Mental Images

Life in the Trench is harsh but simple - until a young girl braves an unknown path in a bracing coming-of-age short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Tooth and the Gideon Falls comics.

The town of Wirrawee is emerging from war, slowly, like a flower after a cold snap. Businesses are starting to reopen, the school has re-commenced classes, and local farmers are gradually repossessing their land. But it's not the same Australia as before the war. A new nation exists just a few miles away, a new border that separates Australia from its invaders. Or does it?

Through blood and sacrifice, Amora Montara has conquered a rebellion and taken her rightful place as queen of Visidia. Now, with the islands in turmoil and the people questioning her authority, Amora cannot allow anyone to see her weaknesses. No one can know about the curse in her bloodline. No one can know that she’s lost her magic. No one can know the truth about the boy who holds the missing half of her soul.

If your palms get sweaty and your mind goes blank when others confront you, you might actually be dealing with social anxiety. Being a teen is not easy. These years of growing both physically and mentally leave many, if not most, teenagers feeling sorely inadequate. You’re not alone. But that doesn’t mean that you have to just accept that feeling of being “lesser than”.

As an avid watcher of K-dramas, Hana knows all the tropes to avoid when she finally lands a starring role in a buzzy new drama. And she can totally handle her fake co-star boyfriend, heartthrob Bryan Yoon, who might be falling in love with her. After all, she promised the TV producers a contract romance, and that’s all they’re going to get from her.

This profoundly moving memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of Sandra Uwiringiyimana, a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America, and overcame her trauma through art and activism. Sandra was just 10 years old when she found herself with a gun pointed at her head. She had watched as rebels gunned down her mother and six-year-old sister in a refugee camp.

Growing up, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg didn’t always fit in. He felt different from his father and brothers, who loved to hunt and go camping, and out of place in the rural, conservative small town where he lived. Back then, blending in was more important than feeling seen. So, when Chasten realized he was gay, he kept that part of himself hidden away for a long, painful time. With incredible bravery, and the support of his loved ones, Chasten eventually came out—and when he did, he learned that being true to himself was the most rewarding journey of all.

From coming out to friends and family, staying safe in relationships and practicing safe sex, through to self-care and coping with bullying, being out and about in the LGBTQIA+ community, and undergoing gender transition, this book is filled with essential information, advice, support, and resources to help you on your journey, and also works as a primer on all things LGBTQIA+ for non-autistic teens who are just figuring it all out.

Are you navigating a whirlwind of stress, awkwardness, and relationship drama at school and in life? Do you struggle to express yourself or wonder where you fit in this big world? In this insightful guide, Alicia McAuliffe shares relatable, easy-to-follow tips to help teens build confidence, manage emotions, and thrive. From juggling school and social life to learning skills for adulthood, this audiobook covers the essential tools schools often miss.

It is the summer of 1929. Lou Trevelyan is a small-town girl with big dreams of becoming a writer. Then she meets the Cardew siblings: the bubbly Caitlin and her handsome, enigmatic brother, Robert. Lou is swept into their glittering whirlwind of moonlit parties, unrivaled glamour, and whispered secrets. As she falls deeper into the world of high society, Lou must find a way to stay true to herself...and her heart.

Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life. Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown - literally - out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his real self. Then Mat, a cute, empathetic Twitter crush from Los Angeles, slides into Jules’s DMs.

She’s learning to be happy...on her own. Myra is used to keeping her feet firmly on the ground. She’s got four younger brothers, overworked parents, and a pregnant older sister, and if Myra wasn’t there to take care of everyone, they’d probably fall apart. But when her boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her, Myra feels like she’s lost her footing. Suddenly she’s doing things she never would have a few months earlier: Jumping around in a chicken suit for a part-time job and competing against her ex-boyfriend for a scholarship to study birds in the Galápagos.

After investigating multiple homicides and her family's decades-old skeletons in the closet, Tandy Angel is finally reunited with her lost love in Paris. But as he grows increasingly distant, Tandy is confronted with disturbing questions about him, as well as what really happened to her long-dead sister. With no way to tell anymore who in her life she can trust, how will Tandy ever get to the bottom of the countless secrets her parents kept from her?

It's 1995. When the Full Tilt Dancers give an inspiring performance at the opening of the new bingo hall, 12-year-old Finbar (Barry) Squires wants desperately to join the troupe. Led by Father O'Flaherty, the Full Tilt Irish Step Dancers are the most sought-after act in St. John's, Newfoundland (closely followed by popular bagpiper Alfie Bragg and his Agony Bag). Having watched Riverdance twice, Barry figures he'll nail the audition. And good thing, too - it'd be nice to be known for something other than the port wine stain on his cheek.

It isn't easy being able to read minds - guys' minds, especially. Gusty Peterson, the hottest bimboy in school, is always thinking I'm sick, as in totally gross to look at. Not that it matters, since I don't have a crush on him or anything. And Mallory, my first real friend since forever, has disturbing, romantic ideas about me bouncing in his brain. Even worse, scrawny Jacob has bizarre fantasies about decorating my ginormous gazungas with mascarpone cheese.

Your Teenage Years Are Over (or Almost), Now What? Life Skills for Young Adults is an essential roadmap for young adults, older teens, and high school and college students navigating the challenging passage into independence. In this book, developing young adults will discover strategies for harnessing what can feel like a rollercoaster of unsettled emotions, while nurturing self-confidence, establishing autonomy, and investing in personal growth during this dynamic life stage.

Channeling their own experiences, sixteen exceptional authors subvert mental health stereotypes in a powerful and uplifting collection of fiction.

Princess Ashleigh Charmaine-Anskelisa is the Glass Princess, ready to shatter with a whisper of wind. Born with a weak heart, the vulnerable beauty has no magical ability…or does she? Something strange is happening to Ashleigh. Blackouts. Evil whispers. Immunity to fire. Turns out, she’s fated to play the part of Cinderella — but this time, the tale is twisted. The royal she’s supposed to enchant is the ruthless Saxon, a reincarnation of the realm’s most savage ruler…and he thinks Ashleigh is a reincarnation of his greatest enemy....

This nonfiction self-help book for young listeners with disordered eating and body-image problems delivers real talk about eating disorders and body image, tools and information for recovery, and suggestions for dealing with the media messages that contribute so much to disordered eating.

Every morning you wake up it feels like someone else is out there to hit you with an all-new level of stress and pressure. The teenage years shouldn’t be like this—and you have the power to change it! You have to be the best in class and in extracurricular activities. You need to be the model child for your parents and the rock for your friends. You should dress the part, have the followers, and do it all with a smile!