Orchards

Glass

Ellen Hopkins · 696 pages

"one little hit, my heart revs high, then settles into quick step-mode. How i've missed that race and pound. How i've missed the lack of control." crank, glass, ice, crystal, whatever you call it, it's all the same. a monster. kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much. the one calling the shots, but the monster is

Ronit Jamil

Pamela L. Laskin · 183 pages

Pamela L. Laskins beautiful and lyrical novel in verse delivers a fresh and captivating retelling of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet that transports the star-crossed lovers to the modern-day Israel-Palestine conflict. Ronit, an Israeli girl, lives on one side of the fence. Jamil, a Palestinian boy, lives on the other side. Only miles apart but separated by generations of conflict & much more than ju

A Tale for the Time Being

Ruth Ozeki · 432 pages

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, she plans to document the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace. Across the Pacific a novelist living on a remote island discovers artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchb

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath

Stephanie Hemphill · 276 pages

On a bleak February day in 1963 a young American poet died by her own hand, and passed into a myth that has since imprinted itself on the hearts and minds of millions. She was and is Sylvia Plath and Your Own, Sylvia is a portrait of her life, told in poems.With photos and an extensive list of facts and sources to round out the reading experience, Your Own, Sylvia is a great curriculum companion t

Bronx Masquerade

Nikki Grimes · 167 pages

When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class and reads it aloud, poetry-slam-style, he kicks off a revolution. Soon his classmates are clamoring to have weekly poetry sessions. One by one, eighteen students take on the risky challenge of self-revelation. Award-winning author Nikki Grimes captures the voices of eighteen teenagers through the poetry they share and the stories th

Shizuko's Daughter

Kyoko Mori · 227 pages

After her mother's suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother's family, and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy.

Solo

Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess · 461 pages

Seventeen-year-old Blade, who endeavors to resolve painful issues from his past to navigate the challenges of his former rockstar father's addictions, scathing tabloid rumors, and a protected secret that threatens his own identity.

Full Cicada Moon

Marilyn Hilton · 400 pages

In 1969 twelve-year-old Mimi and her family move to an all-white town in Vermont, where Mimi's mixed-race background and interest in "boyish" topics like astronomy make her feel like an outsider.

And We Stay

Jenny Hubbard · 224 pages

Sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school after her ex-boyfriend shoots himself, seventeen-year-old Emily expresses herself through poetry as she relives their relationship, copes with her guilt, and begins to heal. Sent to a boarding school after her ex-boyfriend shoots himself, 17-year-old Emily expresses herself through poetry as she relives their relationship, copes with her guilt, a

Under the Mesquite

Guadalupe Garcia McCall · 224 pages

Throughout her high school years, as her mother battles cancer, Lupita takes on more responsibility for her house and seven younger siblings, while finding refuge in acting and writing poetry. Includes glossary of Spanish terms.

The Good Braider

Terry Farish · 224 pages

Follows Viola as she survives brutality in war-torn Sudan, makes a perilous journey, lives as a refugee in Egypt, and finally reaches Portland, Maine, where her quest for freedom and security is hampered by memories of past horrors and the traditions her mother and other Sudanese adults hold dear. Includes historical facts and a timeline of Sudan.

Ask Me How I Got Here

Christine Heppermann · 225 pages

Addie has always known what she was running toward. In cross country, in life, in love. Until she and her boyfriend her sensitive, good-guy boyfriend are careless one night and she ends up pregnant. Addie makes the difficult choice to have an abortion. And after that even though she knows it was the right decision for her nothing is the same anymore. She doesn t want anyone besides her parents and

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Sonya Sones · 159 pages

A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

Make Lemonade

Virginia Euwer Wolff · 200 pages

Viginia Euwer Wolff's groundbreaking novel, written in free verse, tells the story of fourteen-year-old LaVaughn, who is determined to go to college―she just needs the money to get there. When she answers a babysitting ad, LaVaughn meets Jolly, a seventeen-year-old single mother with two kids by different fathers. As she helps Jolly make lemonade out of the lemons her life has given her, LaVaughn

Because I Am Furniture

Thalia Chaltas

The youngest of three siblings, fourteen-year-old Anke feels both relieved and neglected that her father abuses her brother and sister but ignores her, but when she catches him with one of her friends, she finally becomes angry enough to take action.

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling

Lucy Frank · 272 pages

This novel-in-verse—at once literary and emotionally gripping—follows the unfolding friendship between two very different teenage girls who share a hospital room and an illness. Chess, the narrator, is sick, but with what exactly, she isn’t sure. And to make matters worse, she must share a hospital room with Shannon, her polar opposite. Where Chess is polite, Shannon is rude. Where Chess tolera

Sand Chronicles, Volume 2

Hinako Ashihara · 200 pages

A Time to Dance

Padma Venkatraman · 321 pages

Hidden

Helen Frost · 147 pages

When fourteen-year-olds Wren and Darra meet at a Michigan summer camp, both are overwhelmed by memories from six years earlier when Darra's father stole a car, unaware that Wren was hiding in the back. Years after Darra Monson's father stole a minivan with Wren Abbott hiding in the back, the girls come face to face at summer camp, and together they try to work through what happened to them and th

Exposed

Kimberly Marcus

High school senior Liz, a gifted photographer, can no longer see things clearly after her best friend accuses Liz's older brother of raping her while she was sleeping over at Liz's house.

The Last Leaves Falling

Fox Benwell · 359 pages

In Japan, teenaged Abe Sora, who is afflicted with "Lou Gehrig's Disease," finds friends online and elicits their help to end his suffering.

Skyscraping

Cordelia Jensen · 347 pages

Mira is just beginning her senior year of high school when she discovers her father with his male lover. Her world and everything she thought she knew about her family is shattered instantly. Unable to comprehend the lies, betrayal, and secrets that unbeknownst to Mira have come to define and keep intact her family s existence, Mira distances herself from her sister and closest friends as a means

Paper Hearts

Meg Wiviott · 352 pages

"Amid the brutality of Auschwitz during the Holocaust, a forbidden gift helps two teenage girls find hope, friendship, and the will to live in this novel in verse that?s based on a true story."--Amazon.com.

The Wild Book

Margarita Engle

In early twentieth-century Cuba, bandits terrorize the countryside as a young farm girl struggles with dyslexia. Based on the life of the author's grandmother.