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 ›
Addiction
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 ›
They Wish They Were Us
Jill is a high school senior enjoying exclusive membership in a small group of eight who rule a secretive club called the Players at her private prep school. (Well, it used to be eight, except one was killed some months… Read More ›
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
So here’s the long-anticipated prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy. Coriolanus Snow is in his final year at the elitist Academy, training ground for future leaders of Panem. He is fortunate to be there because although he is charming, intelligent… Read More ›
Jackpot: All Bets Are Off
Seventeen-year-old Rico Danger is of exotic mixed parentage. She is, by her classmates’ evaluation, a stunning beauty, though she is unaware of it. Her clothes come from thrift shops. She has no friends and keeps to herself to hide her… 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 ›