Difficult Teens

It's 1932, and 12-year-old Cal Black and his pop have been riding the rails for years after losing their farm in the Great Depression. Cal likes being a "knight of the road" with Pop, even if they're broke. But then Pop has to go to Washington, DC - some of his fellow veterans are marching for their government checks, and Pop wants to make sure he gets his due - and Cal can't go with him. Pop tells Cal something he never knew before: Pop is actually a Creek Indian, which means Cal is, too. And Pop has decided to send Cal to a government boarding school for Native Americans in Oklahoma.

A heartbreaking novel that offers no easy answers, Give a Boy a Gun addresses the growing problem of school violence. Although it is a work of fiction, it could tragically be the leading nightly news story in any community. After a high school shooting at her alma mater, a college journalism student returns home to interview students, teachers, parents, and friends of the suspects. Intermingled with her interviews are journal entries written by the two troubled boys responsible for the shooting.

Seventeen-year-old Jonah Daniels has lived in Verona Cove, California, his whole life, and only one thing has ever changed: His father used to be alive, and now he is not. With a mother lost in a deep bout of depression, Jonah and his five siblings struggle to keep up their home and the restaurant their dad left behind. But at the start of summer, a second change rolls in: Vivi Alexander, the new girl in town.

À l'âge de huit ans, je me suis réveillée sourde. Je m'étais endormie une nuit d'hiver, sur le plancher de ma cabane dans l'arbre. Personne ne sait ce qui est arrivé ni pourquoi j'étais cachée là. Moi-même, je l'ignore. Après avoir passé la moitié de ma vie dans le silence le plus profond, voilà que, lors d'un party entre amis, je réentends pour la première fois.

Sable wears only black and has always felt that doom is near. Lacey wears pink and seeks beauty everywhere. A sadistic art teacher pairs Sable and Lacey together for their final project. The girls have to get to know one another and select a suitable poem for the back of each other's decorative mirror. Sable is less than thrilled at having to spend time with Lacey, who she believes to be nothing more than a brainless doll. As the project progresses, and Sable gets past her resentment, she learns some surprising truths about who Lacey really is.

In a country ripped apart by war, Tareq lives with his big and loving family...until the bombs strike. His city is in ruins. His life is destroyed. And those who have survived are left to figure out their uncertain future. In the wake of destruction, he's threatened by Daesh fighters and witnesses a public beheading. Tareq's family knows that to continue to stay alive, they must leave. As they travel as refugees from Syria to Turkey to Greece, facing danger at every turn, Tareq must find the resilience and courage to complete his harrowing journey.

I thought the streets were tough, until I went to boarding school. Sparrowood Academy isn’t made for girls like me. Not the poor. The damaged. Sparrowood Academy definitely wasn’t made for guys like them. Dangerous. Lethal. Tough. There’s a thin line between survival outside these walls and the treacherous gameplay of the elite. Will they break me? Or will I break them? Sparrowood Academy is part one of this new contemporary, gritty, dark high school reverse harem series by best-selling author, Angel Lawson.

Maria hasn't told her friends about the strange glowing ring she found. It seems to be giving her powers - special abilities that let her enter a world she's been dying to experience. Here's her chance to learn what she longs to know: how Michael feels about her. Michael feels all alone on Earth, and he's searching for a place to belong. He didn't count on discovering someone to care about right here in Roswell. Now, he's falling for his best friend. But what he doesn't know, and Maria doesn't realize, is that she's drawing danger to them all....

Bunny (real name Bernard) doesn't understand why his late grandfather wants him to get a tattoo. Actually, Bunny doesn't understand a lot of things, so it's good that his older brother, Spencer, is happy to explain things to him. But this is a task Bunny is supposed to do on his own, and nobody is more surprised than Bunny when, after he gets tattooed, he is befriended by a kid named Jaden and adopted into Jaden's gang.

How did Lev Calder move from an unwillingly escaped Tithe to a clapper? In this revealing short story, Neal Shusterman opens a window on Lev’s adventures between the time he left CyFi and showed up at the Graveyard. Pulling elements from Neal Shusterman’s critically acclaimed Unwind and giving hints about what is to come in the riveting sequel, UnWholly, this short story is not to be missed.

Daughter of an alcoholic and recovering self-harmer, sixteen-year-old Astor Price is a pro at faking normal. Matty, the new kid at school, is everything Astor could hope for. Cute, charismatic, popular within days, and somehow he’s interested in her. Their first real date is set to be perfect, dinner and a movie alone. But not everything we want is good for us and the events of that night send her world into a tailspin. With a mother promising rehab and a best friend with a secret, Astor must find a way to exist in her new reality.

'The Wide, Wide Sea' is a Chaos Walking short story. Set before the Spackle War in a small fishing village by the sea, this is a heartbreaking tale of love and loyalty in a divided world. Best listened to immediately after The Ask and the Answer, it features familiar characters such as Mistress Coyle but gives a new perspective on the shocking events in the award-winning trilogy.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A teen girl’s attempt at social reinvention takes a deadly turn when a co-worker disappears—and she learns she may have been the last person to see the missing girl—in this razor-sharp, murderously funny thriller debut. After the incident last year, Greta Riley...

A teacher is supposed to impart a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge. It’s a bit different with Ms. Lori Settles. All the kids are talking about how hot she is - and she is especially interested in Ryan Piccoli. When she starts giving Ryan extra attention, he’s feeling more than happy - at first. He’s used to being the class clown, but really he’s a loner.

One in five parents, caregivers, and educators often struggle with how to support their teenager in developing emotional intelligence. But this does not have to be you, because this guide lays out everything you need to know in an accessible and empathetic way.

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?

It is election time in Haiti, and bombs are going off in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. During a visit from her home in rural Haiti, Celiane Esperance and her mother are nearly killed. Looking at her country with new eyes, Celiane gains a fresh resolve to be reunited with her father in Brooklyn, New York. The harsh winter and concrete landscape of her new home are a shock to Celiane, who witnesses her parents' struggle to earn a living and her brother's uneasy adjustment to American society, and at the same time encounters her own challenges with learning and school violence.

This uplifting chronicle of a boy’s recovery from blindness is a moving reflection of the ways that friendship can permanently join the lives of two very different people. Master storyteller Theodore Taylor traces the lives of two friends - an American boy and a old West Indian - after they are rescued from a deserted island.

Dash and Lily have had a tough year since listeners watched the couple fall in love in Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. Lily's beloved grandfather suffered a heart attack, and his difficult road to recovery has taken a major toll on her typically sunny disposition. Lily's spark has dimmed so much that Langston, her brother, has put aside his grudge against Dash to team up and remind Lily what there is to love about life.

Fifteen-year-old Amari witnesses the murder of her family and the destruction of her remote African village. She endures countless humiliations as she is beaten, branded, and forced to board a slave ship. The atrocities continue as she struggles through endless days of backbreaking work and daily degradation on a plantation.