Reading: Life Experiences

Two teen males—one black, one white—grapple with the aftermath of a police officer who has brutally beaten the black teen. A powerful story about what it means to you a young man in America across the lines of race. Young Adult Fiction. 316 pages.

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.

Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima – a curandera who cures with herbs and magic - comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. Under her wise wing, Tony will test the bonds that tie him to his people,as Ultima nurtures the birth of his soul. Fiction. 290 pages.

The novel explores the experiences of characters who have immigrated to the United States from a number of Latin American nations through differing first-person perspectives. Fiction. 285 pages. Available as ebook

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.

The popular indie rock performer describes her battle against the hereditary mental illness that decimated her mother's health and prompted the author to engage in a self-destructive downward spiral before discovering her musical talent. Nonfiction. 267 pages.

School outsider Jesse, a lesbian, is having secret trysts with Emily, the popular student council vice president,who also has a boyfriend. Their relationship becomes more complicated when they find themselves on the opposite side of a major issue. Young Adult Fiction. 256 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.

This is the remarkable story of one endearing dog's search for his purpose over the course of several lives. Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh out loud funny. Fiction. 319 pages.

A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but who became one of the most widely-read poets in the world. Young Adult Fiction. 372 pages.

An incredible and heart-wrenching memoir and a testament to the power of education, written by Tara Westover, who survived her survivalist, ultra-religious upbringing to step into a classroom for the first time at age 17. Nonfiction. 334 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

This is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. Terrifically written and full of 1980s music references. Young Adult Fiction. 328 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Embittered by her first experiences of love, a young Brazilian girl travels to Geneva in search of fame and fortune and finds her beliefs about sex and romance challenged by her relationship with a young painter. Fiction. 273 pages. Available as ebook

Hazel,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 "hottie" Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor. Irreverent, raw, and unforgettable. Young Adult Fiction. 318 pages. Available as ebook

A hilarious and tragic portrait of an orphaned half Indian, half Irish, acne-ridden teen who travels back and forth through time in a violent search for his true identity. "Raw and vital, often racously funny ... there isn't a false word in it." (NYT). Young Adult Fiction. 181 pages. Available as ebook

In 1972, when she was seven, the author and her family moved from Iran to Southern California. Funny in Farsi is a humorous and unforgettable story of culture shock, discovery, and the power of family love. Nonfiction. 227 pages.

When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings. Fiction. 307 pages. Available as ebook

A London commuter train is the setting for a missing person story with an an unreliable narrator. Prepare for twists and turns in this fun, creepy, best selling thriller. Fiction. 316 pages. Available as ebook

After a family tragedy orphans her, Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., moves into her grandmother's mostly black community in 1980s Portland, where she must swallow her grief and confront her identity as a biracial young woman. Fiction. 264 pages.

"Serving a sentence in a prison in Mexico, Libertad Gonz̀lez finds a clever way to pass the time with the weekly Library Club.  The story emerge of a former literature professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents
himself as a trucker in the United States.  A whimsical and passionate story of a father and daughter on the run." Fiction. 295 pages.

Five months ago, Valerie’s boyfriend , Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Val was as shocked as everyone else -- but, despite her own serious injury, she's implicated in the crime because of the list she and Nick made of people they hated. Young Adult Fiction. 408 pages.

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

Set in the ethnic neighborhoods of Seattle during World War II and Japanese American internment camps of the era, this debut novel tells the heartwarming story of widower Henry Lee, his father, and his first love Keiko Okabe. Fiction. 309 pages.

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.

Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. Fiction. 372 pages. Available as ebook

In the perfect and progressive suburb of Shaker Heights, two very different families will change each other's lives forever. When Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl rent a house from the wealthy Richardson family, they quickly become entwined in each other's lives with the Richardson children becoming especially close to the Warrens. When family friends of the Richardsons try to adopt a Chinese baby from a local woman a battle erupts that forces both families to reckon with culture, the powerful bond of motherhood, and long-hidden secrets. This book is a compelling and emotional character study of people who all feel they are doing the right thing, even though they often are hurting others by doing it. Fiction. 328 pages.

The author describes life growing up different in an odd family, his unusual talents, his struggle to live a "normal" life, his diagnosis at the age of forty with Asperger's syndrome, and the dramatic changes that have occurred since that diagnosis. Nonfiction. 302 pages.

Looking down from heaven, 14-year-old Susie Salmon recounts her rape and murder and watches her family as they cope with their grief and "the lovely bones" growing around her absence. Fiction. 328 pages.

Riveting courtroom drama. 16 year old Steven Harmon is on trial as an accomplice to murder. An emotionally compelling story about living in our times, especially for young African American males. Young Adult Fiction. 281 pages.

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.

Tired of being known as "the gay kid", Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school--but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences. Young Adult Fiction. 320 pages.

Tough guy Alex is primarily known by his classmates as a dangerous member of the Latino Bloods gang. He's not exactly thrilled when Brittany Ellis, the school's seemingly perfect beauty queen, is assigned as his lab partner and the feeling is more than mutual. Sparks fly in this smoldering romance. Fiction. 360 pages. Available as ebook

This intense collection of short stories takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to
the soldiers who returned. One of the New York Times Best Books of 2014. Fiction. 291 pages.

Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four African American siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups. Fiction. 261 pages.

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

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

Two sisters leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles in this fresh, fascinating adventure. Fiction. 322 pages.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder returns with the extraordinary true story of Deo, a young man who arrives in America from Burundi after surviving a civil war and genocide in search of a new life. Nonfiction. 284 pages.

Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nut jobs... Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel that examines the fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us. Young Adult Fiction. 295 pages. Available as ebook

Two teens--Daniel, the son of Korean shopkeepers, and Natasha, whose family is here illegally from Jamaica--cross paths in New York City on an eventful day in their lives--Daniel is on his way to an interview with a Yale alum, Natasha is meeting with a lawyer to try and prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica--and fall in love. Young Adult Fiction. 344 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Robin "Birdy" Perry, a new army recruit from Harlem, isn't quite sure why he joined the army, but he's sure where he's headed: Iraq. Young Adult Fiction. 290 pages. Available as ebook

High school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide after recording the events leading up to her death. Mesmerizing and shatteringly real. Fiction. 288 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

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 and audiobook

Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope. Fiction. 350 pages. Available as ebook

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.

Terry McMillan (author of Waiting to Exhale) offers a valentine to the power and beauty of black families and the indestructible bond that holds us together. -- Essence. "Hillarious, irreverent, ... thoroughly entertaining." NYTimes Book Review. Fiction. 385 pages.

A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. Nonfiction. 315 pages. Available as ebook