HOME OF THE BRAVE
by Katherine Applegate
Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.

SHARK GIRL
by Kelly Bingham
After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes it imposes on her day-to-day life and her plans for the future.

KALEIDOSCOPE EYES
by Jen Bryant
In 1968, with the Vietnam War raging, thirteen-year-old Lyza inherits a project from her deceased grandfather, who had been using his knowledge of maps and the geography of Lyza's New Jersey hometown to locate the lost treasure of Captain Kidd.

PIECES OF GEORGIA
by Jen Bryant
In journal entries to her mother, a gifted artist who died suddenly, thirteen-year-old Georgia McCoy reveals how her life changes after she receives an anonymous gift membership to a nearby art museum.

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES
by Ann E. Burg
Two years after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975, Matt Pin is haunted by the terrible secret he left behind and, now, in a loving adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past.

BECAUSE I AM FURNITURE
by Thalia Chaltas
The youngest of three siblings, fourteen-year-old Anke feels both relieved and neglected that her father abuses her brother and sister but ignores her, but when she catches him with one of her friends, she finally becomes angry enough to take action.

BRUSHING MOM’S HAIR
by Andrea Cheng
A fourteen-year-old girl, whose mother's breast cancer diagnosis and treatment have affected every aspect of their lives, finds release in ballet and art classes.

THE SURRENDER TREE: POEMS OF CUBA'S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
by Margarita Engle
Engle’s hauntingly beautiful free verse prose breathes life into this finely crafted story that illuminates Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain in the 1800s. Told from the perspective of four distinct voices, Engle intricately weaves a harrowing, heart-wrenching story of enslavement, survival, determination and heroism.

TROPICAL SECRETS: HOLOCAUST REFUGEES IN CUBA
by Margarita Engle
Escaping from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1939, a young Jewish refugee dreams of finding his parents again, befriends a local girl with painful secrets of her own, and discovers that the Nazi darkness is never far away.

KEESHA’S HOUSE
by Helen Frost
Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse, each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

DIAMOND WILLOW
by Helen Frost
In a remote area of Alaska, twelve-year-old Willow helps her father with their sled dogs when she is not at school, wishing she were more popular, all the while unaware that the animals surrounding her carry the spirits of dead ancestors and friends who care for her.

WALKING ON GLASS
by Alma Fullerton
A teenage boy recounts, in a free verse journal, his attempts to come to terms with the realities of his mother's near-death coma.

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.

NAKED BUNYIP DANCING
by Steven Herrick
This novel in verse follows the school year of Australian students in classroom 6C, as their unconventional teacher encourages them to discover their own strengths and talents and perform in a memorable concert.

BY THE RIVER
by Steven Herrick
A fourteen-year-old describes, through prose poems, his life in a small Australian town in 1962, where, since their mother's death, he and his brother have been mainly on their own to learn about life, death and love.

COLD SKIN
by Steven Herrick
In a rural Australian coal mining town shortly after World War II, teenaged Eddie makes a startling discovery when he investigates the murder of a local high school girl.

OUT OF THE DUST
by Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

SISTER SLAM AND THE POETIC MOTORMOUTH ROADTRIP
by Linda Oatman High
In this novel told in slam verse, best friends and aspiring poets Laura and Twig embark on a road trip after graduating from high school, from Pennsylvania to New York City, to compete at slam poetry events.

BURNED
by Ellen Hopkins
Seventeen-year-old Pattyn, the eldest daughter in a large Mormon family, is sent to her aunt's Nevada ranch for the summer, where she temporarily escapes her alcoholic, abusive father and finds love and acceptance, only to lose everything when she returns home.

CRANK
by Ellen Hopkins
Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter, gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: Crank. And what begins as a wild ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul - her life.

GLASS
by Ellen Hopkins
In a powerful sequel to Crank, Kristina is determined to manage her addiction to crack in order to keep her newborn child, but when she is unable to manage her use of the drug and the pull becomes too strong, her greatest fears are quickly realized.

TRICKS
by Ellen Hopkins
Five troubled teenagers fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family and love.

IDENTICAL
by Ellen Hopkins
Sixteen-year-old identical twin daughters of a district court judge and a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, Kaeleigh and Raeanne Gardella desperately struggle with secrets that have already torn them and their family apart.

IMPULSE
by Ellen Hopkins
Three teens who meet at Reno, Nevada's Aspen Springs mental hospital after each has attempted suicide connect with each other in a way they never have with their parents or anyone else in their lives.

HEAVEN LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE MALL
by Wendy Mass
When high school junior Tessa Reynolds falls into a coma after getting hit in the head during gym class, she experiences heaven as the mall where her parents work, and she revisits key events from her life, causing her to reevaluate herself and how she wants to live.

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.

AMIRI & ODETTE: A LOVE STORY
by Walter Dean Myers
A modern, urban retelling in verse of the ballet in which brave Amiri falls in love with beautiful Odette and fights evil Big Red for her on the streets of the Swan Lake Projects.

GOD WENT TO BEAUTY SCHOOL
by Cynthia Rylant
A novel in poems that reveal God's discovery of the wonders and pains in the world He has created.

SONG OF THE SPARROW
by Lisa Ann Sandell
In fifth-century Britain, seventeen-year-old Elaine describes her changing perceptions of war and the people around her as she becomes increasingly involved in the bitter struggle against the invading Saxons.

FAR FROM YOU
by Lisa Schroeder
A novel in verse about sixteen-year-old Ali's reluctant road trip with her stepmother and new baby sister, and the terror that ensues after they end up lost in the snow-covered woods.

ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES
by Sonya Sones
Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW
by Sonya Sones
Sophie describes her relationships with a series of boys as she searches for Mr. Right.

WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW
by Sonya Sones
Fourteen-year-old Robin Murphy is so unpopular at high school that his name is slang for "loser." When he begins dating the beautiful and popular Sophie her reputation plummets, but he finds acceptance as a student in a drawing class at Harvard.

BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY
by Carole Boston Weatherford
Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday looks back on her early years in this fictional memoir written in verse.

THIS FULL HOUSE
by Virginia Euwer Wolff
High school senior LaVaughn's perceptions and expectations of her life begin to change as she learns about the many unexpected connections between the people she loves best.

LOCOMOTION
by Jacqueline Woodson
In a series of poems, eleven-year-old Lonnie writes about his life after the death of his parents, separated from his younger sister, living in a foster home, and finding his poetic voice at school.

REACHING FOR SUN
by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse.

42 MILES
by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
As her thirteenth birthday approaches, JoEllen decides to bring together her two separate lives – one as Joey, who enjoys weekends with her father and other relatives on a farm, and another as Ellen, who lives with her mother in a Cincinnati apartment near her school and friends.

POETRY BOOKS