Author: FINDER, SYDNEY

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
(FIC LYG) (REALISITC)
After five years of fighting his way past flickers of memory about the teacher who molested him and the incident that brought the crime to light, eighteen year-old Josh gets help in coping with his molestor's release from prison when he finally tells his best friends the whole truth.
Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton
(FIC STR) (REALISITC)
Chandra Kabelo, a sixteen-year-old in a small South African town, faces down shame and stigma in her efforts to help friends and family members who are dying of AIDS.
Dirty Liar by Brian James
(FIC JAM) (REALISITC)
No longer able to tolerate living with his alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend, high-schooler Benji, nicknamed Dogboy, has moved in with his emotionally distant father, stepmother, and stepsister, and strives to be invisible at home and at school until a series of events forces him to express himself.
Safe by Susan Shaw
(FIC SHA) (REALISITC)
When thirteen-year-old Tracy, whose mother died when she was three years old, is raped and beaten on the last day of school, all her feelings of security disappear and she does not know how to cope with the fear and read that engulf her.
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
(FIC AND) (REALISITC)
Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
(FIC SEP) (HISTORY)
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia where her father is sentences to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil.
Bitter End by Jennifer Brown
(FIC BRO) (REALISITC)
When seventeen-year-old Alex starts dating Cole, a new boy at her high school, her two closest friends increasingly mistrust him as the relationship grows more serious and become abusive.

Media Center Information
The books are shelved by the Genre
Hours: Monday– Friday: 6:45-2:10 pm
End Zone: Mon-Thurs 2:10-4:30
Printing Info: $0.10 a page for B&W
$1.00 a page for color
Checking out Books: 3 MAX
Books are checked out for 3 weeks and can be renewed. Overdue book fees are $0.10 a school day.
Students may have 3 books checked out at a time.
Students may not check out books until overdue books are returned and fines over $10 are payed off.
If you don’t find that book on the shelf, use our catalog kiosk to help you see if the book is available If the book is checked out, you can put it on hold and we can notify you when it is returned.
To locate other books in the Media Center, click on the media Center Catalog on the desktop of every computer.

Trama and Drama: Stories of Suffering

Do you enjoy books or movies with darker topics? Taboo subjects? Dramatic storylines? If so, then try this book list to help you find something you will enjoy.

Use the info in the parenthesis to help you locate the book in our library

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
(B WAL) (BIO)
The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
(FIC AND) (REALISITC)
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
(FIC LYN) (REALISITC)
High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong.
13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
(FIC ASH) (REALISITC)
High school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing seven cassette tapes recorded by his crush, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide, and spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
(FIC HOP) (REALISITC)
Three teens meet at Reno, Nevada's Aspen Springs mental hospital after each has attempted suicide and connect with each other in a way they never have with their parents or anyone else in their lives.
Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
(B RHO) (BIO)
Ashley Rhodes-Courter provides an account of her life, focusing on the nine years she spent in Florida's foster care system after being removed from her mother at the age of three, and explaining how her life changed after she was adopted.

Sold by Patricia McCormick
(FIC MCC) (REALISITC)
Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi lives in Nepal dreaming of a boy she wants to marry. Suddenly her father sells her into prostitution to pay family debts. She is beaten and starved until she gives in. Later an American comes to rescue many girls. The text is written as a prose poem full of sorrow and fear.
Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn
(FIC FLI) (REALISITC)
A year after running away with a traveling carnival to escape his unbearable home life, sixteen-year-old Michael returns to Miami, Florida, to find that his mother is going on trial for the murder of his abusive stepfather.
Harmless by Dana Reinhardt
(FIC REI) (REALISITC)
Instead of telling the truth about why they are home late, fourteen-year-old private school students Emma, Anna, and Mariah lie and say a strange man attacked one of them, and the untruth results in a slew of problems for themselves, their families, their community, and the wrongly accused man.
Right Behind You by Gail Giles
(FIC GIL) (MYSTERY)
After spending over four years in a mental institution for murdering a friend in Alaska, fourteen-year-old Kip begins a completely new life in Indiana with his father and stepmother under a different name, but has trouble fitting in and finds there are still problems to deal with from his childhood.
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
(FIC BUR) (HISTORY)
Two years after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975, Matt Pin is haunted by the terrible secret he left behind and, now, in a loving adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
(FIC CRU) (REALISITC)
Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, high school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose and legacy, and converses through dreams with a spiritual guide known as "Hey-Soos."
Before, After, and Somebody in
Between by Jeannine Garsee
(FIC GAR) (REALISITC)
After dealing with an alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend, a school bully, and life on the wrong side of the tracks in Cleveland, Ohio, high school sophomore Martha Kowalski expects to be happy when she moves in with a rich family across town, but finds that the "rich life" has problems of its own.
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
(FIC DOW) (REALISITC)
Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, and drugs with excruciating side effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. Released from the constraints of “normal” life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings and relationships are all painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.
Black Tuesday by Susan Colebank
(FIC COL) (REALISITC)
An over-achieving Phoenix high school student's life changes dramatically when she is responsible for a car crash that kills a child, and she goes from honors classes and tennis team captain to doing community service and rebelling against her controlling mother.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
(FIC FOR) (REALISITC)
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.