Girl Power

Winner - 1999 Golden Kite Award - Fiction
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. But there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens.

CCBC Choices - 1990
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious.

When Madeline Gladstone, the elderly president of Gladstone shoe stores, hires Jenna as her driver for the summer, Jenna jumps right into the driver's seat.

Rosie Award Winner 2003-2004
Iowa Teen Award - 2004 Winner
Rhode Island Teen Book Award Winner - 2002
CCBC Choices - 2002
YHBA Winner - 2004
Inspired by a true story, this is a book about roots, the need to be loved and discovering one's true self as a group of girls bond one fateful summer.

Sofia comes from a family of storytellers. Here are her tales of growing up in the barrio, full of the magic and mystery of family traditions: making Easter "cascarones," celebrating "el Dia de los Muertos, "preparing for "quincea-era, "rejoicing in the Christmas "nacimiento," and curing homesickness by eating the tequila worm. When Sofia is singled out to receive a scholarship to an elite boarding school, she longs to explore life beyond the barrio, even though it means leaving her family to navigate a strange world of rich, privileged kids. It's a different "mundo," but one where Sofia's traditions take on new meaning and illuminate her path.

Tayshas Reading List 2007-2008
BookPage Notable Title
In her new multi-layered, impossible-to-put-down novel, the New York Times bestselling author of Someone Like You delivers the story of a year in the life of a family coming to terms with the imperfections beneath its perfection.

This 1997 Newbery Honor Book is the humorous and heart-wrenching story of a young girl who discovers her own courage and strength when she makes the dangerous journey from Mozambique to Zimbabwe.

So begins the story of Maleeka Madison, a child burdened with the low self-esteem that many black girls face when they're darker skinned. When Maleeka lays eyes on her new teacher, Miss Saunders, she encounters someone who, she feels, is worse off than she is. But Miss Saunders' skin, which is blotched with a rare skin condition, comes to serve as a mirror to Maleeka's struggle. Miss Saunders is tough -- she doesn't stand for the snickers and shouts that her students hurl at her. Through this example, Maleeka learns that she can stand up to tough-talking Charlese. And, over time, she can even accept Caleb's friendship, the unconditional acceptance he's been showing her from the get-go. Sharon Flake, an exceptional new talent, weaves a stunning tale of finding one's place in a world that judges others at face value.

Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to her own. But they want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wits if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

Jazmin Shelby knows how to fight -- after all, she's always had to. Her dad died a couple of years back, and now that her mom's in the hospital, it's just her and her sister, CeCe. But that's okay by Jazmin. She's got her stoop on Amsterdam Avenue, where she can keep an eye on all the neighborhood action. She's got her friends Sophie and Destinee to keep her laughing. And most of all, she's got her notebook, filled to the brim with poetry, laughter, and her own irrepressible views on life, Harlem, and just about everything else.

Fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves is sure that she's the weakest link in her high-powered family until her handsome, athletic, star-student brother shockingly falls from grace. Young Adult.

Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas. There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she will have to use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret. This could be the adventure of her life--if only she doesn't get caught...

The winner of the 2002 Michael L. Printz Award is now available in paperback. When her family moves to California from Korea, Young Ju Park grows from a child to adolescence in her new home, and finds a surprising new voice that's neither Korean nor American but uniquely her own.

With this first installment of his "New York Times" bestselling Abhorsen trilogy, Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear. Now available in this new trade paperback edition geared for older readers.

Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. For the first time, Pierce employs first-person narration in a novel, bringing readers even closer to a character that they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, "nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for

""EVERY WAR HAS turning points and every person too."
Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she's never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it's a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy's uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.
A riveting and astonishing story.

Some people would say this is the story of a photograph. How it was taken, and what happened to me after the whole world saw it.

"And it is,"

But it's also the story of a lot of other things. A boy so beautiful he's like a punch to the throat. Best friends--the outrageous old ones and the out-of-the-blue new. It's about fishnets and eyebrow rings and a chick named Hamlet. Kick lines at lumberyards and conga lines at the prom. Crying in cars and gazing at stars. Mistakes, misunderstandings, and misconceptions. Good girls, bad boys, and everyone in between.

"This is a story about love,"

So look at the picture all you want.

I am so much more than what you see.

Winner - 2002 Pura Belpré Award - Narrative
When tragedy shatters her privileged life in Mexico, Esperanza and Mama flee to California and settle in a farm labor camp. There, Esperanza must confront the challenges of hard labor and find acceptance among her people.

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl, Stargirl." She captures Leo Borlock's heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.
Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.

"From the Hardcover edition.

The #1 bestselling author of the Princess Diaries books pens a spooky, funny, and addictive supernatural novel about Jean Jinx Honeychurch, who seems to be the unluckiest girl in the world. Could she actually be a witch?