Please Don’t Hurt Me (Stories of Abuse)
FIC & YA FIC ADI
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Purple Hibiscus
From the outside, fifteen-year-old Kambili has the perfect life. She lives in a beautiful house, has
a caring family, and attends an exclusive missionary school. She's completely shielded from the
troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less than
perfect in her wealthy Nigerian home. Although her papa is generous and well respected, he is
fanatically religious and tyrannical at home. He looms over his family's every move, severely
punishes Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, if they're not the best in their classes, and hits their
mama if she disagrees with him. Home is silent and suffocating. But everything changes once
Kambili and Jaja visit Aunty Ifeoma outside the city. For the first time they experience freedom
from their papa. Jaja learns to garden and work with his hands, and Kambili secretly falls in love
with a young, charismatic priest. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, tension
within the family escalates. And shy Kambili must find the strength to keep her family together
after her mother commits a desperate act.
YA FIC AMA
Amateau, Gigi
Claiming Georgia Tate
Twelve-year-old Georgia Tate wishes she could stay home forever with her no-nonsense nana,
her preacher granddaddy, and her sassy friend Ginger, celebrating church revivals and the
Fourth of July with icy cold watermelon and all the deep-fried fish she can eat. She wishes her
deadbeat daddy had never reappeared on the scene, and that Ginger hadn't blurted out the awful
truth about Mama. But most of all, when Georgia Tate loses her nana to a sudden heart attack,
she desperately wishes she could find a way to tell Granddaddy why she can't possibly leave
Mississippi to move in with Daddy — about the things he does that make her feel so ashamed her
mind takes her off to a faraway, made-up place.
YA FIC AND
Anderson, Laurie
Twisted
High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background-average
student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on
the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you
wouldn't believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just
so happens to be his father's boss's daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy-and Tyler's secret
crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in
the school, in his family, and in the world.
YA FIC AVA
Avasthi, Swati
Split
Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian
with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father's fist), $3.84, and a secret. He tries to move on,
going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can't make him forget
what he left behind--his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend, who is
keeping his secret. At least so far. Worst of all, Jace realizes that if he really wants to move
forward, he may first have to do what scares him most: He may have to go back.
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YA FIC BIL Bilen, Tracy
What She Left Behind
Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom
doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but
Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it. With each
day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t
endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must
figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.
YA FIC BRA
Green
Braff, Joshua
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob
Pity Jacob Green: He worships his rebellious artist older brother, Asher. He lusts in his heart (and
loins) for his shiksa goddess nanny, Megan. And he stews in a volatile marinade of fear,
adoration, and resentment of his alternately loving and tyrannical father, Abram, whose constant
demands for perfection in all matters-from personal appearance to the crafting of thank-you notes
for Bar Mitzvah presents-cause his family to implode. Each episode of Jacob's mortifyingly funny
struggles to find the correct responses to Abram's commands, while following his own internal
compass, explodes with hilarity even as it brings a lump to the throat.
YA FIC BRO
Brown, Jennifer
Bitter End
When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole -- a handsome, funny, sports star who
adores her -- she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate . . . someone who truly loves and
understands her. At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her
relationship with her close friend Zack, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all her
time with another boy? As the months pass, though, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small putdowns, pinches, or increasingly violent threats. As Alex struggles to come to terms with the
sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes,
she is forced to choose -- between her "true love" and herself.
YA FIC CAL
Caletti, Deb
Wild Roses
Seventeen-year-old amateur astronomer Cassie Morgan wants a "normal" life, but that possibility
flew out the window three years earlier when her musician mother, divorced five days, married
famous violinist Dino Cavalli. Living with arrogant Dino is like walking on eggshells, and the
usually competent, clearheaded teen believes he has the unique ability to make her feel
"incapable to the point of needing to be institutionalized." Any little thing sets him off, and the
problem only gets worse when he stops taking his depression medication while he prepares for
his huge comeback concert. When Ian Waters, a promising-and poverty-stricken-young violinist,
shows up for lessons with the maestro, Cassie falls in love at first sight despite her belief that
passion only brings about pain. Dino demands that the two stay away from one another to avoid
compromising the young man's focus, but that is impossible. And as Dino's concert and Ian's
scholarship audition draw closer, even Cassie's loving mother can't protect her from Cavalli's
escalating bizarre and paranoid behavior.
YA FIC CAL
Caletti, Deb
Stay
Clara’s relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she’s ever
experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it’s almost too
late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is--and what he’s willing to do to make her
stay.Now Clara has left the city—and Christian—behind. No one back home has any idea where
she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won’t let her go that
easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough....
2
YA FIC CHA
Chaltas, Thalia
Because I Am Furniture
Anke's father is abusive. But not to her. He attacks her brother and sister, but she's just an
invisible witness in a house of horrors, on the brink of disappearing altogether. Until she makes
the volleyball team at school. At first just being exhausted after practice feels good, but as Anke
becomes part of the team, her confidence builds. When she learns to yell "Mine!" to call a ball,
she finds a voice she didn't know existed. For the first time, Anke is seen and heard. Soon, she's
imagining a day that her voice will be loud enough to rescue everyone at home—including
herself.
YA FIC CHA Chayil, Eishes
Hush
Inside the closed community of Borough Park, where most Chassidim live, the rules of life are
very clear, determined by an ancient script written thousands of years before down to the last
detail—and abuse has never been a part of it. But when thirteen-year-old Gittel learns of the
abuse her best friend has suffered at the hands of her own family member, the adults in her
community try to persuade Gittel, and themselves, that nothing happened. Forced to remain
silent, Gittel begins to question everything she was raised to believe.
YA FIC COH
Cohen, Joshua
Leverage
The football field is a battlefield
There's an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High. It is paid on–and off–the football field.
And it claims its victims without mercy–including the most innocent bystanders.
When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war has devastating consequences, an
unlikely friendship between a talented but emotionally damaged fullback and a promising
gymnast might hold the key to a school’s salvation. Told in alternating voices and with
unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism
of two young athletes.
YA FIC COL
Colasanti, Susane
Keep Holding On
Noelle's life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much she gets bullied, or
the ways her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so much about her life a secret for so long that
when her longtime crush Julian Porter starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely it's
safer to stay hidden than to risk the pain of a broken heart. But when the antagonism of her
classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle realizes it's time to stand up for herself--and for the love
that keeps her holding on.
Tween & YA FIC CON
Connor, Leslie
Waiting for Normal
Addie is waiting for normal. But Addie's mom has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta
or an empty pantry, jubilation or gloom, her way or no way. All or nothing never adds up to
normal. All or nothing can't bring you all home, which is exactly where Addie longs to be, with her
half sisters, every day. In spite of life's twists and turns, Addie remains optimistic. Someday,
maybe, she'll find normal.
YA FIC CRU
Crutcher, Chris
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
An obese boy and a disfigured girl suffer the emotional scars of years of mockery at the hands of
their peers. They share a hard-boiled view of the world until events in their senior year hurl them
in very different directions. A story about a friendship with staying power, written with pathos and
pointed humor.
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YA MYS DAV
Davis, Aric
Nickel Plated
Nickel is a survivor. He has to be. For as long as he can remember, his life has hinged on the flip
of a coin. Or, rather, the scribble of a social worker’s pen. He’s been through the system, even
had a good dad for a few years, until he was gone, too. But Nickel remembers everything he
taught him, and since the day he escaped from foster-care hell, he’s put that knowledge to good
use. Just twelve years old, he makes a steady living by selling marijuana to high schoolers,
blackmailing pedophiles he ferrets out online, and working as a private investigator. When a
beautiful girl named Arrow hires him to find her little sister Shelby, Nickel figures at best the kid’s
a runaway; at worst, some perv’s gotten a hold of her. He scours the internet and the streets of
Arrow’s suburban neighborhood, and what he finds there is as ugly a truth as he’s ever seen. For
beyond the manicured lawns, Nickel discovers children for sale, and adults with souls black as
the devil. And people like that aren’t about to let some kid ruin their game. This edgy thriller
introduces a canny, precocious anti-hero, the likes of which young-adult readers have never
seen.
YA FIC DES
Dessen, Sarah
Dreamland
After her older sister runs away, sixteen-year-old Caitlin decides that she needs to make a major
change in her own life and begins an abusive relationship with a boy who is mysterious, brilliant,
and dangerous.
YA FIC DES
Dessen, Sarah
Lock and Key
"Ruby, where is your mother?"
Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she's been on her own in the yellow
house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return.
That's how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn't seen in ten years, and Cora's
husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded
the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new
wardrobe, the promise of college and a future-it's a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a
reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some
secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?
YA FIC DEU
Deuker, Carl
Swagger
Levi was simple, like a child. It was the best thing about him, and it was the worst, too. When high
school senior Jonas moves to Seattle, he is glad to meet Levi, a nice, soft-spoken guy and fellow
basketball player. Suspense builds like a slow drumbeat as readers start to smell a rat in Ryan
Hartwell, a charismatic basketball coach and sexual predator. When Levi reluctantly tells Jonas
that Hartwell abused him, Jonas has to decide whether he should risk his future career to report
the coach.
YA FIC DOM Dominque, Paul
Possibility of Fireflies
Ellie Roma's father left them a year ago. Her verbally and physically abusive, alcoholic mother
stays out every night, many times locking Ellie out of the house. Her rebellious older sister, Gwen,
yells back at her mother and takes her beatings stoically. She hangs out with friends, smoking
and drinking. Ellie is the "good" child, trying to preserve a nonexistent family. The mother
convinces her children that their father hates them as much as she does. Ellie's outlet is
fantasizing about her friend Celia's perfect family or unattainable love, such as with Elvis Presley
or her teacher. When a cute older guy-aged twenty to Ellie's fourteen-moves in across the street,
she imagines that they are in love. Ellie's need for attention occasionally outwardly manifests
itself. In one instance, she shoplifts cosmetics. But mostly, she is the submissive child, until the
denouement when Gwen runs away and Ellie realizes that she must leave too. But where will she
go?
4
YA FIC FEH
Fehlbaum, Beth
Hope in Patience
Fifteen-year-old Ashley Asher has spent half of her life living in fear. Her stepfather sexually
abused her for years, but her mother didn’t believe her. After Child Protective Services finally
removes Ashley from their home, she goes to live with the father she barely remembers. Her new
life in Patience, Texas, is much better. She’s in therapy to deal with Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder; she’s getting used to living with her father, stepmother, and stepbrother; and she’s
made some friends at her new high school. But Ashley is so traumatized by her past that she
sometimes scratches herself until she bleeds. When her stepfather is finally put on trial for hurting
her, she learns that truth and justice don’t always go together. Will Ashley adjust to a better life?
YA FIC FEL Felin, M. Sindy
Touching Snow
The best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone."
Karina has plenty to worry about on the last day of seventh grade: finding three Ds and a C on
her report card again, getting laughed at by everyone again, being sent to the principal -- again.
She'd like this to change, but with her and her sisters dodging their stepfather's fists every day
after school, she doesn't have time to do much self-reflecting. Finally her stepfather is taken away
on child abuse charges, and Karina thinks things might turn into something resembling normal.
The problem is, he's not gone for good. And as Karina becomes closer with a girl at the
community center where her stepfather is not showing up for his parenting classes, she starts to
realize a couple things. First, for all the problems her family had tried to escape by immigrating
from Haiti, they brought most of them along to upstate New York. And second, if anything is going
to change for this family, it is going to be up to Karina and her sisters to make it happen.
YA FIC FLI Flinn, Alex
Breathing Underwater
Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old
Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and
describes living with his abusive father.
YA FIC FRE Freitas, Donna
This Gorgeous Game
Olivia Peters is over the moon when her literary idol, the celebrated novelist and much adored
local priest Mark D. Brendan, offers to become her personal writing mentor. But when Father
Mark’s enthusiasm for Olivia’s prose develops into something more, Olivia’s emotions quickly
shift from wonder to confusion to despair. Exactly what game is Father Mark playing, and how on
earth can she get out of it?
FIC & YA FIC FRI
Friedman, Carl
Nightfather
Her father "has camp," but the young narrator does not know how or why he has it. Everything
this loving family does leads to a concentration camp story told by Ephraim, the father. Because
the horrifying details are so much a part of the children's lives, the narrator buries her toys so the
SS won't find them, brother Max tries to freeze his feet, and Simon hides toothpaste used to
prevent thirst. The children struggle to understand their father, wish he'd play soccer instead of
talking about camp, and worry when he is in a tuberculosis sanitarium. By the end of this short
novel, details about the death march completely replace accounts of family events.
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YA FIC GAR Garse, Jeannine
Before, After, and Somebody In Between.
It is the eleventh place they have lived in six years, when Martha and Momma move in with
Wayne, the new boyfriend Momma discovered in rehab. A sophomore at fourteen due to her
intelligence, Martha has only attended rural schools and, in spite of her mother's history of
chemical dependence and depression, Martha's first day at Jefferson High proves she is
completely unprepared for the hostility, violence, and gritty reality of life for a white girl in
Cleveland's impoverished inner city. Threatened constantly at school and at home, Martha has no
respite until a calamitous series of events culminates in a wealthy lawyer's family taking her in.
While she no longer has to fear physical abuse, hunger, or gang-related violence, Martha
encounters a different set of problems as she masquerades as Gina, a persona she creates to
keep the ugly truth of her past from her new-found upper class friends. Throughout her harrowing
struggles, Martha/Gina turns to music and her desire to play the cello for solace.
YA FIC GOO
Goodman, Shawn
Kindness for Weakness
In an environment where kindness equals weakness, how do those who care survive? A fifteenyear-old boy from an abusive home desperately seeking his older brother's love and approval
starts pushing drugs for him and suffers the consequences.
YA FIC GRA
Grace, Amanda
But I Love Him
At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends
and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his
emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved - and needed. Ann can't recall the pivotal
moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her
life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor's rage, a
senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything - and everyone - in its path.
This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.
YA FIC HAD
Mrs. Dumphrey
Haddix, Margaret Peterson
Don’t You Dare Read This
In the journal she is keeping for English class, sixteen-year-old Tish chronicles the changes in her
life when her abusive father returns home after a two-year absence.
YA FIC HEA
Headley, Justina Chen
North of Beautiful
It's hard not to notice Terra Cooper. She's tall, blond, and has an enviable body. But with one turn
of her cheek, all people notice is her unmistakably "flawed" face. Terra secretly plans to leave her
stifling small town in the Northwest and escape to an East Coast college, but gets pushed offcourse by her controlling father. When an unexpected collision puts Terra directly in Jacob's path,
the handsome but quirky Goth boy immediately challenges her assumptions about herself and
her life, and she is forced in yet another direction. With her carefully laid plans disrupted, will
Terra be able to find her true path?
YA FIC HOP
Hopkins, Ellen
Burned
In cutting free-verse, 16-year-old Pattyn offers first-person narration of religious oppression and
physical violence. Her Mormon church dictates that women grow up powerless. An entrancing
sexual dream and a non-Mormon boyfriend make Pattyn feel giddy but guilty. Will she burn in
hell? Exiled (for punishment) to a desert ranch, Pattyn blossoms under the respectful care of Aunt
J and finds storybook love with neighbor Ethan. But at summer's end, she returns home to a
situation even worse than before. Alcoholic Dad now beats the children (rather than just Mom);
Pattyn, badly whipped, tries to hang on until she can leave home.
6
YA FIC HOP
Hopkins, Ellen
Identical
Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical down to the dimple. As daughters of a district-court judge
father and a politician mother, they are an all-American family—on the surface. Behind the facade
each sister has her own dark secret, and that's where their differences begin. For Kaeleigh, she's
the misplaced focus of Daddy's love, intended for a mother whose presence on the campaign trail
means absence at home. All that Raeanne sees is Daddy playing a game of favorites—and she
is losing. If she has to lose, she will do it on her own terms, so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and
sex. Secrets like the ones the twins are harboring are not meant to be kept—from each other or
anyone else. Pretty soon it's obvious that neither sister can handle it alone, and one sister must
step up to save the other, but the question is—who?
YA FIC HOP
Hopkins, Ellen
Smoke
Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse
at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child,
Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that night, but she is
stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by
their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie
is desperately isolated. Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life, but is it even possible to
rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the
truth?
YA FIC HUR
Hurwin, Davida Wills
Circle the Soul Softly
Katie O'Connor needs a change. After her father dies, she begins having unexplainable
nightmares and blackouts. Suddenly she is unable to keep up on her social life and she
withdraws from her mom and older brother. Katie gets just the chance that she desires when her
widowed mother becomes engaged to a wealthy accountant and the family relocates to upscale
Brentwood, California. Determined to reinvent herself, Katie enrolls in an elite prep school.
Always shy and awkward, Katie finally finds life going her way: a lead in the school play, friends
to hang out with, and a cute boyfriend. Then without warning her nightmares return and she is
once again haunted by "the monster." Katie must discover the secret her mind is harboring before
everything about her new life is ruined.
Tween & YA FIC JAC
Jacobson, Jennifer Richard Small as an Elephant
Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has been unpredictable, sometimes loving and fun,
other times caught in a whirlwind of energy and "spinning" wildly until it’s over. But Jack never
thought his mom would take off during the night and leave him at a campground in Acadia
National Park, with no way to reach her and barely enough money for food. Any other kid would
report his mom gone, but Jack knows by now that he needs to figure things out for himself starting with how to get from the backwoods of Maine to his home in Boston before DSS catches
on. With nothing but a small toy elephant to keep him company, Jack begins the long journey
south, a journey that will test his wits and his loyalties - and his trust that he may be part of a
larger herd after all.
YA FIC JAM
James, Brian
Perfect World
Lacie's best friend Jenna wants to grow up fast. She wants to be cool and be known and be with
a boy all the way. Even though Lacie isn't so sure, she follows Jenna anyway. She tries to block
out her sadness. Her questions. Her fears. At first it isn't that bad. She even meets a boy whose
problems are compatible with hers. But then Jenna's friendship turns fierce . . . and the perfect
world comes tumbling down.
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YA FIC JOH
Johnson, Kathleen Jeffrie
Gone
It is the summer after high school, and Connor's life is now his to live. But what is it that he wants
from his life? The future may be unclear, but one thing-or person-Connor cannot stop thinking
about is Ms. Timms, his history teacher. "What had he thought about before he thought about
her?" The child of alcoholic parents, one of whom now lives in a nursing home after an accident
left him brain damaged, Connor has always felt that he was invisible. Ms. Timms "sees" him, and
Connor is drawn in. A summer encounter leads to an unusual invitation, which leads to an affair.
Connor's history has left him damaged, an easy target for a woman with her own dark history.
This is a story of a damaged boy who is finding himself and his family.
YA FIC KWA
Kwasney, Michelle
Blue Plate Special
Doomed loves, failed families, nixed dreams—someone else's leftovers are heaped on our plates
the day we come into this world.
Big Macs and pop tunes mask the emptiness as Madeline watches her mom drink away their
welfare checks. Until the day Tad, a quirky McDonald's counter boy, asks Madeline out for a date,
and she gets her first taste of normal. But with a life that’s anything but, how long can normal
really last?
Hanging with Jeremy, avoiding Mam, sticking Do Not Disturb Post-its on her heart, Desiree's
mission is simple: party hard, graduate (well, maybe), get out of town. But after Desiree accepts
half a meatball grinder, a cold drink, and a ride from her mother's boyfriend one rainy afternoon,
nothing is ever simple again.
Too many AP classes. Workaholic mom. Dad in prison. Still, Ariel's sultry new boyfriend, Shane,
manages to make even the worst days delicious. But when an unexpected phone call forces a trip
to visit a sick grandmother she's never met, revealing her family's dark past, Ariel struggles to find
the courage to make the right choice for her own future.
As three girls from three different decades lives converge, they discover they are connected ways
they could never imagine. Each of them finds strength that brings her closer to healing a painful
past, and faith that there is a happier future.
Tween & YA MYS KON
Konigsburg, E.L.
Silent to the Bone
When he is wrongly accused of gravely injuring his baby half-sister, thirteen-year-old Branwell
loses his power of speech and only his friend Connor is able to reach him and uncover the truth
about what really happened.
YA FIC KUE
Kuehn, Stephanie
Charm & Strange
No one really knows who Andrew Winston Winters is. Least of all himself. He is part Win, a lonely
teenager exiled to a remote boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts
the whole world out, no matter the cost, because his darkest fear is of himself ...of the wolfish
predator within. But he's also part Drew, the angry boy with violent impulses that control him. The
boy who, one fateful summer, was part of something so terrible it came close to destroying him. A
deftly woven, elegant, unnerving psychological thriller about a boy at war with himself. Charm and
Strange is a masterful exploration of one of the greatest taboos.
YA FIC LEA
Leavitt, Martine My Book of Life by Angel
When sixteen-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her,
and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon she's addicted to
his candy, and she moves in with him. As a favor, he asks her to hook up with a couple of friends
of his, and then a couple more. Now Angel is stuck working the streets at Hastings and Main, a
notorious spot in Vancouver, Canada, where the girls turn tricks until they disappear without a
trace, and the authorities don't care. But after her friend Serena disappears, and when Call brings
home a girl who is even younger and more vulnerable than her to learn the trade, Angel knows
that she and the new girl have got to find a way out.
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YA FIC LES
Lester, Julius
When Dad Killed Mom
When Jenna and Jeremy's father shoots and kills their artist mother, they struggle to slowly
rebuild a functioning family.
YA FIC LYG
Lyga, Barry Boy Toy
Josh Mendel has a secret. Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is.
Five years ago, Josh's life changed. Drastically. And everyone in his school, his town—seems
like the world—thinks they understand. But they don't—they can't. And now, about to graduate
from high school, Josh is still trying to sort through the pieces. First there's Rachel, the girl he
thought he'd lost years ago. She's back, and she's determined to be part of his life, whether he
wants her there or not.Then there are college decisions to make, and the toughest baseball game
of his life coming up, and a coach who won't stop pushing Josh all the way to the brink. And then
there's Eve. Her return brings with it all the memories of Josh's past. It's time for Josh to face the
truth about what happened.
If only he knew what the truth was . . .
YA MYS MAZ
Mazer, Norma Fox
When She Was Good
The death of her abusive, manipulative older sister prompts seventeen-year-old Em to remember
their unpleasant life together, with their parents and then later on their own.
YA FIC MCK McKinley, Robin
Deerskin
As Princess Lissar reaches womanhood, it is clear to all the kingdom that in her breathtaking
beauty she is the mirror image of her mother, the queen--but this seeming blessing forces her to
flee from her father's wrath. With her loyal dog, Lissar discovers a world of magic where she finds
the key to her own survival.
YA FIC MEL
Meldrum, Christina
Madapple
This novel is a fascinating look at belief and the interplay between the rational and the religious.
Fifteen-year-old Aslaug has been isolated from family and friends; her only companion has been
her mother and after weeks of waning health, her mother dies. Aslaug attempts to bury her in the
back yard, which draws the attention of a grumpy old neighbor and the police. Her mother had
been self-medicating with plants and herbs, and some of the plants have toxic qualities. They are
toxic enough to draw attention, and Aslaug is accused of having poisoned her mother. The novel
moves back and forth between Aslaug's trial for murder and the story of her life and experiences.
Her life is surreal, a life of innocence disconnected from the realities of our culture. The courtroom
is represented by the stark questions and answers of the witnesses and the lawyers, the twisting
of words and the interpretations of those who have no understanding of the isolated upbringing of
Aslaug. The story of Aslaug's life is one entrenched in charismatic religious belief and incestuous
relationships, a full circle replicating her mother's supposed "virgin" pregnancy and her own birth.
The juxtaposition of innocence and incest is an eerie, disturbing and thought-provoking
exploration of religious belief and pagan superstitions, calling into question what is reality and
what might be madness.
9
YA FIC MES
Mesrobian, Carrie
Sex & Violence
Sex has always come without consequences for seventeen-year-old Evan Carter. He has a
strategy--knows the profile of The Girl Who Would Say Yes. In each new town, each new school,
he can count on plenty of action before he and his father move again. Getting down is never a
problem. Until he hooks up with the wrong girl and finds himself in the wrong place at very much
the wrong time. After an assault that leaves Evan bleeding and broken, his father takes him to the
family cabin in rural Pearl Lake, Minnesota, so Evan's body can heal. But what about his mind?
Nothing seems natural to Evan anymore. Nothing seems safe. The fear--and the guilt--are
inescapable. He can't sort out how he feels about anyone, least of all himself. Evan's really never
known another person well, and Pearl Lake is the kind of place where people know everything
about each other--where there might be other reasons to talk to a girl. It's annoying as hell. It
might also be Evan's best shot to untangle sex and violence.
YA FIC MIC
Michaelis, Antonia
Storyteller
Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of
school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel,
the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prison-like tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of
him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna
follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark
forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real
danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna
gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has
fallen for a murderer. Has she?
YA FIC MIC Michaels, Rune
Fix Me
Orphaned as a child, terrorized by her abusive brother, and haunted by memories, Leia feels
exposed, powerless, and vulnerable. When her tormented mind can stand it no longer, she
escapes to the zoo, where she finds shelter and seeks refuge. The zoo is a sanctuary: a
protective space for families, and a safe place for the traumatized to forget. But can she ever feel
safe? Can she ever forget? Once again, Rune Michaels brings us a harrowing psychological
drama that raises questions about the very nature of humanity. This chilling tale will challenge our
preconceptions of family, memory, and self, leaving readers wondering, are we the pinnacle of
evolution—or are we just animals on display?
YA FIC MOS
Moser, Elise Lily & Taylor
After her older sister is murdered in a horrific incident of domestic abuse, Taylor begins a new life
in a new town. She meets Lily, whose open, warm manner conceals a difficult personal life of her
own, coping with her brain-injured mother. The two girls embark on a tentative friendship. But just
when life seems to be smoothing out, Taylor’s abusive boyfriend, Devon, arrives on the scene,
and before they know it, the girls find themselves in a situation that is both scary, and incredibly
dangerous. Abetted by Conor, a friend who owes him a favor, Devon takes the girls to a remote
cabin. There is no heat, no food, no water. There is a hunting rifle, which Devon uses to
intimidate the others. As he becomes increasingly agitated, and Conor threatens to bail, the girls
engage in a silent battle of their own. Lily wants to escape, while Taylor feels hopelessly trapped
by her relationship with Devon and uses sex and flattery to try to keep the situation calm. The
cabin becomes a pressure cooker, filled with tension as the four teenagers wrestle with their
anger, fear, resentment and boredom — any one of which could tip the situation into disaster.
From the opening moments when Taylor witnesses her sister’s autopsy to the final cathartic
scene after the two girls have survived their ordeal, the reader is glued to every page of this frank,
gripping and beautifully written novel that raises questions for every teenager. Do you need to be
a certain way to get a boyfriend? Can someone who loves you also hurt you? How can a million
small compromises eat away at who you are? What happens when you don’t think you deserve to
be treated well? How do you end up in an abusive relationship, and what keeps you there?
10
YA FIC MUR
Murdoch, Emily
If You Find Me
In If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, a broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is
the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare
existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey
for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with
greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother has disappeared for good, and two
strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and
perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys. Now, Carey must face the truth of why her
mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go . . . a dark past
that hides many secrets, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year.
Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her
new life come crashing down.
YA FIC NA
Na, An
A Step from Heaven
A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.
YA FIC NEL
Nelson, R.A.
Teach Me
This is a book that you will not be able to put down. From the very first page, Nine speaks in a
voice that is at once raw, honest, direct, and unbelievably eloquent. "There has been an
earthquake in my life," she says, inviting you inside an experience that fascinates everyone -- an
affair between a teacher and student -- and giving an up close and personal answer to the
question: How does this happen?
YA FIC NOL
Nolan, Han
Born Blue
Janie was four years old when she nearly drowned due to her mother’s neglect. Through an
unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her
dream of someday being a famous singer.
YA FIC OAT
Oates, Joyce Carol
Sexy
"Darren Flynn has the perfect life - until that day in November." "After that day, after what
happened (did it happen?), life is different. Darren is different. Nothing is as it was - before. His
friends, his family, even the people who are supposed to be in charge are no longer who Darren
thought they were. Who can he trust, now?" This novel explores one teenager's search for
identity in a complex, deceiving world, and the answers he finds in the most unexpected places.
YA FIC PHI
Phillips, Suzanne
Chloe Doe
Chloe Doe chronicles a 17-year-old girl's tumultuous path to becoming a prostitute and her
ultimate transformation back into mainstream society. During her therapy at Madeline Parker
Institute for Girls, Chloe slowly reveals aspects of her painful past--the stepfather who abused her
sister, the mother who let it all happen, the need to love and be loved--and faces the future she
finally decides to build for herself.
YA FIC POL
Polak, Monique
So Much It Hurts
Iris is an aspiring actress, so when Mick, a well-known visiting Aussie director, takes an interest in
her, she's flattered. He's fourteen years older, attractive, smart, charming and sexy--in other
words, nothing like her hapless ex-boyfriend, Tommy. But when Iris and Mick start a secret
relationship, she soon witnesses Mick's darker side, and his temper frightens her. Before long,
she becomes the target of his rage, but she makes endless excuses for him. Isolated and often in
pain, Iris struggles to continue going to school, where she is preparing for her role as Ophelia.
When her family and friends begin to realize that something is terribly wrong, Iris defends her
man, but she also takes the first tentative steps toward self-preservation.
11
YA FIC RAI
Rainfield, Cheryl
Scars
Kendra is frightened. She knows the man that sexually abused her is now stalking her. She finds
a note from him in her backpack, and then an MP3 player with a warning recorded on it turns up.
As Kendra tries to keep herself together, the only thing in which she seems to find solace is
cutting herself. Even her counselor does not know about how badly she harms herself, but when
she begins to trust and fall in love with Meghan, another student at her school, she begins to
share her secrets with her. Suddenly Kendra realizes the identity of her abuser, but will she be
able to save herself from him?
YA FIC RAP
Rapp, Adam
Punkzilla
For a runaway boy who goes by the name "Punkzilla," kicking a meth habit and a life of petty
crime in Portland, Oregon, is a prelude to a mission: reconnecting with his older brother, a gay
man dying of cancer in Memphis. Against a backdrop of seedy motels, dicey bus stations, and
hitched rides, the desperate fourteen-year-old meets a colorful, sometimes dangerous cast of
characters. And in letters to his sibling, he catalogs them all — from an abusive stranger and a
ghostly girl to a kind transsexual and an old woman with an oozing eye. The language is raw and
revealing, crackling with visceral details and dark humor, yet with each interstate exit Punkzilla’s
journey grows more urgent: will he make it to Tennessee in time?
YA FIC RAP
Rapp, Adam
33 Snowfish
A homeless boy, running from the police with a fifteen-year-old, drug-addicted prostitute, her
boyfriend who just killed his own parents, and a baby, gets the chance to make a better life for
himself.
YA FIC REE
Reed, Amy
Beautiful
Cassie has just moved from Bainbridge Island to Seattle. No one at her new school knows her as
the pudgy nobody her classmates in her small town ignored. Here, now, she is beautiful and
determined to be noticed. Her decisions, while terrifying for the reader, are perfectly
understandable. Her parents are loving, but more involved in their own unhappiness than in
keeping a close watch on Cassie. Her new friend Alex is her ticket into the world of drugs, sex,
and acceptance, but Alex's personal demons become clearer and more dangerous as their
friendship deepens. The first-person, present-tense voice keeps the reader constantly absorbed
in Cassie's life and never sure what the next moment may bring.
YA FIC SAN
Sanchez, Alex
Bait
When a guy in his class looks at him funny, Diego punches him in the face, and ends up on
probation. At first he wants nothing to do with his probation officer. But as Diego starts to open
up, he begins to realize that Mr. Vidas is the first person in his life who ever really wanted to listen
to him. With Vidas's help, Diego begins to make real progress in controlling his anger. He even
opens up enough to tell Vidas about the shark tooth that his stepfather gave him that he uses to
cut himself. But only if Diego can find the courage to trust Vidas with the darkest secrets from his
past will he be able to heal completely.
YA FIC SAP
Sapphire
Push
In an electrifying novel, a black street girl, sixteen years old and pregnant, again, with her father's
child, speaks. In a voice that shakes us by its language, its story, and its unflinching honesty,
Precious Jones records her journey up from Harlem's lowest depths... For Precious, miraculously,
hope appears and the world begins to open up when a courageous black woman - a teacher
hellbent to teach - bullies, cajoles, and inspires her to learn to read, to define her own feelings
and set them down in a diary: to discover the truth of her life. Day after day they go over the
pages, translating the illiterate but developing language of Precious' journals. The learning
process itself, as vividly revealed as the most brutal aspects of Precious' daily existence, is the
heartbeat of a novel that will disturb, galvanize, and stay in the mind.
12
YA FIC SCH
Schroeder, Lisa
Falling For You
Rae’s always dreamed of dating a guy like Nathan. He’s nothing like her abusive stepfather—in
other words, he’s sweet. But the closer they get, the more Nathan wants of her time, of her love,
of her…and the less she wants to give. As Rae’s affection for Nathan turns to fear, she leans on
her friend Leo for support. With Leo, she feels lighter, happier. And possessive Nathan becomes
jealous. He’s not about to let her go. And with danger following her every move, Rae must fight
for the life and love she deserves if she’s going to survive.
YA FIC SCO
Scott, Elizabeth
Living Dead Girl
When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends—her life. She learned to give
up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and
Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she
longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is
Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.
YA FIC SCO Scott, Mindi Live Through This
If Coley Sterling’s best friend would stop hating her, if her dance-team captains would lighten up,
if her friends would stop asking her about Reece, the geeky sax player she’s crushing on—then
her life would be perfect. Right? After all, Coley’s stepdad is a successful attorney who gives
Coley and her siblings everything, and her mother will stop at nothing to keep them all happy and
safe—including having escaped ten years ago from the abuse of Coley’s real father.
But Coley is keeping a lot of secrets. She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almostperfect life is her own carefully crafted façade. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and a
decade’s worth of Coley’s lies are on the verge of unraveling—along with the life she thought she
knew.
YA FIC SIM
Simmons, Michael
Vandal
Will is pretty much your average 16-year-old. He does well enough in school, plays in a rock
band, chases girls with little success, and has a typical collection of oddball friends...with one
significant exception. For as long as he can remember, he has been systematically beaten up-physically, mentally, and emotionally--by his older brother.
YA FIC SMI
Smith, Andrew
Stick
Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he’s tall and thin) is bullied for
being “deformed” – he was born with only one ear. His older brother Bosten is always there to
defend Stick. But the boys can’t defend one another from their abusive parents. When Stick
realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father's anger, Bosten must leave home.
Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter
good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the
tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love – and his brother.
YA FIC STO
Stone, Mary Hanlon
Invisible Girl
When poor Boston girl Stephanie is abandoned by her abusive mother and taken in by Annie's
Beverly Hills family, she feels anything but home. Her dark complexion and accent stick out like a
sore thumb in the golden-hued world of blondes and extravagance. These are girls who seem to
live life in fast forward, while Stephanie is stuck on pause. Yet when a new rival moves to town,
threatening Annie's queen-bee status, Stephanie finds herself taking sides in a battle she never
even knew existed, and that feeling invisible is a wound that can only be healed by standing up
for who she is.
13
YA FIC STR
Strasnick, Lauren
Nothing Like You
High school senior Holly Hirsh knows little about Paul Bennett beyond the fact that he is goodlooking, popular, and has a "cool and put together" girlfriend. Seeking to fill the emotional void left
by her mother's death, Holly loses her virginity to him and continues to see him. He demands that
she keep their relationship secret, which exacerbates the complicated feelings she has toward
her longtime best friend, Nils. When a school project provides a means for Holly to get to know
Paul's girlfriend, her sense of betrayal becomes even deeper.
YA FIC STR
Strasser, Todd
Can’t Get There From Here
This gritty portrayal of the lives of homeless teenagers conveys the hopelessness of runaways
and throwaway children with convincing realism. Fifteen-year-old "Maybe" lives with her friends
on the streets of New York. They reject even the relative comfort of homeless shelters as they
have rejected their own names, choosing street names such as Rainbow, Maggot, and Jewel.
Maybe chooses freedom from all rules over any kind of security, but the story makes it clear that
her total freedom ultimately leads to early death or slavery to adult predators. When she finally
decides to try to help Tears, the 12-year-old newest member of her tribe, Maybe begins to find
her own salvation.
YA FIC TAN
Tanaka, Shelley
Nobody Knows
It’s autumn in Tokyo, and twelve-year-old Akira and his younger siblings, Kyoko, Shige and little
Yuki, have just moved into a new apartment with their mother. Akira hopes it’s a new start for all
of them, even though the little ones are not allowed to leave the apartment or make any noise,
since the landlord doesn’t permit young children in the building. But their mother soon begins to
spend more and more time away from the apartment, and then one morning Akira finds an
envelope of money and a note. She has gone away with her new boyfriend for a while.
Akira bravely shoulders the responsibility for the family. He shops and cooks and pays the bills,
while Kyoko does the laundry. The children spend their time watching TV, drawing and playing
games, wishing they could go to school and have friends like everyone else. Then one morning
their mother breezes in with gifts for everyone, but she is soon gone again. Months pass, until
one spring day Akira decides they have been prisoners in the apartment long enough. For a brief
time the children bask in their freedom. They shop, explore, plant a little balcony garden, have the
playground to themselves. Even when the bank account is empty and the utilities are turned off
and the children become increasingly ill-kempt, it seems that they have been hiding for nothing. In
the bustling big city, nobody notices them. It’s as if nobody knows. But by August the city is
sweltering, and the children are too malnourished and exhausted even to go out. Akira is afraid to
contact child welfare, remembering the last time the authorities intervened, and the family was
split up. Eventually even he can’t hold it together any more, and then one day tragedy strikes…
YA FIC TAS
Tashjian, Janet
Fault Line
Seventeen-year-old Becky Martin-smart, funny, ambitious-aspires to be a stand-up comic. While
setting out to make her goal a reality, she meets Kip Costello, a rising star in the San Francisco
comedy-club scene. And what could be better than an intense boyfriend who cares about every
detail of her life? But Becky soon discovers a darker side to Kip, where emotional and physical
abuse grow hand-in-hand. As the relationship goes from loving to controlling, Becky must find the
courage to get help before it's too late.
14
YA FIC VAS
Vasey, Paul
A Troublesome Boy
Teddy can’t believe how fast his life has changed in just two years. When he was twelve, his
father took off, and then his mother married Henry, a man Teddy despises. But Teddy has no
control over his life, and adults make all the decisions, especially in 1959. Henry decides that
Teddy should be sent to St. Ignatius Academy for Boys, an isolated boarding school run by the
Catholic church. St. Iggy’s, Teddy learns, is a cold, unforgiving place — something between a
juvenile detention center and reform school. The other boys are mostly a cast of misfits and
eccentrics, but Teddy quickly becomes best friends with Cooper, a wise-cracking, Wordsworthloving kid with a history of neglect. Despite the priests’ ruthless efforts to crack down on the
slightest hint of defiance or attitude, the boys get by for a while on their wits, humor and dreams
of escape. But the beatings, humiliation and hours spent in the school’s infamous “time-out”
rooms, and the institutionalized system of power and abuse that protects the priests’ authority,
eventually take their toll, especially on the increasingly fragile Cooper. Then one of the new
priests, Father Prince, starts to summon Cooper to his room at night, and Teddy watches
helplessly as his friend withdraws into his own private nightmare, even as Prince targets Teddy
himself as his next victim. Teddy and Cooper’s only reprieve comes on Saturdays, when the
school janitor, Rozey, takes the boys to his run-down farmhouse outside of town, the only place
where the boys can feel normal — fishing, playing cribbage, watching the bears at the local
dump. But even this can’t stop Cooper’s downward spiral and eventual suicide. And just when
Teddy thinks something good might come out of his friend’s tragedy, he finds himself dealing with
the ultimate betrayal.
YA FIC VOI
Voigt, Cynthia
When She Hollers
Tish is one confused, frightened girl. Pushed to the point of no return, she takes refuge behind a
knife, hidden in her shoe, believing that this can protect her from her incestuous stepfather. But
the voice of reason, which occasionally surfaces within her, moves her to confront her problem
and her fears that no one will believe her or care. Voigt has tackled a distasteful topic, with
forthrightness, bringing Tish to the realization that only she can help herself and doing so will
bring a promising, but not perfect, future.
YA FIC WAL
Waldorf, Heather
Leftovers
A freak-out over a snapshot lands fifteen-year-old Sarah Greene on an island in the St. Lawrence
River with several other juvenile offenders. There, she is to complete 400 hours of community
service at a summer camp for dogs. The confinement leaves her with no way to complete the
desperate mission she was on when she stole and subsequently crashed her mother's
boyfriend's car—until the camp counselor's son, a boy she's been in school with since first grade,
offers to take her across the river into Ottawa for a concert if she'll help him finish a project for his
stepfather, the veterinarian who runs the camp. Sarah jumps at the chance, but plans to dump
the boy at the concert. There, she will make her own way into the city, to the locked-up restaurant
owned by her recently deceased father where she believes she will find the shameful evidence of
the sexual abuse he inflicted on her from the earliest days of her memory. Sarah thinks that if she
destroys the photographs and keep anyone else from finding out about the abuse, she can move
on with her life. But Sarah is not the only one on the island trying to adjust to life-changing
circumstances.
YA FIC WEE
Weeks, Sarah
Jumping the Scratch
It has been a rough year for 11-year-old Jamie Reardon. In short order, his cat, Mister, died, his
father ran off with another woman, and the boy and his mother moved to a trailer park to live with
his aunt Sapphy who, because of an accident at the cherry factory where she used to work, has
lost her short-term memory and needs them to take care of her. Jamie is also suffering from
being the new kid in school and bearing the brunt of a bully's attention. But worst of all is the dark
secret that sits deep in Jamie's heart, a secret that he can't share with anyone, and that he would
give anything to forget.
15
YA FIC WIE
Wiess, Laura
Such a Pretty Girl
Three years ago, when she was 12, Meredith's father raped her. She went to the hospital; he
went to prison. Now he's getting out on an early parole, and Meredith's life is falling apart. Her
mother refuses to acknowledge what happened; all she cares about is getting her husband back.
Meredith's boyfriend Andy—a boy molested by her father—takes off for Iowa in search of a
miracle cure for his paralysis caused by a night of drunk driving. And her father won't leave her
alone. This is a rare book: a "problem novel" in which the story is in service of the characters, not
the other way around. Meredith, Andy, Andy's deeply religious mother, the retired policeman who
befriends Meredith, and Meredith's tough grandmother are all flawed, engaging characters who
are strong and weak in their own, sometimes unexpected, ways. Even Meredith's parents, the
clear villains of the story, manage to seem like real people rather than two-dimensional monsters.
Meredith is realistically terrified of her father and bears the expected emotional scars, but still
finds the strength to help the policeman build a case to put her father away for good. This tale
strikes just the right balance between hope and despair, and Meredith's will to survive and ability
to take action in the face of her terror are an inspiration.
YA FIC WIL
Williams, Carol Lynch
Glimpse
Williams (The Chosen One) opens her latest novel with a bang--almost. Written in spare yet
resonant verse ("Last night/ me and Lizzie/ sit/ in the dark,/ sit on my bed,/ in the quiet of/ night./
We're all grown up,/ I think./ But we are/ having us some/ troubles"), the book is told from the
unreliable perspective of 12-year-old Hope, whose 14-year-old sister, Lizzie, threatens to shoot
herself on page one. Lizzie is hauled off to a mental hospital, but the reason behind the suicide
attempt remains unclear--even to Hope. As the story progresses, clues about the girls' upbringing
are revealed in a series of flashbacks. Hope's memories paint a picture of sporadic sisterly
bonding (secret club meetings in the attic, lip-synching to Jesus Christ Superstar), while other
incidents (their father's death, Lizzie's crying spells, their alcoholic mother's abusive temper and
prostitution) hint at a darker reality. Williams's decision to wait until the end to divulge the cause
of Lizzie's misery is a gamble, but one that works. The truth-- exposed after Hope reads her
sister's diary--is appalling.
YA FIC WOL
Wolf, Jennifer Shaw
Breaking Beautiful
Allie lost everything the night her boyfriend, Trip, died in a horrible car accident—including her
memory of the event. As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because
doing so means delving into what she’s kept hidden for so long: the horrible reality of their
abusive relationship. When the police reopen the investigation, it casts suspicion on Allie and her
best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town. Allie knows
she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally
break free?
YA FIC WOO
Woodson, Jacqueline
I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This
Two girls: one white, one black; one abused, one protected, both missing their mothers. An
unlikely friendship ignites between the two, and, in sharing their differences, both of their lives are
transformed.
YA FIC WRI
Wright, Bil
Putting Makeup on Dead People
Since her father’s death four years ago, Donna’s been stuck in her grief, cut off from friends and
family, and clueless about what to do after high school graduation. That is, until she’s standing in
front of the dead body of a classmate at Brighton Brothers Funeral Home. At that moment, Donna
realizes that what might give her life purpose is comforting others in death. That maybe she really
wants to be . . . a mortician? This discovery sets in motion a life Donna never imagined was
possible. By taking one big risk, Donna comes into her own. And she finally understands that
moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting someone you love.
16