YA - Rhythm & Rhyme (WPL-Teen)

Harlem. Ever since her body grew into curves, Xiomara Batista has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. She pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers-- especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. Mami is determined to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, and Xiomara understands...

Told in two voices, sisters Row and Ariana are frozen by grief over their mother's death, years before, until Ariana leaves for reasons Row does not understand.

"Told in dual perspectives through unsent letters, this heartbreaking novel follows 17-year-old twins Storm and Lake, separated in the foster care system, as they each take different paths--one incarcerated and one living on the streets--and fight to find their way back to each other."--Provided by publisher.

"Our new home with its thick walls and locked doors wants me to stay trapped in my skin but I am fury and flame." Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked...

"Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and...

"The Pura Belpre Honor Award winning author of Aniana del Mar Jumps In makes her YA debut with a powerful novel-in-verse about a Texas teen who is battling racism in her theatre program and book banning efforts by her town's school board. Yulieta Lopez is angry. Angry at her racist drama teacher who refuses to cast Black students in lead roles. Angry at the school board threatening her favorite teacher for teaching works of literature that they deem...

"The story of a teenage girl's recovery, in a psychiatric hospital, from anorexia, told in poetry"-- Provided by publisher. When fourteen-year-old Evie is diagnosed with anorexia, she begins the slow process of recovery with the help of caregivers and peers who are battling their own disordered-eating habits.

"Poet Renée Watson looks back at her childhood and urges readers to look forward at their futures with love, understanding, and celebration in this fully illustrated poetry collection"-- Provided by publisher.

A novel-in-verse follows Sylvia Plath through her high school and college years as she struggles between societal expectations, mental health challenges, and her fierce ambition to become a poet.