Middle Grade
3 books, newest first
Before the Ever After2020 · Contemporary
NCTE Notable Verse Novel 2021Coretta Scott King Author Award 2021ALSC Notable Children's Book 2021YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2021
Twelve-year-old ZJ idolizes his father, a celebrated pro football player. When his dad starts suffering headaches, memory loss and mood swings from years of hits on the field, ZJ struggles to understand what is happening to his family.
Brown Girl Dreaming2014 · Memoir
Newbery Honor 2015National Book Award Winner 2014Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor 2015Coretta Scott King Author Award 2015Claudia Lewis Award 2015ALSC Notable Children's Book 2015
Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse about growing up as an African American girl in the 1960s and 70s, moving between South Carolina and Brooklyn and slowly finding her voice as a writer.
Locomotion2003 · Contemporary
National Book Award Finalist 2003Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor 2003Coretta Scott King Author Honor 2004ALSC Notable Children's Book 2004
Eleven-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion, orphaned and separated from his little sister after their parents' deaths, finds an outlet for his grief and love in poetry assigned by his teacher.