New YA Reads
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Good as Gold
Fans of Netflix's Outer Banks will devour this contemporary YA novel with a propulsive mystery about one girl's search for her town's legendary sunken treasure in order to clear her family's name and save her future.
Some treasures are meant to stay buried . . .
Casey’s life in Langston has been charmed. She’s the queen bee of her prep school, a shoe-in for prom queen, and on her way to the Ivy League come fall. She can't wait to leave the whole town of Langston behind her. That is until her father loses his job and she finds herself on the brink of losing her ticket out of town.
The town of Langston is known for its picturesque lake and robust summer tourism. Everyone who lives in town has heard the rumors at some point-- there is a treasure buried deep below the surface that no one has ever been able to find. Few people actually believe in the treasure, and even fewer have searched for it. But some have tried . . .
Suddenly an outcast from her popular squad, Casey falls in with a new group of friends who are exactly the opposite of her usual crowd, but are more accepting. Together they devise a plan to find the elusive treasure, in a quest to get the money and save Casey's family and her future. But what they find is much more complicated than just a pile of gold. With thrilling twists and turns and high stakes adventure, fans of Outer Banks will devour this summer adventure. -
If You Knew My Name
Lisa Roberts Carter’s debut, If You Knew My Name, is a novel-in-verse telling the story of 17-year-old Mason Tyndall— an aspiring rap artist whose mother is a BLM activist. She saw fatal officer-involved shootings as senseless tragedies. He viewed them as trending hashtags — that is, until he almost became one.
Mason Zy’Aire Tyndall has big dreams. Dreams of sick beats, epic mic-drops, sold out stadiums. Mason’s going to be a rap star—and you don’t become a rap star by hitting up BLM protests with your mom or sitting at a desk. Mason wants to get out there and make a name for himself, but he’ll have to graduate high school first. And he can’t do that if he fails his senior year.
Convinced his poetry class is a waste of time, Mason’s teacher helps him see just how valuable a couplet and a rhyme can be. But when an unarmed Black man is killed by the police in his city, tensions start to rise—among the cops, the community, and even Mason’s peers.
Caught in the middle of increasingly violent conflicts, Mason will have to find a way to use his voice for change…and fast. -
Rick Riordan Presents: It Waits in the Forest
The very first thriller from Rick Riordan Presents! Drawing from the darkest corners of Caribbean mythology, acclaimed author Sarah Dass crafts a chilling tale of magic, murder, and how far we'll go to protect what's ours--perfect for fans of Angeline Boulley and Tiffany D. Jackson.
Unlike the other residents of the small Caribbean Island of St. Virgil, Selina DaSilva does not believe in magic. With a logical mind and a knack for botany, Selina used to dream of leaving the island to study Pharmacology--until a vicious, unsolved attack left her father dead and her mother in a coma.
Now her guilt over her mother's condition keeps her tethered to the island, relegated to conning gullible tourists with useless talismans and phony protection rituals. But when one of those tourists ends up at the center of a string of strange murders, the truth that Selina has been denying can no longer be avoided: there is evil lurking in the forests that surround St. Virgil. Another thing that can't be avoided? Selina's ex-boyfriend Gabriel, newly employed at the local newspaper and eager to put his investigative skills to use.
Desperate to put an end to the killings and claim justice for Selina's family, these two former lovers race to find answers. But evil bides its time. And as long-buried feelings and long-hidden secrets about Selina's family's past begin to reveal themselves, only one answer remains--and it waits in the forest.
Endorsed by Rick Riordan, author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, now a hit series on Disney+.
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The Chaos Grid
Cross the grid. Survive the storms. Let your destiny burn.
When mankind's attempts to control nature backfire, Texas descends into a wasteland. Storms rage and ravenous beasts roam the Outer Grid. The only safe havens rest inside the tech-obsessed domed cities. But when her parents are murdered inside the Plex City dome, seventeen-year-old Juniper Conway wants revenge.
Ties to her extended family threaten to pull her back as she runs from city to city. The Plex is endangering its citizens by legalizing a deadly nano drug, and Juniper's family needs her help to deliver the counteragent. Saving the city who orphaned her goes against everything she stands for. The only way out is to brave the wasteland.
Juniper joins a shipping crew fearless enough to transport food across the Outer Grid. But when a string of bad luck turns lethal, she fears something, or someone, is dragging her back to the Plex. As her world sinks into chaos, Juniper must decide if revenge is worth the lives of the crew she has come to love.
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Salt the Water
A Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book
Cerulean Gene is free everywhere except school, where they’re known for repeatedly challenging authority. Raised in a free-spirited home by two loving parents who encourage Cerulean to be their full self, they’ve got big dreams of moving cross-country to live off the grid with their friends after graduation. But a fight with a teacher spirals out of control, and Cerulean impulsively drops out to avoid the punishment they fear is coming. Why wait for graduation to leave an oppressive capitalist system and live their dreams?
Cerulean is truly brilliant, but their sheltered upbringing hasn’t prepared them for the consequences of their choice — especially not when it’s compounded by a family emergency that puts a parent out of work. Suddenly the money they’d been stacking with their friends is a resource that the family needs to stay afloat.
Salt the Water is a book about dreaming in a world that has other plans for your time, your youth, and your future. It asks, what does it look like when a bunch of queer Black kids are allowed to dream? And what does it look like for them to confront the present circumstances of the people they love while still pursuing a wildly different future of their own? -
Hot Boy Summer
Four gay teens in Texas have the summer of their lives while discovering important truths about realness, belonging, and friendship in this joyful young adult contemporary novel for fans of Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli.
Mac has never really felt like he belonged. Definitely not at home—his dad’s politics and toxic masculinity make a real connection impossible. He thought he fit in on the baseball team, but that’s only because he was pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Finding his first gay friend, Cammy, was momentous; finally, he could be his authentic self around someone else. But as it turned out, not really. Cammy could be cruel, and his “advice” often came off way harsh.
And then, Mac meets Flor, who shows him that you can be both fierce and kind, and Mikey, who is superhot and might maybe think the same about him. Over the course of one hot, life-changing summer, Mac will stand face-to-face with desire, betrayal, and letting go of shame, which will lead to some huge discoveries about the realness of truly belonging.
Told in Mac’s infectious, joyful, gay AF voice, Hot Boy Summer serves a tale as important as hope itself: four gay teens doing what they can to connect and have the fiercest summer of their lives. New friendships will be forged, hot boys will be kissed…and girl, the toxic will be detoxed. -
Prom Babies
A compelling, multi-generational novel from the Coretta Scott King and Printz Honor-winning author of How It Went Down, Light It Up, and The Minus-One Club, Prom Babies chronicles the stories of three teen girls who become pregnant on prom night. Eighteen years later, their three babies, now high school seniors, are headed to prom and facing their own set of complicated issues and questions.
Mina, Penny, and Sheryl have the typical expectations of prom night in 2005: dresses, dancing, and of course some coming of age moments. None of them plans to get pregnant, but when all three do, they band together as they face decisions that have the power to shape the rest of their lives.
In 2024, their three children--Blossom, Amber, and Cole--are high school seniors, gearing up to go to prom and facing some big decisions of their own. As they seek to understand who they are and who they want to be, they grapple with issues that range from consent to virginity, gendered dress codes, and the many patriarchal, heteronormative expectations that still come along with prom.
A generation later, will this prom night change lives too? -
The Word
Lisa's father kidnapped her to keep her in a cult at age seven. Nine years later, she has the chance to live a new life—but is she ready to leave the cult behind?
After her parents' divorce, seven-year-old Lisa's father convinces her to leave home in the middle of the night. After all, according to their radical religious beliefs, she belongs to him, and it is her duty to obey him. Ever the dutiful daughter—at least outwardly—and confused by the sinful changes in her mother, Lisa complies.
For the next nine years, Lisa and her father go from place to place—hiding out in a rural town populated by the cult, living on the streets, and preaching the Word. She is taught that her mother, who divorced her father and left the cult, is deemed "dead" by the Word's doctrine—a shell without a soul. The only school she's allowed to attend is one run by one of the cult's community leaders. They forbid reading books or watching television. She has to be small, quiet, and modest.
When the police finally catch up with them, Lisa returns to her mom's home in Oregon—a home with freedoms that Lisa has never really known. But her father has a plan to take back what's his—a plan that was set in motion the moment the police arrived at his home. Now Lisa must make a decision: follow the plan and go home with the hope that she'll see her father again, or risk everything to figure out what life could be when she makes her own choices. -
Phoebe's Diary
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER!
An Amazon Best Book of 2023 - A Kirkus Best YA and Teen Book of 2023 - A Powell's Best Book of 2023
★ "In her emotionally vulnerable YA debut, Wahl...revisits her high school diaries to deliver a fictional adaptation of her adolescence...skillfully presenting a raw, unfiltered story about growing up and taking risks that will surely resonate."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Take a peek inside Phoebe's Diary into a bracingly honest illustrated account of the explosive turmoil and joy of adolescence, based on the author's actual teenage journals.
Meet Phoebe. She is cool and insecure, talented and vulnerable, sexy and awkward, driven and confused, ecstatic and tragic.
Like you.
And here is her diary, packed full of invaluable friends and heartbreaking crushes, spectacular playlists and vintage outfits, drama nerds and art kids, old wounds and new love. Based on her own teenage diary, Phoebe Wahl has melded truth with fiction and art with text, casting a spell that brings readers deep into the experience of growing up.
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Major Detours
One of Lambda Literary's Most Anticipated Books of the Month
One of PopSugar's Best New YA Books Released in September
Choose your path forward in this mystical interactive YA about the powers of friendship, self-discovery, and tarot.
It's the summer before college and four best friends--Amelia, Chase, Cleo, and Logan--are on the first leg of their road trip inspired by the unique tarot deck that Amelia inherited from her grandmother. However, their trip full of visiting occult shops, bonding and sightseeing, takes a major detour as the friends discover that their tarot deck is more valuable--and coveted--than they could've ever imagined. As the friends race to finish this mystical scavenger-hunt across the West coast and uncover the mysteries of their tarot deck, it is you who will decide where to go next and how the story will end. With four possible final and romantic endings, you will get to make actual choices to further the friends' road trip adventure in this unique interactive novel.
Will you uncover the mysteries of the tarot deck and the legacy left behind? Will you help Amelia and Chase learn and grow? And will you unravel the secrets these friends keep from each other--and from themselves? -
Once a Queen
A mysterious manor house hides the keys to shocking family secrets—and rapidly fading portals to other worlds—in the richly woven opener to bestselling author Sarah Arthur’s young adult fantasy series.
“A fresh, delightful new tale for our wonder-hungry era.”—National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins
When fourteen-year-old American Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, she soon discovers that her family, the manor staff, and even the house itself are hiding secrets.
With odd things happening in the gardens at night, Eva embarks on a search for answers. Astonishingly, she learns that the Hall’s staff believe portals to other worlds exist—though hidden and steadily disappearing—and that Eva’s grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds. But her grandmother’s heart is closed to the beauty and pain of the past. Now it’s up to Eva to discover what really happened—and to decide if it’s possible that her favorite childhood fairy tales are true. As she starts unraveling the dangerous secrets around the grandmother who is more than she appears, Eva begins to wonder if she, too, is more than she understood herself to be. -
Dear Wendy
An Instant Indie Bestseller!
Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao
Sophie Chi is in her first year of college (though her parents wish she'd attend a “real” university rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aroace (aromantic and asexual) identity. She knows she’ll never fall in love, but she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at her school. No one except her roommate can know that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account.
When Joanna “Jo” Ephron (also a first-year aroace college student) created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn’t at all meant to take off or be taken seriously—not like Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Wendy’s account? Oops. As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender identity, whether she’ll ever truly be loved, and the possibility of her few friends finding The One then forgetting her!
While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo grow closer in real life, especially once they realize their shared aroace identity and start a campus organization for other a-spec students. Will their friendship survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?
Exploring a-spec identities, college life, and more, while perfect for fans of Alice Oseman’s Loveless, this is ultimately a love story about two people who are not—and will not—be in love! -
Shooting for Stars
A charming romantic dramedy from the author of The Art of Insanity
High schooler Skyler Davidson spends most of her time with her pet rat, Five. The daughter of scientists, she’s determined to finish her late mother's research on neutron stars. So she teams up with aspiring videographer, Cooper, to film a submission for a NASA internship—all while keeping it a secret from her dad, who doesn’t expect any trouble from his obviously college-bound daughter. As Skyler and Cooper grow closer, it turns out that Skyler’s dad has a new love interest as well: a hot makeup influencer who likes to put her nose where it doesn’t belong. She’ll keep hush on Skyler’s NASA plans, if Skyler agrees to get to know her. Now Skyler’s tangled up in a budding romance, an unexpected friendship, and the stress of having to retake her SATs. Will Skyler’s dream of stars collapse and explode, or can dad and daughter reconcile and change their trajectory? -
Relit
These sixteen stories by award-winning and bestselling YA authors center a Latinx point of view in an empowering anthology that reimagines classics through fantasy, science fiction, and with a dash of magic, for fans of A PHOENIX FIRST MUST BURN and RECLAIM THE STARS
In classic stories remixed, Latinx characters take center stage
Pride and Prejudice is launched into outer space, Frankenstein is plunged into the depths of the ocean, and The Great Gatsby floats to an island off the coast of Costa Rica.
A shape-shifter gives up her life to save the boy she loves from an evil bruja. La Ciguapa covets a little mermaid's heart of gold. Two star-crossed teens fall in love while the planet burns around them.
Whether characters fall in love, battle foes, or grow through grief, each story will empower readers to see themselves as the heroes of the stories that make our world.
Featuring original stories from:
- Olivia Abtahi
- David Bowles
- Zoraida Córdova
- Saraciea J. Fennell
- Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
- Torrey Maldonado
- Jasminne Mendez
- Anna Meriano
- Amparo Ortiz
- Laura Pohl
- Sandra Proudman
- NoNieqa Ramos
- Monica Sanz
- Eric Smith
- Ari Tison
- Alexandra Villasante
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Dear Younger Me
An inspiring book for young adult readers that Kirkus Reviews says offers "many inspiring, resilient role models along with encouraging advice to take away."
A fascinating group of women from all walks of life share their inspirations, advice, and what they wish they'd known when they were younger.
If you could go back and share words of wisdom with your younger self, what would you want to say? Thirty-five barrier-breaking women answer that question in the empowering new young adult anthology Dear Younger Me: What 35 Trailblazing Women Wish They'd Known as Girls. Emmy Award-winning journalist Elisa Boxer delivers in-depth profiles of these inspirational women, detailing their struggles and achievements and featuring a personal message from each woman written just for this book. The women include activists, entrepreneurs, a Holocaust survivor, WWII code breaker, author, educator, musician, athlete, politicians, scientists, and more.
Featuring well-known trailblazers such as Nancy Pelosi, Gabby Giffords, and Sheryl Sandberg alongside lesser-known yet equally important women from all walks of life, Dear Younger Me will inspire readers of all ages to tap into their courage, find their voice, embrace failure as an opportunity to grow, stand up for what they believe in, and be the best version of themselves.
Our Staff Recommends
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Love Is in the Hair
A feminist coming-of-age comedy that follows the endless humiliations, unrequited obsessions, and all-consuming friendships of fifteen-year-old Evia Birtwhistle as she leads a body hair positive revolution at her school.
Fifteen-year-old Evia Birtwhistle can’t seem to catch a break. At home, she must deal with her free-spirited mom, and at school she’s the target of ridicule for stating basic truths: like that girls have body hair!
When her BFF Frankie—who has facial hair due to her PCOS—becomes the target of school bullies, Evia decides that enough is enough and creates the ‘Hairy Girls’ Club.’
Leading a feminist movement at school is not easy. Boys often look at Evia like she’s a total weirdo, and the self-proclaimed ‘smoothalicious’ girls start their own campaign in retaliation. As Evia struggles with feeling strong enough to lead, and questions how to be a good friend to Frankie, she falls back on the best thing she has—hope. Her message is simple: We CAN make this world a more accepting, less judgmental place for girls to live in…one hairy leg at a time! -
Lifting as We Climb
For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle.
This Coretta Scott King Author Honor book tells the important, overlooked story of black women as a force in the suffrage movement--when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle.
Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Alice Paul. The Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls. The 1913 Women's March in D.C. When the epic story of the suffrage movement in the United States is told, the most familiar leaders, speakers at meetings, and participants in marches written about or pictured are generally white.
That's not the real story.
Women of color, especially African American women, were fighting for their right to vote and to be treated as full, equal citizens of the United States. Their battlefront wasn't just about gender. African American women had to deal with white abolitionist-suffragists who drew the line at sharing power with their black sisters. They had to overcome deep, exclusionary racial prejudices that were rife in the American suffrage movement. And they had to maintain their dignity--and safety--in a society that tried to keep them in its bottom ranks.
Lifting as We Climb is the empowering story of African American women who refused to accept all this. Women in black church groups, black female sororities, black women's improvement societies and social clubs. Women who formed their own black suffrage associations when white-dominated national suffrage groups rejected them. Women like Mary Church Terrell, a founder of the National Association of Colored Women and of the NAACP; or educator-activist Anna Julia Cooper who championed women getting the vote and a college education; or the crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, a leader in both the suffrage and anti-lynching movements.
Author Evette Dionne, a feminist culture writer and the editor-in-chief of Bitch Media, has uncovered an extraordinary and underrepresented history of black women. In her powerful book, she draws an important historical line from abolition to suffrage to civil rights to contemporary young activists--filling in the blanks of the American suffrage story.
"Dionne provides a detailed and comprehensive look at the overlooked roles African American women played in the efforts to end slavery and then to secure the right to vote for women." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review -
Coral's Reef Vol. 1
A full-color fantasy manga/graphic novel series about the fun daily life of a teenage sea sprite!
An all-new tale for kids and adults from the creative team behind My Little Pony: The Manga (also from Seven Seas).
Meet Coral, a sweet-natured girl who lives with her parents, kid sister Maki, and pet sea otter in the seaside town of Reef Beach. She's no different than any other teenager--except like all inhabitants of New Lemuria, she's not quite human. Coral is a sea sprite, and when not at school, or helping out in her mom's dress shop, or hanging out with friends, she's out catching waves on her beloved surfboard. But Coral's life is about to turn upside down once dreamy fire ifrit, Nick Inferno, comes to town. How can she not crush on this boy who is literally burning hot?!
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Everything We Never Had
From the author of the National Book Award finalist Patron Saints of Nothing comes an emotionally charged, moving novel about four generations of Filipino American boys grappling with identity, masculinity, and their fraught father-son relationships.
Watsonville, 1930. Francisco Maghabol barely ekes out a living in the fields of California. As he spends what little money he earns at dance halls and faces increasing violence from white men in town, Francisco wonders if he should’ve never left the Philippines.
Stockton, 1965. Between school days full of prejudice from white students and teachers and night shifts working at his aunt’s restaurant, Emil refuses to follow in the footsteps of his labor organizer father, Francisco. He’s going to make it in this country no matter what or who he has to leave behind.
Denver, 1983. Chris is determined to prove that his overbearing father, Emil, can’t control him. However, when a missed assignment on “ancestral history” sends Chris off the football team and into the library, he discovers a desire to know more about Filipino history―even if his father dismisses his interest as unamerican and unimportant.
Philadelphia, 2020. Enzo struggles to keep his anxiety in check as a global pandemic breaks out and his abrasive grandfather moves in. While tensions are high between his dad and his lolo, Enzo’s daily walks with Lolo Emil have him wondering if maybe he can help bridge their decades-long rift.
Told in multiple perspectives, Everything We Never Had unfolds like a beautifully crafted nesting doll, where each Maghabol boy forges his own path amid heavy family and societal expectations, passing down his flaws, values, and virtues to the next generation, until it’s up to Enzo to see how he can braid all these strands and men together. -
Gotham High
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Alex and Eliza and The Witches of East End comes a reimagining of Gotham for a new generation of readers. Before they became Batman, Catwoman, and The Joker, Bruce, Selina, and Jack were high schoolers who would do whatever it took--even destroy the ones they love--to satisfy their own motives.
After being kicked out of his boarding school, 17-year-old Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City to find that nothing is as he left it. What once was his family home is now an empty husk, lonely but haunted by the memory of his parents' murder. Selina Kyle, once the innocent girl next door, now rules over Gotham High School with a dangerous flair, aided by the class clown, Jack Napier.
When a kidnapping rattles the school, Bruce seeks answers as the dark and troubled knight--but is he actually the pawn? Nothing is ever as it seems, especially at Gotham High, where the parties and romances are of the highest stakes ... and where everyone is a suspect.
With enchanting art by Thomas Pitilli, this new graphic novel is just as intoxicating as it is chilling, in which dearest friends turn into greatest enemies--all within the hallways of Gotham High! -
Song of the Six Realms
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
Judy I. Lin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison, weaves a dreamy standalone romance about a talented musician swept away to the Celestial Realm by a handsome duke in Song of the Six Realms.
Xue, a talented young musician, has no past and probably no future. Orphaned at a young age, her kindly poet uncle took her in and arranged for an apprenticeship at one of the most esteemed entertainment houses in the kingdom. She doesn’t remember much from before entering the House of Flowing Water, and when her uncle is suddenly killed in a bandit attack, she is devastated to lose her last connection to a life outside of her indenture contract.
With no family and no patron, Xue is facing the possibility of a lifetime of servitude playing the qin for nobles that praise her talent with one breath and sneer at her lowly social status with the next. Then one night she is unexpectedly called to the garden to put on a private performance for the enigmatic Duke Meng. For a young man of nobility, he is strangely kind and awkward, and surprises Xue further with an irresistible offer: serve as a musician in residence at his manor for one year, and he’ll set her free of her indenture.
But the Duke’s motives become increasingly more suspect when he and Xue barely survive an attack by a nightmarish monster, and when he whisks her away to his estate, she discovers he’s not just some country noble: He’s the Duke of Dreams, one of the divine rulers of the Celestial Realm. There she learns the Six Realms are on the brink of disaster, and incursions by demonic beasts are growing more frequent.
The Duke needs Xue’s help to unlock memories from her past that could hold the answers to how to stop the impending war... but first Xue will need to survive being the target of every monster and deity in the Six Realms.
Also by Judy I. Lin:
A Magic Steeped in Poison
A Venom Dark and Sweet -
The Life I'm in
The powerful and long-anticipated companion to The Skin I'm In, Sharon Flake's bestselling modern classic, presents the unflinching story of Char, a young woman trapped in the underworld of human trafficking.
My feet are heavy as stones when I walk up the block wondering why I can't find my old self.
In The Skin I'm In, readers saw into the life of Maleeka Madison, a teen who suffered from the ridicule she received because of her dark skin color. For decades fans have wanted to know the fate of the bully who made Maleeka's life miserable, Char.
Now in Sharon Flake's latest and unflinching novel, The Life I'm In, we follow Charlese Jones, who, with her raw, blistering voice speaks the truths many girls face, offering insight to some of the causes and conditions that make a bully. Turned out of the only home she has known, Char boards a bus to nowhere where she is lured into the dangerous web of human trafficking. Much is revealed behind the complex system of men who take advantage of vulnerable teens in the underbelly of society. While Char might be frightened, she remains strong and determined to bring herself and her fellow victims out of the dark and back into the light, reminding us why compassion is a powerful cure to the ills of the world.
Sharon Flake's bestselling, Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel The Skin I'mIn was a game changer when it was first published more than twenty years ago. It redefined young adult literature by presenting characters, voices, and real-world experiences that had not been fully seen. Now Flake offers readers another timely and radical story of a girl on the brink and how her choices will lead her to either fall, or fly.
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Rebel Skies
Ann Sei Lin's enchanting and action-packed debut, first in a series, will sweep readers away to an aerial world of magic, danger and political intrigue. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim, Kalynn Bayron and the films of Studio Ghibli.
Kurara has never known any other life than being a servant onboard the Midori, a flying ship serving the military elite of the Mikoshiman Empire, a vast realm of floating cities. Kurara also has a secret — she can make folded paper figures come to life with a flick of her finger. But when the Midori is attacked and Kurara's secret turns out to be a power treasured across the empire, a gut-wrenching escape leads her to the gruff Himura, who takes her under his wing. Under Himura's tutelage, and with the grudging support and friendship of his crew, Kurara learns to hunt shikigami — wild paper spirits sought after by the Princess of Mikoshima.
But what does the princess really want with the shikigami? Are they merely enchanted figures without will or thought, or are they beings with souls and minds of their own? As fractures begin to appear both across the empire and within Kurara's understanding of herself, Kurara will have to decide who she can trust. Her fate, and the fate of her friends — and even the world — may rest on her choice. And time is running out. -
Pretty Funny for a Girl
Fourteen-year-old Haylah dreams of being a stand-up star, but when her friends thrust her into the spotlight, she's not confident a plus-sized girl like her belongs onstage.
Haylah Swinton is pretty confident she's mastered making light of every situation―from her mom's ugh boyfriend to classmates making unsolicited remarks on her figure. She logs all her best jokes in the hopes of one day busting out a fabulous set that will keep everybody laughing with her and not at her.
After botching an open mic night, Haylah learns that her longtime crush, the impossibly cool Leo, is also into comedy. And when Leo provides her an opportunity to live vicariously by ghostwriting his sets for an upcoming festival, Haylah jumps at the chance. What a great way to get her material out there without totally bombing herself!
But are Leo's intentions in Haylah's best interests? Despite warnings from her friends, Haylah's not ready to listen―and she might just be digging herself deeper toward heartbreak. If Haylah's ever going to take center stage, first she'll need to find the confidence to put herself out there and strut like the comedy queen she truly is.
This contemporary YA rom-com stars a strong, memorable heroine and features a story full of heart, humor, and relatable themes of body image, dreams, and self-esteem. -
The Chandler Legacies
From the Stonewall Honor-winning author of Like a Love Story comes a revelatory novel about the enclosed world of privilege and silence at an elite boarding school and the unlikely group of friends who dare to challenge the status quo through their writing. Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart, Kathleen Glasgow, and Jandy Nelson, with crossover appeal for readers of Donna Tartt's The Secret History and Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep.
Beth Kramer is a "townie" who returns to her sophomore year after having endured a year of tension with her roommate, Sarah.
But Sarah Brunson knows there's more to that story.
Amanda Priya "Spence" Spencer is the privileged daughter of NYC elites, who is reeling from the realization that her family name shielded her from the same fate as Sarah.
Ramin Golafshar arrives at Chandler as a transfer student to escape the dangers of being gay in Iran, only to suffer brutal hazing under the guise of tradition in the boys' dorms.
And Freddy Bello is the senior who's no longer sure of his future but knows he has to stand up to his friends after what happened to Ramin.
At Chandler, the elite boarding school, these five teens are brought together in the Circle, a coveted writing group where life-changing friendships are born--and secrets are revealed. Their professor tells them to write their truths. But is the truth enough to change the long-standing culture of abuse at Chandler? And can their friendship survive the fallout?
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The Loop
"A script-ready story with blockbuster potential." -- Kirkus (Starred Review)Life inside The Loop--the futuristic death row for teens under eighteen--is one long repetitive purgatory. But when news of the encroaching chaos in the outside world reaches the inmates and disorder begins to strike, the prison becomes the least of their worries. Perfect for fans of The Fifth Wave and The Maze Runner.
It's Luka Kane's sixteenth birthday and he's been inside The Loop for over two years. Every inmate is serving a death sentence with the option to push back their execution date by six months if they opt into "Delays", scientific and medical experiments for the benefit of the elite in the outside world.But rumors of a war on the outside are spreading amongst the inmates, and before they know it, their tortuous routine becomes disrupted. The government issued rain stops falling. Strange things are happening to the guards. And it's not long until the inmates are left alone inside the prison.Were the chains that shackled Luka to his cell the only instruments left to keep him safe? In a thrilling shift, he must overcome fellow prisoners hell-bent on killing him, the warden losing her mind, the rabid rats in the train tunnels, and a population turned into murderous monsters to try and break out of The Loop, save his family, and discover who is responsible for the chaos that has been inflicted upon the world.
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Ignite Your Spark
Forge your own path, engage your passions, and light thousands of sparks to become the person you want to be with this interactive guide filled with quizzes and activities to help you along the way.
It’s no secret that your teen years can be tumultuous, confusing, and even sucky, but that doesn’t mean you can’t light a fire in your life. Covering topics from relationships, self-image, and school to goals, failures, and willpower, Ignite Your Spark features thought-provoking quizzes, “Ignite Your Life” activities, and profiles of kids and adults alike who have ignited their own spark to accomplish extraordinary things.
Your teen years don’t have to be a struggle, and with this handbook for self-discovery and personal fulfillment, you will find that the ability to ignite your own spark has been within you all along. -
Spindle and Dagger
This rich literary novel follows Elen, who must live a precarious lie in order to survive among the medieval Welsh warband that killed her family.
Wales, 1109. Three years ago, a warband raided Elen’s home. Her baby sister could not escape the flames. Her older sister fought back and almost killed the warband’s leader, Owain ap Cadwgan, before being killed herself. Despite Elen’s own sexual assault at the hands of the raiders, she saw a chance to live and took it. She healed Owain’s wound and spun a lie: Owain ap Cadwgan, son of the king of Powys, cannot be killed, not by blade nor blow nor poison. Owain ap Cadwgan has the protection of Saint Elen, as long as he keeps her namesake safe from harm and near him always.
For three years, Elen has had plenty of food, clothes to wear, and a bed to sleep in that she shares with the man who brought that warband to her door. Then Owain abducts Nest, the wife of a Norman lord, and her three children, triggering full-out war. As war rages, and her careful lies threaten to unravel, Elen begins to look to Nest and see a different life — if she can decide, once and for all, where her loyalties lie. J. Anderson Coats’s evocative prose immerses the reader in a dark but ultimately affirming tale of power and survival. -
Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 9
Kafka wants to clean up kaiju, but not literally! Will a sudden metamorphosis stand in the way of his dream?
With the highest kaiju-emergence rates in the world, Japan is no stranger to attack by deadly monsters. Enter the Japan Defense Force, a military organization tasked with the neutralization of kaiju. Kafka Hibino, a kaiju-corpse cleanup man, has always dreamed of joining the force. But when he gets another shot at achieving his childhood dream, he undergoes an unexpected transformation. How can he fight kaiju now that he’s become one himself?!
With the looming threat of a cataclysm induced by No. 9, the next generation of the Defense Force takes steps to prepare. Reno undergoes training and becomes the first compatible user of No. 6 in history. Kafka sharpens his skills by learning squadron-style combat techniques under Hoshina’s tutelage. Meanwhile, Kikoru gets clearance from Narumi to inherit a powerful memento that once belonged to her mother. -
Viva Lola Espinoza
A debut young adult novel that’s Pride & Prejudice with a dash of magic, about a booksmart teen who spends the summer in Mexico City, meets two very cute boys, attempts to learn Spanish, and uncovers a family secret that changes her life forever.
Lola Espinoza is cursed in love. Well, maybe not actually cursed — magic isn't real, is it? When Lola goes to spend the summer with her grandmother in Mexico City and meets handsome, flirtatious Rio, she discovers the unbelievable truth: Magic is very real, and what she'd always written off as bad luck is actually, truly . . . a curse. If Lola ever wants to fall in love without suffering the consequences, she'll have to break the curse. She finds an unlikely curse-breaking companion in Javi, a seemingly stoic boy she meets while working in her cousin's restaurant. Javi is willing to help Lola look into this family curse of hers, and Lola needs all the help she can get. Over the course of one summer — filled with food, family, and two very different boys — Lola explores Mexico City while learning about herself, her heritage, and the magic around us all.
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Library of Things
Want to try your hand at learning guitar before you decide to purchase your own? This acoustic guitar is great for learning the basics.
Useful in a variety of settings, such as hiking, wildlife viewing, birding, hunting, stargazing, golf, and sports events, binoculars allow you to see details from a distance.
The library has a large selection of board games available for checkout. View the full selection at the link.