Beauty Mark
A Verse Novel of Marilyn Monroe
Age 14+
Children's & Young Adult Fiction & True Stories
In a powerful novel in verse, an award-winning author offers an eye-opening look at the life of Marilyn Monroe.
From the day she was born into a troubled home to her reigning days as Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe (née Norma Jeane Mortenson) lived a life that was often defined by others. Here, in a luminous poetic narrative, acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford tells Marilyn’s story in a way that restores her voice to its rightful place: center stage. Revisiting Marilyn’s often traumatic early life — foster homes, loneliness, sexual abuse, teen marriage — through a hard-won, meteoric rise to stardom that brought with it exploitation, pill dependency, and depression, the lyrical narrative continues through Marilyn’s famous performance at JFK’s birthday party, three months before her death. In a story at once riveting, moving, and unflinching, Carole Boston Weatherford tells a tale of extraordinary pain and moments of unexpected grace, gumption, perseverance, and the inexorable power of pursuing one’s dreams. A beautifully designed volume, highlighted by archival photographs.
Creators
Carole Boston Weatherford, a New York Times best-selling author and poet, was named the 2025 Children’s Literature Legacy Award winner. She was also named the 2019 Washington Post Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award winner. Her numerous books for children include the Newbery Honor Book Box: Henry Box Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, illustrated by Michele Wood; the Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, illustrated by Floyd Cooper; the Robert F. Sibert Honor Book Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, illustrated by Ekua Holmes; and the critically acclaimed Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library and Outspoken: Paul Robeson, Ahead of His Time, both illustrated by Eric Velasquez. Carole Boston Weatherford lives in Maryland.
