Worth fighting for - Jarold Imes

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At the age of eleven and a half, Martin Little wanted to be just like his parents. His father was a door-to-door salesman for a prominent African American hair care firm; his mother owns one of the hottest beauty salons in the Denver Metropolitan Area.

Upstate - Kalisha Buckhanon

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So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990's in New York.

U Can't Break Me - Jarold Imes

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When Reggie Stevens enters high school, life as he knows it is about to change. First, he must deal with a bully that is out to seek revenge against a member of his family.

Tyrell - Coe Booth

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Tyrell is a young, African American teen who can't get a break. He's living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter.

True Believer -- Virgina Euwer

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What's new in LaVaughn's life is Jody—a boy she knew as a child who's come back to the housing project where she lives. Jody is like a miracle: He smells like chlorine, he calls her "little buddy," he goes with her to the dance. It's just as if he's in love with her. Except not quite.

Street Pharm -- Allison van Diepen

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Ty Johnson knows survival. Since inheriting his pop's business at sixteen, Ty's developed smarts, skills, and mad discipline. The supply game's in his blood. And life is pretty sweet when you're on top. But one slip -- or one serious competitor -- and life turns ugly fast. Suddenly, Ty's got to rethink his whole strategy. And for the #1 dealer on the streets, strategy is not just about staying ahead. It's about survival.

Snitch -- Allison van Diepen

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Lines are clearly marked at South Bay High School. It's mixed territory for the Crips and the Bloods, which means the drama never stops. Julia DiVino wants none of it. No colors, no C-Walks -- it's just not her thing. But when Eric Valienté jumps into her life, everything changes. Lines are redrawn. And then they're crossed.

The Sista Hood : On the mic - E-Fierce

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When Mariposa (aka MC Patria) meets Ezekiel Matthews (aka MC EZ1) they quickly become best friends; together they have the best summer tossing lyrics and rhymes.

Rooftop - Paul Volponi

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Cousins Clay and Addison were like brothers, growing up together in the projects, until they were ripped apart by a family argument. when they are reunited in a drug-treatment program, they try to work out their issues like a family.

Played - Dana Davidson

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When one of Ian's boys dares him to get plain-faced Kylie Winship to sleep with him in just three weeks, he thinks it'll be a breeze. Tall and fine, with honey-colored skin and eyes, Ian is used to getting what he wants from girls.

Nothing But Drama - ReShonda Tate Billingsley

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Camille can't believe her bad luck when she's ordered to join a church youth group after hiding her boyfriend from the police. She'll bide her time if that's what it takes to get everyone off her back, but it's the last place she ever expected to make a new friend.

Miracle's Boys -- Jacqueline Woodson

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Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

Imani All Mine - Connie Porter

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Tasha is a remarkable character, a child mothering a child--spunky, sassy, brimming with the hopefulness and frank wisdom of youth despite her circumstances. The name she gives her daughter, Imani, is a sign of her determination and fundamental trust.

The Hoopster - Alan Lawrence Sitomer

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This book talks a lot about the still promenade issue of racism in our community and world and the way that people react to the situation. This was a great book and I enjoyed reading it.

Forged by Fire -- Sharon M. Draper

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When Gerald was a child he was fascinated by fire. But fire is dangerous and powerful, and tragedy strikes. His substance-addicted mother is taken from him and a brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half sister, Angel, whom he struggles to protect from her father, Jordan Sparks, who abuses her, and from their mother, whose irresponsible behavior forces Gerald to work hard to keep the family together. In the end he must stand up to his stepfather alone in a blazing confrontation.

The Fight - L. Divine

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Jayd Jackson is no stranger to drive-by shootings or run-ins with the friendly neighborhood crackhead. Street-smart, book-smart, and life-smart, she's nobody's fool-least of all KJ's, the most popular and cutest basketball jock at South Bay High, aka Drama High. Yes, it's a fact, Jayd fell hard for his player ways for a time, but now that KJ's shown his true colors-dumping Jayd because she refused to give up the cookies-she's through with him and his game playing for good.

The First Part Last -- Angela Johnson

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Click here for our review

Bobby is a typical urban New York City teenager--impulsive, eager, restless. For his sixteenth birthday he cuts school with his two best buddies, grabs a couple of slices at his favorite pizza joint, catches a flick at a nearby multiplex, and gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever: He's going to be a father. Then tragedy strikes Nia, and Bobby finds himself in the role of single, teenage father. Because his child--their child--is all that remains of his lost love.

Dymond in the Rough - KaShamba Williams

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Fourteen-year-old Dymond is at a pivotal point in her life...high school. Not only is she faced with the challenges of being a freshman, but also from members in her crew – Kera and Porsha. Both of them have boyfriends, however Dymond has yet to find one. Well, that is until she meets Kyle Banks.

A different Kind of Heat - Antonio Pagliarulo

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Luz Cordero is on fire. She’s burning up with rage. She was there the night her brother got killed. She saw the cop pull the trigger. She tried to do something positive about it by going to protests, but all her anger got her into trouble.

Chill Wind - Janet McDonald

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Afraid that she will have no where to go when her welfare checks are stopped, nineteen-year-old high school dropout Aisha tries to figure out how she can support herself and her two young children in New York City.

Broken China - Lori Aurella Williams

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China Cup Cameron, a fourteen-year-old single mother with only her paralyzed Uncle Simon for support, takes on tremendous personal debt in hopes of a beautiful funeral after her daughter dies.

Black and White -- Paul Volponi

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Marcus and Eddie are best friends who found the strength to break through the racial barrier. Marcus is black; Eddie is white. Stars of their school basketball team, they are true leaders who look past the stereotypes and come out on top. But one night--and one wrong decision--will change their lives forever. Will their mistake cost them their friendship . . . and their future?

Big City Cool: Short Stories About Urban Youth

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Fourteen short stories about what it's like to grow up in the city—the glamour, the mean streets, and the neighborhood. In these fourteen authentic short stories, young people growing up in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, and elsewhere contend with city realities. Among the authors are Judith Ortiz Cofer, Eugenia Collier, Ann Hood, Cherylene Lee, Paul Many, Walter Dean Myers, Michael Rosovsky, Neal Shusterman, Amy Tan, Elennora Tate, and Kurt Vonnegut.

Behind You -- Jacqueline Woodson

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Even though Miah was black and Ellie is white, they made sense together. Then Miah was killed. It was the end of their relationship, but it was the beginning of grief for the many people who loved him. Now Miah's mother has stopped trying, his friends are lost, and Ellie does not know how to move on. And then there is Miah, watching; unable to let go. This beautiful novel explores the experiences of those left behind after a tragedy.

The Beast -- Walter Dean Myers

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17-yr-old Anthony "Spoon" Witherspoon is returning to Harlem after seven months at an exclusive prep school. It's with mixed feelings that he's left New York City in the first place to finish high school in the hallowed halls of the mostly white, very preppy New England school -- but now that Spoon is back home, he realizes how much he's come to like his prep-school life and new friends. He's missed his girlfriend, though, and is shocked to discover upon his return that the bright young poet she was when he left has become a drug addict.

Bang -- Sharon Flake

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A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man.

Baby Girl - Lenora Adams

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Sheree has always been a tough girl, able to take care of herself. Then she finds herself in a situation where she can't. She needs help. She needs answers. But she can't get either from the people she she turns to.

Autobiography of My Dead Brother -- Walter Dean Myers

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Jesse fills his sketchbook with drawings and portraits of his blood brother, Rise, and his comic strip, Spodi Roti and Wise, as he makes sense of the complexities of friendship, loyalty, and loss in a neighborhood where drive-bys, vicious gangs, and abusive cops are everyday realities.

What Happened to Lani Garver—Carol Plum-Ucci

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Sixteen-year-old Claire is unable to face her fears about a recurrence of her leukemia, her eating disorder, her need to fit in with the popular crowd on Hackett Island, and her mother's alcoholism until the enigmatic Lani Garver helps her get control of her life at the risk of his own.

A Stranger is Watching —Mary Higgins Clark

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Ronald Thompson knows he never killed Nina Peterson...yet in two days the state of Connecticut will take his life, having found him guilty via due process of law. But Thompson's death will not stop the pain and anger of Nina's husband, Steve. Thompson's death will not still the fears of Nina's six-year-old son, Neil, witness to his mother's brutal slaying. Not even the love and friendship of Sharon Martin, a journalist who is slowly becoming a part of their world, will ever erase their bitter memories. Only time, perhaps, will heal their wounds. But in the shadows a stranger waits, a cunning psychopath who has killed before, who has unfinished business at the Peterson home...

Shooting Monarchs—John Halliday

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Macy and Danny, two teenage boys who have both grown up under difficult circumstances, turn out very differently--one becomes a hero, the other a murderer.

Shattering Glass—Gail Giles

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When Rob, the charismatic leader of the senior class, turns the school nerd into Prince Charming, his actions lead to unexpected violence.

Playing in Traffic--Gail Giles

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Shy and unremarkable, seventeen-year-old Matt Lathrop is surprised and flattered to find himself singled out for the sexual attentions of the alluring Skye Colbly, until he discovers the evil purpose behind her actions. This gripping page-turner will propel you from one shocking revelation to the next-right to the astonishing ending.

The Long Night of Leo and Bree—Ellen Wittlinger

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On the anniversary of his sister's murder, Leo, tormented by his mother's insane accusations and his own waking nightmares, kidnaps a wealthy girl intending to kill her, but instead their long night together helps them both face their futures.

Locked Inside—Nancy Werlin

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After she is kidnapped from the exclusive boarding school she attends, heiress Marnie Skyedottir must rethink her idealized relationship with her mother, her own sense of who she is, and her relationships with others.

I Know What You Did Last Summer—Lois Duncan

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It was only an accident — but it would change their lives forever. Last summer, four terrified friends made a desperate pact to conceal a shocking secret. But some secrets don't stay buried, and someone has learned the truth. Someone bent on revenge. This summer, the horror is only beginning...

Escape From Memory—Margaret Peterson Haddix

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While playing around with hypnotism at a party, Kira remembers fleeing a war-torn country with her mother, speaking a language she can't identify. A few days later her mother disappears, and a woman who calls herself Kira's aunt Memory takes Kira to Crythe, a country that doesn't officially exist, in order to rescue her -- or so she says. Kira soon learns that Aunt Memory is not what she seems, and that she and her mother are both in terrible danger. There are memories locked in her mind that could get them killed -- but those memories are the only thing that might save them.

On the Fringe– Donald R. Gallo, ed.

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"In every school at every grade, there's a pecking order among students-an in crowd and those outside it, who are often ridiculed mercilessly for the "crime" of being different. This powerful anthology explores the teen outsider experience in electrifying, never-before-published stories by eleven of today's most acclaimed YA authors. A tomboy finds the relief of self-expression through her music, while in another tale a relentless bully tests the faith of an intensely religious girl. A cheerleader discovers that the true soul of her school can't be found within the cool clique; a football player finally stands up for a harassed fellow student; and a boy watches in horror as the school "freak" marches into his classroom with a loaded rifle."

Necessary Noise—Michael Cart

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"These are stories of today's families--fractured, blended, at risk, non-traditional, and some that are even still nuclear. Renowned author and noted anthologist Cart asked the most celebrated young adult authors the question "What does 'family' mean today?"

Island Boyz—Graham Salisbury

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"Salisbury’s love for Hawaii and its encircling sea shines through every story in this rich collection. Readers will share the rush a boy feels when he leaps off a cliff into a ravine or feasts his eyes on a beautiful woman. They’ll find stories that show what it takes to survive prep school, or a hurricane, or the night shift at Taco Bell, or first love. Graham Salisbury knows better than anyone what makes an island boy take chances, or how it feels to test the waters, to test the limits, and what it’s like when a beloved older brother comes home from war, never to be the same."

I Love You, I Hate You, Get Lost—Ellen Conford

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"A collection of seven humorous stories reflecting the ups and downs of teenage love and life."

Dandelion Wine —Ray Bradbury

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The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.

Bad Boys - Michael Cart

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Here are drifters, pranksters, jocks, rebels, monsters, and heroes living life on the edge. In knockout stories by Jackie Woodson and E. R. Frank, artwork by John O'Brien and Chris Gall, essays by Robert Lypsite and Jack Gantos, and much more, bad boys sometimes play by the rules, often misbehave, but always grab our attention.

The Color of Absence—John Howe, ed.

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"In adolescence we feel our losses as if for the first time, with a greater depth of pain and drama than we are aware of having experienced ever before," says James Howe in his introduction to this stunning collection of short stories in which some of today's most celebrated authors of fiction for young adults explore the many faces of loss - the common thread they share and the hope that is born through change."

Alison Goodman's Eon a review by Nathan W

Eon is an Eragon-esque book, though a little better to follow. Ms. Goodman took from the Chinese culture as back-story for her novel. She took some symbols from the Chinese New Year (i.e. dragon, rat, pig, etc.) to create different martial arts styles to fuel Eon. Eon, a young boy, comes into his own in this book: He has to become a Dragoneye, a prince-like character, and help end the reign of an evil emperor.

Overall, Eon had an average plot with average characters. There were a few minor grammatical errors- but that to be expected because this is an advanced uncorrected edition. I give Eon: Dragoneye Reborn three out of five stars.

Well Wished- Franny Billingsley

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In a time of dire need, eleven-year-old Nuria tries to outwit the magical wishing well in her mysterious mountain village.

The Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett

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"A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland."

The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

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Late nineteenth-century novel in which an intellectually superior race from Mars invades Earth with plans to take over the planet.

The seven songs of merlin - T.A. Barron

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To save his ailing mother, Merlin must master the Seven Songs of Wisdom passed down from his grandfather, a legendary wizard.

Predator's Gold -- Philip Reeve

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In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, Tom and Hester hope that the ice city of Anchorage will reach the rumored haven of the Dead Continent--America--before the savage Hunstmen of Arkangel find them.

The Guns of the South – Harry Turtledove

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"An exciting new novel of "alternate history" in which time travelers from the future alter the outcome of the Civil War. As the war is nearing its end, and General Lee is facing imminent defeat, he is approached with the offer of an extraordinary weapon--an assault rifle called the AK-47."