Jacinta Juarez is looking for an escape. The daughter of undocumented parents from Mexico, with her mother out of town and her father working multiple jobs, she looks for a way out of her difficult home life. An opportune moment arrives when Jacinta is offered the chance to have a local news anchor, “Miss” Kate, become her mentor. Jacinta learns, however, that there truly is no way to avoid one’s problems. Look Both Ways in the Barrio Blanco (Candlewick, $16.99) is a story with complex characters and complicated real-life issues. Judith Robbins Rose’s first novel will give readers an important glimpse into the legal and social struggles of today’s undocumented immigrants and their U.S. citizen children. Ages 10-13
Mikey and his friends are trying to survive the stress of senior year, graduate, and get out of town before their parents crush their happiness. Being a teenager is hard. It’s even harder when the special “indie kids” at school are fighting an immortal power hell-bent on destroying the world while The Rest of Us Just Live Here (Harper Teen, $17.99). “Not everyone has to be the Chosen One,” and no one is more aware of that than Mikey, who is desperately trying to hold onto his friends and survive day-to-day struggles. Patrick Ness captures the difficulties of being a teenager while reminding readers that you don’t always have to save the world to be significant. Ages 14-18
Roza’s beauty has brought her nothing but unwanted male attention and trouble. She finally believes she has found peace with Finn and his brother, Sean, but the strange man who’s been haunting her eventually finds her once again. Finn witnesses this mysterious stranger whisking Roza into an SUV in the middle of a cornfield. He tells Sean what happened, he tells the sheriff—in fact, he tells everyone in town—but no one believes him, because Bone Gap (Balzer & Bray, $17.99) is a place where people “slip through, or slip away” of their own accord. Author Laura Ruby alternates points of view between the intertwined residents of Bone Gap to tell an atmospheric tale that defies definition. Ages 15-18
