Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. A Harlem drugstore owner was shot and killed in his store, and the word is that Steve served as the lookout. Guilty or innocent, Steve becomes a pawn in the hands of "the system," cluttered with cynical authority figures and unscrupulous inmates, who will turn in anyone to shorten their own sentences. For the first time, Steve is forced to think about who he is as he faces prison, where he may...

Fourteen-year-old Lizzie knows what she's not. She's not at home in her new house on the other side of town, after an incident with a neighbor forced her family to move. She's not ready to say goodbye to the wild apple tree in her old backyard, or to her older brother, who just left home for his first semester of college. She's definitely not happy to be taking women's self-defense with her sworn-enemy PE teacher. And unlike her best friend--and seemingly...

Apple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian. Too bad the white world doesn't accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance. Apple's name, chosen by her Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: treasured apple of my eye, bit also the negative connotation--a person...

Alvin, an Asian American second grader, is afraid of everything—elevators, tunnels, girls, and, most of all, school. He’s so afraid of school that, while he’ s there, he never, ever, says a word. But at home, Alvin is a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, just like his dad. With the help of his family, can Alvin take on the outside world without letting his fears get the best...

As long as he remembers to stay smart and keep his eyes open, Mateo knows that he can survive the trek across the Sonoran Desert that will take him from Mexico to the United States. That is until he's caught by the Border Patrol only moments after sneaking across the fence in the dead of the night. Escaping their clutches comes at a price and, lost in the desert without a guide or water, Mateo is ill-prepared for the unforgiving heat that is sure...

Atlas James has lost her way. But she has one last chance to get her act together: a community-service program rehabbing trails in the western Sierras. The only plus is that the work is so exhausting that Atlas might just be tired enough to forget that this was one of her dad's favorite places in the world. Before cancer stole him from her life, that is. Using real names is forbidden on the trail. So Atlas becomes Maps, and with her team--Books,...

Everyone knows Jordan Plazas and Cindy Ortiz hate each other. According to many viral videos of their public shouting matches, the Plazas and Ortiz families have a well-known food truck rivalry. Jordan and Cindy have spent all of high school making cheesesteaks and slinging insults at each other across their shared Philadelphia street. But the truth? They're in love, and it's all just an act for the tourists. When the fake feud lands them a reality...

"Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn't exist. The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she's given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle...

Anna Hunt may be new to East Middle School, but she can already tell there's something weird going on in her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social pariah. No one will talk to her. No one will talk about her. And no one will tell Anna how it all started. Including Rachel herself. As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there's always more to a story than meets the...

Simon O'Keefe tells a lot of stories: like how his family was driven out of Omaha by alpacas. And how his church-deacon dad accidentally gave a squirrel a holy sacrament. And how his undertaker mom occasionally has to wrangle emus. But the story Simon doesn't tell is the one he'd do anything to forget: Simon is the only survivor of a school shooting. That story has followed him everywhere--everywhere except his new home in the National Quiet Zone,...