Book Finder

An introduction by baseball great Hank Aaron opens this riveting look at the history of the Negro League. A large format supports revealing portraits of League players and an absorbing narration revealed in nine innings. Endnotes and further readings conclude this memorable and accessible history.

The book is about a boy in Warsaw, Poland in the years of World War II during the Holocaust. Over time he is taken in by a Jewish group of orphans and he must avoid the Nazis while living on the streets with other orphans.

When Junior gets a chance to leave the reservation school and attend a far-away white high school, he must deal with prejudice not only from his new schoolmates, but from those he left behind.

Nadira’s family has lived a law-abiding — but illegal — existence since arriving in the U.S. from Bangladesh years ago. During a post-9/11 crackdown, her father is discovered and the possibility of deportation hangs heavy over their lives.

Dimple is an Indian-American girl trying desperately to assimilate in her New Jersey neighborhood, until she meets an attractive Indian guy who shows her the charms of her own heritage.

This story of a young African-American man caught up in a robbery gone bad is a contemporary classic. The screenplay format makes it appealing to reluctant readers, but it’s also well deserving of its honor as the first recipient of the Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult literature.

Simone is adopted. She’s always known it, but she’s never wanted to know anything about where she came from. She’s happy with her family just as it is. Then one day, Rivka calls, and Simone learns who her mother was; a 16-year-old, just like Simone. Who is Rivka? What does she want? Why is she calling now, after all these years? The answers lead Simone to deeper feelings of anguish and love than she has ever known and prompt her to question everything she has taken for granted about faith, the afterlife, and what it means to be a daughter.

Eddie’s father, two uncles, and best friend are all dead, and it’s a struggle for him not to end up the same way. Violence makes Fresno wallow in tears, as if a huge onion were buried beneath the city. Making an effort to walk a straight line despite constant temptations and frustrations, Eddie searches for answers — and discovers that his closest friends may actually be his worst enemies.

Marcus and Eddie are basketball teammates and best friends. But when they get involved in a crime, will the fact that Marcus is black and Eddie is white affect how they are treated? Great sports action and a compelling premise make this a page turner.

Narrator Frannie keenly observes the changing dynamics in her classroom when a new white student arrives. Frannie also frets about her family — her deaf brother isolated from the hearing world and her pregnant mother prone to miscarriages.

When a boy from an abusive home is placed in foster care with an old woman, he brings with him his troubles — an invitation to the Sinisteeds, nighttime visitors to humans who gather memories good or not so good. Tough, timely topics are handled in a straightforward telling in this compelling and credible fantasy.

Aya lives in the Ivory Coast in the late 1970s, before civil war decimated the country. This is a view of African life not often shown in contemporary fiction—an Africa not unlike the West, told through the eyes of three girlfriends deciding between marriage, men and career.

After his sister is murdered, Ruben and his older brother Cole go to reclaim her body, and discover the truth about her death. The violence isn’t for the squeamish, but teens will enjoy this story that reads like a movie.

Nine-year-old Ling is very comfortable in her life; her parents are both dedicated surgeons in the best hospital in Wuhan. But when Comrade Li, one of Mao’s political officers, moves into a room in their apartment, Ling begins to witness the gradual disintegration of her world. In an atmosphere of increasing mistrust, Ling fears for the safety of her neighbors and, soon, for herself and family. Over the course of four years, Ling manages to grow and blossom, even as she suffers more horrors than many people face in a lifetime.

Three Indian sisters are growing up in London with their widowed father, and now, his sister, their strict Auntie. The story is light, but paints a vivid picture of Indian immigrants and British culture.

Years after he flees Afghanistan, Amir, now an American citizen, returns to his native land and attempts to atone for the betrayal of his best friend before he fled Kabul and the Taliban.

15-year old Miguel and his 13-year old sister have been in the care of their Mexican grandmother since their parents illegally immigrated to California. Now it’s time for them to join their parents, but Elena has plans of her own. Though the story is fiction, it will bring to real life the plight of illegal immigrants and the risks they take to enter the U.S.

For many years, Lekuton taught school in the DC area, but before that he grew up in the Kenyan desert. Now, he’s back in Kenya, serving in parliament. This is an autobiography of his Kenyan childhood.

These beautiful poems reflect both the Middle East and the Arab-American experience. Nye is a renowned poet for young people, and this collection revolves around her heritage.

When J.J.’s mother says time’s what she really wants for her birthday, J.J. decides to find her some. He’s set himself up for an impossible task … until a neighbor reveals a secret. There’s a place where time stands still—at least, it’s supposed to. J.J. can make the journey there, but he’ll have to vanish from his own life to do so. Can J.J. find the leak between the two worlds? Will a shocking rumor about his family’s past come back to haunt him? And what does it all have to do with the village’s new policeman … ?

For older, horror-loving teens: a blank-verse horror tale about werewolves in Los Angeles.

A few days after her 13th birthday, Georgia receives an unexpected gift–a strange, formal letter, all typed up and signed anonymous–granting her free admission to the Brandywine River Museum for a whole year. And things begin to change.
An accessible novel in poems, Pieces of Georgia offers an endearing protagonist–an aspiring artist, a grieving daughter, a struggling student, a genuine friend–and the poignant story of a broken family coming together.

After a stranger breaks in and terrorizes a gathering, the family members learn to cope with the aftermath of the crime and their other problems. Told in alternating chapters by Jeremy and his sister Paulie, these poems fit the fast-moving, gripping plot.