Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Format: Verse novel

Rebound

Verse novel

It’s 1988. Charlie Bell is still mourning his father, and struggling to figure out how he feels for his best (girl) friend, CJ. When he gets into trouble one too many times, he’s packed off to stay with his grandparents for the summer. There his cousin Roxie introduces him to a whole new world: basketball. A legend on the courts is born. But can Charlie resist when trouble comes knocking once again?

From the New York Times-bestselling author Kwame Alexander, Rebound is a stunning coming-of-age novel in verse about basketball, family and staying true to yourself. A prequel to The Crossover, winner of the Newbery Medal, and follow-up to Booked, highly commended for the CLiPPA prize and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. With comic-book illustrations from award-winning graphic novel artist Dawud Anyabwile.

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel

Danica Novgorodoff & Jason Reynolds

Graphic novel, Verse novel

A visually stunning representation of an incredibly emotive novel.

This story is told through the voice of Will, who has grown up knowing how to watch his own back and that of his friends and family, knowing the death of those close to him in his neighbourhood and knowing ‘The Rules’. Then the unthinkable happens, and Will knows it is his turn to right the wrongs, just like his brother, Dad and Uncle before him.

Incredibly insightful, this graphic novel opens up a world of gangland violence without sugar coating or glamorising any of it. The tale is powerfully delivered through language and watercolour.

The Boy Lost in the Maze

Joseph Coelho & Kate Milner

Poetry, Verse novel

In this highly acclaimed and prize-winning verse novel, Joseph Coelho brilliantly blends Greek myth with a 21st century quest. In Ancient Greece Theseus makes a dangerous and courageous journey to find his father, finally meeting the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. While Theo, a modern-day teenage boy, finds himself on a maze-like quest to find his own father. Each story tells of a boy becoming a man and discovering what true manhood really means.

The path to self-discovery takes Theo through ‘those thin spaces where myth, magic and reality combine’. Doubts, difficulties and dangers must be faced as Theo discovers the man he will become.

Booked

Kwame Alexander

Poetry, Verse novel

Kwame Alexander’s Booked is a sports-themed verse novel for readers aged 12 and above, all about growing up.

Told through verse, the story follows Nick as he learns to navigate bullies, family changes and first crushes with the same energy he brings to the football pitch. The dynamic style of the poetry makes Nick’s real-world challenges relatable and engaging for young teens.

The novel’s undaunting verse format and fast pace ensure accessibility, even for reluctant readers. Nick’s journey, guided by a librarian, spotlights the power of stories to navigate tough times. Booked tackles themes of family, friendship, resilience and the challenges of growing up, making it a relevant and appealing read for this age group.

Where the Heart Should Be

Sarah Crossan

Poetry, Verse novel

The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger.

Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there’s not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth. Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family’s land, their crops, everything. His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in.

Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all. And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other.

This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart. This is a powerful and unforgettable novel from the phenomenally talented Sarah Crossan.

Wild East

Ashley Hickson-Lovence

Poetry, Verse novel

Written in verse. Ronny moves out of London after his friend is attacked, but he struggles to fit into his new town until he discovers spoken word.

Powerful, empathetic, raw, inspiring and creative!

Part of a Story That Started Before Me

George the Poet

Poetry, Verse novel

Part of a Story That Started Before Me is an extraordinary new collection of poems chosen by acclaimed spoken-word performer and social commentator George the Poet.

Taking readers on a thought-provoking poetical journey through Black British history, the anthology brings together some of the most exciting wordsmiths from across the diaspora and fascinating era-by-era notes from historian Dr Christienna Fryar.

From Africans in Roman Britannia to the first Black actor to play Othello on stage, from Malcolm X’s visit to the West Midlands to highlighting an organizer of the UK’s first Gay Pride, this important collection reveals unsung people and events from our past to recognize the intrinsic impact they’ve had on Britain today.

Featuring: Abi Simms, Adesayo Talabi, AFLO. the poet, Amina Jama, Anu Balofin, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Becksy Becks, Benjamin Zephaniah, Bridget Minamore, Cara Thompson, Casey Bailey, Deanna Rodger, Derek Walcott, Dorothea Smartt, Dzifa Benson, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Eno Mfon, Evan the Poet, Fred D’Aguiar, FULAANI onda 3s, George The Poet, Grace Nichols, Henry Stone, Highwater Ell aka Elliott Henry, Ife Grillo, Inua Ellams, Irenosen Okojie, Isaiah Hull, Jade LB, Jeffrey Boakye, Jenny Mitchell, Jeremiah Brown, John Agard, Joseph Coelho, Jude Yawson, Kat Francois, Keith Jarrett, Kelechi Okafor, M. NourbeSe Philip, Malika Booker, Michael Groce, Miles Chambers, Muneera Pilgrim, Nick Makoha, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Nile Faure-Bryan, Olaudah Equiano, Olivette Otele, Patience Agbabi, Peter deGraft-Johnson aka The Repeat Beat Poet, Phillis Wheatley, Priss Nash, Rakaya Fetuga, Raymond Antrobus, Reece Williams, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasha, Samuel King, Sophia Thakur, Stretch the Top Boy, Thembe Mvula, Theresa Lola, Tré Ventour, Vanessa Kisuule, Wretch 32 and Zena Edwards.

The Door of No Return

Kwame Alexander

Poetry, Verse novel

Dreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions. Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, West Africa, where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable – a sudden death – occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves. Yet Kofi’s dreams may be the key to his freedom…

Crossing the Line

Tia Fisher

Poetry, Verse novel

Gripping from start to finish, this heart-wrenching verse novel plunges the reader into the terrifying jeopardy of life in a gang.

Erik and his mum are left financially and emotionally vulnerable after the unexpected and untimely death of his father. At school, Erik’s bad behaviour recommends him to members of the local drug-dealing gang. The promise of money and the apparent safety of belonging to a close-knit group make him easy prey. All too soon, he is sucked into their world of threats, violence and fear. Safety becomes a dream of the past.

Too late, he realises that he’s trapped and everything that he cares about is in danger, including his mum and his little sisters.

The language is simple and direct. The story is told in Erik’s voice, so anything else would be jarring. Key points in the story are highlighted expressively by typography: a calligram; a change in font; disruption of the text layout. The central theme – criminal exploitation of the vulnerable – means that strong language and violent scenes are inevitably part of the plot, but the violence does not feel gratuitous, and the subject is one we shouldn’t shy away from. It could provide a good way into discussions about grooming and coercion.

As a story, it is accessible, immersive, and impossible to put down. I enjoyed it in one greedy sitting. It is ideal for Key Stage 3. I thoroughly recommend it to teachers too, as a poignant reminder of the importance of vigilance in schools. Erik is creative in his deceptions and his teachers seem to miss every warning sign.

Louder Than Hunger

John Schu

Poetry, Verse novel

A powerful, authentic verse novel exploring a teen boy’s experience with disordered eating, charting the successes and setbacks of his journey toward recovery.
Jake feels alone at school and alone at home. Some days it feels like the only people who understand him is the poet Emily Dickinson – and Jake’s beloved grandma. But there is also the Voice inside him, louder than any other, who professes to know him best of all.

The one that says “You have me.”

The Voice is loud enough to drown out everything else, even the hunger Jake feels, until his mom intervenes and sends him to Whispering Pines.

Here Jake will learn how to confront the loneliness inside him, and find out who he is and what he has to live for. That is, if he can quiet the Voice…

Told in succinct and powerful verse, this novel is a stunning and wholly authentic expression of a young man finding the will – and the power – to wrest control from the intrusive thoughts that crowd his mind.