Kids Book Index
Ana Ellickson
Eighteen-year-old Filipino American Ruby Santos is grieving her mother’s death. She cannot apply to art school as she had planned, and she and her father move into their home’s basement while renting the upper floor to repay hospital bills. In San Francisco, Ruby encounters an underground system of magic and is prepared to go to great lengths to protect the people she loves.
This book appears on 1 reading list across 1 edition.
Lie Until It’s TrueJessie WeaverAmanda Pruitt, a true-crime TikToker, spends a summer in Colorado investigating a murder that appears to have an obvious solution. She takes on the case as an effort to redeem herself. The novel frames its investigation as a haunting thriller and links amateur online true-crime activity with a murder inquiry. Jessie Weaver wrote Lie Until It’s True, published by Disney Publishing Group in 2024.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
SyncEllen HopkinsTwins Storm and Lake were separated by foster care and now lead very different lives. After juvenile detention, Storm tries to keep hold of stability. Lake and Parker flee strict foster parents, then face homelessness and exploitation as her placement falls apart. Storm and Lake narrate in alternating perspectives and in letters they never send, preserving memories of their close connection. This novel in verse addresses family separation, abuse, survival, identity, institutional failures, and the siblings’ efforts to find one another.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and PowerTerry J. Benton-WalkerThe White Guy Dies First gathers thirteen horror stories by authors of color. Its scenarios include killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, wealthy bored children, friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and dead people who remain active. Other stories feature a museum curator who rejects diasporic inaccuracies, a girl’s diary of happy thoughts, and an old house seeking permanent friends. The anthology frames its tales around fear, power, and surviving the first kill.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details