I love a good novel, but sometimes I want something a little different. That's where books like these come in. Novels in verse, graphic novel retellings, diaries, and novels told through letters--these picks may not be traditional, but they are still great reads. Find my top picks below.
Muted by Tami Charles
For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown. So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean Mercury Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it. Until they're not.
Read it for: a novel in verse--told through poetry--surrounding introspective and relatable characters.
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people ... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance -- and Papi's secrets -- the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
Read it for: a novel in verse told from the perspectives of both Camino and Yahaira.
The Giver by P. Craig Russell
This book presents a graphic novelization of Lois Lowry's novel in which Jonas, a boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is receives special training from The Giver, who alone holds the memories of the true joys and pain of life.
Read it for: detailed illustrations in an adaptation of a dystopian novel.
The Great Gatsby: a graphic novel adaptation by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This is the first graphic novel based on the classic by Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jay Gatsby had once loved beautiful, spoiled Daisy Buchanan, then lost her to a rich boy. Now, mysteriously wealthy, he is ready to risk everything to woo her back.
Read it for: a modern format of an old classic.
What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume
The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she'd be doing over vacation is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she's spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone. Not when her Dad is AWOL and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie's already shaky confidence. And especially not when her best friend starts flirting with the boy she's always loved. But Maisie's got something to prove. As she writes down all the ways this vacation is going from bad to worse in her school-assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture-device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn't let anything, or anyone, hold her back.
Read it for: a feel-good story, told in the form of a diary of an awkward main character.
The How and the Why by Cynthia Hand
Cassandra McMurtrey has the best parents a girl could ask for; they've given Cass a life she wouldn't trade for the world. She has everything she needs--but she has questions, too. Like, to know who she is. Where she came from. Questions her adoptive parents can't answer, no matter how much they love her. But eighteen years ago, someone wrote Cass a series of letters. And they may just hold the answers Cass has been searching for.
Read it for: a novel told partially in letters, for fans of Nina LaCour and Jandy Nelson.
We'll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss
Toby and Luke are best friends, bound by a goal of leaving their hometown for Luke's wrestling scholarship, but a series of events during their senior year will test their resolve.
Read it for: a thought-provoking story told through letters between Toby and Luke.