What does a poor, black high school kid from the projects have in common with a rich high school kid who drives a Porsche? What do those two have in common with a working-class, Irish-American high school teen, full of what he thinks is angst? What brings them together? What nearly tears them apart? And how does a mysterious, successful businesswoman, hated by the community, compel them to come to a new understanding of themselves and the world around them? These are the questions answered in Joseph M. McHugh’s gripping new novel, July 5, set in the world of a major American city. Josh Stanton is on his way to Harvard. Jerome Banneker lives a hard-scrabble life in an inner-city black neighborhood. Rob Flaherty feels trapped in the Irish working-class ghetto. These unlikely three meet, and when they undertake a special project for the despised businesswoman, they discover the secrets of the world, and the secrets of their souls. But first they must endure a trial that threatens to shatter their spirits, and changes their lives forever.

Everybody thinks Syrah is the golden girl. After all, her father is Ethan Cheng, billionaire, and she has everything any kid could possibly desire: a waterfront mansion, jet plane, and custom-designed snowboards. But most of what glitters in her life is fool's gold. Her half-siblings hate her, her best friend's girlfriend is ruining their friendship, and her own so-called boyfriend is only after her for her father's name. When her broken heart results in a snowboarding accident that exiles her from the mountains-the one place where she feels free and accepted for who she is, not what she has-can Syrah rehab both her busted-up knee, and her broken heart? Justina Chen Headley writes with an engaging wit and a powerful, distinct voice. Her first novel, Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) was a Border's Original Voices nominee, a Book Sense pick, and received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly: "Headley makes an impressive debut with this witty, intimate novel."

In an alternate world, in a nameless totalitarian city, the autocratic Mayor rules the school system with an iron fist, with the help of his Educators. Fighting against the Mayor and his repressive Educators is a group of former students called the Truancy, whose goal is to take down the system by any means possible—at any cost. Against this backdrop, fifteen-year-old Tack is just trying to survive. His days are filled with sadistic teachers, unrelenting schoolwork, and indifferent parents. Things start to look up when he meets Umasi, a mysterious boy who runs a lemonade stand in an uninhabited district. Then someone close to Tack gets killed in the crossfire between the Educators and the Truants, and Tack swears vengeance. To achieve his purpose, he abandons his old life and joins the Truancy. There, he confronts Zyid, an enigmatic leader with his own plans for Tack. But Tack soon finds himself torn between his desire for vengeance and his growing sympathy for the Truants…. Isamu Fukui wrote Truancy during the summer of his fifteenth year. The author’s purpose is not just to entertain, but to make a statement about the futility of the endless cycle of violence in the world as well as the state of the educational system. And, as he put it, “I need to be in school myself if I want to write about it.”

Since her adoption, seventeen-year-old Frances has lived a quiet suburban life, but soon after she begins falling for the new boy at school, she receives a summons from her birth mother, who has just been released after serving eleven years for smothering Frances's younger sisters. Original.