Swear to Howdy

Author	Matt Whyman
ISBN	0060746653

In the South American town of Medellin, where drug dealers rule and hope is scarce, young assassins are in large supply. Take Shorty and Alberto: two hardened best friends from poor homes whose biggest dream is to see a live soccer match. These boys understand that the one true power they will ever possess...

Author	Kathe Koja
ISBN	0374399387

Senior year is flying by, the prom is approaching, and Dana, her best friend, Avra, and Avra's boyfriend, Emil, are about to encounter the pains and pleasures of that intricate beehive called adult life. While Dana plans on college, Avra plots escape once school is over—and plans to take Emil along...

Author	Jessica Lee Anderson
ISBN	1571316892

The mixed-race son of apple pickers, Manz lives with his hard-drinking mother and her truck-driver boyfriend in the hardscrabble world of dusty Rockhill, Texas. Forced to take a summer job rebuilding fence of a cattle ranch, Manz works alongside his friend Jed and meets a girl named Vanessa — but...

Author	David Hernandez
ISBN	0061173304

Numerous reasons exist to prompt a reader into picking up this book for National Hispanic Heritage Month. The reader should pay attention to the development of masculinity. Hernandez cleverly unravels the danger of macho-bullshit. Enrique, the character who is most abused, embraces a tough guy...

Author	David Lubar
ISBN	0618439099

To the Bozo, the clown who sits inside the cage above the dunk tank, everyone is a "mark." Once he has zeroed in on his victim, the Bozo comes up with the perfect wisecrack something funny enough to make people stop and listen, and cruel enough to hook the mark. Now the mark is bent on revenge, and he'll buy...

Author	Valerie Hobbs
ISBN	0374308470

Winner of the 2008 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) in the Children's Products competition. A memorable trio of characters, each fighting for independence
Eleven-year-old Toby Steiner wants to do normal things on his vacation: he wants to hike and race his bike down the hill and...

Author	Debra Garfinkle
ISBN	0142407828

The journal of Michael "Storky" Pomerantz tells the tumultuous tale of life as a high-schooler—complete with the fact that the love of his life is dating a high school football player. As he chronicles the highs—and, of course, the most embarrassing lows—of his freshman year in high school,...

Author	Blake Nelson
ISBN	0142405744

Music is Pete's life. He's happiest when playing his Fender P-Bass. He doesn't care about prestige or getting girls; it's the quality of the music that matters. Then he meets the Carlisle brothers. They can't sing and they can barely play, but somehow they have a following. Pete can't resist, and he joins...

Author	Jane St. Anthony
ISBN	0374372896

What happens when you get what you think you want and then don't know what to do with it? When twelve-year-old Margaret hears the boy next door call to her in the middle of the night, her heart races with excitement – and nervousness. Will this mean Sherman is her boyfriend? Although Sherman insists that...

Author	Brenda Woods
ISBN	0142404187

Emako Blue was supposed to be a star. She was beautiful and good-hearted. She was Monterey's best friend. She was the only girl Jamal cared about, the one who saw through his player act. She was the one who understood the burden of Eddie's family. She was the best singer anyone had ever heard, with a voice...

Author	Julie Gonzalez
ISBN	0385732287

The character Will is such a bully! But he got what he deserved by being put in jail. He pressured all his friends (Ryan,Daniel,and Connor) in to playing the game russian roulet. He finally got Connor and Ryan to take a turn, but he thought Daniel was to chicken (which he was). Then Will decided to make daniel...

Author	Graham Salisbury
ISBN	0440229111

Fishing. This is it, the big time. Mikey's 13, a deckhand working on a charter boat in Hawaii. Working for the best skipper anywhere, his stepdad, Bill. Before Bill came along, it was just Mikey and his mom. Now they're a real family, and Mikey has a little brother. He can't believe how lucky he is. And now...

Author	Lisa Levchuk
ISBN	0374322384

Lately I feel like an astronaut out on a space walk – constantly praying the tube attaching me to the ship doesn’t snap and send me flying into outer darkness.
 
The only good thing about having a mother with cancer is that people are willing to let you get away with pretty much anything. Like...

Author	Susan Shaw
ISBN	1416961291

24 DEAD, 2 SURVIVORS
HOW CAN YOU FIX THAT?
TELL ME HOW!

Anger. Sadness. Rage. Grief. Guilt.

Joey Campbell experiences them all, even though he knows what he should really feel is lucky. Lucky to have survived the fire that burned Village Park High School to the ground. Lucky...

Author	Will Weaver
ISBN	0374317259

Maybe it was bad karma. Maybe it was just bad luck. Whatever the reason, fifteen-year-old David was born defective. His bug eyes, pinched face, and hearing aids are obvious, but there is a secret David keeps from everyone, even his foster parents. Because of a thin layer of skin hidden under each arm,...

Author	Linda Oatman High
ISBN	1590785843

For sixteen-year-old Sahara, "life and death and everything in between" depends on the color of a little stick in this YALSA/ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers. She waits three long minutes, praying to Jesus, Mary, and all the saints that the stick will turn blue, meaning she isn't pregnant. Instead,...

Author	Jacquelyn Wheeler
ISBN	0982516061

Ashlyn Woods can't wait to put her past behind her and start her life over as a normal college student. But her plans take an unexpected turn when she discovers that she is a Soterian: a person who develops amazing powers when the balance of good and evil shifts too far in evil's favor. Soon she and the other...

Author	Timothy Carter
ISBN	0738715395

Book of Stuart, Chapter 1:10. 10 And, yea verily, Stuart did commit the Sin of Onan in the shower. And this was witnessed by his own brother who did cry out unto their mother. And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. 11 And the townspeople rose up against him and all Onaners, calling upon one another...

Author	Sue Stauffacher
ISBN	0440419344

Franklin Delano Donuthead is a fifth grader with a lot of problems: For starters, his last name is Donuthead. He considers himself handicapped because one arm and leg are shorter than the other (by less than half an inch), his mother is trying to poison him with non-organic foods (like salami), he doesn’t...

Author	Michael Gerard Bauer
ISBN	1862916667

There's no easy way to put this, so I'll say it straight out. It's time I faced up to the truth. I'm fourteen years old and I have Ishmael Leseur's Syndrome. There is no cure. And there is no instant cure to not fitting in. But that won't stop Ishmael and his intrepid band of misfits from taking on bullies, bugs,...

Author	Sara Lewis Holmes
ISBN	0545107954

No one in her sixth-grade class knows quite what to make of Ms. Loupe, with her short hair, her taped square "stage" on the floor, and the interest in improvisational theatre. After all, their school is on an Air Force base--a place that values discipline more than improv. But her students soon come to...

Author	Willo Davis Roberts
ISBN	0689305710

Read ?

This book had a profound book on me during my childhood. As an abusive victim, it helped me not feel alone and gave me hope that one day things would change.

As it turns out, I had a chance to meet the author when I was in grade school and I still have the version of this book she signed...

Author	Mary Ann Rodman
ISBN	0374337039

It’s September 1943, and eleven-year-old Ellie McKelvey’s older brother, Jimmy, has just been drafted. Jimmy has a joyful heart and a kind word for everyone, and he’s the only person who thinks Ellie is smart and funny and as beautiful as Lana Turner, the movie star. Ellie can hardly stand to see...

Author	Deborah Wiles
ISBN	0152060685

Twelve-year-old House Jackson—star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars—has been sidelined for a whole sorry year with a broken elbow. He's finally ready to play, but wouldn't you know that the team's only game of the year has been scheduled for the exact same time as the town's 200th-anniversary...