Two sisters become trapped in the underworld—and in the machinations of deities, shapeshifters, and ghouls—in this lush and dangerous Phoenician mythology-inspired fantasy. A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year Teenage sisters Samira and Rima aren't exactly living the dream. Instead, they live with their maddeningly unreliable mother in a rundown trailer in Michigan. Dad's dead, money's tight, and Mom disappears to gamble for days at a time. So when Sam's grandfather wills her...
"In her peaceful town outside Beirut, Ruba is slowly awakening to the shifting contours within her household: hardly speaking and refusing to work, her father has inexplicably withdrawn from his family in favor of his favorite armchair; her once-youthful mother looks so sad that Ruba imagines her heart must have withered like a fig in the heat; and Ruba's brother, Naji, has started to spend less time with Ruba in order to meet with older boys, some of whom carry guns. When Ruba decides that to s...
All This Twisted Glory (This Woven Kingdom, #3)
by Tahereh Mafi
Fourteen-year-old Liyana Abboud would rather not have to change her life...especially now that she has been kissed, for the very first time and quite by surprise, by a boy named Jackson. But when her parents announce that Liyana's family is moving from St. Louis, Missouri, to Jerusalem -- to the land where her father was born -- Liyana's whole world shifts. What does Jerusalem hold for Liyana? A grandmother, a Sitti, she has never met, for one. A history much bigger than she is. Visits to the...
How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation (How to Ruin, #3)
by Simone Elkeles
Amy's jetting to the Holy Land this summer to vist her boyfriend Avi who's in the Israeli army. Two weeks at a military training base (her grandmother's idea) turns out to be pure hell ... and only gets worse when the team leader is Avi. Guess who's jetting off to the Holy Land this summer! Yes, it's me-Amy Nelson-Barak. I've volunteered for ten days of military training in Israel with my friends. The Sababa brochure said it would be a "fun" summer experience. Okay, so I didn't sign up to prov...
Get swept away by the sequel to the instant Sunday Times bestseller Spice Road! In this romantic, action-packed fantasy set in an Arabian-inspired land, Imani and Taha must save their home from an invasion after the magical enchantment that hid them from the world is defeated. Imani is a magic-wielding warrior sworn to protect her land from the monsters that roam the desert. But an even worse enemy now threatens the Sahir. As the powerful Harrowlanders march south with their greatest weapon—sp...
The Newbery Honor winner about a heroic Pakistani girl that The Boston Globe called “Remarkable . . . a riveting tour de force.” Life is both sweet and cruel to strong-willed young Shabanu, whose home is the windswept Cholistan Desert of Pakistan. The second daughter in a family with no sons, she’s been allowed freedoms forbidden to most Muslim girls. But when a tragic encounter with a wealthy and powerful landowner ruins the marriage plans of her older sister, Shabanu is called upon to sacrif...
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this unforgettable debut introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary YA. Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award “Heartfelt, tender, and so utterly real. I’d live in this book forever if I could.” —Becky Albertalli, award-winning author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a...
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation (How to Ruin, #1)
by Simone Elkeles
How To Ruin a Summer Vacation Moshav? What's a moshav? Is it "shopping mall" in Hebrew? I mean, from what Jessica was telling me, Israeli stores have the latest fashions from Europe. That black dress Jessica has is really awesome. I know I'd be selling out if I go to a mall with Ron (my biological father), but I keep thinking about all the great stuff I could bring back home. Unfortunately for 16-year-old Amy Nelson, "moshav" is not Hebrew for "shopping mall." Not even close. Think goats, not Gu...
Melody Sullivan is falling apart after the death of her mother. The 16-year-old pours her cynicism and grief into poetry and an intense relationship with her powerhouse best friend, Yasmina Khdour. When Melody’s father drags her to an overseas archeology conference in Jerusalem, she is left to wander alone. Hanging out on a Tel Aviv beach, smoking dope with her Israeli cousins and their army buddies, sounds like fun until she is sexually assaulted by a friend of her cousin. She cannot share...
Ashjaar lil-Naas al-Ghaa'ibeen (Trees for the Absentees) is a relatable coming-of-age tale of young love, meddling relatives, and heart-to-heart connections. Philistia is an ordinary university student with an extraordinary life. She has no idea when her father will be released from prison, and works part-time washing women’s bodies in the ancient Ottoman hammam in Nablus. A midwife and corpse washer in her time, Philistia can't help but reminisce about her late Grandma Zahia, who taught her th...
Madina’s family have fled war to seek asylum in Europe and begin a hopeful new life. An ordinary world of fitting in at school, learning the language and forging friendships lies before Madina. Yet she finds herself caught between her new life and her traumatic memories of the past. With the endless wait to be granted asylum, and her anxious father growing ever more controlling, can Madina find the path that’s right for her? Translated by Claire Storey
Sixteen-year-olds Leena and Mishie are best friends. They delight in small rebellions against the Saudi cultural police secret Western clothing, forbidden music, flirtations. But Leena wants college, independence she wants a different life. Though her story is specific to her world (a world where it's illegal for women to drive, where a ten-year-old boy is the natural choice as guardian of a fatherless woman), ultimately it's a story about friendship, family, and freedom that transcends cultural...
When Nalia arrives in Morocco to fulfill Malek's third and final wish, she's not expecting it to be easy. Especially because Malek isn't the only one after Solomon's sigil, an ancient magical ring that gives its wearer the power to control the entire jinn race. Nalia has also promised to take Raif, leader of the jinn revolution, to its remote location.
A retelling of a traditional Arabic tale in which a young woman disguises herself as a man and opens up a shop in a distant city in order to help her impoverished family.
Orasmyn is a young Persian prince with all the privileges and responsibilities his royal position holds. But when he falters and makes a single wrong decision, his pride angers a pari -- a fairy -- who sets an ancient curse into motion, crucially changing his life on the worst day possible, and forcing him to leave his beloved Persia and his precious family in order to escape death at his father's unwitting hands. With all the cunning he can muster from his human memories and his new beastly ins...
The International Peace Ascent is the brainchild of billionaire Sebastian Plank: Recruit a global team of young climbers and film an inspiring, world-uniting documentary. The adventure begins when fifteen-year-old Peak Marcello and his mountaineer mother are helicoptered to a remote base camp in the Hindu Kush Mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. When the camp is attacked and his mother taken, Peak has no choice but to track down the perpetrators to try to save her.