Audacious by Gabrielle Prendergast YP FIC PRENDERG

Raphaelle (call her Ella. Do it.) is starting a new school with a new name and a new attitude. No more rivalries, no more 'pranks', no more glowing in the dark, and certainly no remembering the horrible night. She'll fit in, get through it, and start her 'real' life after high school. But when her muse calls, she has to answer and her art gets labeled a crime.  

I love a good verse novel and this is a very strong addition to the form.  It has snark to spare, confronts Serious Issues with a deft hand, a crackling pace, and a memorable narrator.  Of course, verse novels live or die by the narrator.  A good narrator makes the poetic language feel natural and confessional. A bad narrator painfully reminds you of your own terrible teenage poetry that should most definitely be burned with fire. Ella's dark as midnight on a moonless night humor made me want to be her partner-in-crime BFF from page one. She can be cutting and is already very removed and aloof when the novel starts, but her interest in The Starbucks boy later to be known as Sam, humanizes her and adds some much appreciated warmth in the early pages. Sam's issue with his Muslim faith conflicting with his growing interest in Ella are handled well without ever seeming to mock or bash the idea o religion itself.

The book is wonderfully interesting to read even before the plot gets into serious motion, which is always a sign of a good novel.  However, the story sometimes does seem to have a lot going on all at once.  There's a love forbidden by Religion, art vs. censorship, Mom's eating disorder, general high schoolery, and Ella's painful past all thrown in the mix.  Overall, I think the novel balances them pretty well and, of course, often life does hit you with everything at once, but there are places where it feels like more could have been done with less.  If you like verse novels like those by Ellen Hopkins or Carol Lynch Williams, you should greatly enjoy Audacious.

You find Audacious in our catalog here.

Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge YP FIC KOERTGE

Whats grimmer than Grimms’ Tales?  A collection of fairy tales skewed and skewered with a modern sensibility and dark, wicked humor.  See the dark side of a princesses’ hyper-sensitivity to peas (a dog lick can cause a scar!), Hansel and Gretel’s vengeance, murders most foul and terrible (and these are committed by the ‘heroes’), and where happy ever after is the worst after of all.

Good news: this is smart, funny, dark satire that looks at all sorts of modern, ancient, and timeless hypocrisies; and the power of storytelling to celebrate, lament, explain, obscure, and change the best and worst of things that cannot be explained and things we wish we could wish away.  Bad news: this excellent and slender volume of wickedly funny verse is almost entirely unintelligible if you don’t know the original fairy tales by heart. Conundrum!  Fortunately we have a solution! You can read the absolutely wonderful Grimms’ tales in Grimms' Tales for Young and Old: The Complete Stories at call number 398.210943 GRIMM. And they are AWESOME!  They are creepy, dark, and filled with the fear of the unknown that makes for the best horror and the worst sleepless nights.  What’s great is that Koertge gets that and his modern retellings just look at the same fears, insecurities, and longings in the original stories in a modern light.  I especially enjoy the tales where Koertge looks at the primal fascination with danger and death these stories represent.  This is a truly unique read and it isn’t for everyone, but everyone that it is for will be very glad they read it.

You can check our catalog for Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses here.

The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf YP FIC WOLF

The Watch that Ends the Night

A novel in verse that has 24 different voices from the Titanic, including famous figures like Molly “the Unsinkable Brown, Captain E.J. Smith, and John Jacob Astor and less famous figures.  These include a Lebanese immigrant discovering first love, a con artist, a tailor with a broken heart, and the iceberg itself. 

This could have been a disaster almost as bad as the Titanic herself! An iceberg with a point of view!?  Poems about how the Captain of the Titanic feels bad!?  Really!?  Yes, really and it’s really, truly good.  Wolf does an excellent job of having a strong set of incredibly well researched characters that feel real and quite different from each other. The well written verse adds a truly emotive level to all the passages and allows for much quicker communication of ideas and feelings, which is vital with such a large cast.  It also helps you feel like you see right into the heart of every character and truly hear their voices.  This book truly captures the monumental importance of a tragedy like the Titanic and makes it a timeless and universal tale of arrogance, love, loss, class, and just about every other major issue facing humans.  A great read for fans of verse novels or anybody looking for something memorable. 

Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill YP FIC HEMPHILL

The girls of Salem are wicked indeed. But is it for the magic they practiced together in the woods or is for their virtue in court? Seven girls relate their stories in verse as to how the Salem witch hunt began and why they doomed so many of their neighbors with lies.

This is a haunting look at the power of rumor. It tells the story from the viewpoint of seven young women and girls and tries to see why someone would maliciously send so many people to death. The reasons differ but all relate to a total lack of power from the girls. In the end it is not the girls that are entirely wicked but also the society that first robbed them of any choices and then (for the first time) gave them recognition for the ‘virtue’ of damning others. This is an important message for any time, because any young peron knows the feeling of powerlessness and rumor and accusation can still be incredibly damaging today. The author excels at giving each character her own voice and pushing the tension of the events. A great read for anyone that likes novels in verse or historical fiction. Even if you haven’t read any verse novels I’d give this one a look.

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams YP FIC WILLIAMS

Hope and Lizzie are as close as sisters get. So when hope finds Lizzie with a shotgun in her mouth and her finger on the trigger she is left wondering why. She begins recalling their lives with their prostitute mother and realizing that Lizzie had pulled away more and more from her. When she discovers the reason why then nothing will ever be the same.

Told in verse, this novel packs the power of a sledge hammer. Hope and Lizzie are wonderful characters that you only get to know piece by piece. This leaves the reader wanting to keep going and the beautiful poetry of the novel makes it rewarding. It also works because what the book is really about is how much and little can be shown with just a glimpse. It asks the reader to look deeper to find the truth in art and in life. I’m always impressed when a book can pull that off. The reveal of Lizzie’s secret at the end is heartbreakingly sad. Know that this is a tough and gritty read, but the ending is hopeful without seeming unrealistic. If you like verse novels like this you should also check out Ellen Hopkins' books like Crank and Identical in YP HOPKINS.

A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson by Barbara Dana YP FIC DANA

Emily Dickinson was one of the greatest American poets that has ever written. Before that Emily was just a girl grappling with a growing inner world she did not understand and an outer world that frightened and confused her. Emily grows from child to young woman and finds love, hope, and her own voice in this fictional account of her youth.

Barbara Dana spent over 10 years researching Emily Dickinson to write from her point of view and it pays off. Having read a great deal of Dickinson I was skeptical about this novel, but Dana really has captured Dickinson. She captures her creative spark and wonderful humor and allows a window into her inner world. This is definitely a slow read and there aren’t any plot twists or heroic conflicts, but if you like poetry or historical fiction then give this one a try. Dana’s Dickinson will win over many readers. And if you haven’t already, read some Emily Dickinson! We have several collections in 811.4 DICKINSO.