"The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter fiction: six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of comprise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In...

"Lacey Bond has grown up in her parents' hippie New Hampshire daycare, idolizing her blasphemous, ultra-fashionable sister, Éclair, chasing baby squirrels, and contemplating trees. Then the Satanic Panic hits - the moral hysteria that shook the United States by its shoulders in the 80s and 90s. It's the summer of 1990 when Lacey's parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations from dozens...

"When women of color write history, we see the world as we have never seen it before. In Fruit of the Drunken Tree, Ingrid Rojas Contreras honors the lives of girls who witness war. Brava! I was swept up by this story."--SANDRA CISNEROS, author of The House on Mango Street A mesmerizing debut set against the backdrop of the devastating violence of 1990's Colombia about a sheltered young girl and a teenage maid who strike an unlikely friendship that...

"As a young dragoneer moves through the ranks of a prestigious dragonriding academy, her challenges grow greater and her time grows short to draw out a series of deadly threats, in the second installment of this thrilling coming-of-age fantasy series. Fifteen-year-old Ileth is now an Apprentice Dragoneer, with all of the benefits and pitfalls that her elevation in rank entails. She has survived many challenges to achieve the next step in her training,...

"Andrea Rodríguez is nine years old when her mother whisks her and her brother, Pablo, away from the Woronoco, a tiny New England factory town that is the only home they've ever known. With no plan and no money, she leaves them with family members in Puerto Rico and promises to return. In the years that follow, Andrea and Pablo are brought back to Woronoco, only to discover a rapidly changing town and an All-American culture they almost-but can never...

"For fans of Donna Barba Higuera's Lupe Wong Won't Dance and Aida Salazar's The Moon Within, comes Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice -- a contemporary middle grade novel full of spunk and activist heart. Manuela Mani Semilla wants two things: to get her period, and to thwart her mom's plan of taking her to Guatemala, a place that has always been more of a mystery than an answer. Mani can't imagine leaving behind Las Nerdas, her band of misfit friends,...

"This story is about two boys, separated by centuries, parted by myth, divided by reality. Two boys hoping to be men. Two boys severed from their fathers. Two boys searching a maze of manhood"-- From the UK Children's Laureate comes a spellbinding YA novel in verse blending the ancient myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with the quest of a modern-day teen in search of his father. Theo, a seventeen-year-old London schoolboy with a single mother, is...

"Riley Jo is a teenager who knows what she wants. Born and raised in Bentonville, Arkansas, this Korean American girl has her sights set on being a musician. So when her parents are surprisingly cool about her attending the prestigious Los Angeles-based arts-focused boarding school her senior year of high school, she jumps at the chance. This is her moment to make her indie rock dreams a reality! Things at Carlmont Academy start out strong: She joins...

Life's not easy for Nicky. His mother is gone, his dad's out on bail, and his older brother, Kenny, needs looking after like a little kid. When Kenny drags Nicky out of bed one dark morning, Nicky has no idea that he is about to witness a terrible act of destruction, and the senseless killing of an innocent animal. But Nicky manages to save something precious from the disaster, and his and Kenny's lives are changed forever...