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Poems in the Attic
By Nikki Grimes. 2014
Award-winning poet Nikki Grimes presents a tender poetry collection where a young girl learns about her mother, the child of…
an Air Force serviceman.During a visit to her grandma's house, a young girl discovers a box of poems in the attic, poems written by her mother when she was growing up. Her mother's family often moved around the United States and the world because her mother's father was in the Air Force. Over the years, her mother used poetry to record everything she saw and did in the many places their family lived. Reading the poems and sharing those experiences through her mother's eyes, the young girl feels closer to her mother than ever before. To let her mother know this, she creates a gift: a book with her own poems and copies of her mother's. And when she returns her mother's poems to the box in the attic, she leaves her own poems too, for someone else to find, someday. Using free verse for the young girl's poems and tanka for her mother's, master poet Nikki Grimes creates a tender intergenerational story that speaks to every child's need to hold onto special memories of home, no matter where that place might be.My Baby
By Carly Jayne Roach. 2024
My Baby is a heartwarming book that promotes early bonding between mother and baby, written by an author who gave…
birth during the COVID pandemic. With sweet and simple rhymes, the author conveys the love, kisses, and cuddles shared between mother and baby, as they embark on their journey of growth together. This book is a must-have for new mums, as it provides a beautiful and intimate way to connect with their babies during those early stages of life. With stunning illustrations that capture the tender moments between mother and child, readers will feel a deep sense of oneness with their little one. Whether you’re a new mum, or searching for the perfect baby shower gift, My Baby is a touching and meaningful addition to any family’s bookshelf. It’s a reminder that the love between a mother and baby is powerful and enduring, and something to be cherished for a lifetime.Call Me Al
By Wali Shah, Eric Walters. 2024
Ali is an eighth-grade kid with a lot going on. Between the pressure from his immigrant parents to ace every…
class, his crush on Melissa, who lives in the rich area of town while he and his family live in a shabby apartment complex, and trying his best to fit in with his friends, he feels like he’s being pulled in too many different directions. But harder still, Ali is becoming increasingly aware of the racism around him. Comments from his friends about Pakistani food or his skin color are passed off as jokes, but he doesn’t find them funny. And when Ramadan starts, Ali doesn’t tell anyone he’s fasting because it just seems easier. Luckily he finds solace in putting his feelings into words—and poems. But his father is dead set against him using art as a distraction when he’s got schoolwork and a future career as a doctor to focus on. Ali’s world changes when he, his mom and his little brother are assaulted by some racist teens. Ali must come to terms with his roiling feelings about his place in the world, as a Pakistani immigrant, a Muslim and a teenager with his whole life ahead of him. With help from his grandfather, an inspiring teacher and his friend, Ali leans on his words for strength. And eventually he finds his true voice.Fallout (The Crank Trilogy #3)
By Ellen Hopkins. 2010
This gripping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crank trilogy features a refreshed look and a trade paperback trim…
size.Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow’s five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years. Hunter is nineteen, angry, getting by in college with a job at a radio station, a girlfriend he loves in the only way he knows how, and the occasional party. He's struggling to understand why his mother left him, when he unexpectedly meets his rapist father, and things get even more complicated. Autumn lives with her single aunt and alcoholic grandfather. When her aunt gets married, and the only family she’s ever known crumbles, Autumn’s compulsive habits lead her to drink. And the consequences of her decisions suggest that there’s more of Kristina in her than she’d like to believe. Summer doesn’t know about Hunter, Autumn, or their two youngest brothers, Donald and David. To her, family is only abuse at the hands of her father’s girlfriends and a slew of foster parents. Doubt and loneliness overwhelm her, and she, too, teeters on the edge of her mother’s notorious legacy. As each searches for real love and true family, they find themselves pulled toward the one person who links them together—Kristina, Bree, mother, addict. But it is in each other, and in themselves, that they find the trust, the courage, the hope to break the cycle. Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family’s story, FALLOUT is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by CRANK and GLASS, and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person’s problem.Smoke: Quantity Pack (Burned #2)
By Ellen Hopkins. 2013
Pattyn&’s father is dead. Now she&’s on the run in this riveting companion to New York Times bestseller Burned, which…
Kirkus Reviews calls &“a strong, painful, and tender piece about wresting hope from the depths of despair.&”Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child, Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that fatal night, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated.Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life as a migrant worker on a California ranch. But is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?Bestselling author Ellen Hopkins continues the riveting story of Pattyn Von Stratten she began in Burned to explore what it takes to rise from the ashes, put ghosts to rest, and step into a future.Bright Red Fruit
By Safia Elhillo. 2024
An unflinching, honest novel in verse about a teenager's journey into the slam poetry scene and the dangerous new relationship that could threaten…
all her dreams. From the award-winning poet and author of HOME IS NOT A COUNTRY.Bad girl. No matter how hard Samira tries, she can&’t shake her reputation. She&’s never gotten the benefit of the doubt—not from her mother or the aunties who watch her like a hawk.Samira is determined to have a perfect summer filled with fun parties, exploring DC, and growing as a poet—until a scandalous rumor has her grounded and unable to leave her house. When Samira turns to a poetry forum for solace, she catches the eye of an older, charismatic poet named Horus. For the first time, Samira feels wanted. But soon she&’s keeping a bigger secret than ever before—one that that could prove her reputation and jeopardize her place in her community.In this gripping coming-of-age novel from the critically acclaimed author Safia Elhillo, a young woman searches to find the balance between honoring her family, her artistry, and her authentic self.Aednan: An Epic
By Linnea Axelsson. 2024
The winner of Sweden&’s most prestigious literary award makes her American debut with an epic, multigenerational novel-in-verse about two Sámi…
families and their quest to stay together across a century of migration, violence, and colonial trauma.In Northern Sámi, the word Ædnan means the land, the earth, and my mother. These are all crucial forces within the lives of the Indigenous families that animate this groundbreaking book: an astonishing verse novel that chronicles a hundred years of change: a book that will one day stand alongside Halldór Laxness&’s Independent People and Sigrid Undset&’s Kristin Lavransdatter as an essential Scandinavian epic.The tale begins in the 1910s, as Ristin and her family migrate their herd of reindeer to summer grounds. Along the way, forced to separate due to the newly formed border between Sweden and Norway, Ristin loses one of her sons in the aftermath of an accident, a grief that will ripple across the rest of the book. In the wake of this tragedy, Ristin struggles to manage what&’s left of her family and her community.In the 1970s, Lise, as part of a new generation of Sámi grappling with questions of identity and inheritance, reflects on her traumatic childhood, when she was forced to leave her parents and was placed in a Nomad School to be stripped of the language of her ancestors. Finally, in the 2010s we meet Lise&’s daughter, Sandra, an embodiment of Indigenous resilience, an activist fighting for reparations in a highly publicized land rights trial, in a time when the Sámi language is all but lost.Weaving together the voices of half a dozen characters, from elders to young people unsure of their heritage, Axelsson has created a moving family saga around the consequences of colonial settlement. Ædnan is a powerful reminder of how durable language can be, even when it is borrowed, especially when it has to hold what no longer remains. &“I was the weight / in the stone you brought / back from the coast // to place on / my grave,&” one character says to another from beyond the grave. &“And I flew above / the boat calling / to you all: // There will be rain / there will be rain.&”An Appetite for Miracles
By Laekan Kemp. 2023
Award-winning author Laekan Zea Kemp&’s heart-wrenching novel-in-verse follows two teens who must come together to heal the pain from their…
pasts, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Nicola Yoon. Danna Mendoza Villarreal&’s grandfather is slowly losing himself as his memories fade, and Danna&’s not sure her plan to help him remember through the foods he once reviewed will be enough to bring him back. Especially when her own love of food makes her complicated relationship with her mother even more difficult. Raúl Santos has been lost ever since his mother was wrongly incarcerated two years ago. Playing guitar for the elderly has been his only escape, to help them remember and him forget. But when his mom unexpectedly comes back into his life, what is he supposed to do when she isn&’t the same person who left? When Danna and Raúl meet, sparks fly immediately and they embark on a mission to heal her grandfather ... and themselves. Because healing is something best done together—even if it doesn&’t always look the way we want it to.Splintering
By Eireann Corrigan. 2004
From the remarkable author of YOU REMIND ME OF YOU, a searing novel in poems about a family falling apart.It's…
about the aftermath. It's about what happens after a stranger breaks into a house and attacks a family. It's about the sisters who must barricade themselves behind a splintering door while tethered on the phone to 911. It's about the father who nearly dies. It's about the son who hides. And everything after. Told in alternating perspectives, this is a powerful, moving story about a family that has its facade shattered by a random act of violence -- and must deal with what is discovered underneath.Love Comes First
By Jenna Hager, Barbara Bush. 2023
A joyful celebration of growing families by former first daughters and #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jenna Bush Hager…
and Barbara Pierce Bush. As two sisters watch their friends’ families grow, they wish on a star for a sibling of their own…and a younger brother and a baby cousin arrive! The new family members aren’t exactly what the sisters expected, but with time and patience, the group soon becomes fabulously four—and lets their imaginations soar! Together they can be anything, and no matter what, they will always remember that love comes first. Inspired by Jenna and Barbara’s own families, this companion title to the #1 New York Times bestseller Sisters First is a tender story about the way our hearts can always make room for more. Advisory: Bookshare has learned that this book offers only partial accessibility. We have kept it in the collection because it is useful for some of our members. Benetech is actively working on projects to improve accessibility issues such as these. New York Times BestsellerFallout (Orca Soundings)
By Nikki Tate. 2011
Tara's sister died a year ago, on the day that Tara didn't answer her phone when Hannah called. And Hannah…
stepped in front of a bus. Now Tara lives with the guilt of wondering if things would be different if she had been there when Hannah needed her most. Competing in slam poetry competitions is the only way Tara can keep her sister's memory alive and deal with all the unanswered questions. But at some point, Tara is going to have to let Hannah rest in peace, and she will need to find a way to move on.Beans on the Roof
By Betsy Byars. 1988
Anna Bean goes to the roof in search of inspiration, and soon her family will follow her into a new…
world just a few floors above their homeThe Bean children are not allowed to play on the roof of their apartment building. One evening Anna Bean goes up to the roof—not to play, but to be alone so she can write a poem for school. Her poetry writing fever is contagious; one by one, the rest of the Bean family visits the roof to write amongst pigeons and tall buildings—all except George, who can&’t think of anything to write about. Beans on the Roof is a wonderful, inspiring story for young readers with a passion for creative writing. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Betsy Byars including rare images from the author&’s personal collection.Images from previously published versions of this content have been removed to avoid copyright infringement.Tilt
By Ellen Hopkins. 2012
Love—good and bad—forces three teens&’ worlds to tilt in a riveting novel from New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins.Three…
teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents&’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt... Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby? Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister&’s impending death. Can he accept Alex&’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened? Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be. Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.Capricious
By Gabrielle Prendergast. 2014
Ella’s grade-eleven year was a disaster (Audacious), but as summer approaches, things are looking up. She’s back together with her…
brooding boyfriend, Samir, although they both want to keep that a secret. She’s also best buddies with David and still not entirely sure about making him boyfriend number two. Though part of her wants to conform to high school norms, the temptation to be radical is just too great. Managing two secret boyfriends proves harder than Ella expected, especially when Samir and David face separate family crises, and Ella finds herself at the center of an emotional maelstrom. Someone will get hurt. Someone risks losing true love. Someone might finally learn that self-serving actions can have public consequences. And that someone is Ella.Skylark (Orca Soundings)
By Sara Cassidy. 2014
Angie lives in an old car with her brother and mother. Homeless after their father left to find work, the…
family struggles to stay together and live as normally as possible. It is difficult though. Between avoiding the police and finding new places to park each night, it is a constant struggle. When Angie discovers slam poetry, she finds a new way to express herself and find meaning and comfort in a confusing world.Two novels and two collections of poetry, all powerful reflections on the AIDS experience, from the National Book Award–winning author…
of Becoming a Man. Afterlife: Three men bond after their lovers die of AIDS, all within a week of one another in the same Los Angeles hospital. Each of the men react differently to the situation he’s in, but no matter the path each takes, they are all searching for a way to live and love again. Halfway Home: After being diagnosed with AIDS, Tom moves to a California beach house to live out the rest of his life in peace. But the unexpected reappearance of his troubled brother quickly changes everything in this novel about anger, reconciliation, love, and danger. Love Alone: Following his partner Roger Horwitz’s death from AIDS in 1986, Paul Monette threw himself into these elegies. Writing them, he says, “quite literally kept me alive.” Both beautifully written and deeply affecting, every poem is full of resentment, sorrow, tenderness, and a palpable sense of grief—but also love. West of Yesterday, East of Summer: This stunning career-spanning collection includes Monette’s early work as well as the beautiful and wrenching poems borne out of immense loss. Written with characteristic wit, these poems deftly traverse humor, rage, love, and mourning.Ludie's Life
By Cynthia Rylant. 2006
Cynthia Rylant returns to her home state of West Virginia with this powerful and evocative collection of poems. In a…
heartbreaking narrative that flows like a novel, we follow Ludie from childhood to falling in love and getting married, through the birth of her own children, and on into old age. This is the story of one woman's experiences in a hardscrabble coal-mining town, a story that brims with universal themes about life, love, and family-and all of the joy, laughter, heartache, and loss that accompany them. Would she tell you that six childrenwere too many,that some disappointed,that others surprised,but that, all in all,sixwere too manyand onewould have been just fine.Would she tell you that she marriedthat boy at fifteennot only because he was tall and kindbut also becauseshe needed a way out. -from LUDIE'S LIFELong Way Down: The Graphic Novel
By Jason Reynolds. 2022
&“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.&” —Booklist (starred review) &“Astonishing.&” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)…
&“A tour de force.&” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People&’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents&’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds&’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he&’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE Or, you can call it a gun. That&’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That&’s where Will&’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother&’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he&’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that&’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn&’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn&’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck&’s in the elevator? Just as Will&’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck&’s cigarette. Will doesn&’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.Since the Baby Came: A Sibling's Learning-to-Love Story in 16 Poems
By Kathleen Long Bostrom. 2023
This charming, playful story-in-verse introduces children to a variety of different poetic forms while walking them through all the twists…
and turns of welcoming a new baby into the family.Mama is having a baby.Everything&’s starting to change.God, can you tell me what happened?Life is becoming so strange.Since the Baby Came offers a unique take on a timeless topic. The heartfelt and humorous drama unfolds completely in verse, addressing the full range of emotions a young child experiences when a new baby joins the family—from surprise and confusion to feelings of neglect and jealousy to wholehearted tenderness and affection. The book also introduces young children to the playfulness and fun of various forms of poetry, from senryu to villanelle. Look out! It&’s a diaper volcano!Forgive me for being abrupt.There isn&’t much time to explain—OH!That thing is about to erupt!I Talk Like a River
By Jordan Scott. 2020
Winner of the Schneider Family Book AwardBoston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner What if words got stuck in the back of…
your mouth whenever you tried to speak? What if they never came out the way you wanted them to?Sometimes it takes a change of perspective to get the words flowing.A New York Times Best Children's Book of the YearI wake up each morning with the sounds of words all around me. And I can't say them all . . . When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he'd like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice. Compassionate parents everywhere will instantly recognize a father's ability to reconnect a child with the world around him.Poet Jordan Scott writes movingly in this powerful and ultimately uplifting book, based on his own experience, and masterfully illustrated by Greenaway Medalist Sydney Smith. A book for any child who feels lost, lonely, or unable to fit in.Finalist for the BC and Yukon Christie Harris Illustrated Children&’s Literature PrizeA Charlotte Zolotow Honor BookAn American Library Association Notable Children&’s BookILA Primary Fiction HonoreeNamed a Best Book of the Year by The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Shelf Awareness, Bookpage, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Lunch, and more!A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the YearA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionA Bank Street Best Childrens Book of the Year!A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the YearA CBC Best Picture Book of the YearA Kids' Book Choice Award Finalist