Last Updated: September 28, 2023
Alma Presses Play
by Tina Cane
Alma’s life is a constant of halfways: She’s half-Chinese, half-Jewish; her parents spend half the time fighting, and the other half silent; and, at thirteen, she’s halfway through becoming a woman. Then comes the year when everything changes, and her life is overtaken by constant endings: friends move away, romances bloom and wither, her parents file for divorce, and just like that her childhood seems to be over. Among this world of confusing beginnings, middles, and endings, could there be a roadmap for Alma to truly find herself?
Blackwater
by Jenannette Arroyo
Set in the haunted town of Blackwater, Maine, two boys fall for each other as they dig for clues to a paranormal mystery. Tony Price is a popular high school track star and occasional delinquent aching for his dad’s attention and approval. Eli Hirsch is a quiet boy with a chronic autoimmune disorder that has ravaged his health and social life. What happens when these two become unlikely friends (and a whole lot more…) in the spooky town of Blackwater, Maine?
Cool For The Summer
by Dahlia Adler
Larissa Bogdan was supposed to spend her summer babysitting and bookselling. Instead, she tagged along with her mom to the Outer Banks, working on her tan and making new friends. Now she’s back and starting her senior year at Stratford High, only to face another unexpected turn: She’s finally attracted the attention of superstar quarterback Chase Harding, the guy she’s crushed on since middle school. Then Jasmine Killary shows up. Jasmine, who’s supposed to be in North Carolina, not the New York City suburbs. Jasmine, who immediately entices Stratford’s student body with her glittering beauty and casual-cool style. Jasmine, who gave Larissa the three most perfect months of her life. But now Jasmine’s keeping her distance, not even acknowledging their friendship, much less the hot summer nights they spent together. Larissa knows she should be glad to bury their secret, but she also knows she never felt more comfortable, more confident, more herself than when she was with Jasmine. What was supposed to be a playful fling became something much deeper than she ever could have imagined. If Larissa’s finally got the guy, why can’t she stop thinking about the girl?
How to Find What You’re Not Looking For
by Veera Hiranandani
Ariel Goldberg must find her own voice and define her own beliefs after her older sister elopes with a young man from India following the Supreme Court decision that strikes down laws banning interracial marriage.
Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize
by Margo Rabb
Lucy Clark has had it. After being bullied one too many times, Lucy retaliates. But when the fallout is far worse than she meant it to be, she gets sent to Manhattan to serve as a full-time companion to the eccentric Edith Fox. Edith is glamorous and mysterious–nothing like Lucy expected. Though Edith’s world of hidden gardens and afternoon teas is beguiling, there’s one other thing about her that makes her unlike anyone Lucy has ever met…she thinks someone is trying to kill her. And it’s up to Lucy to find out who it is.
My Fine Fellow
by Jennieke Cohen
It’s 1830s England, and Culinarians–doyens who consult with society’s elite to create gorgeous food and confections–are the crème de la crème of high society. Helena Higgins, top of her class at the Royal Academy, has a sharp demeanor and an even sharper palate–and knows stardom awaits her if she can produce greatness in her final year. Penelope Pickering is going to prove the value of non-European cuisine to all of England. Her contemporaries may scorn her Filipina heritage and her dishes, but with her flawless social graces and culinary talents, Penelope is set to prove them wrong. Elijah Little has nothing to his name but a truly excellent instinct for flavors. London merchants won’t allow a Jewish boy to own a shop, so he hawks his pasties for a shilling a piece to passersby–but he knows with training he can break into the highest echelon of society. When Penelope and Helena meet Elijah, a golden opportunity arises: to pull off a project never seen before, and turn Elijah from a street vendor to a gentleman chef. But Elijah’s transformation will have a greater impact on this trio than they originally realize–and mayhem, unseemly faux pas, and a little romance will all be a part of the delicious recipe.
The City Beautiful
by Aden Polydoros
For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows. Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer–before the killer claims them next.
The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family
by Sarah Kapit
Two sisters start a detective agency and solve a series of everyday mysteries about themselves and their family.
When Angels Left the Old Country
by Sacha Lamb
Uriel the angel and Little Ash are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn’t have a name other than Shetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young people, Essie, goes missing. Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her. Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind.
Why We Fly
by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
Told from alternating points of view, Chanel and Eleanor’s rocky start to senior year gets more complex when the cheerleading team kneels for the national anthem and each girl grapples with the consequences.