Three high school students who barely know each other are wrestling with problems: Joshua, who defines himself as queer, at home lives with a religious stepfather who won’t accept it and at school goes from being bullied by classmates to… Read More ›
Diversity
Watch Over Me
Zoey is the managing “adult” living in a household which has been defined by domestic violence. At the age of 15 she testified against her abusive cop father in court, and he was sent to jail. Now she is 18… Read More ›
Every Stolen Breath
Lia (short for Amelia) Finch is the surviving asthmatic twin of a sister who died in very early infancy. She lives in comfortable circumstances with her widowed mother in Chicago. Her father, a successful prosecuting attorney, was murdered in a… Read More ›
The Best Lies
Katherine Remy Tsai is a 16-year-old with battling professional parents who love her perfect older brother better, so much so that his schoolmates don’t even realize he has a sister. Things have been mighty stressful at home for many years,… Read More ›
Reverie
Kane Montgomery was the last person at his school to find out he was gay. As other students at school gradually became aware of it (before he did), the sleepover and party invitations stopped coming and friends dropped off the… Read More ›
All-American Muslim Girl
Allie Abraham is the almost-16-year-old daughter of an academic father and a psychologist mom. Her dad is of Muslim heritage but not practicing; her mom was raised Catholic but converted to Islam when she married. As Allie’s father has pursued… Read More ›
Full Disclosure
Simone Garcia-Hampton is a seventeen-year-old HIV-positive girl attending a private Catholic high school–her second private Catholic high school, that is, after being “outed” by someone she thought was her best friend at the first school. Bullying and intimidation have caused… Read More ›
Six Goodbyes We Never Said
There are two protagonists in this book: Naima Rodriguez, whose mother died at her birth and whose Marine father has been killed during a sixth tour of duty overseas; and Dew Brickman, who lost both parents at the same time… Read More ›
The Speed of Falling Objects
Danger (yes, that is her given first name) Danielle Warren, aka Danny, is turning 17 and has lived with her nurse mom in a two-bedroom/one-bath apartment for almost a decade, since her parents divorced and her father went off to… Read More ›
Saving Everest
Beverly is the only Black girl in her high school. She lives with her alcoholic, needy, and not-always-responsible mom in a ratty apartment. She takes care of her mom more than vice versa. She has an “aunt” who parties hard… Read More ›
Before You Buy YA 