Young Adult Novels

  Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi opens with an act of violence.  Corey and his twin sister, Holly, are shot by a stranger leaving Corey dead and Holly in a coma.  Savitri is Corey's girlfriend and Holly's best friend.  She is overcome with guilt and desire to find justice for the twins.  While in a coma, Holly dreams of a snake man character claiming Corey.  When she awakes, she can't forget her dreams.  She finds comfort in her favorite comic hero, Leopardess.  Together, Holly and Savitri try to make sense of Corey's death and try to find his killer.  Chasing Shadows is a graphic novel that focuses on grief, revenge, and friendship.  It is full of action and suspense.    Bybee, C. (2020). Chasing shadows . Center Point Large Print.

  Almost American Girl by Robin Ha is a graphic novel that focuses on fourteen year old Chuna.  Her mother begins a relationship and decides to marry a man from Alabama.  She must transition from life in Korea to a life in America along with fitting into a new family, who are not very supportive.  Chuna goes through a culture shock as she continuously compares her lively life in Korea to her life in isolation in Alabama.  Through her love for comics, she begins to thrive.   Almost American Girl is a great coming of age novel where readers connect to the hardships of getting used to American culture and developing new friendships when you feel different alone.  It also explores the strong bond of a mother and daughter relationship. Ha, R. (2020). Almost american girl: an illustrated memoir . Balzer + Bray/Harper Alley, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Torpedoed by Deborah Heiligman is a true story that takes place during World War II in England.  During this time, there was intense bombing, so parents decided to send their children across the ocean on a ship to find safety, even though traveling through the Atlantic Ocean during this time was at risk for getting attacked by German submarines.  In the September of 1940, the worst imaginable happened.  The ship, City of Baneras, was attacked by a torpedo.  On the ship were two hundred passengers, half of them children.  The passengers are forced onto the lifeboats in the dark night as the ship begins to sink.  While waiting for lifeboats, the survivors recount clinging on for life through the cold water and the stormy night.  When help finally arrives, on lifeboat is mistakenly left behind.  Therefore, the rescue continues on for eight more days.   In Torpedoed , ordinary people become heros.  The book is a page turner, mak...

  I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson is a novel that flips back and forth to the past and the future.  It follows two thirteen year old twins Noah and Jude.  Noah is a talented artist who is sociall awkward.  Noah and Jude are very close and know what each other are thinking.  However, when their mother, Diana, decides to prepare them for a prestigious art school, Jude becomes jealous of her brother's artistic talent and sabotages his application.  Three years go by and Jude is attending the art school, but Noah is not.  Noah no longer does art, but has begun to hang out with Jude's old popular friends.  Jude has become more eccentric and believes in folklore.  She has gone to wearing baggy clothes and putting onions in her pocket to keep evil spirits and boys away.  Their mother has died and Jude believes Diana has cursed her clay sculptures.  She decides to make a stone sculpture as a way to communicate with her mother.  ...

  Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds is a novel written free verse about fifteen year old Will growing up in a violent neighborhood.  Will is dealing with witnessing the death of his older brother who was shot and killed by a gang member.  Will decides it is his job to avenge his brothers death  when he finds a gun in his brotherś dresser.  He sets off to go kill the gang member he believes killed his brother.  However, while in the elevator he is vistited by ghosts that cause him to question the idea of revenge killing.  His first visitor is Buck, his street mentor, who tells him he doesn´t have it in him to kill someone.  Buck is the person who gave his brother Shawn the gun.  The next visitor is Dani, Will´s childhood crush, who died as a child in a drive-by shooting.  She poses the question, ¨What if you miss?¨  Next is Uncle Mark, whom forces him to consider the long term consequences of his decision and to think about how what it...

  When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk is a novel about losing a friend and feeling lonliness in the world.  Cleo and Layla had been best friends for years.  However, over the summer Layla began to drift apart from Cleo.  Out of hurt, Cleo ended what was left of the friendship.  Cleo begins to form other friendships, and even a relationship with popular Dom.  However, she still finds it hard to trust in fear of what happened between her and Laylaś friendship.  Cleo wants to just forget about their friendship, but Layla becomes her tutor making it difficult.  Feeling alone, Cleo must navigate through her estranged friendship, her family falling apart, and trying to make new friendships.  Cleo has to deal with torment from Layla and her new ¨popluar¨ best friends while dealing with her parents divorce.  In the end, they forgive each other, even though their friendship is never the same. Readers will be able to connect to the charac...