Young Adult Authors

Life on the Waller plantation is harsh and bleak. Twelve-year-old Sarny knows that it won’t be long before she will be forced to leave Mammy and join the other young women who serve the master’s household as breeders. Then one day a new slave arrives, bought from an overseer for a thousand dollars. He comes in a bad way, walking in front of the horses and Waller’s ready whip. His back is covered with scars as thick as Sarny’s hand, but he holds his head high.

In honor of Madeleine L'Engle's 100th Birthday, fans are invited to enjoy this archival audiobook, originally recorded in 1994 and newly restored! Listen to the voice of the author, as Madeleine L'Engle reads A Wind in the Door.

With the rise of Varia d'Malvane comes the fall of the Mist Continent. Cavanos is overrun by the brutal rampage of the valkerax, led by its former crown princess. Vetris is gone. Helkyris is gone. As each mighty nation falls, the grip of the crown princess closes around the throat of the world. But Zera Y'shennria isn't out yet.

In The Motivated Young Adult’s Guide to Career Success and Adulthood, best-selling author and parenting advice expert Bukky Ekine-Ogunlana draws on extensive experience helping families and teenagers to offer you proven methods for making the challenging transition from high school and college life to adulthood and maturity. Now is the time to prepare yourself or your teenage daughter or son for the life-changing transition to being an adult and becoming self-sufficient.

Deadly toxins can be hidden inside the most beautiful flowers. That's what Astra Meador's famous biophysicist mother taught her. As her mother's apprentice, Astra has developed skills in botany, chemistry, medicine, and, most importantly, in keeping secrets. In fact, keeping Astra's secret was the reason her family decided to leave Earth and join a terraforming mission to colonize a distant planet called Crillain IV. But when Astra wakes early from hypersleep, she discovers that her mother never made it onboard and her father died in transit.

Sixteen-year-old Blake has always been the responsible one in his dysfunctional family. Quinn is his brother's opposite - a thrill-seeker who's always chasing the next scary rush. Quinn and Blake are in for the surprise of their lives when they're thrust into the world of a bizarre phantom carnival - and their souls are the price of admission. In order to save his brother, and himself, Blake must survive seven different carnival rides before dawn. Seven rides sounds easy. But each ride is full of unexpected dangers, because each ride is a reflection of one of Blake's deepest fears.

Emelina Flores and her sister, Olivia, were determined to bring peace to the people of Ruina. But as the war for liberation raged on, what triumph and freedom meant to Em and Olivia slowly changed. As Olivia's violence and thirst for vengeance became her only ambition, Em was left to pick up the pieces. But it's not only Em who is upset by Olivia's increased violence. Other members of the Ruined army are beginning to see the cracks, and soon a small group of them defects from Olivia's army and joins Em instead.

All My Rage meets The Poet X in this electric debut that explores a Muslim teen finding her voice in a post-9/11 America. Nida has always been known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece—the poet who will fill her uncle’s shoes after he was wrongfully incarcerated during the war on terror. But for Nida, her poetry letters are her heart and sharing so much of herself with a world that stereotypes her faith and her hijab is not an option.

Lucy Bluecrowne is beginning a new life ashore with her stepmother and half brother, though she's certain the only place she'll ever belong is with her father on a ship of war as part of the crew. She doesn't care that living in a house is safer and the proper place for a 12-year-old girl; it's boring. But then two nefarious strangers identify her little brother as the pyrotechnical prodigy they need to enact an evil plan, and it will take all Lucy's fighting instincts to keep her family together.

This is the story of an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz, who begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the planet. In a world where most people are plugged into brain-drain entertainment systems, Spaz is the rare human being who can see life as it really is. When he meets an old man called Ryter, he begins to learn about Earth and its past. With Ryter as his companion, Spaz sets off an unlikely quest to save his dying sister - and in the process, perhaps the world.

Why are guys so weird? Unravel the mystery. A national scientific survey and in-depth personal interviews give you an unprecedented look inside the teenage male mind. Discover how: He'd be perfectly fine if he was loved by few and hated by many as long as he was respected by all. His ego is the size of Africa (but so are his insecurities). He hides his real feelings under a tough exterior.

High in goblin-infested mountains lies the ruins of Ter Dell, the lost stronghold of the dwarves. Evil lurks beneath layers of ice and broken stone, buried in a vault of gold, hungering for the day that man’s greed would see it unearthed. That day has come. For I am Rheanon, one of the adoptive daughters of Lady Eville - and I’m trapped in a web of deceit with the king’s deadly blades-enchanted beings that guard the king and hunt those with magic.

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It's difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern - one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal - or not-so-mortal - soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O'Dare. Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack's warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane.

If Gemma's parents find out she brought Harrison back into existence, she's dead. But she refuses to give up everything for which she's fought. Harrison is worth the risk. But her parents have other plans - dark plans that will unravel Gemma's world. She must watch her every step as she waits for the inevitable nightmare to catch up to her. As the danger mounts, will she have the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice and save the ones she loves?

American Libraries editor in chief Leonard Kniffel offers a compelling collection of interviews with prominent figures--all of whom have special connections to libraries. From President Barack Obama to actress Julie Andrews; from basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to former First Lady and librarian Laura Bush and many others, stars of literature, politics, entertainment, and the public arena speak with Kniffel about the ways libraries have been critical in their lives.

Etta's happy with her simple life in the mill, but when her aunt passes and leaves her a very peculiar cat, everything goes awry. Now, determined to find her place in the world, Etta's learning to hunt, having audiences with a king, and falling for a man who's keeping something from her. Beau's happy at sea until his father passes and leaves him with an odd last request. Now he's setting up shop in a small town, searching for ogres, and, inconveniently, falling for the miller's sister - who just happens to be taken with someone else.

Dalton Black never thought he'd find his true mate. His dark past convinced him that he could never be worthy of one, but the Great Luna did not agree. She saw fit to give him a gypsy healer, the purest of heart among their kind. And now that he's finally found her, she slips through his grasp and into the hands of Volcan, a corrupt high fae driven mad by his own need for power. Now, Dalton, with help from his own powerful friends, must find Jewel and rescue her before Volcan can use her blood to create witches and once again throw off the balance of good and evil.

Boy's final year of high school is unraveling. Fast. He had it all worked out, from crushing his final exams to military school to a career in the Air Force. But his family's tragic past and its complicated present have caught up to him, and his marks are slipping, jeopardizing all of his plans. When Boy befriends Mara, a homeless man who can seemingly stop and restart time at will, he has to weigh his family's needs and his own conscience against the potential contained within Mara's mysterious and powerful gift.

Clio might be a nymph living in exile among humans. And she might possess the rare ability to mimic any magic she sees. And she might have just seriously ticked off the most powerful family of spell weavers in the Underworld. But she is not in love with an incubus. Lyre is the rebellious black sheep of the Weaver family, and he's the only reason she survived her recent Underworld "vacation". He's also the sexiest thing she's ever seen. Together, they have to track down a catastrophically dangerous magic - a magic he created, she sort of stole, and they both lost.

Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. Woven into Darcy's personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the "Afterworld" to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love - until a new threat resurfaces....