Truth Is: A Novel in Verse
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Description
Finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
From the critically acclaimed author of All the Fighting Parts comes an empowering and defiant novel in verse in which a teen poet grapples with an unplanned pregnancy and determines what happens to her body in a world that wants to take the choice away from her.
Seventeen-year-old Truth Bangura wants nothing more than to know a life beyond her hometown. Writing and performing is her only solace in a life overwhelmed by a drifting relationship with her best friend, an emotionally turbulent home environment, and the reality that her below average grades make her true dream—escaping her mother’s grasp after graduation—uncertain.
When Truth learns she’s pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, she makes one decision she’s finally sure about: an abortion.
Determined to move forward, Truth turns to the pages in her notebook with the support of her slam poetry team—including the poet with a voice smooth as summer jazz, who’s been catching her eye during practice.
At an open mic night, Truth finally gains the courage to perform a piece that dives into her rocky relationship with her mother–and reveals the choice she never told her. But when a video of Truth’s performance is posted online and starts going viral, her decision quickly becomes everyone’s business–including her mother’s.
Told through searing free-verse, journal entries, and interspersed fill-in-the-blank poetry prompts, Hannah V. Sawyerr’s Truth Is reminds us there is always a choice. There is always hope. And there is always a way forward.
A National Book Award Finalist
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
A Pedro and Daniel Intersectionality Award Finalist
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Kirkus Books Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Book Riot Best Book the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Chicago Public Library Best Book the Year
A Rise: A Feminist Book Project Top Ten Selection
A YALSA Best Book of the Year Top Ten Selection
A Horn Book Fanfare Selection
Four Starred Reviews
Praise for Truth Is: A Novel in Verse
***STARRED REVIEW***
"Sawyerr (All The Fighting Parts) combines fast-paced, unwavering verse poems with text messages, social media transcripts, and more in this stunning portrait of a teen in transition that earns all the snaps."—Publishers Weekly
***STARRED REVIEW***
"Sawyerr’s sophomore novel uses the verse format stunningly to highlight the complexities woven into each of Truth’s authentic and compelling relationships. The book deftly addresses restrictive policies related to abortion access while prioritizing Truth’s talent, goals, and growth in a humanizing and inspirational way...An unforgettable, dynamic, and emotionally resonant novel in verse."—Kirkus Reviews
***STARRED REVIEW***
"[P]ortrayed authentically with flaws and hope. Empowering and fierce..."—Booklist
***STARRED REVIEW***
“Former Baltimore youth poet laureate Sawyerr offers a realistic glimpse into issues surrounding abortion access, choice, and determination in a lyrical way. A timely read for teens navigating identity, autonomy, and self-expression.”—Horn Book Magazine
“Sawyerr presents a stark look at how the oversimplification of an issue like abortion ignores the reality of people who do not have the choices so many imagine there to be.”—School Library Journal
