The Lover's Dictionary

The Lover's Dictionary : a novel
By David Levithan
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. 211 pages. Poetry

How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

The Lover's Dictionary is both a book of poetry and a single, cohesive narrative constructed through fleeting glimpses and gathered details expanded on from one poem to the next. While each "Dictionary" entry can very well stand on its own, the book is best appreciated as a single story, albeit one told out of order and in poetic language. Thrilling and heartbreaking, dreamy and despairing in equal measure, Levithan captures the highs and lows of every relationship in a way that somehow feels equal parts intimate, relatable, and unique. I particularly enjoyed how the only names in the book are those of "side characters", friends and family of the narrator and the lover. These two are never given a name, simply referred in the first person as "You" and "I". It feels as if the reader is in the unique position of approaching each poem as both narrator and lover. And in a way, as in all real relationships, we are.

If you like The Lover's Dictionary: a novel, you might also like:

Why We Broke Up
By Daniel Hadler
 Little, Brown and Company, 2013. 354 pages. Romance.

Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.

Eleanor & Park By Rainbow Rowell  St. Martin's Griffin, 2013. 328 pages. Romance.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

MD

And Then There Was Us

And Then There Was Us
By Kern Carter
Tundra Books, 2024. 223 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Coi is just eighteen years old but has already survived years of physical and verbal abuse from her mother. After being kicked out of her mother's house at age fourteen, Coi has lived with her father, and together they've created a peaceful life. That peace ends suddenly when her mother dies; her mother's passing also reopens up the door to her mother's side of the family, including her beloved half-sister Kayla, her stepfather, and her grandmother. As she reconnects with her family, Coi learns to see parts of her mother she never experienced and, for the first time since she was abandoned, opens her heart to forgiveness.

This book was heartbreaking, uplifting, infuriating, comforting, and extremely memorable. I felt so proud of the main character, Coi, as she continued to show just how strong and capable she was. Additionally, I was relieved to see Coi finding solace in good friends, good conversation, and good food. Surviving childhood abuse, maintaining a sense of self throughout, and recognizing that she needs to open up about her anger in order to be able to let it go - these were all things I was cheering Coi through. I found myself thinking about her and her family in moments when I wasn't reading this book, and that's how I knew it was one I needed to share with others.

If you like And Then There Was Us, you might also like: 

Abuela Don't Forget Me
By Rex Ogle
Norton Young Readers, 2022. 198 pages. Young Adult Biography

This incredible novel written in verse gives readers life-affirming poems that honor the author's grandmother's legacy. Throughout a coming of age marked by violence and dysfunction, Abuela's red-brick house in Texas offered Rex the possibility of a home. This book is a lyrical portrait of the transformative and towering woman who believed in Rex even when he didn't yet know how to believe in himself.

Red
By Annie Cardi
Union Square & Co, 2024. 250 pages. Young Adult Fiction

After a very personal decision goes public, sixteen-year-old Tess faces daily harassment and rejection by her former friends and even some of her family. When she meets some kids in the music room, her only place of solace at school, she finds they don't judge her for what's happened, and she learns to find her voice again. This book explores the complex themes of religious hypocrisy, reproductive rights, and overcoming adversity. 

Things We Haven't Said
By Erin Moulton (Editor)
Zest Books, 2018. 208 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

A powerful collection of poems, essays, letters, vignettes, and interviews by a diverse group of impressive adults who survived sexual violence as children and adolescents. Structured to incorporate creative writing to engage the reader and informative interviews to dig for context, this anthology is a valuable resource of hope, grit, and honest conversation. It will help teens and adults tackle the tough topic of sexual violence, upend stigma, and maintain hope for a better future.

LKA

And We Rise

And We Rise

By Erica Martin

Viking, 2022. 153 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

Erica Martin's debut poetry collection walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement, including both the well-documented events and lesser-known moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation's centuries-long fight for justice and equality. A poignant, powerful, all-too-timely collection that is both a vital history lesson and much-needed conversation starter in our modern world. 

Wow this little book packs a powerful punch. While difficult to read at times (it is quite emotional), it is a necessary history lesson. Martin masterfully commands each page and the visual art of the poems is stunning. Every single word, down to the last letter, is placed exactly where it is meant to be. This would be a great collection to read and listen at the same time so that you get the full impact of the repetitions, rhythm, and visual imagery. Whether you're a teen or adult, this book is an excellent choice. 

If you like And We Rise you might also like: 

African Town

By Irene Latham

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2022. 438 pages. Young Adult Fiction

In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 people from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, this powerful novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history. 

Ain't Burned All the Bright

By Jason Reynolds

Atheneum, 2022. Unpaged. Young Adult Fiction

A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW. And so for anyone who didn't really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you'll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is. 

Hollow Fires

By Samira Ahmed

Little Brown and Company, 2022. 404 pages. Young Adult Fiction

After discovering the body of fourteen-year-old Jawad Ali in Jackson Park, seventeen-year-old journalism student Safiya Mirza begins investigating the murder and ends up confronting white supremacy in her own high school.

sr

Antes que Isla es Volcán

Antes que Isla es un Volcán
Por Salas Rivera, Raquel
Beacon Press, 2022. 70 páginas. Poesía

Raquel Salas Rivera ha ascendido rápidamente en el mundo de la poesía, y este, su sexto libro, promete cimentar su estatus como uno de los poetas más importantes de la actualidad. En versos agudos y cristalinos, escritos tanto en español como en inglés, antes que isla es volcán imagina atrevidamente un Puerto Rico decolonial.

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Boomerang Bumerán
Por Obejas, Achy
Beacon Press, 2021. 66 páginas. Poesía

Una colección de poesía bilingüe de una escritora y activista cubanoamericana que explora temas de identidad, sexualidad y pertenencia.

Una colección bilingüe única e inspiradora de poesía lírica escrita en un inglés y español audaz, en su mayoría sin género, que aborda la inmigración, el desplazamiento, el amor y el activismo.

El libro se divide en tres secciones: Primero, poemas que abordan la inmigración y el desplazamiento; en segundo lugar, los que abordan el amor, los objetos perdidos y encontrados, y finalmente, los versos que se centran en la acción, en las formas de abordar la injusticia y reparar el mundo. El volumen será tanto inspiración como apoyo para los lectores que viven con identidades marginadas y aquellos que los aman y los apoyan.

Los Más Bellos Poemas de Amor Latinoamericanos
Por Varios Autores

Libro Latino, 1999. 126 páginas. Poesía

Estos poemas de amor que hemos seleccionado, forman parte de uno de los episodios más maravillosos de la historia de la literatura universal.

Toda elección es arbitraria, esta antología no escapa a la regla. ¿Son estos los más bellos poemas de amor latinoamericanos? Solo son algunos de los más hermosos. Cada uno de ellos encierra tres historias de amor: una del autor, que lo ha convertido en poema, otra del antólogo, que supo elegirlos por alguna extraña razón, y una tercera, la que tu sumaras al leerlo.

Abre tu corazón, un poeta te está buscando.

MEB

Etiquetas: Español, No Ficción, Poesía

Inheritance: A Visual Poem

Inheritance: A Visual Poem

By Elizabeth Acevedo

Quill Tree Books, 2022. 48 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

Interweaving a powerful message of self-love, award-winning author and poet Elizabeth Acevedo celebrates the beauty and meaning of natural Black hair through her most famous spoken-word poem. Paired with full-color illustrations by artist Andrea Pippins, this poem can now be read in a vibrant package, making it the ideal gift, treasure, or inspiration for readers of any age. 

I loved both the poem and the illustrations, I only wish it was longer! It is very powerful, honest, and full of love. 

If you like Inheritance: A Visual Poem, you may also like:

For Everyone

By Jason Reynolds

Antheneum, 2018. 101 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers, this stirring and inspirational poem is New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds's rallying cry to the dreamers of the world.

Hairvolution

By Saskia Calliste

Supernova Books, 2021. 240 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

Do you love your natural hair? Some of the world's most inspiring black women tell us about their attitudes to, and struggles with, their crowning glory. Kinky, wavy, straight or curly, this book will help you celebrate your natural beauty, however you choose to style your hair. The power is in our hair. And we've come to tell the world what ours can do!

Say Her Name

By Zetta Elliott

Jump At The Sun, 2020. 83 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists insisting that Black Lives Matter. Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience, and courage of Black women and girls. This collection features forty-nine powerful poems, four of which are tribute poems inspired by the works of Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, and Phillis Wheatley.

sr

Me (Moth)

Me (Moth)
By Amber McBride
Feiwel and Friends, 2021. 248 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Moth, who lost her family in an accident, and Sani, who is fleeing abuse, take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors, which helps them move forward in surprising, powerful and unforgettable ways.

Written in verse, the words are crafted together to create a vibrant journey of self-discovery in the face of pain and abandonment. Heart-breaking, yet uplifting, and a beautiful read.

If you liked Me (Moth), then you may also like:

African Town: inspired by the true story of the last American slave ship
By Irene Latham
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2022. 438 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this novel powerfully recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.

A Million Quiet Revolutions

By Robin Gow

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2022. 336 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Two seventeen-year-old trans boys in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, struggling to understand themselves and their love for each other, are inspired by an online story about trans soldiers who fell in love during the American Revolution. As they delve further into unwritten queer stories, they rediscover the transformative power of reclaiming one’s place in history.

AS

Home is Not a Country

Home is Not a Country

by Safia Elhillo

Make Me A World, 2021. 215 pages. YA Fiction

Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn't feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn't feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn't different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can't, and suddenly her only refuge is gone. As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen--the name her parents meant to give her at birth--Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows. And the life Nima wishes were someone else's is one she will need to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she possessed.

I listened to this novel-in-verse as an audiobook, which was read by the author herself. I thought it an exquisite piece of writing. Elhillo captures the heartbreak and yearning of what it means to be the child of immigrant parents. She also includes some light magical realism, which I was not expecting. A masterfully written work that examines belonging, immigration, racism, generational trauma, guilt, identity, and home. 

If you like Home is Not a Country, you might also like:

Clap When You Land

by Elizabeth Acevedo

Harper Teen, 2020. 417 pages. YA Fiction

An evocative novel in verse follows the experiences of two grieving sisters who navigate the loss of their father and the impact of his death on their relationship.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

by Erika L. Sanchez

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2017. 344 pages. YA Fiction

When her seemingly perfect sister dies in a tragic accident, Julia, who longs to go to college and move into a home of her own, discovers from mutual friends that her sister may not have been as perfect as believed.

Punching The Air

by Ibi Aanu Zoboi

Balzer & Bray, 2020. 386 pages. YA Fiction

Traces the story of a young artist and poet whose prospects at a diverse art school are threatened by a racially biased system and a tragic altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood.

sr

Against Silence

Against Silence

by Frank Bidart

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021. 63 pages.

Poetry

Words—there is a gap, nonetheless always

and forever, between words and the world—

In Against Silence, the Pulitzer Prize winner's eleventh collection of poetry, Bidart writes of the cycles we cannot escape and the feelings we cannot forget. These bitesize poems make for a quick read, but they take a while to digest. Bidart writes about aging and death, memories, and the cycles we cannot escape, the feelings we cannot forget.

If you like Against Silence, you may also like:

Poems

by Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop is one of America's greatest writers, and her art is loved and admired by readers and fellow poets alike. The poems that make up Bishop's small and select body of work display honesty and humor, grief and acceptance, observing nature and human nature with painstaking accuracy. Her poems often start outwardly, with geography and landscape--from New England and Nova Scotia, where she grew up, to Florida and Brazil, where she later lived-- and move inexorably toward "the interior," exploring as they do fundamental questions of knowledge and perception, love and solitude, and the ability or inability of form to control chaos.

Whale Day, and other poems

by Billy Collins

Billy Collins's thirteenth collection, and first in four years, contains more than fifty new poems that showcase the playfulness, wit, and wisdom that have made him one of our most celebrated and widely read poets. This collection covers many themes, including Collins's profound insights on aging and mortality.

ALL

Poet Warrior

Poet Warrior

By Joy Harjo

W.W. Norton & Company, 2021. 226 pages. Biography

In the second memoir from the first Native American to serve as US poet laureate, Joy Harjo invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her "poet-warrior" road. A musical, kaleidoscopic meditation, Poet Warrior reveals how Harjo came to write poetry of compassion and healing, poetry with the power to unearth the truth and demand justice. Weaving together the voices that shaped her, Harjo listens to stories of ancestors and family, the poetry and music that she first encountered as a child, the teachings of a changing earth, and the poets who paved her way. 

I loved this memoir by Joy Harjo because she has an expert voice and immerses you into her story. On a whim, I started reading the poetry bits out loud and was amazed at how that brought more depth and meaning to her words. I felt her connection to her family, ancestors, heritage, and beliefs. Her memoir is powerful and a work of art. 

If you like Poet Warrior you might also like: 

Everything Sad is Untrue

By Daniel Nayeri

Levine Querido, 2020. 356 pages. YA Fiction

To Khosrou's classmates, he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back centuries, are beautiful and terrifying. We bounce between a school bus of kids armed with paper clip missiles and spitballs to the heroines and heroes of Khosrou's family's past. Like Scheherazade in a hostile classroom, Khosrou weaves a tale to save his own life, to stake his claim to the truth. 

Spirit Run

By Noé Álvarez

Catapult, 2020. 218 pages. Biography

Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noé Álvarez worked at an apple-packing plant alongside his mother. At nineteen, he learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. He dropped out of school and joined a group of Dené, Secwépemc, Gitxsan, Dakelh, Apache, Tohono O'odham, Seri, Purépecha, and Maya runners, all fleeing difficult beginnings. Telling their stories alongside his own, Álvarez writes about his journey from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. Running through mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his parents left behind, Álvarez forges a new relationship with the land, and with the act of running, carries the dream of a liberated future. 

World of Wonders

By Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Milkweed Editions, 2020. 165 pages. Nonfiction

From award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction--a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us. As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance. 

sr

Juliet Respira Profundo

Juliet Respira Profundo
Por Gabby Rivera
Vintage Español, 2020. 380 páginas. Ficción Juvenil

Juliet Milagros Palante es una adolescente lesbiana puertorriqueña, nacida en el Bronx. Aún está 'en el clóset', aunque no tanto como ella cree. Una noche antes de viajar a Portland, Oregón, donde ha logrado conseguir un trabajo de verano con su escritora feminista favorita, Juliet le confiesa la verdad a su familia. Pero como su anuncio oficial no sale de la manera que esperaba, queda convencida de que su madre no le volverá a hablar. Sin embargo, Juliet tiene un plan. Bueno, más o menos. Su trabajo con la legendaria autora Harlowe Brisbane--la autoridad suprema del feminismo, de la anatomía de las mujeres, y de temas 'gay'--seguramente le ayudará a descifrar cómo funciona esto de ser lesbiana y puertorriqueña. Pero Harlowe es blanca. Y no viene del Bronx. Y definitivamente no tiene todas las respuestas ... En un verano rebosante de fiestas queer, rematado por una aventurilla romántica con una bibliotecaria motociclista y mezclado con intensas exploraciones de raza e identidad, Juliet aprende lo que significa salir del clóset y encajar en el mundo, en su familia y dentro de sí misma.

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Rojo, Blanco y Sangre Azul

Por Casey McQuiston

RBA Libros, 2019. 493 páginas. Romántico

Alex Clarademont-Díaz, el hijo milenial de la presidenta de los Estados Unidos, es un tesoro para el marketing de la Casa Blanca: atractivo, carismático e inteligente. Lo que nadie sabe es que no soporta al príncipe Henry, el hijo de la reina de Inglaterra. Así que, cuando la prensa sensacionalista se hace con una fotografía que refleja un altercado entre Alex y Henry, las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido se enfrían. Ambos países trazan un plan para paliar los daños. Lo que empieza como una falsa amistad, publicada en Instagram, se va transformando en algo más profundo de lo que Alex y Henry podrían haber imaginado.

Caminando Hacia la Felicidad

Por Adric Ceneri

Magesoul Publishing, 2020. 334 páginas. Poesía

Este libro es una colección de poesía junto con arte gráfica para proporcionar una imagen vívida de estas palabras llenas de emoción. Un increíble libro de poesía narrativa, que comparte la historia de la experiencia y vida del autor a lo largo del tiempo en siete fases. Empieza con la oscuridad de su niñez a los deseos de la adolescencia. Luchó contra la ignorancia de su propia familia y el mundo en que nació. No era fácil ser aceptado más nunca rindió. Siguió adelante y en la poesía encontró las razones y la motivación para luchar por sus creencias. El crecer no era fácil más sin embargo quiso creer en el amor, quiso creer que el universo tenía algo mejor para él y empezó a caminar hacia la felicidad. Fracasando en sus intentos de encontrar el amor se amargó hasta que conoció a alguien que le dio la esperanza. Pensó que era un sueño, de repente se dio cuenta que era real y que el amor estaba tocando a su puerta. Un latido del corazón lo encontró y lo invitó a dejar amar otra vez.

MEB

Etiquetas: Español, Ficción, Ficción Juvenil, Romántico, Poesía, LGBTQIA, Biografía, Jóven Adulto

Come, Sweet Day

Come, Sweet Day: Holding On To Hope in Dark Times

by Julianne Donaldson

Ensign Peak, 2021. 89 pgs. Poetry

Julianne Donaldson is best know for writing the romance novel Edenbrooke. In this short collection of poems and essays, she shares her thoughts and feelings from an unsettled time of despair and suffering in her own life, so that women can know they are not alone and that there is hope even in the hard times.

If you like Come, Sweet Day, you might also like: 

Making it Through the Middle: Hope and Help When the Journey Seems Long
by Emily Freeman

Deseret Book, 2014. 56 pgs. Nonfiction

Emily Freeman starts her book by talking about how people usually only talk about after they have made it through a trial. We tend to focus on the end, when an answer has been given, or the illness goes away. Very rarely does anyone offer help or advice while we are still stuck in the middle. When we are still struggling and it doesn't seem like there is ever going to be an end. She uses her personal experiences and scriptures to share six lessons that can help us make it through the middle moments in our lives.

Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

By Brené Brown

Spiegel & Grau, 2015. 301 pgs. Nonfiction

The author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection tells us what it takes to get back up, and how owning our stories of disappointment, failure, and heartbreak gives us the power to write a daring new ending. Struggle, Brene Brown writes, can be our greatest call to courage, and rising strong our clearest path to a wholehearted life.

AL

Light for the World to See

Light for the World to See 

by Kwame Alexander 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. 96 pages. 

Kwame Alexander is well-known for his slam-dunk poetry in his Newbery Award winning book The Crossover. Light For the World comprises three of his latest poems, “American Bullet Points,” “Take a Knee,” and “The Undefeated.” This book may take you less than an hour to read from start to finish, but these bite-size poems pack a powerful punch. Alexander speaks out on racial injustice and the current struggles of Black lives in society, and he calls this book a “roll of thunder, a call to action. A rally in verse.” 

These poems beg to be read aloud, and I highly suggest listening to recordings of Kwame Alexander himself reading them. These recordings are available free of charge online. If you enjoy this book, you may also enjoy Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb.

ALL

Elemental Haiku

Elemental Haiku: Poems to Honor the Periodic Table, Three Lines at a Time
By Mary Soon Lee
Ten Speed Press, 2019. 131 pages. Poetry

A set of 119 haiku for each of the elements of the periodic table, these creative and witty poems are paired with imaginative line drawing on each page. The accompanying notes on each page explain how every square on the table relates to everyday life, pulling from astronomy, biology, history, physics, and (of course) chemistry. These brief, structured poems present the wonders of the universe in a very accessible and light format as science and art combine beautifully.

With a background in chemistry, I loved this quick, fun read. But don't fret if you haven't studied science since high school: you'll find a bite-sized chunk of science and history on each page that doesn't come across as pedantic. A perfect book for reading aloud or just contemplating quietly while you relax, Elemental Haiku would make a great gift for the science nerd in your life.

DT