When Loose Ends Meet

Gr. 9-12  In third grade, Emelia DeJesus was the victim of a violent attack and left for dead. Now, at the age of 16, she still grapples with the trauma she experienced. She tries to be “normal” when she’s with her boyfriend, but her protective mother hovers and worries so much that Emelia feels she can never be free. Only her older brother, Tomás, provides a refuge in her life. When word unexpectedly arrives that the boy Emelia identified as […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

Gr. 9-12  Seventeen-year-old Joe Moon lives in New York state with his older sister, since their father died and mother went MIA. He also hasn’t seen his brother, Ed, for 10 years, and now there’s a month to go before Ed will be executed in Texas for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Determined not to let Ed spend that month alone, Joe heads to Wakeling, Texas, where he manages to wrangle a job, rent a tiny apartment, and […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

Gr. 9-12 ***Starred Review*** Sixteen-year-old Clara Shin loves her untethered L.A. life, where she lives with her young Korean Brazilian dad. But when a prom prank turns into a brawl, her punishment is the worst she can imagine: working all summer on her dad’s hot, cramped food truck, KoBra, instead of vacationing in Mexico with her mom. As if that weren’t bad enough, overachiever and perennial enemy Rose Carver must also work on the truck as punishment for her part […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

Gr. 9-12  Seniors Mackenzie Clark, aka Zie, and Nolan Walker have been neighbors and best friends forever, with their own set of rituals, like their nonstop creation of top 10 lists. Their lives are so closely entwined that not only do they share everything, but Nolan has also become proficient in caring for Zie’s type 1 diabetes and is always alert for changes in Zie’s demeanor. The problem is that Zie is secretly, desperately in love with Nolan … [Read […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

Gr. 9-12 ***Starred Review*** Noah is a rising senior who loves three other things: David Bowie, making real-world connections, and minutiae. Life is good, except Noah dreads returning to the swim team, making a decision about college, and being alone. After leaving an end-of-summer party drunk, Noah feels hypnotized. As a result, he detects slight changes in his family, friends, and external life. The minutiae turn into obsessions, four of which become his Strange Fascinations…[Read More]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

Gr. 8-12  Pressured by her parents to excel in everything, Erin is focused on one thing at her overly privileged high school: Ivy League acceptance. Her promising future nearly dies, though, when a video of her mortifyingly drunk on her seventeenth birthday goes viral. Now she finds her life has become the antipodes, or opposite, of what it was. Erin hopes that spending a semester abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand, will heal her reputation and add a unique factor to […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers