KENDRA
by Coe Booth
High schooler Kendra longs to live with her mother who, unprepared for motherhood at age fourteen, left Kendra in the care of her grandmother.

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.

JASON & KYRA
by Dana Davidson
Handsome and popular Jason tries to come to terms with his irascible, often absent father and his growing attraction to the quiet, studious Kyra.

BRONX MASQUERADE
by Nikki Grimes
While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.

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.

MONSTER
by Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

HOMEBOYZ
by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
Seventeen-year-old Teddy Anderson, who is known on the streets as T-Bear, decides to seek revenge on the person responsible for his little sister's death, which was caused by a stray bullet from a semiautomatic handgun.

THE HOOPSTER
by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
Andre Anderson is a black teenager who loves to play basketball, When he is viciously attacked, it calls his whole world into question--even his deadly jumpshot.

CHAMELEON
by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
The summer before starting high school in inner-city Los Angeles, fourteen-year-old Shawn grapples with his first experience of love, the complicated bonds of friends and family, and the reality of street gang violence.

SNITCH
by Allison van Diepen
Julia DiVino tries hard not to get mixed-up with the gangs at South Bay High School, but when Eric Valienté enters into her life, everything changes.

BLACK AND WHITE
by Paul Volponi
Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught.

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.

SERIES

DRAMA HIGH SERIES
BOOK ONE: THE FIGHT
by L. Divine
When sixteen-year-old Jayd Jackson returns to South Bay High, she discovers that her former best friend is out to get her and her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend wants to fight, which forces Jayd to turn to Mama and her bag of tricks for help.

THE JERICHO TRILOGY
BOOK ONE: THE BATTLE OF JERICHO
by Sharon M. Draper
A high school junior and his cousin suffer the ramifications of joining what seems to be a "reputable" school club.

HOTLANTA SERIES
BOOK ONE: HOTLANTA
by Denene Millner
Living a privileged life in Atlanta, wealthy and beautiful African American twin sisters, Sydney and Lauren, must deal with family secrets and scandal when their father is released from prison.

KIMANI TRU SERIES
BOOK ONE INDIGO SUMMER
by various authors
When fifteen-year-old Indigo's perfect world falls apart she turns to her neighbor, sixteen-year-old Marcus Carter, for help but now that she has realized what a great guy he is, so does someone else.

THE BLUFORD SERIES
BOOK ONE: A MATTER OF TRUST
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.