By Ella and Lina

We love books in verse! Beautiful, lyrical, and absorbing, these are often some of our favorite stories, and the ones we remember most vividly years after we read them for the first time. 

Here are seven of our favorite books in verse! 

By Lina

Xiomara. 1. One who is ready for war. 2. The name her mother gives her when she bursts into the world fighting so hard she has the whole barrio praying for her to survive labor. She'll swear she thought it was a saint's name. Always take her daughter to the church she lives for, tell her constantly to listen, be good, build her a cloister of accusations and arguments and punishments. Her daughter will question the church, question the men who run it, question her mother's stinging authority. And she will never be enough. Instead, she will become a fifteen-year-old girl catcalled for her curves, known for her fists and ferocity, hiding her vulnerability, hiding her exhaustion, because no one, no one else is ever going to protect her from a world that thinks it owns her. 

X. What Xiomara's secret more-than-friend from bio class calls her, warming her every time he says it, a sweet secret warmth laced with the fear of what will happen when Mami finds out and this relationship, dream, hidden grasp for freedom shatters into a million painful shards.

The Poet X. A dream. An impossibility. An escape. A girl scribbling frustrations and fears and fragments of ideas of who she really is and who she wants to be on the pages of a battered notebook when her mother isn't looking. A girl on a stage, speaking the words she hides at school, chokes down at home. A girl taking up space and speaking her truth--and loved for it. 

I absolutely adored The Poet X, a spare, piercing, perfectly balanced exploration of family, friendship, growing up and learning to live your truth when the whole world seems intent on holding you down. I'm constantly amazed by the depth that can be attained in free verse through so few words; Acevedo, a decorated slam poet, does so with ease. The characters are multilayered and deftly complex, and the family dynamics are especially well-executed, a tangle of anger and bitterness and silence made both heartwrenching and authentic by the threads of painful, complicated love embedded within it. Xiomara's voice is authentic and vibrant, and it's a true joy to watch her learn to love herself and take up the space she so wholeheartedly deserves as the story progresses. I would highly recommend The Poet X to readers ages thirteen and up, especially for discussion or book clubs. 

By Ella

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris is the sequel to Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, and the second installment in the Theodosia series. 

[Look out--there are spoilers for the first book!]

After saving England from the sinister actions of the Serpents of Chaos, trouble has died down for Theodosia Throckmorton, daughter of the head curator of a London archaeology museum. Clearly, though, some peaceful time to catalog artifacts and remove some nasty lingering curses is too much to hope for, because after uncovering an artifact she is fairly certain is the legendary Staff of Osiris--imbued with the power to raise the dead--in the museum's basement, a small platoon of mummies appear in the foyer. The police are convinced her father stole them, but Theodosia believes they were summoned by the Staff of Osiris--and that the Serpents of Chaos are well aware of the mummies' unusual behavior. 

Determined to clear her family name, outwit the Serpents of Chaos, and avoid her grandmother's latest succession of prospective governesses, Theodosia sets out to solve this latest mystery before the Serpents of Chaos succeed in their latest plan--and use the Staff of Osiris for something far more sinister than moving the dead. 

Once more, Theodosia Throckmorton does not disappoint. Somewhat like a fantasy version of Flavia de Luce, she manages to be witty, sharp, and indisputably an eleven-year-old in the best possible way, making this series constantly surprising, unexpected, and brilliantly clever. Combining fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, and ancient Egyptian archaeology, Theodosia has a bit of everything, and it's all pulled off brilliantly well. I highly recommend Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris and the Theodosia series to readers ages ten and up who enjoy mysteries and fantasy novels. 

By Ella

At the Black Moon Ceremony each year, every twelve-year-old Witchling in the Twelve Towns is chosen for a Coven. Seven Salazar has dreamed her entire life of being placed in Hyacinth House alongside her best friend, Poppy, where they would race toads together and learn new magic and never again have to deal with her relentless bully, Valley Pepperhorn. Only all Seven's plans don't work out, because at the Black Moon Ceremony, she isn't chosen for Hyacinth House--or any other coven. Seven, Valley, and a Witchling named Thorn are left as Spares, covenless and magicless, the worst possible fate. 

Determined not to lose her future so easily, Seven invokes the Impossible Task. If she and her fellow Spares succeed and fell a monstrous Nightbeast, they'll keep their magic and be sealed as a proper coven. If not? They'll be turned into toads. 

Seven is less than thrilled to be forced to work with Valley, but she doesn't have much of a choice if she wants to complete the Impossible Task. Especially since as she, Valley, and Thorn learn more about the Nightbeast and try to track it down, they discover that another witch is hiding it. And maybe some even more dangerous secrets, too...

Witchlings is a light, funny, and fast-paced fantasy novel that could appeal to fans of the quirkiness and strong characters of The Last Fallen Star, Strangeworlds Travel Agency, and Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch. Ortega's characters are spot-on, full of personality and layered relationships that make them feel both developed and extremely real. Seven, Thorn, and Valley stick out in particular--the ways they connect and bounce off each other make them fun to read about and utterly relatable. I also love the world of Witchlings, which is full of interesting and unique details that together create a setting that seems to extend well past the boundaries of the story. I recommend Witchlings to readers ages nine and up, particularly those who enjoy quest fantasy with a fresh twist.  

By Ella and Lina

​It can be hard not to judge a book by its cover...and maybe that's not always a bad thing! Some of our favorite books are paired with equally fantastic cover art which perfectly encapsulates the world, feeling, and characters of the story. 

Here are five of our favorite books that live up to their stunning covers! 

​By Ella

Every magical school needs a good beastkeeper--and Inglenook School of Magic is no exception. Twelve-year-old Autumn Malog's family has cared for Inglenook's beasts for generations, and she's grown up looking after dragons protecting their well-cared-for gardens and striking up a friendship with the boggart, one of Inglenook's most mysterious and temperamental creatures. But ever since her twin brother, Winter, went missing last year, everything has been different. Everyone else believes he's dead, devoured long ago by the ferocious Hollow Dragon, but Autumn has never been convinced. She's certain he's alive somewhere, and she's spent every moment since trying to figure out what really happened to him. And she's sure she saw him in one of Inglenook's mirrors...

Autumn doesn't have any real clues, though--not until Cai Morrigan, the Inglenook student prophecized to defeat the Hollow Dragon, agrees to help her find Winter. But nothing is as it seems, and as Autumn and Cai follow a trail of clues leading from the Hollow Dragon's forest to within the walls of Inglenook School, they must also uncover its far deeper secrets before it is too late--for Winter, and for all of them. 

The School Between Winter and Fairyland is a fast-paced fantasy novel that puts a new twist on the classic tale of the Chosen One. The worldbuilding is excellent, full of small details--like the gardening dragons--that make the setting unique and interesting. I particularly liked the different creatures that Autumn's family cares for, which are all drawn from various mythology but with a new spin on their characteristics and personalities. The characters are also excellent, particularly Cai--I've read a lot of stories with Chosen Ones, but Fawcett's twist on this trope is different in the best possible way! I recommend The School Between Winter and Fairyland to readers ages nine and up, particularly those who enjoy books about magic schools.