In August 1942 Zofia Lederman and her family, who are among the remaining Jews in the Polish town of Sosnowiec, report to the local soccer stadium, where they are sorted into two groups, one headed for death camps and the… Read More ›
Political Activism
Rules for Being a Girl
Long-time best friends Marin Lospato and Chloe Niarchos are high school seniors who also are co-editors of their school newspaper. They seem like typical teens with the usual interests, with a good social circle of friends, supportive families, and realistic… Read More ›
Dragon Hoops
Award-winning comics artist and graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang spent seventeen years teaching at Bishop O’Dowd High School in California. Near the end of his tenure there, as he was casting about for the topic of his next book, he… Read More ›
I’m Not Dying with You Tonight
McPherson High School seniors Campbell (who is white) and Lena (who is black) arrive separately on Friday night at the McPherson stadium for the big playoff with rival Jonesville High. Campbell’s dad drops her off near the concession stand, where… 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 ›
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 ›
All the Bad Apples
Deena is a teenage girl being raised by her elder sister Rachel in Dublin. There is a 17-year gap in their ages, Deena having been a “bonus baby” when her mother was 50. Deena’s mom died of an aneurysm when… 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 ›
The Tenth Girl
Mavi is the teenage daughter of a South American political activist who is eventually rounded up by the police and hauled off to who-knows-where. Knowing that she herself is in danger and urged on by her mother just before the… Read More ›
Verify
Chicago around the year 2073 is not the Chicago we know today. Crime-infested, run-down areas have been cleared of blight and are models of prosperity and community involvement. The one internet provider and the one news source sanctioned by the… Read More ›
Before You Buy YA 