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Family of Strangers by Susan Beth Pfeffer


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Nick & the Nerd


Rachel Hawthorne - 2001
    . . don't I?Everyone heard Nick (the most popular guy at Raven High) ask Edie (the least popular girl) to the dance. And everyone heard her turn him down. So suddenly she's famous. She's gone from a nobody to a "girl of mystery" overnight. No one, it seems, has ever turned Nick down, and no one's more shocked than Nick himself. But no one, especially Nick, would believe why Edie said no.

Don't Kiss Your Brother's Sworn Enemy (Don't Kiss! Series Book 1)


Elle Gonzales - 2020
    Well, according to her twin brother Cole, that is. Cole's resentment toward him has been there for as long as she can remember.So it goes without saying that she needs to stay away from Jake if she wants to keep the peace. That should be easy, right?Except there's one problem: Jake is assigned as her partner for a school paper. And as if that's not enough, she also needs his help to get back in her best friend's good graces.Callie knows that getting close to him is not a good idea. Too bad she's starting to like him...

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle, #3) (Free Preview Edition)


Maggie Stiefvater - 2014
    For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.Friends can betray.Mothers can disappear.Visions can mislead.

The Man Who Gave Up His Name


Jim Harrison - 1978
    

Invisible Lissa


Natalie Honeycutt - 1986
    Lissa didn't have much trouble figuring out who was behind it all - Debra Dobbins. Although Lissa couldn't stand her, she had to admit Debra had the whole class in her power.Things started getting worse when Debra started a cheerleader's squad and Lissa didn't get in. But the last straw was the FUNCHY Club, Debra's exclusive lunch group that Lissa's best friend Katie had the nerve to join. That's when Lissa decided she was tired of being invisible...and that it was time to show Debra that her days of being queen of the fifth grade were definitely numbered.

Rose


Diane Schwemm - 1998
    Being the oldest has never been easy, but it was especially hard the year I turned sixteen. That was the year that the things I thought would always be the same changed forever. After Dad died, Mom needed me to pitch in more--get a job and help take care of my sisters. I was working so hard to care for my family, I forgot to look out for myself.Then I met someone who wanted to take care of me. For the first time ever, I was in love. It was wonderful. But it was also scary. Because if nothing lasts forever...how could love?

The Shadow Thieves


Anne Ursu - 2006
    And something extra-ordinary is about to happen to her.Oh, it's not the very cute kitten that appears out of nowhere and demands to go home with her. It's not the sudden arrival of her cousin Zee, who believes he's the cause of a mysterious sickness that has struck his friends back in England. It's not her creepy English teacher Mr. Metos, who takes his mythology lessons just a little too seriously. And it's not the white-faced, yellow-eyed men in tuxedoes, who follow Charlotte everywhere.What's so extraordinary is not any one of these things....It's all of them. And when Charlotte's friends start to get sick one by one, Charlotte and Zee set out to find a cure. Their quest leads them to a not-so-mythical Underworld, where they face rhyme-loving Harpies, gods with personnel problems, and ghosts with a thirst for blood.Charlotte and Zee learn that in a world overrun by Nightmares, Pain, and Death, the really dangerous character is a guy named Phil. And then they discover that the fate of every person -- living and dead -- is in their young hands.In her dazzling debut for young readers, Anne Ursu weaves a tale of myth and adventure, danger and magic that will keep readers engrossed until the very last secret is revealed.

Laugh Till You Cry


Joan Lowery Nixon - 2004
    He and his mom were only supposed to spend the summer there, helping out his grandmother. But Cody’s grandmother is sick and needs them to stay. Now he’s the new kid at the local middle school and all his friends are back in California. You’d think Cody’s cousin Hayden would show him the ropes. Not only is Hayden in the same grade, he lives next door. But Hayden doesn’t want anything to do with Cody. Cody’s luck begins to change when he befriends Officer Ramsey, a policeman and aspiring stand-up comic. Officer Ramsey appreciates Cody’s jokes so much, he pays Cody for the material! But it’s no laughing matter when a crime is committed at school and Cody becomes a suspect. Cody is going to need more than jokes to solve this mystery—and clear his name.From the Hardcover edition.

The Complete Fiction: The Bean Trees / Homeland / Animal Dreams / Pigs in Heaven


Barbara Kingsolver - 1995
    Includes: The Bean Trees, Homeland and Other Stories, Animal Dreams, and Pigs In Heaven.

The Forgotten Girl


David Bell - 2014
    Now she’s clean and sober but in need of a desperate favor—she asks Jason and his wife to take care of her teenage daughter for forty-eight hours while she handles some business in town.But Hayden never returns.And her disappearance brings up more unresolved problems from Jason’s past, including the abrupt departure of his best friend on their high school graduation night twenty-seven years earlier. When a body is discovered in the woods, the mysteries of his sister’s life—and possible death—deepen. And one by one these events will shatter every expectation Jason has ever had about families, about the awful truths that bind them and the secrets that should be taken to the grave.

Striking Out


Will Weaver - 1900
    Never been to a movie. Never played baseball with a real team. Never got over feeling guilty for the loss of his brother. But change is in the air. Billy discovers he has a natural talent for baseball, especially as a pitcher. Maybe, just maybe, there's more in store for him than life on the farm. But can Billy convince his father of that? Or is he destined to spend the rest of his life pitching nothing but hay?Teenager Billy Baggs is desperately needed on his family's struggling dairy farm, but he's also an extraordinarily gifted natural baseball player. How he struggles to reconcile his father's desire to keep him on the farm with his coach's interest in getting him on the field is at the heart of this ‘meaty story.… The complex characters grow and change in profoundly real ways.''K. ‘[With] flashes of humor, a wealth of lovingly recounted details evokes the difficult daily life on a small dairy farm.''Publishers Weekly. 1994 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

Loving Spirit


Linda Chapman - 2010
    Now she must live in England with family who are more like strangers.Life on her uncle's farm seems so lonely - until Ellie meets Spirit. She's never seen the grey horse before, but she has the strangest feeling they've always known each other.Like Ellie, Spirit is alone in the world, and they form an intense bond. And as the weeks go by, Spirit helps Ellie to discover an incredible talent that changes both their lives forever.

Crossing the Deep


Kelly Martin - 2012
    Four days later, injured and scared, Rachel prays to just make it home alive.Asher Jenkins, fellow hiker and handsome skeptic who is only on the hike so he doesn’t have to go home and face his abusive ‘uncle’, finds Rachel in the woods and tries to get her back to Deep Creek Trail. A small hole hidden under the fall leaves causes her ankle to twist and forces Asher to leave her to get help. As night falls, he comes back, unable to find the right trail.As hours stretch into days, an unexpected rainstorm bears down the mountain, flooding Deep Creek and cutting off their way home. Rachel puts all of her faith in God to save them. Asher thinks believing in God is a waste of time and does what he can to prove to Rachel that He doesn’t exist.

Dream Catchers: A Rockstar Romance


Sandy Lo - 2009
    Growing up with a silver spoon in her mouth, her parents gave her everything she needed except freedom. Fate steps in at the bus station when Haley bumps into Jordan Walsh, literally. His unpolished manners and rock star attitude rile her, though she is oddly drawn to him.Haley and Jordan’s opposing personalities clash while on the bus–before they wind up stranded together! Haley finds herself in quite a predicament with no way to get home. Jordan challenges her to escape her wealthy conformity and go with him to New York, despite their disgust for one another.Haley is enthralled with the carefree, in control and gorgeous Jordan, yet he remains a stranger to her in many ways. With his help, Haley begins to discover who she is and what she wants. She finds herself at a crossroads: go back to her old life where she merely exists or take a stand and chase her dreams.

The It-Girl


Katy Birchall - 2015
    Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison. Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don't they?Anna Huntley's aims in life:1) Must keep my two lovely new (and only) school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.2) Train Dog (my labrador) to high-five. This is probably the most ambitious life goal on this list.3) Do not set the school's Deputy Queen Bee mean girl's hair on fire (again).4) Work out whether 2) and 3) constitute being socially inept or outcastish.5) Go to Africa and give out rice.6) To hide in a cupboard FOR LIFE with Dog now Dad is engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi want to spash my face all over the papers and everyone in school (and The World) is soon to discover the level of my social ineptitude.7) Is rice a bit done now? Maybe I can give out chocolate in Africa too. I do like chocolate. Must work out how to do it from the cupboard...