About
Young Adult Urban Fiction features teenagers of color dealing with the socio-economic realities of urban America. Look for these titles on the second floor of the Library, in the Youth Collection.
Recommended Books
All American Boys by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.R33593Al 2015When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.
Boy21 by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.Q3185Bo 2012Finley, an unnaturally quiet boy who is the only white player on his high school's varsity basketball team, lives in a dismal Pennsylvania town that is ruled by the Irish mob, and when his coach asks him to mentor a troubled African American student who has transferred there from an elite private school in California, he finds that they have a lot in common in spite of their apparent differences.
Bronx Masquerade by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.G88429Br 2002While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.
Bronxwood by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.B64632Br 2011Tyrell's life is spinning out of control after his father is released from prison, his little brother is placed in foster care, and the drug dealers he's living with are pressuring him to start dealing.
The Crossover by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.5.A44Cr 2014Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
Dime by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.F84913Di 2015Fourteen-year-old Dime, a foster child in Newark, New Jersey, finds love and family as a prostitute, but when her pimp rejects her for a new girl, will Dime have the strength to leave?
Doing My Own Thing by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.C2471Do 2011With a smash album and her own reality show, Sunday Tolliver has finally arrived. But success brings a whole new set of challenges including a diva cousin and a bad-boy rapper who are trying to get payback by wrecking her reputation, a gifted new collaborator who is trying to sabotage her follow-up album, and a more complicated love life.
Get over It by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.C2472Get 2013With major industry success and a year of college under her belt, Sunday Tolliver is ready to take her singer-songwriter talents to the next level. But new opportunities also mean totally unexpected drama. An explosive campus hazing scandal puts her friends up against a powerful sorority - and Sunday's skills on the line.
Girls Like Us by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.G3923Gi 2014Graduating from their school's special education program, Quincy and Biddy are placed together in their first independent apartment and discover unexpected things they have in common in the face of past challenges and a harrowing trauma.
How It Went Down by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.M2739How 2014When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white. In the aftermath of Tariq's death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up.
On the Flip Side by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.C2472On 2012Hip hop, drama and glamour combine in the fourth novel in Nikki Carter's Fab Life series, as Sunday Tolliver finds that life as a pop star and student don't always mix. Sunday's first year of college is off to a great start, but will a hit record, video shoots, award shows and her school work be too much for her to handle?
This Side of Home by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.W32868Thi 2015Twins Nikki and Maya Younger always agreed on most things, but as they head into their senior year they react differently to the gentrification of their Portland, Oregon, neighborhood and the new--white--family that moves in after their best friend and her mother are evicted.
Time to Shine by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.C2471Ti 2012Sunday Tolliver is now the hottest singer-songwriter in the business - but too much personal drama is spinning her crazy-busy life totally out of control. Now Sunday's only chance to get control of her fab life is to find out who's truly real.
Unchained by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.T45835Un 2012After two years in a loving home, TJ's mother got him back. She was clean. No pot. No meth. His chest felt like it was burning. His heart was racing. Trapped. He felt trapped. He didn't have a say. Everything he had come to care about would be gone: Miss Dixie, hot meals, friends, Mae's little hand, and Annabelle. And the brutal life he'd escaped quickly reclaimed him.
Wildflower by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.S3768W55 2011Chelsea Spain bridled under her father's harsh rules. But she was growing up too fast. Someone had to rein her in until she had enough sense to handle herself better. Egged on by her immature friends, was it too late to learn that some risks are just not worth taking?
Yo, Miss by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.7.W554Yo 2015A graphic look at high school takes the reader inside a second-chance high school in New York City, where Lisa Wilde has worked since 1997. A school where all the students are considered at risk, Wildcat offers these teens a ticket to the middle class - a high school diploma. With humor and humanity, Yo, Miss challenges preconceptions of who these kids are and what is needed to help them graduate.
