Contemporary Fiction

Kendra - Coe Booth (YA BOOTH, COE)
Kendra longs to live with the mother who abandoned her at 14.

Marvelous Effect- Troy Cle (YA CLE, TRO)
13 year old Louis Proof finds an underground amusement park that puts him into a coma.  He awakes to a science fiction world he doesn’t recognize.

Played - Dana Davidson (YA DAVIDSON, DAN)
Ian must get unpopular Kylie to fall for him to join the elite high school fraternity, but he’s not sure he likes the man he is becoming.

The Fight (Drama High series) - Devine, L. (YA DEVINE, L)
Jayd drops K.C. when she thinks he’s playing her, but his new girl is willing to fight her to keep her away.

Tears of a Tiger - Sharon Draper (YA DRAPER, SHA)
Andy struggles to deal with the death of basketball star Rob Washington while he was at the wheel.

Battle of Jericho - Sharon Draper (YA DRAPER, SHA)
A high school junior and his cousin deal with the ramifications of joining a “special” school club.

Francie - Karen English (YA ENGLISH, KAR)
Francie’s friendship with a boy that she tutors brings trouble when he is accused of murder.

Who am I without Him?  Short Stories about Girls & the Boys in Their Lives - Sharon Flake (YA FLAKE, SHA)

Bronx Masquerade - Nikki Grimes (YA GRIMES, NIK)
Students read their intense, personal poetry aloud after studying the Harlem Renaissance.

Dark Sons - Nikki Grimes (YA GRIMES, NIK)
Biblical figure Ishmael and NY teen Sam try to come to terms with being abandoned by their fathers in alternating poems.

Dancer - Lorri Hewett (YA HEWETT, LOR)
Stephanie struggles to perfect her ballet steps when a new male dancer is joins her troop.

First Part Last - Angela Johnson (YA JOHNSON, ANG)
Bobby’s teenage life changes as he must learn to care for his new baby girl.

Heaven - Angela Johnson (YA JOHNSON, ANG)
Marley’s life is upended when she discovers her mom & dad are not her real parents.

Off-Color - Janet McDonald (YA MCDONALD, JAN)
After living with a single mom in Brooklyn, 14 year old Cameron is surprised to discover that she is biracial.

Staying Pure (Payton Skyy series) - Stephanie Moore (YA MOORE, STE)
Payton begins to question her relationship with her boyfriend as he pressures her to sleep with him.

Monster - Walter Dean Myers (YA MYERS, WAL)
Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and court while he is on trial as an accomplice to murder.

Street Love - Walter Dean Myers (YA MYERS, WAL)
Damien protects his new romance set against a backdrop of Harlem gangs & poverty.

Push - Sapphire (YA SAPPHIRE)
Claireece tries to cope with the horrible events of her life.  Told in her own halting speech, this is a powerful story.

The Hoopster - Alan Lawrence Sitomer (YA SITOMOER, ALA)
Basketballer Andre writes newspaper columns on race issues but is attacked after a controversial piece.

Keeping the Night Watch - Hope Anita Smith (YA SMITH, HOP)
What does a boy and his family do when the father who abandoned them returns?

Sparrow - Sherri Smith (YA SMITH, SHE)
Kendall travels to New Orleans to live with a relative after her grandmother who raised her dies.

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun - Jacqueline Woodson (YA WOODSON, JAC)
Melanin’s quiet life is upturned when her mother reveals that she is in love with another woman.

Miracle’s Boys - Jacqueline Woodson (YA WOODSON, JAC)
Lafayette’s relationship with his older brother changes when his brother is released from a detention center.

Historical Fiction

Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson (YA ANDERSON, LAU)
Isabel gets back at her cruel owners by spying for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Volume 1: The Pox Party
Volume 2: The Kingdom of the Waves - Anderson, M. T. (YA ANDERSON, M. T.)
Octavian is raised with the finest classical education to see if a slave can learn.  As all that he has known is taken from him, Octavian escapes & seeks retribution.

Copper Sun - Sharon Draper (YA DRAPER, SHA)
Two 15 year old girls escape their Carolina plantation in hopes that they will find sanctuary in the Spanish colony of Florida.

Belle and the Beau & Josephine and the Soldier - Beverly Jenkins (YA JENKINS, BEV)
These two romance books look at the Civil War through the eyes of an escaped slave and a free northerner whose boyfriend is heading to war.

Raisin in the Sun - Lorraine Hansbury (YA 812 HAN)
A Chicago family struggles to overcome poverty and difficult living conditions in this classic play.

Day of Tears - Julius Lester (YA LESTER, JUL)
Multiple perspectives are presented as the largest slave auction in American history splits families apart and leads to daring escapes.

Legend of Buddy Bush - Sheila Moses (YA MOSES, SHE)
A fictionalized account of the real life 1947 arrest, trial, escape and acquittal of Buddy Bush through the eyes of his 12 year old niece.

Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers (YA MYERS, WAL)
Perry enlists in the army and learns about warfare, racism and honor while fighting the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.

Flygirl - Sherri Smith (YA SMITH, SHE)
Ida passes as white in order to fly for the allies during WWII.

The Land - Mildred Taylor (YA TAYLOR, MIL) 
Mixed-race Paul-Edward is determined to buy his own land in the years after the Civil War.

Graphic Novels

Nat Turner V. 1 & 2 - Kyle Baker (YAGN 921 TURNER)
A wordless story of the Nat Turner Rebellion.

Dynamo 5: Post-Nuclear Family - Jay Faerber (YAGN DYNAMO 5)
Captain Dynamo has died. His wife tracks down five of his illegitimate children from various cultural backgrounds to train them to take over for him.

Invincible Iron Man: War Machine - Various (YAGN IRON MAN)
When Tony Stark is unable to wear the armor, Jim Rhodes steps in and becomes Iron Machine.