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Sixteen-year-old Amal is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and is sent to prison where despair and rage almost sink him as he tries to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth in a system designed to strip him of both.

Hermes, the winged messenger of the Greek gods, is known for his playfulness and thievery. In this tale, he narrates his own humorous escapades and encounters with many other characters in Greek mythology.

Cassidy Rain Berghoff didn’t know that the very night she decided to get a life would be the night that her best friend would lose his. It’s been six months since her best friend died, and up until now Rain has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around her aunt Georgia’s Indian Camp in their mostly white midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again — at least through the lens of her camera. 2020 Teaching for Change: Social Justice Books Selection.

Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms. She gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein). Not everyone understands Rose’s obsessions, her rules, and the other things that make her different — not her teachers, not other kids, and not her single father. When a storm hits their rural town, rivers overflow, the roads are flooded, and Rain goes missing. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search. Though Rose’s story is often heartbreaking, her matter-of-fact narration provides moments of humor. Readers will empathize with Rose, who finds strength and empowerment through her unique way of looking at the world.

Raymie Clarke has come to realize that everything, absolutely everything, depends on her. And she has a plan. If Raymie can win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition, then her father, who left town two days ago with a dental hygienist, will see Raymie’s picture in the paper and (maybe) come home. To win, not only does Raymie have to do good deeds and learn how to twirl a baton; she also has to contend with the wispy, frequently fainting Louisiana Elefante, who has a show-business background, and the fiery, stubborn Beverly Tapinski, who’s determined to sabotage the contest. But as the competition approaches, loneliness, loss, and unanswerable questions draw the three girls into an unlikely friendship — and challenge each of them to come to the rescue in unexpected ways.

Thirteen-year-old Indian American Reha feels torn between her American life and her family’s traditions and holidays. Reha feels disconnected from her parents, who have strict expectations, but when her mother is diagnosed with leukemia, Reha’s world changes again.

Jen Dik Seong, aka “Dixie,” is dirt poor and living on the ragged edge of LA’s Koreatown. Her only outlet is the ancient martial art of hapkido, and shes on the verge of winning a championship—until she falls for surfer boy Adam. 

During a summer vacation at his aunt’s house, Johnny is made responsible for taking care of his older cousin Remember, who has autism. Remember is a gawky awkward kid with some pretty strange habits, like repeating back almost everything Johnny says and spending hours glued to the weather channel. Johnny’s premonitions of disaster appear at first to come to fruition, but when the two boys save a bully from drowning, salvage the pizzeria guy’s romance, and share girl troubles, Johnny ends up having the summer of his life.

When Tyler’s father is injured in a tractor accident, the family decides to hire a family of Mexican migrant workers. For Tyler, the workers’ presence on the farm — as well as that of the three young daughters — is shrouded in mystery. As he develops a friendship with Mari, the eldest, he begins to wonder about the family’s immigration status and what it means to be patriotic. In the meantime, Mari struggles with her own complicated feelings and worries about her mother, who is missing. This unforgettable, award-winning novel, told from both the perspectives of Tyler and Mari, opens the door for discussing important questions about immigration, friendship, and family with students of all backgrounds.

Pete plays bass in his high school band and lives a fairly uneventful life until he gets a chance to join the local garage band that’s just getting ready to hit the big time. As Pete explores rock stardom, he finds that he still pines for the girl back home despite the temptations of life on the road.

After battling deadly space piranhas in Sector 7 of the Cosmos, Rocket and Groot crash-land on a planet made entirely of strip malls! Sounds like paradise, right? Wrong. It doesn’t take long for Rocket to discover that the place is infested with raccoon-eating toilets! That’s right. KILLER toilets! Badly injured from the piranha fight, the totally-butt-kicking-duo have no ship, no guns, no money, no food, no water but they have each other. Oh, and Veronica, the totally awesome super-intelligent tape dispenser! (She told us to say that).

Have you ever been in love with someone your parents hated? Have you ever sneaked out to go on a date? How far would you be willing to go to be with your soul mate? Romeo and Juliet face these very questions. After they meet and fall in love, they discover that their families hate each other. But Romeo and Juliet have to be together, even if everyone wants them to be apart. Looking for a companion text? Try Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper, a contemporary version of the classic featuring a biracial couple fighting against their families’ prejudice to prove their love for each other.

African-American Romiette begins dating Hispanic Julio when he moves to her Cincinnati high school from Texas in this retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

Cousins Clay and Addison were like brothers, growing up together in the projects, until they were ripped apart by a family argument. When they are reunited in a drug-treatment program, they try to work out their issues like a family. But one night, one wrong decision, leaves Clay shaken and Addison dead. And in the rash of events that follow, the truth of what actually happened on the rooftop of the apartment building is caught up in a clash of politics and racial issues. Will Clay be able to rise above the lies and face the truth?

Drawn from the author’s own experiences, this is the moving story of a young Jewish girl, Rosemarie Brenner, and her experiences in a concentration camp during World War II.

The fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. Echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, reality and illusion mix, and where fate leads heroes to a tragic but inevitable end.

Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she’s always wished for, it’s her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

At some point in their lives, all young people believe their parents are evil … but what if they really are? Six teenage friends discover their parents are all secretly super-powered villains, and they find strength in one another. Together, they run away from home and straight into the adventure of their lives - vowing to turn the tables on their evil legacy.

The four Casson children, whose mother, Eve, is a fine-arts painter, have all been given the names of paint colors. Cadmium (Caddy), Saffron (Saffy), Indigo, and Rose. When Saffy discovers quite by accident that she has been adopted, she is deeply upset, though the others assure her that it makes no difference at all. Saffy is the daughter of Eve’s twin sister, who lived in Siena, Italy, and died in a car crash. Grandad brought Saffy, as a very small child, back from Siena. At Grandad’s death he leaves something to each of the children. To Saffy, it is “her angel,” although no one knows its identity. How Saffy discovers what her angel is, with the help of an energetic new friend, lies at the heart of this enchanting story. Unforgettable characters come alive in often deeply humorous and always absorbing events to be treasured for a long, long time

Sparks will fly in this hip-hop-hot teen novel that mixes social protest and star-crossed romance, from Newbery Medal winner Kwame Alexander (The Crossing). Two high school seniors are thrown together when they unexpectedly end up leading the biggest social protest this side of the Mississippi — with a lot of help from social media.

The “Hollywood” where Sammy Santos and Juliana Ríos live is not the West Coast one, the one with all the glitz and glitter. This Hollywood is a tough barrio at the edge of a small town in southern New Mexico. Sammy and this friends—members of the 1969 high school graduating class—face a world of racism, dress codes, war in Vietnam and barrio violence. In the summer before his senior year begins, Sammy falls in love with Juliana, a girl whose tough veneer disguises a world of hurt.

It’s 2032, and in this near-future America, all citizens are chipped and everyone is tracked—from buses to grocery stores. It’s almost impossible to survive as an undocumented immigrant, but that’s exactly what sixteen-year-old Vali is doing. She and her family have carved out a stable, happy life in small-town Vermont, but when Vali’s mother’s counterfeit chip starts malfunctioning and the Deportation Forces raid their town, they are forced to flee. Now on the run, Vali and her family are desperately trying to make it to her tía Luna’s in California, a sanctuary state that is currently being walled off from the rest of the country. But when Vali’s mother is detained before their journey even really begins, Vali must carry on with her younger brother across the country to make it to safety before it’s too late. 

Cap (short for Capricorn) Anderson is at a bit of a cultural disadvantage when he arrives at Claverage (aka C average) Middle School. He’s been raised, homeschooled, and protected by his grandmother Rain at an isolated and deserted 1960s farm commune. But when Rain is hospitalized, Cap is sent to live in civilization (with his social worker) and to public school. At school, his innocence exposed to all the corruption Rain has been protecting from, Cap’s flower power starts to blossom in others.

In a world where everyone is immortal, Scythes keep the population in check by gleaning individuals. Feared, and alternately courted by sycophants or resented by the grieving, their power is almost absolute. Citra and Rowan have been chosen, but a bloodthirsty faction is determined to insure that only one of them will survive their apprenticeship.