You may already know I adore verse novels (click the link from my sidebar). I am not sure which verse novel was my first taste of this genre but I do know we produce some truly excellent examples of this form here in Australia. When a verse novel appears on an awards shortlist such as the CBCA Children's Book of the Year I always cheer. In 2021 we had two verse novels on the CBCA short list (Younger Readers) Bindi by Kirli Saunders and Worse Things by Sally Murphy and in 2020 Little Wave by Pip Harry was the winner! See below for links to my review of each of these.
Why do I champion verse novels?
- Verse novels are a wonderful demonstration of the power of words
- In a verse novel words, often single words, are the heroes
- One word or a tiny text fragment in a verse novel can say so much
- They are easy to read aloud
- They are perfect to read aloud in library sessions
- Verse novels often contain very, very emotional stories but this is often balanced with humour
- Verse novels are perfect to share with all readers
- Reluctant readers will be rewarded when they read a verse novel and discover it is easy
- I love the way verse novels contain so much white space
- Verse novels are truly page turners
In past years I have shared many verse novels with groups in my school library. Titles such as Sister Heart by Sally Morgan; Farm Kid by Sherryl Clark; Pookie Aleera is not my Boyfriend by Steven Herrick; Tom Jones Saves the world by Steven Herrick and Motormouth by Sherryl Clark.
In more recent times I have loved reading Bindi by Kirli Saunders; Bully on the Bus by Kathryn Apel; Too Many friends by Kathryn Apel; Mina and the whole wide world by Sherryl Clark; Are you there Buddha? by Pip Harry; The Little Wave by Pip Harry; Zoe, Max and the Bicycle Bus by Steven Herrick; Worse Things by Sally Murphy; Footprints on the Moon by Lorraine Marwood; and On Track by Kathryn Apel.
The Australian Verse Novels Database prepared by NCACL has been created with such care and a wealth of detail. This will be a very welcome resource for teachers and Teacher-Librarians. If you work in a school I suggest you might like to print the collection flyer to share with the staff on a notice board. Teacher Librarians could also use this list for collection development.
Here is a page of links to the two sets of book lists - for younger readers and young adults.
Each title includes:
- The full publication details
- Annotations
- Readership level
- Themes
- Awards
- Australian Curriculum links
- Hyperlinks to free resources available on the web, with additional material about the creators, interviews, teaching resources and more.
Have you heard of The National Centre for Australian Children's Literature - NCACL?
Here is a quote from their website: NCACL or the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature has a comprehensive collection of material about Australian children’s literature. The collection has books, artwork, ephemera and author and illustrator research files. The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature Inc is the premier national institution that collects, documents and promotes Australian children’s literature and ensures this national heritage is publicly available and shared with future generations.
The collection includes over 46,000 books. Some 4,300 of these books are in overseas translations in 66 languages.
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