The Birthday Wish (Young Adult, YA)


Book Description

Grace hates her best friend Ryan for stealing the guy Grace has a crush on and then making out with him at Grace's birthday party. When it's time to blow out the candles and make a wish, Grace keeps it simple: she wishes Ryan would die. But birthday wishes don't really come true, right? The Birthday Wish is a young adult short story with paranormal/ supernatural elements: 4,200 words. Keywords: young adult, ya, teen, birthday, wish, paranormal, supernatural, fairy, death, best friends, short read




River of Blue Fire


Book Description

A group of unlikely heroes goes up against the ruthless Grail Brotherhood, who are exploiting Earth's children




Dare Mighty Things


Book Description

The Selection meets The 5th Wave in this heart-racing debut duology about a girl competing for a spot on a mysterious mission to the outer reaches of space. THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win. Eighteen-year-old Cassandra Gupta’s entire life has been leading up to this—the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she is to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe. Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her. As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: she’ll never back down...even if it costs her everything.




Birthday


Book Description

“Lovers who surmount the odds have always been intense emotional fodder, but rarely have we seen a story like Birthday...true and raw, haunting and undeniable.” —The New York Times Book Review Two best friends. A shared birthday. Six years... ERIC: There was the day we were born. There was the minute Morgan and I decided we were best friends for life. The years where we stuck by each other’s side—as Morgan’s mom died, as he moved across town, as I joined the football team, as my parents started fighting. But sometimes I worry that Morgan and I won’t be best friends forever. That there’ll be a day, a minute, a second, where it all falls apart and there’s no turning back the clock. MORGAN: I know that every birthday should feel like a new beginning, but I’m trapped in this mixed-up body, in this wrong life, in Nowheresville, Tennessee, on repeat. With a dad who cares about his football team more than me, a mom I miss more than anything, and a best friend who can never know my biggest secret. Maybe one day I’ll be ready to become the person I am inside. To become her. To tell the world. To tell Eric. But when? Six years of birthdays reveal Eric and Morgan’s destiny as they come together, drift apart, fall in love, and discover who they’re meant to be—and if they’re meant to be together. From the award-winning author of If I Was Your Girl, Meredith Russo, comes a heart-wrenching and universal story of identity, first love, and fate. “Beautifully written, Birthday is an altogether singular contribution to the gradually growing body of transgender literature and, indeed, to mainstream literature, as well.” —ALA Booklist, starred review




Switched at Birthday


Book Description

What if your birthday wish turned you into someone else? Lavender and Scarlet are nothing alike. Scarlet is tall, pretty, and popular -- the star of the soccer team and the queen of the school. Lavender is . . . well, none of these things. Her friends aren't considered cool, her hair is considered less than uncool, and her performance at the recent talent show is something nobody will ever forget -- even though she really, really wants it to be forgotten. There's only one thing Lavender and Scarlet know for sure they have in common: the same birthday.They've never had parties together. They've never swapped presents. But this year, because of two wishes that turned all too true, they are about to swap something much bigger than presents. Because the morning after their birthdays, Lavender is going to wake up in Scarlet's body . . . and Scarlet is going to wake up in Lavender's. But in order to change back, they're going to have to figure out how to be someone completely opposite of who they ordinarily are . . .




Tex


Book Description

From the best-selling author of The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton's Tex explores friendships, conflict, depression, self-destructive behavior, and truth and acceptance. This edition includes a new and exclusive Author's Note. Easygoing and reckless, Tex, likes everyone and everything, especially his horse, Negrito, and Johnny Collins' blue-eyed sister, Jamie. Life with his older brother, Mason, would be just about perfect if only he would stop complaining about Pop, who hasn't been home in five months. While Mason worries about paying the bills and getting a basketball scholarship--his ticket out of Oklahoma--Tex just seems to attract trouble. When everything seems to be falling apart, how can Tex find a way to keep things together?




You Wish


Book Description

Kayla McHenry?s sweet sixteen sucks! Her dad left, her grades dropped, and her BFF is dating the boy Kayla?s secretly loved for years. Blowing out her candles, Kayla thinks: I wish my birthday wishes actually came true. Because they never freakin? do. Kayla wakes the next day to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window. Then a year?s supply of gumballs arrives. A boy named Ken with a disturbing resemblance to the doll of the same name stalks her. As the ghosts of Kayla?s wishes-past appear, they take her on a wild ride . . . but they MUST STOP. Because when she was fifteen? She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her. And Ben is her best friend?s boyfriend.




The Seventh Birthday Wish


Book Description

The Seventh Birthday Wish is a fun, magical story of how Wesley, on his seventh birthday, chooses to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Wesley turns seven, and in his world, you can have anything you want for your birthday. He is off to new places and discovers new friends and adventures. Read the story to see what gift he picks! This second edition adds new pictures and beauty to a charming tale.




The Stars and the Blackness Between Them


Book Description

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus's bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both. Port of Spain, Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she's going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor's daughter. Audre's grandmother Queenie (a former dancer who drives a white convertible Cadillac and who has a few secrets of her own) tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won't lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. "America have dey spirits too, believe me," she tells Audre. Minneapolis, USA. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels--about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that's plagued her all summer. Mabel's reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner. Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer and suddenly it's Audre who is caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future. Junauda Petrus's debut brilliantly captures the distinctly lush and lyrical voices of Mabel and Audre as they conjure a love that is stronger than hatred, prison, and death and as vast as the blackness between the stars.




As You Wish


Book Description

From bestselling author Chelsea Sedoti comes a thought-provoking contemporary young adult book about a small desert town filled with Mojave magic where everyone gets to make a wish on their eighteenth birthday. If you could make one wish that was guaranteed to come true—what would you wish for? Rules for Wishing: Never let an outsider find out about wishing. (Zip your lips and throw away the key.) Wishes that would impact the world are off limits (i.e. no bringing back the dinosaurs). Do no harm. (Murder = no bueno.) No time travel. (What's done is done, pal.) No bringing back the dead. (Come on. You've seen what happens in THE WALKING DEAD.) NEVER BREAK THE RULES. (Seriously. We mean it. See Rule #7.) There are always consequences. Most of Eldon's classmates have had their wishes picked out for months, even years. Not Eldon. He's seen how wishing has hurt the people around him. His parents' marriage is strained, his sister is a virtual ghost in their house, his ex-girlfriend is dating his ex-friend...where does he even begin? One thing is for sure: Eldon has only twenty-six days to figure it out—and the rest of his life to live with the consequences. Perfect for: Readers who like magical realism YA Fans of John Green, Jandy Nelson, and The Sun is Also a Star Educators and parents who want to start conversations about consequences People looking for young adult books best sellers Also by Chelsea Sedoti: It Came from the Sky The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett Praise for As You Wish: "Heartbreaking, other times hilarious, but always thought-provoking. An unexpectedly affecting book that will have readers pondering what they would wish for if given the chance."—Booklist "Poignant... Will inspire readers to explore the question: if you could have one wish, what would it be?"—Kirkus "An engrossing read, fantastical and believable at the same time."—Horn Book Magazine "Depending on the reader, this novel offers different levels of intensity, starting with the everyday sort of teen troubles, progressing to difficult family dynamics, and reaching up to the ethical dilemmas wishing can create—all while being easy to read and hard to put down."—VOYA