“Unsinkable Cayenne is just a brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming, magical middle grade novel in verse. I could not stop reading this book…I loved it from the moment I started until the end of it…and I cannot wait to share it with young readers.” – Colby Sharp
*NCTE 2025 Notable Verse Novel*
*2026 Forest of Reading Red Maple Nominee*
*High Plains International Book Award*
*2025 Telling Tales Reading List*
*Best Books For Kids and Teens 2025 (The Canadian Children’s Book Centre)*
*Reading the West Book Awards 2025 Longlist*
*Best New Book of the Week (Parade Magazine)*
*Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection*
*School Library Journal Starred Review*
When her unconventional parents finally agree to settle down in one place, twelve-year-old Cayenne’s dreams come true—but the reality of fitting in is much harder than she imagined. Acclaimed author Jessica Vitalis crafts an unforgettable historical novel-in-verse about belonging, family, and social class for fans of Lisa Fipps’s Starfish and Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home.
Cayenne and her family drift from place to place, living in their van. It hasn’t been a bad life—Cayenne and her mother birdwatch in every new location, they have a cozy setup in the van, and they sing and dance and bond over campfires most nights. But they’ve never belonged anywhere.
As Cayenne enters seventh grade, her parents decide to settle down in a small Montana town. Cayenne hopes that this means she will finally fit in and make some friends. But it turns out that staying in one place isn’t easy.
As her social studies class studies the Titanic tragedy (the wreckage has just been discovered and her teacher is obsessed), Cayenne sees more and more parallels between the social strata of the infamous ship and her own life. Will she ever squeeze her way into the popular girls’ clique, even though they live in fancy houses on the hill, and she lives in a tiny, rundown home with chickens in the front yard? Is it possible that the rich boy she likes actually likes her back? Can she find a way to make room for herself in this town? Does she really want to? Maybe being “normal” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Unsinkable Cayenne is a character-driven novel-in-verse about family, friendship, first crushes, and fitting in. Set in the mid-1980s, this literary novel is for readers of Megan E. Freeman’s Alone and Erin Entrada Kelly’s We Dream of Space.
“An intensely readable novel in free verse…readers will be exposed to thoughtful meditations on whether standing out or fitting in is the best option for middle schoolers…Recommended for all middle grade collections.”
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL STARRED REVIEW“In a world where many times our self-worth is correlated with a dollar value, UNSINKABLE CAYENNE is a lesson in how our intristic worth is of infinite value, an important reminder no matter how old the reader is.”
LINN GOSS, REVIEWER FOR THE HIGH PLAINS INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
“This story centers the valuable perspective of a child growing up in a loving family with alternative norms, and it demonstrates respect for young readers with a bittersweet ending that feels authentic to the characters.”
KIRKUS
“The verse makes the story accessible while creating space for emotional resonance. Realistic, flawed characters populate this world. Relatable and highly readable with themes of belonging, family, and social class…”
BOOKLIST
“[A]n enchanting novel in verse…This standalone story has a flow to it that sweeps up the reader in its wake and carries them all the way to its end…Crafted with themes of family, friendship, first crushes, and fitting in, this book is … a delightful companion and an excellent reminder that maybe, just maybe, being “normal” isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
CANADIAN CHILDREN’S BOOKNEWS
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