Books with category 🌱 Coming of Age
Displaying 9 books

Sorted

2019

by Jackson Bird

Sorted is an unflinching and endearing memoir from LGBTQ+ advocate Jackson Bird, detailing his journey to sorting things out and coming out as a transgender man. Assigned female at birth and raised as a girl, Jackson often wondered if he should have been born a boy. Growing up in Texas without transgender role models, he kept his thoughts to himself.

Through journal entries and candid recollections, Jackson chronicles the challenges of growing up gender-confused and the loneliness of coming to terms with his gender and bisexual identity. He shares the obstacles and quirks of his transition, from figuring out chest binders to emotional breakdowns at fan conventions, and from his first shot of testosterone to his top surgery.

With warmth, wit, and educational insights, Jackson's narrative not only sheds light on the many facets of a transgender life but also highlights the power and beauty of being true to oneself. Sorted is a testament to the importance of self-discovery and embracing one's identity.

This Is Happiness

2019

by Niall Williams

Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn't changed in a thousand years.

For one thing, the rain is stopping. Nobody remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard is a condition of living. But now – just as Father Coffey proclaims the coming of the electricity – the rain clouds are lifting. Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe is idling in the unexpected sunshine when Christy makes his first entrance into Faha, bringing secrets he needs to atone for. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed.

As the people of Faha anticipate the endlessly procrastinated advent of the electricity, and Noel navigates his own coming-of-age and his fallings in and out of love, Christy's past gradually comes to light, casting a new glow on a small world.

Harking back to a simpler time, This Is Happiness is a tender portrait of a community – its idiosyncrasies and traditions, its paradoxes and kindnesses, its failures and triumphs – and a coming-of-age tale like no other. Luminous and lyrical, yet anchored by roots running deep into the earthy and everyday, it is about the power of stories: their invisible currents that run through all we do, writing and rewriting us, and the transforming light that they throw onto our world.

Estrellas en el desierto

2019

by E.H. Abrego

Dani está segura que su lugar está allá afuera, en el espacio. Su padre, su familia y sus amigos no están tan de acuerdo. Pero las cosas cambian por completo cuando Dani sueña con una chica en el fondo de un pozo, una que definitivamente no es de este planeta. Pero antes de poder encontrarla, tendrá que enfrentarse a la prueba más difícil de su vida: tres días en el desierto acompañada solamente de sus compañeros de clase…

Quizá no sobreviva.

The Place on Dalhousie

'You look the type to break your father’s heart.'

'Yeah, but he broke mine first.'

When Rosie Gennaro first meets Jimmy Hailler, she has walked away from life in Sydney, leaving behind the place on Dalhousie that her father, Seb, painstakingly rebuilt for his family but never saw completed. Two years later, Rosie returns to the house and living there is Martha, whom Seb Gennaro married less than a year after the death of Rosie’s mother. Martha is struggling to fulfil Seb’s dream, while Rosie is coming to terms with new responsibilities.

And so begins a stand-off between two women who refuse to move out of the home they both lay claim to. As the battle lines are drawn, Jimmy Hailler re-enters Rosie’s life. Having always watched other families from the perimeters, he’s now grappling, heartbreakingly, with forming one of his own.

An unforgettable story about losing love and finding love; about the interconnectedness of lives and the true nature of belonging, from one of our most acclaimed writers.

Mio, My Son

2019

by Astrid Lindgren

Nine-year-old Karl Anders Nilsson is the unwelcome foster child of an uncaring couple. Lonely and neglected, he yearns for simple things, things that many children already have: a warm and loving home of his own, someone to share his sorrows and joys with, and, most important, his real father.

Then, on October 15, Karl simply disappears. Where has he gone? But Karl is far away from chilly Stockholm, in Farawayland, where he has found his father, who is none other than the king of that land.

And now Karl faces a truly dangerous mission. Prophecies have foretold his coming for thousands of years. He, his new best friend Pompoo, and Miramis, his wonderful flying horse with a golden mane, must travel together into the darkness of Outer Land to do battle with Sir Kato, the cruel abductor of the children of Farawayland. Only a child of the royal blood can stop him...

Supernatural Hero

2019

by Eran Gadot

Supernatural Hero deals with sensitive topics such as death and bullying with a combination of humor, wit, and empathy. Sixth-grader Andy is your average nerd. He is shy, exceptionally good at math, and in love with Zoe, the popular girl at school. He feels lonely both at school and at home, desperately wanting to change his circumstances.

After Andy’s grandpa passes away, Andy soon discovers he can still see and communicate with Grandpa’s ghost. With Grandpa’s encouraging spirit by his side, Andy strives to gain the courage to ask Zoe out on a date. But when an evil spirit jeopardizes her safety, Andy must use his newfound gift, as well as abilities he already possesses, to become the hero and save the day.

Young readers everywhere will relate to Andy’s struggles and can share in his triumphs, finding inspiration to become the heroes of their own stories.

We Hunt the Flame

2019

by Hafsah Faizal

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira is exposed as a girl, all of her achievements will be rejected; if Nasir displays his compassion, his father will punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. While Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds--and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, We Hunt the Flame is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.

Trust Exercise

2019

by Susan Choi

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts,” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed—or untoyed with—by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley.

The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls—until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true—though it's not false, either. It takes until the book’s stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place—revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.

As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Susan Choi's Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.

We Are Okay

2019

by Nina LaCour

You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother. Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

An intimate whisper that packs an indelible punch, We Are Okay is Nina LaCour at her finest. This gorgeously crafted and achingly honest portrayal of grief will leave you urgent to reach across any distance to reconnect with the people you love.

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