Granbury ISD is “Reviewing” Books

On January 11, 2022, Granbury ISD started removing books from the shelves in their school libraries. The books being removed were primarily from an 850 book listed sent out by Texas House Representative Matt Krause in late October 2021. The district announced they were forming a Book Review Committee to look the books in their libraries that were a part of the “Krause list” and any others that might cause community concern.

In a statement given to the Hood County News, the district said:

While we acknowledge some parents and community members will not agree with the potential removal of any book, we understand the conservative climate of our community and that a large majority recognizes that several social and cultural topics are best left to parents and families to discuss with their children.

Community members, including students, who are against the removal of books spoke out at the school board meeting on January 24, 2022. Here is a summary of their statements and the Granbury ISD Superintendent.

On January 25th, the Granbury ISD Superintendent was a featured speaker with the Hood County Republican Club. Here is a summary of some of the comments made, including discussion of the book review.

On January 27th, books were physically removed from the libraries, removing them from student access, so they can be “reviewed”.

The books under consideration for review have not been publically released by the district. They are captured below only because of an open records request filed by a private citizen and released to the public.

By moving to a “Book Review Committee”, that not only looks at book challenges, but in the future will review ALL books being added into school libraries, we are saying that the expertise of our educators, of our librarians, is secondary to the whims of the community, the parents, to dictate what ALL of our kids have access to. That is not acceptable.

Let’s understand what is really happening here. The easiest way to see it is to look at the books themselves. What is so dangerous in these books?

Without further ado, here are the books under “review” in Granbury ISD

NOTE: I have updated the listing below to show which books show as “Available” in the school library database. As I update this on 2/18/2022, 90 books have been returned, 10 titles are in the database but unavailable.

• 7 Days At The Hot Corner by Terry Trueman (Grade level 8–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In baseball, fielding your position at third base is tricky — that’s why third is called “the hot corner.” You have to be aware that anything can happen at any time. This should be the best year of Scott’s life: It’s his last season of varsity ball, his team is about to go to the city championship, and a pro career is on the line. Instead, everything he always counted on comes crashing down at the same time, and his whole life is like one blazing hot corner — full of deadly line drives and crazy “bad hops.” Scott can’t believe the awful stuff coming his way, but it’s time to find out whether he has what it takes to play the hot corner — on the baseball diamond and off it.

• A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

For months, Cass has heard her best friend, Julia, whisper about a secret project. When Julia dies in a car accident, her drama friends decide to bring the project, a musical called Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad, to fruition. But Cass isn’t a drama person. She can’t take a summer of painting sets, and she won’t spend long hours with Heather, the girl who made her miserable all through middle school and has somehow landed the leading role. So Cass takes off. In alternating chapters, she spends the first part of summer on a cross-country bike trip and the rest swallowing her pride, making props, and, of all things, falling for Heather. This is a story of the breadth of love. Of the depth of friendship. And of the most hilarious musical one quiet suburb has ever seen.

• After by Amy Efaw (Grade level 7–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . . Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made. Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

• After The Game by Abbi Glines (Grade level 9–12)

Two years ago, Riley Young fled from Lawton, Alabama. After accusing the oldest Lawton son, Rhett, of rape, everyone called her a liar and she had no option but to leave. Now she’s back, but she’s not at Lawton High finishing up her senior year. She’s at home raising the little girl that no one believed was Rhett’s.

Rhett is off at college living the life he was afraid he’d lose with Riley’s accusation, so Riley agrees to move back to Lawton so she and her parents could take care of her grandmother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. But the town still hasn’t forgotten their hate for her, and she hasn’t forgotten the way they turned on her when she needed them most.

• Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing.

Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love. Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved — and terrifying — stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most.

• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature. In this Coretta Scott King Honor Award–winning novel, two teens — one black, one white — grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

• All The Things We Do In The Dark by Saundra Mitchell (Grade level 8–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Something happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. Ava would rather keep that something hidden — buried deep in her heart and her soul. But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s discovery — and what Ava finds threatens to topple the carefully constructed wall of normalcy that she’s spent years building around her.

Secrets leave scars. But when the secret in question is not your own — do you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you uncover it from its shallow grave and let it reopen old wounds — wounds that have finally begun to heal?

• Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Logan Witherspoon befriends Sage Hendricks at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. He’s drawn to Sage, with her constant smile and sexy voice, and his feelings for her grow so strong that he can’t resist kissing her. Sage finally discloses a big secret: she was born a boy.

Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at her–a reaction he soon desperately wishes he could take back. Once his anger cools, Logan is filled with incredible regret, and all he wants is to repair his friendship with Sage. But it’s hard to replace something that’s been broken — and it’s even harder to find your way back to friendship when you began with love.

• Another Kind Of Cowboy by Susan Juby (Grade level 9+)

For Alex Ford, dressage is an oasis. In the stable, he can slip into his riding pants, shed the macho cowboy image, and feel like himself for a change.

For Cleo O’Shea, dressage is a fresh start. She’s got a new boarding school, absentee parents, and, best of all, no one to remember her past. . . . They’re an unlikely pair.

Cleo’s looking for love, but Alex has a secret he’s not ready to give up, and a flirtation with Cleo is the last thing on his mind. But you can’t find romance before you know real friendship, and sometimes the last person you’d ever think of as a friend ends up being the one you need the most.

• Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship — the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

• As I Descended by Robin Talley (Grade level 9–12)

Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple — but one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey. Golden child Delilah is a legend at exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize.

But Delilah doesn’t know that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything — absolutely anything — to unseat Delilah for the scholarship. After all, it would lock in Maria’s attendance at Stanford — and assure her and Lily four more years in a shared dorm room.

Together, Maria and Lily harness the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school. But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what’s imagined, the girls must attempt to put a stop to the chilling series of events they’ve accidentally set in motion.

• Ash by Malinda Lo (Grade level 8+)

In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Their friendship, as delicate as a new bloom, reawakens Ash’s capacity for love — and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

• Ask The Passengers by A.S. King (Grade level 10+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother’s pushiness and her father’s lack of interest tell her they’re the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn’t know the passengers inside, but they’re the only people who won’t judge her when she asks them her most personal questions . . . like what it means that she’s falling in love with a girl.

As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can’t share the truth with anyone except the people at thirty thousand feet, and they don’t even know she’s there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers’ lives — and her own — for the better.

• Being Jazz: My Life As A (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In her remarkable memoir, Jazz reflects on her very public experiences and how they have helped shape the mainstream attitude toward the transgender community. But it hasn’t all been easy. Jazz has faced many challenges, bullying, discrimination, and rejection, yet she perseveres as she educates others about her life as a transgender teen. Through it all, her family has been beside her on this journey, standing together against those who don’t understand the true meaning of tolerance and unconditional love.

Now Jazz must learn to navigate the physical, social, and emotional upheavals of adolescence — particularly high school — complicated by the unique challenges of being a transgender teen. Making the journey from girl to woman is never easy — especially when you began your life in a boy’s body.

• Bioethics: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Who Decides? by Linda Jacobs Altman (Grade level 7–9)

Looks at some of the moral questions that have arisen with the scientific breakthroughs of the last century, examining different sides of various topics, including assisted reproduction and abortion, allocation of medical resources, and end-of-life issues.

• Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks (Grade level 7–9)

A smart, tense murder mystery twined with an emotional exploration of the ways love, sex, class, and celebrity can forever change — or end — friendships.

Thoughtful Pete, tough Pauly, twins Eric and Nicole, strange Raymond: As kids they were tight; now they’ve grown up — and apart. They agree to get together one last time, but past hurts, personal histories, soon surface, and the party’s over. The group splinters off into the night; into the noise and heat and chaos of the summer carnival. Days later, a girl goes missing. The prime suspect in her disappearance? One of their own — one of the old gang. Pete doesn’t know what to believe: Could one of his childhood friends really be a cold-blooded killer?

• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

• Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all — and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .

This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them.

• Class Act by Jerry Craft (Grade level 3+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Eighth grader Drew Ellis is no stranger to the saying “You have to work twice as hard to be just as good.” His grandmother has reminded him his entire life. But what if he works ten times as hard and still isn’t afforded the same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted?

To make matters worse, Drew begins to feel as if his good friend Liam might be one of those privileged kids. He wants to pretend like everything is fine, but it’s hard not to withdraw, and even their mutual friend Jordan doesn’t know how to keep the group together.

As the pressures mount, will Drew find a way to bridge the divide so he and his friends can truly accept each other? And most important, will he finally be able to accept himself?

• Cradle and All by James Patterson (Grade level 10+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In Boston, seventeen-year-old Kathleen is pregnant — but she swears she’s a virgin. In Ireland, another teenage girl, Colleen, discovers she is in the same impossible condition. Cities all around the world are suddenly overwhelmed by epidemics, droughts, famines, floods, and worse.

As terrifying forces of light and darkness begin to gather, Kathleen and Colleen find themselves at the center of the final battle for the very soul of humanity. Each of the girls must convince a young detective that she is the true mother of God… and that the other is carrying the devil.

The stakes couldn’t be higher in this page-turning thriller. You won’t be able to put it down until the final reveal: which baby is the miracle — and which the monster?

• Darius The Great Deserves Better (Grade Level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Darius Kellner is having a bit of a year. Since his trip to Iran, a lot has changed. He’s getting along with his dad, and his best friend Sohrab is only a Skype call away. Between his first boyfriend, Landon, varsity soccer practices, and an internship at his favorite tea shop, things are falling into place.

Then, of course, everything changes. Darius’s grandmothers are in town for a long visit, and Darius can’t tell whether they even like him. The internship is not going according to plan, Sohrab isn’t answering Darius’s calls, and Dad is far away on business. And Darius is sure he really likes Landon . . . but he’s also been hanging out with Chip Cusumano, former bully and current soccer teammate — and well, maybe he’s not so sure about anything after all.

Darius was just starting to feel okay, like he finally knew what it meant to be Darius Kellner. But maybe okay isn’t good enough. Maybe Darius deserves better.

• Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

When sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner’s family decides to move from their small mountain cabin to the vast prairie, she hopes it is her chance for a fresh start. She can leave behind the memory of the past winter; of her sickly Ma giving birth to a baby sister who cries endlessly; of the terrifying visions she saw as her sanity began to slip, the victim of cabin fever; and most of all, the memories of the boy she has been secretly meeting with as a distraction from her pain. The boy whose baby she now carries.

When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it is obvious to Amanda that something isn’t right on the prairie. She’s heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there is something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the edge of the prairie. But with the guilt and shame of her sins weighing on her, Amanda can’t be sure if the true evil lies in the land, or deep within her soul.

• Death Wind by William Bell (Grades 8–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Allie’s life has just taken a turn for the worse; not only do her parents fight all the time, but she is failing more classes than not and now she thinks she might be pregnant. Unable to face up to her parents she decides to run away. She hooks up with her old friend Razz, a professional skateboarder, and goes on the road. Razz is ranked number one but constant confrontations with the challenger Slash put Allie in some dangerous situations. With the rivalry heating up, Razz and Allie head toward home — right into the path of a fierce tornado. To survive in the horror and destruction that follow the storm, Allie has to call on an inner strength she didn’t know she had.

• Dishes by Rich Wallace (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Ogunquit, Maine. That’s not where you’d expect to find a guy like Danny. He’s not a tourist. He’s not a local. And he’s definitely not gay. As far as he can tell, only he and the bartender at Dishes, where he works as a dishwasher, are straight. But that’s not what bothers Danny. What bothers him is that he’s got straight-guy problems in a very gay town. While he’s hitting on a cute waitress, the cute waiters are hitting on him. And could the cute waitress have a thing for his thirty-six-year-old dad? It’s one crazy summer in a crazy Maine town.

• Drama by Raina Telgemeier (Grade level 5–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school’s production of Moon over Mississippi, she can’t really sing. Instead she’s the set designer for the drama department’s stage crew, and this year she’s determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn’t know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen. And when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier!

• Equal Rights by Maureen O’Connor (Grade level 4–6) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Considers equal rights issues, including those that involve race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and physical disabilities, with reference to the universal declaration of human rights.

• Fans Of The Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with a mischief glinting in his eye.

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him . Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.

• Far From You by Tess Sharpe (Grade level 9+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Sophie Winters nearly died. Twice. The first time, she’s fourteen, and escapes a near-fatal car accident with scars, a bum leg, and an addiction to Oxy that’ll take years to kick. The second time, she’s seventeen, and it’s no accident. Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina’s murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery.

After a forced stint in rehab, Sophie returns home to a chilly new reality. Mina’s brother won’t speak to her, her parents fear she’ll relapse, old friends have become enemies, and Sophie has to learn how to live without her other half. To make matters worse, no one is looking in the right places and Sophie must search for Mina’s murderer on her own.

• Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love — and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many — Black, queer, and transgender — to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages — after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned — Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle…

• Firestarter by Tara Sim (Grade level 9–12)

In the final installment of the Timekeeper trilogy (following Timekeeper and Chainbreaker), the crew of the Prometheus is intent on taking down the world’s clock towers so that time can run freely.

Now captives, Colton, Daphne, and the others have a stark choice: join the Prometheus’s cause or fight back in any small way they can and face the consequences. But Zavier, leader of the terrorists, has a bigger plan — to bring back the lost god of time.

As new threats emerge, loyalties must shift. No matter where the Prometheus goes — Prague, Austria, India — nowhere is safe, and every second ticks closer toward the eleventh hour. Walking the line between villainy and heroism, each will have to choose what’s most important: saving those you love at the expense of the many, or making impossible sacrifices for the sake of a better world.

• Gabi: A Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero (Grade level 10–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year of high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

July 24

My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. BEAT HER! She was twenty-five. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone.

• Geography Club by Brent Hartinger (Grade level 9+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he’s the only gay kid at Goodkind High School.

Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school’s baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There’s his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there’s Terese’s politically active friend, Ike.

But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves? “We just choose a club that’s so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!”

• George by Alex Gino (Grade level 3–7) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy named George. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl. Melissa thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web.

Melissa really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part… because she’s a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, Melissa comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

• Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn (Grade level 9–12)

After getting tossed from her posh boarding school, wild, willful, and coffee addicted Cyd Charisse returns to San Francisco to live with her parents. But there’s no way Cyd can survive in her parents’ pristine house. Lucky for Cyd she’s got Gingerbread, her childhood rag doll and confidante, and her new surfer boyfriend.

When Cyd’s rebelliousness gets out of hand, her parents ship her off to New York City to spend the summer with “Frank real-dad,” her biological father. Trading in her parents for New York City grunge and getting to know her bio-dad and step-sibs is what Cyd has been waiting for her whole life. But summer in the city is not what Cyd expects — and she’s far from the daughter or sister that anyone could have imagined.

• Girl, Nearly 16: Absolute Torture by Sue Limb (Grade level 5–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Just when things were going so well.

Jess had the perfect summer planned: She and Fred, lounging in the park, gazing into one another’s eyes and engaging in witty repartee. It was going to be so romantic. And then her maddening mum stepped in: She suddenly announced a two-week “road trip” to Cornwall to visit Jess’s dad, something Jess might have enjoyed, actually, were it not for the monstrously bad timing. Not only will this force Jess and Fred apart for two whole weeks, it will also leave the darling and handsome Fred in the clutches of Jess’s blindingly beautiful best friend, Flora — who, you might recall, expressed an interest in Fred not too long ago. As if all this weren’t enough, Jess’s mum seems to expect her to weep at the grave of every departed literary hero in Britain’s long history. It’s absolute torture.

• Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

It’s a year after 9/11. Sniper shootings throughout the D.C. area have everyone on edge and trying to make sense of these random acts of violence. Meanwhile, Craig and Lio are just trying to make sense of their lives.

Craig’s crushing on quiet, distant Lio, and preoccupied with what it meant when Lio kissed him…and if he’ll do it again…and if kissing Lio will help him finally get over his ex-boyfriend, Cody.

Lio feels most alive when he’s with Craig. He forgets about his broken family, his dead brother, and the messed up world. But being with Craig means being vulnerable…and Lio will have to decide whether love is worth the risk.

• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things.

This is the truth. This is history. It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it. You know what I mean.

Funny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner.

• Gravity by Leanne Lieberman (Grade level 8–12)

Ellie Gold is an orthodox Jewish teenager living in Toronto in the late eighties. Ellie has no doubts about her strict religious upbringing until she falls in love with another girl at her grandmother’s cottage. Aware that homosexuality clashes with Jewish observance, Ellie feels forced to either alter her sexuality or leave her community.

Meanwhile, Ellie’s mother, Chana, becomes convinced she has a messianic role to play, and her sister, Neshama, chafes against the restrictions of her faith. Ellie is afraid there is no way to be both gay and Jewish, but her mother and sister offer alternative concepts of God that help Ellie find a place for herself as a queer Jew.

• Great by Sara Benincasa (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In this contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, by comedian Sara Benincasa, a teenage girl becomes entangled in the romance and drama of a Hamptons social circle and is implicated in a scandal that shakes the summer community.

When Naomi Rye arrives in the Hamptons to spend the summer with her socialite mother, she fully expects to be miserable mingling with the sons and daughters of her mother’s mega-rich friends. Yet Naomi finds herself unexpectedly drawn to her mysterious and beautiful next-door neighbor, Jacinta, a Hamptons “It” girl who throws wild, lavish parties that are the talk of the town. But Jacinta is hiding something big, and events unfold with tragic consequences.

• Grl2Grl: Short Fictions by Julie Anne Peters (Grade level 10–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In this honest, emotionally captivating short story collection, renowned author and National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters offers a stunning portrayal of young women as they navigate the hurdles of relationships and sexual identity.

From the young lesbian taking her first steps toward coming out to the two strangers who lock eyes across a crowded train, from the transgender teen longing for a sense of self to the girl whose abusive father has turned her to stone, Peters is the master of creating characters whose own vulnerability resonates with readers and stays with them long after the last page is turned.

Grl2grl shows the rawness of teenage emotion as young girls become women and begin to discover the intricacies of love, dating and sexuality.

• Guardian by Alex London (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Once a proxy, now the figurehead of the Revolution, Syd is a savior to some and a target for others. His bodyguard Liam must protect Syd with his life but armed Machinists aren’t the only danger in the post-Jubilee world. A horrible disease is infecting people and since Guardians are hit first the government does nothing to help. Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure. . . And what he discovers leaves him stunned.

This heart-stopping thriller is packed with volatile action and breathtaking heroics that will have readers racing to its epic conclusion.

• H.I.V.E. Dreadnaught by Mark Walden (Grade level 3–7)

It’s up to Otto to save the world from a renegade faction of the world’s most powerful villains, known as the Disciples. And when they kidnap two of Otto’s friends, things get personal. Otto and a few of his fellow students from H.I.V.E. — the Higher Institute of Villainous Education — head to America in order to track down their missing friends. The search quickly leads them to one of the U.S. military’s most top-secret locations, where it becomes clear that the Disciples are not all they appear.

In a desperate race against time Otto must work out who his real friends are and prevent the Disciples from completing their true objective. Only Otto can save the world from domination by a sinister new world order — but it might be that the price he has to pay is just too high…

• Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins (Grade level 7–9)

Millie Quint is devastated when she discovers that her sort-of-best friend/sort-of-girlfriend has been kissing someone else. Heartbroken and ready for a change of pace, Millie decides to apply for scholarships to boarding schools . . . the farther from Houston the better.

Soon, Millie is accepted into one of the world’s most exclusive schools, located in the rolling highlands of Scotland. Here, the country is dreamy and green; the school is covered in ivy, and the students think her American-ness is adorable.

The only problem: Mille’s roommate Flora is a total princess. She’s also an actual princess. Of Scotland.

• History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

• Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Jazz hands at the ready! Tiny Cooper (“the world’s largest person who is also really, really gay”) stole readers’ hearts when he was introduced to the world in the New York Times bestselling book Will Grayson, Will Grayson, co-authored by John Green and David Levithan. Now Tiny finally gets to tell his story — from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends — the way he always intended: as a musical! Filled with honesty, humor, and “big, lively, belty” musical numbers, the novel is told through the full script of the musical first introduced in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

• Hooked by Catherine Greenman (Grade level 9+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she’s a goner — completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.

Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for.

• How To Love by Katie Cotugno (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he’s never noticed that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. Then Sawyer disappears without a word, leaving a devastated — and pregnant — Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter. Reena’s gotten used to life without Sawyer, but just as suddenly as he disappeared, he turns up again. Reena wants nothing to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said his being back wasn’t stirring something in her.

After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

• I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson (Grade level 9–12)

“We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.” At first, Jude and her twin brother are NoahandJude; inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them.

Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor.

The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world.

• In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco (Grade level 1–3) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Marmee, Meema, and the kids are just like any other family on the block. In their beautiful house, they cook dinner together, they laugh together, and they dance together. But some of the other families don?t accept them. They say they are different. How can a family have two moms and no dad? But Marmee and Meema?s house is full of love. And they teach their children that different doesn?t mean wrong. And no matter how many moms or dads they have, they are everything a family is meant to be.

Here is a true Polacco story of a family, living by their own rules, and the strength they gain by the love they feel.

• Infinity Son by Adam Silvera (Grade level 9+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Growing up in New York, brothers Emil and Brighton always idolized the Spell Walkers — a vigilante group sworn to rid the world of specters. While the Spell Walkers and other celestials are born with powers, specters take them, violently stealing the essence of endangered magical creatures.

Brighton wishes he had a power so he could join the fray. Emil just wants the fighting to stop. The cycle of violence has taken a toll, making it harder for anyone with a power to live peacefully and openly. In this climate of fear, a gang of specters has been growing bolder by the day.

Then, in a brawl after a protest, Emil manifests a power of his own — one that puts him right at the heart of the conflict and sets him up to be the heroic Spell Walker Brighton always wanted to be.

Brotherhood, love, and loyalty will be put to the test, and no one will escape the fight unscathed.

• Jack by A.M. Homes (Grade level 7–9)

In Jack, A. M. Homes gives us a teenager who wants nothing more than to be normal — even if being normal means having divorced parents and a rather strange best friend. But when Jack’s father takes him out in a rowboat on Lake Watchmayoyo and tells his son he’s gay, nothing will ever be normal again. Out of Jack’s struggle to redefine what “family” means, A. M. Homes crafts a novel of enormous humor, charm, and resonance, the most convincing, funny, and insightful novel about adolescence since The Catcher in the Rye.

• Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Alice had her whole summer planned. Nonstop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting―working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating―no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.

But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library-employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated―or understood.

• Like Water by Rebecca Podos (Grade level 9+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In Savannah Espinoza’s small New Mexico hometown, kids either flee after graduation or they’re trapped there forever. Vanni never planned to get stuck — but that was before her father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, leaving her and her mother to care for him.

Now she doesn’t have much of a plan at all: living at home, working as a performing mermaid at a second-rate water park, distracting herself with one boy after another.

That changes the day she meets Leigh. Disillusioned with small-town life and looking for something greater, Leigh is not a “nice girl.” She is unlike anyone Vanni has met, and a friend when Vanni desperately needs one. Soon enough, Leigh is much more than a friend.

• Luciana (Nine Months) by Maggie Wells (Grade level 9–12)

Luciana wants to be a celebrity and she’ll do anything to make that so. But when she finds out that she is pregnant she has to face her father and the dark family secret that he’s been hiding. Ultimately, Luciana wants a clean break from her past — so she decides to abort the baby. Will she ever be at peace with her decision or can she overcome the regret and loss she feels and get on with her life?

• M or F? by Lisa Papademetriou and Chris Tebbetts (Grade level 9–12)

When Marcus, her best friend who is gay, encourages her to talk online to Jeffrey, the boy on whom she has a crush, Frannie asks for his help, and as Marcus begins chatting with Jeffrey, he discovers that Jeffrey is falling for him, not Frannie.

• Making A Play by Abbi Glines (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Ryker Lee is finally enjoying his senior year — he has great friends, hangs out with hot girls, and is on track to get a football scholarship that will set him up for college. Despite this, a small part of him wonders if there’s more to life than parties and meaningless hookups — and if football even means as much to him as it does to his fellow teammates. And when he meets the new girl at school, his world totally changes…

Aurora McClay is new to Lawton. She’s grateful that her twin brother, Hunter, is star of the football team and can help her adjust to her new school, but she’s not grateful at how overprotective he is over every person she meets. Just because she is deaf does not mean people have to treat her differently.

Aurora and Ryker know in their hearts that they are meant for each other. But can their relationship endure the turmoil of rumors and prejudice?

• Masked by Norah McClintock (Grade level 8–12)

When Daniel enters a convenience store on a secret mission, he doesn’t expect to run into anyone he knows. That would ruin everything. And when Rosie enters the same store to see what her father wants, she’s hoping to make a quick getaway with her waiting boyfriend.

All Daniel and Rosie want is to get in and out without any trouble. Neither expects what happens next. A masked man enters the store.

“This is a stickup,” he announces. He has a gun and isn’t afraid to use it. When he’s ready to leave, he decides to take Rosie hostage. And then things get complicated…

• Me And Earl And The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (Grade level 9+)

This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death.

It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.

This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.

• Meet Cute: Stories by Jennifer L. Armentrout and other authors (Grade level 9+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. Now readers can indulge in their love of meet-cute moments with a YA short story collection from some of today’s most popular YA authors. A diverse cast of characters and situations means that this collection has something for every reader looking for feel-good fun.

• Meg & Linus by Hanna Nowinski (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Meg and Linus are best friends bound by a shared love of school, a coffee obsession, and being queer. It’s not always easy to be the nerdy lesbian or gay kid in a suburban town. But they have each other. And a few Star Trek boxed sets. They’re pretty happy.

But then Sophia, Meg’s longtime girlfriend, breaks up with Meg. Linus starts tutoring the totally dreamy new kid, Danny―and Meg thinks setting them up is the perfect project to distract herself from her own heartbreak. But Linus isn’t so sure Danny even likes guys, and maybe Sophia isn’t quite as out of the picture as Meg thought she was. . . .

• The Migration North by James De Medeiros (Grade level 5–6)

Chronicles the history of the African American migration from the southern states to the northern states following Reconstruction.

• Miles Away From You by A.B. Rutledge (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

It’s been three years since Miles fell for Vivian, a talented and dazzling transgender girl. Eighteen months since a suicide attempt left Vivian on life support. Now Miles isn’t sure who he is without her, but knows it’s time to figure out how to say goodbye.

He books a solo trip to Iceland but then has a hard time leaving the refuge of his hotel room. After a little push from Oskar, a local who is equal parts endearing and aloof, Miles decides to honor Vivian’s life by photographing her treasured Doc Martens standing empty against the surreal landscapes. With each step he takes, Miles finds his heart healing — even as he must accept that Vivian, still in a coma, will never recover.

• More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In the months following his father’s suicide, sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto can’t seem to find happiness again, despite the support of his girlfriend, Genevieve, and his overworked mom. Grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist won’t let him forget the pain. But when Aaron meets Thomas, a new kid in the neighborhood, something starts to shift inside him. Aaron can’t deny his unexpected feelings for Thomas despite the tensions their friendship has created with Genevieve and his tight-knit crew.

Since Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound happiness, he considers taking drastic actions. The Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-altering procedure will straighten him out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

• My Awesome Awful Popularity Plan by Seth Rudetsky (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Justin has two goals for sophomore year: to date Chuck, the hottest boy in school, and to become the king of Cool U, the table in the cafeteria where the “in” crowd sits.

Unfortunately, he has the wrong look (short, plump, Brillo-pad curls), he has the wrong interests (Broadway, chorus, violin), and he has the wrong friends (Spencer, into Eastern religions, and Mary Ann, who doesn’t shave her armpits). And Chuck? Well, he’s not gay; he’s dating Becky, a girl in chorus with whom Justin is friendly.

But Justin is determined.

• My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman (Grade level 9–12)

With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest―who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.

Roz has a suspicion about Eva. In turn, Eva taunts Roz with a dare, which leads to an act of total insanity. Drama geeks clamor for attention, Shakespearean insults fly, and Roz steals the show in Lauren Bjorkman’s hilarious debut novel.

• My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari (Grade level 5–7) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Twelve-year-old June Farrell is sure of one thing — she’s great at making pies — and she plans to prove it by winning a blue ribbon in the Champlain Valley Fair pie competition. But a backlash against Vermont’s civil union law threatens her family’s security and their business. Even when faced with bullying, June won’t give up on winning the blue ribbon; more importantly, she won’t give up on her family.

• My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger (Grade level 7+) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Best friends and unofficial brothers since they were six, ninth-graders T.C. and Augie have got the world figured out. But that all changes when both friends fall in love for the first time. Enter Al‚. She’s pretty, sassy, and on her way to Harvard. T.C. falls hard, but Al‚ is playing hard to get. Meanwhile, Augie realizes that he’s got a crush on a boy. It’s not so clear to him, but to his family and friends, it’s totally obvious!

Told in alternating perspectives, this is the hilarious and touching story of their most excellent year, where these three friends discover love, themselves, and how a little magic and Mary Poppins can go a long way.

• Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Naomi and Ely are best friends. Inseparable since childhood. Naomi is straight. Ely is gay. Naomi dates guys who she claims to like. They’re okay, but she likes Ely more.

To protect their feelings, Naomi and Ely created a No Kiss List — a list of people neither of them is allowed to kiss under any circumstances. Naomi’s latest boyfriend Bruce isn’t on that list. But he probably should have been. Because when Ely kisses Bruce, it breaks Naomi’s heart. The result? A rift of universal proportions. Can these best friends come together again, or will this be end of Naomi and Ely: the Institution?

• New Kid by Jerry Craft (Grade level 3–7) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds — and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

• No Girls Allowed by Susan Hughes (Grade level 4–7)

A female pharaoh? A woman general in the Kahn’s army? A female Viking raider? No way, you say? Look again. Appearances can be deceiving … Based on legends, poems, letters and first-hand accounts, these seven biographical tales tell of women who disguised themselves as men. From ancient Egypt through the Middle Ages to the 19th century, this historically accurate graphic treatment is perfect to transport readers back to bygone eras. The lives of these daring women were often filled with danger and the fear of discovery. However, for the sake of freedom, ambition, love or adventure, these women risked everything. No Girls Allowed brings a contemporary edge to a part of history largely untold — until now.

• Notes From The Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Declan loves death metal — particularly from Finland. And video games — violent ones. And internet porn — any kind, really. He goes to school with Neilly Foster and spends most of his classroom time wondering what it might be like to know her, to talk to her, maybe even to graze against her sweater in the hallway.

Neilly is an accomplished gymnast, naturally beautiful, and a constant presence at all the best parties (to which Declan is never invited). She’s the queen of cool, the princess of poker face, and her rule is uncontested — or it was until today, when she’s dumped by her boyfriend, betrayed by her former BFF Lulu, and then informed she’s getting a new brother — of the freaky fellow classmate variety. Declan’s dad is marrying Neilly’s mom. Soon. Which means they’ll be moving in together.

• Of Fire And Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (Grade level 8–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile kingdoms.

But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire — a dangerous gift for the future queen of a land where magic is forbidden.

Now Denna has to learn the ways of her new kingdom while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn to ride Mynaria’s formidable warhorses before her coronation — and her teacher is the person who intimidates her most, the prickly and unconventional Princess Amaranthine, sister of her betrothed.

• One Of Those Hideous Books Where The Mother Dies by Sonya Sones (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

When Ruby’s mother dies, she’s dragged three thousand miles away from her gorgeous boyfriend, Ray, to live in LA with her father, who she’s only ever seen in movies. He’s a mega-famous actor who divorced her mom before Ruby was even born, and while the rest of the world may love him, Ruby definitely does not. But as time passes and pages turn, Ruby comes to understand that circumstances are far more complicated than they seem, and sometimes forgiveness is found where you least expect it.

• Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg (Grade level 9–12)

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He’s won skiing prizes. He likes to write.And, oh yeah, he’s gay. He’s been out since 8th grade, and he isn’t teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that’s important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.

So when he transfers to an all-boys’ boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret — not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben… who doesn’t even know that love is possible.

• Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes (Grade level 7–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night — and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki’s notebooks were her most enduing companions.

In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards — ordinary and extraordinary — of her life.

• Out Of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez (Grade level 9–12)

“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?”

New London, TX. 1937. Naomi Vargas is Mexican American. Wash Fuller is Black. These teens know the town’s divisive racism better than anyone. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.

Naomi and Wash dare to defy the rules, and the New London school explosion serves as a ticking time bomb in the background. Can their love survive both prejudice and tragedy?

• Playing A Part by Daria Wilke (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

In June 2013, the Russian government passed laws prohibiting “gay propaganda,” threatening jail time and fines to offenders. That same month, in spite of these harsh laws, a Russian publisher released PLAYING A PART, a young adult novel with openly gay characters. It was a brave, bold act, and now this groundbreaking story has been translated for American readers.

In PLAYING A PART, Grisha adores everything about the Moscow puppet theater where his parents work, and spends as much time there as he can. But life outside the theater is not so wonderful. The boys in Grisha’s class bully him mercilessly, and his own grandfather says hateful things about how he’s not “masculine” enough. Life goes from bad to worse when Grisha learns that Sam, his favorite actor and mentor, is moving: He’s leaving the country to escape the extreme homophobia he faces in Russia.

• Proxy by Alex London (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Syd’s life is not his own. As a proxy he must to pay for someone else’s crimes. When his patron Knox crashes a car and kills someone, Syd is branded and sentenced to death. The boys realize the only way to beat the system is to save each other so they flee. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test the boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay.

This fast-paced thrill ride of a novel is full of breakneck action, shocking twists and heart-hammering suspense that will have readers gasping until the very last page.

• Queer, There, And Everywhere by Sarah Prager (Grade level 8–9)

World history has been made by countless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals — and you’ve never heard of many of them. Queer author and activist Sarah Prager delves deep into the lives of 23 people who fought, created, and loved on their own terms. From high-profile figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt to the trailblazing gender-ambiguous Queen of Sweden and a bisexual blues singer who didn’t make it into your history books, these astonishing true stories uncover a rich queer heritage that encompasses every culture, in every era.

By turns hilarious and inspiring, the beautifully illustrated Queer, There, and Everywhere is for anyone who wants the real story of the queer rights movement.

• Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters (Grade level 9–12)

Johanna is steadfast, patient, reliable; the go-to girl, the one everyone can count on. But always being there for others can’t give Johanna everything she needs — it can’t give her Reeve Hartt.

Reeve is fierce, beautiful, wounded, elusive; a flame that draws Johanna’s fluttering moth. Johanna is determined to get her, against all advice, and to help her, against all reason. But love isn’t always reasonable, right?

In the precarious place where attraction and need collide, a teenager experiences the dark side of a first love, and struggles to find her way into a new light.

• Roe v. Wade: A Woman’s Choice? by Susan Dudley Gold (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Among the moral value issues that divide Americans there may be no sharper point of disagreement than over the subject of a woman’s right to choose to carry a baby to full term or abort the pregnancy.

• Safe Sex 101: An Overview For Teens by Margaret O. Hyde (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Using case studies and statistics, provides an overview of the perils of sexual intercourse before marriage, including information on abstinence, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, and unplanned pregnancies.

• Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh (Grade level 1–4) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

When her family moved to the town of Westminster, California, young Sylvia Mendez was excited about enrolling in her neighborhood school. But she and her brothers were turned away and told they had to attend the Mexican school instead. Sylvia could not understand why — she was an American citizen who spoke perfect English. Why were the children of Mexican families forced to attend a separate school? Unable to get a satisfactory answer from the school board, the Mendez family decided to take matters into its own hands and organize a lawsuit.

In the end, the Mendez family’s efforts helped bring an end to segregated schooling in California in 1947, seven years before the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in schools across America.

• Sex: If You’re Scared Of The Truth, Don’t Read This! by Carl Sommer (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

A power-packed book dealing with issues youth will face. Carl Sommer exposes the many dangers of casual sex and the many benefits of abstinence from sex until marriage. Sommer uses straight talk to challenge todays youth to examine this important topic that has the potential of destroying their lives. A must read for those wanting a bright future.

• She Loves You, She Loves You Not… by Julie Anne Peters (Grade level 10+)

Seventeen-year-old Alyssa thought she knew who she was. She had her family and her best friends and, most important, she had Sarah. Sarah, her girlfriend, with whom she dreamed about the day they could move far away and live out and proud and accepted for themselves, instead of having to hide their relationship.

Alyssa never thought she would have to make that move by herself. But disowned by her father and cut off from everyone she loves, she is forced to move hundreds of miles away to live with Carly, the biological mother she barely knows, in a town where everyone immediately dismisses her as “Carly’s girl.” As Alyssa struggles to forget her past and come to terms with her future, will she be able to build a new life for herself and believe in love again? Or will she be forced to relive the mistakes that have cost her everything and everyone she cared about?

• Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a critically acclaimed poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless.

In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven among deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before. Praised as “captivating,” “powerful,” and “essential” by critics, this searing and soul-searching memoir is a denouncement of our society’s failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. SHOUT speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice.

• Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out — without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Incredibly funny and poignant, this twenty-first-century coming-of-age, coming out story — wrapped in a geek romance — is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.

• Sonny’s House Of Spies by George Ella Lyon (Grade level 6–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Sonny is only one of the spies at the Bradshaw house in Mozier, Alabama. But as a child he saw a tray full of dinner come flying across the front hall at his father. His mother’s aim was dead on. And Daddy’s departure promptly followed.

Loretta, Sonny’s older sister, spies by eavesdropping. As she tells him, “How else am I going to survive in a family tight-lipped as tombs?”

But the kids’ spying only scratches the surface of what’s really going on in this 1950s family in the deep South. While Deaton, the youngest, worries about pirates and vampires, and Uncle Marty, family protector, serves up scripture with every bite at the Circle of Life donut shop, somebody is watching.

• Stained by Jennifer Richard Jacobson (Grade level 8–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Gabe has shared fourteen years of growing up next door. He’s “a golden boy, an all-star.” Yet now, in the spring of 1975, he’s missing, disappeared on the brink of senior year at Weaver High. The whole town is set to go searching for him.

Benny has only been in New Hampshire since January, yet for Joss, he’s the answer to a long-held prayer to be someone in somebody’s eyes. She loves them both.

Father Warren — hair turning white and “kind of cool in his black clothes” — is a link between the three of them. Or a wedge. Or a threat. For Joss, the priest holds power over her sense of herself; for Benny, power over his soul; for Gabe, so mysterious and alluring, he holds the power of destiny.

• Stamped From The Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society. Some Americans insist that we’re living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America — it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.

• Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee (Grade level 4–8) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Twelve-year-old Mattie is thrilled when she learns the eighth grade play will be Romeo and Juliet. In particular, she can’t wait to share the stage with Gemma Braithwaite, who has been cast as Juliet. Gemma is brilliant, pretty — and British! — and Mattie starts to see her as more than just a friend. But Mattie has also had an on/off crush on her classmate Elijah since, well, forever. Is it possible to have a crush on both boys AND girls?

If that wasn’t enough to deal with, things offstage are beginning to resemble their own Shakespearean drama: the cast is fighting, and the boy playing Romeo may not be up to the challenge of the role. And due to a last-minute emergency, Mattie is asked to step up and take over the leading role — opposite Gemma’s Juliet — just as Mattie’s secret crush starts to become not-so-secret in her group of friends.

• Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Sarah Byrnes and Eric Calhoune have been friends for years. When they were children, his weight and her scars made them both outcasts. Now Sarah Byrnes — the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known — sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she’s hiding before its dark current pulls them both under.

• Symptoms Of Being Human by Jeff Garvin (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. But Riley isn’t exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in über-conservative Orange County, the pressure — media and otherwise — is building up in Riley’s life.

On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it’s really like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley’s starting to settle in at school — even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast — the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley’s real identity, threatening exposure. And Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created — a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in — or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

• Target by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Savagely violated by two strangers, 16-year-old Grady West retreats into a deep silence. Everything about the life he knew fades away. He switches to a new school and stops calling his old friends. He can’t talk to his family. As fear and doubt and memories of his horrible experience take over his head, Grady can’t even eat. But there are those around him who can see beyond his silence and want to know who he really is. As Grady struggles to climb out of the pain and recover from his trauma, he begins to connect with people who show him that life is still worth living.

• Tessa Masterson Will Go To Prom by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin (Grade level 10–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

As long as they’ve been able to walk and talk, it’s always been Lucas and Tessa, Tessa and Lucas. Their friendship is the stuff of legend. As prom approaches and other events unfold, Lucas suddenly awakens to romantic feelings he is having for Tessa and asks her to the prom in a very public, grandstanding way-which completely backfires when she comes out to him as a lesbian. Humiliated and confused, Lucas feels betrayed by his best friend’s secret.

When Tessa decides to publicly come out for prom, by attending in a tastefully tailored tuxedo with her female crush, the community and Lucas are outraged. But when Tessa is banned from attending prom unless she goes in a more conventional way, Lucas must decide if he should stand on the sidelines as the community bashes his former best friend.

• The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds.

Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one.

Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.

• The Baby Tree by Sophie Blackall (Grade level K-3) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Cleverly revealing the basics of reproduction in an age-appropriate way, award-winning Sophie Blackall has created a beautiful picture book full of playful details to amuse and engage readers. Sooner or later, every child will ask, Where do babies come from? Answering this question has never been this easy or entertaining! Join a curious little boy who asks everyone from his babysitter to the mailman, getting all sorts of funny answers along the way, before his parents gently set him straight.

• The Best Man by Richard Peck (Grade level 4–7) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Archer Magill has spent a lively five years of grade school with one eye out in search of grown-up role models. Three of the best are his grandpa, the great architect; his dad, the great vintage car customizer,; and his uncle Paul, who is just plain great. These are the three he wants to be. Along the way he finds a fourth — Mr. McLeod, a teacher. In fact, the first male teacher in the history of the school.

But now here comes middle school and puberty. Change. Archer wonders how much change has to happen before his voice does. He doesn’t see too far ahead, so every day or so a startling revelation breaks over him. Then a really big one when he’s the best man at the wedding of two of his role models. But that gets ahead of the story.

• The Boy I Love by Nina de Gramont (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Fifteen-year-old Wren has been content to stay in her best friend Allie’s shadow. It doesn’t bother her that Ally gets the cutest guys, the cutest clothes, and even a modeling gig — Wren is happy hanging with the horses on her family’s farm and avoiding the jealousy of other girls. But when Tim, the most intriguing guy in school, starts hanging out with Allie and Wren, jealousy is unavoidable, but not the kind Wren expects. Because even though Allie is wayyy into him and Wren hasn’t flirted, not one little bit, it becomes increasingly clear that Tim prefers Wren’s company above anyone else’s.

Tim’s unexpected devotion comes at the exact time Wren’s home life is about to be turned upside down. Her parents have just found out that the family horse farm is on land that was once a slave plantation and are struggling with whether to sell it. Wren aches at the thought of losing her horses and leaving town, but at least there is Tim…

• The Dateable Rules: A Guide To The Sexes by Justin Lookadoo and Hayley Morgan DiMarco (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Take Wild at Heart by John Eldredge and The Mystique of a Woman by Jean Lush and turn it into something that gets the attention of busy teens and you begin to understand The Dateable Rules. This interactive guide takes up where Dateable left off and walks teens through the Bible’s insights about men and women. Guys will learn that God loves adventure and that there’s a difference between a spiritual and a physical adventure. They’ll also learn how to be a gentleman (open her door and carry the box of leftovers from dinner, etc.) Girls will learn that beauty is defined by God, not supermodels, and that if they talk too much, they lose. They learn the secrets of staying confident and letting a guy lead.

• The Gravity Of Us by Phil Stamper (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Cal wants to be a journalist, and he’s already well underway with almost half a million followers on his FlashFame app and an upcoming internship at Buzzfeed. But his plans are derailed when his pilot father is selected for a highly-publicized NASA mission to Mars. Within days, Cal and his parents leave Brooklyn for hot and humid Houston.

With the entire nation desperate for any new information about the astronauts, Cal finds himself thrust in the middle of a media circus. Suddenly his life is more like a reality TV show, with his constantly bickering parents struggling with their roles as the “perfect American family.”

And then Cal meets Leon, whose mother is another astronaut on the mission, and he finds himself falling head over heels — and fast. They become an oasis for each other amid the craziness of this whole experience.

• The Last Exit To Normal by Michael Harmon (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

It’s true: After 17-year-old Ben’s father announces he’s gay and the family splits apart, Ben does everything he can to tick him off: skip school, smoke pot, skateboard nonstop, get arrested. But he never thinks he’ll end up yanked out of his city life and plunked down into a small Montana town with his dad and Edward, The Boyfriend. As if it’s not painful enough living in a hick town with spiked hair, a skateboard habit, and two dads, he soon realizes something’s not quite right with Billy, the boy next door. He’s hiding a secret about his family, and Ben is determined to uncover it and set things right.

In an authentic, unaffected, and mordantly funny voice, Michael Harmon tells the wrenching story of an uprooted and uncomfortable teenaged guy trying to fix the lives around him–while figuring out his own.

• The Last To Let Go by Amber Smith (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

How do you let go of something you’ve never had? Junior year for Brooke Winters is supposed to be about change. She’s transferring schools, starting fresh, and making plans for college so she can finally leave her hometown, her family, and her past behind.

But all of her dreams are shattered one hot summer afternoon when her mother is arrested for killing Brooke’s abusive father. No one really knows what happened that day, if it was premeditated or self-defense, whether it was right or wrong. And now Brooke and her siblings are on their own.

In a year of firsts — the first year without parents, first love, first heartbreak, and her first taste of freedom — Brooke must confront the shadow of her family’s violence and dysfunction, as she struggles to embrace her identity, finds her true place in the world, and learns how to let go.

• The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.

Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome.

The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?

Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be — whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.

What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.

• The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences.

Nirrim keeps her head down, and a dangerous secret close to her chest.

But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away, who whispers rumors that the High Kith possess magic. Sid tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself. But to do that, Nirrim must surrender her old life. She must place her trust in this sly stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.

• The Miseducation Of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (Grade level 9–12)

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Talor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship, one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece.

• The Past And Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

A good friend will bury your body, a best friend will dig you back up.

Dino doesn’t mind spending time with the dead. His parents own a funeral home, and death is literally the family business. He’s just not used to them talking back. Until Dino’s ex-best friend July dies suddenly — and then comes back to life. Except not exactly. Somehow July is not quite alive, and not quite dead.

As Dino and July attempt to figure out what’s happening, they must also confront why and how their friendship ended so badly, and what they have left to understand about themselves, each other, and all those grand mysteries of life.

• The Red Scrolls Of Magic by Cassandra Clare (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation — a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.

Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand before the cult can cause any more damage. Demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever — even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.

• The Sin Eater’s Confession by Ilsa J. Bick (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams―even if I didn’t understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them.

Jimmy’s dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands.

What I don’t know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don’t know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?

• The Upside Of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (Grade level 9–12)

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness — except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker, Reid. He’s a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

• The Whispers by Greg Howard (Grade level 5–6) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Eleven-year-old Riley believes in the Whispers, magical wood creatures that will grant you wishes if you leave them tributes. Riley has a lot of wishes. He wishes bullies at school would stop picking on him. He wishes Dylan, his 8th grade crush, liked him, and Riley wishes he would stop wetting the bed. But most of all, Riley wishes for his mom to come back home. She disappeared a few months ago and Riley is determined to find her. So he goes on a camping trip with his friend Gary to look for the Whispers and ask them to bring his mom back home. But Riley doesn’t realize the trip will shake the foundation of everything that he believes in for forever.

• The You I’ve Never Known by Ellen Hopkins (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

For as long as she can remember, it’s been just Ariel and Dad. Ariel’s mom disappeared when she was a baby. Dad says home is wherever the two of them are, but Ariel is now seventeen and after years of new apartments, new schools, and new faces, all she wants is to put down some roots. Complicating things are Monica and Gabe, both of whom have stirred a different kind of desire.

Maya’s a teenager who’s run from an abusive mother right into the arms of an older man she thinks she can trust. But now she’s isolated with a baby on the way, and life’s getting more complicated than Maya ever could have imagined.

Ariel and Maya’s lives collide unexpectedly when Ariel’s mother shows up out of the blue with wild accusations: Ariel wasn’t abandoned. Her father kidnapped her fourteen years ago.

• They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure — to live a lifetime in a single day.

• They Called Themselves The KKK: The Birth Of An American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Grade level 7–9)

Boys, let us get up a club. With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend’s mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.

This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in America’s democracy.

Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, this account from Newbery Honor-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a book to read and remember.

• This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson (Grade level 8–12)

There’s a long-running joke that, after “coming out,” a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. THIS IS THAT INSTRUCTION MANUAL. You’re welcome. Inside you’ll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask, with topics like:

Stereotypes ― the facts and fiction. Coming out as LGBT. Where to meet people like you. The ins and outs of gay sex. Stereotypes ― the facts and fiction. How to flirt. And so much more!

This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it’s like to grow up LGBTQ also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums, not to mention hilarious illustrations. You will be entertained. You will be informed. But most importantly, you will know that however you identify (or don’t) and whomever you love, you are exceptional. You matter. And so does this book.

• Totally Joe by James Howe (Grade level 4–8) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

What can I say? I’m a total original.

Joe may only be twelve-going-on-thirteen, but he’s known who he is from the time he was a little kid tottering around in his mother’s high heels. Now in the seventh grade, he wears green high tops with pink trim, has a (secret) boyfriend, and tells it all from A to Z in the alphabiography assigned by his favorite teacher. The thing is, some of it is seriously private. It’s one thing for Mr. Daly to read it, but what if it falls into the wrong hands? Will he be teased forever about those high heels…and even worse, what will happen if his secret boyfriend is no longer a secret?

• Under The Lights by Abbi Glines (Grade level 9–12)

Willa can’t erase the bad decisions of her past that led her down the path she’s on now. But she can fight for forgiveness from her family. And she can protect herself by refusing to let anyone else get close to her.

High school quarterback and town golden boy Brady used to be the best of friends with Willa — she even had a crush on him when they were kids. But that’s all changed now: her life choices have made her a different person from the girl he used to know.

Gunner used to be friends with Willa and Brady, too. He too is larger than life and a high school football star — not to mention that his family basically owns the town of Lawton. He loves his life, and doesn’t care about anyone except himself. But Willa is the exception — and he understands the girl she’s become in a way no one else can.

• Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan (Grade level 9–12)

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she’d want to fail a test — that is, until she finds herself staring at a piece of plastic with two solid pink lines. With a college-bound future now disappearing before her eyes, Veronica considers a decision she never imagined she’d have to make: an abortion.

There’s just one catch — the closest place to get one is over nine hundred miles away. With conservative parents, a less-than-optimal boyfriend, and no car, Veronica turns to the only person who won’t judge her: Bailey Butler, a legendary misfit at Jefferson High — and Veronica’s ex-best friend.

What could go wrong? Not much, apart from three days of stolen cars, crazed ex-boyfriends, aliens, ferret napping, and the betrayal of a broken friendship that can’t be outrun. Under the starlit skies of the Southwest, Veronica and Bailey discover that sometimes the most important choice is who your friends are.

• V For Vendetta by Alan Moore

Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit that rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.

• We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson (Grade level 9–12)

Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn’t sure he wants to. After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year.

Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.

But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class.

• What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera (Grade level 9–12)

ARTHUR is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

BEN thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them . . . ? Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated. Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited. But what if they can’t nail a first date even after three do-overs? What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work and Ben doesn’t try hard enough? What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play? But what if it is? What if it’s us?

• What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson (Grade level 9–12)

JAMES AND ALEX have barely anything in common anymore — least of all their experiences in high school, where James is a popular senior and Alex is suddenly an outcast. But at home, there is Henry, the precocious 10-year-old across the street, who eagerly befriends them both. And when Alex takes up running, there is James’s friend Nathen, who unites the brothers in moving and unexpected ways.

• When The Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Recipient of a Stonewall Honor and longlisted for the National Book Award, McLemore delivers a second stunning and utterly romantic novel, again tinged with magic.

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

• Whistle Me Home by Barbara Wersba (Grade level 10–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Although Noli Brown and TJ Baker are practically soulmates and both agree that they love each other, TJ wonders if he can truly love Noli in the way he is supposed to as he is gay and struggles with his feelings and wonders about how Noli would react if she were to find out.

• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with . . . Will Grayson. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage.

Told in alternating voices from two YA superstars, this collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humor that have won them both legions of fans.

• You And Me And Him by Kris Dinnison (Grade level 9–12) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

“Do not ignore a call from me when you know I am feeling neurotic about a boy. That is Best Friend 101.” — Nash

Maggie and Nash are outsiders. She’s overweight. He’s out of the closet. The best of friends, they have seen each other through thick and thin, but when Tom moves to town at the start of the school year, they have something unexpected in common: feelings for the same guy. This warm, witty novel — with a clear, true voice and a clever soundtrack of musical references — sings a song of love and forgiveness.

• You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan (Grade level 7–9) RETURNED TO LIBRARY

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really? Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other — and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

What follows are the five (5) books banned by Granbury ISD as of 01/24/2022.

• Bad For You by Abbi Glines (Grade level 11–12)

Addiction is part of Krit Corbin’s nature, and women are his favorite obsession. But that’s the life of a lead singer in a band. He can have any woman he wants — anywhere, anytime.

Blythe Denton is used to being alone. The minister’s family who raised her never accepted her, and they made it clear how unworthy she was of love. So when she finally gets the chance, Blythe moves into her own apartment. Too bad there’s a loud upstairs neighbor who throws parties all night long.

When Krit and Blythe finally cross paths, Krit realizes he can’t possibly resist this girl — her sexy innocence is just too much for him to ignore. Now determined to win Blythe over, Krit Corbin may have found his biggest addiction yet. But innocence isn’t meant for the addictive…

• Losing The Field by Abbi Glines (Grade level 9–12)

Tallulah Liddell had been defined by her appearance for as long as she could remember. Overweight and insecure, she preferred to fly under the radar, draw as little attention to herself so no one can hurt her. The only boy who did seem to ever notice her was her longtime crush, Nash Lee. But when he laughs at a joke aimed at Tallulah the summer before their senior year, Tallulah’s love dissipates, and she becomes determined to lose weight, to no longer be an object of her classmates’ — and especially Nash’s — ridicule.

Nash Lee has it all — he’s the star running back of Lawton’s football team, being scouted by division one colleges, and on track to have a carefree senior year. But when an accident leaves him with a permanent limp, all of Nash’s present and future plans are destroyed, leaving him bitter, angry, and unrecognizable from the person he used to be.

• The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines (Grade level 11–12)

Getting a boy to fall head-over-heels in love with you isn’t easy. Especially when he’s been in love with your cousin for as long as you can remember. Lana has lived her life in her cousin’s shadow. Ashton always made perfect grades, had tons of friends, and looks model-perfect. And she’s always had Sawyer Vincent — the only boy Lana’s ever wanted — wrapped around her finger. But now things are different. Lana has a chance to make Sawyer see her, and she’s taking it. If only he’d get over Ashton — because Lana is sick of second-best.

Sawyer’s heart is broken. He’s lost his best girl to his best friend. And then Lana comes to town. Ashton’s cousin has always been sweet and soft-spoken, but now she’s drop-dead gorgeous as well. Sawyer doesn’t know if Lana can heal his broken heart, but spending time with her might at least make Ashton jealous.

• Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines (Grade level 9–12)

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

• Until The End by Abbi Glines (Grade level 11–12)

Trisha Corbin always knew how to hide a bruise. With her momma’s boyfriends unable to keep their hands off her, she had no choice. And as long as it meant the guys wouldn’t go near her little brother, Krit, it was worth it. But her days of dreaming that Prince Charming would ever come rescue her are far, far in the past.

Rock Taylor always had a plan. Through football, he would rise above the life he was born into. A full scholarship to play for a major college team was within his reach — assuming he didn’t let anything get in his way. But scoring a date with the hottest girl in Sea Breeze was proving harder than expected. Trisha Corbin was every man’s walking fantasy, and she wouldn’t even glance his way.

In the 1982 Supreme Court Case, Board of Education vs Pico, the court found that school boards cannot remove books from libraries to deny students access to ideas with which the board / community disagree.

We hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.”

In the same opinion, the court found that school boards can remove books that are “pervasively vulgar” or are not educationally suitable for the grade level.

Look through the list above. Read the book synopsis and grade level. Think about pervasively vulgar or pornographic. That is a REALLY high bar. I can’t see it, on any of these books.

Don’t like it, put it down.

Here is what I see in these books:

• Books with LGBTQ+ themes
• Books looking at America’s problems with race
• Books that deal with sex in a frank manner, not something dirty
• Books where women make a choice

When you see these themes, I see kids who might already feel marginalized, kids who might have questions they can’t get answered in other places, kids who want to see themselves as the hero of a story, seeing their books challenged, reviewed, and potentially removed.

IT IS WRONG

The Texas Tribune released a really solid article this morning providing broader context of what is happening in Granbury / Hood County, and also how it reflects broadly across the state and country. You should read it.

A push to remove LGBTQ books in a Texas county could signal rising partisanship on school boards

All of the book covers, synopsis, and grade level information were pulled from Amazon listings.