The Blackwoods

Torn to Pieces

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam

A Thousand Questions

Generation Misfits

Mere Mortals

How to Be Brave

Wave

Family secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in We Deserve Monuments, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations.

What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty's health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she's built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

The Blackwoods

Brandy Colbert, 2023

Torn to Pieces

Margot McDonnell, 2008

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam

Thien Pham, 2023

A Thousand Questions

Saadia Faruqi, 2020

Generation Misfits

Akemi Dawn Bowman, 2021

Mere Mortals

Erin Jade Lange, 2022

How to Be Brave

Daisy May Johnson, 2021

Wave

Kris Goto, Diana Farid, 2022