Book Cover

Info and Additional Links

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed Dashka Slater

When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account, and pretty soon, everyone knew. Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery: not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults―educators and parents―whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse. In the end, no one was laughing, and everyone was left wondering: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?

Book and author info: Accountable | Nonfiction Young Adult Book by Best-Selling Author, Dashka Slater (accountablebook.com)

Non-Fiction

Social media

Breathe and Count Back from Ten Natalia Sylvester

An audition to become a mermaid in Mermaid Cove could be the answer to Peruvian-American Verónica's quest for the perfect summer employment and the fulfillment of her life-long dream. With her hip dysplasia, the only place she feels comfortable is in the water, but will the job be the breaking point in her relationship with her parents? Concerned about the family's resident status, seventeen-year-old Verónica's parents control her every move. As Veronica balances her desires against those of her parents, she learns more about her disability, her relationship with her sister and her new friend, Alex.

Author info: Natalia Sylvester Author | Natalia Sylvester

Book Review: Breathe and Count Back From Ten by Natalia Sylvester | Book Review (youtube.com)

Realistic Fiction

Physical Disability

Romance

Chaos Theory Nic Stone

Scars exist to remind us of what we've survived.

Shelbi is brilliant, kind, and battling bipolar disorder. She's lucky to have a great support system between her parents and doctors, but she has no friends after the incident at her last school.

Andy is spiraling. He is coping with his grief by drinking, which is only worsened by issues at home.

Andy and Shelbi had never officially met, but one chance encounter at a party changed that. They bond over their shared lows and struggles, and it's not long until they realize they could be something more. But will the universe pull them apart?

Author info: Nic Stone (Author of Dear Martin) | Goodreads

Book Talk CHAOS THEORY | Official Book Trailer (youtube.com)

Realistic Fiction

Romance  

Mental Health

Dear Medusa Olivia A. Cole

Sixteen-year-old Alicia Rivers has a reputation that precedes her. But there's more to her story than the whispers that follow her throughout the hallways at school. What her classmates don't know is that trauma has rewritten every cell in Alicia’s body into someone she doesn't recognize. To the world around her, she's been cast, like the mythical Medusa, as not the victim but the monster of her own story.

“[This] fierce and brightly burning feminist roar...paints a devastating and haunting portrait of a vulnerable young woman discovering the power of her voice, her courage, and her rage.” --Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Internment and Hollow Fires

Author: Olivia A. Cole (oliviaacole.com)

Novel in verse (poetry)

Realistic fiction