fiction

In 2011, while visiting his father's hometown in Japan shortly after his death, Ben finds himself and his family being swept away by a terrible tsunami that leaves him stranded and alone in a strange country, far from home.

"Secretly hooking up with popular cheerleader Karla Ortega, who repeatedly snubs him in public, multicultural geek and nerd club member Cameron Carson meets Mackenzie Briggs, who isn't afraid to be herself, and unexpectedly bonds with this girl who accepts him for who he is"--Provided by publisher.

In 1942, twelve-year-old Stick Lawson and her two best friends, Rain and Neb, set out to discover the Nazi spies they believe are helping orchestrate U-boat attacks on American ships off the coast of Hatteras Island.

"A dazzling, unforgettable novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system-a debut that announces a blazingly original voice. Kiara Johnson and her brother Marcus are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex that calls itself, optimistically, the Royal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent-which has now more than doubled-and to keep the 9-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. What begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger one night soon becomes the job Kiara never wanted but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. And her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland police department. Full of edge, raw beauty, electrifying intensity, and piercing vulnerability, Nightcrawling marks the stunning arrival of a voice unlike any we have heard before"--.

After a summer of life changing, Gabriel, Reese, Sal, and Heath are finally ready for senior year, but as graduation nears and the boys prepare to enter the real world, it is clear their friendship will never be the same.

"Traces the intergenerational hungers and desires of Black womanhood, as told through the unforgettable voice of Malaya Clondon . . . Growing up in a rapidly changing Harlem, eight-year-old Malaya hates when her mother drags her to Weight Watchers meetings; she'd rather paint alone in her bedroom or enjoy forbidden street foods with her father. For Malaya, the pressures of her predominantly white Upper East Side prep school are relentless, as are the expectations passed down from her painfully proper mother and sharp-tongued grandmother. As she comes of age in the 1990s, she finds solace in the music of Biggie Smalls and Aaliyah, but her weight continues to climb-until a family tragedy forces her to face the source of her hunger, ultimately shattering her inherited stigmas surrounding women's bodies, and embracing her own desire"--Provided by publisher.

For Charlie and her niece Katie, it?s supposed to be a quiet holiday in the peaceful, out-of-the-way seaside town of Hithechurch, England. Charlie is researching a book on the folklore of the area, and the gloomy sea and dangerous caves seem to offer up plenty of material, while Katie is just there to run wild and get some fresh air. But Charlie?s research reveals a deeper, darker secret, one that uncovers her own, carefully hidden past. Because young women are going missing again: a teenage girl snatched from the beach in broad daylight, and before that, other girls through the decades have vanished from the area, their families left with no answers and no bodies to bury. Charlie?s creation was a thing of felt, straw, fury, and a rusty pair of scissors in the dark. It couldn?t be her monster. Could it? Charlie is set on discovering the truth about the girls? disappearances, but she?s about to encounter a force of pure, obsessive malevolence that threatens to destroy anything in its path.

"A deliciously entertaining novel about the stars of a popular teen show from the early 2000s-and the reunion special, thirteen years after their scandalous flameout, that will either be their last chance at redemption, or destroy them all for good. Back in 2004, The Daydreams had it all: a cast of innocent-seeming teenagers acting and singing their hearts out, amazing ratings, and a will-they-or-won't-they romance that steamed up fan fiction forums. Then, during the live season two finale, it all imploded, leaving everyone scrambling to understand why. Afterward, the four stars went down very different paths. Kat is now a lawyer in DC. Liana is the bored wife of a famous athlete. Noah, the show's golden boy, emerged unscathed and is poised to become a household name. And Summer, the object of Noah's fictional (and maybe real-life) affections, is the cautionary tale. But then the fans demand a reunion special. The stars all have private reasons to come back: forgiveness, revenge, a second chance with a first love. But as they tentatively rediscover the magic of the original show, old secrets threaten to resurface-including the real reason behind their downfall. Will this reunion be a chance to make things right? Or will it be the biggest mess the world has ever seen? No matter what, the ratings will be wild"--.

"Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. . . . If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life. But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. . . . Ones of the creature that she's always longed to become: mermaid. Ren aches to be in the water. . . . And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill"--OCLC.

Andrew Aziza is an unusually smart fifteen-year-old in Kontagora, Nigeria. He lives with his fiercely protective mother, Gloria, and fantasizes obsessively about white girls-especially blondes. When he's not in church, at school, or hanging about town with his droogs wishing to become one of ?Africa's first superheroes,? he's contemplating the larger questions with his teacher Zahrah and his equally brilliant friend Fatima, a Hausa-Fulani girl who has feelings for him. Together they discuss mathematical theorems, Black power, and what Andy has deemed the Curse of Africa.