What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Perez

“There’s no magic here, just my own life.”

Seventeen-year-old Marisa comes from a family of Mexican immigrants and lives in Houston, Texas. She was raised to be an obedient and dutiful daughter. Like all members of her family, she is expected to work and contribute her wages to help with the household bills. In addition, she is responsible for taking care of her young niece and the preparation of all her family’s meals. Despite all that she does for her family, Marisa manages to get good grades in school. In fact, her math teacher is so impressed that she strongly encourages Marisa to apply to college. When she is accepted into the engineering program at a school in Austin, she finally begins to realize that she can aspire to do more with her life than what her family expects of her. For once, she begins to believe her dreams of leaving home, earning a college degree and getting a good job can come true. However, she faces a huge dilemma: should she follow her dreams or remain bound by family obligations? This realistic look into the life of a Mexican-American teenager will resonate with many.

The Upper Room by Mary Monroe

“Y’all don’t understand. Mo’reen ain’t no regular child. She a gift from the Lord. Her presence make the upper room so special.”


If you’re in the mood for a quick read with snappy dialog, vivid imagery and a little bit suspense, then this is the book for you. Mama Ruby, the seventh born daughter of a seventh born daughter, is believed to have special powers. In fact, her “healing hands” brought her best friend Othella’s still born daughter back to life. Since Mama Ruby had always longed to have her very own daughter, she took this as a sign that the baby was a gift from God. So, without a word to Othella, Mama Ruby steals off into the night with the baby she named Maureen and settles in a migrant community outside of Miami. While there she quicklyearns the reputation of someone not to be played with. She “chastises” those who dare to cross her and has her son Virgil help her hide the bodies. THE UPPER ROOM is filled with a cast of colorful characters and just enough drama and suspense to keep you turning the pages and craving for more. The prequel to this story, MAMA RUBY, is set to be released in July 2011.

You Don't Even Know Me by Sharon Flake

“I sit in your class, I play by your rules. I’m young, I’m fly, I’m Black. So, of course I think I’m cool…”



This companion to Who Am I Without Him: Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives will challenge all who read it to consider if they really do know boys after all. Through short stories and poems, Flake introduces readers to a wide range of boys. One sixteen-year-old is set to married his pregnant girlfriend while another is desperate to find the person responsible for killing his beloved grandfather. There’s also a boy who is seduced by his neighbor and one who is scared to tell his uncle he’s HIV positive so he writes a touching letter instead. Flake also takes on other heavy topics such as suicide, obesity and gangs. Each story and poem is written the way teens speak, making it easily accessible to them without being too preachy. I really enjoyed this book and I think many teens will too.

Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel

“Forty years after her death, Janis Joplin still fascinates.”

Generally, biographies written for teens can be boring. They often contain a few black and white photographs with information presented in such a stale way that teens will only want to skim through them to attain information needed for school reports. Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing certainly breaks the mold of humdrum biography. First of all, each page border is beautifully decorated with colorful swirl patterns making it an attractive book to explore. Furthermore, author Angel writes in a conversational style that is sure to appeal to teens. Using quotes from various interviews by and about Joplin during her heyday, helps to make this an engrossing read. Angel tackles Joplin’s Texas childhood, college days and drug use as well as her various relationships, and concludes by discussing her untimely death caused by an accidental drug overdose. For those who want an honest look into 1960’s rock and roll, as well as intimate details on music icon, this is not a book to be missed.

A Boy Called Twister by Anne Schraff

“Finally, he had nothing to hide. He was just another kid in the class – a boy called Twister.”

Kevin Walker, the new kid at Tubman High School, is determined to remain a loner so that other students won’t ask him too many questions. He’s scared of how his classmates will react if they find out his family secrets. He doesn’t want to be judge or treated differently. To ease the burden he carries, he likes to run. It helps him to blow off steam. Once others notice how awesome a runner he is, he’s asked to join the track team. He immediately has a huge impact on the team, helping them to finally win track meets. Because Kevin is as fast as a tornado when he runs around the track, he earns the nickname “Twister.” However, being a successful member of the team draws a lot of unwanted attention Kevin’s way. Will he decide to open up to his new friends and reveal his secrets, or will he keep them bottled up inside?


As part of Saddleback Educational Publishing’s Urban Underground series, this book is designed specifically for reluctant teen readers. Coming in at just under 200 pages, it focuses on issues many teens deal with such as bullies, self-esteem, drugs, and dropouts, just to name a few. Although I believe the author hits you over the head one too many times with the message, I still enjoyed this book. It is a good, clean read that I would enthusiastically recommend to any teen or tween who wants to read realistic, urban fiction.



Maxine Banks is Getting Married by Lori Aurelia Williams

“So we really gonna do this? You’re sure?”

Seventeen-year-old Maxine Banks has her mind set on marrying her long-time boyfriend, Brian, after her best friend Tia gets married and moves away. Maxine thinks of marriage as a way of escaping her mother – a woman who neglects her while only paying attention to whichever man she happens to be involved with at the moment. After convincing Brian to become her husband, she fabricates a pregnancy to persuade her mom and Brian’s dad to give them their blessing. Married life for Maxine and Brian is short-lived after she finds out he was unfaithful. After kicking him out of the house, she is frightened at the prospect of having to move back in with her mother. A seemingly perfect solution comes about when Brian’s dad offers to let her stay in a house he owns and provide her with money if she agrees to look after his wayward thirteen-year-old niece, Demonee. Maxine has her hands full as she struggles to keep Demonee in check while trying to finish up her senior year of high school.

This book is full of drama and tackles a variety of issues affecting teens. If you seek a quick read with a unique storyline and well-developed characters, then this is the book for you. It is sure to generate a lot of discussion among those who give it a try.

Red Hats by Damon Wayans

“Alma opened the box and pulled out a beautiful, large brimmed, red-feathered hat accented with gorgeous strawberry-red brocade.”

Alma is a bitter, sharp-tongued woman who refers to her husband, Harold, as her “has been”. She has a hard time showing him any affection, even though she misses what they once had. One afternoon, angry at Harold for something trivial, Alma mutters under her breath that she wishes he would die. To her shock and disbelief, he succumbs that evening to a heart attack leaving Alma all alone and guilt -ridden. She is about to commit suicide when ladies from the Red Hat Society intervene and help her get back on her feet. She enjoys spending time with them, but becomes angry when they present her with her very own red hat and ask her to join them. She calls them a cult and shuts them out of her life. But, when tragedy strikes, Alma finally learns about the power of friendship, love and forgiveness. This touching tale is one that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading it. What impresses me even more is the author, comedian Damon Wayans of “In Living Color” fame. Who knew that such a raucously funny man could write such an intimately moving book?

Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu

Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others.

When sixteen-year-old Lucy was in elementary school one of her friends found out her family’s secret and told the entire class. Lucy was humiliated and suffered the taunts and name calling by her classmates until her mother agreed to send her to a new school. Ever since then, Lucy has fought hard to keep anyone from finding out about her mother’s extreme hoarding. She never invites friends over for fear that will not want to be her friend anymore for living in a house that is cluttered from floor to ceiling with junk. She can barley move around due to the tall stacks of newspapers, piles of clothes and garbage strewn about. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Lucy must figure out a way to keep her living conditions private. There is no way she wants her friends, neighbors and especially the media to know her dirty little secret.

This is a timely book about a subject that is getting a lot of attention due the popular reality television shows “Hoarders” and ”Hoarding.” Readers will be immediately drawn into this story as they sympathize with Lucy and her drastic efforts to keep others from seeing how horrible her house is. Omololu’s descriptive writing helps you to easily imagine how awful the house must smell and how horrific the sight of mold and mountains of junk would look like. Dirty Little Secrets provides great insight into the issue of hoarding and how it affects families and is not one to be missed.

Party by Tom Leveen

What’s the go?

It’s Saturday night and the big end of the school year party is going down. Everyone will be there and each of them has different expectations for the night. Some want to spend one last night of fun with classmates before summer vacation, while others just want to get drunk. A few more just want to get noticed while some just want to make a friend. Party focuses on eleven different teens at the party and each chapter is written from one of their points of view. Their stories connect and intersect as we read about their problems, fears and dreams. Leveen effectively explores loss, friendship, dating, sex and racism in this compelling read that will appeal to both boys and girls alike. Adults will even appreciate this one as it will remind them of classic teen cinema such as “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles.”

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

I will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie.

Seventeen-year-old Micah readily admits that she is a liar. She explains that she lies to hide the family secret (which I will not divulge so as to not give away too much of the story). So, when she is a freshman at a private New York high school and everyone thinks she is a boy because of her name and short hairstyle, she goes along with it. When questioned on that fib, she leads her classmates into thinking she was born a hermaphrodite. She also lies that her father is an arms dealer. Micah’s lies come back to haunt her when popular student, Zack is murdered. When everyone finds out that Micah and Zack had a secret relationship the whispers and gossip begins. Could she be Zack’s killer? After finishing this book, the ending is so ambiguous that I’m not sure that she did or didn’t. For those who desire an original premise and like speculative fiction, this one is definitely for you. Because of language and mild sexual situations, I recommend this one to older teens.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

If you want to make it, all you have to do is try.

When William Kamkwamba was fourteen he had to leave school after his parents could no longer afford to pay his tuition. To help his family earn money, he assisted with the planting and harvesting of their crops of corn and tobacco. All the while, Kamkwamba remained hopeful that he would return to school and took it upon himself to visit the his local library every day so that he could continue to study. During one visit he discovered a book on electricity and became inspired to learn all that he could. In no time he was building and repairing radios for his neighbors. With this success, he was encouraged to build a windmill, something that would be of great help to his family. He envisioned having light and being able to listen to the radio after dark. He also was eager to set up a pump that would bring clean water to his family from a nearby river. Although many in his village thought him to be a mad man and he faced many obstacles, Kamkwamba never gave up.

One of the strengths of this book for me is the description of the flood, drought and famine that plagued Malawi in 2002 and how desperate everyone felt as their food supply dwindled. I was also fascinated with Kamkwamba’s description of Malawian social life and customs. This book was about so much more than windmills and I loved it.

A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes

First it was Mary, then it was M.R. Mister is all anybody calls me now.

Mary Rudine, nicknamed Mister because of her initials, has always been a “good girl.” She attends church every Sunday, sings in the choir, and does well in school. When she meets Trey the feelings she has for him throw her for a loop and she forgets the promise she made to God to save herself for marriage. She thinks she loves Trey and has sex with him. After she ends up pregnant, he abandons her. Feeling all alone, she begins to question whether God still loves her. She discovers a book of poetry about the Virgin Mary which helps her to truly discover the depth of God’s love. This quick and easy read is a novel written in verse and is sure to be inspirational to its intended audience.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Mia comes from a very tight-knit, fun loving family which consists of her ex-punk rocker turned teacher father, travel agent mother and charismatic younger brother, Teddy.  One fateful morning when school is canceled because of snow, they all decide to take advantage of the day off and visit their grandparents.  While traveling along a wet Oregon highway the unthinkable happens – the family is involved in a horrific car accident.  Before Mia knows it, she is floating above the scene of the accident and witnessing her rescue from their mangled car.  Mia is the only survivor.  This touching book shifts between the past and present while Mia struggles with deciding whether to fight to live or give up and join her family in death.  This is one heart wrenching story I highly recommend to teens and adults alike. 

A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true.

Fifteen-year-old Genna shares a tiny, cramped apartment in Brooklyn, New York with her mother and three siblings. Her family has been steadily falling apart ever since her father left and returned to his native Panama. Genna especially has a hard time since she has a sense she doesn’t belong. She feels like an outsider at school and she has a hard time connecting with her teenage brother and sister. She is also sad that her mother has to work so hard to support the family. Genna does her best to ease her mother’s burden by not giving her anything to worry about. She gets good grades in school and cares for her infant brother. When Genna wants to escape her worries and problems she visits a neighborhood park where there is a fountain. While there, Genna always makes it a point to toss coins into the fountain and make wishes. One night, after an uncharacteristic fight with her mother, Genna is desperate to find solace at the fountain. While there, she finds a coin, tosses it in and makes a wish to leave Brooklyn and her miserable home life. To her surprise she wakes up in Civil War era Brooklyn. Genna has no choice but to adapt to her new environment and soon finds herself working for a doctor and his wife as a nanny. You cannot help but to be enthralled by this story. Elliott does a fine job of intermingling speculative with historical fiction. I highly recommend this one to teens and adults alike.

Killing Willis: From Diff'rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted by Todd Bridges with Sarah Tomlinson

When he was younger, Todd Bridges was the “go to” African American child actor of his time.  He was the first African American to have a recurring role on “The Waltons” and he appeared in “Little House on the Prairie” and the epic television mini-series “Roots”.  He starred in “Fish” alongside Abe Vigoda before landing his best known role as Willis Jackson in “Diff’rent Strokes”.  In this candid autobiography, Bridges opens up about his past which includes drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, run-ins with the law and time spent in jail.  He also details how racism affected his life.  Bridges takes full responsibility for his decisions and actions, while acknowledging the pain he felt growing up because of his relationship with his father, a man he perceived as uncaring and who was physically abusive towards him.  Bridges was particularly devastated when his father sided with the man who sexually molested him as a child.  After reading this book, I cannot help but to root for Bridges and hope that he is able to get another break-out acting role.   Todd Bridges fans from back in the day will not be disappointed with this one.