Synopsis: Food is in sixteen-year-old Hope's blood. With her Aunt Addie, diner cook extraordinaire, she travels the States and hones her waitressing skills, impressing hungry people everywhere. But following the tides of comfort food dining means Hope never gets to stay in one place very long, and that's tough. This latest move threatens to be the hardest yet, leaving the excitement of New York City to run a diner in rural Wisconsin. Hope doesn't expect…

Synopsis: When two strangers enter his life, M.C. Higgins learns the answer to saving his home and family from the slag heap of an Ohio strip mine. "All of the characters have vitality and credibility as well as a unique quality that makes them unforgettable . . ".--The Horn Book. Newbery Medal; National Book Award; ALA Notable Children's Book; School Library Journal Best of the Best; New York Times Outstanding Children's Books of the Year.

Synopsis: We have a multitude of obstacles to overcome here. We'll begin. When LaVaughn was little, the obstacles in her life didn't seem so bad. If she had a fight with Myrtle or Annie, it would never last long. If she was mad at her mother, they made up by bedtime. School was simple. Boys were buddies. Everything made sense. But LaVaughn is fifteen and the obstacles aren't going away anymore. Big questions separate her from her friends. Her mother is…

Synopsis: "Stylistically superb. . . . This packs a punch that will leave readers of any age reeling."--"School Library Journal," Starred "Sharper in focus and more mature in style than Hinton's The Outsiders."--"Booklist" "An ALA Best Books for Young Adults" "A" School Library Journal "Best Books of the Year"

Synopsis: Like father,like sonIntelligent, popular, handsome, and wealthy, sixteen-year-old Nick Andreas is pretty much perfect -- on the outside, at least. What no one knows -- not even his best friend -- is the terror that Nick faces every time he is alone with his father. Then he and Caitlin fall in love, and Nick thinks his problems are over. Caitlin is the one person who he can confide in. But when things start to spiral out of control, Nick must…

Synopsis: "Pleasingly well written...Graced with a sound plot, a scary climax, and, above all, perceptive characterizations...A fine interweaving of fun and substance."SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNALAlthea and Phineas Hall are spending a boring summer with their father until a rich old man donates the mysterious Vandemark mummmy and other antiquities to the college where their father is a professor, with instructions that only he is to care for them. When…

Synopsis: "Richly textured....No one who loves the Tillermans--whose joys and troubles are as compelling as ever--will want to miss this."THE KIRKUS REVIEWSThere's only one thing Dicey Tillerman wants to do--and that's build boats. If she can make a success of doing what she loves, she can take care of the rest of the Tillerman clan, which includes her two younger brothers, her younger sister, and Gram, who took them all in when their mother abandoned…

Synopsis: Bullet Tillerman is a track team star who answers to no one. He'd rather be cut from the team than work with the promising new runner, Tamer Shipp. But Bullet finds his own rules are becoming too painful to live by. "A powerful, intensely moving novel . . . unforgettable".--Horn Book, starred review.

Synopsis: There are friends we can't imagine living without.Morgan and Jimmy were kids together, whirling around the porch on hot summer days. They've been friends forever, and by now they know each other inside out. They do everything together--from cutting high school to go into the city to coaching each other at dance auditions and acting workshops. They even argue well. A perfect friendship. Best friends. For life.So how could life be so right and…

Synopsis: Within Cole Matthews lie anger, rage and hate. Cole has been stealing and fighting for years. This time he caught Alex Driscal in the, parking lot and smashed his head against the sidewalk. Now, Alex may have permanent brain damage'and Cole is in the Biggest trouble of his life.Cole is offered Circle Justice: a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the criminal offender, the victim and the, community.…

Synopsis: Susan Calloway, bullied and overweight, faces daily humiliation at the hands of her classmates—and she's had enough. With her anger about to reach the boiling point, Susan lands in an alternative education class, a sort of group therapy for the nearly expelled. School is bad enough, but facing off with five peers, including her cruelest tormentor, is worse. Now Susan is being forced to do something she's always avoided—talk about herself and…

Synopsis: "I don't realize I'm crying until he glances at me. For a moment, I see the look of anguish in his eyes, then he blinks it away and slips off into the water. I immediately think of the gator. It's still down there somewhere. . . ." A science-class field trip to the Everglades is supposed to be fun, but Sarah's new at Glades Academy, and her fellow freshmen aren’t exactly making her feel welcome. When an opportunity for an unauthorized side trip…

Synopsis: The first novel in the wildly popular #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, from the author of The Whole Thing Together and The Here and Now. Some friends just fit together.   Once there was a pair of pants. Just an ordinary pair of jeans. But these pants, the Traveling Pants, went on to do great things. This is the story of the four friends—Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen—who made it possible.  Pants = love.…

Synopsis: Kidd is running from his past and his future. No mom, no dad, and there's nothing for him at the group home but therapy. He doesn't belong at the beach where he works either, unless he finds a reason to stay. Olivia is blond hair, blue eyes, rich dad. The prettiest girl in Cardiff. She's hiding something from Kidd--but could they ever be together anyway? Devon is mean, mysterious, and driven by a death wish. A best friend and worst enemy. He…

Synopsis: You can lose yourself in repetition--quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age.Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, his dad works nights, and Finley is left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone. He's always dreamed of getting out someday, but until he can, putting on that…

Synopsis: Hard-hitting historical fictionEver since his father ran off two years before, fifteen-year-old Johnny Woods has struggled to help support his ma and five siblings, sacrificing his own schooling in the process. Still, there's been hardly enough money each month to make the rent, and Johnny's dream of a house in Brooklyn, away from the tenement slums, is out of reach. Then Johnny discovers boxing. He is a natural-born fighter, with street smarts…

Synopsis: On Wednesday, November 25, at 2: 43 P. M., Eastern Standard Time, Branwell Zamborska is struck dumb. Nikki, his baby half sister, has slipped into a coma. Branwell dials 911, but when the emergency operator answers, he cannot speak. He cannot explain what is wrong. He cannot utter a sound.Vivian Shawcurt, the "au pair" from England, takes over. She tells the emergency medical team that Branwell dropped Nikki and shook her.Nikki is taken to the…