Teens Growing

Lauren DeStefano’s Wither was called a “thought-provoking debut, reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale” by Kirkus Reviews. Its chilling follow-up, Fever, continues 16-year-old Rhine’s tale - set in a dark future in which men and women die by age 25, and young girls are sold into marriage to keep the population growing. Rhine has finally escaped her marriage. But what hope can the outside world offer when death looms ever closer?

Twelve-year-old Alistair Cleary has washed up on shore. But where? It seems to be Aquavania, the magical realm where children create entire worlds from their imaginations. There's something wrong, though. The creators have disappeared, and the worlds are falling apart.

The oldest economic battle is repeating itself! Disruptive businesses must fight against their crony competitors - the ones with friends in government who try and protect them from innovative upstarts. Ethan and Emily Tuttle witness this battle firsthand with their food truck friends as they embark on a campaign to win public support and overturn the laws that shut them down. Recommended listening age: 5-11.

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she's in middle school everything feels different. Soojin is suddenly hanging out with Emily, one of the "cool" girls in the class, and even talking about changing her name to something more "American." Does Amina need to start changing too? Or hiding who she is to fit in? While Amina grapples with these questions, she is devastated when her local mosque is vandalized.

All Petra Kara wants in life is to study Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. And she's so close. She's got the grades, she's got the ambition. All she needs now is an outrageous sum of money and experience on an Old World archaeological excavation. If only she could find a way to get rid of her annoying low-grade telepathy. There's nothing Petra hates more than a cheat and a liar and it's too easy to cheat when you can read people's minds.

Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan wins a scholarship to Easton Academy---the golden ticket away from her pill-popping mother and run-of-the-mill suburban life. But when she arrives on the beautiful, tradition-steeped campus of Easton, everyone is just a bit more sophisticated, a bit more gorgeous, and a lot wealthier than she ever thought possible. Reed realizes that even though she has been accepted to Easton, Easton has not accepted her.

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.

The forces of the entire Th'un Empire are about to come down on Amelia like a 10-ton hammer. Wanted dead or alive by ruthless aliens and with nowhere to run, Amelia must use every ounce of her brilliance to defeat them on Earth. But the Earth is just the beginning. The galaxy is larger than she realized, and their planet isn't the only one in peril.

Clarry Penrose finds the good in everyone. Even in her father, who isn't fond of children, and especially girls. He doesn't worry about her education, because he knows she won't need it. It's the early 20th century, and the only thing girls are expected to do is behave. But Clarry wants to dive off cliffs and go swimming with her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. And more than anything, she wants an education. She helps Peter with his homework all the time, so why can't she manage it by herself? When war breaks out, Clarry is shocked to find that Rupert has enlisted.

Liberty Johansen is going to change the way we look at the night sky. Most people see the old constellations, the things they've been told to see. But Liberty sees new patterns, pictures, and possibilities. She's an exception. Some other exceptions: Her dad, who gave her the stars. Who moved out months ago and hasn't talked to her since. Her mom, who's happier since he left, even though everyone thinks she should be sad and lonely. And her sister, who won't go outside their house.

Georjie’s summer is shaping up to be a big disappointment. Trapped in Ireland with her aunt’s gorgeous but cold adopted son, Jasher, her "vacation" gets worse with each passing day. But when a trip to the greenhouse reveals glowing cocoons she shouldn't be able to see, she embarks on a quest to solve a magical mystery....

Since she can remember, Katarina's relatives have been grooming her for the family business - thieving. But when Kat tries to go straight and leave the Life for a normal life, she's promptly kicked out of her new school for stealing the headmaster's car and mounting it on the school fountain. Although she could have done it without breaking a sweat, ironically, this time, she's innocent.

Seventeen-year-old Amelia Gannon (just "Gannon" to her friends) is invisible to almost everyone in her life. To her parents, to her teachers - even her best friend, who is more interested in bumming cigarettes than bonding. Some days the only way Gannon knows she is real is by carving bloody lines into the flesh of her stomach. Then she meets Michael Brooks, and for the first time she feels like she is being seen to the core of her being.

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.

Stephen Satlow is an eight-year-old boy living in Brooklyn, New York, which means he only cares about one thing - the Dodgers. Steve and his father spend hours reading the sports pages and listening to games on the radio. Aside from an occasional run-in with his teacher, life is pretty simple for Steve. But then Steve hears a rumor that an African-American family is moving to his all-Jewish neighborhood. It's 1948 and some of his neighbors are against it. Steve knows this is wrong. His hero, Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in baseball the year before.

A peaceful summer night is shattered by gunfire as an unseen assailant tries to murder police officer John Busby. Though horribly wounded, Busby survives. But the perpetrator remains at large, meaning neither Busby, nor his wife, nor their three children are safe. In separate chapters John and his daughter, Cylin, who was nine at the time, recount the story of that year. John writes graphically, and movingly, of his wounds, his pain, his multiple surgeries, and his rage.

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.

Having garnered both Young Readers’ Choice and Special Edgar Awards, Donald J. Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown stories have been children’s classics for decades. In this installment, the 10-year-old detective uses his vast knowledge and probing questions to expose a muscle-bound scam, a crooked protection racket, a circus frame-up, and other baffling mysteries.

At Douglass High School, the Warriors of Distinction throw the best parties, go out with the hottest girls, and breeze through their classes without even trying. When he's chosen as a pledge, Jericho vows to do whatever it takes to become a full member. But as his initiation becomes more and more harrowing, he faces some uncomfortable choices. Exactly when do the fun and games of initiation cross into the life and death realm of hazing?

Stuck in the lethal Outer Rings of Glacium, I must fight to survive. And not just that; my true identity must remain the gravest of secrets. No one can find out I'm the Tatuma of Osolis - the princess of their enemy world - especially now I know why I've been veiled my entire life. I have to believe I can do it, because only then can I continue the search for Prince Kedrick's murderer and navigate my way back to King Jovan's castle.