Tough Topics for Teens

"When best friends Metai and Jamila are reunited after a summer apart, their friendship threatens to combust from the pressure of secrets, middle school, and looming auditions for a potentially life-changing new talented-and-gifted program"-- Provided by publisher.

After losing his older sister in a car accident, Kermit Sanders knows grief and its all-encompassing shadows. He receives an invitation to meet with the "Minus-One Club," a group of his schoolmates who have all suffered the tragic loss of someone they loved, and banded together as a form of moral support. Kermit's secret crush, Matt-- the only out gay student at school-- is also a part of the group. Matt's positive headstrong approach to life helps...

In the three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre, a story has grown up around one of the victims, Sarah McHale, that says she died proclaiming her Christian faith--but Leanne Bauer was there, and knows what happened, and she has a choice: stay silent and let people believe in Sarah's martyrdom, or tell the truth.

"An epic journey across the South Side of Chicago for Darius, his little sister Cissy, and his best friend Booger as they set out to find an armored truck that has lost a payload of cash"-- Provided by publisher.

"Nisrin is a 13-year-old Bangladeshi-American girl living in Milwaukie, Oregon, in 2002. As she nears the end of eighth grade, she gives a presentation for World Culture Day about Bangladesh while wearing a traditional cultural dress. On her way home, she is the victim of a hate crime when a man violently attacks her for wearing a headscarf. Deeply traumatized by the experience, Nisrin spends the summer depressed and isolated. Other than weekly therapy,...

Sixteen-year-old Novah feels like her life has been put on hold, taking care of her four younger siblings while her older sister Ariana gets to play volleyball and hang out--but when their parents are killed in a car crash Ariana and Novah will have to learn to cooperate.

Maverick feels strongly about family ties, making choices he feels necessary to help support his mom while his King father serves time, and leave him literally holding his son in a doctor's waiting room after he gets paternity test results back and his baby momma ghosts. Now the child he's raising is impacting the lives of his family and his girlfriend, and the gang life he led to support them all financially could leave them all bearing his responsibilities...