Reviews and Blog Posts: Realistic Fiction

It was a day when everything changed for everyone. Find out how 9/11 affected the lives of 3 NYC teenagers in this novel that yes, will make you cry, but is ultimately about hope, human connection, and love. Claire was in school when the attacks happened. She immediately went from...

Nina Khan is the only Asian, the only Muslim, at her small town high school in Deer Hook, NY. She has good friends, but as she gets older, it feels like the differences between her and them get more and more pronounced. They're allowed to date. She's not. Their free...

Junior high is a time when everything seems to be changing. That's certainly how it is for Brett (don't call me Bettina) McCarthy. Friends since elementary school are finding different interests and drifting away. People from the periphery are becoming more important. Her beloved grandmother, creator of giant brownies and...

When Dara Cohen won the Little Miss Maine pageant when she was 7, she had no idea what the following years would have in store. It's 10 years later, and she's 17, and not exactly the beauty queen ideal any more. She's still smart, talented, and funny, though, and thinks...

Ari wants to do something to stand out during his junior year at Gittelman Jewish Day School. He's been wingman to his best friend, Jonas (who can get anything he wants from anyone--girl, boy, teacher--with just a smile) for too long. His parents just want him to excel at his...

Octavia and Tali have been forced to go on a summer-long road-trip with their grandmother, Mare. Neither of them wants to go, but as they drive, Mare starts telling fascinating stories about her life growing up Black in the South and how she was a woman soldier during World War...

Stella Madison is bouncing through her life like a rubber ball. Bouncing between foodie parents who have been separated for 6 years--but they must still be in love, because they haven't gotten divorced, right? Bouncing between her sweet, reliable, boyfriend, Max, and Jeremy, her mother's new kitchen intern, who she's...

Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae have their own unique problems, but they all want to deal with them in the same way--by committing suicide. They met online, but now are going to meet in person for a final road trip. Their plan: visit the gravesites of celebrities who have committed...

Tal is Jewish and lives in Israel. Her parents are always talking about peace and the Palestinians getting their own country, but it seems to Tal that the Palestinians hate the Israelis and she wants to know why. So Tal writes a letter and puts it in a bottle in...

Augie scrapes by, trying to be invisible and not attract the notice of the bullies in his neighborhood. Recent events in his life are making Augie more noticeable. He has a new friend, Walter, from the Big Brother program. He's joined the school chorus. And he's been reading a seemingly...