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Intimate and inspiring workshops for children's authors and illustrators.
Find Anti-Racism resources | See our COVID protocols | Log in for online courses
We’d like to thank Kathy Erskine for this blog post! Kathy has joined us as faculty for many workshops. You might also like to read another of Kathy’s posts, The Verse Novel: If I Can Do It, So Can You.
In honor of Poetry Month, Kathy Erskine decided to feature a “Verse-Novel-a-Day” on her Facebook page. She has graciously allowed us to use those to put together a blog post–and the result is a pretty excellent survey of this powerful art form.
 LibertadBy Alma Fullerton Alma’s my co-faculty at the Novels in Verse workshop! |
 The CrossoverBy Kwame Alexander Also check out Booked! |
 Brown Girl DreamingBy Jacqueline Woodson There’s a reason it has all those stickers on the cover — a LOT of reasons. |
 Silver People: Voices From the Panama CanalBy Margarita Engle Having just visited the Panama Canal, this really enlightened and touched me. |
 AudacityBy Melanie Crowder Thinking of the beautiful audacity of Loree Griffin Burns who refused to let me be stranded at Logan airport last night and coordinated a grand rescue plan despite the snowstorm… |
 Love That DogBy Sharon Creech If you have a 9 year old who thinks he doesn’t like to read–or can’t read– give this to him and watch him mark up the pages (in a good way) with his thoughts. |
 A Time to DanceBy Padma Venkatraman Padma’s our special guest at the Novels in Verse workshop! |
 Words With WingsBy Nikki Grimes I LOVE that it has Mr. (Ed) Spicer in it. |
 Serafina’s PromiseBy Ann E. Burg I often use this in talks to show how we authors pile problem after problem on our characters’ shoulders. |
 Coaltown Jesus By Ron Koertge Hilarious and poignant. |
 Dust of Eden By Mariko Nagai Powerful Japanese internment camp story. |
 What My Mother Doesn’t Know By Sonya Sones A classic and I love the updated cover! |
 The Red PencilBy Andrea Davis Pinkney How art and creativity can transcend even the most horrifying events. |
 The Watch That Ends the NightBy Allan Wolf Epic tale (thoroughly researched) of the Titanic, which sank 105 years ago. |
 How I Discovered Poetry By Marilyn Nelson This is one of those “how can so few words say so much?” novels. |
 Paper HeartsBy Meg Wiviott So beautifully done I didn’t want it to end. You know that feeling? Yup, that. |
 Death Coming Up the HillBy Chris Crowe It HAD to be the choice for the 17th — read the novel and you’ll understand why. |
 CaminarBy Skila Brown A way to see a different country and a different life (makes things like rush hour traffic or the wrong kind of toilet paper seem suddenly as unimportant as they are). |
 SoldBy Patricia McCormick I always use her books as examples of the extraordinary research it takes to create an authentic story. |
 Becoming Billie HolidayBy Carole Weatherford The poignant and beautiful story of Eleanora. |
 Inside Out and Back Again By Thanhha Lai With immigration an issue again–or still– this is a particularly beautiful story. |
 May B.By Caroline Starr Rose Great, fast, survival story for any young reader, especially reluctant ones. |
 Etched in ClayBy Andrea Cheng Dave the Potter for the older crowd; beautiful. |
 WitnessBy Karen Hesse I love the voices — great example of how to make distinct characters even in a brief verse novel. |
 House ArrestBy K.A. Holt Wow. Really powerful, poignant and funny. And great voice. |
 October Mourning: A Song for Matthew ShepardBy Leslea Newman Oh, so painful and hard to read but so necessary. |
 Full Cicada MoonBy Marilyn Hilton This was named a Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book! |
 CrashBoomLoveBy Juan Felipe Herrera The words are almost spat out in frustration. In the end, even a tough teen needs his mom. |
 Under the Mesquite By Guadalupe Garcia McCall Beautifully written and the ultimate strong girl book! |
 The One and Only IvanBy Katherine Applegate For animal lovers of all ages. |
Kathy spent fifteen years as a lawyer before turning to her first love: writing. She was lucky to work with Patricia Gauch and her debut novel, Quaking, was one of YALSA’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Her novel Mockingbird won the 2010 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and her other novels include The Absolute Value of Mike, a Crystal Kite winner, Seeing Red, a Jane Addams Award honor book, and The Badger Knight which published in fall 2014. Kathy has lived all over the world, from The Netherlands—where she was born—to Israel, South Africa, Scotland, Canada, and the United States. Her life has been filled with rich experiences, from a Hogwarts-like boarding school (minus the magic) to the African bush (complete with lions) to an ice-filled harbor. Read more about Kathy at www.kathrynerskine.com.
Posted on: April 25, 2017
Tags: erskine, faculty guest post, novels, novels in verse, poetry, resource round-up