Reading: Life Experiences

After her mother is detained by immigration officials, Fabiola Toussaint has to finish her move from Haiti alone, navigating her loud American cousins, the grittiness of Detroit's west side, a new school, and a surprising romance. Young adult fiction. 324 pages.

High school student Daelyn Rice, who's been bullied throughout her school career and has more than once attempted suicide, again makes plans to kill herself, in spite of the persistent attempts of an unusual boy to draw her out. Young Adult Fiction. 200 pages.

Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter, but she meets a boy who introduces her to drugs and becomes a very different person, struggling to control her life and her mind. Young Adult Fiction. 537 pages.

After more than twenty years in prison, a black trans woman newly released on parole spends a whirlwind Fourth of July weekend in Brooklyn trying to reconcile with the family she left behind and find her way forward. Fiction. 311 pages.

One of The New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year, Disappearing Earth is described as brilliant, engrossing and daring. Set on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, the novel begins when two sisters, ages eight and eleven, go missing. Fiction. 255 pages.

Smart, funny and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine who has built a shell around herself after surviving a tough childhood, who grows to realize that the only way to survive is to open her heart. Fiction. 325 pages.

Hazel is a 16-year old girl with stage IV thyroid cancer. To help her deal with her clinical depression, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor who forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life. Young Adult Fiction. 318 pages. Available as ebook Disponible en español.

Rachel is unemployed and devastated by a recent divorce. She fills her time with drinking, riding the commuter train, and fantasizing about a seemingly perfect couple the train passes by every day. Then one morning, Rachel sees something shocking... Fiction. 316 pages. Available as ebook

As her senior capstone project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi is determined to find the real killer in a closed, local murder case, but not everyone wants her meddling in the past. T.V. adaptation streaming on Netflix.Young Adult Fiction. 389 pages. Available as ebook

This runaway best seller tells the story of 16-year-old Starr Carter, who is drawn to activism after she witnesses the police shooting of her unarmed friend. Winner of the Coretta Scott King award. Young Adult Fiction. 444 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

The new pastor in a small Indiana town experiences one humorous adventure after another as he acclimates to his new congregation and lifestyle. Gentle, humorous Christian fiction. Fiction. 220 pages. Available as ebook

Mia had everything: a loving family, an adoring boyfriend, and a bright future in music. Then, in an instant, everything changes…. Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a riveting and uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, and loving. Young Adult Fiction. 262 pages.

This award-winning, electrifying novel retells the story of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Huck's enslaved companion Jim.Fiction. 302 pages.Available as audiobook

This is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel was inspired by Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. Fiction. 548 pages.Available as audiobook

This is the tale of family, memory, love, and living told by 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who is already in heaven. Through the voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and builds out of her family's grief a hopeful and joyful story. Fiction. 328 pages.

Based on the extraordinary life of the author's grandfather, who worked as a night watchman while also fighting for Native people stripped of their land, this award-winning novel has unforgettable characters from the Ojibwa and Chippewa tribes, living both on and off the reservation. Fiction. 451 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook.

Sixteen-year-old Bri hopes to become a great rapper, and after her first song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, must decide whether to sell out or face eviction with her widowed mother. By the author of The Hate U Give. Young adult fiction. 447 pages. Available as audiobook

Charming best-selling novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium-and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance 30 years ago. Fiction. 360 pages. Available as audiobook

After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, Lily Owens joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters. Heartwarming. Fiction. 302 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Brad Cutler seems to have the perfect life and is about to marry his dream girl, but memories of an old high school girlfriend disrupt his plans. A heartwarming novel from the Christian Fiction genre. Fiction. 333 pages. Available as audiobook

In 1990s Portland, Oregon, seventeen-year-old Iph, aided by George, a modern-day Robin Hood, seeks her sensitive fifteen-year-old brother, Orr, while Orr has escaped wilderness boot camp and is residing with The Furies, an all-girl punk band. Young adult fiction. 325 pages.

The explosion of racial hate in an Alabama town is viewed by a little girl whose father defends a black man accused of rape. Fiction. 323 pages. Available as ebook, audiobook, and graphic novel

In this darkly funny, wildly popular novel, Phoebe Stone is an uninvited guest at a lavish Newport wedding weekend, but her unexpected presence and growing friendship with the bride lead to emotional revelations and new beginnings. Fiction. 367 pages. Available as audiobook

An ingenious and entertaining novel about a Seattle family coming to terms with who they are. It is also a riotous satire of privilege and a powerful story of a daughter's unflinching love for her imperfect mother. Fiction. 330 pages.

Kya Clark is a young woman growing up practically on her own in the wild marshes of coastal North Carolina. This lush, lyrical novel takes a suspenseful turn when Kya is accused of murder. Fiction 368 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma, Novalee Nation, 17 years old and seven months pregnant, soon discovers the treasures hiding in this small Southwest town. Fiction. 376 pages.