Your Guide to Novels in Verse: 5 Creative Activities to Engage Your Students (Plus Top Book Picks)
It’s undeniable—poetry is a powerful tool in the classroom.
Poetry can be both a window into the reality of others and a mirror into students’ own lives. Through poetry, they can make connections with common themes through figurative language.
Though we recognize the benefits of poetry in the classroom, it can be a challenge to set aside time for teaching poetry during the busy school day. Verse novels, or novels in verse are becoming an increasingly popular way to incorporate poetry in the classroom and make literacy more accessible for all learners.
This blog will explore verse novels, their benefits, popular novel poetry, and how to incorporate them into your lessons.
What is a Novel in Verse?
Verse novels, also known as novels in verse or poetry novels, are narrative works of fiction that are written in poetic form. This type of novel echoes ancient epic poetry, reimagined through contemporary language, various multimedia, and cultural diversity.
Unlike traditional novels, which are written in prose, these novels use poetic techniques such as meter, rhyme, and imagery to tell a story. This type of novel frequently employs free verse, creative punctuation, and even blank space to tell stories.
Novels in verse can be any genre as long as it’s a narrative told through poetry.
Benefits of Using Verse Novels
Although novels in verse are typically used in middle to high school grades, they offer benefits to readers of all ages.
Improved Accessibility
One key benefit of using novel poetry in the classroom is that they make reading more accessible for all learners.
The poetic structure of verse novels can make the text less intimidating and easier to digest, which is beneficial for students who have learning differences or are learning to speak English. Verse novels are also generally a quick read, which makes them great for building confidence in emerging or struggling readers.
Increased Engagement
Another important benefit of using this type of poetry in the classroom is that they can be highly engaging for students. The poetic form of verse novels can help students connect with the text on a deeper level, making the reading experience more enjoyable and meaningful.
Understanding of Literary Devices
Novel poetry provides a rich opportunity for teaching and exploring literary devices such as imagery, metaphor, and symbolism. Because verse novels are written in poetic form, these devices are often more pronounced and can be more easily identified and analyzed by students.
Enhanced Creativity
Novels in verse are a great example of how writing can be creative—and fun. According to Edutopia, “The immediacy, expansiveness, and playfulness of verse novels draw in students who otherwise may find poetry opaque or flowery, and prose novels intimidatingly dense. They also tend to let students begin to see a place for themselves as writers.”
Increased Representation
Representation in the classroom matters. As we see increasingly diverse backgrounds in our student population, we must create a culture of belonging.
One way we can do this is by incorporating authentic literature into our lessons and our libraries. By using multicultural verse novels in a classroom, we can give students resources that reflect their own life experiences.
According to Teachmag.com, “Novels in verse can also amplify underrepresented voices…Novels in verse can be another tool in the collection to validate your students’ voices and experiences, shed light on stories that are often silenced, and build empathy and understanding in your school community.”
Our Favorite Novels in Verse
There are many powerful verse novels to choose from. Below is a list of a few of our top verse novel examples to include in your classroom library.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lai
In this memoir, the author describes her emotional journey in immigrating from Vietnam to the American South in the 1970s—offering readers a firsthand look at the experience of immigration.
Flipping Forward Twisting Backward by Alma Fullerton
This verse novel tells the story of a fifth-grade gymnast who is diagnosed with dyslexia. Described as “high-energy” and “authentic,” this story will resonate with middle-grade readers.
Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood
Based on a true story, this book tells the story of a small group of people who sought to escape Europe during World War II. Their ship was torpedoed shortly after setting sail, forcing them to wait several days at sea in a lifeboat for their rescue.
A Seed in the Sun by Aida Salazar
This historical fiction novel is set in the 1960s and focuses on labor rights activists at the time.
Emmy in the Key of Code by Aimee Lucido
In this innovative verse novel, STEM and music are interwoven throughout the story of Emmy, a young girl who is facing challenges after moving to a new school.
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
This Newbery Honor book tells the story of a young girl who is forced to immigrate to the United States from Syria.
The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Inspired by true stories of life in Sudan, this verse novel tells the story of a young girl’s village life before and after it comes under attack.
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Winner of both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award, this coming-of-age story will appeal to sports-loving students.
5 Ways to Use Verse Novels in the Classroom
When it comes to using novels in verse in your teaching, the possibilities are nearly endless.
Whether you use them to connect literature to other curricular areas or to deepen your students’ understanding of language arts, verse novels lend themselves well to many different types of poetry activities.
The activities below encourage creativity, student choice, and higher-level thinking skills—making them our favorite ideas for incorporating novel poetry into the classroom.
1. Book Clubs
Provide students with a selection of verse novels to choose from and allow them to form groups based on their selection. Consider creating a reading schedule (depending on the length of the book) and be sure to provide regular class time for students to read and meet to discuss the novel.
Some example questions that could work with most novels include:
- How do the characters change, grow, or evolve throughout the story?
- What choices did the character(s) make that you agreed with? What choices did you disagree with?
- Is there an event in the novel that you would like to read from another character’s point of view? Why?
- How does the tone and mood shift throughout? Which words (or punctuation marks, or line breaks, or…) create those shifts?
- Why do you think the author selected this title for this poem?
- Do you notice any examples of figurative language that seem important? What is the effect?
- What questions do you have for the poet that may help you understand the poem better?
- What larger questions (about life, humanity, etc.) does this poem raise?
2. Verse Prose Writing
After reading a novel in verse, have students select a passage in verse. You may have the whole class read the same novel in verse or have students choose their own from an approved list.
Students will then take the passage in verse and rewrite it in a traditional prose format. This is a helpful activity for exploring different writing styles as well as assessing students’ understanding of the elements of the story.
3. Paired Passages
For this activity, students will pair their verse novel with a related nonfiction text. After choosing two passages, have the students use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two texts.
This activity can be adapted to your students’ academic levels—you may want to provide the students with the text pairings or have them research to find the texts themselves.
When students engage critically with information across multiple types of text, their background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension skills are improved.
4. Spoken Word Response Poems
Response poems echo the theme of the original poem while looking at the original from a different perspective.
For this activity, it’s important to have students choose a verse novel that triggered a strong emotion, response, or connection for them. Students can use journals to write their reactions to a line or question in the verse novel.
After teaching poetry mini lessons on literary devices, such as imagery, figurative language, alliteration, and repetition, have students create response poems from their journal entries.
Students can read their poems aloud in class or use a recording app.
5. Create a Soundtrack
For this activity, students will choose at least 3 songs to create a soundtrack for their chosen novel in verse.
Students will need to analyze how the songs connect to the verse novel—they might relate to the theme, characters, setting, tone, or even writing style. Have students write a rationale for each of their selected songs, including specific lines and how they relate to the verse novel.
Verse novels offer a unique and powerful way to engage students in reading and literature. By incorporating this type of poetry into your curriculum, you can help students develop a deeper appreciation for language and storytelling, while also fostering their creativity and critical thinking skills.
Teach eight key reading skills, one at a time. Each skill-specific book features carefully designed exercises to help students develop higher-order reading strategies.
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