Hot Reads

The protagonist of this astonishing debut is a young, African-American teen who can't get a break. Tyrell is living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter. He feels he needs to score some money to make things better. Will he end up following in his fathers footsteps? ...More

Now in paperback, this debut from an award-winning high school teacher is thestory of what happens when a star basketball player and a brainy girl pair upfor a class project. ...More

Slave traders invade Armari's African village and she is dragged to a ship bound for the Carolinas. Bought by a plantation owner, Amari befriends a white indentured servant named Polly and struggles to hold on to her memories, in this Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel. ...More

From the Coretta Scott King Award-winning author comes this riveting tale of a young girl with a secret that may keep her off her beloved double dutch team. ...More

After the shooting death of his little brother, 13-year-old Mann tries to escape his emotions. To toughen Mann up and prevent him from becoming a statistic, Mann's father draws from African tradition and abandons Mann and his friend Kee Lee in the woods, leaving them to find their own way home. ...More

This winner of the 1999 Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award tells the storyof a young African-American girl who is tormented by her peers because of herdarker skin. ...More

An unforgettable narrative collage told in poems
Keesha has found a safe place to live, and other kids gravitate to her house when they just can' t make it on their own. They are Stephie - pregnant, trying to make the right decisions for herself and those she cares about; Jason - Stephie' s boyfriend, torn between his responsibility to Stephie and the baby and the promise of a college basketball career; Dontay - in foster care while his parents are in prison, feeling unwanted both inside and outside the system; Carmen - arrested on a DUI charge, waiting in a juvenile detention center for a judge to hear her case; Harris - disowned by his father after disclosing that he' s gay, living in his car, and taking care of himself; Katie - angry at her mother' s loyalty to an abusive stepfather, losing herself in long hours of work and school. ...More

When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class and reads it aloud, poetry-slam-style, he kicks off a revolution. Soon his classmates are clamoring to have weekly poetry sessions. One by one, eighteen students take on the risky challenge of self-revelation. Award-winning author Nikki Grimes captures the voices of eighteen teenagers through the poetry they share and the stories they tell, and exposes what lies beneath the skin, behind the eyes, beyond the masquerade. ...More

In this Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning novel, a black family moves into an enormous house once used to hide runaway slaves. Mysterious sounds and events as well as the discovery of secret passageways make the family believe they are in grave danger. ...More

Thirteen-year-old Bird runs away to convince her stepfather to return home, and becomes entwined in the lives of three people. In this ALA Notable Book, Coretta Scott King Award winner Johnson shows how one individual's warmth and kindness can heal so many hurts. ...More

This winner of the Coretta Scott King Award takes place in Heaven, an Ohio town where 14-year-old Marley has grown up. One day she discovers the people she calls Momma and Pops are not really her parents. She is forced to question all her assumptions about who she is, in this tale about the search for identity and the power of forgiveness. ...More

In her debut novel, Traci L. Jones presents a girl with grit she never knew she had, and a boy so inspired by her that he begins to take pride in his own abilities. ...More

2007 Virginia Readers' Choice
Winner - 2006 Coretta Scott King Award
A BookPage Notable Title

Through flashbacks, foreshadowing, and shifting first-person points of view, readers will travel with Emma and others through time and space. They come to discover that every decision has its consequences, and final judgment is passed down not by man, but by his maker. ...More

When her perfect world falls apart, 15-year-old Indigo Summer turns to the one person who seems to have his head on straight--her 16-year-old neighbor Marcus Carter. The problem is, now that Indigo realizes what a great guy Marcus is, so has someone else. Original. ...More

The second book in an exciting Christian-themed Young Adult series sees PerrySkky facing temptations of every kind. ...More

In his first book for young adults, the bestselling author weaves a powerful narrative about the nature of freedom. The life of a young slave named 47 seems doomed until he meets a mysterious runaway slave and finds himself swept up in a struggle for his own liberation. 240 p. ...More

Young, black, 16-year-old Steve Harmon, an amateur filmmaker, is on trial for the murder of a Harlem drugstore owner. Steve copes by writing a movie script based on his trial. But despite his efforts, reality is blurred until he can no longer tell who he is or what the truth is. Illustrations. ...More

Myers returns to the world of 145th Street to show how love can be found, and thrives, in the most unlikely places. Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion. ...More

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. Dymond finds herself falling face first, nose wide open for him. Even lying to her mother (with the help of her girls) to be with him, but how many lies can you tell before it catches up to you? Ms. Dymond In The Rough will soon find out! ...More

Relentless, remorseless, and inspirational, this "horrific, hope-filled story" (Newsday) is certain to haunt a generation of readers. Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey of transformation and redemption. ...More

Sixteen-year-old Keysha Kendall has lived with her emotionally abusive mother all her life. Her world is thrown into chaos when she is forced to move in with her biological father to avoid being placed in foster care. Suddenly Keysha's feeling like an outsider and unsure whether living with her father is where she truly belongs. Original. ...More

The Hoopster
By Sitomer, Alan Lawrence
2006/02 - Jump at the Sun
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He lands a dream internship at a magazine, and just after he's given the chance to write a feature article, he's viciously attacked. Now everything he ever believed in is called into question.