Fallout
ISBN-13: 978-0763655341
If I Grow Up
ISBN-13: 978-1416994435
For DeShawn, joining a gang seems like a terrible decision — why would he want to work for a pittance running drugs when the inevitable consequences are jail or an early death? A bright boy, he does well in school and tries his best to obey the grandmother who has raised him since his mother’s accidental death in gang crossfire. But as DeShawn enters adolescence, the lure of the streets becomes a stronger force, pulling him away from his seemingly meaningless academics and toward the glamour of life in the Douglass Disciples
Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the CBC.
Gateway Readers Award (nominee).
North Carolina School Library Media Association YA Book Award (nominee).
Kentucky Bluegrass Master List (nominee).
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Awards (nominee).
Boot Camp
ISBN-13: 978-1416959427
In the middle of the night Garrett is taken from his home to Harmony Lake, a boot camp for troubled teens. Maybe some kids deserve to be sent there, but Garrett knows he doesn’t. Subjected to brutal physical and psychological abuse, he tries to fight back, but the battle is futile. He won’t be allowed to leave until he’s admitted his “mistakes” and conformed to Harmony Lake’s standards of behavior.
American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.
Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award.
Book for the Teen Age. New York Public Library.
Iowa High School Book Award (nominee).
2011Peach Book Award for Teen Readers.
Virginia 2010Young Readers Award (nominee).
Give A Boy A Gun
ISBN-13: 978-0689848933
High school sophomores Gary Searle and Brendan Lawlor have had enough. Day in and day out, for more than two years, they have been harassed, beaten up, and cursed out by most of the jocks at Middleton High. It's time for revenge.
American Library Association: Popular Paperbacks For Young Adults.
Top ten Selection for Middle School/Junior High (Kansas State Reading Circle).
Minnesota: Maud Hart Lovelace Award (Master List).
New York: Washington Irving Children's Choice Book Award.
New York: Charlotte Award
Pennsylvania: Young Reader's Choice Award (Master List).
Rhode Island: Teen Book Award (winner).
Voice Of Youth Advocates: Top Shelf Fiction for Middle Schoolers.
The Wave
ISBN-13: 978-0440993711
Based on actual events that took place as the result of a history class experiment in a California high school in 1969. Ben Ross, a high school history teacher, begins his usual unit on World War II with a film strip depicting the horrors in Nazi concentration camps. When his students express doubts that the Holocaust could ever happen again, Ross concocts an experiment to illustrate to his students just how this type of blind following can easily happen, even in their own school.
Can't Get There From Here
ISBN-13: 978-0756954994
Her street name is Maybe. Thrown out by her abusive mom, she lives with a tribe of homeless teens — runaways and throwaways, kids who have no place to go other than the cold city streets, and no family except for one another. Abused, abandoned, and forgotten, they struggle against the cold, hunger, and constant danger.
American Library Association: Best Book for Teens.
American Library Association: Quick Pick For Reluctant Readers.
American Library Association: Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults.
International Reading Association: Young Adult Choice Award.
The Accident
ISBN-13: 978-0595396528
Everyone was drinking at the party. When Bobby invites Matt to go with a group up to his ski house, Matt refuses. A fatal accident ensues and Chris, who has a reputation for drinking and dealing drugs, is immediately blamed. However, Matt is convinced there is unseen aspect of the accident, and he is determined to expose it. But when he does, he’ll find himself in a political cover-up of staggering proportions.
Edgar Allan Poe (nominee). Mystery Writers of America.
Books for the Teen Age. New York Public Library.
Pick of the Lists. American Bookseller.
Famous
ISBN-13: 978-1416975113
At 14, Jamie Gordon took some photos of a famous model’s embarrassing moment and sold them to a tabloid, which led to her own first taste of fame. Now 16 and a professional paparazzo, she’s in LA to document a week in the life of starlet Willow Twine. A mystery and moral dilemma ensues when Jamie discovers six photos on her camera that could ruin Willow’s career.
"Strasser presents a story about a young girl who wants to find fame, but the reader can see that she is sacrificing personal relationships to do so. The message is clear, but in a thoughtful rather than preachy way, as Jamie reflects on what she has learned. This is a good read that is taken from today’s celebrity headlines; it should surely hook teens looking for a good story that they can identify with." -- Library Media