Addiction

Dress Coded

Transition from elementary school to middle school has got to be one of the hardest changes a person’s got to endure–boys and girls maturing at different rates, childhood friendships evolving or ending and new ones being formed, and new anxieties… Read More ›

The Black Kids

Set in Los Angeles in the year 1992–the year LA erupted into violence after the brutal beating of Rodney King by four LAPD officers–this story traces the evolution of senior Ashley Bennett, her friends, and her family as they confront… Read More ›

Patron Saints of Nothing

Right before his last Spring Break before graduating from high school, seventeen-year-old Jay learns that his Filipino cousin Jun is dead, apparently killed as an addict and drug dealer in President Duterte’s war on drugs. Jun’s father, a regional police… Read More ›

The First True Thing

First of all, let me say the blurbs on these book jackets are nonsense.  This particular book, while worthy of notice and thought, will not leave you “breathless,” nor is it “heartbreaking” or particularly “raw.”  OK, thank you, I feel… Read More ›

Two Can Keep a Secret

Twins Ellery and Ezra Corcoran are relocating temporarily to live with their grandmother in small, picture-perfect Echo Ridge, Vermont, while their mother, Sadie, completes a four-month drug rehabilitation program in California. Ellery is particularly interested in Echo Ridge because she… Read More ›

Earth to Charlie

Charlie is a sweet kid finishing up his freshman year in high school.  His mother left long ago, telling him the aliens were coming to get her but that they would return later for him.  His dad has turned into… Read More ›

Since We Last Spoke

Aggi Frank and Max Granger grow up in seemingly idyllic fashion, with a countryside to explore, a beaver dam to watch being constructed each spring, and a nearby lakeshore where they enjoy bonfires and marshmallow roasts. Next-door neighbors, their families have shared… Read More ›