6 Novels in Verse About Women’s Experiences

Blood Water Paint, by Joy McCullough
Joy McCullough’s debut, out this week, is Ruta Sepetys meets Ellen Hopkins meets a fictional imagining of the teenage years of artist Artemisia Gentileschi. After her mother dies, Artemisia chooses to stay with her father and learn how to paint—but when a benefactor rapes her, Artemisia refuses to let her truth be silenced, enduring a brutal trial to ensure some justice is delivered. Artemisia’s narrative is woven with the stories of the Biblical subjects of her two most famous paintings: Susannah, whose local elders tried to assault, manipulate, and frame her; and Judith, who murdered a general to free her people. While it comes with obvious trigger warnings for those sensitive to depictions of sexual assault, McCullough’s use of poetry is stunning, and every page of this beautiful verse novel left me gasping.

Ask Me How I Got Here, by Christine Heppermann
Want something with the emotional punch of a Laurie Halse Anderson novel but told in poetry? Then you’ve come to the right list. Inspired by aspects of the author’s own life, Ask Me How I Got Here centers on Addie, who knows what goals she’s running toward: cross-country champion, top of the class at her Catholic school, and a boyfriend who loves her. But when she gets pregnant and decides to have an abortion, nothing is the same—because nobody else will let her be the same. Juliana, a former cross-country teammate, offers some reprieve from the judgment of Addie’s parents, boyfriend, and cross-country team, and hope for a future in which she can be loved as she is. Heppermann beautifully captures the nuances and complications of simply being a girl existing in the world. (Her debut, Poisoned Apples, reimagines fairy tales as fast-paced feminist contemporary poetry and is also well worth a read.)

The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo
Acevedo is a celebrated slam poet (you can find her work on YouTube), and The Poet X is her debut, which arrives recommended by the likes of YA superstars Jason Reynolds, Justina Ireland, and Ibi Zoboi. It tells the story of Xiomara Batista, an Afro-Latina girl living in a Harlem neighborhood, whose religious mother would prefer she be silent. But Xiomara’s thoughts can’t be contained. She pours them into poetry in a leather notebook, and soon an invitation comes to join her school’s slam poetry club—which her mother would never approve of. Will the lure of an opportunity to perform her poems prove too strong to resist?

Audacity by Melanie Crowder
Crowder’s Audacity, one of the 2015 National Jewish Book Award finalists, imagines the life of Clara Lemlich, leader of the largest strike by women in American history. After moving from Russia to New York City in the early twentieth century, Clara became horrified by the conditions in factory workers toiled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Determined to change the landscape, Clara organized an uprising of 20,000 women in 1909—proving that young women leading revolutions is nothing new.

the princess saves herself in this one, by Amanda Lovelace
It might be a stretch to call the princess saves herself in this one a novel—after all, Lovelace’s debut poetry collection is heavily autobiographical. But considering the fantastical imagery she weaves through the story, I’m inclined to add it to this list, and not just because it’s an incredible stepping stone for teen readers just getting into poetry. Published by the same imprint that publishes the sensational Rupi Kaur, princess explores Amanda’s previously unhealthy relationships—with former romantic partners and with her own self-esteem—as she climbs out from the ruin and realizes she’s worth more than the hand she’s been dealt (and that others, too, can love her for who she is). Her poems can be read on their own or as a complete narrative, and both princess and her new poetry collection the witch doesn’t burn in this one are aggressively feminist and uplifting, perfect for teens looking for little verses to hold to their chests as pick-me-ups in the current political climate.

The Lightning Dreamer, by Margarita Engle

Some things just lend themselves to poetry: real-life stories, and the feelings women sort through involving their physical forms. So it’s no surprise that The Lightning Dreamer (which I previously included in my list of diverse YA paperbacks) makes the cut. Margarita explores the life of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, who resisted her arranged marriage at 14 and became an abolitionist who fought against slavery. One of the things that makes this verse novel stand out, especially for educators, are the historical sources included throughout—proving, like Audacity above, that young women can effect change in a major way.