Verse Novels for Primary Children

Written in different forms of poetry and told as a flashback, this is a heart-wrenching story that offers many possibilities for engagement and discussion. Dealing with themes of bullying, courage, unlikely friendships, loyalty and betrayal, this book explores a child’s ability to perceive everyday experiences in a multi-sensory way.

Davey is new at school and attracts the attention of the school bully, Sam, who makes fun of the holes in his jumper and his unusual ideas. But then Davey heroically saves Sam’s life and the pair become friends. Davey shares a secret with Sam, but when Sam betrays that secret it puts Davey in a life-threatening situation which changes everything.

This is an extraordinary verse novel about the final year of primary school, told through poetry. The verse captures the character of Year 6 pupil Nate as he navigates issues of school, family illness, emotions, change and friendships. Year 6 is a difficult year for many children, and whilst they are unlikely to have it quite as difficult as Nate, the book still captures some of that flavour, including the run-up to SATs, friendship issues and anxiety during a time when a sense of big changes is in the air.

Through his powerful verses, ex-primary school teacher Matt Goodfellow pays testament to the impact of a great teacher in supporting pupils through this time as well as the power of words and writing to help manage big emotions.

This is a very emotional and immersive story. A mature child will be able to ‘read between the lines’ and understand the text at a deeper level, even in Year 6. A great Y6  transition read!

The First Year by Matt Goodfellow is the highly anticipated sequel to the emotionally powerful The Final Year. The previous book has made a profound impact on readers and significantly boosted the popularity of verse novels for Key Stage 2. The First Year follows into KS3, on as Nate navigates the ups and downs of his first year of secondary.

Matt Goodfellow explores the themes of family bonds, resilience, finding one’s voice, the power of language and the influence of supportive (and unsupportive) adults in school. This sequel is just as emotive – perhaps even more – as Nate is torn away from the familiar comfort and safety of primary school and finds himself thrown into the stark environment of secondary. The story also celebrates the joy of new friendships and the strong sense of belonging Nate shares with his brothers and friends.

This is a verse novel where the story unfolds through poetry. Some of the shortest and most sparse poems are the ones that evoke the greatest depth of emotion, with the white space on the page providing the reader with a moment to reflect and process – but only a moment, as this is really a page-turner that makes you greedy to read on.

Set in the USA, Emmy and her family have just relocated to California from Wisconsin. In a leap of faith, to promote her father’s career as a pianist, Emmy’s family have left behind everything they know and love. Including her Mom’s career in opera.

It is clear from the outset that Emmy is going to struggle to fit into her new school (culturally, a world away from her old one), so she decides to keep her head down and concentrate on her classwork. One of the electives that she has chosen is Computer Science. It is in this class that she meets a new friend: a girl who loves coding, yet hides her talents because it is not in keeping with her choir-girl image. Conscious that if her friends find out about her secret passion, she could be ostracised from the friendship group, Abigail’s internal struggles are real.

As the school term moves on, Emmy’s two worlds of coding and music begin to interweave making this ‘novel in verse’ a masterpiece, showing how notes and beats and rhythms overlap with code and language and algorithms. Among this runs a rich storyline of friendship. Can Emmy’s new friend accept her outside of the classroom? Will they be able to break through the prejudice of being girls who enjoy coding? And will they be able to support their teacher as she faces her health problems?

This is a joyous and accomplished piece of writing. The use of verse in the novel is powerful and captures the emotions exquisitely. A perfect book for children (and adults) who enjoy coding and/or music.

This superb  book is written in narrative verse from the point of view of Jack, a boy in school who doesn’t like poetry.

However, with the encouragement of his teacher, Jack begins to keep a diary and soon realises he can write a poem. The story covers the topic of losing pets and dealing with the associated emotions.

The whole book is written in verse and is a short read, while being very enjoyable throughout KS2. The story shows how poetry can be used to convey feelings and emotions and process important life events.

This beautiful verse novel follows a girl in the transition period from primary to secondary school. The individual poems that make up the story play wonderfully with shape, rhythm and language and deliver a range of styles mirroring the complex emotional themes.

The book includes topics of domestic violence, bullying and homelessness discussed from a child’s perspective. These are handled sensitively, and there is an overall sense of positivity and optimism.

It’s a powerful, empathetic book, particularly suited to year 6.

This is book is a delight; it tells a truthful but heartwarming tale of Nyla, her newfound friend and her grandma who is slipping further away as Alzheimer’s takes control.

Nyla has lived with the information that her Dad died when she was only four, but recent events cause her to question whether there is a chance that Dad is still alive. Nyla sets out on a mission to uncover the truth and, in doing so, makes a new friend in the form of Raymond, a boy who she discovers sitting in her local library and a boy who will help her to bring pieces of a puzzle together again.

Written in the form of a poem, this is a story which zips along and is hard to put down. It is honest and accurate in the way in which it portrays the effects of Alzheimer’s – Grandma ‘time travels’ as she clings to the past but forgets the present. The relationship that Nyla has with her Grandma is really moving; Nyla takes on the role of carer as her Mum is working hard to make ends meet. Nyla knows how best to soothe when Grandma is confused and agitated, she laughs and dances with Grandma when she is happy but Nyla is unable to do the one thing that matters most to her – she can’t unlock Grandma’s memories to allow her to know the truth about her father.

When Grandma starts to see Dad in unusual places, Nyla turns detective and starts digging for clues to find the truth. As the story unfolds, she has to deal with bullies, racism and conflicting loyalties. It is a story that is honest and real; it tackles issues that children will know and understand and it does so with sensitivity, honesty and sometimes humour. Readers will find it hard to put down as they bond with Nyla and will join her in her desire to find a happy ending. I found this story to be really compelling and finished it in two days – not because of its form but because I really cared about Nyla and her quest.

For anyone who has life has been touched by Alzheimer’s, there is plenty to bring comfort and much to relate to. Nyla does find her happy ending but maybe not in the way the reader would expect.

We love a fairy tale with a twist and so eagerly welcomed the arrival of this new illustrated middle-grade series from Joseph Coelho and Freya Hartas, with this first instalment placing a deviously dark twist on the Cinderella story.

In this version, Cinderella (so called because she wears a locket containing her deceased mother’s ashes), lives with a ‘fake’ family made up of an evil stepmother and three beautiful and fake sisters. After losing both parents and her beloved horse Lumpkin, Cinderella feels very much alone in the world. The town receives a visit from a royal prince with unusually gothic tastes, who brings with him three days of parties and the promise of betrothal to a potential suitor from the town. When Cinderella suffers a slip on the stairs, life as she knows it comes to an end and she returns in a haze of gory glory as Zombierella before proceeding to win the prince’s heart for herself.

Coelho’s treatment of the story is as delightfully amusing as it is deliciously dark. After years of Disneyfication and a ‘softening up’ of this well-known tale for a generation who often find their stories served up with a little more happily-ever-after and a little less goriness, this version takes a direct step in the colder and creepier direction that you might expect from Roald Dahl’s fairy tales or the original Grimm stories. There’s plenty to shock – from the cold and detached reporting of Cinderella’s sudden death to the spooky insertion of pulled-out brains, loosened guts and severed limbs into a star-crossed rags-to-riches love story. There’s an enjoyable streak of dark humour and plenty of wit in both the author’s free verse and Freya Hartas’ stylishly expressive black and white illustrations. The story is framed by the voice of a librarian (fans of Coelho might expect nothing less) and leaves with the promise of more from the ‘Fairy Tales Gone Bad’ series – which I’m really looking forward to seeing unfold.

Devon, 1941. Like her brother, Ralph, Bonnie wants to help in the war effort rather than tend the home vegetable patch. So when the mysterious Mr Fisher is billeted at their family home, Bonnie’s mission to uncover his secrets begins. Why is he here? Is he a shirker? Or worse … a German spy?

In this engaging and emotional verse novel the words dance on the page to tell the story through poetry. Digging for Victory is captivating, powerful and entertaining. The words form interesting shapes to mirror certain themes in the story, which creates the interest needed for a reluctant reader and creates a playful vibe.

While the story is about a girl in the Second World War, some will see it as a detective story, and others will latch onto the important themes running through the book. Cathy Faulkner weaves themes through the story so that your young reader will emerge with more insight into life – it tackles self-esteem, intrinsic versus extrinsic influences on identity, fitting in, bullying, rejecting stereotypes, grief and family. While being a positive and hopeful book, it is also very moving.

The verse format clearly tells the story through poetry and makes the book stand out from the crowd of WW2 stories. It is the perfect way to tell this emotional story while encouraging the reader to care about the characters.

Zana Fraillon is a brilliant writer, and this story is no exception. Because it’s written in verse, the pages turn quickly, making it great for less confident readers who still want a story with emotional depth.

This is an emotional read that deals with animal cruelty and neglect. The main character is a dog who starts life in a puppy farm and experiences mistreatment at the hands of humans, as well as the loss of loved ones.

It captures the ‘voice’ of a dog perfectly. It doesn’t shy away from the harder parts of a dog’s life, but it ends on a note of hope. A really powerful addition to any class library.

Fia lives in what feels like permanent winter. Her people haven’t seen or felt the warmth and light of the sun for several years, since the snow deer left.

Only one snow deer, Solas, remains. Born at the same time as Fia, Fia has sworn to protect her. Now Fia’s people are starving and their eyes are turning to the remaining snow deer. There is only one hope – for Fia to go on a treacherous journey across the frozen wastes to find the Deer Mother and fulfil the prophecy written about her long before she was born. Accompanied only by her beloved snow deer and her (sometimes irritating) cousin, Mish, the adventuresome trio strives to make it to the Deer Mother before it’s too late, knowing that sacrifices will need to be made along the way.

Beautifully told in the form of verse, with enchanting illustrations, this is a tale like no other I have read. It would make a fantastic wintry class read-aloud story as well as being used as a base for inspiring writing.