Portraying the pressures of teens to live a normal life while facing mental illness, this suspenseful young adult novel follows the journey of success-bound Abe, who struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A senior in high school, with a loving and wealthy adoptive family, Abe is on track for a big scholarship and an open future. Suddenly, horrific flashbacks rip him back to war-torn Africa, where five years previously he lost his mother, sister, friends, and almost his own life to torturous violence. During therapy, he uncovers even darker moments from his past that make him question how he survived. This action-filled thriller will open the eyes and hearts of teenagers to the lives of young people who have been exposed to profound violence around the world.
Survival
Living In The Amazon Rainforest
The Yanomami have lived in the rain forest for thousands of years. They live in villages where many families share one big hut. You will read how they have learned special skills to survive in the rain forest.
I Am Fifteen-And I Don’t Want To Die
Christine is only fifteen, and she’s caught in the middle of a war-torn city. Huddled in the cold, dark cellar of their bombed-out apartment building, Christine and her family listen in fear as the battle rages over their heads. They must get out of the city–but where will they go and how will they escape? Christine is learning some hard lessons about life–and death–as she struggles to stay alive amidst the horrors of war.
Varenka
Broken Memory
Hiding behind the old sofa, five-year-old Emma does not witness the murder of her mother, but she hears everything. And when the assassins finally leave, the young Tutsi girl somehow manages to stumble away from the scene, motivated only by the memory of her mother’s last words: “You must not die, Emma!” Taken in by an old Hutu woman, Mukecuru, Emma is still haunted by nightmares long after the war ends. When the country establishes gacaca courts to allow victims to face their tormenters in their villages, Emma is uneasy and afraid. But through her growing friendship with a young torture victim and the gentle encouragement of an old man charged with helping child survivors, Emma finds the courage to return to the house where her mother was killed and begin the journey to healing.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 4
The Warlock
In the fifth installment of this bestselling series, the twins of prophesy have been divided, and the end is finally beginning. With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places.
Eight Days
In Edwidge’s story, Junior is trapped under his pancaked house for 8 whole days. After he is saved, people ask him repeatedly: “What did you do all this time? Were you scared? Did you cry?””I played,” he answers. And so with each page, we see how he played in his mind every day he was trapped–how he played marbles with his friends, won the best solo part in the choir, biked through St. Marc with his little sister, and ate the sweetest mango.Hope, love, and warmth dance across each page, reminding us that sometimes it is the simplest beauties that help us find our strength.Niki, the real boy whom this story is loosely based on, was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for 8 days. He was rescued by New York Task Force 1, a search-and-rescue team made up of New York City police- and firemen. They had to cut through three slabs of concrete and countless other pieces of debris before his mother could crawl in to coax Niki and his sister out. When he finally made it out of the wreckage, Niki did so with a beaming smile and wide-open arms–the image of hope.** The photograph taken of Niki by Mathew McDermott as they pulled him from the wreckage is being called “the iconic image” of this disaster. We are embracing its visibililty by using an illustration echoing the photograph for the cover of the book and printing the photograph in the back matter.** In addition, this project is charity driven. Both Edwidge and Alix are donating a portion of their advances to Haitian aid organizations. Scholastic and their vendors are contributing portions of their costs for the production of this book.
Flip
One December night, 14-year-old Alex goes to bed. He wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country, and it’s the middle of June. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table are total strangers. And when he looks in the mirror, another boy’s face stares back at him. A boy named Flip. Unless Alex finds out what’s happened and how to get back to his own life, he may be trapped forever inside a body that belongs to someone else. Questions of identity, the will to survive, and what you’re willing to sacrifice to be alive make this extraordinary book impossible to put down.
The Romeo and Juliet Code
Felicity’s glamorous parents have a secret. When they leave her with distant relatives in Maine, Felicity hopes they won’t leave her long. Her new Uncle Gideon hides things. Her Aunt Miami is star-crossed. And Derek, a kid her age, refuses to leave his room. But Felicity needs Derek’s help. Gideon is getting coded letters from Felicity’s parents, and she’s sure they’re in trouble. Can Felicity crack the code, heal the family and save her parents, all while surviving her first crush? It’s a tall order, but Felicity’s up for the challenge.
Lost Boy, Lost Girl
One of thousands of children who fled strife in southern Sudan, John Bul Dau survived hunger, exhaustion, and violence. His wife, Martha, endured similar hardships. In this memorable book, the two convey the best of African values while relating searing accounts of famine and war. There’s warmth as well, in their humorous tales of adapting to American life. For its importance as a primary source, for its inclusion of the rarely told female perspective of Sudan’s lost children, for its celebration of human resilience, this is the perfect story to inform and inspire young readers.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 2