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Showing 161 - 180 of 222 items
By Pam Withers. 2017
When Tristan’s dad disappears, he puts his tracking skills to the test to find him — but will Tristan’s talents…
save him if it turns out to be a trap? Thanks to his dad’s coaching, sixteen-year-old Tristan is one of the best climbers and trackers in his small town. He can read footprints and bushes like they’re security-camera footage, and fearlessly descend rock faces and waterfalls. But when his father disappears, leaving his mother too grief-stricken to function, the young canyoneer’s life goes into freefall. Left in the hands of a well-meaning but incompetent uncle and a space-cadet housekeeper, Tristan finds life a struggle no matter how hard he works. When he nears the end of his rope at home, the teen decides to set off into Swallow Canyon in search of his father — only to realize that someone may be out to get him. Now the question is who’s stalking whom, and are Tristan’s skills up to the dangerous game playing out in the deep, shadowy canyon?By Amber McBride. 2023
They Both Die at the End meets The Bell Jar in this haunting, beautiful young adult novel-in-verse about clinical depression…
and healing from trauma, from National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.They are both terrified of the forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales, and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years.By Candace Ganger. 2019
Two teens meet after tragedy and learn about love, loss, and letting goNaima Rodriguez doesn’t want your patronizing sympathy as…
she grieves her father, her hero—a fallen Marine. She’ll hate you forever if you ask her to open up and remember him “as he was,” though that’s all her loving family wants her to do in order to manage her complex OCD and GAD. She’d rather everyone back the-eff off while she separates her Lucky Charms marshmallows into six, always six, Ziploc bags, while she avoids friends and people and living the life her father so desperately wanted for her. Dew respectfully requests a little more time to process the sudden loss of his parents. It's causing an avalanche of secret anxieties, so he counts on his trusty voice recorder to convey the things he can’t otherwise say aloud. He could really use a friend to navigate a life swimming with pain and loss and all the lovely moments in between. And then he meets Naima and everything’s changed—just not in the way he, or she, expects. Candace Ganger's Six Goodbyes We Never Said is no love story. If you ask Naima, it’s not even a like story. But it is a story about love and fear and how sometimes you need a little help to be brave enough to say goodbye.By Jennifer Dugan. 2020
From the author of Hot Dog Girl comes a fresh and funny queer YA contemporary novel about two teens who…
fall in love in an indie comic book shop. Jubilee has it all together. She's an elite cellist, and when she's not working in her stepmom's indie comic shop, she's prepping for the biggest audition of her life.Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can't stop disappointing them--that is, when they're even paying attention.They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can't help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other's throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible . . . unless they manage to keep it a secret.Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley's anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can't conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give?"A deep dive into first love while learning to manage significant mental health challenges . . . Dugan's strength is in creating a diverse cast of characters. Ridley is bisexual, Jubilee struggles with how to identify and label her sexuality, and most of the supporting characters are queer-identified." --School Library JournalBy Blythe Woolston. 2010
The Freak Observer is rich in family drama, theoretical physics, and an unusual, tough young woman—Loa Lindgren. For eight years,…
Loa Sollilja's world ran like one of those mechanical models of the solar system, with her baby sister, Asta, as the sun. Asta suffered from a genetic disorder that left her a permanent infant, and caring for her was Loa's life. Everything spun neatly and regularly as the whole family orbited around Asta. But now Asta's dead, and 16-year-old Loa's clockwork galaxy has collapsed. As Loa spins off on her own, her mind ambushes her with vivid nightmares and sadistic flashbacks―a textbook case of PTSD. But there are no textbook fixes for Loa's short-circuiting brain. She must find her own way to pry her world from the clutches of death. The Freak Observer is a startling debut about death, life, astrophysics, and finding beauty in chaos.By Alisha Rai. 2023
In this debut contemporary YA romance by bestselling author Alisha Rai, a girl with undocumented family members goes viral after…
saving her crush’s life in disguise. A must read for fans of Sandhya Menon and Nicola Yoon. A Phenomenal Book Club Pick!It’s a classic story: girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy finally notices girl when he sees her in a homemade costume. At least, that’s what Sonia Patil is hoping for when she plans to meet her crush at the local comic-con in cosplay.But instead of winning her crush over, Sonia rescues him after he faints into a canal and, suddenly, everything changes. Since she was in disguise, no one knows who the masked do-gooder was . . .but everyone is trying to find out. Sonia can’t let that happen—her sister is undocumented, and the girls have been flying under the radar since their mother was deported back to Mumbai.Sonia finds herself hiding from social media detectives and trying to connect with her crush and his family. But juggling crushes and a secret identity might just take superpowers. Can Sonia hide in plain sight forever?By NoNieqa Ramos. 2018
A 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection A 2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens Macy's…
school officially classifies her as "disturbed," but Macy isn't interested in how others define her. She's got more pressing problems: her mom can't move off the couch, her dad's in prison, her brother's been kidnapped by Child Protective Services, and now her best friend isn't speaking to her. Writing in a dictionary format, Macy explains the world in her own terms—complete with gritty characters and outrageous endeavors. With an honesty that's both hilarious and fearsome, slowly Macy reveals why she acts out, why she can't tell her incarcerated father that her mom's cheating on him, and why her best friend needs protection . . . the kind of protection that involves Macy's machete.By Maria Ingrande Mora. 2023
In the devastating but uplifting tradition of Adam Silvera and Nova Ren Suma comes a queer coming-of-age story set against…
the backdrop of the Florida mangroves.How do you face your fears when everything is terrifying?Fifteen-year-old Brynn can&’t stop thinking about death. Her intrusive thoughts and severe anxiety leave her feeling helpless—and hopeless. So after her mom interprets one of Brynn&’s blog posts as a suicide note, she takes extreme measures, confiscating Brynn&’s phone, blocking her Internet access, and banishing her to stay with her father who lives &“off the grid&” on a houseboat in the Florida mangroves. Isolated from her online friends—her only friends—Brynn resigns herself to a summer of mind-numbing boredom and loneliness… until Skylar appears. Skylar is everything Brynn isn&’t—sultry, athletic, and confident. Yet Brynn feels at home around this fearless girl who pushes her to try new things and makes her belly flutter with nerves that have nothing to do with anxiety. When Brynn discovers that Skylar is trapped in the bayou and can&’t tell her why, she resolves to free her new crush from the dark waters, even if it means confronting all of her worst fears.Through Brynn's funny, awkward, and sincere narration, The Immeasurable Depth of You explores the ways mental illness can impact a life by centering a character who is learning (sometimes messily) to accept all parts of herself.By Kelley Armstrong. 2022
Their lives are a lie. Their memories may not be real. A new young adult psychological thriller by #1 NYT…
bestselling author, Kelley Armstrong. Blythe and her friends — Gabrielle, and brother and sister Tucker and Tanya — have always been a tight friend group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. But an act of violence has caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker . . . and unexpected bursts of aggression and disturbing nightmares have started to become more frequent in their lives. The strange happenings culminate in a shocking event at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened. Cracks in their friendship, as well as in their own memories, start appearing, threatening to expose long-forgotten secrets which could change the group&’s lives forever. How can Blythe and her friends trust each other when they can&’t even trust their own memories?By Alena Bruzas. 2023
An intense, beautiful debut about the power of finding your voice and sharing your story after trauma. Perfect for fans…
of Nina LaCour and Kathleen Glasgow.Seventeen-year-old Virginia makes bad choices. In fact, she&’s That Kind of Girl, according to the whispers. But as long as she has her tight group of best friends by her side, she&’s able to ignore the gossipers. Until she finds herself spending time with Rumi, Poppy&’s boyfriend. Breaking with tradition, she doesn&’t hook up with Rumi. Worse, she falls in love with him.While Virginia and Rumi&’s relationship grows in secret, she discovers that his little sister, Lyra, is being groomed for abuse. The soon-to-be-abuser is a respected member of the community, and only Virginia knows who he is and what he does. If she stays quiet, Lyra will become a victim. But coming forward feels equally impossible.By Brooke Carter. 2020
Ester "Essie" Tomasi is a genius. She got an early entrance scholarship to university and at eighteen years old is…
already in her second year of pre-med. But Essie also struggles with a dark secret: she has a serious gambling problem. She is falling deeper and deeper into debt, struggling to keep up with her heavy course load and unable to make even the simplest of decisions without flipping a coin. But when Essie makes a bet that she can’t cover, it’s her identical twin sister, Aggie, who comes to the rescue, making a dangerous deal with the gangsters holding Essie’s latest bet. Essie must find her way out of this mess or risk losing everything she’s ever cared about. Orca Book Publishers is proud to offer this early ebook edition as part of our new Digital First initiative, with the release of the print edition to follow.By Mariama J. Lockington. 2023
A poignant and lyrical young adult novel-in-verse about a Black teen coming of age in an anxiety-inducing world, from the…
author of For Black Girls Like Me and In the Key of Us.I'm safe here.That's how Sadie feels, on a perfect summer day, wrapped in her girlfriend's arms. School is out, and even though she’s been struggling to manage her chronic anxiety, Sadie is hopeful better times are ahead. Or at least, she thought she was safe. When her girlfriend reveals some unexpected news and the two witness a violent incident of police brutality unfold before them, Sadie’s whole world is upended in an instant.I'm not safe anywhere.That's how Sadie feels every day after—vulnerable, uprooted. She retreats inside as the weeks slip by and relies on her phone to stay connected to the outside world. When Sadie’s therapist gives her a diagnosis for her debilitating panic—agoraphobia—she starts on a path of acceptance and healing. Meanwhile, Sadie's best friend, Evan, updates her on the protests taking place in their city. Sadie wants to be a part of it, to use her voice and affect change. But how do you show up for your community when you can’t even leave your house?I can build a safe place inside myself.That’s what Sadie learns over the course of one life-changing summer, with some help from her family, her best friend, an online platform for activists, and a magnetic crush she develops for the new boy next door.From Stonewall Honor–winning author Mariama J. Lockington comes Forever is Now, a powerful young adult novel-in-verse about mental health, love, family, Black joy, and finding your voice and power in an unforgiving world.By Emma K. Ohland. 2022
Sixteen-year-old Georgia Richter feels conflicted about the funeral home her parents run—especially because she has the ability to summon ghosts.…
With one touch of any body that passes through Richter Funeral Home, she can awaken the spirit of the departed. With one more touch, she makes the spirit disappear, to a fate that remains mysterious to Georgia. To cope with her deep anxiety about death, she does her best to fulfill the final wishes of the deceased whose ghosts she briefly revives. Then her classmate Milo's body arrives at Richter—and his spirit wants help with unfinished business, forcing Georgia to reckon with her relationship to grief and mortality.By Alena Bruzas. 2023
An intense, beautiful debut about the power of finding your voice and sharing your story after trauma. Perfect for fans…
of Nina LaCour and Kathleen Glasgow.Seventeen-year-old Virginia makes bad choices. In fact, she&’s That Kind of Girl, according to the whispers. But as long as she has her tight group of best friends by her side, she&’s able to ignore the gossipers. Until she finds herself spending time with Rumi, Poppy&’s boyfriend. Breaking with tradition, she doesn&’t hook up with Rumi. Worse, she falls in love with him.While Virginia and Rumi&’s relationship grows in secret, she discovers that his little sister, Lyra, is being groomed for abuse. The soon-to-be-abuser is a respected member of the community, and only Virginia knows who he is and what he does. If she stays quiet, Lyra will become a victim. But coming forward feels equally impossible.By Mia Kerick, Raine O'Tierney. 2018
High school senior Renzy Callen hasn’t uttered a word in years. He likes being invisible to all around him; it…
keeps life safe and predictable. In his attic bedroom, he experiences a world far from the drama of his family. He doodles, listens to music, and contemplates the troubled souls he observes when attending self-help meetings designed for people with problems he doesn’t have. Renzy lives his life like a spectator, always on the outside of life’s games, looking in at others. Everything changes when Seven and Morning Moreau-Maddox relocate from their glitzy lives in Paris to boring, picturesque Redcliff Hills, Missouri. Tall, platinum blond, and as put-together as a pair of European high-fashion models, the sophisticated siblings befriend Renzy, drawing him in and then pushing him away. What starts as nothing more than a means to an end for Seven, however, quickly becomes something more. Could icy-hearted Seven be thawing for the silent, quirky charm of Renzy Callen? Determined to find the cause of Renzy’s selective mutism, the three teens set off on a road trip, during which they discover that flawless physical facades can conceal the most scarred souls, and that sometimes silence is better than golden.By A. G. Howard. 2013
Wonderland causes real-world trouble for a teenage descendant of Alice in this romantic, dark fantasy sequel by the bestselling author…
of Splintered.Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole. She was crowned Queen of the Red Court and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the boy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly appealing Morpheus. Now all she has to do is graduate high school.That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.Could she leave Jeb and her parents behind again, for the sake of a man she knows has manipulated her before? Will her mother and Jeb trust her to do what’s right? Readers will swoon over the satisfying return to Howard’s bold, sensual reimagining of Carroll’s classic.“I really enjoyed the first book of this series, but Unhinged cranks the Wonderland experience up to 11. It’s just . . . WOW! The last few scenes dangle Alyssa’s next adventure with shockers enough that I found my jaw needing a bit of assistance in coming off the floor. Write quickly, A. G. Howard! I need that next book!”—USA Today“Howard excels in sensory and sensuous descriptions.” —Kirkus Reviews “As intense, dark, and weird as the first volume, this worthy sequel creates a parallel narrative that brings the action out of Wonderland and into Alyssa’s hometown.” —The Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books“A dark beauty fills the novel's pages, which will mesmerize teens with a taste for magic, romance or suspense. Unhinged lays the groundwork for a third book where anything could happen—it is Wonderland, after all.” —Shelf AwarenessBy A. G. Howard. 2013
A gifted teenager whose ancestor inspired a literary classic descends into a mystical under-land in this romantic, dark fantasy series…
debut.Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.“Fans of dark fantasy, as well as of Carroll’s Alice in all her revisionings (especially Tim Burton’s), will find a lot to love in this compelling and imaginative novel.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review“Alyssa is one of the most unique protagonists I've come across in a while. Splintered is dark, twisted, entirely riveting, and a truly romantic tale.” —USA Today“Brilliant, because it is ambitious, inventive, and often surprising.” —The Boston Globe“It’s a deft, complex metamorphosis of this children’s fantasy made more enticing by competing romantic interests, a psychedelic setting, and more mad violence than its original.” —Booklist“Howard’s visual imagination is superior; a cavalcade of weirdness dances across the pages. . . . The story’s creepiness is intriguing as horror, and its hypnotic tone and setting, at the intersection of madness and creativity, should sweep readers down the rabbit hole.” —Publishers WeeklyBy Francisco X. Stork. 2023
Award-winning author Francisco X. Stork revisits some of the themes and ideas that made Marcelo in the Real World such…
an unforgettable novel.Alberto's life isn't easy: He's an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who lives with his sister's abusive boyfriend-but he'd always accepted his place in the world. Until he starts hearing the voice of a man called Captain America, a voice that wants him to achieve more, no matter the cost.Grace has it all: She has a supportive boyfriend, she's on track to be valedictorian, and she's sure to go to the college of her dreams. Still, nothing feels right to her any more after the divorce of her parents, and feels she needs something more.When Alberto and Grace meet, they have an immediate and electric connection. But when Alberto is present at the scene of a terrible crime, he becomes a suspect. And with his developing schizophrenia, he's not even sure he believes in his own innocence.Can Grace find a way to prove Alberto's innocence to himself and the world?This is a page-turning thriller and a sensitive story about mental health, love, and community that will appeal to anyone who has struggled with their place in the world, from award-winning author Francisco X. Stork.By Amelia Diane Coombs. 2023
HBO Max&’s Hacks gets a romantic twist in the vein of Jenn Bennett in this swoon-worthy novel about a standoffish…
teen girl whose loner status gets challenged by a dynamic elderly woman and a perpetually cheerful boy.Eloise Deane is the worst and doesn&’t care who knows it. She&’s grumpy, prefers to be alone, and is just slogging through senior year with one goal: get accepted to USC and move to California. So when her guidance counselor drops the bombshell that to score a scholarship she&’ll desperately need, her applications require volunteer hours, Eloise is up for the challenge. Until she&’s paired with LifeCare, a volunteer agency that offers social support to lonely seniors through phone calls and visits. Basically, it&’s a total nightmare for Eloise&’s anxiety. Eloise realizes she&’s made a huge mistake—especially when she&’s paired with Austin, the fellow volunteer who&’s the sunshine to her cloudy day. But as Eloise and Austin work together to keep Marianne Landis—the mysterious former frontwoman of the 1970s band the Laundromats—company, something strange happens. She actually…likes Marianne and Austin? Eloise isn&’t sure what to do with that, especially when her feelings toward Austin begin to blur into more-than-friends territory. And when ex-girlfriends, long-buried wounds, and insecurities reappear, Eloise will have a choice to make: go all in with Marianne and Austin or get out before she gets hurt.By Helena Fox. 2019
A deeply hopeful YA novel about living with mental illness that's perfect for fans of Girl in Pieces"Profoundly moving .…
. . Will take your breath away." --Kathleen Glasgow, author of Girl in PiecesBiz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, and who shouldn't be here but is. So Biz doesn't tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn't tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was seven. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface--normal okay regular fine.But after what happens on the beach--first in the ocean, and then in the sand--the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears and, with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe--maybe maybe maybe--there's a third way Biz just can't see yet.Debut author Helena Fox tells a story about love and grief, about inter-generational mental illness, and how living with it is both a bridge to someone loved and lost and, also, a chasm. She explores the hard and beautiful places loss can take us, and honors those who hold us tightly when the current wants to tug us out to sea."Tackles mental health [and] sexual identity...with beauty and empathy." --Cosmopolitan.com"Mesmerizing and timely." --Bustle* "Lyrical and profoundly affecting." --Kirkus (starred review)* "Masterful...Just beautiful." --Booklist (starred review)* "Exquisite." --PW (starred review)* "Fox writes with superb understanding and tenderness." --BCCB (starred review)* "Frank [and] beautifully crafted."--BookPage (starred review)"This book will explode you into atoms." --Margo Lanagan, author of Tender Morsels"Helena Fox's novel delivers. Read it." --Cath Crowley, author of Words in Deep Blue"This is not a book; it is a work of art." --Kerry Kletter, author of The First Time She Drowned"Perfect...Readers will be deeply moved." --Books+Publishing