ACHUKA

children's & YA recommendations on the go

You are here: Home / Archives for verse novel

Wonderland by Patience Agbabi

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 3 Jul 2026

Publisher: Firefly Press 
ISBN: 9781917718202

See also:
The Infinite [ACHUKA Book of the Day 13 Apr 2020]

“There are novels that tell you about a world, and then there are novels that put you inside one, pulsing with music, smelling of hairspray and sea air, alive with longing and belonging. Wonderland is emphatically the latter… What makes this book extraordinary is the verse. Agbabi slips between poetic styles with breathtaking ease, and the form is never decorative; it is structural. The poetry beats like the music Tamilola lives for, propelling the narrative forward while simultaneously giving it texture and depth. ” BfK 5-star review

I grew up on Colwyn Bay Pier, dancing to Northern Soul and live 2 Tone bands.

When it was demolished in 2018, I was devastated and wanted to bring it back to its heyday.

Listen to Patience Ababa being interviewed on The Island of Brilliant podcast:
 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-island-of-brilliant/id1684242951?i=1000766443702

Colwyn Bay, 1980. Sixteen-year-old Tamilola has moved up from London; everything’s different, everyone belongs except her. Then she discovers an amazing Northern Soul club at the end of the pier with its athletic dancers and rare records. But conflict comes with a rival nightclub. This book’s about finding your tribe, finding a record, finding romance and finding yourself.

I am Ray’s Imaginary Friend by Brian Moses ill. Bethan Welby

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 16 Mar 2026

Publisher: Scallywag Press
ISBN: 9781836300342

See also:
On Poetry Street [ACHUKA Book of the Day 27 Jun 2024]
Selfies With Komodos [ACHUKA Book of the Day 30 Jan 2023]
The Best Ever Book of Funny Poems [ACHUKA Book of the Day 18 Mar 2021]

“Quietly brilliant, this is a book that explores coping with change and becoming mentally stronger and the powerful influence of empathy.” RedReadingHub
“Beautifully illustrated throughout with the illustrator sensitively capturing scenes from the story.” ThroughTheBookshelf

A debut verse novel from one of the UK’s most established children’s poets.

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Jon Biddle (@jonnybid)

Ray loves life in his village, until one day he hears his parents talking about moving house. Horrified by the idea, Ray invents an imaginary friend to talk to and even runs away.

Eventually Ray is able to accept the move, and also the Ukrainian refugee mother and child who come to live with his family in their new home.

As Ray finds his feet again, the Imaginary Friend wonders if he is needed any more, or if he can also move on?

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Scallywag Press (@scallywagpress)

You can follow the South Devon-based illustrator on

The First Year by Matt Goodfellow ill. Joe Todd-Stanton

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 19 May 2025

Waterstones
Bookshop

See also:
The Final Year [ACHUKA Book of the Day 4 Sep 2023]

“An absolute triumph…” BooksforTopics

Matt Goodfellow’s first verse novel, The Final Year, was an unashamed tribute to David Almond’s Skellig. Like Almond’s first novel, The Final Year  featured a very sick sibling. It was also a book about writing and creativity, with a leading role for a transformative Y6 teacher, Mr Joshua.

The First Year is an even better book. It has a wider purlieu. One slightly surprising thing about The Final Year (as a picture of life in Y6) was, as I remember it, the close to total absence of girls. 

In Muna, The First Year has an important support character. Two other female characters that stand out are Miss Latham, a well-observed, heart-of-gold Head of Year and Nate’s mum, who—with her fag smoking, slipper wearing, and bingo going—could easily have become a cliche working-class figure. Instead, she is an immensely authentic character with a view of life honed by the ups and downs of experience. In the final section of the book she is given an important, mini-monologue, which finishes:

Write for all that’s gone my boy
and for all that’s still to come. 

Nate’s eleven and has just finished Primary School. After a challenging final year, life is looking up. His brother has recovered from a life-threatening heart condition, he’s got the love of his mum, brothers and Auntie San, and he’s off to Secondary School with his two best mates.

But while he’s making new friends and avoiding the fists of Turner, his old nemesis, and struggling to come to terms with a strict new teacher and a sense of isolation from his brothers, a sudden surprise appearance in Nate’s life threatens to throw him completely off course. And The Beast – the anger he tries so hard to control – reappears. Will Nate find a way to keep himself and his family together?

Follow Matt Goodfellow on

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Matt Goodfellow (@mattgoodfellowpoet)

Before Nightfall by Silvia Vecchini ill. Sualzo tr. Geoffrey Brock

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 20 Mar 2024
FulgineaMente Prize Winner 2021
Strega Ragazzi Prize Finalist 2021

Waterstones
Bookshop

A moving tale about a brave hearing and eyesight-impaired boy, told through the perspective of his loving sister in poetry, prose, and the sign-language alphabet.

Carlo is a boy who happens to be hearing-impaired and can see only out of one eye. Now that eye is failing, and Carlo must have an operation to try to save his vision. His fierce and funny sister Emma, Carlo’s closest companion, begins writing poems that express the fear she works hard to hide, while his seeing-eye dog Lulù remains steadfastly at his side. But even with the support and affection of his family, how can Carlo face such uncertainty? And what will happen if he can no longer communicate with them?

This is a book about trust, imagination, empathy, and language, narrated through the poems Emma types and through prose passages told from multiple perspectives, all illustrated with the ASL alphabet drawn by the Italian artist Sualzo. 

Follow the author on :

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Silvia Vecchini (@silvia_vecchini)

Follow the illustrator on :

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Sualzo (@sualzo)

 

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow ill. Joe Todd-Stanton

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 4th September 2023

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“This incredibly powerful novel, written entirely in free verse, really packs a punch.” BookTrust

See that tall, skinny kid with the ball in his hand sayin see ya later to his mate? That’s me: Nathan Wilder. Nate. 10 years old, and a week away from the end of Year 5.

Life can be tough in your last year of primary school. Tests to take, preparing for the change to high school. Nate is ready for it all, knowing his best friend PS is at his side – they’ve been inseparable since Nursery.

But when they are put in two different classes and PS finds a new friend in Turner, the school bully, Nate’s world turns upside-down. As he struggles to make sense of this and forge new friendships, he’s dealt another blow when his youngest brother, Dylan is rushed into hospital.

His new teacher, Mr Joshua, sees a spark inside of Nate that’s lit by his love of reading and writing and shows him how to use this to process what’s going on. But with so much working against him, and anger rising inside him, will this be enough?

A powerful and lyrical story about finding your place in the world and the people that matter within it.

Follow Matt Goodfellow on :

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Matt Goodfellow (@mattgoodfellowpoet)

Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

A powerful novel exploring how teenagers can be swept up into county lines.

Erik’s life has been falling apart ever since his dad died. Homework and being good at school stop feeling important when you’re the new man of the house. When Erik’s bad behaviour attracts the wrong crowd, he’s sucked into a terrifying new world of drug dealing, trap houses and violence. Making money feels good but Erik soon learns that a small favour can become a huge debt. And when his sisters’ lives are threatened, Erik will have to cross one more line to save them.

Written in verse, this is a poignant story about seeking safety and asking for help in times of crisis.

Dear Medusa: (A Novel in Verse) by Olivia A. Cole

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“As wide in scope as it is economical in its language. Illuminating.” KIRKUS
“Rendering the racially- and sexuality-inclusive female cast as both vulnerable and fierce, Cole boldly examines agency, bodily autonomy, and internalized misogyny.” Publishers Weekly

This searing and intimate novel in verse follows a sixteen-year-old girl coping with sexual abuse as she grapples with how to reclaim her story, her anger, and her body in a world that seems determined to punish her for the sin of surviving.

Sixteen-year-old Alicia Rivers has a reputation that precedes her. But there’s more to her story than the whispers that follow her throughout the hallways at school–whispers that splinter into a million different insults that really mean: a girl who has had sex. But what her classmates don’t know is that Alicia was sexually abused by a popular teacher, and that trauma has rewritten every cell in her body into someone she doesn’t recognize. To the world around her, she’s been cast, like the mythical Medusa, as not the victim but the monster of her own story: the slut who asked for it.

Alicia was abandoned by her best friend, quit the track team, and now spends her days in detention feeling isolated and invisible. When mysterious letters left in her locker hint at another victim, Alicia struggles to keep up the walls she’s built around her trauma. At the same time, her growing attraction to a new girl in school makes her question what those walls are really keeping out.

Follow the author on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Olivia A. Cole (@rantingowl)

The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“Themes of conflict within and between cultures, and of war and peace, hate and love, despair and hope are deeply embedded throughout this gripping tale that forefronts the humanity of those who were forced into slavery.” Horn Book
“A riveting, not-to-be-missed trilogy opener that will leave readers invested in what is to come.” KIRKUS
“Interweaving moments of joyful exuberance and heartbreaking sadness via sensate lines by turns sweet and stinging, Alexander’s sweeping novel conjures a captivating, resonant world of African tradition, life, and ancestral wisdom.” Publishers Weekly

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, 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…

Follow the author on Instagram:

Fly by Alison Hughes

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

In this powerful novel in free verse, Felix Landon Yarrow (F.L.Y., or ‘Fly’), a fourteen-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, is captivated by the noble, chivalrous ideals of knighthood. So when he fears that a school villain, Carter, poses a danger to his lady love, Daria, he knows rescuing her must be his quest. Using his wits and his own unique powers, he constructs an elaborate plot meant to culminate with him on his wheeled ‘trusty steed’ triumphantly conquering his enemy and saving his ‘damsel in distress.’ Alas, for this brave knight, as for most middle schoolers, plans often have a way of going awry.

Alison Hughes has crafted a moving and unflinching story of courage, connection and self-discovery. In the spare first-person narrative, Felix’s witty, often sarcastic and self-aware voice matter-of-factly reveals how it feels to be the kid in the wheelchair. Felix is a fully realised, funny character who defies labels, and who learns and grows as the story unfolds. For reluctant and avid readers alike, this book is a potent vehicle for engaging young people with a unique perspective and for encouraging empathy. It’s an excellent choice to showcase the power of poetry and, in particular, novels in verse. It provides character education lessons in respect, courage and kindness.