Central Kansas Library System

Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.--

"Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood - but secretly, she pours her dreams and frustrations onto the pages of her notebook like prayers. When she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, Xiomara doesn't know how she could ever attend without her religious mami finding out. But even so, in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent."--taken from back cover. Xiomara...

Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

There are three rules in the neighborhood: Don't cry ; Don't snitch ; Get revenge. Will takes his dead brother Shawn's gun, and gets in the elevator on the 7th floor. As the elevator stops on each floor, someone connected to Shawn gets on. Someone already dead. Dead by teenage gun violence. And each has something to share with Will.

Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

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.

Written in free verse, explores how three teenagers try to cope with the consequences of their mother's addiction to crystal meth and its effects on their lives.

Twelve-year-old Emmy is the only one in her family who can't make music to save her life. And now that her dad's symphony job has uprooted her to a new city and school, everything seems even more off-key than usual. Until a computer class changes her tune -- Emmy discovers that her coding skills can really sing. Now life is starting to seem a little more upbeat, especially with computer whiz and possible best friend Abigail around to share tips and...

What do you fear? Dying. Are you likely to die in this situation? Yes. Nora's birthday marks the one-year anniversary of the worst day of her life. To distract them both from the memories of the horrible shooting that killed Nora's mom, her dad surprises her with a trip to explore a slot canyon deep in the Arizona desert. Nora hopes they'll find some remnant of the happiness they felt when her mother was still alive. But in the twisting, winding depths,...