Missbrauch

Circe goes YA in this unapologetically feminist retelling of the Medusa myth steeped in Indian mythology, a YA epic fantasy addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.<BR><BR><BR>All monsters and heroes have beginnings. This is mine.<BR><BR>Sixteen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters—she’s been running from them for years, from beasts who roam the jungle to the King’s army, who forced her people, the naga, to scatter to the ends of the earth. You might think that the kingdom’s famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe—but you would be wrong.<BR><BR>Seventeen-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the King’s most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could do whatever he wants, but true power lies with the King. Tired after years of fighting, Pratyush wants nothing more than a peaceful, respectable life.<BR><BR>When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Unfortunately, the kingdom’s powerful have other plans. A temple visitor sexually assaults Manisha and pushes her off the mountain into a pit of vipers. A month later, the King sends Pratyush off to kill one last monster (a powerful nagin who has been turning men to stone) before he’ll consider granting the slayer his freedom.<BR><BR>Except Manisha doesn’t die, despite the hundreds of snake bites covering her body and the venom running through her veins. She rises from the pit more powerful than ever before, with heightened senses, armor-like skin, and blood that can turn people to stone. And Pratyush doesn’t know it, but the “monster” he’s been sent to kill is none other than the girl he wants to marry.<BR><BR>Alternating between Manisha’s and Pratyush’s perspectives, Sajni Patel weaves together lush language, high stakes, and page-turning suspense, demanding an answer to the question “What does it truly mean to be a monster?”<BR><BR>Endorsed by Rick Riordan, author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, now a hit series on Disney+.

2024 Whippoorwill Award Honor Book2025–2026 MASL Gateway Award FinalistFrom award-winning author Mindy McGinnis comes a thrilling and gripping YA mystery about a small town’s past and the secrets unearthed by way of two teen girls—and a podcast. Perfect for fans of Sadie, The Cheerleaders, and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. A lifetime of hard work has put Lydia Chass on track to attend a prestigious journalism program and leave Henley behind—until a school error leaves her a credit short of graduating.Bristal Jamison has a bad reputation and a foul mouth, but she also needs one more credit to graduate. An unexpected partnership forms as the two remake Lydia’s town history podcast to investigate the Long Stretch of Bad Days—a week when Henley was hit by a tornado and a flash flood as well as its first, only, and unsolved murder.As their investigation unearths buried secrets, some don’t want them to see the light. When the threats escalate, the girls have to uncover the truth before the dark history of Henley catches up with them.- Unlikely Allies: Lydia Chass is on the fast track to an Ivy League journalism school. Bristal Jamison is on the fast track to detention. A shared graduation requirement forces them together to solve a crime the town forgot.- Cold Case Investigation: They reopen the town’s only unsolved murder, which occurred during the infamous Long Stretch of Bad Days—a week that also brought a devastating tornado and a flash flood.- Dark History: The deeper Lydia and Bristal dig into Henley's past, the more dangerous their present becomes. Someone wants the truth to stay buried with the dead.- Amateur Sleuths: Armed with a microphone and recording equipment, the two teens turn a school project into a real-time investigation, putting themselves in the path of a killer.

Saturday is a take on the classic movie Mean Girls but has the unique twists and turns of a suspense novel.Each page introduces you deeper to the main characters and the understanding of their personalities and challenges. Saturday covers a wide range of topics that teenagers face: dysfunctional families, bullies, and everyday issues that test their faith and strength.Saturday takes the reader on a journey with seventeen-year-old Jessica, whose normal life is about to be turned upside down when her mother takes her away from her abusive father in California and leaves for a writing job in NYC. Jessica is faced with the dilemma of having to leave her friends, school, and the life she has been accustomed to.Jessica is challenged by Macy, the antagonist, who takes Jessica down a dangerous road of jealousy, turmoil, and edge-of-your-seat drama. Jessica will have to rely on her inner strength, faith, and old friends to guide her through. Will she become the heroine, or just be another victim of Macy's vengeance on anyone who challenges her?

When seven-year-old Dahlia's parents are killed in a tragic house fire, she is taken away to a mysterious orphanage. Ten years later, she and her close friends at the orphanage are suffering ongoing abuse at the hands of the cruel matron and the unkind therapist, who seems to have a personal vendetta against Dahlia. When things suddenly get worse, the traumatized but feisty teenagers at Oakwood Orphanage band together and fight for a new life, fight for freedom, while battling their own dark pasts that are pushing back. Plagued by nightmares about the fire that killed her parents, a desperate Dahlia searches for answers that will bring her closure, but soon her past comes back to haunt her, and the only way to get past it is to face it head on.

Twelve-year-old Elfina lives with her grandmother in Paraguay. When a distant relative offers to have Elfina come live with her in the city so she can attend school, Elfina's grandmother sends her off for a better life. But life with her relatives isn't what Elfina thought it would be, and soon Elfina finds herself far away from home, living in Canada, and kept as a domestic servant by the family. School and an education are now a distant dream. When Elfina's uncle makes inappropriate advances toward her, she knows she must somehow find the courage to escape and return home. But who will help her?

Abdul Barry, an incredibly intelligent young Muslim growing up in Bariyah, Guinea, is mercilessly tormented by his fellow students and teachers for his effeminate looks. Despite the love and support of his father, aunts, and one of his teachers, he suffers brutal, humiliating attacks from bullies. Things become even worse when he is sexually assaulted by his elementary school French teacher. He tells his parents and the principal, but they refuse to believe him, and the abuse continues. The only bright spot in Abdul’s life is Professor Bah, from whom he conceived an ambition to informally learn English, and fantasized about going to the USA.When Abdul’s sister marries a businessman from their tribe, living in Liberia, Abdul jumps at the chance to move to Liberia with her and start a fresh life. However, even though he quickly makes new friends and converts to Christianity, he is unable to escape the abuse. For one thing, his conversion makes him a target for Muslims, who now believe he is an apostate and blasphemer. And when he is raped by two of his new Christian friends, he feels completely adrift. Before he can do anything drastic, though, his friend Michael, a Peace Corps volunteer, gives him new hope: to bring Abdul to America to attend college and hopefully become a US Citizen some day and have a better life. Elated at first, Abdul soon realizes that America is not free of abuse. He discovers that many White and Black Americans hold terrible prejudices against Black Africans. Even worse, he once again becomes the target of sexual abuse, harassed by a professor and repeatedly and violently raped by a fellow student. Things get so bad that he eventually considers suicide. Desperate, he turns to psychiatric help. With the right medication and Michael’s inspirational words, he succeeds in graduating from college, obtaining his citizenship, and landing his dream job with the U.S. federal government—ultimately becoming the Victorious Victim.

When a family argument turns into an urgent hunt for a missing child, seventeen-year-old Annie Boots must do everything in her power to bring her nephew home safely. Chris Crutcher, the acclaimed and bestselling author of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, shares a provocative story about family, loss, and loyalty that is perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Laurie Halse Anderson. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called Losers Bracket "Genuine and affecting." When it comes to family, Annie is in the losers bracket. While her foster parents are great (mostly), her birth family would not have been her first pick. And no matter how many times Annie tries to write them out of her life, she always gets sucked back into their drama. Love is like that.But when a family argument breaks out at Annie's swim meet and her nephew goes missing, Annie might be the only one who can get him back. With help from her friends, her foster brother, and her social service worker, Annie puts the pieces of the puzzle together, determined to find her nephew and finally get him into a safe home. Award-winning author Chris Crutcher's books are strikingly authentic and unflinchingly honest. Losers Bracket is by turns gripping, heartbreaking, hopeful, and devastating, and hits the sweet spot for fans of Andrew Smith and Marieke Nijkamp.

The award-winning author of You Bring the Distant Near explores identity, homecoming, and the legacy of assault in this personal and ambitious new novel. Katina King is the reigning teen jujitsu champion of Northern California, but she's having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past.Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in India and is reluctant to take on his future. If he can't find his roots, how can he possibly plan ahead?Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places-a summer service trip to Kolkata to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds build between the travelmates, Robin and Kat discover that justice and healing are tangled, like the pain of their pasts and the hope for their futures. You can't rewind life; sometimes you just have to push play.In turns heart wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins's Forward Me Back to You focuses its lens on the ripple effects of violence-across borders and generations-and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.This title has Common Core connections.

SURRENDER is a mesmerizing psychological thriller from extraordinary novelist Sonya Hartnett. I am dying: it's a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying. But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it. As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief twenty years, which have been clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small, unforgiving town and distant, punitive parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends - his dog, Surrender, and the unruly wild boy, Finnigan, a shadowy doppelganger with whom the meek Gabriel once made a boyhood pact. But when a series of arson attacks grips the town, Gabriel realizes how unpredictable and dangerous Finnigan is. As events begin to spiral violently out of control, it becomes devastatingly clear that only the most extreme measures will rid Gabriel of Finnigan for good.

Three friends discover, surfing just got serious. What does it take to be the best, and what does that even mean anyway? Fifteen-year-old Jaspa Ryder is on the crest of qualifying to join surfing's prestigious World Junior Tour along with her best friends, Mel and Carolyn. But as the girls soon discover, the ride to stardom doesn't come easy. Jaspa's head and heart are in battle - she isn't sure she wants to be a professional surfer, which, given her incredible talent, infuriates everyone, especially her envious brother. Who will qualify for the tour? Will Jaspa's friendships survive the pressure of competition? Sometimes in life, you just have to jump to your feet, take off, and hope you don't wipe out.