Book picks similar to
That Freak Kid by Samantha Stemler


high-school
realist-young-adult
ya-depression-self-harm-suicide
contemporaries

Learn To Hate Me


Gracie Strattyn - 2012
    When her mother decides to send her away to her father’s house, she begins to feel herself changing in strange ways. Her family is keeping secrets and Carson, her father's employee, seems to hate her for no apparent reason. Having always been headstrong, Kelsey is determined to find the truth.

Evil In Disguise


Deborah McClatchey - 2010
    Little do they know that the unsuspecting, yet odd-looking turtle, is a fiend in disguise. The town bully, Victor Lockett, kidnaps the reptile and finds out he’s made a terrible, terrible mistake! The turtle is now on the loose and the killings begin. Elmer Jacks, the pet shop proprietor, finally reveals the true identity of the turtle to the two boys. He says there is an old scroll that was lost which holds the answer to the cursed tortoise and can revert it back to human form. Charlie’s pretty neighbor, Sunni Russell, joins them on their hunt for the beast. With her help, they search the Internet for the answer to the reversal of the curse. But will they find it? And most importantly, if they find the turtle, will the special words on the scroll even work?

Eleven Miles to Oshkosh


Jim Guhl - 2018
    His father, a deputy sheriff, has been murdered by the unknown "Highway 41 Killer." His mom has unraveled. And a goon named Larry Buskin has been pummeling Minnow behind Neenah High.Minnow finds support in the company of his roguish grandfather, his loyal pal Mark, and beautiful Opal Parsons, who has her own worries as the first African American student in their school. When the sheriff seems in no hurry to solve the murder, Minnow must seek justice by partnering with unlikely allies and discovering his own courage.

High School Bites


Rachael Alcobia - 2017
    I guess they forgot to mention the crazy girl who thinks you're after her boyfriend or the wolf that attacks you in the woods during the senior class camping trip. Between strange dreams that border on nightmares and Kodi Barrett, a fellow senior that I've been inexplicably drawn to for years at the center of it all, i was positive that life at Mountain Falls High School was about to get much more complicated. I didn't need my senior year to be perfect; I just needed to survive it!

Letting Go


Domino - 2010
    She now has a big decision to make, for her and the well being of her unborn child.

Ashes, Ashes#3: The Return


Karyn Folan - 2016
    Amaranth accompanies Rod on his trip back to the Wasteland where he hope to reunite with his mother before he dies.

SPED


Re Marzullo - 2013
    Jack Parker has been content to go through middle school in a SPED small group class for the last two years and stay off the radar of the bullies in his school. While life at Hickory Hills Middle School has been safe for Jack, it has also gotten a bit dull with only four classmates (all boys) to spend the school day with. All of that changes in Jack's eighth grade year when girls and trouble show up in his small group class. Fast paced and funny, SPED tells the story of Jack and his classmates as he handles bullies at school and challenges at home and learns that growing up means taking chances - not only for himself but for those he cares about.

Charming in Handcuffs (Charming #1)


Jenleighna
    Boy next door is dangerous. Boy next door is on house arrest.* * * * * They've been neighbors for as long as Juliet can remember. You'd think being neighbors, they would have been friends by now. Not the case. They've been sworn enemies since Jack dumped sand down her shirt in the 1st Grade. Juliet Sanders lives next door to Jack McKinnon, the boy on house arrest for being the prime suspect in a murder investigation. That's only because his father paid off the judge, of course, or he'd be behind bars until the trial. The McKinnon family stays in the spotlight. Jack's mom is a famous author, his dad a movie producer. Juliet watches Jack. Whether if he's going for a swim or walking laps around the house at 3 in the morning. Something always piqued her curiosity. It takes Juliet getting locked out of her house to finally face the mysterious boy next door. And he's definitely not rainbows and butterflies. Juliet's curiosity may just get her in trouble.

Kissing Cousins


Heaven J. Fox - 2014
    When Chase Donovan, a six feet tall popular basketball player, says, "What's up?" to her in the hallway, it was love at first sight. Well, at least for Nyla anyways.Just when things were getting hot and heavy, Nyla and Chase's mothers tell them they can't see each other anymore because they're cousins.Chase refuses to fall for it and continues to pursue Nyla anyways. Nyla gets pregnant and her mother wants her to do the unthinkable but Nyla has her heart dead set against it. That is until she finds out that she's not the only one with child.

Locker 572


L.T. Kodzo - 2011
    -Edmund BurkeWelcome to North Harbor High...Where a girl can get bullied to death.Sheridan Alexander moves to San Diego and her fifth foster home since kindergarten. Her two goals are to graduate and exit the system without any more trouble. That is, until she's assigned locker 572 and finds the abandoned journal of Ribbon Barber. The journal pages reveal the endless insults and abuse flung at an innocent girl. "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you." Yeah, right. Words of hate scar forever. Sheridan needs to find Ribbon and protect her before it's too late, even if it means giving up her most stable home in years. Ribbon has a right to be left alone. But can anyone ever be safe in the hardened halls of high school?

Melody's Heart


Alora Dillon - 2015
    Kyle and Melody are dating! Great... but one wants to let everyone know about their relationship status and the other... not so much. If you read Melody's Crush, you know which one is wanting to keep it quiet. How can they keep their relationship a secret when it's so obvious how they feel about one another. And when friends, family and Lia discover the truth, how will the lovebirds be able to handle it? On top of dealing with a blooming relationship, Kyle is having to deal with his own personal demons... like the guilt he feels toward his sister's death. For someone who is only eighteen, this young man has gone through more trials and tribulations, heartbreaks and loss than most people go through in a lifetime... and yet, he holds onto hope... and Melody. In this story, we welcome back Jake and Max(i) who will soon be getting their own story to tell! :-) Be advised, this contemporary Teen / Young Adult Romance story has some strong language and even stronger sexual connotation. There are no "Sex" scenes. I truly hope you enjoyed this book. Please let me know what you thought about it. Alora Dillon aloradillon@yahoo.com https://www.facebook.com/aloradillon

Bitter End


Jennifer Brown - 2011
    . . someone who truly loves and understands her.At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her close friend Zack, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all her time with another boy? As the months pass, though, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats.As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose -- between her "true love" and herself.

Lily and the Wedding Date Mistake (Love in Bloom Book 1)


Seven Steps - 2019
    There's only one problem. She's lost her glasses and can't see his face.Worse, when she finds her glasses she gets a front row seat to him asking out her sister. Heartbroken, Lily thinks that things can't get any worse.Until he shows up in her English class on the first day of senior year.When they're forced to work together to throw the Fall Carnival, Lily discovers this mystery boy has a huge secret. One that will change everything. Especially Lily. Find out what happens next in Lily and the Wedding Date Mistake today!Buy it now.

Time (Mirror Book 2)


Janessa Burt - 2015
     One – I would’ve tried shielding Miles from the ugliness of the mirror. Two – I would’ve listened to the warnings that despite the evil I’ve already met, worse was coming. Three – I would’ve recognized that while I was trying to keep everyone in the light, darkness crept into the hidden corners of myself I never knew existed. Four – I wouldn’t have so willingly trusted others just because they are family. Five – Most importantly, I would have shielded my heart before it turned black.

Suicide Notes


Michael Thomas Ford - 2008
    I don't see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it's a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts.Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they've got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on: the crazies start to seem less crazy.Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us.