Catalog Search Results
1) Dear Martin
Author
Language
English
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High School Project Lit Titles
Project Lit - Full List
Short YA Fiction
YA Contemporary Fiction Classics
Project Lit - Full List
Short YA Fiction
YA Contemporary Fiction Classics
Description
"Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend--but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out. Then...
2) Harbor me
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Everything changes when six kids are sent to a room in school by themselves with no adults to listen in. Dubbing it the ARTT room, A Room To Talk, they find themselves discussing things they never thought they could with anyone else, finding outlets for fears about parents, racial profiling, deportation scares, and ultimately their shared longing for a place to belong.
3) Dough boys
Author
Language
English
Description
Told in two voices, thirteen-year-old best friends Simp and Rollie play on a basketball team in their housing project, but Rollie dreams of being a drummer and Simp, to impress the gang leader, Coach Tez.
6) Serena says
Author
Language
English
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Description
Serena St. John loves being best friends with the outgoing JC. But when JC goes into the hospital for a kidney transplant, she comes out with a new best friend. Suddenly on her own, Serena flounders without JC and pours her time into her vlogs, hoping to be selected as class reporter. Even though she knows she's not as outspoken as JC, Serena gets better with practice and learns that she, too, has a voice.
8) Like Vanessa
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but with a dysfunctional family (mother in jail, father withdrawn, drunken grandfather, gay cousin) the odds are against her--until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.
10) Ghost boys
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that's been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.
Author
Language
English
Description
Hoping to help their mother who landed a photo shoot for her baking business, the Vanderbeeker children use their spring break to repaint the living room fuschia and let in a health inspector while the house pets run wild. After the inspector shuts down their mother's business and random abandoned pets show up at their front door, the children must find ways to right the chaos in time for the photo shoot.
12) Flygirl
Author
Language
English
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Description
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
9th-10th Grade Reading
High School Project Lit Titles
Not your average high-school (book display)
More Lists...
High School Project Lit Titles
Not your average high-school (book display)
More Lists...
Description
Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died; instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when that scholarship falls through...
14) Hurricane child
Author
Language
English
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Description
Born on Water Island in the Virgin Islands during a hurricane, which is considered bad luck, twelve-year-old Caroline falls in love with another girl--and together they set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother.
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
When his poor sharecropper father is killed in an accident and leaves the family in debt, twelve-year-old Little Charlie agrees to accompany fearsome plantation overseer Cap'n Buck north in pursuit of people who have stolen from him; Cap'n Buck tells Little Charlie that his father's debt will be cleared when the fugitives are captured, which seems like a good deal until Little Charlie comes face-to-face with the people he is chasing.
18) Rain rising
Author
Language
English
Description
Thirteen-year-old Rain, who struggles with low self-esteem, must overcome sadness after her older brother Xander is severely beaten up at a frat party, but through the help of an after-school circle group, Rain finds the courage to help herself and her family heal.
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.
20) Paradise on fire
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Formats
Description
Addy's parents were killed in a tragic fire years ago, and she still carries the trauma of this loss with her wherever she goes. When her grandmother sends her to a summer wilderness program in California, Addy finds herself learning to live in the forest with five other Black city kids. But those survival skills are soon put to the test when a forest fire erupts in the woods where they are camping.