Lean Mean Machines by Michele Marineau
Summary: Jeremy is a teen with a good head on his shoulders, but if there is one thing he doesn’t understand it is girls and their moods. When Laure starts at his school, Jeremy is drawn to her, first by humiliation and then by her mysterious nature. Laure’s hiding what she considers to be a shameful secret, and Jeremy becomes determined to figure it out. Their friendship helps Laure see life in a new light, but an unintended side effect is the alienation of Jeremy’s best friend Tanya. If Jeremy doesn’t learn to understand girls and their moods fast, he’s going...
Read MoreDesperate Freedom by Melinda Cochrane
Summary: Life in Grey Bay, Newfoundland is harsh and unyielding, but Rachel is determined to save up her money, get a scholarship and go away to school to become a teacher. Rachel and her friends Rick, Johnny and Patty all have different reasons to feel the future is bleak, but Rachel’s friends try to hide their hopelessness in drugs and sex. When Johnny, the leader of their group, suggests a suicide pact and Rachel’s careful plans for her future unravel, Rachel desperately looks for hope and a way to save all of her friends from the pact. Number of Pages: 82 Age Range: 16-18...
Read MoreMaybe Never, Maybe Now by Kimberly Joy Peters
Summary: When Caitlyn’s friend Ashley has to back out of student exchange to Quebec, Caitlyn takes her place for a chance at a fresh start. Still getting over an abusive relationship with Tyler and adjusting to life with a new baby sister and a step-father, Caitlyn’s having trouble making decisions and feeling confident. A visit to a fortune teller starts her on the path of reading her horoscope and looking for signs that she’s making the right choices, but a new relationship with Conner and a unexpected letter challenge her to start thinking for herself again. Number of...
Read MoreThe Road to Chlifa by Michele Marineau
Summary: After a physical altercation with a high school classmate in Montreal, Karim examines what triggered him, going back to his life in war-torn Lebanon and his journey to get out of the country with his love interest’s little sister and brother. Karim hates living in Montreal, but as he sorts through his experiences, it turns out he is a young man in deep mourning for lost possibilities, lost people and a lost country. The offer of friendship from the classmate he defended brings him around, but Karim will always be affected by what has happened to him. Number of Pages: 142 Age...
Read MoreBoy O’Boy by Brian Doyle
Summary: Martin O’Boy lives in a distracted family. With a twin named Phil who has emotional and physical problems, a pregnant mother and a father who throws tantrums on a regular basis, the most reliable family member Martin has is his cat, Cheap. Paid to be in the boys choir at church, Martin and his friend Billy encounter a man named Mr. George who appears to be their friend but has more sinister intentions. After Martin has a traumatic encounter with Mr. George and his family is oblivious, Martin turns to others for help to stop the same thing from happening to his friend Billy....
Read MoreUp to Low by Brian Doyle
Summary: Young Tommy hasn’t been to his family cabin since his mother died two years before. Living now with his father and his Aunt Dottie, a woman with a serious germ-phobia, Young Tommy is looking forward to going back to the cabin, hoping he’ll run into Baby Bridget, the girl next door he cares for. Getting to the cabin means taking his life in his hands at times as he travels with his father and his father’s friend Frank, a notorious drunk who drives anyway. All along their journey the news is that Mean Hughie, Baby Bridget’s father, is dying of cancer, and when...
Read MoreAbout Amy
Amy Mathers has been passionate about reading from a very young age, and hopes others will share her enthusiasm for funding a teen book award. Read more Follow Amy
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