Young Adult (ages 14-18)

Material appropriate for young adults

Vermonia #1: Quest for the Silver Tiger

On a distant Blue Star, Mel, Jim, Naomi, and Doug — friends obsessed with their garage band — don’t seem that different from any of the other twelve-year-old skateboarders at Union Middle School. But everything changes when Mel is kidnapped and imprisoned in a world called the Turtle Realm. As her friends rush to save her, guided by the magical squelp Satorin, they find a world terrorized by a conquering army, a land whose villagers’ only hope is an ancient prophecy foretelling the arrival of four heroes.

Angel (Exceptional Reading & Language Arts Titles For Upper Grades)

Freya’s intense passion for angels led her into years of mental illness. Now, just when she’s starting to believe she’s normal again, a dark angel starts to follow her. Soon she learns a stunning truth: She is an angel herself. And an angel’s job is nothing like she imagined it would be…

Peril on the Sea

It is the summer of 1588 and a pair of unlikely shipmates is traveling on the Vixen, a privateer that will soon be drafted to join a flotilla of English ships bound for a fiery clash with the Spanish Armada. Seventeen-year-old Sherwin is aboard to repay a debt he owes the ship’s roguish captain, Brandon Fletcher. Sixteen-year-old Katharine is sailing with them in a desperate bid to save her noble family’s fortune. The fight will be harrowing and bloody, and the unfolding tumult will challenge the character of both Sherwin and Katharine, who are about to discover the deeper meaning of strife and of honor. This fascinating tale affords an unusual view of one of the most important naval encounters in history, as a kindling romance between two young people takes place amidst a reluctant race to battle.

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away his ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba. As the tropical island begins to work its magic on him, the young refugee befriends a local girl with some painful secrets of her own. Yet even in Cuba, the Nazi darkness is never far away . . .

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2

Anne Frank and Me

The successful play is now a gripping novel. Knocked unconscious after explosions ring out during a field trip to an Anne Frank exhibit, boy-crazy Nicole Burns wakes to find herself living a parallel life as a Jew in 1942 Paris. This Nicole is dating the boy of her present-day dreams, but living under the Nazis gradually becomes a nightmare. Her family survives the Nazi occupation with the help of friends, but when her father is exposed as a resistant, their fate takes a dire turn. The shifts in Nicole’s lives — from a carefree, sophisticated Parisian girl to a wretch riding in a cattle car with Anne Frank; from a modern girl focused only on the drama of her high school life to a thoughtful observer of the potential of everyday injustices — will engage teens and change their views of history found in books and the history we’re making today.

1968

1968, the year America grew up from racial and gender equality fights to the struggle against the draft and the Vietnam war. In 1968 Americans asked questions and fought for their rights.  Now, 30 years later, we look back on that seminal year–from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assasination to the Columbia University riots to our changing role among other nations–in this gripping introduction to the events home and abroad.  The year we first took steps in space, the year we shaped the present, 1968 presented by a former New York Times writer who lived through it all, shares the story with detail.

A True And Faithful Narrative

In Restoration London, sixteen-year-old Meg Moore spends long hours conversing with the famous authors and poets who visit her father’s bookstore, and even writes her own stories. Without warning, however, Meg comes to learn exactly how powerful words can be. The day her best friend’s brother Edward sets sail for Italy, Meg scoffs at his attempts at romance by answering him with a thoughtless jest. Soon news travels to London that
Edward’s ship has been captured and he has been sold as a slave in North Africa – and Meg cannot shake the thought that her cruel words are the cause. Now Meg must use her fiery language to bring Edward home, imploring her fellow Londoners to give all that they can to buy Edward’s freedom. But once Meg learns to direct the power behind her words, will she be able to undo the damage she has caused, and write freely the stories that she longs to put to paper? This sequel to At the Sign of the Star continues Meg’s story.