Most Circulated Titles

I am not your perfect Mexican daughter

Snchez, Erika L.,


Booklist, Horn Book Guide, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal Starred, Julia refuses to conform to her Mexican family's expectations of her, wanting to become a writer instead of following her older sister Olga on the path of community college, part-time job, and taking care of their parents. Then, Olga dies mysteriously, and her best friend Angie hints to Julia that there may have been more to Olga than everyone thought. Julia and her best friend, Lorena, investigate, and in the meantime Julia has to figure out how to fall in love with Connor, a white boy whom she is sure could never understand her family.
Date Published:2017

Booklist, Horn Book Guide, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal Starred, Julia refuses to conform to her Mexican family's expectations of her, wanting to become a writer instead of following her older sister Olga on the path of community college, part-time job, and taking care of their parents. Then, Olga dies mysteriously, and her best friend Angie hints to Julia that there may have been more to Olga than everyone thought. Julia and her best friend, Lorena, investigate, and in the meantime Julia has to figure out how to fall in love with Connor, a white boy whom she is sure could never understand her family.

Date Published:2017

The sun is also a star

Yoon, Nicola,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide Starred, Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Journal, Follows teenagers Natasha and Daniel over the course of a single day in New York City. Natasha's family, undocumented immigrants from Jamaica, faces deportation because of her father's drunk driving arrest. Daniel, under pressure from his South Korean parents, is preparing for an interview for a spot at Yale. When the two strangers meet, Daniel convinces Natasha to join him for the day, changing the course of their lives forever.
Date Published:2016

Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide Starred, Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Journal, Follows teenagers Natasha and Daniel over the course of a single day in New York City. Natasha's family, undocumented immigrants from Jamaica, faces deportation because of her father's drunk driving arrest. Daniel, under pressure from his South Korean parents, is preparing for an interview for a spot at Yale. When the two strangers meet, Daniel convinces Natasha to join him for the day, changing the course of their lives forever.

Date Published:2016

All American boys

Reynolds, Jason,


"A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book." Booklist, Horn Book Guide Starred, Horn Book Magazine, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Journal Starred, When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.
Date Published:2015

Challenger deep

Shusterman, Neal,


School Library Journal starred, February 2015. Booklist starred, February 2015. Horn Book Starred, March 2015. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starre, June 2015. Pub Weekly, February 2015. Kirkus Starred, February 2015. Horn Book, October 2015. Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.), April 2015. "A teenage boy struggles with schizophrenia"--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2015

Wilder girls

Power, Rory,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Kirkus Reviews Starred, Publishers Weekly Starred, Friends Hetty, Byatt, and Reece go to extremes trying to uncover the dark truth about the mysterious disease that has had them quarantined at their boarding school on a Maine island.
Date Published:2019

Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster

Krakauer, Jon,


"New afterword by the author"--Cover. A history of Mount Everest expedition is intertwined with the disastrous expedition the author was a part of, during which five members were killed by a hurricane-strength blizzard. When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were in a desperate struggle for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eye-witness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
Date Published:1999

"New afterword by the author"--Cover. A history of Mount Everest expedition is intertwined with the disastrous expedition the author was a part of, during which five members were killed by a hurricane-strength blizzard. When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were in a desperate struggle for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eye-witness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Date Published:1999

Turtles all the way down

Green, John, 1977-,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Connection Star, Aza Holmes, a high school student with obsessive-compulsive disorder, becomes focused on searching for a fugitive billionaire.
Date Published:2019

Pride

Zoboi, Ibi Aanu,


Booklist, Horn Book Guide, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Journal Starred, In this reimagining of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," teenager Zuri Benitez is deeply proud of her Afro-Latino roots in their Brooklyn neighborhood, and is disappointed as she watches Bushwick gentrify. And when the wealthy Darcy family moves in, Zuri wants nothing to do with them, especially their two teenage sons, even though her older sister, Janae, falls for the charming Ainsley. The other brother, Darius, is especially obnoxious, but her dislike shifts into understanding and even affection.
Date Published:2018

Booklist, Horn Book Guide, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Journal Starred, In this reimagining of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," teenager Zuri Benitez is deeply proud of her Afro-Latino roots in their Brooklyn neighborhood, and is disappointed as she watches Bushwick gentrify. And when the wealthy Darcy family moves in, Zuri wants nothing to do with them, especially their two teenage sons, even though her older sister, Janae, falls for the charming Ainsley. The other brother, Darius, is especially obnoxious, but her dislike shifts into understanding and even affection.

Date Published:2018

Unwind

Shusterman, Neal,


Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Voice of Youth Advocates, In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs--and, perhaps, save their own lives.
Date Published:2007

Noggin

Whaley, John Corey,


Booklist, Horn Book Guide, Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, Voice of Youth Advocate, After dying at age sixteen, Travis Coates' head was removed and frozen for five years before being attached to another body, and now the old Travis and the new must find a way to coexist while figuring out changes in his relationships.
Date Published:2014

When breath becomes air

Kalanithi, Paul,


Publisher's Weekly, November 2015. Kirkus Starred, October 2015. Booklist, November 2015. New York Times, February 2016. "At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated"--Jacket flap.
Date Published:2016

Publisher's Weekly, November 2015. Kirkus Starred, October 2015. Booklist, November 2015. New York Times, February 2016. "At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated"--Jacket flap.

Date Published:2016

Code Talker : a novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two

Bruchac, Joseph, 1942-,


Wilson's Senior High School, October 2011. Wilson's Junior High School, January 2010. Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.), January 2006. School Library Journal, May 2005. Book Links (A.L.A.), January 2007. Booklist starred, February 2005. Library Media Connection starred, February 2006. Kirkus Starred, January 2005. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), February 2005. Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.), April 2005. After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Date Published:2005

Wilson's Senior High School, October 2011. Wilson's Junior High School, January 2010. Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.), January 2006. School Library Journal, May 2005. Book Links (A.L.A.), January 2007. Booklist starred, February 2005. Library Media Connection starred, February 2006. Kirkus Starred, January 2005. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), February 2005. Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.), April 2005. After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.

Date Published:2005

Lord of the flies

Golding, William, 1911-


Booklist, Library Journal, A fable of ship-wrecked children turning to primitive savagery which portrays the collapse of social order into chaos.
Date Published:2003

Bodega dreams

Quiñonez, Ernesto.


School Library Journal, September 2000. Books for the Teen Age (NYPL), May 2004. Pub Weekly, January 2000. Kirkus Starred, February 2000. New York Times, March 2000. Multicultural Review, June 2001. Kliatt Starred, September 2000. Chino, a young Puerto Rican man with a bright future, looks to Willie Bodega, the New York City drug pusher who rules Spanish Harlem, for a favor and becomes ensconced in a world of betrayal and violence.
Date Published:2000

School Library Journal, September 2000. Books for the Teen Age (NYPL), May 2004. Pub Weekly, January 2000. Kirkus Starred, February 2000. New York Times, March 2000. Multicultural Review, June 2001. Kliatt Starred, September 2000. Chino, a young Puerto Rican man with a bright future, looks to Willie Bodega, the New York City drug pusher who rules Spanish Harlem, for a favor and becomes ensconced in a world of betrayal and violence.

Date Published:2000

Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood

Noah, Trevor, 1984-,


Booklist starred, October 2016. Pub Weekly, October 2016. "Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. .... Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother-his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life"--Amazon.com.
Date Published:2016

Booklist starred, October 2016. Pub Weekly, October 2016. "Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. .... Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother-his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life"--Amazon.com.

Date Published:2016

The astonishing color of after : a novel

Pan, Emily X. R.,


School Library Journal starred, March 2018. Booklist starred, February 2018. Library Media Connection starred, May 2018. Pub Weekly, January 2018. New York Times, June 2018. Horn Book, November 2018. Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.), February 2018. Kirkus Review, January 2018. After her mother's suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.
Date Published:2019

School Library Journal starred, March 2018. Booklist starred, February 2018. Library Media Connection starred, May 2018. Pub Weekly, January 2018. New York Times, June 2018. Horn Book, November 2018. Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.), February 2018. Kirkus Review, January 2018. After her mother's suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.

Date Published:2019

Patron saints of nothing

Ribay, Randy,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide, Kirkus Reviews Starred, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Connection, School Library Journal Starred, Voice of Youth Advocates Star, When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.
Date Published:2020

The fault in our stars

Green, John, 1977-,


Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Booklist, Horn Book Guide Starred, Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Review, Library Media Connection, Publishers Weekly Starred, School Library Journal, Voice of Youth Advocates, Having been diagnosed as a terminal cancer patient, Hazel is running out of time. When she meets Augustus Waters at the Cancer Kid Support Group, her life takes an unexpected turn.
Date Published:2012

Purple hibiscus : a novel

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 1977-,


In the city of Egunu, Nigeria, fifteen year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a somewhat cloistered life. Their father is a wealthy businessman, they live in a beautiful home, and attend private school. But, through Kambili's eyes, we see that their home life is anything but harmonious. Her father, a fanatically religious man has impossible expectations of his children and his wife, and if things don't go his way he becomes physically abusive. Not until Kambili and Jaja are sent away from home for the very first time to visit their loving aunt, does Kambili's world begin to blossom. But when a military coup threatens to destroy the country, the tension in her family's home escalates, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.
Date Published:2012

In the city of Egunu, Nigeria, fifteen year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a somewhat cloistered life. Their father is a wealthy businessman, they live in a beautiful home, and attend private school. But, through Kambili's eyes, we see that their home life is anything but harmonious. Her father, a fanatically religious man has impossible expectations of his children and his wife, and if things don't go his way he becomes physically abusive. Not until Kambili and Jaja are sent away from home for the very first time to visit their loving aunt, does Kambili's world begin to blossom. But when a military coup threatens to destroy the country, the tension in her family's home escalates, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.

Date Published:2012

Just mercy : adapted for young adults : a true story of the fight for justice

Stevenson, Bryan,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide, Kirkus Review, School Library Journal Starred, Lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares his efforts to end racial and economic injustice through his organization Equal Justice Initiative. With personal stories from his work, he sheds light on a broken justice system he's working to change.
Date Published:2019