Social Pressure

The Fish That Got Away! by award-winning author B. E. Bacon is a fun, best-selling book about a little boy named Jack. Jack is going fishing for the first time with his two older brothers. Jack has a dream of catching a big fish and he wants to prove to his older brothers that he can do it. Jack's brothers tease him in his early attempts but Jack is not discouraged and keeps trying.

When Lisa walks home from school with two new girls, they break an elderly couple's window. Lisa feels bad about the act of vandalism and takes steps to remedy the situation. Window Pains is a short story that was originally published in WINNER, a scholastic magazine endorsed by former Presidents and First Ladies. The aim of the periodical was to teach children preventative measures and instill positive behaviors that contribute to success in life.

With the rest of the Pretty Committee scattered across the globe, Kristen is stuck in summer school at OCD, making good on her scholarship commitments. No sleepover horse camp, no Hawaiian spa, no Spanish vacation, not even a trip to Orlando. But when Kristen scores a job looking after hang-ten hottie Dune Baxter's 8-year-old sister, Ripple, Westchester suddenly doesn't seem so bad. It looks like Kristin is about to ride the wave of first love.

On a hot summer night in a midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims - with tragic outcomes altering lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario all too familiar from current real-life headlines. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive.

Luke was not eager to accompany his best friend, Hayden, and the cocky new kid, Russell, up to the cliff that night. The plan was to watch Russell jump off the cliff into the lake - his initiation for the Briar Academy fencing team. But instead, after an angry confrontation with Hayden, Russell falls to his death. Now Hayden is in jail and the pressure is on Luke to report what he saw. But what did he see?

Sixteen-year-old Bernadette Terrell is a champion debater who loves books, contests, and winning. When she's named captain of her school's Classics Bowl team to compete on TV against an elite private school for the state title, she's thrilled. It's more than a chance to earn glory for her town, and scholarship money for her family - not to mention make non-fictional friends. She's been training for this her whole life. Winning is her destiny. Or is it?

Remember when it wasn't cool to be a geek? That's so yesterday! Retro Geeks chronicles the (mis)adventures of two self-proclaimed geek girls, Molly and Ally, as they attempt to land super-hot dates for their senior prom. The '80s-obsessed BFFs attempt a variety of date-finding schemes, including spying on the popular girls for the 411 on fitting in, in their quest for top-tier prom dates.

This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of 14-year-old Jack Gantos, as the author reveals the moment he began to slide off track as a kid who in just a few years would find himself locked up in a federal penitentiary for the crimes portrayed in the memoir Hole in My Life.

Priscilla comes back to school after a long absence, anticipating how wonderful it will be to see her friends again, to discover that things at school have changed in a dramatic way and not for the better! There is a new kid named Dexter who has managed to have such a profound influence over her friends that they are all looking and acting very differently. Cilla has to decide what she is willing to do and how much she is willing to give up to please her friends.

Felicity St. John has it all: loyal best friends, a hot guy, and artistic talent. And she’s right on track to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Her perfect life is possible because of just one thing: her long, wavy, coppery red hair. Having red hair is all that matters in Scarletville. Redheads hold all the power - and everybody knows it. That’s why Felicity is scared down to her roots when she receives an anonymous note: I know your secret. Because Felicity is a big fake. Her hair color comes straight out of a bottle. And if anyone discovered the truth, she’d be a social outcast faster than she could say strawberry blond.

Meg has been best friends with Beatrix forever. Everyone at school wants to be like confident, decisive Beatrix, and Meg has always felt the same. But this year, Meg wants to take a science course instead of dance class. She'd rather do what makes her happy‚ not what Beatrix wants. When a quirky girl named Hazel moves to town, Meg is partnered with her on a science project about bees. Meg learns a lot about being Queen Bee, in a hive and in middle school. As Beatrix is less than welcoming to Hazel, Meg feels her loyalty fraying.

Don't be fooled...Charm House isn't like any other charm school. Charm stands for Center for Human-Animal Reform and Manners. Every girl who boards there has an animal light inside her that is wild and needs to be tamed. New-girl Sadie just wants to stay out of trouble and blend in. When she learns she has the fiercest animal light of all, she is invited to join the group of it girls known as the Pack, led by Lindsey, the school's queen of the jungle. Soon Sadie is consumed by social drama and her secret feelings for an off-limits private-school boy.

The Spirit Within is a poem designed to empower a child to be true to themselves. Music and dance are used as symbols of the individual spirit and personal expression, but the concept can be applied to anything a child is interested in. An audiobook that will plant the seed of not succumbing to peer pressure and realizing your personal dreams.

Marigold Johnson can’t wait to attend a special program at her family’s business, Flexx Unlimited, for teens who love fashion. But Mari quickly realizes that she’s out of place compared to the three other trainees—and one girl, Kara, seems to hate her on sight. As tension builds and the stakes at the program get higher, Mari uncovers exactly why Kara’s been so spiteful. She also discovers some hard truths about herself and her family.

Maple Mehta-Cohen has been keeping a secret: she can’t read all that well. She has an impressive vocabulary and loves dictating stories into her recorder - especially the adventures of a daring sleuth who’s half Indian and half Jewish like Maple herself - but words on the page just don’t seem to make sense to her. Despite all Maple’s clever tricks to hide her troubles with reading, her teacher is on to her, and now Maple has to repeat fifth grade. Maple is devastated - what will her friends think? Will they forget about her?

Life can be pretty tricky when you're a teenage girl. New things matter: Clothes. Parties. Boys. Suddenly being liked and being popular don't mean the same thing. Your parents get completely bizarre when the subject of dating comes up. A friend you've had forever stabs you in the back for no good reason. Everybody you know seems to feel free to comment on your constantly changing body.

Kenny Wright is a kid with a secret identity. In his mind he's Stainlezz Steel, superpowered defender of the weak. In reality he's a chess club devotee known as a grandma's boy, a label that makes him an easy target for bullies. Kenny wants to bring a little more Steel to the real world, but the question is: Can he recognize his own true strength before peer pressure forces him to make the worst choice of his life?

Everyone likes to be accepted and admired by others. During the teen years especially, this desire to be liked may lead to some difficult pressures. Should one cheat on a test or lie to a friend in order to be liked by others? And what should a person do when his or her peers start to drink, use drugs, and/or have sex? Friends are often a big influence, and it can be hard to know what to do or how to stand up for one's beliefs. This book deals with peer pressure, an issue every teen must cope with at one time or another.

Pippa Park picks up right where she left off . . . trying to balance basketball, school, friends, working at the struggling family laundromat, and fitting in. Eliot, her math tutor—and the cutest boy at school—is finally paying attention to her. And Marvel—her childhood friend—is making her required volunteering much more interesting. But things with the Royals, her new friends and teammates who rule the school, still feel a bit rocky. Especially because Caroline, a head Royal, would like nothing more than to see Pippa fail.

In journal entries alternating between two timelines―before and after a tragic accident―Jennie Englund’s heartfelt coming-of-age story follows the year that changes one girl’s life forever. Through everything, Taylor has her notebook, a diary of the year that one fatal accident tears her life apart. In entries alternating between the first and second semester of her eighth-grade year, she navigates joy and grief, gain and loss, hope and depression.