Social Skills For Teens

On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work—Chernobyl—has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person.

From Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Katherine Rundell comes an exciting new novel about a group of kids who must survive in the Amazon after their plane crashes. Fred, Con, Lila, and Max are on their way back to England from Manaus when the plane they're on crashes and the pilot dies upon landing. For days they survive alone, until Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city, and to a secret.

When MI6 Agent Alex Rider wakes up in a hospital, he is thrilled to be alive. Left for dead by his dreaded nemesis Scorpia, Alex has survived to fight another day. Almost immediately, he locks horns with a super-rich Russian businessman who is building a luxury hotel in space.

Drastically altered after her fall at the end of Hidden, Neferet is now more dangerous than ever - and her quest for vengeance will wreak havoc on humans, as well as Zoey and her friends. Chaos is loosed in Tulsa and the House of Night is blamed. Can Zoey stop Neferet in time to keep her anger from escalating to full-on war? Or will someone else have to step in to take the fall?

Shortly before her 17th birthday, Emma discovers she has a long-lost twin named Sutton Mercer. She contacts Sutton, who agrees to a rendezvous but never shows up. Curious at first, Emma slips into Sutton's ultra-glamorous life, assuming her identity. When it becomes clear that Sutton is not coming back, that someone made sure she never could, Emma plunges in to investigate who could have wanted her sister gone (a fairly long list, she discovers).

The acclaimed author of Flipped delivers a powerful and healing story that’s perfect for anyone who’s ever thought that something was impossible. Listeners will revel in the story of a girl who puts herself back together - and learns to dream bigger than ever before - after she’s told she’ll never run again. Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?

When an English assignment forces "snobby" Ashbury students Lydia, Emily, and Cassie to exchange letters with "low-life" Brookfield guys, Lydia and Emily are surprised to find their Brookfield pen pals so kind and civilized. But after Cassie's cross-town correspondent threatens her, the friends plan a series of madcap missions designed to teach this malevolent male a lesson he won't forget.

It’s 1949 and 18-year-old pitching phenom Mickey Tussler is back with the rejuvenated minor league Brewers in the sequel to The Legend of Mickey Tussler (the basis for the television movie A Mile in His Shoes). Despite Mickey’s proclamation that he will never play baseball again after last season’s violent conclusion, his manager - and now surrogate father - Arthur Murphy cajoles the emotionally fragile, socially awkward boy with autism into giving it another shot.

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of this, Louisa May Alcott's most popular and enduring novel. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy - united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She's a scientist, which is why she can't think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she's made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There's something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour...he's gone.

The New York Times best-selling true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter. There were only 10 letters, and 50 kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one. That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives.

Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond. When Chicken has a meltdown, Cat’s the one who scratches his back and reads his favorite story. She always knows what he needs. Since their mom has had to work double-hard to keep their family afloat after their father passed away, Cat is the glue holding her family together. When a summer trip doesn’t go as planned, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they’ve never met. With their help, Cat can be a kid again for the first time in years.

At 15, Tex is spirited as a wild mustang and good-natured as a pup. He and his 17-year-old brother Mason have been on their own since Pop left for the summer rodeo tour. Come October, the money has run out and still no Pop. None of this bothers Tex much - until Mason sells Tex's horse to pay the bills. After that things turn sour between the brothers. Tex is constantly getting into trouble, but he resents Mace acting like a parent. Friends like Johnny and his gorgeous sister Jamie help Tex forget his problems.

In the magical realm of Mystic City, Aria Rose, daughter to one of the city's ruling families, is betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' enemies. With the unwanted marriage drawing closer, Aria encounters a rebel mystic from the Depths - and begins to question everything she knows about her world.

Nancy is helping out her Dad’s friend, Louise Alain, and her dog, Marge, at an upcoming dog show in Montreal. Marge is a professional and needs someone she can trust to handle her at the biggest show of the season. Nancy is happy to oblige, especially since Louise invited Bess and George as well! Of course, the three friends are investigating a crime within hours of their arrival. One of the show dogs was drugged and a giant wad of gum was matted into its hair.

To Joseph Friedman, middle school might as well be the Running of the Bulls. He's friendless and puny, with ADD to boot, so he spends most of his time avoiding class bully Charlie Kastner and hiding out in the Resource Room, a safe place for misfit kids like him. But then, on the first day of seventh grade, two important things happen. First, his Resource Room teacher, Mrs. T, encourages (i.e., practically forces) him to join the school track team, and second, he meets Heather, a tough, athletic new girl who isn't going to be pushed around by Charlie Kastner.

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last. Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact.

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes - and three girls secretly plotting revenge. KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend. LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it. MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him. None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible .

Theo Stein-Meyer loves being part of the Magic Misfits. Armed with his trusty violin bow, he completes the team with his levitation skills, unflappable calm, and proper manners. But when a girl named Emily begins to spend time with the group, Theo is surprisingly drawn to her. She seems to understand the pull he feels between music and magic, between family and friends. Then a famous ventriloquist arrives in town, and the Misfits are sure he (and his creepy dummy) are up to no good.

Eleven-year-old Isabella’s parents are divorced, so she has to switch lives every week: One week she’s Isabella with her dad, his girlfriend Anastasia, and her son, Darren, living in a fancy house where they are one of the only black families in the neighborhood. The next week she’s Izzy with her mom and her boyfriend, John-Mark, in a small, not-so-fancy house that she loves. Because of this, Isabella has always felt pulled between two worlds. And now that her parents are divorced, it seems their fights are even worse, and they’re always about her.