bildungsromans

Iranian-born New Yorker Reza is terrified of his own homosexuality amid the 1980s AIDS crisis, equating being gay with dead men. He meets aspiring fashion designer Judy and her best friend Art, an openly gay photographer, who are united in AIDS activism because of their mutual love of Judy's uncle Stephen, who is gay and has AIDS. Both Art and Judy are attracted to Reza, and believing he should be with a woman, Reza and Judy begin dating despite the undeniable feelings Reza and Art have for each other.

Two teenagers--David Sheinman, a popular senior class president who has cystic fibrosis, and Jamie Turner, a quiet sophomore struggling with depression--meet at a hospital where Jamie works and David is being treated. Feeling alienated from their family and peers, the pair turn to each other for support and discover romance.

Sixteen-year-old Gravity Delgado has been breaking records and competitors since she started boxing with a legendary coach at age twelve, and now will reach the Olympics if her home life and romance do not distract her.

As the son of Korean immigrants in Southern California, high school senior Frank Li is expected to find a nice Korean girl to marry. But instead, Frank falls for a white classmate who his parents will never approve of. He meets another Korean American, Joy Song, who is in a similar situation. They agree to be a couple in front of their parents in order for Frank and Joy to be with who they really want, but as their fake relationship becomes more real, they both wonder if they really know anything about love.

Eighteen-year-old Jemima Kincaid is in her final year at Northern Virginia's elite Chawton School and is named to the senior prom committee. As a fierce feminist, she figures this is her chance to upend the school's patriarchal traditions and expose its toxic masculinity. Instead of waiting for the boys to ask the girls, Jemima suggests a website on which everyone enters the names of their secret crushes and the website will pair people as potential matches. However, in the midst of the prom planning, she also begins to recognize some of her own bias. Things become more complicated when she falls for a popular athlete.

Twelve-year-old Rahul Kapoor heads into seventh grade armed with advice his grandfather gave him: to find a thing he's good at and become the best at it. But Rahul struggles with his identity, including his confusing attraction to classmate Justin Emery. Rahul joins the Mathletes but it doesn't go as planned, and when Jenny asks him to a dance, Rahul spirals into depression and anxiety. With the help of his best friend Chelsea, Rahul confronts who he actually is.

Sixteen-year-old Allie has known since she was seven years old that her family is different and even feared. She struggles to claim her Muslim and Arabic heritage while finding her place as an American teenager.

The lives of the teenagers at Blithedale High intensify, as Claudia begins to tutor Nigel, Darren contemplates a major decision, and Paula wants to be more public in her relationship with Johanna.

Seventeen-year-old Masi Burciaga's barrio becomes more like a ghost town every day, but when she and other youths are recruited to erect a giant pyramid in hopes of attracting tourists, she wonders about the entrepreneur behind the scheme--and his attractive son.

High school junior Del Rainey unwittingly joins a Purity Pledge class at church, hoping to get closer to his long-term crush, Kiera.