.

The go-to writer of the free verse novel in the UK and Ireland, Crossan won the 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as the YA Book Prize, the CBI Book of the Year Award and the CLiPPA Poetry Award for her novel, One.  

It is a heartbreaking story, told in verse, of conjoined twins and their everyday life and loves at school and home, fully deserving of its award-winning status.

Stateside Kwame Alexander is a poet, children's book author, playwright, producer, public speaker, performer, and winner of the Newbery Medal for his novel-in-verse, The Crossover. He is a master of the form, using sophisticated poetic devices throughout each of his novels to propel the story and engage even the most reluctant reader. 

An original masterpiece The Crossover is absolutely stunning, both visually and emotionally,  a story about basketball playing twins, Josh and Jordan. Fresh, funny and heart achingly sad, it is a dynamic, vital and gripping story in verse.

Elizabeth Acevedo burst onto the scene in 2019 and is the New York Times bestselling and 2019 Carnegie Medal winning author of The Poet X, a sparky, poignant novel-in-verse in which an unforgettable Latino teenager finds the freedom of “learning to believe in the power of my own words”.

One of our favourite poets Matt Goodfellow has a verse novel out that we want to shout about from the rooftops. Matt is a brilliant writer and performance poet and an inspiration to us all. Navigating family and friendship issues make for a tough final year of primary school in The Final Year. Awarded a Star Book by our team it is a highly accessible, lyrical and life affirming read. A must-have novel that will authentically resonate with so many under- represented children and perfectly captures what this crucial transition period feels like. As such, it is a must read for adults as well as the children who will devour it. The follow up The First Year arrives in 2025 - and we cannot wait!

We also have to shout about Carnegie-Medal winning Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher. Suitable for 13+ readers, it's an immersive and powerful verse novel about terrifying county lines child exploitation. It should be read by every child, every teacher in every school. 

And our beloved former Children's Laureate 2022-2024 Joseph Coelho also won the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024 with The Boy Lost in the Maze: a powerful verse novel about manhood and two boys’ journey towards it for 13+ / YA readers.

Using the much-interpreted legend of Theseus and the Minotaur – a journey full of dangers and threat, as well as a search for a father as a basis Coelho then weaves around it the story of Theo – also on a journey to find his father.

See below for some of our favourite verse novels from these writers, as well as a selection of other novels in verse that we believe should be shouted about from the rooftops.

Enjoy!