High School Reads!

 by Kim Johnson Tracy Beaumont writes a letter every week to Innocence X to try to get them to help her father who is on death row, accused of a crime he did not commit.  Tracy has dedicated hours to bringing awareness to her father's case and to help others in her community understand their rights.  She is hopeful that her dad might get help, but then one night when a classmate is murdered, her brother, Jamal is accused of the crime.  Jamal disappears, fearing that no one will believe he is innocent.  Tracy is now determined to help her dad and her brother, but the deeper she digs into the history of what happened to both of them, the more secrets she uncovers.  Can Tracy get justice for her dad and her brother?

 by Ibi Aanu Zoboi Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse Amal Shahid is an aspiring artist and a poet, even though he isn't getting a lot of encouragement from the teachers at his arts high school.  One night he is in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He gets into a fight that leaves one boy in a coma.  Amal is convicted and sent to prison, despite the fact that he is innocent.  It will take all that he has to survive his new reality.  A prison sentence is not hw he wants his story to end.  He will need to turn to his art and poetry to find hope for a better tomorrow.

 by Brandy Colbert Genre:  Realistic Fiction Marva Sheridan has worked tirelessly to get people registered to vote in the upcoming election and now election day is finally here!  But her boyfriend, Alec, has decided that he doesn't want to.  Marva can't understand how he can suddenly not care about making a difference in the world.  When Duke Crenshaw runs into Marva at the polls, he draws her attention because he is turned away due to not being registered.  Marva makes it her mission of the day to get him a ballot so that his voice can be heard.  Neither one of them is expecting the day to unfold as it does.  

by Justin Reynolds Genre:  Science Fiction Jamal's best friend, Q, died in a drowning accident, moments after the two of them had a big fight.  Jamal has ignored Q for the last two years while he was dealing with the loss of his parents.  Jamal was so busy blaming Q for their deaths, that he couldn't even reach out to Q when his own father died.  Now Q is gone and Jamal will never get to tell him how sorry he is.  Or will he?  At the hospital, Jamal and Q's mom are offered the opportunity to reanimate Q for a small window of time so that they can have a proper goodbye.  It is a highly experimental procedure with no guarantees on how much time they would get with Q.  Is it worth the risk of having to say goodbye again?

 by Jennifer Longo Genre:  Realistic Fiction Muir has lived in so many different foster homes that she has never really learned how to unpack her suitcase.  She has been content to move from place to place and not have to build relationships that might leave her heartbroken and alone.  But now that she is nearly 18 and ready to graduate from high school, she is unsure of what the future will bring.  Her final foster placement is with Francine, an older woman who lives alone and who seems to good to be true.  Shortly after moving in with Francine, Muir meets Kira and Sean and everything changes.  Muir has never had real friends and suddenly she finds herself in a place where she could see herself wanting to stay.