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Skyscraping

Author : Cordelia Jensen

Publisher : Penguin

Page : 341 pages

File Size : 17,88 MB

Release : 2015-06-02

Category : Young Adult Fiction

ISBN : 0698172566

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Book Description

A heartrending, bold novel in verse about family, identity, and forgiveness Mira is just beginning her senior year of high school when she discovers her father with his male lover. Her world–and everything she thought she knew about her family–is shattered instantly. Unable to comprehend the lies, betrayal, and secrets that–unbeknownst to Mira–have come to define and keep intact her family’s existence, Mira distances herself from her sister and closest friends as a means of coping. But her father’s sexual orientation isn’t all he's kept hidden. A shocking health scare brings to light his battle with HIV. As Mira struggles to make sense of the many fractures in her family's fabric and redefine her wavering sense of self, she must find a way to reconnect with her dad–while there is still time. Told in raw, exposed free verse, Skyscraping reminds us that there is no one way to be a family. Praise for SKYSCRAPING: A 2016 NCTE Children's Notable Verse Novel A Booklist Top 10 LGBTQ Book for Youth title A YALSA 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults title A Booklist Essential LGBTQIA Book for Youth A Los Angeles Public Library's Best Book for Teens * "Exquisite free-verse poems...illuminating and deeply felt."—Booklist *STARRED* * "[An] exquisite coming-of-age novel in verse."—School Library Connection *STARRED* “This book should be popular with fans of Sarah Dessen and would be a worthy addition to most high school library collections.”—VOYA "Jensen's spare free-verse poems and accessible imagery realistically portray the fraught moments of adolescent identity formation with great empathy. Compelling snapshots of contemporary family drama and the AIDS epidemic as captured through a teen's eyes."—Kirkus Reviews "Written in straightforward, accessible free verse tinged with celestial metaphors, this story--set in a well-rendered 1993 NYC--is sincere, touching, and heartwrenching." —Horn Book "It left me speechless. Skyscraping is like a regular book with wings."—Becky Albertalli, author of National Book Award finalist Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda "In gorgeous poetic verse, Jensen captures the raw emotions and hard truths of a family dealing with forgiveness and love.... Your heart will soar and break and heal anew."—An Na, author of Printz Award winner and National Book Award finalist A Step from Heaven " Skyscraping is brilliant, sharp and bright. A stellar story. Jensen has written a powerful tale about love and loss, a story that will stick with readers long after they’ve reached the end. Her poetry is vivid, tangible, and visceral. She’s a rising star with a breathtaking debut. This is a novel made of star stuff."—Skila Brown, author of Caminar





This Is All

Author : Aidan Chambers

Publisher : Random House

Page : 834 pages

File Size : 15,56 MB

Release : 2010-07-28

Category : Young Adult Fiction

ISBN : 1407098365

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Book Description

Subtitled The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn this is the story of Cordelia from the time she is 15 until she is 20. She is pregnant and plans to give this account to her daughter on her 16th birthday so that they can share their youth together. She chooses the old and famous Japanese book, 'The Pillow Book' by Sei Shonagon, as a model in order to include all kinds of things she has already written as well as the episodes and thoughts she has now as she compiles her book. She tells of her mother (who died when Cordelia was 5) of her father and her aunt Doris (who marry when she is 16), of her love for William Blacklin, the boy with whom she chooses to have her first sex - and with whom she falls deeply in love. She writes about Julie Martin her teacher who helps her spiritually, describes her love affair with an older married man and her terrifying sexual experience with an unbalanced young man who is obsessed with her. The book includes thoughts on being a women, on poetry, music, reading and writing, on being pregnant and finally of her marriage to William. This Is All is an anthology, written in six 'books' of Cordelia's adolescent life, by turns funny, poignant, sad, exciting, fascinating ironic and truthful about topics that parents often do not tell their children. It is a richly entertaining and challenging read.



The Accounts

Author : Katie Peterson

Publisher : University of Chicago Press

Page : 105 pages

File Size : 44,38 MB

Release : 2013-09-19

Category : Poetry

ISBN : 022606283X

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Book Description

The death of a mother alters forever a family’s story of itself. Indeed, it taxes the ability of a family to tell that story at all. The Accounts narrates the struggle to speak with any clear understanding in the wake of that loss. The title poem attempts three explanations of the departure of a life from the earth—a physical account, a psychological account, and a spiritual account. It is embedded in a long narrative sequence that tries to state plainly the facts of the last days of the mother’s life, in a room that formerly housed a television, next to a California backyard. The visual focus of that sequence, a robin’s nest, poised above the family home, sings in a kind of lament, giving its own version of ways we can see the transformation of the dying into the dead. In other poems, called “Arguments,” two voices exchange uncertain truths about subjects as high as heaven and as low as crime. Grief is a problem that cannot be solved by thinking, but that doesn’t stop the mind, which relentlessly carries on, trying in vain to settle its accounts. The death of a well-loved person creates a debt that can never be repaid. It reminds the living of our own psychological debts to each other, and to the dead. In this sense, the death of this particular mother and the transformation of this particular family are evocative of a greater struggle against any changing reality, and the loss of all beautiful and passing forms of order.



The Truth Project

Author : Dante Medema

Publisher : HarperCollins

Page : 367 pages

File Size : 22,18 MB

Release : 2020-10-13

Category : Young Adult Fiction

ISBN : 0062954423

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Book Description

“A heart-wrenching quest for identity every YA reader will relate to, and a deep dive into the meaning of family." —Ellen Hopkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author Debut author Dante Medema explores the emotional fallout after a teenage girl discovers she is the product of an affair. Told through a series of poems, text messages, and emails, this contemporary YA is perfect for fans of Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin. Seventeen-year-old Cordelia Koenig intended to breeze through her senior project. While her peers stressed, Cordelia planned to use the same trace-your-roots genealogy idea her older sister used years prior. And getting partnered with her longtime crush, Kodiak Jones, is icing on the cake. All she needs to do is mail in her DNA sample, write about her ancestry results, and get that easy A. But when Cordelia’s GeneQuest results reveal that her father is not the person she thought he was, but a stranger who lives thousands of miles away, her entire world shatters. Now she isn’t sure of anything—not the mother who lied, the man she calls Dad, or the girl staring back at her in the mirror. If your life began with a lie, how can you ever be sure of what's true?



The Way The Light Bends

Author : Cordelia Jensen

Publisher : Penguin

Page : 407 pages

File Size : 11,32 MB

Release : 2018-03-27

Category : Young Adult Fiction

ISBN : 0399547460

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Book Description

A powerful novel in verse about fitting in, standing out, defining your own self-worth, and what it takes to keep a fracturing family whole. Virtual twins Linc and Holly were once extremely close. But while artistic, creative Linc is her parents' daughter biologically, it's smart, popular Holly, adopted from Ghana as a baby, who exemplifies the family's high-achieving model of academic success. Linc is desperate to pursue photography, to find a place of belonging, and for her family to accept her for who she is, despite her surgeon mother's constant disapproval and her growing distance from Holly. So when she comes up with a plan to use her photography interests and skills to do better in school--via a project based on Seneca Village, a long-gone village in the space that now holds Central Park, where all inhabitants, regardless of race, lived together harmoniously--Linc is excited and determined to prove that her differences are assets, that she has what it takes to make her mother proud. But when a long-buried family secret comes to light, Linc must decide whether her mother's love is worth obtaining. A novel in verse that challenges the way we think about family and belonging. Praise for The Way the Light Bends "I fell into Linc's world and found myself changed by her journey. Readers will fall in love with her and her struggles." -Dhonielle Clayton, author of the Tiny Pretty Things series and The Belles "Achingly beautiful, honest and visceral. This is a must read for anyone who has questioned whether they belong." -Meg Wiviott, author of Paper Hearts "Linc's struggle to chart her own future, unfolding in graceful verse, makes a compelling read." --Kirkus Reviews "Give this book to any students who have ever felt invisible or who have ever struggled to feel at home in a traditional academic setting." --School Library Journal "The meshing of word choice and space integrates the protagonist's inner struggles with her undeniable talent as a budding photographer." --Voice of Youth Advocates "Rich with imagery that embodies longing and heart, a girl's desire to recapture what was, and her joy over discovering her own kind of success." --Booklist "The book tugs at the heartstrings by focusing on family dynamics and expectations that are universal experiences." --School Library Connection



The Bookman

Author :

Publisher :

Page : 734 pages

File Size : 23,24 MB

Release : 1902

Category : Book collecting

ISBN :

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