TEEN READS: Realistic FictionLike this list

35 items

• There Goes the Neighborhood

  Adia, Jade,

  Add There Goes the Neighborhood to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add How It All Blew Up to your for later shelf

  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 Rome is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Brighter Than the Sun

  Aleman, Daniel,

  Add Brighter Than the Sun to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add Play the Game to your for later shelf

  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 dead in the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ever Since

  Bruzas, Alena,

  Add Ever Since to your for later shelf

  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 dead in the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Come Home Safe

  a Novel

  Buckmire, Brian, 1988-

  Add Come Home Safe to your for later shelf

  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 change.

• We Are All We Have

  Budhos, Marina Tamar,

  Add We Are All We Have to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add Love Times Infinity to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add Things We Couldn't Say to your for later shelf

  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 of his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Where You See Yourself

  Forrest, Claire (Young adult author),

  Add Where You See Yourself to your for later shelf

  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 spring she is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Kick and I Fly

  Gupta, Ruchira,

  Add I Kick and I Fly to your for later shelf

  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 of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• This Town Is on Fire

  Harris, Pamela N.,

  Add This Town Is on Fire to your for later shelf

  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.,

  Add When You Look Like Us to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add The Silence That Binds Us to your for later shelf

  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 writing, only…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Invisible Son

  Johnson, Kim,

  Add Invisible Son to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add Be Dazzled to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add Some Kind of Hate to your for later shelf

  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 out what he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman

  Lee, Kristen R.,

  Add Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add A Scatter of Light to your for later shelf

  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,

  Add Forever Is Now to your for later shelf

  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.