Teen High Interest Titles

"Darcy Wills feels the pressure. Her best friend, Tarah Carson, has grown distant and hostile since the start of the schol year. And a medical crisis in Darcy's family has stress boiling over at home. When surprising news forces Darcy to look at the future beyond Bluford High, she realizes huge decisions are looming. Unsure what to do but unable to avoid what's coming, Darcy has no easy options. Her choices will cut both ways. Some doors will open,...

3.5 stars

While confined to a mental hospital, thirteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually starts to get better.

Marshall feels the need to escape because things are so tough at home. Rory is just happy it's the first day of the summer holidays. While out on their bikes they stumble across a long-forgotten underground bunker at the edge of the woods. This is the den, and going down inside will stretch their friendship to its limits. There will be rivalry and betrayal, but can wrecked relationships be saved before the summer has even begun?

After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.

4 stars

After their home in Syria is bombed, Tareq, his father, and his younger sister seek refuge, first with extended family in Raqqa, a stronghold for the militant group, Daesh, and then abroad.

4 stars

After Ciela and Lock are sexually assaulted at the same party, they develop a cautious friendship through her family's possibly-magical pastelería and his secret forest of otherworldly trees.

When coder extraordinaire Ashley's well-defined college prep plans veer off course, she decides to have fun during spring break and, for the first time, follow her heart.

"Yuriel's poor neighborhood in Monterrey, Mexico, isn't a place where fairy tales happen. Yuriel and his cousin Azul work each day doing laundry to help their family make a living. So when Azul, a trans teen, decides she wants to mark her transition to womanhood with a quinceañera, Yuriel is sure it's an impossible dream. They don't have the money, and besides, Azul's father would never support her transition. But as an openly gay artist in a traditional...

"A story about choice, and the overwhelming feeling that happens when a teen is faced with making major life choices alone. This novel is a hard-hitting portrayal of a reality faced by many teens in families touched by the epidemic of opioid addiction. Outta Here is the story of a lively and imaginative small-town teen living with a mom whose pain medication has led to addiction, leaving little money for basics -- like food."--

Hailed as a hero, twenty-year-old Jake returns to his pro-military hometown and family injured physically and emotionally, unsure if he can return to active duty but uncomfortable with the alternative.