Art & Soul


Brittainy C. Cherry - 2015
    Passed by. Glossed over. Unnoticed. Now I was Aria Watson… that girl.After one bad decision, and being labeled a slut, I was no longer unseen. I was the whore. The ignoramus. The tramp.I would never be invisible again.Particularly to Levi Myers. He was the odd boy with the beautiful soul who accepted and understood the broken girl inside me.Falling in love wasn’t the plan. But how could I resist his promises of hope? Of forgiveness? Of a future I had stopped dreaming of?We were shattered. We were scarred. We were something strange and beautiful.We were two lost souls holding on to the only thing that could keep us together. Each other.

Fish in the Sky


Fridrik Erlings - 1998
    His estranged father has just sent him a taxidermied falcon for his birthday. His flirty seventeen-year-old girl cousin has moved into his house, using his bedroom as a passageway and taking bubble baths in the unlockable bathroom. And now he’s gone AWOL from school to escape the locker-room teasing about certain embarrassing anatomical changes. On top of all that, he’s in love, but wondering if dreams of love can ever come true. Hiding out in his secret hollow in a big rock by the sea, Josh tries to figure out once and for all: is his life being sucked into a black hole, or is this just being thirteen?

It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, A True Story from Her Diary


Beatrice Sparks - 1994
    The editor of the classic GO ASK ALICE has compiled the poignant journals of a 14-year-old date-rape victim who contracted AIDS and died.

Ways to Live Forever


Sally Nicholls - 2008
    I am eleven years old. I collect stories and fantastic facts. By the time you read this, I will probably be dead." Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl. And because he has leukaemia he wants to know the facts about dying. Sam needs answers to the questions nobody will answer. "Ways To Live Forever" is the first novel from an extraordinarily talented young writer. Funny and honest, it is one of the most powerful and uplifting books you will ever read.

Rules for Stealing Stars


Corey Ann Haydu - 2015
    The way the sisters fight and love in equal measure, as well as their basic need for one another, rings poignantly true in this touching and heartwarming story, which contains a ‘tiny bit of magic, right here in the real world.’” —Booklist (starred review) In the tradition of Sharon Creech and Wendy Mass, Corey Ann Haydu's sparkling middle grade debut is a sister story with a twist of magic, a swirl of darkness, and a whole lot of hope.Silly is used to feeling left out. Her three older sisters think she's too little for most things—especially when it comes to dealing with their mother's unpredictable moods and outbursts. This summer, Silly feels more alone than ever when her sisters keep whispering and sneaking away to their rooms together, returning with signs that something mysterious is afoot: sporting sunburned cheeks smudged with glitter and gold hair that looks like tinsel.When Silly is brought into her sisters' world, the truth is more exciting than she ever imagined. The sisters have discovered a magical place that gives them what they truly need: an escape from the complications of their home life. But there are dark truths there, too. Silly hopes the magic will be the secret to saving their family, but she's soon forced to wonder if it could tear them apart.

Reality Check


Jen Calonita - 2010
    They can't even believe it. "You'll be The Hills meets The Secret Life of the American Teenager," the Armani-suited executive tells them, "and the hottest thing on our network." How could they say no? But soon enough, cameras following them everywhere and interfering producers surreptitiously scripting their lives start to affect the four best friends' relationship. Brooke seems to want all the screen time. Keiran is abruptly written out of the show-and consequently the group's friendship-when she doesn't rate well. As soon as Charlie realizes what's going on, she figures out the perfect way to give the studio and her home audience a much-needed reality check. Because friends don't let friends do reality shows.

Rebuttal


Jyotsna Hariharan - 2016
    "By turns amusing and angst-filled, this well-paced production is a good choice for fans of full-cast audios" (AudioFile).All Alex Dassan needs to do is win second place in the debate team finals. The second place prize is a trip to the Nottingshire Retreat in London where she’ll have a chance to take a class with her writing idol, Mary Noelle Simmons. Alex knows that once she meets Mary her life will fall into place and her dreams of becoming a writer will be possible (and less scary). Nothing is going to stand in Alex’s way—especially not a dad who’s never home and a mom who left to go "find herself" in India. The only problem: with minutes before the competition and a missing debate partner, Alex is feeling a little desperate.All Jeremy Beekman needs to do is pass AP Biology. If Jeremy passes then he can get into medical school, become a doctor in 10 years, and keep his family together--he won’t disappoint his parents the way his brother did. The only problem: Jeremy spends more time on art and the AV Club than on his homework.When Alex and Jeremy run into each other (literally!) before the debate team competition, they make an arrangement—if Jeremy helps Alex win the debate team finals then Alex will tutor Jeremy in biology. What could go wrong?What starts as an academic arrangement soon turns into a friendship where absent parents and burdensome expectations are confronted, dreams are dreamed bigger, and the debate team competition stakes are even higher. You may now begin your rebuttal.

Let's Get Lost


Sarra Manning - 2006
    But when she meets the enigmatic Atticus Smith, she begins to question her very identity - maybe she wasn't born to be bad after all.

The Book of Michael


Lesley Choyce - 2008
    The circumstances surrounding her final hours attract considerable media attention, especially because Michael and Lisa had sex just prior to her death. A public outcry against light penalties for young offenders ensures Michael is tried as an adult; he receives a harsh and severe penalty. Six months into his imprisonment, the true murderer confesses. Michael is released but quickly finds that the stigma of imprisonment and the (wrongful) rap for murder is not an easy thing to escape out on the streets.

Dangerous Boy


Mandy Hubbard - 2012
    Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with a chilling twist Harper has never been worried about falling in love, something she is skeptical even exists. But everything changes when Logan moves to town, and to Harper's shock, the two tumble into an intense romance. It's everything she never thought she wanted. Then she meets Logan's twin brother, Caleb, who was expelled from his last school. True, he's a bad boy, but Harper can't shake the feeling that there's something deeply sinister about him--something dangerous. When Logan starts pulling away, Harper is convinced that Caleb's shadowy past is the wedge being driven between them. But by the time she uncovers the truth, it may be too late. The author of Prada & Prejudice, You Wish, and Ripple delivers a modern-day retelling of a famously gothic tale, full of suspense, lies, and romance.

Crazy Beautiful


Lauren Baratz-Logsted - 2009
    Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself. Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her. But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering. Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

More Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet


Lara Deloza - 2006
    Just when Morgan Carter is falling in love with the simple life she built incognito in Fort Wayne, Indiana, her true identity as an infamous Hollywood starlet is outed and she's forced to return to LA. While most girls would give anything for a life filled with celeb-studded parties, constant press coverage, and mega-fame, for Morgan going home is more complicated than it seems. Hollywood holds deep, dark secrets that Morgan has yet to confront. Secrets that could ruin everything.

Cages of Glass, Flowers of Time


Charlotte Culin - 1979
    Fourteen-year-old Claire, a victim of child abuse, gradually finds love in the world with the help of two unlikely friends.

Prom


Laurie Halse Anderson - 2005
    It's pretty much the only good thing that happens there, and everyone plans to make the most of it--especially Ash's best friend, Natalia, who's the head of the committee and has prom stars in her eyes. Then the faculty advisor is busted for taking the prom money and Ash finds herself roped into putting together a gala dance. But she has plenty of help--from her large and loving (if exasperating!) family, from Nat's eccentric grandmother, from the principal, from her fellow classmates. And in making the prom happen, Ash learns some surprising things about making her life happen, too.

When the Side Nigga His Brother


Cherlina Works - 2016
    The power of their charm takes them on a journey that leaves a trail of broken hearts and random cuddy buddies. They lived by the laws of “do not tell them that you love them and never ever sleep over”. However, that all changed the day they both met Tyla. The brothers engage in a bitter battle to win her heart and suddenly blood didn’t matter. Rules were made to be broken, right? When Tyla falls in love with one and disregards the other, it breaks the bonds between Tyri and Tyrease; neither of them saw it coming. Tyla was beautifully tempting, and women like her didn’t come around too often. Nevertheless, to fall in love with your brother’s girl is the ultimate betrayal, or is it? Will the love for one woman forever break their brotherly bond, or will they learn to accept what cards they were dealt? When the Side Nigga His Brother, the fight to be with the one you love, could very well cost you the love of another.