Mayhem in the Mountains by Jane Loeb Rubin opens with eighteen-year-old Ella deciding to leave Brooklyn behind and head to the Catskills with her younger brother, Robbie, in search of relatives. It is set in the 1920s, a time that shapes so much of what...

In The Junkyard by Bryan Reilly, after escaping a dog-fighting ring run by a violent junkyard owner named Mr. Fergusen, a battered pit bull called Ninja is taken into a hidden settlement beneath piles of wrecked cars where abandoned dogs survive under the leadership of...

Misty isn’t too pleased when her family moves to Palmdale, California, far from the big city. Good news: she quickly grows to love the desert’s natural beauty and wildlife. Bad news: her home life is nowhere near as beautiful, despite the facade of a happy...

In Gripped (Part 6: The Dunkin Legacy) by Stacy A. Padula, Taylor Dunkin’s life is in turmoil, and it’s hard to see a clear way out. He used to be a college football star with everything going for him, but a knee injury ended it...

In Dear Dairy by Steve Goldsmith, the story follows Justin Case, a twelve-year-old boy who writes about his life in a diary while dealing with school, family struggles, and the challenges of being dyslexic and mildly autistic. His entries, full of misspellings and made-up words,...

In Nell by L. K. Campbell, two siblings, Nell and Ben Howard, run away from home after a bad argument with their mother into the dense woods. There, they are transported into a world that shares similarities to ours, Drayward. In Drayward, Nell discovers that...

It is 1962, two years since eleven-year-old Piper Lewis lost her mother. The phone call that changes her life comes through at her home in Arlington, Virginia. Her father, Neil Lewis, a career officer with USAID, had been posted to Bangkok, and he was moving...

What We Found Last Summer by Javier De Lucia follows twelve-year-olds Calvin and Derek as they try to enjoy a carefree summer in their quiet Connecticut suburb. The summer has a distinctly 1980s feel as they build treehouses, ride their bikes, and hang out with...

Katy Farber's What If It Wasn’t My Fault follows Indie Watson, a teenager trying to navigate life after being sexually assaulted at a party. She wrestles with memories and a relentless sense of guilt. On top of that, she is burdened by her family's problems,...

In Channeling Marilyn by Mima Tipper, high school senior Alexandria “Lexa” Donovan is thrust into a world she hasn’t prepared for. She is randomly selected by lottery to play the lead role of Cherie in the school’s production of Bus Stop. She struggles with stage...