Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately.  The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord. In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria, Benin, and Ethiopia, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children of life in Africa.Akpan's voice is a literary miracle, rendering lives of almost unimaginable deprivation and terror into stories that are nothing short of transcendent. 

Bloodred nails, flashing white teeth, gleaming scarlet lips--Maggie Quinn has battled an ancient demon, faced down psychotic cheerleaders, and saved her best friend from certain death, but nothing can match this. Formal sorority recruitment, otherwise known as rush. Being that close to so many professional blowouts is enough to make a girl's hair stand on end. Ionic hair dryer not required.   But Maggie is determined to make her mark as a journalist. The only problem? The Ranger Report--the college newspaper--does not take freshmen on staff. Rules are rules.    But when has that ever stopped Maggie?   After facing hellfire, infiltrating sorority rush should be easy. It’s no Woodward and Bernstein, but going undercover as the Phantom Pledge will allow her to write her exposé. Then she can make a stealth exit before initiation. But when she finds a group of girls who are after way more than “sisterhood,” all her instincts say there’s something rotten on Greek Row. And when Hell Week rolls around, there may be no turning back.   If there is such a thing as a sorority from hell, you can bet that Maggie Quinn will be the one to stumble into it."Teens who like social commentary and witty comebacks with their horror will devour Hellweek."--School Library Journal “Maggie’s snarky humor and quirky personality keep this novel’s first half light, but the second takes a dark, page-turning twist as Maggie is forced to figure out and destroy the ancient source of the sisters’ power.”—Kirkus Reviews "When you need a Buffy fix, grab a copy of Hell Week. From danger to humor, romance to mystery, this book has it covered!"--Melissa Marr, author of the bestselling novel Wicked Lovely and Ink ExchangeFrom the Hardcover edition.

Social zero meets unlikely heroHow had Keysha gone from popular to social outcast? One word: frenemy. A girl Keysha thought was her friend planted drugs on her—and Keysha got caught. The media blitz on their wealthy suburb turned everyone against her. First day back at school, and Keysha is stared down in the halls. Whispered about. No one will talk to her. And the girl who ruined Keysha's reputation laughs in her face. So when a guy with his own bad rep offers to help, Keysha's first reaction is yeah, right. Talk about an unlikely hero.But soon she realizes that Wesley Morris is more than just hot, more than just talk. He's been there, done that and turned his life around. But no one wants this so-called bad-news boyfriend anywhere near Keysha. Including her family. Still, Wesley isn't willing to walk away and let Keysha Also Available pay for someone else's crime. He'll even risk everything to save her…and their relationship.

It is 1939. Paula Becker, thirteen years old and deaf, lives with her family in a rural German town. As rumors swirl of disabled children quietly disappearing, a priest comes to her family’s door with an offer to shield Paula from an uncertain fate. When the sanctuary he offers is fleeting, Paula needs to call upon all her strength to stay one step ahead of the Nazis.