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Sometimes, the only way to get through life is to escape into a good book. For Phoebe Hecht, that means a good mystery. And this summer, Phoebe really needs to escape. She’s spent the past school year in a new city, with a new step-dad, trying to figure out why her mom is so ashamed of their past. Even her new best friend, Yuri, has deserted her to go to Tokyo for the summer. As a result, Phoebe has had to pull out the big guns to keep herself busy – the classic detective novels of Agatha Christie.

It’s the 1960s – the time for equal rights, peace, and love. But for Ellen Manery, it’s the time to work hard and finish high school early. She’d rather be helping out at the university’s medical lab than listening to rock and roll and hanging out with the kids at her high school. Isolated and driven, Ellen feels like she was born an outsider. And what if you live in a small town, where change is slow in coming? Tony Paul knows what it’s like to be on the outside.

Behind each tightly locked apartment door at rundown 64 Wilnut Street lie the hidden stories of the inhabitants. There is David, who tries to talk to his father's ghost, and Jennifer, who flirts with men she does not want. Asim, who faces hatred directed against his Muslim family, and Allie, who spends the night on suicide watch over her depressed mother. These intimate stories reveal the troubles and hopes of thirteen teenagers as they struggle to turn obstacles into opportunities and make their way in the larger world.

Kat is alone with a secret she doesn?t want to keep, but can?t risk telling. A victim of longtime sexual abuse at the hands of her family?s trusted friend, Kat is torn between trying to protect herself and safeguarding her little sister, whom she fears might be next. With no one to turn to, Kat keeps a secret journal where she writes the truth about everything that has been going on since she was a little girl. But now the journal is missing, and Kat?s secret is about to unravel.

Faith Emily Hansen just wants to be loved and to live without the weight of addiction. But the relief that she gets from being wrapped up in the cozy little cotton ball of heroin is impossible to ignore. Faith’s story starts in her earliest days, before drugs, before her family falls apart. She eventually becomes consumed by the need to “chase the dragon," the heroin addiction that seems to keep the Darkness at bay, but leads her to live on the street.

It is the end of the First World War, and thirteen-year-old Meredith yearns to become a teacher. But she must leave school to help support her family, moving to the city to work as a maid in a wealthy doctor's home. As the deadly Spanish Flu sweeps across the city, members of the household fall ill one by one. With the doctor working night and day at the hospital, only Meredith and the doctor's children, Maggie and Jack, are left to care for them. Every day the newspapers’ lists of “Yesterday’s Dead” add to Meredith’s growing fears.

A quirky collection of stories about teens in lust and in love. From the first stirrings of same-sex desire to paternity questions around a teen pregnancy, 101 Ways to Dance reflects the spectrum of teen sexuality from the sweet to the scary.

Born in China, Nicki was abandoned to an orphanage before being adopted by a wealthy North American family. Now 16, Nicki divides her time between Hawaii and Ontario and is all set to train with a king fu grand master. When she reports to his studio, she finds him stabbed and near death. As he lapses into a coma, he begs her to find a priceless Ming dynasty vase that she discovers has once belonged to Pu Yi, the Boy Emperor.

Six girls just out of high school live together during the summer of 1943 on a farm as part of the Farm Services - doing the work of the men who are off fighting the war in Europe. We follow the stories of Helene, who sends her wages home to support her single mother; Peggy, a flirt with a secret she must keep; Binxie, whose rich family doesn't approve of her; Isabel, who pines for her fiance off fighting in Europe; and Jean, whose family farm has been taken over by the "farmerettes", as they were known.

It is 1904, and Rachel and her family are leaving Russia to escape the continuing riots against Jews. They take the Trans-Siberian Railway across the country and board a ship to Shanghai. Life is difficult and strange in this new city, but Rachel's luck changes when she finds a job writing for a newspaper. Meanwhile, Sergei finds that working in a factory in St. Petersburg is not only miserable but dangerous, and he soon joins the rebelling socialist workers. Through letters, Rachel and Sergei share their dream of moving to America to find a better life.