Theme: Coming of age

Roots and Wings

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

GRACE’S GRANDMOTHER HAS died, and she and her mother must travel back to the Cambodian community to give her a proper Cambodian funeral. But Grace wants to use the trip to solve a few mysteries, like who her father was, why her mother and grandmother moved from St. Petersburg to Pennsylvania, where they’re the only [...]

Descriptors: Cambodia, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Realistic Fiction, United States of America » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Ties that Bind, Ties that Break

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters go through the painful process of having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all the women of good families follow this ancient tradition. But Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she [...]

Descriptors: China, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), United States of America » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

On Rough Seas

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

At 14, Alec knows what he wants to be: a seaman. Instead of working at his family’s inn, he prefers roaming through the busy streets and docks of Dover. When the captain of the Britannia, one of the fishing vessels in the Channel, asks him to be a galley boy, he seizes the opportunity in [...]

Descriptors: England (UK), France, Germany, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14) » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

Letters from Rifka

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.

Descriptors: Belgium, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Russia, United States of America » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree: A Memoir of a Schindler’s List Survivor

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

In the spring of 1942 Hannelore received a letter from Mama at her school in Berlin, Germany–Papa had been arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Six weeks later he was sent home; ashes in an urn.Soon another letter arrived. “The Gestapo has notified your brothers and me that we are to be deported to [...]

Descriptors: Biography, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Yoruba Girl Dancing

By Rebecca Ballenger | Published: October 29, 2008

For Remi, growing up in Nigeria is a celebration of love and family, eccentricity and old ritual. She feels confident in her privilege and grounded in the heart of her culture. But when she turns six, as if by some awful spell, she is sent to faraway England, to a posh all-girls’ boarding school where [...]

Descriptors: England (UK), Nigeria, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Tell Me Lies

By Rebecca Ballenger | Published: October 29, 2008

It is 1969, and Stephen meets up with old friend Astrid and her lover Spencer, and stays with them in the hippy household “The Hollies.” Peace and love are tangible: until his passionate attraction for another girl in the household goes sour. He drifts into the radical arts scene and far-left politics, and finally into [...]

Descriptors: England (UK), Historical Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , » Leave a comment

Notes from the Teenage Underground

By Rebecca Ballenger | Published: October 29, 2008

Seventeen-year-old Gem loves movies, her feminist mom, and Dodgy, her coworker in a video store (at least she thinks she loves Dodgy).  When a school trip inspires Gem to make an underground film, her best friends Lo and Mira are quick to join the project, taking on the roles of producer and star. The film [...]

Descriptors: Australia, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , » Leave a comment

The Princetta

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: June 22, 2007

Rebelling against the rigid constraints of her life as Princetta of Galnicia, fifteen-year-old Malva escapes with her maid Philomena and together they embark on a perilous and adventurous journey that will change the course of their lives forever.

Descriptors: Europe, Fiction, France, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , » Comments closed

The Center Of The World

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: June 19, 2007

As he works through his often difficult relationships with his single mother, distant twin sister, his first boyfriend, and an odd assortment of friends, a teenage boy learns about the wounds and healing brought by love.

Descriptors: Europe, Germany, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , » Comments closed