Written in Verse

Are you tired of reading the same old, same old? Do you want to try something new? How about reading novels in verse? The following books are written in a free-verse format. You can read them separately as a poem or read them together as a story.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Kristina Snow's life is turned upside-down, when she visits her absentee father, gets turned on to the drug "crank", becomes addicted, and is lead down a desperate path that threatens her mind, soul, and her life.

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Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

Annie ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomes pregnant, her grandfather begins faltering, and her best friend (and running partner) becomes distant.

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Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? by Mel Glenn

A murder mystery told in free verse poems, describing the reactions of students, colleagues, and others when high school teacher Mr. Chippendale, loved by some, hated by others, is shot as the school day begins.

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Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes

While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.

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Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones

A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

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The Brimstone Journals by Ron Koertge

In a series of short interconnected poems, students at a high school nicknamed Brimstone reveal the violence existing and growing in their lives.

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Keesha's House by Helen Frost

Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

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Witness by Karen Hesse

A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

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Learning to Swim by Ann Turner

A series of poems convey the feelings of a young girl whose sense of joy and security at the family's summer house is shattered when an older boy who lives nearby changes her life forever.

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Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Seventeen-year-old Pattyn, the eldest daughter in a large Mormon family, is sent to her aunt's Nevada ranch for the summer where she temporarily escapes her alcoholic, abusive father and finds love and acceptance, only to lose everything when she returns home.

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One of those hideous books where the Mother dies by Sonya Sones

Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

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Jump Ball by Mel Glenn

Tells the story of a high school basketball team's season through a series of poems reflecting the feelings of students, their families, teachers, and coaches.

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Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Fourteen-year-old LaVaughn, trying to earn the money for college, takes a job caring for the two children of Jolly, a single teenage mom, and must find the courage to make the right decision for all of them after Jolly is fired.

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True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.

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Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Inspired by his teacher, Lonnie begins to write about his life in a series of poems in which he discusses his feelings about his friends, his foster mom, his little sister Lili, and the death of his parents.

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Split Image by Mel Glenn

A series of poems reflect the thoughts and feelings of various people-- students, the librarian, parents, the principal, and others-- about the seemingly perfect Laura Li and her life inside and out of Tower High School.

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Hard Hit by Ann Turner

A rising high school baseball star faces his most difficult challenge when his father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

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Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Three teens who meet at Reno, Nevada's Aspen Springs mental hospital after each has attempted suicide connect with each other in a way they never have with their parents or anyone else in their lives.

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What my mother doesn't know by Sonya Sones

Sophie describes her relationships with a series of boys as she searches for Mr. Right.

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What my girlfriend doesn't know by Sonya Sones

Artistic fourteen-year-old Robin Murphy is so unpopular at high school that his name is slang for "loser," so when he begins dating the beautiful and popular Sophie, her reputation plummets.

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LFHS B&B Presents...

Rock Star SuperStar by Blake Nelson

Join us in the library on Feb. 5th, 2007 at 7:15 AM for some great discussion and snacks!

Destination Chicago...Take Two

The City of Chicago has so much to offer that we didn't think it would be fair for the city to just have one blog post. If your reading knack is nonfiction, then this post is just for you! Chicago has a very rich culture and history. We're sure that you would find something interesting to read. Here are our recommendations for sports, history, true crime, ghost stories, and more:

The Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert murder case of 1897 by Robert Loerzel

Chronicles the 1897 Chicago case of Louise Luetgert, whose husband, Adolph, was charged with her murder, despite the fact that no body was ever found, examining the trial itself, the media attention surrounding it, police efforts to solve the case, and the reason the story was so widely followed.

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In life, first you kick ass: reflections on the 1985 Bears and wisdom from Da Coach by Mika Ditka

So what if we didn't make it to the playoffs this year? We've always got next year. Plus we've always got the 1985 Bears to remember, right? Read the Da Coach's first-hand account as he leads the 1985 Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl victory, and his recollection about the players, coaches, games, and life.

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My Bloody Life: the Making of a Latin King by Reymundo Sanchez
Why do people join gangs? What do they get out of being a gang memeber? The author explains it all in this gritty memoir. His early life in Puerto Rico, the story of how he became involved with the Latin Kings in Chicago, and talks about how the gang changed over the years from heroes representing the struggle for Latino equality to cold-blooded murderers. This book is hard to put down and hard to forget. Don't forget the sequel: Once a King, Always a King.

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To Sleep with the Angels: The story of a fire by Cowan David

Tells the story of the fire that occurred at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago in December 1958, claiming the lives of 92 children and 3, and precipitating a complete overhaul of school fire safety laws in the United States. Includes interviews with survivors of the fire, and discussion of the rumors and evidence about how it started.

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Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Jones

Two young men raised in the Chicago ghetto tell what life is like for the residents of the city's housing projects in their own words.


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A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

In this classic and break-through play, a African-American middle-class family are concerned with the tensions living in Chicago.



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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the fair that changed America by Erik Larson

Tells the parallel stories of Daniel Burnham, the main architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and serial killer Henry H. Holmes, discussing the challenges Burnham faced in creating the hugely successful White City, and looking at how Holmes used the opportunities afforded by the fair to lure victims to their deaths.

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The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath that brought down Al Capone by William Helmer

Was Al Capone really involved with the hit on George "Bugs" Moran's gang or was it a cover up by the police? Read this book to find out what really happend on that fateful Valentine's Day of 1929.

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There Goes the Neighborhood: Racial, ethnic, and class tensions in four Chicago neighborhoods and their meaning for America by William Wilson

Examines four working and-lower-middle-class Chicago neighborhoods including African American, white ethnic, Latino, and one in transition in order to understand how and why urban residents react to racial, ethnic, and class changes.

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Chicago Days: 150 Defining Moments in life of a great city by the Staff of the Chicago Tribune

A chronological profile of memorable events in the history of Chicago, discussing politics, sports, entertainment, business, history, and the arts in the Windy City from the publication of the first issue of the "Chicago Tribune" in 1847 to the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1996.

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Muldoon: a True Chicago Ghost Story by Rocco Facchini

Muldoon: A True Chicago Ghost Story dives into Father Rocco’s four-year saga at Saint Charles, where his spiritual undertaking becomes a worldly adventure. His supporting cast includes a housekeeper inappropriately involved in her pastor’s affairs, and a genius–priest who carries a gun, thwarts neighborhood crime, and teaches Rocco about "loving the poor." And there’s the pastor himself. He padlocks the refrigerator, guides young priests only in the weekly ritual of Bingo, and entangles Rocco in the dirty work of a fraudulent shrine.
As a backdrop to this chaos, the rectory experiences a host of supernatural manifestations, and Rocco discovers the legend of Bishop Peter J. Muldoon. Are there clues in this story of early stardom and great achievement, clerical competition and revenge, accusations and scandal, a missing ring, excommunication, and possibly murder that explain why the unexplainable is happening all around him?

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There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing UP in the other America by Alex Kotlowitz

What is it like living in Cabrini Green? The author explores the life in an inner city Chicago housing project discussing the residents' daily encounters with neighborhood violence, drugs, and gangs.

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Bog Logan's Fables from Chicago sports: Cubs, Bulls, Bears and other animals by Bob Logan

Veteran Chicago sportswriter Bob Logan offers an insider's glimpse at the Cubs, White Sox, Bears, Bulls, and other professional sports teams, their players, coaches, and fans.


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A Theater of Our Own: A History and Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago by Richard Christiansen

Presents a comprehensive study of over one hundred seventy years of the Chicago theater world beginning in the 1830s drawing upon historical records, interviews, and personal memories.

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Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City by Ursula Bielski

From ruthless gangsters to restless mail order kings, from the Fort Dearborn Massacre to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the phantom remains of the passionate people and violatile events of Chicago history have made the Second City second to none in the annals of American ghostlore.

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Destination: Chicago...Take One

Explore the City of Chicago! Don't waste your money on gas or stand in the cold for the train. Take a stroll down the streets of Chicago with these mysteries, thrillers, graphic novels, and historical fiction.

Blackbird Singing by Jay Amberg

World-famous basketball player Robert "Sky" Walker and small-town detective Tom Hopkins are caught up in an increasingly dangerous web of violence, media mania, and massive egos, when Walker's nine-year-old daughter is kidnapped by a madman who wants fame more than he wants money.

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Native Son by Richard Wright

Trapped in the poverty-stricken ghetto of Chicago's South Side, a young African-American man finds release only in acts of violence.

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Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

Celaya "Lala" Reyes, traveling from Chicago to Mexico City each summer, draws together stories of her Mexican-American family of shawl-makers, including her papa and Awful Grandmother.

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Chicago Noir by Neal Pollack (Editor)

A collection of short stories by various authors that explore the rougher side of Chicago and the experiences of its residents.


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Death In Uptown by Michael Raleigh

Private investigator Paul Whelan and a city cop comb Uptown Chicago for a murderer.

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The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Depicts the conditions of the Chicago stockyards through the eyes of a young Lithuanian immigrant struggling in early-twentieth-century America.

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The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Beth Cappadora finds herself in the midst of every parent's nightmare when her three-year-old son vanishes without a trace from a Chicago hotel lobby, throwing Beth, her husband Pat, and their son Vincent into a turmoil that ravages their lives.

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Coffee will make you black by April Sinclair

The story of an African-American woman growing up on the South side of Chicago in the turbulent 60s as she tests the limits of racism and refuses to accept the fact that just because she is African American she is inferior.

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Chicks with sticks by Elizabeth Lenhard

Four teenage girls from very different social cliques at their progressive Chicago high school become friends after forming a knitting club.

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The Bishop and the missing L train by Andrew Greeley

When Auxiliary Bishop Gus Quill, and the train he was riding on, seem to vanish into thin air, it is up to Bishop Blackie Ryan to find out what happened to the train and its passengers.

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I sailed with Magellan by Stuart Dybek

Presents eleven intertwined fiction stories in which narrator Perry Katzak presents a portrait of his life growing up in the 1950s and 60s in the neighborhoods of Chicago's South Side.

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Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

The driving forces of our culture -- restless idealism, glamorous material seductions and spiritual innocence -- are revealed in Dreiser's transformation of the conventional "fallen woman" story into a genuinely original work of imaginative fiction.

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Hardball by Barbara D'Amato

Cat Marsala, a freelance journalist, is thrust into danger when a bomb explodes next to her at the University of Chicago.

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Flight Dreams by Michael Craft

In order to save his career, investigative journalist Mark Manning must prove his hunch that a missing heiress is alive. At the same time, his denial of his sexual orientation is shattered when he finds himself attracted to a visiting architect.

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Chicago Confidential by Max Allan Collins

Private-eye Nathan Heller finds himself being tracked by the FBI after they begin the first congressional inquiry into organized crime and realize that Nathan may know where more than a few of the bodies are buried.

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Jackson Park by Charlotte Carter

It is the Spring of 1968. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the city of Chicago is a powder keg ready to explode. Against this tense backdrop, there is Woodson and Ivy Lisle, an elegant couple living in a shabby chic apartment hotel in Cook County’s Hyde Park. Both are proud patriarchs of a large, extended family, which includes their twenty-year-old grandniece, Cassandra, a college student standing at the crossroads— and on the brink of a troubling mystery involving the missing granddaughter of an old family friend. Fearing for the girl’s safety, Woody, Ivy, and Cassandra begin a determined investigation. What they uncover is a chilling link to an old murder case. Now a shattering secret of the past threatens all who try to expose it.

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A Killing Frost by Michael Black

Private detective Ron Shade agrees to help Maria Castro find her friend Juanita's missing fiance, but when the missing fiance is found dead in the river, Maria, whom Ron has become romantically involved with, refuses to let Ron turn the case over to the police, causing Ron to wonder if Maria is more involved than she has admitted.

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The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

Describes the life of Augie March, a poor Chicago boy growing up during the Depression, and his search for a career.

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The Beast of Chicago: an account of the life and crimes of Herman W. Mudgett by Rick Geary

A graphic novel account of the life and grisly career of serial killer H.H. Holmes, particularly focusing on his life in Chicago, where he was responsible for an unknown number of deaths in the late nineteenth century.

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Leavin' Trunk Blues by Ace Atkins

Nick Travers heads to Chicago, where he investigates the murder of blues producer Billy Lyons, but he soon learns that some people will go to any lengths to keep the events surrounding his death a secret.

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