Penguin Young Readers Group - Bookseller Services - Penguin ...

Ages 12 & up • Young Adult Reads
◆
214
Jacqueline
Woodson
BEHIND YOU
Even though Miah was black and Ellie is
white, they made sense together. Then
Miah was killed. It was the end of their
relationship, but it was the beginning
of grief for the many people who loved
him. Now Miah’s mother has stopped
trying, his friends are lost, and Ellie does
not know how to move on. And then
there is Miah, watching; unable to let
go. This beautiful novel explores the
experiences of those left behind after a
tragedy. “Woodson writes with impressive
poetry about race, love, death, and
what grief feels like—the things that
‘snap the heart’—and her characters’
open strength and wary optimism will
resonate with many teens.” —Booklist
Rec: BL, C, H, K, SLJH
4 1/4 x 7 128 pp. 2006
978-0-14-240390-7 $5.99
THE DEAR ONE
Twelve-year-old Feni doesn’t see why
her mother offers to take in her old college
friend’s fifteen-year-old daughter.
Sure enough, sparks fly when Rebecca, a
street-smart girl from Harlem, comes to
spend the last months of her pregnancy
in Feni’s suburban home. “Woodson’s
deep understanding of and concern for
the role of black women in society is
evident as she eloquently introduces the
reader to teenage pregnancy, alternate
lifestyles and adoption in her moving,
powerful story.” —Publishers Weekly
Rec: K, PW
4 1/4 x 6 3/4 144 pp. 2004
978-0-14-250190-0 $6.99
THE HOUSE YOU PASS
ALONG THE WAY
When fourteen-year-old Staggerlee, the
daughter of a racially mixed marriage,
spends a summer with her cousin Trout,
she begins to question her sexuality
to Trout and catches a glimpse of her
possible future self. “This richly layered
novel will be appreciated for its affecting
look at the anxious wonderings of
presexual teens, its portrait of a complex
interracial family, and its snapshot of the
emotionally wrenching but inarticulate
adolescent search for self.”
—School Library Journal
Rec: BL, K, PW, SLJ
4 1/4 x 6 3/4 128 pp. 2003
978-0-14-250191-7 $5.99
I HADN’T MEANT TO
TELL YOU THIS
Twelve-year-old Marie is one of the
popular girls in the prosperous black
suburb. She’s not looking for a friend
when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears
in school. But the two girls are drawn to
each other—both Lena and Marie have
lost their mothers. Marie soon learns that
Lena has a terrifying secret. She wants
to help, but is it better to keep Lena’s
secret, or to tell it? Their friendship—and
Lena’s survival— may depend on her
decision.“Told in adroitly sequenced
flashbacks, Woodson’s novel is wrenchingly
honest and, despite its sad themes,
full of hope and inspiration.”
—Publishers Weekly
Rec: BL, H, K, PW, SLJ
Coretta Scott King Honor
4 1/4 x 7 128 pp. 2006
978-0-14-240555-0 $5.99
IF YOU COME SOFTLY
“People stare when teenagers Miah and
Ellie touch and hold hands in public.
He is black. She is white. In alternating
chapters, we learn about how they meet
in their private high school and fall in
love. Woodson confronts prejudice headon.”
—Booklist
Rec: BL, C, K, KA, PWH, RT, SLJ, TE, V
4 3/8 x 7 1/8 192 pp. 2000
978-0-14-240601-4 $5.99
LENA
Thirteen-year-old Lena and her younger
sister Dion mourn the death of their
mother as they hitchhike from Ohio to
Kentucky while running away from their
abusive father. “Woodson writes with
excruciating clarity about difficult issues
of childhood and leaves readers encouraged
by humanity’s potential for insight,
compassion, and hope.”
—School Library Journal
Rec: K, PWH, SLJ
4 1/4 x 7 144 pp. 2006
978-0-14-240616-8 $5.99
MIRACLE’S BOYS
“Another tale of the inner city that
focuses on the real struggles of those
live there… The Bailey boys are on their
own: their father died from hypothermia
and their mother, Milagro, or Miracle,
followed him in death… Woodson
composes a plot without easy answers,
and creates characters for whom predictable
behavior is all but impossible. [An]
involving novel about a family struggling
to remain intact in spite of tremendous
obstacles.” —Kirkus
Rec: BL, H, K, PW, SLJ
4 1/4 x 7 144 pp. 2006
978-0-14-240602-1 $5.99
See index for more titles by Jacqueline Woodson.