Author: FINDER, SYDNEY

Shortie Like Mine by Ni-Ni Simone (FIC SIM)REALISTIC
Sixteen-year-old Seven McKnight is immersed in drama when her best friend Deeyah decides to play her boyfriend Josiah against his worst enemy, setting in motion a disastrous chain of events. *Also try all other books by Ni-Ni Simone
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Hip-Hop High School by Alan Sitomer (FIC SIT)
SHORT STORY
Sixteen-year-old Seven McKnight is immersed in drama when her best friend Deeyah decides to play her boyfriend Josiah against his worst enemy, setting in motion a disastrous chain of events.
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Homeboyz by Alan Sitomer (FIC SIT)
REALISTIC
Seventeen-year-old Teddy Anderson, who is known on the streets as T-Bear, decides to seek revenge on the person responsible for his little sister's death, which was caused by a stray bullet from a semiautomatic handgun. Also, try all other books by Sitomer
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If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser (FIC STR)
REALISTIC
Growing up in the inner-city projects, DeShawn is reluctantly forced into gang world by circumstances beyond his control. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Street Pharm by Allison Van Diepen(FIC DIE)
REALISTIC
Seventeen-year-old African-American drug dealer, Ty Johnson, takes over his father's business and struggles to make sense of his life when competition from out of town threatens him and those who are close to him.
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Black and White by Paul Volponi (FIC VOL)
SPORTS
Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught. *Also, try all other books by Paul Volponi
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Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia (FIC WIL)
REALISTIC
The lives of Leticia, Dominique, and Trina are irrevocably intertwined through the course of one day in an urban high school after Leticia overhears Dominique's plans to beat up Trina and must decide whether or not to get involved

True Beliver by Virginia Wolff (FIC WOL) REALISTIC
Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.
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Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson (FIC WOO) REAL
After fifteen-year-old Jeremiah is mistakenly shot by police, the people who love him struggle to cope with their loss as they recall his life and death, unaware that 'Miah is watching over them.
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Hotlanta by Denene Millner (FIC MIL) REALISTIC
Living a privileged life in Atlanta, wealthy and beautiful African American twin sisters, Sydney and Lauren, must deal with family secrets and scandal when their father is released from prison.
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Joseph by Shelia Moses (FIC MOS) REALISTIC
Fourteen-year-old Joseph tries to avoid trouble and keep in touch with his father, who is serving in Iraq, as he and his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother moves from one homeless shelter to another.
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Playground by 50 Cent (FIC 50) REALISTIC
After beating up Maurice on the playground, Butterball is forced to see the school therapist.
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Media Center Information
Hours: Monday—Friday: 6:45– 2:10 PM
End Zone: Mon– Thursday: 2:10– 4:30 PM
Printing Info: $0.10 a page for B&W… $1.00 a page for color
Checking Out Books
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 once.
Students may not check out books until overdue books are returned and fines over $10.00 are paid off.
If you don't find a book on the shelf, then check our catalog kiosk to see if it is
available. If the book is checked out, you can reserve it and we will notify you when it is returned.
Books are shelved by genre.

Urban Fiction
It’s a Hard Knock Life
Sometimes the odds are stacked against you. What do you do when life knocks you down?

Check Out
These Series:
Urban Underground Series
by Anne Schraff (FIC SCH)
REALISTIC
Imani Series by Jackie Hardrick
(FIC HAR)
ROMANCE
The Bluford High Series by Paul Langan and Anne Schraff (FIC LAN)
REALISTIC
Check out these authors:
Walter Dean Myers
Sharon Draper
Nikki Grimes
Sharon Flake
Shelia Moses
Greg Neri
Ni-Ni Simone
Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Allson Van Diepen
Paul Volponi
Jacqueline Woodson
Stephanie Moore
Angela Johnson
K. Divine
Robert Lipsyte
Sister Soulja
Rita Williams

It’s Tough in the Streets...

Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah (B BEA) BIOGRAPHY
Orphaned, addicted to cocaine, and experienced with an AK-47, all by the age of thirteen.
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian by Sherman Alexie (FIC ALE) HUMOR
Off the rez, the only other Indian is the school mascot.
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Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (FIC SCO) ADV
Abducted into five years of sexual abuse.
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Impulse by Ellen Hopkins (FIC HOP) REALISTIC
Death, drugs, and sex in a mental institution.
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Sold by Patricia McCormick (FIC MCC) REALISTIC
Forced into prostitution by her own family.
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Can’t Get There From Here by Strasser (FIC STR)
REALISTIC
Nine homeless teens, maybe one can get somewhere.
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Runner by Carl Deuker (FIC DEU)
REALISTIC
Running to keep your life afloat.
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Returnable Girl by Pamela Lowell (FIC LOW)
REALISTIC
She wishes there was a “No Returns” policy on kids.
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A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer (B PEL)
BIOGRAPHY
Real life, real abuse.
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Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (FIC WER)
REALISTIC
Protecting his kid sister from the rages of their mother.
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Kendra by Coe Booth (FIC BOO)
REALISTIC
High school student Kendra longs to live with her mother who, unprepared for motherhood at age fourteen, left Kendra in the care of her grandmother.
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Ms. Thang by Sonia Hayes (FIC HAY)
REALISTIC
Four African-American teenage girls who are high school sophomores try to cope with all kinds of life-changing events .
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The Rose That Grew From Concrete
by Tupac Shakur (811 SHA)
Life, love, justice, and the streets, by Tupac Shakur.
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Tyrell by Coe Booth (FIC BOO) REALISTIC
Being a man is hard when you’re only fifteen.
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Street Love by Walter Dean Myers (FIC MYE)
ROMANCE
Hard-knock girl meets well-off boy.
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First Semester by Cecil R. Cross II (FIC CRO) REAL
James “JD” Dawson arrives at University of Atlanta hoping for a fresh start and a chance to make something of himself, but when he starts partying more than studying, his habits soon endanger his future at the college
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The Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper (FIC DRA)
REALISTIC
A high school junior and his cousin suffer the ramifications of joining what seems to be a "reputable" school club.
*Also, try ALL other books by Sharon Draper!!!
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Bang by Sharon Flake (FIC FLA) REALISTIC
Two years after the shooting death of thirteen-year-old Mann's little brother, Mann's father, who believes his son died because he made him too "soft," takes Mann and his friend camping and abandons them in an attempt to make them tough.
*Also, try ALL other books by Sharon Flake!!!!
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Jazmin’s Notebook by Nikki Grimes (FIC GRI)
REALISTIC
Jazmin, an African-American teenager who lives with her older sister in a small Harlem apartment in the 1960s, finds strength in writing poetry and keeping a record of the events in her sometimes difficult life.
*Also, try ALL other books by Nikki Grimes
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Born in Sin by Evelyn Coleman (FIC COL) SPORTS
Despite serious obstacles and setbacks, fourteen-year old Keisha pursues her dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer and medical doctor
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Bucking the Sarge by Chris Curtis (FIC CUR)
HUMOR
Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college.
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A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes (FIC GRI)
REALISTIC
A pregnant teenager finds support and forgiveness from God through a book of poetry presented from the Virgin Mary's perspective.
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Soul Fire by Lorri Hewett (FIC HEW)
REALISTIC
A rift develops in the closeness shared by Todd and Ezekiel, two African-American cousins, when Ezekiel tries to single-handedly end the problem of gang violence in his Denver neighborhood.
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Looking for Red by Angela Johnson (FIC JOH)
REALISTIC
A thirteen-year-old girl struggles to cope with the loss of her beloved older brother, who disappeared four months earlier off the coast of Cape Cod.
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The First Part Last by Angela Johnson (FIC JOH)
REALISTIC
Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter. *Also, try all other books by Johnson!
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Standing Against the Wind by Traci Jones
(FIC JON) REALISTIC
After her mother is sent to jail, eighth-grader Patrice Williams moves to Chicago to live with her aunt Mae where she attends a school filled with gangs and drug runners and applies for a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school
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Brother Hood by Janet McDonald (FIC MCD) REALISTIC
Sixteen-year-old Nate, an academically gifted student who attends an exclusive private boarding school, straddles two cultures as he returns home for occasional visits to see his family and "gangsta crew" in Harlem, New York.
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Harlem Hustle by Janet McDonald (FIC MCD) REALISTIC
Eric "Hustle" Samson, a smart and street-wise seventeen-year-old dropout from Harlem, aspires to rap stardom, a dream he naively believes is about to come true.