TEEN READS: Realistic FictionLike this list

35 items

• There Goes the Neighborhood

  Adia, Jade,

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  In order to stop the destructive forces of gentrification, three best friends use social media to create a fake gang and get justice for their South L.A. community.

• How It All Blew Up

  Ahmadi, Arvin,

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  Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy--he just didn't think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Brighter Than the Sun

  Aleman, Daniel,

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  After the loss of her mother, high school junior Soledad finds herself struggling to balance classes and her new job in California to support her family in Tijuana, Mexico, in this thoughtful story about identity, immigration, and family.

• Play the Game

  Allen, Charlene,

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  In the game of life, sometimes other people hold all the controls. Or so it seems to VZ. Four months have passed since his best friend Ed was killed by a white man in a Brooklyn parking lot. When Singer, the man who killed Ed, is found…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ever Since

  Bruzas, Alena,

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  In the game of life, sometimes other people hold all the controls. Or so it seems to VZ. Four months have passed since his best friend Ed was killed by a white man in a Brooklyn parking lot. When Singer, the man who killed Ed, is found…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Come Home Safe

  a Novel

  Buckmire, Brian, 1988-

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  Explores the pain, the truths, and the hope that comes with growing up as a person of color in America, told in a way that can help foster conversations about what it means to navigate today's world, as well as inspire ways to work toward…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Are All We Have

  Budhos, Marina Tamar,

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  After her mom is taken by ICE, seventeen-year-old Rania's hopes and dreams for the future are immediately put on hold as she figures out how to take care of her younger brother and survive in a country that seems to be closing around them.

• Love Times Infinity

  Clarke, Lane,

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  As high school junior Michie plans for her future and explores a new relationship, she tries to reconcile with some uncomfortable truths about her life which becomes more complicated when she is contacted by her estranged mother

• Things We Couldn't Say

  Coles, Jay,

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  There's always been a hole in Gio's life. Not because he's into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gio's life takes the shape…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Where You See Yourself

  Forrest, Claire (Young adult author),

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  Effie Galanos' goals for her senior year include her navigating her way through her high school that is not really wheelchair-friendly, getting into the perfect college, and getting her crush Wilder to accompany her to the prom--but by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Kick and I Fly

  Gupta, Ruchira,

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  On the outskirts of the Red Light District in Bihar, India, fourteen-year-old Heera is living on borrowed time until her father sells her into the sex trade to help feed their family and repay his loans. It is, as she's been told, the fate…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• This Town Is on Fire

  Harris, Pamela N.,

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  A page-turning YA contemporary novel about a Black teenager whose life is turned upside down when her white best friend becomes the latest "Becky" on the internet, and their town is left reeling from the publicity.

• When You Look Like Us

  Harris, Pamela N.,

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  A boy who must take up the search for his sister when she goes missing from a neighborhood where black girls' disappearances are too often overlooked.

• The Silence That Binds Us

  Ho, Joanna,

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  In the year following their son's death, May Chen's parents face racist accusations of putting too much pressure on their son and causing his death by suicide, and May attempts to challenge the racism and ugly stereotypes through her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Invisible Son

  Johnson, Kim,

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  After spending two months in a juvenile detention center for a crime he did not commit, seventeen-year-old Andre Jackson returns home and tries to adapt to a Covid-19 world and find his missing best friend

• Be Dazzled

  La Sala, Ryan,

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  Seventeen-year-old Raffy is determined to win a cosplay competition that could lead to art school admission and respect for his talent, but being paired with his main competitor, ex-boyfriend Luca, complicates things.

• Some Kind of Hate

  Littman, Sarah,

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  When freshman Declan Taylor hurts his pitching arm he becomes mad at the world, soon getting caught up with a group of white supremacists and turning against his Jewish former friend, Jake--but when things turn violent Declan must figure…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman

  Lee, Kristen R.,

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  Upon arriving at the prestigious Wooddale University, seventeen-year-old Savannah Howard comes face-to-face with microaggressions and outright racism--but if she stands up for justice, will she endanger her future?

• A Scatter of Light

  Lo, Malinda,

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  The summer of 2013 in the Bay is a momentous one for eighteen-year-old Aria Tang West, for the working-class queer community she finds herself in, and for her artist grandmother.

• Forever Is Now

  Lockington, Mariama,

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  When sixteen-year-old Sadie, a Black bisexual recluse, develops agoraphobia the summer before her junior year, she relies on her best friend, family, and therapist to overcome her fears.