Young Adult (ages 14-18)

Material appropriate for young adults

Keeping Corner

Twelve-year-old Leela had been spoiled all her life. She doesn’t care for school and barely marks the growing unrest between the British colonists and her own countrymen. Her future has been planned since her engagement at two and marriage at nine. Leela’s whole life changes, though, when her husband dies. She’s now expected to behave like a proper widow: shaving her head and trading her jewel-toned saris for rough, earth-colored ones. Leela is considered unlucky and will have to stay confined to her house for a year in the keeping corner. Her teacher offers Leela lessons at home, and she learns about a new leader of the people, a man named Gandhi, who starts a political movement and practices non-violent protest against the colonists as well as the caste system, leading Leela to wonder how she can liberate herself.

Emerald Lizard (World Storytelling)

For the past three decades, Pleasant DeSpain has explored Latin America,_its countries, countrysides, customs, cultures, and especially, its stories. While his repertoire of traditional world folktales includes narratives from almost every culture around the globe, DeSpain’s talent shines even brighter when relating the legends from Latin America. His exploration of the heart and soul of this enormous region demonstrates his passion for Latin America and its people and their stories.

Moon without Magic

In this sequel to Wishing Moon, Aminah can’t believe her luck—or lack of it—when she discovers that the jinni’s lamp is missing. Somehow the bottle imp remains outside the lamp, devoid of his powers. In their search for the lamp, the girl and the helpless jinni have to rely on wit, bravery, and a bit of sorcery from an unexpected source in order to survive thieving bands, pirates, and their biggest challenge of all: Princess Badr, who seeks not only the lamp, but also revenge.

The Tent Of Orange Mist

In December 1937 the city of Nanking, China, falls to brutal Japanese invaders, and thus begins a compelling drama of widespread chaos and personal courage. Against a backdrop of burning buildings and random atrocities stands Scald Ibis, the teenage daughter of an eminent scholar, who must transform herself completely in order to survive. With her family gone, she is forced to work as a prostitute in a bordello, changing slowly and painfully from a girl into a woman. Her fortunes improve when a Japanese warlord, Hayashi, takes a fancy to her; but her greatest challenge comes with the sudden appearance of her ailing father, whose inner demons threaten both of their lives.

Healing Water: A Hawaiian Story

When thirteen-year-old Pia is sent to Hawaii’s leprosy settlement on Molokai Island in the 1860s, he chooses anger and self-reliance as his means of survival, but the faithful example of other villagers and one remarkable priest threaten to destroy his desire for revenge.

Featured in Volume I, Issue 3 of WOW Review.

Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools

The lord of Laughter, the Monarch of Mirth–if only the bumbling 17-year-old Sebastian Darke could be a successful jester like his father. The problem is Sebastian’s not funny. But after his father’s death, with no choice but to beg in the streets, the half-human, half-elf teen sets off with Max, his father’s slightly cynical Buffalope, to offer his services as a jester to King Septimus of Keladon. On the way they meet Captain Cornelius Drummel, small in stature, but the fiercest of fighters. The three rescue the fair princess Kerin, who’s being held captive by brigands, and happily escort her home. If only Sebastian knew the kidnapping was engineered by the evil King Septimus!

The House of Djinn

It has been ten years since Shabanu staged her death to secure the safety of her daughter, Mumtaz, from her husband’s murderous brother. Mumtaz has been raised by her father’s family with the education and security her mother desired for her, but with little understanding and love. Only her American cousin Jameel, her closest confidant and friend, and the beloved family patriarch, Baba, understand the pain of her loneliness. When Baba unexpectedly dies, Jameel’s succession as the Amirzai tribal leader and the arrangement of his marriage to Mumtaz are revealed, causing both to question whether fulfilling their duty to the family is worth giving up their dreams for the future.

This is a sequel to the novels Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind and Haveli.

Teenage Refugees from Nicaragua Speak Out (In Their Own Voices)

This book begin with historical overview of Nicaragua, including the reasons for recent political unrest. The first-person narratives of young refugees follow. All of the teens tell why they left their native countries, how they made their journeys, their experiences and difficulties in North America, and if they plan to return to their homelands. The introductions state that the young people were interviewed; it is unclear exactly when these conversations took place. In any case, the writing is choppy and fails to convey the urgency of the plight of refugees fleeing oppressors.

Porcupine

War-torn Afghanistan could not seem farther from Newfoundland, but it is about to change twelve-year-old tomboy Jack Cooper (or Jacqueline, as her mother insists on calling her) forever. When her father is killed in the war, she watches helplessly as her mother crumbles under sorrow and depression. Jack and her younger sister and brother, Tessa and Simon, end up across the country, living on a run-down farm in a small town on the Prairies with a great-grandmother they didn’t know existed. Worried that they will be abandoned again if Gran moves into a retirement home, Jack puts on a brave face and encourages Tessa and Simon to take on the challenges of their new life. In the process, she learns that families come in many different forms and that love, trust, and faith can build a home anywhere.