After his father's tragic death, twelve-year-old Keith James moves from Brooklyn to a small midwestern town where his mixed race heritage is not accepted, but he finds comfort in the music of Jimi Hendrix and the friendship of a white classmate.  (M,J,S)

Of all the revelations her afterlife brings, perhaps the most startling thing Cassie Devlin discovers is that being dead isn’t being done. Murdered by a classmate, Cassie finds herself stuck on the edges of the world she once knew and a realm whose tug she feels but can’t quite find her way to. And she is not alone. There’s another like her, someone who arrived earlier and who, like Cassie, has some unfinished business.  (J,S)

It's about the aftermath. It's about what happens after a stranger breaks into a house and attacks a family. It's about the sisters who must barricade themselves behind a splintering door while tethered on the phone to 911. It's about the father who nearly dies. It's about the son who hides. And everything after. Told in alternating perspectives, this is a powerful, moving story about a family that has its facade shattered by a random act of violence - and must deal with what is discovered underneath.  (J,S)

Twelve-year-old Annie ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomes pregnant, her grandfather begins faltering, and her best friend (and running partner) becomes distant.  (M)

Graffiti artists Sissy Lexie and younger brother Boy try to maintain a sense of family while living in a series of foster homes and staying with their older sister, until a tragic accident forces Sissy to make decisions about her future.  (J,S)

It's the last inning of a high school baseball game between archrivals Oak Grove and Compton. Center fielder Luke "Wizard" Wallace steps up to the plate-and is hit by a beanball, a wild pitch that shatters his skull, destroys the vision in his left eye, and changes his life forever.  (M,J,S)

Two Scottish sisters, Jeannie and Sarah, relate in alternate voices and linked narrative poems, their experiences after their family is forcibly evicted and separated, with one sister accompanying their parents and younger siblings to Cape Breton, Canada, and the other staying behind with other family on the small island of Mingulay. Each sister carries a length of the other's hair braided with her own. The braid binds them together when they are worlds apart and reminds them of who they used to be before they were evicted from the Western Isles, where their family had lived for many generations.  (M,J,S)

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. (M,J,S)

Your mother's suicide attempt has left her in a coma from which she's never waking up. You know that she wouldn't want to live like this, but could you really help her die? Here you are, making the hardest decision of your life and there's no one to help you: Your father has disappeared into depression. Your best friend is becoming someone you no longer want to know. There is a girl who could help, maybe, if you'd let her. But in the end, it's all up to you.  (J,S)

When popular Tower High English teacher Mr. Chippendale is fatally shot, everyone's a suspect. The killer could be anyone— one of his students, a colleague, or even an ex-flame. Told in a series of interlocking poems, this suspenseful story will keep readers guessing who the killer is right up until the last page.  (J,S)

Laura Li seems perfect in every way - beautiful, kind, smart. At her job in the school library she is smiling and helpful to everyone, and at home she cares for her ailing brother like a dutiful Asian daughter. But after midnight a very different Laura Li secretly sneaks out to wild dance clubs - desperate to escape from the pressures exerted by her cold, demanding mother and her absent father. Her teachers and the other kids reveal themselves in these short poems as they wonder about Laura, and two boys even write her love poetry, but a few people are beginning to suspect she may be on a collision course with herself.  (J,S)

When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class and reads it aloud, poetry-slam-style, he kicks off a revolution. Soon his classmates are clamoring to have weekly poetry sessions. One by one, eighteen students take on the risky challenge of self-revelation.  (J,S)

After a lifetime of conforming to the image of what her parents and high school friends want her to be, Sarah must come to terms with her own identity when her destructive best friend tries to commit suicide.  (J,S)

After his father leaves home, sixteen-year-old Cesar Garcia lives with his mother and struggles through the painful experiences of growing up as a Mexican American high school student.  (J,S)

Jack's got a lot on his mind: He's trying to figure out the mystery of the opposite sex, he can't stop wondering about facial hair, and he won't let go of his mother's ghost, even though she died seven years ago. Jack knows he can't hang on to the past forever, but what he doesn't know is how to let go. Then he meets Annabel. She's beautiful, smart, and she gets him. Suddenly love makes sense, and the future seems hopeful. And for the first time, Jack feels ready to leave the past where it belongs.  (S)

A fourteen-year-old describes 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.  (J,S)

When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heart-wrenching ordeals and loss that no child should have to face. Set in the heart of the Great Depression, "Out of the Dust" chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms and the turmoil they leave in their path.  (M,J)

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. (S)

Raised in a religious - yet abusive - family, Pattyn Von Stratten starts asking questions - about God, a woman's role, sex, love. She experiences the first stirrings of passion, but when her father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of control. Pattyn is sent to live with an aunt in the wilds of Nevada to find salvation and redemption. What she finds instead is love and acceptance - until she realizes that her old demons will not let her go.  (S)

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.  (S)

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted suicide. Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade. Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills. And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself. In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they can find their way to a better life.  (S)

In a series of interwoven stories, twenty teenagers from the same school – sensitive outsiders, cruel popular girls, body-obsessed jocks, gay teens in the throes of first love – take turns pouring their hearts onto the pages, detailing their loneliness, heartaches, hopes, and joys.  (M,J,S)

Set against a background of street gangs and poverty in Harlem, seventeen-year-old African American Damien takes a bold step to ensure that he and his new love will not be separated.  (J,S)

What would happen if God got a desk job? Or bought a couch at Pottery Barn? Or found some fudge in his mailbox? Through everyday events (like showers) to athletics (He falls 20 times while Rollerblading) to more shocking revelations (He gets arrested in a bar fight), God finds out what it is like to live like the rest of us.  (M,J,S)

On her fourth birthday Penny received a globe from her mother: "If you ever need me...just remember I'll always be somewhere on here." Two weeks later her mother left, never to return. In a powerful verse novel, Penny charts the landscape of her high-school years - her older sister's wild ways, her best friend's descent into depression, her first boyfriend's accidental death, her crush on a teacher, her father's new marriage, her protective relationship of her younger stepbrother, and, always, her longing for her missing mother.  (J)

Sophie describes her relationships with a series of boys as she searches for Mr. Right.  (J,S)

It happens just like that, in the blink of an eye. An older sister has a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. A younger sister is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief and friends who turn their backs on her. But worst of all is the loss of her big sister, her confidante, her best friend, who has gone someplace no one can reach.  (M,J)

Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva all get mixed up with a senior boy who can talk them into doing almost anything he wants. In a blur of high school hormones and personal doubt, each girl struggles with how much to give up and what ultimately to keep for herself.  (J,S)

A rising high school baseball star faces his most difficult challenge when his father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  (M,J,S)

Gabe is the best looking guy in school - that’s why his friends send him to get girls to their party. Helen is not much to look at - that’s why her friends want her to come along. But Helen gets under Gabe’s skin in a way no other girl has. It was one night. One night with lasting consequences. Now Helen has to decide if she wants to keep the baby - and if she should tell Gabe, who hasn’t spoken to her since their one night together.  (J,S)

Jinx doesn't start out as Jinx - at first she's dull, safe, boring Jen. Jen who always hands her homework in on time, Jen who never stays out late, Jen who can always be counted on. When Jen's first boyfriend dies, she thinks she's unlucky...until her second boyfriend dies too. Jen is Jinx now - a curse, a promise of bad luck, a girl who's angry and alone, who can't get close to people anymore. Can Jinx find her way back to being Jen again?  (S)

LaVaughn is fifteen now, and she's still fiercely determined to go to college. But that's the only thing she's sure about. Loyalty to her father bubbles up as her mother grows closer to a new man. The two girls she used to do everything with have chosen a path LaVaughn wants no part of. And then there's Jody. LaVaughn can't believe how gorgeous he is...or how confusing. He acts like he's in love with her, but is he?  (M,J,S)

A novel in verse that relates seventeen-year-old Kit's experiences as her younger brother is diagnosed with and dies of cancer and as she withdraws into and gradually emerges from her grief.  (J,S)