Chinese Handcuffs

Author

Oscar Hijuelos

He didn't say good-bye. He didn't leave a phone number. And he didn't plan on coming back - ever.

In Wisconsin, Rico could blend in. His light hair and lighter skin wouldn't make him the "dark dude" or the punching bag for the whole neighborhood. The Midwest is the land of milk and honey, but...

Author	Mel Glenn
ISBN	0525675485

What starts out as an ordinary day for a group of high school seniors turns into anything but when their history teacher takes them hostage. The book takes us through each of their lives through a series of five poems, where we learn about the issues and goals that resonate underneath the facade of their...

Author	Paul Volponi
ISBN	0670061301

“Wow” is all I can say after reading Rucker Park Setup by Paul Volponi. This
book really deserves 5 stars out of 5, no doubt about it. Being a person who
doesn’t like reading, Paul Volponi delivers big, as a writer, with his second
based basketball story after Black and White, showing...

Author	John H. Ritter
ISBN	0698119312

Tyler's temper is out of control. If he isn't careful, he'll blow his chances of making the All-Star team and being noticed by a scout. But Tyler's coach, a Vietnam War veteran, has seen anger destroy enough people. He knows that if Tyler is ever going to fulfill his dreams, he'll have to learn to fight his...

Author	Catherine Atkins
ISBN	0142402354

Susan Calloway, bullied and overweight, faces daily humiliation at the hands of her classmates - and she's had enough. With her anger about to reach the boiling point, Susan lands in an alternative education class, a sort of group therapy for the nearly expelled.

School is bad enough, but facing...

Author	Tim Tharp
ISBN	0375836535

In a small Oklahoma town, one star linebacker must decide what kind of man he wants to be--both on and off the field.
Welcome to Kennisaw--where Friday night high school football ranks right up there with God and country, and sometimes even comes in first. This year, the Kennisaw Knights are going...

Author	Heidi Ayarbe
ISBN	0061728497

Maya's life has always been chaotic. Living with a con-man dad, she's spent half her life on the run. Whenever her father's schemes go wrong, Maya finds a scientific way to fix it. But when her dad ends up in prison and foster care fails, Maya grasps at her last possible hope of a home: a long-lost aunt, who...

Author	S.L. Rottman
ISBN	0141307013

Sean is a 15 year old high school freshman. He has no one to look up to as his mother is abusive and a drug and alcohol addict. His father left the family a few years back and hasn't talked to Sean since. To make matters worse, whatever money Sean is able to make is stolen by his mother on a weekly basis....

Author	Robert Cormier
ISBN	0440215560

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2

We All Fall Down marks only the second Young Adult book that I’ve ever read and the first I’ve read by choice. The first novel, not surprising, was by the same author, which I read more than a decade ago--maybe closer to two decades--when I was trapped some place (I don’t...

Author	Terry Davis
ISBN	0385732740

Technically, this is a Young Adult novel, but I don't want to ghettoize one of the greatest books I"ve ever read (and re-read.) Was made into a movie back in 85 or 6 with Linda Fiorentino and Matthew Modine--Madonna's Crazy For You was on the soundtrack, but I digress. About a high school wrestler who gains...

Author	Bonnie Shimko
ISBN	0374361312

“All a person needs in life is one true friend.†So says Grandpa Thomas, the only member of Amelia’s family who cares about her one bit. That true friend finally arrives when Fancy Nelson, the first Negro kid Amelia has ever seen in person, walks into her fourth grade classroom....

Author	Ron Koertge
ISBN	0763650811

Quick repartee. Unsparing wit. Insight, poignancy, and spot-on characters. Welcome the much-awaited sequel to the acclaimed Stoner & Spaz.

Beautiful but troubled Colleen Minou is the only girl who ever looked at Ben Bancroft as more than a spaz— more than just that kid with cerebral...

Author	Carl Deuker
ISBN	0064472752

Nick Abbott and Trent Dawson have nothing in common but basketball. It's sophomore year and Nick is trying to deal with his parents' divorce. He also really wants to be a star on the basketball team. Trent, his neighbor, is angry, and aggressive. The two form an uneasy bond as they quietly practice each...

Author

Jason Myers

Jamie uncovers life-changing secrets from his past when he’s sent to live with a father he’s never met in this gritty novel from the author of Exit Here. and Run the Game.

Jamie is invincible when he is high. His anger, his isolation, his mom’s manic mood swings—nothing can shatter his...

Author	Margaret Bechard
ISBN	0689862687

Sam's girlfriend is pregnant — but Sam is keeping the baby. Sam should be planning for college and trying out for the football team with his best friend, Andy. Instead he's up to his ears in diapers and formula, caring for his baby son, Max. Will Sam now have to make a gut-wrenching decision about Max's...

Author	Bette Greene
ISBN	0440226953

Hate. It's the farthest feeling from sixteen-year-old Carla Wayland's mind. She can't believe people would persecute others just because they are different. But she isn't about to worry about the injustice surrounding her because she's in love with handsome and popular Andy Harris. Although raised...

Author	Mandy Mikulencak
ISBN	0807522171

A meth lab explosion leaves Arlie permanently scarred — both physically and emotionally. Yet, she develops the street smarts and survival skills to keep her addict mother out of the reach of the law and hidden from her stepfather, Lloyd, the man responsible for the explosion that killed three people.
Shortly...

Author	Paul Acampora
ISBN	0803730462

This is another mediocre YA novel dealing with the death of a parent. Dulcie's father died in a school janitorial accident and her mother's way to deal with this tragedy is to move across the country. Dulcie steals her late father's truck and goes back home, only to discover that there are worse fates than...

Author	Joshua C. Cohen
ISBN	0525423060

The football field is a battlefield

There's an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High. It is paid on - and off - the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy - including the most innocent bystanders.

When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank...

Author	Terry Trueman
ISBN	0064473775

How sick is this: I'm the major jock-stud in high school, but my brother has the brain of a badminton birdie and a body to match. I've got everything and he's got nothing. I'm a three-year, three-sport letterman and Shawn can't even stand up! Like I said, sick, huh?

It's hard to be a brother to someone...

Author	M.T. Anderson
ISBN	1844282899

Anthony is a wuss - until the day he finds his girlfriend, Diana, in Turner's arms! Anthony vows revenge and devises The Plan which involves an anarchist, a condiment trolley, and a 1985 Oldsmobile named Margot. But when these ingredients are finally put together, will he be satisfied?

Hoping...