Bullying is a serious issue in our society. Understanding it better can help us find solutions and create a more harmonious environment. In How to Stand Up to Bullying, M. C. Ryder explains what bullying is, what bullies want, and how we can respond. The book covers key concepts such as how some people intimidate others without fully realizing it, while others do so intentionally. It also highlights that bullying isn’t always physical; psychological harm can be just as significant. We all have insecurities, but we handle them in different ways.
Omniviolence by Jones Worthington is an adult techno thriller, science fiction novel that follows a pair of unlikely companions trying to survive. In this new cyberpunk world, violence is everywhere so much so that a teenager can even be a contract killer and being canceled means your execution. Jackson Cross is a teen who lives in his mother's basement and kills people for money, but he does his killing via electronics and is paid virtually via crypto.
In the small town of Desoto, Georgia, a thrilling tale unfolds involving a Russian spy, Daryl, and a high school senior, Haskell. A senior prank gone wrong lands Haskell with community service hours to be completed at the local library. There, he notices Daryl's daily routine of checking the papers' classified advertisements, which spark suspicion and curiosity. Taking place towards the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis, tensions are high. After losing his mother in a tragic accident, Haskell must navigate his strained relationship with his
Lotus keeps too many secrets for her own good. Secrets that she could never tell her parents about, secrets that would destroy her if they ever came out, destroy everything she loves. And so it happens that she's being threatened with one of those secrets. When her best friend Nova offers her the chance to join her and their friend, Vin, on a week-long getaway, she agrees. All they're going to be doing is focusing on their upcoming exams, with no devices, no link to the world outside. In a farmhouse miles away from the nearest town, what's going to happen?
Polly Parker Meets Her Shadow by Victoria Lowery is the first book in the Secrets of the Shadow series. It is a YA science fiction novel that follows the fourteen-year-old Polly as she goes through separation and reintegration. Separation removes negative emotions and thoughts, transforming them into a shadow. Then, the process of reintegration is when Polly learns how to handle those emotions and incorporates that part of her shadow back within herself. Each time Polly masters an emotion she learns a secret. Her goal is to learn all six secrets and become fully reintegrated.
Rebecca, a devout Christian, meets Jeff through a Christian dating app and has what she views as a wonderful date. The only downside is she forgot to exchange phone numbers afterwards, leaving her hoping they will find a way to reconnect. The story follows Rebecca’s daily life, working in the church to playing softball on a local team.
Restart: Book 2 is an adventure focusing on a teenager named Ulysses, who along with his two friends (Max and Xavier), is trying to help Max's dad with ending the technological apocalypse that occurred in the previous book. The story begins in space, where the last book ended. Max and her dad have a plan to quickly get back to Earth and hopefully foil what Queen Eve (who also happens to be Max's mom) has in store for Earth and the rest of the humans left there.
Girl in the Ashes is a historical fiction novel based in Paris during World War 2. The novel circulates between the lives, both past and present, of three women: Odette, Ilse, and Agnes. The lives of these women share commonalities, as well as obvious differences as you get to know each character and their motivations, both before the war and during. Odette, a nurse, is driven by Death after the brutal murder of her mother at a young age. She takes it upon herself to kill the men who wrong women and children.
This is the first book in the Sands of Achten Tan series. This volume primarily focuses on Mila, a young gnome who is struggling to unlock both her magic and her voice. After failing to ascend to misra for the fourth time, Mila agrees to journey to Achten Tan to train under Gerwyn, an eccentric old gnome with questionable methods. Mila is desperate to ascend to the second level of her training so that she can finally regain her voice and unlock the full potential of her powers, so she agrees to what could be her final attempt to begin reaching her full potential.
Thirteen year old Gittel Borenstein is part of a Jewish family that emigrated from Eastern Europe because of a pogrom to Mill Creek, Wisconsin with 12 other Jewish families. The book focuses on various events in Gittel’s young life such as bullying from antisemitic classmates, conflicts with her more traditional Orthodox family, a budding romance with a local boy, and her participation in a Chautauqua, which is a social, influential, and inspirational program that focuses on the arts and is often held in rural areas like in Mill Creek.
