california, southern

When Southern California high school senior Sofi Mendoza lies to her parents and crosses the border for a weekend party, she has no idea that she will get stuck in a Mexican village with family she has never met before, unable to return to the United States and the easy life she knew.

Brandon Webb's experiences in the world's most elite sniper corps are chronicled from his grueling years of training in Naval Special Operations, to his combat tours in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. This book provides a look at the inner workings of the US military through the eyes of a covert operations specialist. Following the events of 9/11, Brandon went on to manage the SEAL sniper course, designing new curricula and training a generation of SEAL graduates who became some of the most accomplished snipers of the 21st century.

Sinclair portrays the oil industry of the 1920s through the eyes of Bunny, the son of a genial independent oil developer.

Contains two novels, including "Laguna Cove, " in which Anne, a newcomer to Laguna Beach, California, decides to learn to surf to fit in, but her competition, Ellie, still will not give her a break; and "Cruel Summer, "in which Colby Cavendish, having shed her dorky image, is looking forward to an exciting summer with the "in crowd, " including handsome Levi Bonham, but she gains a new perspective on her life and priorities when she is shipped off to Greece instead to spend the season with her eccentric Aunt Tally.

The poet recreates the life he experienced as a Chicano growing up in California's Central Valley.

Fifteen-year-old Angela, distraught over her mother and stepfather's separation, confides in a statue of St. Felix that suddenly seems to come alive, after which she befriends Jesse, a nineteen-year-old disabled veteran, although Felix, her family, and friends warn her to be wary of him.

Tommy Phan, a thirty-year-old Vietnamese American detective novelist, is forced to run for his life when the odd rag doll he found lying on his doorstep turns into an indestructible reptilian creature with evil intent.

Drew Greene, unwilling to believe her son David is dead, musters all the resources she can find to continue the search for the missing child, and eventually realizes the eight-year-old has been leaving clues, desperately hoping someone will pick up the trail of his kidnapper.

Fifteen-year-old Michelle Pena, born into a powerful Mexican American gang family, tries to reconcile her gangster legacy with the girl she has become--a nationally ranked runner and academic superstar.

Tina Malhotra, a sophomore at the Yarborough Academy in Southern California, creates an existential diary for an honors English assignment in which she tries to determine who she is and where she fits in.