bildungsromans

Twelve-year-old Gabe is in emotional turmoil after feeling the effects of his parents' money woes and seeing his best friends begin to hang out with other kids on their soccer team. When he finally gets the chance to hang out with his friends again, he hopes to impress them by shooting off fireworks that he steals from a local store. When the fireworks ignite, they cause a fire in the woods near his house and damage several acres of land. Gabe is blamed for the fire and must help clean up the mess he caused through a court order. While working in the ravaged fields, Gabe encounters a coyote named Rill, who also is going through his own difficulties with his family, but now is injured from the fire and can't return to them. As he works in the area, Gabe realizes the consequences of his actions, dedicating himself to helping Rill recover, and in the process discovering a new friend.

When fourteen-year-old Gabe checks for survivors after a global pandemic he finds Relle, a strange hopeful girl for whom Gabe eventually develops a crush, but after they return to the mainland tragedy strikes, forcing Gabe to set out on a dangerous journey to find other survivors where the world might be normal--like Before.

Despondent sixteen-year-old Malcolm finds his political voice as he is transported between his family's modern-day Mississippi farm and the life of his activist relative Cedric Johnson in post-Civil War south.

Amir, haunted by his betrayal of Hassan, the son of his father's servant and a childhood friend, returns to Kabul as an adult after he learns Hassan has been killed, and attempts to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan's son from a life of slavery to a Taliban official.

"[Presents a story about] Tetsuya, a man once famous for his prodigious gifts with a bow and arrow but who has since retired from public life, the challenger who comes searching for him, and the boy who observes their competition. Afterward, the boy has many questions, and in answering them Tetsuya illustrates the way of the bow and the tenets of a meaningful life"--Jacket flap.

Tormented by bullies, Mo is a boy just trying to survive high school in a mysterious mountain town known as the "Bigfoot Sighting Capital of the World." He secretly loves Prophecy, a girl living with a group that some call a commune and others call a cult. When her family starts down a dark path, Mo learns that real terror doesn't hide in the woods surrounding Boulder Creek. Far scarier are the monsters found much closer to home.

"When Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders pitches its tent in a poor coastal town, the life of one young girl changes forever. Sold to the ringmaster as a 'leopard girl' because of the birthmarks that cover her body, Nell is utterly devastated. But as she grows close to the other performers, she finds herself enchanted by the glittering freedom of the circus, and by her own role as the Queen of the Moon and Stars. Before long, Nell's fame spreads across the world--and with it, a chance for Jasper Jupiter to grow his own name and fortune. But what happens when her fame begins to eclipse his own, when even Jasper's loyal brother Toby becomes captivated by Nell? No longer the quiet flower-picker, Nell knows her own place in the world, and she will fight for it"--OCLC.

Scout Finch, the young daughter of a local attorney in the Deep South during the 1930s, tells of her father's defense of an African-American man charged with the rape of a white girl.

Scout Finch, the young daughter of a local attorney in the Deep South during the 1930s, tells of her father's defense of an African-American man charged with the rape of a white girl.

"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there's a hundred thousand dollar reward at stake and her best and most fearless friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett's son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts"--OCLC.