What We Saw

Cures for Heartbreak

Scars Like Wings

Tricks

Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots

Becoming Brianna: Emmie & Friends

Amina's Song: Amina's Voice

Street Love

Trapped in sunny, stifling, small-town suburbia, seventeen-year-old Morgan knows why she’s in therapy. She can’t count the number of times she’s been the only non-white person at the sleepover, been teased for her “weird” outfits, and been told she’s not “really” black. Also, she’s spent most of her summer crying in bed. So there’s that, too.

Lately, it feels like the whole world is listening to the same terrible track on repeat—and it’s telling them how to feel, who to vote for, what to believe. Morgan wonders, when can she turn this song off and begin living for herself?

Life may be a never-ending hamster wheel of agony, but Morgan finds her crew of fellow outcasts, blasts music like there’s no tomorrow, discovers what being black means to her, and finally puts her mental health first. She decides that, no matter what, she will always be intense, ridiculous, passionate, and sometimes hilarious. After all, darkness doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Darkness is just real.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

What We Saw

Aaron Hartzler, Mary Downing Hahn, 2022

Cures for Heartbreak

Margo Rabb, 2007

Scars Like Wings

Erin Stewart, 2019

Tricks

Ellen Hopkins, 2009

Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots

Margarita Engle, Rudy Gutierrez, 2019

Becoming Brianna: Emmie & Friends

Terri Libenson, 2020

Amina's Song: Amina's Voice

Hena Khan, 2021

Street Love

Walter Dean Myers, 2006