This story opens with sixteen-year-old Brianna (Bri) Jackson dealing with a lot of worries. Her dad, once a rising rap star on the underground scene, is twelve-years-dead from a gang-related shooting, having left the family his famous name, a prized… Read More ›
Racism
Unclaimed Baggage
Three teenagers end up working together at an Unclaimed Baggage store in small-town Huntsville, Alabama: (1) Doris, an experienced staffer who hires the other two as new employees, and who is something of a social misfit because she is liberal… Read More ›
Tyler Johnson Was Here
Marvin Johnson and his fraternal twin Tyler are about to graduate from Sojourner Truth High School in Sterling Point, Alabama. With a dad unjustly imprisoned for the past nine years (with ten more to go) and a mom working hard to barely… Read More ›
Fawkes
In England in the year 1604 teenager Thomas Fawkes is preparing to take the test that will determine his source of color power while also anxiously waiting to receive his hand-crafted mask from his father, Guy–both events that will mark… Read More ›
Down and Across
Soon-to-be high school senior Saaket “Scott” Ferdowsi has a problem: he has no passion for anything that gives him direction in life. He easily loses interest in activities, then drops them, and moves on to something else. Or not. His… Read More ›
All That I Can Fix
The parents in many Young Adult novels are self-involved, negligent people who may provide food and shelter but pretty much expect their teenage children to raise themselves. Or expect the kids to tend to the parents’ needs. This book takes… Read More ›
The Window
When the body of Jess’s twin sister, Anna, is found one morning on the lawn underneath her bedroom window, the family is shocked to realize she had been laying there unseen throughout the night. A member of her high school… Read More ›
Strange Star
Felix, a free black man who has sailed from America via the French coast city of Calais to England, has found himself employed as a servant working for Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland. Visiting Lord Byron are… Read More ›
Before You Buy YA 