When Mehmet and his family leave their small Turkish village to seek a better life in Ankara, they find themselves living in poverty, but an encounter with a streetwise orphan and his own determination give Mehmet the courage to find a way out.
Young Adult (ages 14-18)
Material appropriate for young adults
Cassandra’s Sister
Young Jane — or Jenny, as she is called — is a girl with a head full of questions. Surrounded by her busy parents and brothers, Jenny finds a place for her thoughts in the companionship of her older sister, Cassandra. Theirs is a country life full of balls and visits, at which conversation inevitably centers on one topic: marriage. But the arrival of their worldly-wise cousin Eliza disrupts Jenny’s world, bringing answers to some of her questions and providing a gem of an idea.
Norman and Brenda
Some people face the world with confidence. They are popular, charismatic, incredibly successful and often beautiful. They achieve these things by sheer determination, talent and cosmetic surgery. They have big houses, big cars and big hair. They have gorgeous children who become even richer and more famous than they are, simply by breathing and being able to tie their own shoelaces. Norman and Brenda are nothing like these people.
Midget
Left under his older brother’s care when his mother dies in childbirth, Midget, a physically challenged boy, is viciously abused by his brother throughout his first fifteen years, and Midget’s only friend is an elderly boat builder.
Granny Was a Buffer Girl
Eighteen-year-old Jess is leaving for college–and she’d like to leave her family behind. But when the family gathers to bid Jess farewell, they begin to tell stories. And each story binds them closer to Jess’s heart. A novel which celebrates the continuity of life and the importance of family, sure to appeal to a wide audience.
The Two Loves of Will Shakespeare
Young William Shakespeare should be taking his glove-making apprenticeship much more seriously. However, carousing with his friends, carrying on with women, and sneaking off to see plays are all higher priorities for him. All this changes when Will’s best friend, Richard, asks him to write and deliver sonnets to a young woman, pretending the love poems are from Richard. Once Will lays eyes on the exquisitely beautiful Anne Whateley, he is deeply in love. He wants more than anything to make himself into a man worthy of such a young woman. But entanglements with a certain Anne Hathaway, the discovery of an old prank, and his distracted nature all complicate matters for the future Bard of Avon. In this highly entertaining historical novel Laurie Lawlor imagines how there came to be two different marriage license applications taken out on consecutive dates in November of 1582 between eighteen-year-old William Shakespeare and two different women both named Anne.
Mothers and Other Strangers: Stories
A collection of stories highlights the similar problems faced by women of all ages, including the pensive, eighteen-year-old Ginny; seventeen-year-old Loretta, who is alone; and fifty-five-year-old Allison, who cannot help crying all the time.
Winter Of Fire
A slave girl’s strange visions earn her a coveted place as the Firelord’s handmaiden, but when the Firelord dies and is replaced by the handmaiden, she pays the price for her powers.
The Passersby (Edge Books)
As a teenage Jewish girl struggles with anorexia, her decisions about whether or not to live affect those close to her and are influenced by survivors of the Holocaust.
Switchers
When freakish weather grips the Arctic regions and moves southward, an Irish girl and her strange companion save the world from disaster through their ability to switch into animal forms.