A New York Times bestseller and one of 2019's best-reviewed books, a poetic memoir and call to action from the award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson!
Instant New York Times Bestseller
TIME Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time
TIME Best YA Books of All Time
TIME 100: Most Influential People of 2020
New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2018
TIME Top 10 Best YA and Children's Books of 2018
NPR's Book Concierge 2018 Great Reads List
Buzzfeed's 24 Best YA Books of 2018
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
“Meet Tomi Adeyemi—the new J.K. Rowling. (Yep, she’s that good).” —Entertainment Weekly
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray comes a gripping, extraordinary portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.
Loosely based on a true story three men and nine children set off across the channel to a stac, an almost barren island, for three weeks to harvest birds, collect eggs and feathers for their village; an occurrence that happens every spring and is a rite of passage for the young boys that live on St. Kirta. Their fellow villager drops them off and plans to be back in a few weeks to pick them up. But the boat never returns. Abandoned by their village, the “fowlers” are forced to try and survive on an island bereft of fresh water, trees, or any real food source save what they can catch with their own hands. What follows is an amazing story of human ingenuity and strength. This is an emotional powerhouse of a book and speaks to the soul of what drives every one of us.
-Chrissy
This is probably the best retelling of the tale of the Beauty and the Beast that I have ever read! Harper has never had an easy life. She suffers from cerebral palsy, an absent father, a terminally ill mother, and a brother involved in illegal activity. While helping her brother with a job, she gets pulled into a world of princes, beasts, and dangerous magic. Prince Rhen has just about given up on breaking the curse, until he meets Harper. The combination of character development, twists, and toe-curling romance will definitely have you on the edge of your seat!
-Kirsten
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Morgan and Eric have been friends since they were kids, best friends in fact. When Morgan’s mom dies Eric is the only person who can console him. When Eric’s parents start to fight more often, the arguments growing louder and more frequent, Morgan keeps him sane. But as the two boys meander their way towards high school Morgan quits the football team and Eric can tell that Morgan isn’t telling him everything. How can he? How can Morgan explain - to Eric of all people - that Morgan isn’t sure he wants to be … a he? This is a wonderful story of a young person finding the courage to transition from male to female and the amazing and supportive love between two friends who are perhaps more than friends.
-Chrissy
The YA love letter to hip-hop—streaming on Paramount+ September 23, 2022! Starring Sanaa Lathan (in her directorial debut), Jamila C. Gray, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Method Man, Mike Epps, GaTa (Davionte Ganter), Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Titus Makin Jr., and Michael Anthony Cooper Jr.
It’s too awful; you have to look away. It’s too compelling; you have to look, to pay attention. That describes the shooting of unarmed people by police officers, and it most certainly describes Thomas’s debut novel. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand the Black Lives Matter movement – and especially by anyone who doesn’t. Starr, our 16-year-old narrator, uneasily navigates two worlds, her mostly black and poor neighborhood and her mostly white private school. When her childhood best friend is shot and killed in her presence by a police officer, the tenuous balance she’s been able to achieve crumbles. Please, please read this excellent, important book.
- Banna
The teens couldn’t be more different: Haruko, Japanese American, is outgoing, popular, and compliant; Margot, German American, is reclusive, mistrustful, and analytical. But what they have in common is more important: they’re very bright, observant members of families in turmoil, and in 1944 they’re living in an internment camp for “enemy aliens.” A secret and unlikely friendship becomes a lifeline for both of them. Like Hesse’s Girl in the Blue Coat, this riveting novel takes readers where we’ve never imagined going, with twists, turns, and startling intensity. The book is mesmerizing, empathetic, and incredibly timely in its treatment of injustice and fear of “the other.”
- Banna
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YA NONFICTION
A new generation wants to speak out and take action in challenging times- so where to start? Thoughtful reflections come from diverse voices such as Dylan Marron, Libba Bray and Jason Reynolds. This collection of over 20 conversations, essays, illustrations and poems speak directly to young people who are looking for ways to make a difference in the world. Open this book anywhere and be moved by the power of "activism and hope."
- Cindy
This debut novel couldn’t be timelier or more powerful. Lolly is mourning the loss of his older brother to gun violence while trying to deal with his parents’ divorce, his too-often absent father, and his mother’s new partner, Yvonne. Mr. Ali, a counselor at his Harlem after-school program, and Lolly’s close friend Vega help him navigate, but it’s Yvonne’s gift of Legos, retrieved from her job as a toy store security guard, that frees him to explore his creative impulses and work through his grief and confusion. The book, its narrator, and the neighborhood will stay in your heart long after the last page.
- Banna
Gerta survived the Holocaust, just barely. But now what? She’s 17. Her parents are dead. She suspects her stepmother was responsible for her and her father’s arrest. Her father’s viola enabled her to survive, but the vocal career for which she trained seems unattainable. She lives in Bergen-Belsen, once a concentration camp and now a camp for displaced persons; her prospects are few and grim. Perhaps Palestine – if she can get there? If she remains in Europe, where? How will she live? The lives of survivors in the aftermath of the Holocaust are rarely examined, even more rarely in such depth and with such compassion. And never before, to my knowledge, so generously and beautifully illustrated.
- Banna
You’ve read Anne Frank’s diary; you think you know what Amsterdam was like in 1943. You don’t. This historical novel has a sense of immediacy that makes it impossible to put down – and it will haunt you long after you finish it. Hanneke, 18, leads a complicated life: secretary to a mortician, finder/deliverer of black market goods, dutiful daughter who’s her parents’ sole support. When she’s asked by one of her clients to locate a Jewish girl who disappeared from her hiding place, Hanneke gets drawn into the resistance against her better judgment. How much is she willing to risk? Her parents’ lives? But how can she refuse? This sharply focused, well-researched look at daily life in Nazi-occupied Holland is also a masterful suspenseful story.
- Banna
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This eye-opening book introduces the segregated Lousiana of the sixties to contemporary readers. The close friendship of a black boy and white brother-and-sister twins raises eyebrows in a community already unsettled by the early days of integration. The boys’ prowess at football makes it easier for the community to accept their friendship, but as a romantic relationship develops between the white girl and the twins’ black friend, things get exponentially more complicated. A riveting story, and a nuanced portrait of a challenging period.
- Banna
The beloved, #1 global bestseller by John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and Turtles All the Way Down
“John Green is one of the best writers alive.” –E. Lockhart, #1 bestselling author of We Were Liars
“The greatest romance story of this decade.″ –Entertainment Weekly
