The Complete Book of Aspen

The Complete Book of Aspen 

by Danna Smith 

Language: English 

Plumbago, 2022. 

304 p. 

ISBN: 0578332485; 9780578332482 

Summary: The death of Aspen's father breaks her small family. Aspen's mother slips into depression, leaving Aspen and her brother, Cooper, to hold together the broken pieces of their lives. Time, love, and medical attention allow Aspen's mom to heal, and their family begins to find a new normal. But just as the sun starts to peek out from the dark clouds of depression and loss, Aspen and her friend Sophie get the results of their DNA tests. Learning that her beloved late father was not her biological father—and that her mother had deceived her—ignites a wild storm of emotions. Aspen struggles with her identity and the burden of being the gatekeeper of this closely guarded family secret. When her mother refuses to reveal her biological father's name, Aspen sets out on a courageous journey to find him. A heartbreakingly hopeful young adult novel told in narrative and creative verse by award-winning author and poet Danna Smith, based on her true DNA experience. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578332485

In the key of us

In the key of us 

by Mariama Lockington 

Language: English 

Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2022. 

348 pages : map ; 22 cm. 

ISBN: 9780374314101; 0374314101 

Summary: While twelve-year-old Andi has suffered from anxiety attacks ever since her mother died ten months ago, Zora starting hurting herself whenever she feels out of control; they are both at Camp Harmony, an elite summer music camp, trying to deal with their problems and also the stress of competition--but as the summer passes they find themselves increasingly drawn to each other, and maybe not just as friends.

Available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374314101

The edge of being

The edge of being 

by James Brandon 

Language: English 

Nancy Paulsen Books, New York, 2022. 

277, 8 pages ; 21 cm. 

ISBN: 9780525517672; 0525517677 

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Isaac Griffin sets out to find the father he has never met, only to discover that perhaps the missing pieces of his life were never missing at all. Includes author's note.

Available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525517677

How to excavate a heart

How to excavate a heart 

by Jake Maia Arlow 

Language: English 

HarperTeen, New York, NY, 2022. 

369 pages ; 22 cm. 

ISBN: 9780063078727; 0063078724 

Summary: Snowy weather and fish fossils help bring together two Jewish college freshmen spending winter break in Washington, D.C. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063078724

You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty, and Other Things

You know, sex : a book about bodies, gender, puberty, and other things 

by Cory Silverberg 

illus. by Fiona Smyth 

Language: English 

New York : Seven Stories Press, 2022. 

432 p. : col. ill. ; cm. 

ISBN: 9781644210802 ; 1644210800 

Summary: In a bright graphic format featuring four dynamic middle schoolers, You Know, Sex grounds sex education in social justice, covering not only the big three of puberty—hormones, reproduction, and development—but also power, pleasure, and how to be a decent human being. Centering young people’s experiences of pressures and joy, risk and reward, and confusion and discovery, there are chapters on body autonomy, disclosure, stigma, harassment, pornography, trauma, masturbation, consent, boundaries and safety in our media-saturated world, puberty and reproduction that includes trans, non-binary, and intersex bodies and experience, and more. Racially and ethnically diverse, inclusive of cross-disability experience, this is a book for every kind of young person and every kind of family. You Know, Sex is the first thoroughly modern sex ed book for every body navigating puberty and adolesence, essential for kids, everyone who knows a kid, and anyone who has ever been a kid. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/You-Know-Sex-Bodies-Puberty/dp/1644210800/

Where the sky llives

Where the Sky Lives 

by Margaret Dilloway 

Language: English 

HarperCollins Publishers 2022. 

336 p. 

ISBN: 9780063047242 ; 0063047241 

Summary: When life doesn’t make sense, twelve-year-old amateur astronomer Tuesday Beals has always looked to the stars above Zion National Park, where she lives. Her beloved late uncle Ezra taught her astronomy, but now their special stargazing sites are all she has left of him, along with his ashes and a poem that may be a riddle. Then a new housing development next door threatens to ruin the night skies and her favorite astronomy spots. Desperate to focus on something besides the growing uncle-sized chasm between her and her mother, the park archeologist, Tuesday takes up photography with her best friend, Carter, after they find an abandoned camera. With this new way of seeing the universe, she tries to solve her uncle’s riddle to save the land. But one day, a photo reveals clues about an endangered animal—one that could halt construction. Will the discovery be enough to save the park and keep the rest of her world from falling apart?

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0063047241/

I Kissed Shara Wheeler

I Kissed Shara Wheeler 

by Casey McQuiston 

Language: English 

Wednesday Books, 2022. 

368 p. ; cm. 

ISBN: 1250244455 ; 9781250244451 

Summary: After seventeen-year-olds Chloe and Shara, Chloe's rival for valedictorian, kiss, Shara vanishes leaving Chloe and two boys, who are also enamored with Shara, to follow the trail of clues she left behind, but during the search, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to Shara and her small Alabama town than she thought. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250244455/

Flight of the Puffin

Flight of the Puffin 

by Ann Braden 

Language: English 

New York : Penguin Young Readers Group, 2021. 

229 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm. 

ISBN: 9781984816061 ; 1984816063 

Summary: Told in multiple voices, seventh-grader Libby sets off a chain of events that brings hope and encouragement to four different individuals across the country who are dealing with bullies, acceptance, homelessness, and grief. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1984816063/

Maizy Chen's last chance

Maizy Chen's last chance 

by Lisa Yee 

Language: English 

New York : Random House, [2022] ©2022. 

276 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm. 

ISBN: 9781984830258 ; 1984830252 

Summary: Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota; as her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her family's history and herself. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1984830252/

Field Notes on Love

Field Notes on Love 

by Jennifer E. Smith 

Language: English 

Ember, 2020. 

274 pages ; 21 cm. 

ISBN: 0399559442 ; 9780399559440 

Summary: It's the perfect idea for a romantic week together: traveling across America by train. But then Hugo's girlfriend dumps him. Her parting gift: the tickets for their long-planned last-hurrah-before-college trip. Only, it's been booked under her name. Nontransferable, no exceptions. Mae is still reeling from being rejected from USC's film school. When she stumbles across Hugo's ad for a replacement Margaret Campbell (her full name!), she's certain it's exactly the adventure she needs to shake off her disappointment and jump-start her next film. A cross-country train trip with a complete stranger might not seem like the best idea. But to Mae and Hugo, both eager to escape their regular lives, it makes perfect sense. What starts as a convenient arrangement soon turns into something more. But when life outside the train catches up to them, can they find a way to keep their feelings for each other from getting derailed? 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399559442/

The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are

The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are 

by Libby Copeland 

Language: English 

New York : Abrams Press, 2020. 

ISBN: 9781419747939 ; 1419747932 

Summary: Journalist Libby Copeland explores the culture of genealogy buffs, the science of DNA, and the business of companies like Ancestry, and delves into the lives that have been changed by home DNA tests. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Family-How-Testing-Upending/dp/1419747932/

Uprooted : family trauma, unknown origins, and the secretive history of artificial insemination

Uprooted : family trauma, unknown origins, and the secretive history of artificial insemination 

by Peter J. Boni 

Language: English 

Austin, Texas : Greenleaf Book Group Press, [2022]. 

xv, 268 pages ; 24 cm. 

ISBN: 162634907X ; 9781626349070 

Summary: How a journey of self-discovery unearthed the scandalous evolution of artificial insemination. Just before his fiftieth birthday, Peter's seventy-five-year-old mother unveiled a bombshell: His deceased father was not biological. Peter was conceived in 1945 via an anonymous sperm donor. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/Uprooted-Origins-Secretive-Artificial-Insemination/dp/162634907X/

The Science of Being Angry

The Science of Being Angry 

by Nicole Melleby 

Language: English 

Chapel Hill, NC : Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2022. 

288 p. : cm. 

ISBN: 1643750372 ; 9781643750378 

Summary: Eleven-year-old Joey navigates family, friendships, and her first crush, while looking for answers to why she feels so angry sometimes and by searching for the donor her moms chose.

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1643750372/

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing 

by Deb Caletti 

Language: English 

New York : Labyrinth Road, 2022. 

p. ; cm. 

ISBN: 0593485513 ; 9780593485514 

Summary: Harper Proulx has lived her whole life with unanswered questions about her anonymous sperm donor father. She's convinced that without knowing him, she can't know herself. When a chance Instagram post connects Harper to a half-sibling, that connection yields many more and ultimately leads Harper to uncover her father's identity. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593485505/

Love somebody

Love somebody 

by Rachel Roasek 

Language: English 

New York : Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2022. 

357 pages ; 22 cm. 

ISBN: 0374388962 ; 978-0374388966

• Summary: Seventeen-year-old overachiever Sam attempts to encourage a love connection between her athletic ex-boyfriend Christian and her academic rival Ros while trying not to fall for Ros herself. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Somebody-Rachel-Roasek/dp/0374388962/

The people we choose

 

The people we choose 

by Katelyn Detweiler 

Language: English 

New York : Holiday House, [2021]. 

304 p. : cm. 

ISBN: 9780823446643 ; 0823446646 

Summary: When Calliope Silversmith meets her new neighbor Max, their chemistry is instantaneous, but the revelation of her biological father's identity throws her whole life into disarray. Calliope Silversmith has always had just two friends in her small Pennsylvania town, Ginger and Noah, and she's fine with that. She's never wanted anything more than her best friends, her moms, their house in the woods, and their family-run yoga studio--except maybe knowing who her sperm donor is. Her curiosity has been building for years, and she can finally find out this summer when she turns eighteen. But when Max and his family move into the sad old house across the woods from Calliope, she realizes it's nice to get to know someone new, so nice that she decides to break her no dating rule. The stability of her longtime trio wavers as she and Max start to spend more and more time together. When Calliope finally finds out who her sperm donor is, she learns a truth more shocking and unfathomable than she could have ever dreamed: her donor is Max's father. How is this even possible? As she and Max struggle to redefine their friendship, Calliope realizes that she can turn a horrific situation into something positive by recognizing and accepting that family is both the one we are born into and the one we choose to make. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0823446646/

Saint Ivy: kind at all costs

 

Saint Ivy: kind at all costs 

by Laurie Morrison 

Language: English 

New York : Amulet Books, 2021. 

336 p. : cm. 

ISBN: 141974125X ; 9781419741258 

Summary: A thoughtful middle-grade novel about caring for others and for yourself––and what it truly means to be kind and vulnerable. Thirteen-year-old Ivy Campbell has always been a good kid: She supports her soccer-star brother, bakes with her nana, and puts her friends’ needs before her own. So of course, Ivy is 100 percent supportive when her mom decides to be a gestational surrogate, carrying and giving birth to her friends’ baby. But when Ivy finds out the surrogacy treatment worked and her mom is pregnant—and has been for weeks—she’s shocked that she’s jealous and worried about what others will think. And most of all, she’s ashamed that she isn’t reacting to this news in the right way. The Ivy way. Ivy is determined to prove to herself that she’s just as unselfish as she’s always believed, and she gets the chance to do that when she receives an anonymous email from someone who needs her help. But the more Ivy dives into helping this anonymous person, the further she gets from the people she loves—and from the person who she wants to be. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/Saint-Ivy-Kind-All-Costs/dp/141974125X

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza 
by Shaun David Hutchinson 
Language: English 
Simon Pulse, 2018. 
448 p. ; cm. 
ISBN: 1481498541 ; 9781481498548 
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Elena Mendoza is the product of a virgin birth. This can be scientifically explained (it’s called parthenogenesis), but what can’t be explained is how Elena is able to heal Freddie, the girl she’s had a crush on for years, from a gunshot wound in a Starbucks parking lot. Or why the boy who shot Freddie, David Combs, disappeared from the same parking lot minutes later after getting sucked up into the clouds. What also can’t be explained is the talking girl on the front of a tampon box, or the reasons that David Combs shot Freddie in the first place. As more unbelievable things occur, and Elena continues to perform miracles, the only remaining explanation is the least logical of all—that the world is actually coming to an end, and Elena is possibly the only one who can do something about it. 
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Elena-Mendoza-Shaun-Hutchinson/dp/1481498541/

Lucky Few

Lucky Few 
by Kathryn Ormsbee 
Language: English 
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016. 
400 p. ; cm. 
ISBN: 148145529X ; 9781481455299 
Summary: The life of homeschooler Stevie Hart gets all shook up when she meets Max, a strange boy who survived a freak near-fatal accident and is now obsessed with death. He enlists her and her best friend, Sanger, to help him complete his absurd “23 Ways to Fake My Death Without Dying” checklist. What starts off as fun begins spiraling downward when Stevie’s diabetes sabotages her fumbling romance with Max, Sanger announces she’s moving out of state, and then death—real death—cuts a little too close to home. 
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Few-Kathryn-Ormsbee/dp/148145529X

The princess and the fangirl : a Geekerella fairy tale

The princess and the fangirl : a Geekerella fairy tale 
by Ashley Poston 
Language: English 
Philadelphia : Quirk Books, [2019]. 
319 pages ; 22 cm. 
ISBN: 1683690966 ; 9781683690962 
Summary: "Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: save her favorite character, Princess Amara, from being killed off from her favorite franchise, Starfield. The problem is, Jessica Stone--the actress who plays Princess Amara--wants nothing more than to leave the intense scrutiny of the fandom behind. If this year's ExcelsiCon isn't her last, she'll consider her career derailed. When a case of mistaken identity throws look-a-likes Imogen and Jess together, they quickly become enemies. But when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, and all signs point to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible"--Dust jacket flap. 
Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1683690966/