Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

 Dani has never been in love and doesn’t know if it can ever happen to her.  Prince is the most popular guy at school and has had a crush on Dani for years while he was also serving as a love guru on a local radio show, Love Radio.

Both high school seniors now, Prince tells Dani he can make her fall in love with him in three dates - will she give him the chance to win her heart?  Set in Detroit with well-developed characters and alternating perspectives, teens looking for a romance read will enjoy this one.

The publisher has made Julia E. Torres’ nine page curriculum guide available here for teachers wanting to engage students in reading contemporary YA literature.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

After he loses his parents in a tragic accident Alex is somehow able to see into the future.  But when he tries to alter what will happen he quickly learns that he cannot,  whatever was going to happen will happen.  Then when he sees a future vision of his brother,  he has no choice but to take action.  Can Alex save his brother and change the future?  Or is the future an absolute certainty? 

Readers who enjoyed When by Victoria Laurie should be sure to pick this book up too.  — Claudio Leon

Click here for discussion questions from the NEA website plus links to additional teaching resources.

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

What’s in a name? A neighborhood? A brother? A block?  These questions loom large for two young men, both named Wes Moore, born less than a year apart and raised in similar Baltimore neighborhoods.  Both fatherless (one through medical tragedy and one through the tragedy of abandonment), both raised by single mothers in tough circumstances, both eager to prove themselves, and both called to the streets - one is now serving a life sentence for murder and one is a Rhodes scholar.  That scholar set out to find out how and why their paths diverged so wildly - the result is part memoir and part journalistic inquiry.  The Other Wes Moore tells both of their stories chronologically from birth in three large acts, in vivid detail.  Readers looking for true-life stories about street life and the violence encountered there may find what they seek in The Other Wes Moore, though the action is tempered by introspection and the sophisticated language does not evoke the action-packed street books students may be craving. However, the book is practically tailor-made for book groups with backmatter that includes a reader’s guide, discussion questions, a hefty resource guide, and an afterword by Tavis Smiley. --Regan Schwartz

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore. New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2010. Print.

Bad Girls by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple

History is full of women who would not behave - some were criminals while some were fighting for a place in a society that had no place for them.  Unfortunately, their stories have often gone overlooked and untold.  In Bad Girls, the mother-daughter team of Yolen and Stemple have profiled twenty-four infamous ladies, capping each woman’s chapter with a one-page comic of the authors performing their research, debating the subject’s badness, and discussing the cultural context for each subject’s actions.  The book’s conclusion focuses on this cultural context and how gender roles have changed over time.  It encourages readers to draw their own conclusions about the women featured within which may make for lively debate.  With an extensive bibliography and index, Bad Girls is an excellent text for inquiry, in addition to being an engaging read. --Regan Schwartz

Discussion guide available from the publisher here.

Yolen, Jane and Heidi Stemple. Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, murderesses, thieves, and other female villains. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2013. Print.

How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon

Tariq, a sixteen-year-old African-American teen, goes to the store for his mother to buy some milk and picks up a Snickers bar for his little sister.  On his way home he is confronted by a neighbor who perceives that Tariq has a gun.  A third person, Jack Franklin, approaches, shoots, and kills Tariq and drives away.  Franklin is subsequently apprehended by the police and let go.  National activist and political figure Reverend Alabaster prepares to make his move into the spotlight while the nation is asking for answers and Tariq’s mother is asking for justice.  Sound familiar?  

Magoon’s polyphonous novel is thick with topical relevance and the challenges of multiple points of view.   It’s first few pages ensnare the reader within a web of suspense structurally furthered by short chapters.  Characters like Brick and Noodle, members of the local Kings 8-5 crew, will appeal to reluctant male readers and others like Jennica, Noodle’s girlfriend and witness at the crime scene; Kimberly, Tariq’s former babysitter-cum-professional stylist; and Tina, Tariq’s little sister, will appeal to female readers, making this a great text for mixed gender book clubs and class discussions. ELA teachers will find this a rich selection for teaching perspective, voice, and character development.  Highly recommended for fans of Walter Dean Myers’ Street Love.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Click here for a discussion guide from the publisher.

Magoon, Kekla.  How It Went Down.  New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2014.  Print.

Why Are We Still Getting HIV? Teens Respond to the AIDS Epidemic Edited by Laura Longhine

35.3 million people are living with HIV around the world, according to UNAIDS, cited on HIVaware.org.uk.  35.3 million.  Asking anyone to contemplate the size of that number is a challenge, and Youth Communication’s Why Are We Still Getting HIV? offers numerous angles from which teachers, parents, and other youth workers (including peer educators) can approach the topic through interviews and personal narratives.  This collection includes both anonymous and credited teen authors’ perspectives on HIV, ranging from what it’s like to go for a first HIV test (“What If…” by Anonymous), to having a peer or adult share their positive status (“Saying Goodbye to Uncle Nick,” by Josbeth Lebron, “A Sad Silence,*” by Desiree Guery), to receiving notification of one’s own HIV positive status (“Date with Destiny” by Anonymous,) as well as dealing with a loved one dying from AIDS (My Uncle Died of AIDS” by Anonymous), and living a long life while HIV positive (“All Too Real: Teens Living with HIV*” by NYC Writers and “Twenty Years Living Positive” interview with Dave Nisbett.)  Back matter includes separate notes to teens and staff trainers as well as a discussion guide for teachers and staff on how to use the book effectively.  While the writing varies in style and tone, it is generally very accessible to teens who are reading proficiently and a worthwhile resource in spite of the fact that there have been some significant updates to the American conversation taking place around AIDS since many of these stories were written. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

*These two stories are available for free in full-text and with lesson plans provided by YC Teen.

Longhine, Laura (Ed.)  Why Are We Still Getting HIV? Teens Respond to the AIDS Epidemic.  New York: Youth Communication, 2010.  Print.