How to read a verse novel by Sherryl Clark

HOW TO READ A VERSE NOVEL

Have you ever read a verse novel? Or are you put off by the fact that it’s poetry? I know lots of people were taught to either dislike poetry at school, or steer clear of it because it’s “too hard”. I used to be one of them!

But verse novels are a great way to dip your toe in the poetry water, because the poems or verses are focused just as much on story as they are on language, so they are immediately accessible. And enjoyable.

When you first pick up a verse novel, you’ll probably think it’s a collection of poems. Many verse novels have poems with titles (mine do). People often ask me if the way to read it is just to dip in and out.

The answer is no, because, just like a prose novel, a verse novel tells a story, so you need to start at the beginning and read through to the end. Someone once suggested that a reading a verse novel is like reading a lot of tiny chapters, which I think is a great description.

You will find that it is both a fast and a slow read. Sounds weird? A verse novel might have between 40 and 100 poems (Farm Kid has about 40, The Only Branch on the Family Tree has about 90, YA verse novels can have quite a few more), of which many will be quite short. So you could read a verse novel quite quickly if you wanted to.

But because a poem can pack in so much more in terms of images and ideas and suggesting things to think about, it can take a while. Many readers like to read all the way through for the story, then read again and take the time to think about all the things the poems create in their imagination.

Often, the poems in a verse novel can’t stand alone. There are some poems in Farm Kid that have been published in magazines on their own, but in my other verse novels, most of the poems are strongly linked into the storyline and don’t have as much meaning taken out of their context.

Some verse novels are quite “prosey” – they can feel a bit like the writer has just chopped up some prose. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then try some other titles. There are different styles, different voices, and many different stories. You might want to start with an award winner or two first, and then look further, using reading lists and reviews as your guide.

You will find that many verse novels are written for younger readers and teens. I suspect that maintaining the poetry and the story together might be more challenging for those who write for adults, simply because poems for adult readers tend to be more dense and language-conscious. So don’t let the fact that the verse novel you choose is for young adults or children – it will still be a really good read!

If you are a teacher, reading a verse novel to your class (and I hope you will, as poems are great read aloud), treat it like a prose story. Depending on how long you want to spend, you could read the book in thirds or quarters. I’d suggest you read it all the way through before you start talking about the poems. You might not want to tell your class you are reading poems to them! My verse doesn’t rhyme, and many of the poems naturally lead on to the next, because together, they create the story.

Here is a list of some of my favourites to get you started.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

By the River by Steven Herrick

Or simply google “best verse novels” and have a look at your local library (or request them, to encourage the library to buy them).

Some of my titles are out of print now, but still available are Mina and the Whole Wide World and The Only Branch on the Family Tree.

I have found that reading verse novels in class at school naturally leads to students wanting to write poems. If you are not sure where to start, there are resources for teachers on my website at www.poetry4kids.net