families

"Twelve-year-old Lydia, feeling threatened by the attention her changing body is getting from boys and men, finds a way to take control of her own skin"--Provided by publisher.

Eighteen-year-old Nida faces unexpected fame after her critical poem about a politician goes viral and wins a contest she never entered, which leaves Nida unable to write poetry as she struggles with her family's expectations and questions her own desires.

Eleven-year-old Fern grapples with her father's death, a distant best friend, and a failing family business, but discovers an unexpected connection with neighbor Jasper as they collaborate on a photography contest and attempt to photograph an endangered pod of killer whales.

"It's February of 2014 in the seaport city of Sevastopol in Crimea. Sofiya Oleksandrivna only wants two things: to figure out a way to get Ilya Ilyich to stop bullying her, and to convince her mother to come back home. But as battleships come to populate the waters around their city and Russian forces, including Ilya's father, start to make their presence known, an even greater threat takes over Sofiya's life. The only escape Sofiya has is the dolphinarium where her father is a trainer at the forefront of teaching sign language to a pod of dolphins. And now the Russian military has ordered the dolphinarium to hand over its animals for military use. As armed Russian troops invade Crimea and conflict and tension continue to rise, Sofiya will do everything she can to keep her pod safe. And what she knows better than any of the soldiers occupying her city, is that the most powerful force is communication"--Provided by publisher.

"Twins Raquel and Lucinda Mendoza used to be inseparable, but since their parents divorced Raquel has become bossy and obsessive, while Lucinda has immersed herself in her ice skating lessons, and the pandemic and its enforced isolation has only made things worse; but then they are sent to their father's ranch in central California and while Raquel thinks that this is a chance to get their parents back together by driving his girlfriend away, Lucinda discovers she likes his new family, and wonders if trying to bring the Mendoza family back together is really worth the struggle"--Provided by publisher.

"It was two weeks before Christmas, and a stray dog wandered alone in the snow. When she discovered an open front door, she stepped inside with a hopeful heart, wondering what she would find . . ."--Back cover.

When eleven-year-old Hank's mother does not come home after a week, he and his toddler sister, Boo, seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact, even though it means social workers, a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he has been trying to keep secret.

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Max seems like any other kid until he is asked to join the Lucha Libre Club, but because of strict secrecy he cannot tell anyone of his royal wrestling blood, his uncle the king of lucha libre, The Guardian Angel.

"Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she's sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother's stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother's family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv. Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends. But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition"--Provided by publisher.