Poem in Your Pocket Day, which is on the 10th of April this year, is a day when people celebrate poetry by carrying around a poem they’ve selected and sharing it with others.

Non-narrative poems themselves are not usually quizzable for Accelerated Reader, as they wouldn’t form a true test of comprehension, so instead the Content team have put together some of our favourite novels written in verse to celebrate the day.

The Lonely Book by Meg Grehan
MY | Quiz #244907 | BL 6.5 | Little Island
Annie loves helping out in her mums’ bookshop. But she knows something is troubling her older sibling, and her mums seem worried too. Even the bookshop is upset. A warm and loving story about how a non-binary person comes to accept themself.

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton
MY | Quiz #244605 | BL 5.4 | Otter-Barry Books
Nate is ready for his tough final year at primary school, knowing his best friend PS is at his side. But when PS finds a new friend in the school bully, Nate’s world turns upside-down. This is a powerful story that deals with themes like identity and belonging in a way that is accessible to children.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
MY | Quiz #244867 | BL 5.3 | Orion Children’s Books | Nonfiction
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Jacqueline Woodson felt halfway home in each place. Through free verse, she shares what it was like to grow up as a Black child in the 1960s and 1970s. Although Jacqueline struggled with reading as a child, the poems explain how she found her voice while writing stories.

Starfish by Lisa Fipps
MY | Quiz #240278 | BL 4.1 | Nancy Paulsen
Bullied and shamed for her weight her whole life, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself and flourish, with the help of some wonderful new allies, including her therapist and her new neighbour.

Samira Surfs by Rukhsanna Guidroz, illustrated by Fahmida Azim
MY+ | Quiz #242073 | BL 4.3 | Kokila
Samira is an eleven-year-old Rohingya refugee in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, who finds peace and empowerment in a local girls’ surf club after she and her family flee their home in Burma.

Trigger by C.G. Moore
UY | Quiz #270655 | BL 4.7 | Little Island
An unflinching verse novel about a teenage boy who is sexually assaulted in an attack he struggles to remember. This is an emotionally affecting story that deals sensitively with trauma.

Activist by Louisa Reed
UY | Quiz #244303 | BL 5.8 | Guppy Books
When sexual assault survivors speak out, and Cassie’s prestigious school dismisses the accusations, Cassie and her friends take the situation into their own hands. But is there a deeper reason why this issue is so important to Cassie?

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
UY | Quiz #237238 | BL 4.7 | Hodder Children’s Books
Winner of our very own Quiz Writer’s Choice Award in 2021, this story joins Michael as he travels from school to university, where he comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen and becomes a drag artist.

The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner
UY | Quiz #270033 | BL 5.8 | Otter-Barry Books
Winner of the 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal, Joseph Coelho brilliantly blends Greek myth with a 21st-century quest. Theo is desperate to track down his father. When he discovers the story of Theseus, a fatherless son driven on a similar search, it’s clear the two journeys echo each other.

To find more novels in verse with AR quizzes, use the Advanced Search feature on Bookfinder and search for the topic ‘Poetry/ Rhymes’ and the subtopic ‘Free Verse.’

Happy quizzing!