New YA Fiction For Everyone

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (translated by Lilit Thwaites) is based on the experiences of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus. This incredible story tells how Dita risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. At fourteen, Dita is one of the many Jews and other "undesirables" imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz in Poland. First, she and her parents were removed from their home in Prague and moved to the ghetto. Then, they were moved northward to the Terezin settlement. Finally, they were brought to Poland and Dita is trying to adjust to the constant terror that makes up the life in the camp. When a Jewish leader, Fredy Hirsch, asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious books the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees and becomes the librarian of Auschwitz even though her life would be forfeit if the Nazis found her out.

If You're Gone is a novel by Brittany Goodwin. When her boyfriend, Brad, disappears, Lillian White's perfect plans for the summer are shattered. Brad didn't go home after his graduation ceremony. That also happens to be the night he told Lillian that he loves her for the the first time. Law enforcement insist that Brad is voluntarily missing and they are not pursuing his disappearance as related to foul play. Lillian believes otherwise and sets out to prove that he would not just walk away from his friends, family, and especially not from her. As she digs deeper, however, she comes to the realization that there is a lot that she doesn't know about the love of her life. Soon, she is questioning everything she thought she knew about Brad, their relationship, as well as her own faith.

In the novel, Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp, Corey and Kyra don't fit in with the other kids in their small Alaska town, but they do fit together. They become inseparable, so when Corey's family has to move away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter until Corey is able to come back and visit. Only, just days before Corey is to return, Kyra dies and Corey is devastated and more than a little confused. The entire community seems to speak in whispers about Kyra, call her a lost daughter and saying her death was meant to be. To add insult to injury, they push Corey away like she's a stranger. She knows something is wrong, but what can you do when the whole town is keeping secrets and you are determined to find out what happened to your best friend?

This is Not a Love Letter is a novel by Kim Purcell. Jessie thought that a one week break to get some perspective before graduation and before she and her boyfriend, Chris, had to make all the big, scary decisions about their future was a perfectly logical idea. Only, those decisions had them fighting for weeks. When Chris vanishes, the police think he has just run away, but Jessie isn't buying it. Chris is popular and good-looking, not to mention, he's about to head off to college with a full baseball scholarship. He disappeared while going for a run along the river--the same place where he was jumped by some boys from a rival school a few weeks earlier. Chis is one of the only black kids in their depressed paper mill town, and Jessie is afraid something unthinkable has happened. As Jessie searches for answers, she will face her fears, her guilt, and the frightening threats of an unknown evil.

New Playaways for Your Enjoyment

The titles I'm featuring this week are available in the Audio/Visual Department on our Playaway Audio players. These are compact and extremely convenient all-in-one audio books that make listening to your favorite authors a breeze. Enjoy!

In the novel Little Nothing by Marisa Silver, Pavla Janacek is the much-longed-for, late-in-life child of a plumber and his wife, who are chagrined to discover the daughter they tried so hard to have is a dwarf. Nicknamed "Little Nothing ," she is beloved for her ethereal beauty and good nature. Worrying about her fate after their passing, the elderly Janaceks decide to "fix" her, employing dubious folk and pseudo-medical "remedies." Danilo is a tinkerer indentured to a charlatan, Dr. Smetanka, in order to repay a family debt. Smetanka orders the handy Danilo to build a moving table that becomes an instrument of torture, transforming Pavla into a decidedly lupine creature. First, she begins traveling with a circus sideshow and eventually, she joins a wolf pack. Here the tale becomes as much that of Danilo, the teenage "doctor's assistant" who first meets Pavla in the midst of a brutal "stretching" attempt and falls in love with her. Their paths diverge and cross as war and terror envelop the land, leaving Danilo to wonder if Pavla—in any form—was ever real at all.

The Sun is Also a Star is a novel by Nicola Yoon. One summer morning in New York City, Daniel and Natasha wake up as strangers. Natasha, whose family is facing deportation to Jamaica, and Daniel, a first-generation Korean American with a poet’s sensibility will ponder the age-old question, “Is it fate or chance that brings people together?” The teens’ eventful day begins at a New York City record store, where they see someone shoplifting.  Despite the rest of the day being packed with Natasha’s desperate race against time and a tangled system, and Daniel’s difficult tug-of-war between familial pressures and autonomy, love finds a way in, takes hold, and changes them both forever.

The Orphan Mother by Robert Hicks takes place during the years immediately following the Civil War. Mariah, a successful midwife in Franklin, Tennessee, becomes an “orphan mother” when her politically ambitious son is shot at a rally. In the early days of Reconstruction, justice for blacks might be a dubious concept, but Mariah is determined she will have hers. Mariah becomes acquainted with George Tole, a free black New Yorker whose reputation as a sharp-shooting assassin precedes him to Franklin. However, she doesn’t know George has been coerced by an evil Franklin magistrate, Elijah Dixon, to assassinate Mariah’s son, Theopolis. This story is about a mother fighting deeply ingrained racism to get justice for her beloved son and what that means for those determined to hold onto backward beliefs and prejudices.