Colin Powell once said, “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” That quote is the very essence of Tryouts by Peter J. Stavros. It’s the story of a ninth-grade boy living in a small town who wishes to...

Malve von Hassell’s The Amber Crane is a gripping, suspense-filled historical fiction and time-travel story. The story is set in Germany, in and around the harbor town of Stolp in Pomerania along the Baltic Sea, in 1644, during the closing years of the Thirty Years'...

Lexie Diamond’s love of code and her nerd status set her apart from her peers. She’s an introvert genius, perhaps a little neurospicy and definitely lonely. But she’s also the humble guardian of a door to the afterlife, and is responsible for the frantic, sorry...

Freddy Lond's The Man from the Fridge follows Marek, a seventeen-year-old growing up in a small Pennsylvania town with a father who is more trouble than support. After his dad, Sven, gets kicked out of his apartment, they move in with Marek’s grandparents, creating constant...

The Elephant in the Ivy by Alexander Greengaard is set in a private university, where Alison Ashe is recruited into Chaturanga, a secret competition run by faculty in which academic departments act as rival teams in a controlled spy game. Students serve as operatives, steal...

Weirdos Welcome by Cynthia Baseman is a contemporary young adult novel that captures the interior lives of teenagers navigating school, identity, and belonging. Set at Pacific Crest High School, the story alternates between the perspectives of Braden, an anxious overachiever and basketball player, and Rae,...

Becoming Calvin: The Wake of Expectations, Volume 1, by Javier De Lucia, is a compelling story that takes readers on an emotional journey through the life of its protagonist, Calvin McShane. The story explores personal growth, change, and the search for identity. Combining introspection with...

Good Kids, Bad Choices by Shanti Hershenson sees Lena Hackett being disciplined for attempting to present a history project on gender-based pay inequality at Littlewood Charter School. Her treatment leads her to discover a pattern where other kids who also complained about harassment and discrimination...

We Be Dragons by Michael Weitz follows John Brewer through a summer in a small Idaho town after he loses his job at a local gas station. John needs money for college, so he takes work on Jim Henley’s farm, where long hours, strict oversight,...

A killer brings horror to the quiet beach town of Alys, destroying its peace. But the deaths are more than the acts of a serial killer; they're random, different, and sporadic. Jade Sylvori has healing in her genes, but also a secret fascination with crime....