Writing Young Adult

Fifteen-year-old Natalie Ryba reluctantly moves from the Illinois suburbs to Rapid City, South Dakota, when her mom accepts a new job in the Black Hills. More than anything, Natalie wants to find the same peace and sense of belonging she had in Illinois with her friends and track team. But moving across the country, living minutes from her estranged, eccentric grandmother, and developing a crush on her next-door neighbor put that dream out of reach.

Filled with practical tips and helpful advice, Dear Ally is a treasure for aspiring writers at any stage of their careers. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how books get made, from idea to publication, and gives you insight into the writing processes of some of the biggest and most talented YA authors writing today.

Prompted by a neverending stream of letters pleading for advice on how to be a better writer, successful children’s authors Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter put their heads together to create this useful guide. With dozens of books and decades of experience between them, the authors brought their distinct personal styles to the advice they had to offer. Now they have done the same for this audio version, with each author narrating her own sections.

Aurora, a recent arrival, quickly becomes entwined with three teenagers: Harriet, whose father owns a local bookstore rich with history of the town; Silas, whose grandmother operates a quirky kite shop known as Cloud Writers; and Ashby, a boy reeling from the recent death of his father.

The tyranny of the Vollen Empire is written in the scars on Tove's face. But a chance encounter with Brie, a Desulti assassin, awakens a hunger in Tove. She'd seen Brie fight. The Desulti was a small woman, like Tove, but Tove doubted Brie ever felt small. Not like Tove did.

A cataract of evil has fallen over the planet Varchal as its orbit enters the influence of Sol-Ar, stirring up tectonic upheavals called Black Hallows. As malignant rains fall on the Imperious Crescent, those who access these sites are transformed into shadows of shame. Accession to the Donnephon throne at the age of 18 has thrust monumental responsibility on Tayem Fyreglance, queen of the Dragon Riders. Yet, there is a greater burden to bear.

IELTS is the most popular English exam in the world today. It is also the ideal way to perfect the English language from a basic to advanced level. In this series, you will be escorted through the course with Richard Aspinall, a teacher who has a proven track record in teaching the IELTS curriculum successfully all over the world. He will take you through this "easy to follow" step by step guide where you will be represented by a student and you will learn everything you need to know to improve your English.

Here's some good news for everyone who's ever been bullied into believing they can't speak their own language: The grammar snobs are bluffing. Half the "rules" they use to humiliate others are really just judgment calls and the rest they don't even understand themselves. Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies is a laugh-out-loud funny collection of anecdotes and essays on grammar and punctuation, as well as hilarious critiques of the self-appointed language experts.

A Bold Rebellion is the tenth book in the thrilling YA fantasy collection The Network Series.

Imagine coming of age surrounded by terror and militancy. Tamar, Nour, and Rivki all live in Jerusalem, and all are on the cusp of adulthood, but in a city of tribal culture and an intractable conflict, it is almost inconceivable they will ever meet, let alone become friends. Then, one night, during yet another cycle of violence, their paths cross just as a terrorist decides to carry out an attack on the light rail train.

On planet Delphi, a secret government experiment leads to babies born with supernatural powers. As they grow older, their powers and abilities become stronger. Government leaders, fearing their secret will be discovered soon, decide to take the children away from their parents. But five rogue families flee Delphi taking their children to begin a new life on Earth in 1947.

Abandoned as an infant, 15-year-old Bonnie Hartwright doesn't know who she really is. And that just might get her killed. After her latest scrape with the law, foster girl Bonnie is abruptly carted off to a "reform sailing camp" on the Carolina coast. There, she discovers the camp is actually a training compound of a centuries-old secret society, all of whose members are descendants of a notorious pirate.

Whereas only a few months earlier he would not have believed any of it, Salem Swan now finds himself faced with sinister enemies and, equally surreal, surrounded by close friends. He has gained powers as a mythlinguist, and with it a responsibility to reunite the world of humans with the world of myth, known as the Fringe. With his uncle Ulysses and Captain Fern taken prisoner by a growing Regulat force, it's up to Salem and the crew to seek help in old allies. This takes them to the heart of the Amazonian rainforest, where a city concealed in waterfalls tests the measure of their resolve.

Girl Under Glass is the story of a rootless, rebellious young girl sinking deeper into juvenile delinquency. Given one more chance to avoid juvenile hall, a judge assigns her to community service with a cranky botanist studying plant communication. When he is beaten and left for dead, Kelsey must convince the lead detective that an entire greenhouse full of plants is witness to the crime, and she knows how to prove it.

The universe is a hamburger. That’s what sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor learns when a mysterious time-bending stranger saves her from a rampaging cyborg centipede. See, the top bun? That’s our dimension. The bottom bun? That’s the monster’s dimension. And the patty? That’s a dimension where the two worlds meet—and the Reavers can attack. The Reavers are horrific cybernetic killing machines, and their plans for the top bun? Well, they’re as terrifying as you’d expect. But Nicole isn’t helpless. She has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely.

A hidden world waits, a dark society schemes, and a ship sails to protect that which cannot be lost. Salem Swan knows none of this as he arrives in Easterly. He knows only that he misses his recently deceased mother, that his new guardian, his uncle Ulysses is unique, and that the boat which will now be his home is unlike anything he has ever seen. Fearful of this new reality, Salem starts to ask questions that uncover the truth about his distant uncle, his long-gone father, and the true nature of the ship.

Twyla’s been living in hiding on Earth, hoping to leave her past behind. But when her mother, Madam Cassiopeia DeConnett finds her and kidnaps her back to the Paraxous Star Cluster, she expects her daughter to take her rightful place within the family business. The DeConnetts are Dashia—a group of genetically- engineered telepaths who use their powers to control some and ruin others. Their criminal organization is rich, powerful, and spans The Cluster.

In an empire ruled by the honored dead, seraphs are the ultimate weapons. Fueled by the pilot's very soul, these colossal humanoid war machines are unstoppable in battle. Only a few possess the gift to control such craft, and those men and women are prized above all others. Seth Elexen and a small group of elite pilots have tracked the renegade Veketon to the far side of the galaxy. With only one ship and a single squadron of seraphs, they alone must face the tyrant within the heart of his growing power. But Veketon is no easy mark.

When a comet streaks near Earth, its reverberation tears Croy Justice out of bed. The reverberation causes an onset of earthquakes which mark utter ruin on Earth, especially on the small island where Croy Justice lives. With a gang of boys who want to scour her of dignity, Croy must outrun the gang or risk a gruesome death at their hands. Will she survive these end times? Or, will Croy be snapped up into satan’s grip?

After getting kidnapped by a demigod and imprisoned in another dimension, Makayla was really hoping that her life would get back to normal. Or at least as normal as life could be when you had a goblin for a best friend. But now her sleepy midwestern town is being invaded by shadows. Her neighbors are being stolen away and replaced by changelings. And when she tries to escape, her path threatens to take her to the one place she never wanted to return to: the mysterious and dangerous Land of Annwfyn.