Young Adult Fiction

“A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today’s headlines. . . . The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn . . . a novel that will be hard for readers to forget.”—Kirkus Reviews, Pointer Review

" . . . this popular series’ relatively clean nature, dearth of profanity and graphic sex, and basic premise of good vs. evil make it a fine choice for public and high school libraries."—Library Journal

"Eddie’s father, a brilliant but reclusive photographer, has killed himself, and Eddie is struggling for answers far beyond the one-line note her father left behind. Each night, she sneaks out her window, down the roof, and away from home. Sometimes she hangs out with her friend Milo—with whom she has trouble connecting since the suicide—but most often she goes to the old, abandoned warehouse where her father ended his life, wandering in the dark and looking for something to explain his actions. What she finds there is Culler, a photography student of her father’s, who is also searching for answers and whom Eddie latches onto as a last hope for understanding. Culler shows Eddie what he has discovered—her dad’s initials carved into a door at the warehouse—then leads her on a quest to find more markings and messages, stalking the desolate places where her father took his final photographs. This novel is mysterious, romantic, and excruciating in its suspense, as both the reader and Eddie know that something is not quite right for a long time before the pieces fall into place. And fall they do, in an emotional culmination that shakes Eddie to the core. Both hauntingly written and compulsively readable, this will be a fast favorite with readers."—Booklist (starred review)

"The novel has one of the most compelling opening lines possible and for many young readers this will be their first experience reading about the dark aspects of polygamy . . . This is, however, much more than just a ‘flight from polygamy’ novel. Kyra is a strong young woman who finds strength and solace in the books she gets from the Ironton County Bookmobile. Through Kyra, Williams raises questions that each of us must answer—when do we depart from the tenets of our parents to do what we think is right for ourselves?"—Jeanette Larson, book review editor, ParentWise, Austin, Texas

"In this charming tale of family, community and the struggle for understanding, young Korean immigrant David Kim learns to acculturate to a new American life. After five years on their own in Seoul, 12-year-old David, his big sister and mother reunite with his father in Oakbridge, N.J. Now known as Harry, David's father has a gift shop in a rundown strip mall called Peddlers Town . . . Woo eschews immigrant clichés to focus on complicated familial relationships and surprising, sympathetic characters; alternating between humor and melancholy, Woo's text strikes a true chord while drawing readers into its strange, strip-mall world."—Publishers Weekly