Book Finder

Parkland Middle School is a place the students call Darkland, because no one in it does much to stop the daily harassment of kids by other kids. Three bullied seventh graders use their smarts to get the better of their tormentors by starting an unofficial e-mail forum at school in which they publicize their experiences. Unexpectedly, lots of other kids come forward to confess their similar troubles, and it becomes clear that the problem at their school is bigger than anyone knew. 

There are two secrets Evelyn Serrano is keeping from her Mami and Papi: her true feelings about growing up in her Spanish Harlem neighborhood, and her attitude about Abuela, her sassy grandmother who’s come from Puerto Rico to live with them. Then, like an urgent ticking clock, events erupt that change everything. Through it all, Evelyn learns important truths about her heritage and the history makers who shaped a nation. Infused with actual news accounts from the time period, Sonia Manzano, best known as the beloved Maria from Sesame Street, has crafted a gripping work of fiction based on her own life growing up during a fiery, unforgettable time in America, when young Latinos took control of their destinies.

After an apocalyptic catastrophe, a father and his young son embark on a grim and perilous quest following the road to the sea.

Many people are ignorant of the Turks’ Armenian Genocide that occurred in 1915, killing over a million innocent people. David captures the voice of his mother, Vernon Dumehjian Kherdian, who was born into a fine family just prior to the systematic killings.

After his sister is murdered, Ruben and his older brother Cole go to reclaim her body, and discover the truth about her death. The violence isn’t for the squeamish, but teens will enjoy this story that reads like a movie.

This collection of more than 100 poems that honestly and artfully confront topics ranging from poverty and motherhood to Van Gogh and Mandela is presented in Tupac Shakur’s own handwriting on one side of the page, with a typed version on the opposite side. 

Several recent college graduates go to an archaeological dig in rural Mexico. What follows is a suspense-filled, horrific nightmare in the jungle. Will any of them return? 

n the year 1692, life changes forever for ten-year-old Abigail Faulkner and her family. In Salem, Massachusetts, witches have been found, and widespread fear and panic reign mere miles from Abigail’s home of Andover. When two girls are brought from Salem to identify witches in Andover, suspicion sweeps the town as well-respected members of the community are accused of witchcraft. 

Eleven-year-old Angel and her seven-year-old brother are taken to live with their great-grandmother on her dilapidated Vermont farm. While the old woman is ill equipped to handle children, she’s better prepared to commit to them than either of their parents. A “star man” and the town librarian end up helping the children in this poignant exploration of family.

Percy continues his epic adventures, this time he’s on the high seas and fighting to save Camp Half-Blood from monsters.

Jack, a young apprentice still learning how to control his magic powers, is kidnapped, along with his sister, by an evil king and half-troll queen. When Jack casts a spell on the queen and makes her hair fall out, his punishment is to sail across the dangerous Sea of Trolls; otherwise, his sister will be sacrificed. Along his route, Jack encounters many strange and imposing creatures. But will he be able to save his sister?

This posthumously published memoir tells of young Sara’s resistance to anti-Semitism while growing up in Romania. For a while, she was able to escape the Nazis by her blonde hair and blue eyes but eventually was caught and sent to Ravensbruck, a German concentration camp for female prisoners.

A collection of stories from nations and cultures across our two continents — the Sea-Ringed World, as the Aztecs called it — from the Andes all the way up to Alaska. Fifteen thousand years before Europeans stepped foot in the Americas, people had already spread from tip to tip and coast to coast. Like all humans, these Native Americans sought to understand their place in the universe, the nature of their relationship with the divine, and the origin of the world into which their ancestors had emerged. The answers lay in their sacred stories. 

Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer with their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city.

When Raisin moves across the country, she keeps her friends back in California updated with a blog. Since no one in the East will ever see what she’s writing, she can be frank about how she feels. But it doesn’t take long for her to get discovered.

In many ways, Jason Peele is like any other teenager. He hits the books, hangs with his friends, flirts with girls, and omits the full truth of his life from his Aunt Audrey and Uncle Steve, who have raised him since his parents died. But there’s one way that Jason Peele is very different: when he dreams at night, it isn’t about girls; it’s about David Bowie. At sixteen-years-old, Jason is just beginning to understand that he might be gay.

More than anything, 14-year-old Ida Bidson wants to become a teacher. But her dream falters when the one-room school in her remote Colorado town shuts down. Her only hope is to keep the school open without anyone finding out. Yet even a secret school needs a teacher. Is Ida ready to take charge?

Rowan has too many secrets to write down in the pages of a diary. Now the kids at school say Rowan’s too different to spend time with. He’s not the right kind of girl, and he’s not the right kind of boy. His mom ignores him. And at night, his dad hurts him in ways he’s not ready to talk about yet. But Rowan discovers another way to share his secrets: letters. Letters he attaches to balloons and releases into the universe, hoping someone new will read them and understand. But when he befriends a classmate who knows what it’s like to be lonely and scared, even at home, Rowan realizes that there might already be a person he can trust right by his side. 

The first of a four-volume series, the story tells of four friends who share a pair of “magical” jeans over the course of a summer. When the girls go to visit distant relatives, work a summer job, or attend a summer soccer camp, the jeans are there to play witness. Each of the books in the series spans a single summer, but a new reader really does need to start with the original volume.