Young Adult (ages 14-18)

Material appropriate for young adults

Being Bindy

Eighth grade is torture–at least it is for Bindy!(1) Her best friend since kindergarten becomes her worst enemy.(2) She’s stuck taking yoga in sports ed, where she unleashes the Very Bad Thing that gets the whole school talking.(3) She suffers total humiliation when certain unmentionables are tossed around at assembly.What’s more, Bindy’s divorced parents are behaving badly.(1) Her laid-back father looks like he’s falling for–could it be?– none other than her ex-best friend’s mother. Which means that . . .(2) . . . Bindy’s worst enemy might just end up as her sister!(3) Her domineering mom always wants Bindy to do things her way.Enough is enough! To survive the drama in her life, Bindy must make some tough decisions in this funny, searching novel about being true to yourself.

Heart’s Delight

As a teenage boy goes through the mementos of his ended relationship with his first true love, he recalls all the good and bad they shared, the events that brought them together and tore them apart, and the life he lives now without her, in a touching tale of romance, heartbreak, and the struggle to cope through it all.

Mistik Lake

After Odella’s mother leaves her, her sisters, and their father in Manitoba and moves to Iceland with another man, she then dies there, and the family finally learns some of the many secrets that have haunted them for two generations.

My Brother, My Sister, and I

The author of So Far from the Bamboo Grove continues her semi-autobiographical fiction, describing the hardships, poverty, tragedies, and struggles of life for her and her two older brother and sister, living in post-World War II (1947) Japan.

 

 

Just In Case

Justin Case is convinced fate has in for him. And he’s right. After finding his younger brother teetering on the edge of his balcony, 15-year-old David Case realizes the fragility of life and senses impending doom. Without looking back, he changes his name to Justin and assumes a new identity, new clothing and new friends, and dares to fall in love with the seductive Agnes Day. With his imaginary dog Boy in tow, Justin struggles to fit into his new role and above all, to survive in a world where tragedy is around every corner. He’s got to be prepared, just in case.

Promises To Keep

Jilly Coppercorn used to be a victim of abuse and drug addiction, but not is well on her way to being normal as an art school student when she runs into Donna Birch, her only friend from her past. This urban fantasy sets in Newford in 1972. Donna takes Jilly into a beautiful, mysterious city full of wonderful opportunities. It’s almost a paradise until Jilly realizes that the inhabitants are actually dead, souls whose lives were unfulfilled.

See Ya, Simon

This funny and poignant novel tells the story of Nathan and his best friend, Simon–two 14-year-old boys with a passion for girls, soccer, weekends, girls, computers, and girls. Although Simon is confined to a wheelchair because of muscular dystrophy, his keen sense of humor and taste for excitement are more than a match for his disability.

Shylock’s Daughter

Sixteen-year-old Jessica, who longs to be free of the restrictions of her father and life in the Jewish ghetto of sixteen-century Venice, falls in love with a Christian aristocrat and must make choices which will affect her whole family. Inspired by Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice.

The Raging Quiet

Marnie comes to the remote fishing hamlet of Torcurra as the reluctant bride of Isake Isherwood, a lord of her parents’ farm. But two days later, while thatching the roof, Isake falls to his death. Marnie’s only kindness comes from Father Brannan, the village priest, and Raver, the strange mad boy whose incoherent cries belie his gentle heart. Taking him in one windy night, Marnie makes a startling discovery: Raver is not mad but deaf. Determined to communicate with the boy whom Marnie now calls Raven, she invents a system of hand-words. Raven learns quickly and has soon all but shed his madness. Yet while Marnie and Raven forge a deep bond, the villagers, already suspicious of Marnie’s role in Isake’s death, see his transformation as the result of witchcraft. Even as Marnie’s and Raven’s bond turns to love, and as they uncover the mysterious value of their cottage, Marnie is forced into a witchcraft trial where the test of the iron bar will determine her fate. Set in the times when magic was a force to be reckoned with, The Raging Quiet is the epic saga of a remarkable woman whose only crime is being different.