12 and up
Santa Claus and Little Sister
“Santa Claus and Little Sister” is autobiographical in nature, selfishly therapeutic in design, and hard proof that we cannot control our future regardless how hard we try.This is a journey of one young optimistic East Coast teacher who taught at New Beginnings, a Los Angeles placement home for at-risk, mentally and physically abused, abandoned, gang, and socially-emotionally disturbed girls.He discovers that truth often becomes lies, moral transforms into immoral, and fear builds knowledge.This is a memorable adventure with two of these students, or catalysts, Chata and Lupe, and their frightful connections to a notorious Mexican child trafficking cartel and LA Gangs.Chata, a bold and controlling overweight active member of the Baby Locas Division of the 18th Street Gang in South LA, struggles between two worlds and purposely brings both together in the back alleys of Los Angeles. Lupe, a small beautiful Mexican girl, identified only by the alias assigned to her by the FBI, is suddenly missing from the placement center leaving only her most cherished possession behind, a self-made book of poems and artwork entitled “To Santa Claus and Little Sisters”.Refusing to accept the hypothesis that Lupe ran away on her own free will, risks would have to be taken by this naive Boston-born teacher and the mouthy 17 year-old Chata. Both would have to question their belief system many times in order to survive when circumstances were not in their favor.To these young catalysts, Chata and Lupe, I am forever grateful for the spark that you ignited in me. Any survivor characteristics that I possess is probably due to you. Thanks girls.This inspirational and captivating Novel deals with mature subjects including teen suicide, teenage problems, drug use, physical and mental abuse, and gang lifestyles.Inspired by the poem "To Santa Claus and Little Sister" by Anonymous.
Book Details
Recommended Books
Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice
Roxanna Matthews
The Thon Academy of Higher Magic will make Sanna a Sorceress, if she can just learn to conform. Her talents lie in the fiber arts-knitting waterproof socks and self-heating mittens. She angers a rogue sorcerer, and rescues a handsome prince who wants to marry her. Will she choose love, or magic? Includes pattern for Makeshift Mobius scarf.
Book Details
Recommended Books
Ruby
Amanda Burke
Publisher: Solstice Publishing Printer: Createspace ‘During the Salem witch hunts, an evil witch named Natasha Sullivan tricks a demon into confining himself inside an enchanted music box. She casts a spell that foretells that the demon will emerge in an unknown time in future after the birth of a child known as the Lumen Child. This child’s destiny is to bring light to the planet and Natasha knows that if he is killed then darkness will prevail. Natasha’s identical twin Sarah, discovers what her sister has done. Although she cannot break the spell she casts her own prophecy. It states that three witches known as the Triple Enchantresses will be born in the same time as the Lumen Child and they will be his supernatural protectors. The girls are not sisters, yet they will share a common destiny. Ruby is the story of the first witch and how she very nearly dies before discovering her true identity. Having grown up unaware of her powers, she is rescued by her loving grandmother who is also a white witch and taken back to the family estate where she learns everything she can about what her future holds. Ruby is the first in a four book series.’
Book Details
Recommended Books
Road to Sunrise
Olivia begins her life facing the challenge of a physical disability, and at age 12, finds her life dramatically changed after the death of her mother in the late 1950s. Having been sheltered by the closeness of a large extended family, she and her 11-year-old brother Lenny suddenly find themselves with an uncertain future living with their self-centered father, as their older brother Benjy goes off to join the army. The frustrated children shuttle between Brooklyn and the family's upstate home in Liberty, New York, while Olivia struggles to balance her complicated life as a teenager with adult responsibilities. Strong family ties and the house that bonds her with fifteen close cousins, strengthen Olivia's fortitude to deal with the trials she encounters on the road ahead. With the backdrop of America's growing pains in the 1950s and 60s, Olivia relives her life from a young girl's perspective, through post-war economic growth, fear of nuclear war, ramifications of the McCarthy Era, the civil rights movement, the assassination of a president and the Vietnam War. School days, girlfriends, boyfriends and the birth of rock and roll, enrich her story of hardships, tragedy, and extraordinary childhood experiences. Road to Sunrise takes us traveling from the busy streets of Brooklyn, NY to the tranquil Catskill Mountains in an emotionally charged journey from idyllic early childhood, through turbulent adolescence and teen years, to the hopes and dreams of a young woman.
Book Details
Recommended Books
The Relics of Nanthara: Secrets Revealed
Determined to find the truth to the ancient prophecies, young Courtar defies his elders and journeys into strange lands. By befriending strangers of various backgrounds, he unknowingly completes a foretelling of the formation of an alliance destined to destroy the abomination and his desire to gain possession of four powerful ancient relics. Despite their assignment, the group's inner conflicts could prove a thorn in their stability and negate the promises of victory. After exposing a far reaching sinister plot to dethrone the Mhoren hierarchy, clues are discovered that lead the motley crew of adventurers to the possible location of one of the ancient relics. Assassins, foulskin, and black-hearted allies loyal to the Dark One battle the allies as the 'chosen ones' venture forth to end this nightmare. Can the alliance gain possession of the crown and stop the commencement of the Dark One's dominion before they kill each other?
Book Details
Recommended Books
Rae of Hope
How hard do you have to shake a family tree to find out the truth about the past? Fifteen-year-old Rae Kerrigan never questioned her family’s history. That is until she accepted a scholarship to Guilder Boarding School in England. Guilder is an exclusive, gifted school. Rae has no idea what she is getting herself into or that her family’s past is going to come back and taunt her. She learns she is part of an unparalleled group of individuals who become inked with a unique tattoo (tatu) on their sixteenth birthday. The tatu enables them to have supernatural powers particular to the shape of their ink-art. Both of her parents were inked, though Rae never knew, as they passed away when she was young. Learning about her family's past, her evil father and sacrificial mother, Rae needs to decide if there is a ray of hope in her own life.
Book Details
Recommended Books
Sabre (The Legend of R)
Book Details
Recommended Books
Wizard
In a world corrupted by acceptance, could you be yourself? Meghan’s life had never been easy, either being overlooked as Merlin’s younger sister, or getting the wrong kind of attention for being different. When Merlin’s attempt to save Meghan’s life by transporting her to eleventh century Amorika, France, goes awry, she finds herself in twenty-first century America. There, she discovers that it is all too easy to fit in with the popular crowd—if she hides who she really is. Meghan faces the choice of condoning the same oppression that she had encountered before or giving up her newly won acceptance and becoming an outcast again. She soon realizes that her decision will not only affect her life, but will determine whether a friend lives or dies to the same forces that once threatened her. When the teenage sister of Merlin, the world's most powerful magician, is confronted by life-threatening bullying, where can she run? Megan attempts to escape to the 21st Century but is forced to confront the same demons she hoped to leave behind. WIZARD is a heart-stopping novel that will hold young readers enthralled from the first page to the last." Lois Duncan author of Stranger with My Face and I Know What You Did Last Summer
Book Details
Recommended Books
Paper Planes
The distance we go for Love! All Martin ever wanted was a mother who loved him. At just five-years-old she walked out, leaving Martin to be raised by his grandma and grandad. Life became a constant battle for him, enduring countless traumatic events with his mother, and Linford, the school bully. Martin wished for an escape, and that day came when he met Gerald. Together they endured years of mental and physical bullying. Masking their fears with fun, they created a distraction from all the hurt and upset, by mustering up mischievous adventures packed with adrenalin pumped fun and laughter. However, their fun takes a turn for the worst, and they're both put face to face with a much greater fear than school bullying, a fear that two thirteen year old boys should never have to experience.
Book Details
Recommended Books
Over the End Line
Kyle Saint-Claire is everything Jonny Fehey wishes to be: a star on and off the soccer field, a brain, and one of Millburn High s most popular students. Jonny unhappily accepts his lesser social status--but then he scores the go-ahead goal in the county soccer championship and everything changes. Jonny is invited to victory party with the in crowd, and alcohol flows freely as toasts are raised in his honor. But in his moment of glory, a classmate is raped and Jonny's world begins to unravel. Through years of friendship, Kyle and Jonny have always stood up for each another, but suddenly their friendship is tested. All their training together, pain, and dedication become meaningless; Jonny s preconceived notions are shattered; and someone is out for revenge.Exciting sports action combines with an undercurrent of evil in a suspenseful tale of pride cometh before the fall--and an ending that Jonny never saw coming.
Book Details
Recommended Books