BABY GIRL
by Lenora Adams
Sheree has always been a tough girl, able to take care of herself. Then she finds herself in a situation where she can't. She needs help. She needs answers. But she can't get either from the people she turns to – her parents, her friends, and especially, her boyfriend, who calls her Baby Girl and treats her like she's disposable. So who can Sheree turn to? Maybe the answer lies deep within herself, and it's truly time for her to grow up.

UPSTATE
by Kalisha Buckhanon
A powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990's in New York. Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together.

NOVEMBER BLUES
by Sharon M. Draper
This stunning sequel to the Coretta Scott King Honor Book The Battle of Jericho has energy, pathos, drama and doesn't shrink from telling kids how it is to be 16 years old and pregnant.

HARLEM HUSTLE
by Janet McDonald
Abandoned to the streets to raise himself, Eric Samson knows life won’ t be easy, beginning with the choices he must make. The fast cash of the streets still tempts him, but the threat of getting locked up - again - is daunting. Maybe Eric’s way out is as Harlem Hustle, the rapper he dreams of being. At his side is Manley “ Ride” Freeman, surrogate brother and best friend, and Jeannette Simpson, the college-bound “ round-the-way” girl he hopes will be more than a friend. But does Eric have the strength to leave the familiar street life behind and the courage to reach for his dream?

STREET LOVE
by Walter Dean Myers
Have you ever loved someone from the wrong side of the tracks? Damien has everything going for him. His family wants him to date Roxanne. He falls for Junice, whose life is totally messed up. But Junice tells him that he's the one who needs the reality check.

Sometimes the greatest obstacle to finding true love is ourselves. Harlem meets Shakespeare in this fresh, original free-verse novel by Michael L. Printz Award winner Walter Dean Myers.

THE BLUFORD SERIES
by various authors
Bluford books are set in urban America and feature characters who attend the same high school – Bluford High. The first in the series centers on Darcy Wills, who is in big trouble. And she does not know where to turn for help. First there was the mysterious stranger who started following her. Then there was the threatening note left on her desk at Bluford High School. And now her sister has disappeared. Forced into a desperate race against time, Darcy must take action to save her sister – and her fragile family – before it is too late.

THE IT CHICKS
by Tia Williams
Welcome to Louis B. Armstrong, New York City's most prestigious performing arts school, where the gifted, wanna-be starlets, and It Chicks are all on the rise. But when rehearsals give way to hot and heavy after-school sessions away from the barre and without the mic, the real drama begins.

ORPHEA PROUD
by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
While reciting her poetry at a club in Queens, New York, seventeen-year-old Orphea recounts her childhood in Pennsylvania, leaving after her parents and the girl she loves die, and learning about her family and herself while living with her great-aunts on a Virginia mountaintop.

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