Kids Book Index
Carl Deuker
Laz is a 19-year-old star pitcher whose poverty and learning disabilities shape his choices. He has the chance to pitch for a more competitive school and possibly pursue a major-league draft, but doing so would require him to leave his community. The story follows baseball, brotherhood, and Laz’s effort to use his pitching ability to move beyond poverty while weighing what he may have to give up.
This book appears on 1 reading list across 1 edition.
Stay GoldTobly McSmithPony is a transgender boy starting at a new Texas high school, where he does not want others to know he is transgender. Georgia, a cisgender girl with trust issues from a previous relationship, is counting down to graduation. They are attracted to one another, but their relationship raises questions about what each is willing to risk. Their connection develops alongside Pony’s efforts to remain undisclosed and Georgia’s uncertainty shaped by a past relationship.Fourteen and OlderOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
Call Me American: The Extraordinary True Story of a Young Somali ImmigrantAbdi Nor Iftin. Delacorte PressAdapted from a memoir, this account follows Abdi from a nomadic Rahanweyn family in Somalia to his eventual immigration to the United States. A drought moved his family to Mogadishu, and war and civil conflict brought devastation. Abdi’s childhood includes searching for money to buy food for his family and developing a love of American movies, Black American culture, and music. As a young adult, he records a diary for an NPR program, and years later obtains a U.S. visa with help from people organizing on his behalf.Fourteen and OlderOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
Goodbye from NowhereSara ZarrKyle Baker believes his family is happy, and his life includes a girlfriend and a close extended family. That certainty collapses when he discovers that his mother is having an affair. The novel follows the change in Kyle’s understanding of the people he loves as he confronts this revelation. His family relationships and sense of stability are altered by what he learns.Fourteen and OlderOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details