Difficult Teens

A distinctive new voice: Rex Ogle's story of starting middle school on the free lunch program is timely, heartbreaking, and true. Free Lunch is the story of Rex Ogle's first semester in sixth grade. Rex and his baby brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies, and Rex was on his school's free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex's is a compelling story of a more profound hunger - that of a child for his parents' love and care.

In this dazzling, hilarious, and heartbreaking debut, Joel Higgins grapples with the aftermath of a tragic loss as he tries to make sense of the problems he's sees all around him with the help of banned books, Winnie-the-Pooh, a field of asparagus, and many pairs of socks.

Seventeen-year-old Signal Deere has raised eyebrows for years as an unhappy Goth misfit from the trailer park. When she's convicted of her best friend Rose's brutal murder, she's designated a Class A - the most dangerous and manipulative criminal profile. To avoid prison, Signal signs on for a secret program for 18-and-under Class As and is whisked off to an abandoned sleep-away camp, where she and seven bunkmates will train as assassins. Yet even in the Teen Killers Club, Signal doesn't fit in. She's squeamish around blood. She's kind and empathetic....

Still reeling from a recent trauma, sixteen-year-old Dell is relieved when her mom suggests a stay at the family cabin. But the much-needed escape quickly turns into a disaster. The lake and woods are awash in trash left by a previous tenant. And worse, Dell’s mom has invited her boyfriend’s daughter to stay with them. Confident, irreverent Ivy presses all of Dell's buttons—somehow making Dell’s shame and self-consciousness feel even more acute. Yet Dell is drawn to Ivy in a way she doesn't fully understand.

When Neil, Leah's warm and loving step-father, reveals that his cancer is no longer in remission, Leah finds comfort in a visit to Amish country to see her true love, Ethan. When Ethan chooses to leave his life on the farm, he moves in with Leah and her family. But once Ethan arrives, they realize that his Amish values are quite different from those of Leah's complex "English" world. Will their love help, or hurt, Leah as she faces the complex hurdles that await her?

They came from many of the high schools, middle schools, and continuation schools of Placer County due to truancy, multiple suspension, expulsion, probation referrals, or court order. Through their writings, the listener will enter the lives they had been living before attending the academy. It was their dream that at least one at-risk student would become inspired by their book and decide, after hitting rock bottom, to turn their lives around as they did.

Seventeen-year-old Ellen Sung just wants to be like everyone else at her all-White school. But hers is the only Korean American family in town, and her classmates in Arkin, Minnesota, will never let her forget that she’s different. At the start of senior year, Ellen finds herself falling for Tomper Sandel, a football player who is popular and blond and undeniably cute...and to her surprise, he falls for her, too.

No good deed goes unpunished. I learned that lesson the hard way when I agreed to help my friend Justin with a favor. My platonic friend Justin. A favor that helped him with his reputation but turned mine into the trending topic at my school. The whispers, the stares, and the constant gossip could bring me down, but I’m tired of hiding in the dark, covering up my anxiety and being alone. I decide to take on the bullies and find a few surprising allies along the way; the Allendale Four.

After the tragic events of the summer, Claire is looking forward to a new school year. All she wants to worry about is finding the most gorgeous dress to wear to the Autumn Ball with her perfect boyfriend. But as Claire knows all too well, the life of a werewolf is never that simple, or that sweet. When Claire’s human and wolf lives start to collide, her worst nightmares come true. She’s hurting her best friend. She’s caught lying. And then the unthinkable happens: Someone discovers Claire’s secret.

Lemon grew up with Stella, a single mom who wasn't exactly maternal. Stella always had a drink in her hand and a new boyfriend every few months, and when things got out of hand, she would whisk Lemon off to a new town for a fresh beginning. Now, just as they are moving yet again, Lemon discovers that she is pregnant from a reckless encounter - with a guy Stella had been flirting with. On the verge of revisiting her mother's mistakes, Lemon struggles to cope with the idea of herself as a young unmarried mother, as well as the fact that she's never met her own father.

Turn back the clocks! Your sweet child has morphed into a teen. And it's no longer just a messy bedroom or an attitude with a capital "A" causing concern. There's a whole new range of issues on the horizon. What if your daughter texts a naked picture to a "boyfriend" ...which he then forwards to the entire class? What if your son becomes increasingly withdrawn...Or your child is being bullied online? Would you know what to do? You could read a whole book on teen psychology - but who has the time!

The thief Widdershins and her own "personal god," Olgun, return to their home city of Davillon after almost a year away. While Shins expects only to face the difficulty of making up with her friends, what she actually finds is far, far worse. Her nemesis, Lisette, has returned, and she is not alone. Lisette has made a dark pact with supernatural powers that have granted her abilities far greater than anything Widdershins and Olgun can match.

The earthlines speak to Mirasol, but her family has lived in the demesne for centuries, and many of the old families can hear the land. She knows that the violent deaths of the last Master and Chalice have thrown Willowlands into turmoil; but she is only a beekeeper, and the problems of the Circle that govern Willowlands have nothing to do with her - although she wonders what will become of her demesne, because the Master and Chalice left no heirs to carry on their crucial duties.

From the author of Words in the Dust: an actionpacked YA novel set in a frighteningly plausible near future, about what happens when the States are no longer United. Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enrolled in the National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowdcontrol mission...but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd....

In this wonderfully crafted novel, a rifle, not the people who come to own it, is the main character. This story follows the rifle from its creation in 1768 to a shattering event as it roars back to life in 1994. Gary Paulsen is one of the most popular writers of young adult fiction in America today.

For the past three years, Grace Blakely has been desperate to find out the truth about her mother's murder. She thought it would bring her peace. She thought it would lead her to answers. She thought she could put the past to rest. But the truth has only made her a target. And the past? The only way to put the past to rest is for Grace to kill it once and for all.

I thought I knew pain. I thought I knew grief. I knew nothing. And nothing could compare to the moment Toby ripped my heart right out of my chest. Confirming all my worst fears. Shattering the very foundation my life has been built on. Deception is his weapon, and now I’m his victim. Rock bottom is a familiar place, and once again I’m trying to drag myself out of the pits of despair. But fate is an evil master, and before long I find myself with no other place to turn…but him. He might be cruel. Reckless. Dangerous. But I also know that he’ll do anything to right his wrongs.

It's been a year since Eden Munro last saw Tyler Bruce: her stepbrother...and secret love. Although they swore to ignore their feelings and put their family first, Eden can't help but feel excited when Tyler invites her to join him in New York City for the summer. But it's not like anything is going to happen. Eden is happy with her boyfriend Dean, and she knows gorgeous, green-eyed Tyler must have moved on as well. But as they spend the long, hot summer in the city that never sleeps, it becomes obvious that those old feelings are still there...simmering beneath the surface.

After a summer spent reclaiming her sanity and trying to forget the boy she fell in love with - the boy who must not exist, cannot exist, because she knows that he is dead - Abbey returns to Sleepy Hollow, ready to leave the ghosts of her past behind. She throws herself into her schoolwork, her perfume making, and her friendship with Ben, her cute and funny lab partner, who just might be her ticket to getting over Caspian once and for all. But Abbey can never get over Caspian, and Caspian has no choice but to return to her side....

It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave. But Jon is painfully aware that a missed goal, a careless word, even falling in love, can put his life and the lives of his mother, his sister Miranda, and her husband, Alex, in jeopardy. Can Jon risk doing what is right in a world gone so terribly wrong?