Dark Sons
by Nikki Grimes
Verse novel · ages 10–14 · 720L (~4th grade) · 208 pages · 2017
Why we'd hand it over
Grimes uses verse to crack open the experience of two half-brothers navigating grief and identity after their father's sudden death—emotionally precise, unflinching about race and class difference, and surprisingly accessible because the poems are short and the emotional truth is direct.