Season Butler

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Texas

A Novel

Winner of the Writers' Guild Award for Best First Novel

An utterly original coming-of-age tale, marked by wrenching humor and staggering charisma, about a young woman resisting the savagery of adulthood in a community of the elderly rejecting the promise of youth.

"Season Butler has written an imaginative, atmospheric and original novel that lingers in the memory long after reading. She is a bright new voice in literature."  --Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

"It's too hot for most of the clothes I packed to come here, when I thought this would only be for a week or two. My mother kissed me with those purple-brown lips of hers and said, we'll be back, hold tight."

The seventeen-year-old Kid doesn't know where her parents are. They left her with her grandmother Lolly, promising to return soon. That was months ago. Now Lolly is dead and the Kid is alone, stranded ten miles off the coast of New Hampshire on tiny Swan Island. Unable to reach her parents and with no other relatives to turn to, she works for a neighbor, airbrushing the past by digitally retouching family photos and movies to earn enough money to survive.

Surrounded by the vast ocean, the Kid's temporary home is no ordinary vacation retreat. The island is populated by an idiosyncratic group of the elderly who call themselves Wrinklies. They have left behind the youth-obsessed mainland--"the Bad Place"--to create their own alternative community, one where only the elderly are welcome. The adolescent's presence on their island oasis unnerves the Wrinklies, turning some downright hostile. They don't care if she has nowhere to go;they just want her gone. She is a reminder of all they've left behind and are determined to forget.

But the Kid isn't the only problem threatening the insular community. Swan Island is eroding into the rising sea, threatening the Wrinklies' very existence there. The Kid's own house edges closer to the seaside cliffs each day. To find a way forward, she must come to terms with the realities of her life, the inevitability of loss, and an unknown future that is hers alone to embrace.

Season Butler makes her literary debut with an ambitious work of bold imagination. Tough and tender, compassionate and ferocious, understated and provocative, Cygnet is a meditation on death and life, past and future, aging and youth, memory and forgetting, that explores what it means to find acceptance--of things gone and of those yet to come.

Cygnet

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#hardcover #nonfiction #psychology #socialmedia #teenager #comingofage #nancyjosales #parenting 

Pennsylvania

Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers

Explores the changes in the way teenage girls are growing up in America, discussing the new norms, from extreme behaviors to lack of basic communication skills.

American Girls

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Comes with publisher note (can be ignored/tossed out) #hardcover #fiction #comingofage #convent #girlfriends #nuns #sarahdomet 

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Ohio

"In the vein of The Virgin Suicides, a dazzling debut novel about four girls inexplicably named Guinevere, all left by their parents to be raised by nuns"--

The Guineveres

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Nikki Loftin

Indiana

In this twist on "The Nightingale," Little John, despite his own poverty and grief, reaches out to Gayle, an unhappy foster child living next-door who sings beautifully and hides a great secret.

Nightingale's Nest

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Una Mannion

Maryland

A haunting, suspenseful literary debut that combines a classic coming of age story with a portrait of a fractured American family dealing with the fallout of one summer evening gone terribly wrong. "The night we left Ellen on the road, we drove up the mountain in silence." It is the early 1980s and fifteen-year-old Libby is obsessed with The Field Guide to the Trees of North America, a gift her Irish immigrant father gave her before he died. She finds solace in "The Kingdom," a stand of red oak and thick mountain laurel near her home in suburban Pennsylvania, where she can escape from her large and unruly family and share menthol cigarettes and lukewarm beers with her best friend. One night, while driving home, Libby's mother, exhausted and overwhelmed with the fighting in the backseat, pulls over and orders Libby's little sister Ellen to walk home. What none of this family knows as they drive off leaving a twelve-year-old girl on the side of the road five miles from home with darkness closing in, is what will happen next. A Crooked Tree is a surprising, indelible novel, both a poignant portrayal of an unmoored childhood giving way to adolescence, and a gripping page-turner about the unexpected reverberations of one rash act.

A Crooked Tree

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#hardcover #comingofage #fiction #aa #blacklit #blackhistorymonth

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Jacqueline Woodson's first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories.

It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat--by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them--everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's incarceration to Amari's fears of racial profiling and Ashton's adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.

Harbor Me

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Some sticker residue on back jacket cover. #fiction #hardcover #family #fostercare #comingofage

Virginia

After her mother is arrested, fifteen-year-old Dess is sent to live with the foster family that took in her baby brother several years before, and although she and her new foster sister, Hope, clash immediately, they soon realize they have much in common.

Peas and Carrots

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#hardcover #histfic #fiction #historical #adventure #comingofage #diamond #family #zimbabwe 

My father says that a journey should always change your life in some way. Well, when you have nothing, I suppose a journey promises everything.

"Diamonds for everyone." That's what fifteen-year-old Patson Moyo hears when his family arrives in the Marange diamond fields. Soon Patson is working in the mines along with four friends, pooling their profits for a chance at a better life. Each of them hopes to find a girazi, a priceless stone that could change their circumstances forever. But when the government's soldiers come to Marange, Patson's world is shattered.

Set against the backdrop of Zimbabwe's brutal recent history, Diamond Boy is the story of a young man who succumbs to greed but finds his way out through a transformative journey to South Africa in search of his missing sister, in search of freedom, and in search of himself.

A high-stakes, harrowing adventure in the blood-diamond fields of southern Africa, from the critically acclaimed author of Now Is the Time for Running.

Diamond Boy

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#hardcover #comingofage #contemporaryfiction #fiction #ya #youngadult #youngadultcomingofage 

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

North Carolina

What if you suddenly found out you had a sister . . . and she took over your life?

Cadie is close to her father. They are so much alike--same temperament, sense of humor, and love for the theater--and Dad always knows how to comfort her . . . until the day he announces that he has another daughter.

Suddenly, Cadie has a sister, Elizabeth--a sister who is six months older than her, a sister who is about to move in with them, a sister whose very existence means that Cadie's beloved father cheated on her mother when they were already married. What other secrets might he have? Can she still trust him? Does Cadie really know her father at all?

And when Elizabeth arrives, Cadie's worst fears come true. Elizabeth looks just like Dad; not only that, she seems all too perfect. Until she begins stealing Cadie's place in the family and even Cadie's one true love . . . But Elizabeth has secrets of her own.

This deeply emotional coming-of-age story explores the choices you make when your family--and your life--changes overnight. Are these choices the inevitable and only ones? And will they ultimately bring your family back together or push you further apart?

Inevitable and Only

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Hardcover copy of American Panda by Gloria Chao. In great shape, only been read once! Has a black sharpie line on the bottom of the book. #romcom #americanpanda #gloriachao #youngadult #booktok #ya #comingofage 

Massachusetts

“Weepingly funny.” —The Wall Street Journal “Delightful.” —Buzzfeed “Charmed my socks off.” —David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author of Kids of Appetite and Mosquitoland Four starred reviews for this incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate. At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies. With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth—that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese. But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels? From debut author Gloria Chao comes a hilarious, heartfelt tale of how, unlike the panda, life isn’t always so black and white.

American Panda

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One Summer with Lillian Hellman

In 1978, Rosemary Mahoney, an aspiring young writer of seventeen, wrote a letter to one of her personal idols, inquiring whether this great lady of American letters might need some domestic help during the summer. When Lillian Hellman responded affirmatively, Mahoney was ecstatic, and wasted no time imagining that the summer in Hellman's employ might cement a friendship with the iconic writer, or that the proximity to greatness might spur her own fledgling literary efforts. In reality, Mahoney was lonesome and anxious, hiding behind a facade of self-confidence at a private New England boarding school, harboring the secrets of her complex Irish family.  Mahoney saw in Hellman an escape and a salvation from the rigors of growing up. But once she secured the job, her hopes were swiftly shattered as the summer unfolded into an exquisite and grueling exercise in humiliation at the hands of the famously acerbic Hellman and her retinue of celebrated friends. Contrasting the vanity of a seventeen-year-old with that of a seventy-three-year-old, this book is ultimately about the limitations of age, the complexities of literary ambition, and our need for heroes.  By turns heartbreaking and uproariously funny,A Likely Storyportrays the painful coming of age of a brilliant young writer and, by extension, the universal story of innocence lost.

A Likely Story

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#fiction #juvenilefiction #hardcover #comingofage #boardingschool #mystery

Georgia

In the 1960s, off the coast of East Anglia, a disgruntled boarding school student develops an obsessive friendship with a boy living by himself at the edge of the sea.

What I was

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#hardcover #fiction #youngadult #thefieldguidetothenorthamericanteenager #ya #benphilippe #comingofage #signed

A hilarious contemporary realistic YA debut novel about a rather cynical Black French Canadian teen who moves to Austin, Texas, and experiences the clichés and joys of the American high school experience—including falling in love. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and When Dimple Met Rishi. Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A Black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs. Yet against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris…like loner Liam, who makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Madison the beta cheerleader, who is so nice that it has to be a trap. Not to mention Aarti the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who might, in fact, be a real love interest in the making. But the night of the prom, Norris screws everything up royally. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he realizes it might be time to stop hiding behind his snarky opinions and start living his life—along with the people who have found their way into his heart.

SIGNED The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

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Julianna Baggott

New York

In a post-apocalyptic world, Pressia, a sixteen-year-old survivor with a doll's head fused onto her left hand meets Partridge, a "Pure" dome-dweller who is searching for his mother, sure that she has survived the cataclysm.

Pure

383bb73f-07b8-4a09-ab31-b16e5e531b9c-1

Florida

A story infused with warmth and emotion about finding something all your own while the world changes around you.

2015 BCCBBulletinBlue Ribbon Selection

Determined to make some extra money, twelve-year-old Missy and her older brother Patrick get summer jobs picking blueberries at a local farm. For Missy, though, blueberry picking quickly becomes about more than just money- it's the perfect distraction from the fact that her two best friends have gone off to summer camp without her and that her dad is getting remarried. Why can't everything go back to the way it used to be? Back to normal?

Missy soon discovers, though, that the summer is full of secrets- the secrets to making her family feel whole again; the secrets to keeping her two best friends from changing and leaving her behind; the secrets of a local farm's blood feud; and most importantly, the secrets of blueberries.

"Heart-rendingly unflagging in the face of life-changing events, Missy's a funny, compelling heroine that readers will cheer for." -Kirkus Reviews

" A quiet, deftly written coming-of-age novel." -School Library Journal

"The Secrets of Blueberriesis a new twist on growing up." -VOYA

The Secrets of Blueberries, Brothers, Moose and Me

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Jordan Sonnenblick

After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.

Notes from the Midnight Driver

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#fiction #family #relationships #hardcover #comingofage #french #thestranger #frenchliterature 

Illinois

After witnessing the suicide of a popular boy on a playground at night and doing nothing to stop him, a panicked teenager drags the body to the beach and buries it, becoming trapped in a guilt spiral.

Heatwave

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*small marking on bottom* #hardcover #fiction #youngadult #bestfriends #adventure #comingofage #friendship #romance 

From the New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days and How to Love comes a stunning new contemporary novel—all about boy bands, girl bands, best friends, and first love—perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Morgan Matson. It was always meant to be Olivia. She’s the talented one, the one who’s been training to be a star her whole life. Her best friend, Dana, is the levelheaded one, always on the sidelines, cheering Olivia on. But everything changes when Dana tags along with Olivia to Orlando for the weekend, where superproducer Guy Monroe is holding auditions for a new singing group, and Dana is discovered too. Dana, who’s never sung more than Olivia’s backup. Dana, who wasn’t even looking for fame. Next thing she knows, she and Olivia are training to be pop stars, and Dana is falling for Alex, the earnest, endlessly talented boy who’s destined to be the next big thing. It should be a dream come true, but as the days of grueling practice and constant competition take their toll, things between Olivia and Dana start to shift . . . and there’s only room at the top for one girl. For Olivia, it’s her chance at her dream. For Dana, it’s a chance to escape a future that seems to be closing in on her. And for these lifelong best friends, it’s the adventure of a lifetime—if they can make it through. Set in evocative 1990s Orlando, Fireworks brings to life the complexity of friendship, the excitement of first love, and the feeling of being on the verge of greatness.

Fireworks

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#hardcover #youngadult #space #comingofage #lies #talltales 

Hurt when her best friend suddenly moves away, Tamara cannot accept the ten-year-old whopper-telling new kid on the block, until her view of the way things are changes.

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me

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Scratches to plastic protective cover. No damage to dust jacket or pages. #Muslim #teen #secretlife #comingofage #hardcover #yafiction #retiredlibrarybook

Jamie just wants to fit in. She doesn't want to be seen as a stereotypical Muslim girl named Jamilah, so she does everything possible to hide that part of herself, even if it means keeping her friends at a distance. But when the cutest boy in school asks her out and her friends start to wonder about Jamie's life outside of school, suddenly her secrets are threatened. Now she has to figure out how to be both Jamie and Jamilah before she loses it all...

Ten Things I Hate about Me

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#ya #debut #comingofage #hardcover #fiction 

The Martin Chronicles

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#hardcover #nonfiction #memoir #autobiography #homelessness #comingofage #contemporary #firstedition #inspirational #college

A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard

Breaking Night

d8917f99-a370-4759-a836-83e2d6abefdf-1

New, never read! :) #hardcover #ya #fiction #youngadult #youngadultfiction #romance #comingofage #aapi 

New Jersey

Arkansas

Robert "'Cali" Callahan is a teen runaway, living on the streets of Venice Beach, California. He's got a pretty sweet life: a treehouse to sleep in, a gang of surf bros, a regular basketball game...even a girl who's maybe-sorta interested in him.


What he doesn't have is a plan.


All that changes when a local cop refers Cali to a private investigator who is looking for a missing teenager. After all, Cali knows everyone in Venice. But the streets are filled with people who don't want to be found, and when he's hired to find the beautiful Reese Abernathy--who would do anything to stay hidden--Cali enters a new world filled with mysterious characters, dangerous choices, and his first chance at real love.

Save this search

Season Butler

Cygnet

Nancy Jo Sales

American Girls

Sarah Domet

The Guineveres

Nikki Loftin

Nightingale's Nest

Una Mannion

A Crooked Tree

Jacqueline Woodson

Harbor Me

Tanita S. Davis

Peas and Carrots

Michael Williams

Diamond Boy

Lisa Rosinsky

Inevitable and Only

Gloria Chao

American Panda

Rosemary Mahoney

A Likely Story

Meg Rosoff

What I was

Ben Philippe

SIGNED The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

Julianna Baggott

Pure

Sara Nickerson

The Secrets of Blueberries, Brothers, Moose and Me

Jordan Sonnenblick

Notes from the Midnight Driver

Victor Jestin

Heatwave

Katie Cotugno

Fireworks

Nan Marino

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me

Randa Abdel-Fattah

Ten Things I Hate about Me

John Fried

The Martin Chronicles

Liz Murray

Breaking Night

Gloria Chao

American Panda

Blake Nelson

The Prince of Venice Beach