Matt de la Peña

“After running away from a group home, 17-year-old Kidd Ellison sets up camp at a beach, where he is put to work by Mr. Red, an aging surfer who runs a maintenance shop. Hardworking and handsome, if somewhat slow, Kidd begins to make friends with some of the camp’s teens, especially Olivia, a blond beauty who wears a ski cap that covers part of her face regardless of the weather. Then Devon, Kidd’s former best friend and nemesis, finds Kidd and threatens to destroy the peaceful life that he has fallen into.” — Booklist

Danny’s a great baseball player but he’s not even on the school team — he’s consumed with feeling like his private-school classmates only see him as a Mexican who doesn’t belong and that his Mexican relatives see him as an “almost albino.” Can Danny find the help he needs before it’s too late?

Product Description: When it happened, Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge gave him a year in a group home — said he had to write in a journal so some counselor could try to figure out how he thinks. But Miguel didn’t bet on meeting Rondell or Mong or on any of what happened after they broke out. He only thought about Mexico and getting to the border to where he could start over. Life usually doesn’t work out how you think it will, though. And most of the time, running away is the quickest path right back to what you’re running from.