Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey is a novel about love, chemistry, and what lies in within a person. Of course no one can overlook the combination of Jekel and Hyde. But when good girl Jill and loner fighter Tristen join forces to uncover secrets in both of their lives, unexpected things start to occur. Jill's father is murdered right before the start of the book, and the secrets of his life, and death, force Jill to dig into his final months, and her family's past.
Paper Covers Rock is a story of boys at a preparatory school dealing with the death of their close friend. The main character struggles with guilt from witnessing his death, fear of being discovered for some of the things that happened that day, and love that he cannot attain. His friends try to cover the truth as best as possible, but things start to get out of control. This is the story of one boys journey to discovering who he is, and when he needs to stand up for what he believes in. He must align himself to a path that he approves of, and stop living by other peoples standards.
Changing the Little Things by J.L. Manning is a book that is about changing small actions to affect those around you. The synopsis of this novel is quite short. A man, working on writing his novel, starts an online chat room to help people manipulate others to better suit their wishes. He starts a chat room to help people learn tricks to changing people. Each person is aiming to make someone close to them more likable; friends, family, coworkers. So they chat once a week and come up with ways to fix others instead of working on themselves.
Punkzilla is a short novel about a young man who travels across the country to see his older brother. It is told through a series of letters between the young Jamie "Punkzilla", his brother, parents, and old friends. There are also journal entries told from Jamie's perspective as he travels. He faces many challenges including being beaten in the bus station, having to lie to people, hitchhiking, and people constantly believing he is a girl. In this somewhat humorous but vibrantly honest novel, Jamie discovers much about himself and his place in this world.
The Tiger Rising is a short novel written by Kate DiCammillo. It is about a young boy named Rob living in Florida. His mother has recently died and he now lives with his father at The Kentucky Star, a small motel. One day while exploring the woods behind The Kentucky Star, both owned by a man named Beauchamp, he discovers a tiger, locked in a cage. This knowledge, like many of his other memories and feelings, he shares with no one until he meets the new girl at school - Sistine. They quickly become friends as they are both outsiders at school.
Annexed by Sharon Dogar is the eye opening tale of one Peter Van Pels, the young man who spent two and a half years in the annex of a building with the Frank family during WWII. Also known as the boy who loved Anne Frank, Peter is a teenager who must go into hiding due to the annihilation of Jewish people in Europe in the 1940s. Although it is historical fiction, it tells a powerful story from a new perspective. This book outlines the years in the annex, how the Holocaust altered life, and how Peter changed throughout those fateful years.
