A girl thought to be a boy steals her sister's skirt, while a boy thought to be a girl refuses to wear a cornflower blue dress. One boy's love of a soldier leads to the death of a stranger. The present takes a bittersweet journey into the past when a man revisits the summer school where he had "an accidental romance." And a forgotten mother writes a poignant letter to the teenage daughter she hasn't seen for fourteen years.Poised between the past and the future are the stories of n...

This collection of enlightening and stimulating articles, written by some of the most important figures in school librarianship, demonstrates how teacher-librarians, classroom teachers, and administrators can work together to create a 21st century school library media program. With topics that emphasize student success, leadership, partnerships, curriculum design, collaborative planning and teaching, literacy, 21st century skills, emerging technologies, and so much more, this compendium br...

Powerful, riveting, and real. Sixteen celebrated authors bring us raw, insightful stories that explore guns and teens in a fiction collection that is thought provoking and emotionally gripping. For fans of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and Give a Boy a Gun, and with an array of YA talent like the late great Walter Dean Myers, the poetic Joyce Carol Oates, the prophetic Elizabeth Wein, and the gritty Chris Crutcher, these are evocative voices that each has a different perspe...

Editorial Advisory Board: Sarah Park Dahlen, Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Marianne Martens, Associate Professor, School of Information, Kent State University; Amy Pattee, Associate Professor and Co-coordinator of Dual-Degree MS LIS/MA Children’s Literature, School of Library and Information Science, Children’s Literature, Simmons University“Comprehensive and ...

Discussions of gender and sexuality have become part of mainstream conversations and are being reflected in the work of more and more writers of fiction, particularly in literature aimed at young adult audiences. But young readers, regardless of their sexual orientation, don’t always know what books offer well-rounded portrayals of queer characters and situations. Fortunately, finding positive role models in fiction that features LGBTQ+ themes has become less problematic, though not withou...

Society does not make it easy for young people, regardless of their sexual orientation, to find accurate, nonjudgmental information about homosexuality. It makes it even more difficult for young homosexuals to find positive role models in fiction either written or published expressly for them or-if published for adults-relevant to them and their lives.The Heart Has Its Reasons examines these issues and critically evaluates the body of literature published for young adults ...

Finally being able to get out from under her parents house, Abby finds herself in the one place she's always thought of as her second home. A final summer with her best friend, Makenna down on the Jersey Shore is supposed to be her last hurrah before college. Her new job on the boardwalk, and their summer rental is the most exciting thing that's ever happened in her follow the rules boring life.A fairytale believer of true love, and not the one night stand, Abby vows to keep her vi...

All Beatriz “Bia” Fernandes wants is to prove herself—to her family and friends—though it’s hard to prove anything with an overbearing father and three famous polo-playing older brothers. After her acceptance into college results in a heated family argument, the Brazilian girl leaves everything behind to find her own American dream.College life away from home is perfect until the people she believes to be her friends turn on her. With lies and rumors threatening to suffocate her, B...

The day Ethan Chapman found out that his father had been killed, his life quickly spiraled out of control. After his mother forced him to move from Australia back to London to be closer to family, his life still hadn't changed.The only difference was that this time he had a partner, his cousin, Peter Watson. Night after night of hitting pubs, Peter finally convinced him to go on their yearly vacation to the Caribbean. He almost didn't go, but the desire to see Sophie Gerrard, his f...

When I was little, I was under the impression that guys rode in on white horses and rescued the fair damsel from the dragon. They'd ride off into the sunset, share true loves kiss and live happily ever after.Nobody ever told me it was a lie.Or that the only guy who would rescue you in High School was the school nerd with Star Wars t-shirts and glasses thicker than an airplane window.I guess it shouldn't come as much of a shock that once I graduated high school and star...

He swore he'd never forgive her. But now someone wants her dead.Dr. Ian MacGregor knows better than to get involved with Natasha White. The tempting heartbreaker has a way of getting under his skin, but he couldn't live with himself if anything happened to her.Sweeping her away to his Highland castle, Ian becomes her fiercest protector as he vows to safeguard her against the mob who will stop at nothing to eliminate her. He'll guard her till the end, even if that m...

Sixteen-year old, Sophie Gerrard has been in love with her close friend, Peter Watson since childhood. She planned to tell him how she felt during their families' yearly vacation to the Caribbean. But when Peter arrives from London with a girlfriend and his cousin Ethan, her plans change.Disgusted by how the vacation has turned out, she agrees to go island hopping with Ethan, to avoid Peter. But even that didn't work out as planned. When their dinghy capsizes, Sophie and Ethan are ...