Writing Without Rules Stories told in verse, IM’s, through emails and letters

Writing Without Rules

Stories told in verse, IM’s, through emails and letters…in writing,there areNO RULES.

NuGrl 90 : Sadie Cheryl Dellasega
Fifteen-year-old Sadie writes on her blog about having to move to a new high school at the beginning of sophomore year due to her parents' divorce, finding and losing a true love and a best friend, and being in therapy and taking antidepressants.

Who Killed Mr. Chippendale Mel Glenn Free verse poems describe the reactions of students, colleagues, and others when a high school teacher is shot to death as the school day begins.

Jazmin's Notebook Nikki Grimes Jazmin, an Afro-American teenager who lives with her older sister in a small Harlem apartment in the 1960s, finds strength in writing poetry and keeping a record of the events in her sometimes difficult life.

On Pointe Lorie Ann Grover In this novel written in free verse, Clare and her grandfather must deal with changes in their lives when Clare's summer growth spurt threatens to end her dream of becoming a ballet dancer and her grandfather suffers a stroke.

CrashBoomLove Juan Felipe Herrera After his father leaves home, sixteen-year-old Cesar Garcia lives with his mother and struggles through the painful experiences of growing up as a Mexican American high school student.

Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair Steven Herrick Jack's got a lot on his mind: He's trying to figure out the mystery of the opposite sex, he can't stop wondering about facial hair, and he won't let go of his mother's ghost, even though she died seven years ago. Jack knows he can't hang on to the past forever, but what he doesn't know is how to let go.

Out of the Dust Karen Hesse In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Witness Karen Hesse A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

Crank Ellen Hopkins Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter, gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul - her life.

Burned Ellen HopkinsSeventeen-year-old Pattyn, the eldest daughter in a large Mormon family, is sent to her aunt's Nevada ranch for the summer, where she temporarily escapes her alcoholic, abusive father and finds love and acceptance, only to lose everything when she returns home.

Monster Walter Dean MyersWhile on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.


TTYL Lauren Myracle Chronicles, in "instant message" format, the day-to-day experiences, feelings, and plans of three friends, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela, as they begin tenth grade. (Sequel: TTFN)

TTFN Lauren Myracle Now high school juniors, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela continue to share "instant messages" with one another as one of them experiments with marijuana, another gets her first boyfriend, and the third moves three thousand miles away. (Sequel: L8R G8R)

An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries Nina Schindler This story is told in a series of notes, text messages, letters, and emails, mostly between Tim and Amelie. Tim is walking on the street one day, watching a beautiful girl, when, miraculously, a scrap of paper falls out of her bag--with a name and address on it!

What My Mother Doesn’t Know Sonya SonesSophie describes her relationships with a series of boys as she searches for Mr. Right.

One of Those Hideous Books Where The Mother Dies Sonya Sones Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

Jinx Margaret Wild With the help of her understanding mother and a close friend, Jen eventually outgrows her nickname, Jinx, and deals with the deaths of two boys with whom she had been involved.

Make Lemonade Virginia Ewer Wolff In order to earn money for college, fourteen-year-old LaVaughn babysits for a teenage mother.

True Believer Virginia Ewer Wolff Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.