★★★★★
Eleanor and Park are both high school outsiders in 1986 Omaha. Eleanor is the new girl in town with an unstable and threatening family life. Park is half-Korean in a white-dominated town who struggles to fit in not only at school but with his own family. When the two outlanders sit on the school bus together, they find an acceptance in each other and create a bond that cannot be broken. Even though the book is classified as young adult fic ... (check it out)
★★★★
A tragic accident lands Scotty's brother in a coma and kills a classmate. She is used to sitting back and letting life happen to her. While mourning and recovering, she realizes her own power to make a difference reconciling relationships and beginning new ones. A coming-of-age story recommended for fans of Lauren Myracle and John Green. ... (check it out)
★★★★★
When her boyfriend dies in a tragic accident, Wren retreats to her father’s remote home and art studio. A ghost of her former self, she feels broken. Wren just wants to be left alone. When she's not sleeping, she goes running in the woods. Will she ever return to normal life? Throughout this poetic winter read Wren’s inner dialogue captures feelings of grief, loss, and mourning in a way that feels real. Readers may also want to raed ... (check it out)
★★★★★
In darkness I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One: I am alive. Two: there is no two. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake a boy is trapped beneath the rubble of a ruined hospital: thirsty, terrified and alone. 'Shorty' is a child of the slums, a teenage boy who has seen enough violence to last a lifetime, and who has been inexorably drawn into the world of the gangsters who rule Site Soleil: men who dole out money with one hand ... (check it out)
★★★★★
Meet Sandanista Jones, a lonely girl with a broken heart. On Monday morning, Sandanista walks out of her high-school and finds herself a job at The Pale Circus, a quirky vintage clothing store. Isolated since her mother's death, she struggles to find a place to belong. She makes friends with a fellow employee equally flawed and hurting, and struggles with her own pain and the pain of others around her. As she tries to cope, Sandanista prep ... (check it out)
★★★★
Rebecca Stead, author of the 2010 Newbery Medal winner, When You Reach Me, brings us another great middle-grade novel. Liar & Spy tells the story of seventh grader Georges, his mysterious new friend and the "Science Unit of Destiny." Touching on themes of change, bullies, friends and family, the book plays at perceptions on all levels - are things always what they seem? ... (check it out)
