All Books
Synopsis:
In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers. Forced to live in the woods and hide with the poor people she's grown to love, she works to save and protect them, but she never anticipates falling in love with the wealthy knight who represents all she's come to despise.
Publication Date: 03/01/16
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis:
Emanuella "LL" Harvey puts her gymnastic skills to good use as a member of her brother's Parkour group. Freerunning, jumping, and climbing over their corner of the city like it's an obstacle course gives them something to take pride in and keeps them out of trouble - sort of. But trouble finds LL when she runs into Haze, a talented graffiti artist whose sister Heather was murdered two years before.
Freerunner and Writer promptly fall in love, but they decide to hide their relationship till they're sure it's the real thing - and until they can find a way to placate LL's hotheaded brother, who has it in for Haze and his gang. But when portraits of LL done in Haze's distinctive style start popping up on city walls, all hell breaks loose.
LL's brother threatens a gang war, which LL tries to avert by identifying the Writer who is really responsible for the paintings. But when another teen is murdered, it looks bad for Haze, especially when LL discovers that Heather's killer and her portrait-painter are one and the same.
Publication Date: 02/01/16
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Dr. Gail Thomas fears her career may end before it even begins. She has just done the unthinkable: quit her medical residency. The facility where she had been working was a cruel place. Incompetent staff constantly mistreated the children and teenagers in their care. Frustrated and on the verge of giving up on her dreams, Gail goes to work at a therapeutic boarding school run by an idealistic psychiatrist. Her new boss's unusual methods and troubled young patients put her skills to the test. Set at the end of a cold Chicago winter in 1994, A Bitter Pill to Swallow is the story of a determined young woman claiming a place for herself in her profession and unraveling a medical mystery.
Publication Date: 01/20/16
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis:
From the Newbery Award–winning author of Shiloh comes a middle-grade novel that combines adrenaline-fueled adventure with a poignant coming-of-age story.
Buck Anderson’s life seems to be changing completely. His best friend, David, has moved away; his anxious parents are hounding him more than ever; he has reluctantly agreed to fill in for his uncle and do odd jobs for a grumpy old veteran in town; and his twin sister has a new boyfriend and is never around anymore. To top it all off, Buck is bullied by a group of boys at school—mainly because he stutters.
There is one thing that frees Buck from his worries. It is the heart-pounding exhilaration he feels when exploring underground caves in and around his hometown. He used to go caving with David, but he’s determined to continue on his own now. He doesn’t know that more changes are headed his way—changes that just might make him rethink his view of the world and his place in it.
Praise for GOING WHERE IT’S DARK
“A well-constructed and well-paced story that will be appreciated by anyone who has ever felt out of place or bullied.” —School Library Journal
“Buck’s strength is inspirational, and his family’s love and respect are heartwarming.” —Kirkus Reviews
“With characteristic sensitivity, Naylor delivers an engrossing account of a boy’s interior and exterior struggles.” —Publishers Weekly
Publication Date: 01/12/16
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: The second book of the Tommy Black series. Dedicated to reshaping his family's legacy, Tommy Black has spent two years mastering the powerful Staff of Light and freeing the magical creatures in England. While he was focusing on his personal mission, however, Germany had invaded Europe, igniting the flames of world war. Desiring to help, Tommy volunteers to free the magical creatures in Germany to disrupt the Nazi war machine. Joined by his friend, the powerful magician Naomi, and two others, the group soon discover an extraordinary secret that changes everything--Tommy may not be the only Archmage in the world.
Publication Date: 01/03/16
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Jeremiah Irons, known as Judas among the Disciple Gang, has always ridden the outlaw trail with only a good horse and the inscribed pistols Heaven and Hell at his side. It isn t until he happens upon Lucif R. Shadows and his eleven that he is convinced of the error of his ways. With Jeremiah s addition to the gang, the twelve go to thirteen and the legend of the Disciple Gang begins. Sean Chandler brings the Disciple Gang to vivid life as they bring the worst kind of villainy to fruition, and a new kind of religious zeal upon the frontier. Each man in the gang assumes the name of a Disciple after the crazed Lucif Shadows begins to believe in the stories written about him, and soon after Jeremiah Irons discovers it might have been best to remain on his own. Accused of stealing money from them, the Disciple Gang turns on him in the streets of Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Fighting his way out of the trap laid for him, Jeremiah s travels land him in the town of Wewoka, Indian Territory where he unwittingly finds safety in the guise of a preacher. It is in Wewoka that Jeremiah begins to learn who he really is, and through the friendship of the townspeople, and especially the beautiful Hope West, a purpose for his life. Jeremiah s good fortune only serves to make it that much harder when the Disciple Gang learn of his continued existence. When the Disciple Gang arrives in Wewoka to exact revenge upon him, can Jeremiah forsake his outlaw ways or will he have to pick up the guns that made him a legend?
Publication Date: 12/11/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.
Stella Gordon’s life is a lie.
She does not belong in Thunder Basin, Nebraska. As the star witness in a murder trial against a drug dealer, Stella is now in the Witness Protection Program. The small town locals can never know who she really is. Not even Chet Falconer, the one boy who makes her want to reveal her true self. She knows that telling the truth will only bring violence to this safe haven.
Despite how hard Stella tries to stay under the radar, danger is fast-approaching. Criminals have a way of getting rid of witnesses, and Stella may have made the one mistake that could lead the cold-blooded men hunting for her right to her doorstep.
Stella Gordon’s life is a lie.
She does not belong in Thunder Basin, Nebraska. As the star witness in a murder trial against a drug dealer, Stella is now in the Witness Protection Program. The small town locals can never know who she really is. Not even Chet Falconer, the one boy who makes her want to reveal her true self. She knows that telling the truth will only bring violence to this safe haven.
Despite how hard Stella tries to stay under the radar, danger is fast-approaching. Criminals have a way of getting rid of witnesses, and Stella may have made the one mistake that could lead the cold-blooded men hunting for her right to her doorstep.
Publication Date: 11/10/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Autumn’s Kiss—book two in the AUTUMN FALLS series by FAMOUS IN LOVE star Bella Thorne—is perfect for fans of Girl Online, Liv and Maddie: Cali Style, Descendants, and anyone looking for a sweet, silly, and fun read with just a touch of magic!
Everyone knows how crazy junior year is, but Autumn Falls never imagined it would be so flirty. The wish-granting diary her father left her stopped working, leaving Autumn to decode what’s going on with her and Sean on her own. He seems into her . . . and he also seems into Reenzie. And when JJ steps up and tells Autumn he’s the one she should be with if she wants someone who really cares about her and a pop star makes a major play for her, Autumn is totally confused. Her friends have Big Drama issues going on too, and Autumn wants to be there for them. Then something mind-blowing happens. She’s suddenly given an incredible crazy-fun opportunity: a map that takes her anyplace she wants to go. At first it seems like an amazing gift. But showing up IRL where you’re least expected has life-changing consequences. Is Autumn ready to handle the fallout?
Praise for Autumn Falls:
“We promise you’re going to love it.”
—Teen Vogue.com
“You’ll be obsessed with Autumn Falls. It has basically everything you could ever want.”
—Seventeen.com
Everyone knows how crazy junior year is, but Autumn Falls never imagined it would be so flirty. The wish-granting diary her father left her stopped working, leaving Autumn to decode what’s going on with her and Sean on her own. He seems into her . . . and he also seems into Reenzie. And when JJ steps up and tells Autumn he’s the one she should be with if she wants someone who really cares about her and a pop star makes a major play for her, Autumn is totally confused. Her friends have Big Drama issues going on too, and Autumn wants to be there for them. Then something mind-blowing happens. She’s suddenly given an incredible crazy-fun opportunity: a map that takes her anyplace she wants to go. At first it seems like an amazing gift. But showing up IRL where you’re least expected has life-changing consequences. Is Autumn ready to handle the fallout?
Praise for Autumn Falls:
“We promise you’re going to love it.”
—Teen Vogue.com
“You’ll be obsessed with Autumn Falls. It has basically everything you could ever want.”
—Seventeen.com
Publication Date: 11/10/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Tyshawn can't wait to show off his three-pointers. His dad, a former basketball star and a sergeant in the US Army, is finally coming home from overseas. But Ty isn't prepared for how serious his dad's traumatic brain injury is. Neither is his mom. When Ty is left to care for his dad, it's hard to keep up with his own life?and his girlfriend, his coach, and his teachers all take notice. He may not be the injured one, but he needs to figure out how to cope with this new situation?and fast.
Publication Date: 11/01/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: When Paige's mom returns from her final tour of Air Force duty, Paige couldn't be happier for things to go back to normal. But before long, Paige realizes her mom brought something else back with her?an addiction to pain pills. The irritable, medicated, zombie version of her mom isn't the person Paige wanted to come home. She'll try anything to get through to her mom and help her with her painful secret. But can Paige get her mom clean without ruining their relationship and her own ROTC dreams?
Publication Date: 11/01/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Southern Gothic about two kids precariously balanced on the ledge overlooking the chasm of adulthood, holding on to each other to keep from going over. Their innocence is shattered the day JoJo sees the bruises on Sam's back and knows his stepfather is beating him. And Sam won't let her tell anyone because of the hold his stepfather has on his mother and the power his wealthy family wields in the small Georgia town where they live. As JoJo tries to convince Sam to get away from the abuse, they discover just how dark the family secrets are, and just how dangerous of a man his stepfather really is.
Publication Date: 10/17/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Written in lyrical prose, this novel for fans of epic romances and mythology retellings explores themes of love, loss, fate, and destiny set against the dramatic and diverse backdrop of Northern England.
David Almond, recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, a Printz Honor for Skellig, and the Printz Award for Kit’s Wilderness, has crafted an enchanting modern take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Claire and Ella and their friends are bound by ties so strong they seem unbreakable. Then the strange and handsome Orpheus strolls onto the beach, and he sings them all into an astonishing new understanding of themselves. Ella is caught the hardest, fastest, deepest—and Claire is left with the pain of looking on.
Raw, emotional, lyrical, funny, and true, A Song for Ella Grey is a tale of the joys, troubles, and desires of modern teens. It takes place in the ordinary streets of Tyneside and on the beautiful beaches of Northumberland. It’s a story of first love, a love song that draws on ancient mythical forces. A love that leads Ella, Orpheus, and Claire to the gates of Death and beyond.
Winner of The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize
A PW Best Book of 2015
"Almond's lyrical narrative will sweep readers on a journey to unearthly, mysterious realms and back."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Innovative and dreamlike . . . and told in Almond's lyrical, distinctive prose. Teen readers of a literary bent and mythology enthusiasts will love this latest work."—School Library Journal, Starred Review
"Almond brings his hypnotic lyricism to this darkly romantic tale that sings of the madness of youth, the ache of love, and the near-impossibility of grasping death."—Kirkus Reviews
David Almond, recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, a Printz Honor for Skellig, and the Printz Award for Kit’s Wilderness, has crafted an enchanting modern take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Claire and Ella and their friends are bound by ties so strong they seem unbreakable. Then the strange and handsome Orpheus strolls onto the beach, and he sings them all into an astonishing new understanding of themselves. Ella is caught the hardest, fastest, deepest—and Claire is left with the pain of looking on.
Raw, emotional, lyrical, funny, and true, A Song for Ella Grey is a tale of the joys, troubles, and desires of modern teens. It takes place in the ordinary streets of Tyneside and on the beautiful beaches of Northumberland. It’s a story of first love, a love song that draws on ancient mythical forces. A love that leads Ella, Orpheus, and Claire to the gates of Death and beyond.
Winner of The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize
A PW Best Book of 2015
"Almond's lyrical narrative will sweep readers on a journey to unearthly, mysterious realms and back."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Innovative and dreamlike . . . and told in Almond's lyrical, distinctive prose. Teen readers of a literary bent and mythology enthusiasts will love this latest work."—School Library Journal, Starred Review
"Almond brings his hypnotic lyricism to this darkly romantic tale that sings of the madness of youth, the ache of love, and the near-impossibility of grasping death."—Kirkus Reviews
Publication Date: 10/13/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: "Lozen and her family, on the run from the tyrants who once held them hostage, embark on a journey along a perilous trail once followed by her ancestors, where they meet friends and foes alike"--
Publication Date: 10/01/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: The follow-up to the acclaimed novel The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff.
In an unassuming corner of Brooklyn, a young woman learns to be ladylike, to love context, and to speak her mind from a very curious sort of tutor.
In a faraway land convulsed by war, a young soldier hears the desert's curious hum as he disarms bombs with the person he doesn't know how to love.
In a place so shriveled by drought that any drowning is a curiosity, a young writer tries again and again to tread water beneath the surface of a vast and unusual sea.
Three new stories complete with commentary on the creative process from three acclaimed young adult authors working at the height of their powers.
In an unassuming corner of Brooklyn, a young woman learns to be ladylike, to love context, and to speak her mind from a very curious sort of tutor.
In a faraway land convulsed by war, a young soldier hears the desert's curious hum as he disarms bombs with the person he doesn't know how to love.
In a place so shriveled by drought that any drowning is a curiosity, a young writer tries again and again to tread water beneath the surface of a vast and unusual sea.
Three new stories complete with commentary on the creative process from three acclaimed young adult authors working at the height of their powers.
Publication Date: 10/01/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Rakmen Cannon's life is turning out to be one sucker punch after another. His baby sister died in his arms, his parents are on the verge of divorce, and he's flunking out of high school. The only place he fits in is with the other art therapy kids stuck in the basement of Promise House, otherwise known as support group central. Not that he wants to be there. Talking doesn't bring back the dead.
When he's shipped off to the Canadian wilderness with ten-year-old Jacey, another member of the support group, and her mom, his summer goes from bad to worse. He can't imagine how eight weeks of canoeing and camping could be anything but awful.
Yet despite his expectations, the vast and unforgiving backcountry just might give Rakmen a chance to find the way back from broken . . . if he's brave enough to grab it.
Amber J. Keyser's debut novel is a wrenching and brutally honest story of adversity and hope.
When he's shipped off to the Canadian wilderness with ten-year-old Jacey, another member of the support group, and her mom, his summer goes from bad to worse. He can't imagine how eight weeks of canoeing and camping could be anything but awful.
Yet despite his expectations, the vast and unforgiving backcountry just might give Rakmen a chance to find the way back from broken . . . if he's brave enough to grab it.
Amber J. Keyser's debut novel is a wrenching and brutally honest story of adversity and hope.
Publication Date: 10/01/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.
In this Coretta Scott King Honor Award–winning novel, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.
A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?
There were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.
Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this four-starred reviews tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.
In this Coretta Scott King Honor Award–winning novel, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.
A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?
There were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.
Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this four-starred reviews tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.
Publication Date: 09/29/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction