Search Results: 348 books from 13 publishers. Learn more

My Hood

Linda Oatman High (author)

Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing ISBN: 9781630784638

Tyrone's mom tells him not to wear his hoodie at night. It could get him killed by the police. Too many black sons are dying.

Feel It Fly

PJ Gray (author)

Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing ISBN: 9781630784300

A school bully disrupts a major test for one student, but he soon gets a taste of his own medicine.

Gearhead

Leslie McGill (author)

Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing ISBN: 9781630783501

Capital Central High School students Marley and Hector want a better life beyond their northeast D.C. neighborhood. So they study hard, taking extra classes at Tech to get ahead. Book 4 in the Cap Central series continues to explore the broad challenges facing urban schools, including crime, poverty, and encroaching gentrification.

Bad Date

PJ Gray (author)

Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing ISBN: 9781630784317

With themes of STEM, Science, TERL Boosters offer expansion opportunities for your Teen Emergent Reader Libraries. Each Booster level supports a TERL library. Boosters can also stand alone and are excellent hi-lo classroom books.

Face the Music

Lesley Choyce (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459832893

Tyler and Mason dream of escaping to the big city and getting started on their lives. One night, Mason convinces Tyler to help him steal a car and they are soon having the adventure of a lifetime. Until they run out of gas. Stranded on the side of the highway, Mason blames Tyler, Tyler blames Mason and their argument turns physical. Their fight is broken up by a scruffy-looking guy who offers them a ride to the city. Eventually the teens realize their rescuer is none other than Sean Dakota, a heavy-metal musician who suddenly disappeared from the spotlight the previous year. Tyler is intrigued by this music legend, but Mason wants to take advantage of him. Listening to Sean and the lessons he’s learned from his own life choices, Tyler starts to realize how dangerous and damaging his friendship with Mason is. But will he find the courage to branch out on his own?

Hey Jude

Star Spider (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459826366

Seventeen-year-old Penny is struggling to balance caring for Jude, her sister with mental health challenges, working part-time to help her mother with money issues and facing her final year of high school. She does not need any distractions. But then she meets Jack. The two of them click immediately. But as quickly as things heat up, they then cool down, and Penny isn’t sure why. Does she have room for her feelings for Jack alongside her worries that her sister is crashing into suicidal depression again?

Heads Up

Melanie Siebert (author) Belle Wuthrich (illustrator)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459819122

Featuring real-life stories of people who have found hope and meaning in the midst of life’s struggles, Heads Up: Changing Minds on Mental Health is the go-to guide for teenagers who want to know about mental health, mental illness, trauma and recovery. This book shines a light on the troubled history of thinking about and treating mental illness and tells the stories of courageous pioneers in the field of psychiatry who fought for more compassionate, respectful and effective treatments. It provides a helpful guide to the major mental health diagnoses along with ideas and resources to support those who are suffering. The book also explores how mental health is more than just “in our heads” and includes the voices of Indigenous people who share a more holistic way of thinking about wellness, balancing mind, body, heart and spirit. Highlighting innovative approaches such as trauma-informed activities like yoga and hip-hop, police mental health teams, and peer support for youth,

Easy Street

Jeff Ross (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459824027

Three years ago Rob’s brother, Adam, was sent to jail for his part in the death of a girl who overdosed at a rave. But now that he has been released, Rob hopes that things can go back to the way they used to be. He soon realizes this is impossible. His brother has changed, the times have changed, and Rob has changed. Adam tells his mom and brother that he is planning to apply to a college in Toronto. He has already discovered how difficult it can be for someone with a criminal record to land a job and thinks he needs to get some education under his belt. He invites Rob to go on a road trip to the city to check out the college. However, Rob suspects that Adam hasn’t asked him along just for company. Adam still believes that there’s an easy way to get to where he wants to be. And if Rob can’t find a way to save Adam from himself, he just might go down with him.

Girls Like Me

Kristin Butcher (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459820562

After accepting a ride home, sixteen-year-old Emma Kennedy is raped by a boy from school. But handsome, popular Ross Schroeder tells everyone the sex was consensual, and Emma is immediately branded as a slut. Even Emma's best friend, Jen, doesn't believe Emma's version of events. In fact, she is angry with Emma because she feels betrayed. After all, she liked Ross first. But when Ross starts showing interest in Jen, Emma knows she will have to find a way to get Jen to believe that she really is in grave danger. Before it's too late.

Impossible

Jocelyn Shipley (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459815575

Seventeen-year-old Jemma's older brother took her in when she needed to get away from her abusive ex-boyfriend, Razor. All Jemma wants now is to be a good mom to her baby daughter, Violet. But one night she needs to go out, just for a few minutes, to get diapers and ice cream. On her way back, she witnesses the drive-by shooting of a kid, Kwame, who lives in the same building. The driver is Razor. Jemma is terrified. If she tells anyone what she saw, they'll know she left her baby alone and she might lose custody. But if she doesn't, Kwame's killer will go free. Razor convinces Jemma to make a deal to save her life, but Jemma isn't sure she can live with the consequences.

Enough

Mary Jennifer Payne (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459813311

Life hasn't been easy for fifteen-year-old Lizzie Jackson since her father's sudden death four years ago. Shortly after he died, her mother, Lydia, began dating and drinking herself into oblivion, leaving Lizzie to parent her younger brother, Charlie. Things go from bad to worse when Lydia marries Dean. To protect Charlie from Dean's rage, Lizzie makes herself the target of his abuse. But when Dean sexually assaults Lizzie, things change forever. Can she continue to ensure her brother's safety after she flees their home?

Wingman

Jean Mills (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459834330

The other night, Trace Brewster, Max’s best friend and star hockey player for the Hawks, scored on his own net and put the team’s chances of qualifying for an upcoming tournament in jeopardy. Since then Trace has gone silent and is shutting everyone out. But Max thinks there’s more going on with his friend than what happened on the ice. For one thing, there are bruises on Trace's face that he refuses to explain. Can Max find a way to get Trace to open up and help him in time for the big game?

What World is Left

Monique Polak (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459833043

A pampered child used to having her own way, Anneke Van Raalte lives outside Amsterdam, where her father is a cartoonist for an Amsterdam newspaper. Though Anneke's family is Jewish, her religion means little to her. Anneke's life changes in 1942 when the Nazis invade Holland and she and her family are deported to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Not only are conditions in the camp appalling, but the camp is the site of an elaborate hoax: the Nazis are determined to convince the world that Theresienstadt is an idyllic place, and that European Jews are thriving under the Nazi regime. Because he is an artist, Anneke's father is compelled to help in the propaganda campaign, and Anneke finds herself torn between her loyalty to her family and her sense of what is right. What World is Left was inspired by the experiences of the author's mother, who was imprisoned in Theresienstadt during World War II.

Urgent Message from a Hot Planet

Ann Eriksson (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459826335

The climate crisis is the issue of our time. Scientists have warned for over 100 years that burning fossil fuels and destroying nature will warm the earth's atmosphere and affect the climate in adverse ways: more severe and intense storms, prolonged heat waves, drought, flooding, wildfires, rising sea levels and ocean acidification. Urgent Message from a Hot Planet: Navigating the Climate Crisis outlines the science behind global heating and its root causes, provides ways to take action and honors the efforts of the millions of youth and adult allies from around the world working tirelessly to make a difference. Their powerful message: do something now!

Pride

Robin Stevenson (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459821255

Like the original version, this new edition of Pride: The Celebration and the Struggle celebrates the LGBTQ+ community's diversity and the incredible victories of the past 50 years—but it also has a larger focus on activism, the need to keep fighting for equality and freedom around the world and the important role that young people are playing. The new edition has been updated and expanded to include many new Proud Moments and Queer Facts as well as a profile of LGBTQ+ refugees from Indonesia, a story about a Pride celebration in a refugee camp in Kenya and profiles of young activists, including teens from a Gender and Sexuality Alliance organizing Pride in Inuvik and a trans girl from Vancouver fighting for inclusion and support in schools. There is also a section on being an ally, a profile of a family with two gay dads (one of them trans) and much, much more!

Dreaming in Color

Melanie Florence (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459812918

Jennifer McCaffrey has been working hard on her art for years and is thrilled when she is accepted to a prestigious art school. The school is everything she always thought it would be, mostly. There is one group of kids who seem to resent her and say she only got in because of her skin color. Jen, who loves to create new pieces of artwork that incorporate her Indigenous heritage, finds herself a target when the group tells her to stop being “so Indian”. The night before the big art show at school, Jen’s beading art project is defaced. Jen has to find a way not to let the haters win.

Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die

Nikki Tate (author) Belle Wuthrich (illustrator)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459818903

With many jurisdictions considering whether or not to implement new assisted-death legislation, Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die is a timely look at the subject for teen readers who may not yet have had much experience with death and dying. Readers are introduced to the topic of assisted dying through the author's own story. The issue continues to be hotly debated in families, communities and countries around the world, and there are no easy answers. Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die looks at the issue from multiple perspectives and encourages readers to listen with an open mind and a kind heart and reach their own conclusions.

Cub

Paul Coccia (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459820838

In the gay community, a young, husky man is known as a "cub." Seventeen-year-old Theo fits the definition perfectly, but he is very self-conscious about his body. So when his best friend signs him up for a cooking competition at Heat, the city's newest trendy restaurant, Theo is nervous. He's confident in his baking ability, and dreams of opening his own bakery one day, but he's not a chef, and he hates being in the spotlight. As Theo survives round after round, he gains the admiration of both the audience and the restaurant owner, a sexy celebrity chef known as KCC. When the owner makes it clear he is more interested in what Theo might do outside the kitchen, Theo has to decide how far he is willing to go to launch his career.

Caged

Norah McClintock (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459815001

Even if Kenzie's dog had somehow managed to escape from the family's fenced backyard, Kenzie knows the big, lovable chocolate Lab wouldn't have gone far. As they search for Clancy, Kenzie and his dad keep hearing stories about other dogs that have gone missing too. When Kenzie finds Clancy's ID tag and spots a van loaded up with dog food, he knows he has to investigate further. With the help of a schoolmate whose dog has also disappeared, Kenzie uncovers an illegal operation that grabs dogs off the street and turns them into bloodthirsty killers.

Up North

Jeff Ross (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459814578

This is the second story featuring Rob and Adam Maclean after Coming Clean Rob Maclean and his mom have moved to a small community in northern Ontario in order to be closer to Rob's imprisoned brother, Adam. One night after a rowdy party, Rob and some friends end up in a van speeding through a First Nations reserve. The driver of the van has a deep hatred for Indigenous people, and he lobs rotten fruit at a group of young men gathered in front of a community center. The young men chase them down, and Rob's friend Alan is injured and ends up in a coma. Now the police are pressuring Rob to identify their prime suspect.

Blood Sport

Tash McAdam (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459824379

Jason is sure his sister, Becca, was murdered, but he’s the only one who thinks so. After finding a photograph Becca kept hidden, he decides to infiltrate a boxing gym to prove that she didn’t die accidentally. As a transgender kid, Jason’s been fighting for as long as he can remember, and those skills are going to come in handy as he investigates. Quickly invited into the inner circle, Jason must balance newfound friendships with the burning hate that drives him. Jason soon feels torn between two worlds, determined to discover what happened to his sister but struggling with the fact that this is the first time he’s ever felt like he belonged somewhere.

Baby Drag Queen

C.A. Tanaka (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459835337

Transgender teen Ichiro enters a drag contest in hopes of earning enough money to live off the grid. Ichiro is a transgender youth in his final year of high school. He has a job as a dishwasher to earn money to help support his single mother. But it's not enough. Ichiro dreams of buying a camper van for the two of them so they can escape and live off the grid and not have to worry about money anymore. A budding drag queen, he takes a second job performing drag at a local club and learns of an upcoming contest where the prize money would be enough to pay for a camper van. But nobody knows he does drag. So when some of his friends find out what he’s really doing in the evenings, Ichiro is worried about what they will think of him. Will they still accept him?

After Life

Merrie-Ellen Wilcox (author)

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers ISBN: 9781459813908

Moving between science and culture, After Life: Ways We Think About Death takes a straightforward look at these and other questions long taboo in our society. By showing the fascinating, diverse ways in which we understand death, both today and throughout our history, the book also shines a light on what it is to be human. Each chapter includes a brief telling of a death legend, myth or history from a different culture or tradition, from Adam and Eve to Wolf and Coyote, and ends with a section on a common theme in our thinking about death, such as rivers and birds in the afterlife, the colors that different cultures use to symbolize death, and, of course, ghosts. The final chapter is about grief, which is both a universal human experience and unique to each person. The text offers suggestions for ways to think about our grief, when to ask for help and how to talk to friends who are grieving.

Malala Yousafzai: Education Activist

Myra Faye Turner (author)

Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing ISBN: 9781645988977

Growing up in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai’s life was turned upside down by the Taliban. It forbade girls her age from going to school, but Malala refused to accept this. Speaking out nearly cost the young activist her life. Still, she didn’t give up. Today, Malala continues to fight for a free, safe education for all girls around the world.

Star Dimmer

PJ Gray (author)

Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing ISBN: 9781630789732

Jen Conrad has a life many dream of. She’s a popular model and comes from a famous Hollywood family, but soon, her life starts to crumble. Wrongfully accused of murder, Jen is hounded by reporters and tabloids. All she wants is peace and quiet. That’s what she hopes to find while staying at her grandmother’s beach house. Yet even there, danger lurks. Jen soon discovers that the people closest to her may be in trouble. Can she protect her family, or will she lose them and herself?