Low-Key Kinda Smart

  In this moment, I wish I were a poet. Not to speak beauty. But to speak pain. All My Rage Sabaa Tahir   Year Published: 2022 Pages: 374 Genres: YA fiction, contemporary realistic fiction, romance Topics: Immigrant families, childhood trauma, addiction, debt, domestic abuse, drug abuse Recognition:     New York Times Bestseller     National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2022     Michael L. Printz Award, 2023     Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fiction, 2022 Summary Salahudin (Sal) and Noor have been best friends since first grade. They grew up as two of the only Pakistani kids in their California desert town. Sal's mother Misbah acts like a surrogate mother to Noor, connecting her to her Pakistani heritage after her parents' death forced Noor to move to America and live with her uncle Riaz. But now Misbah is gravely ill, and Sal's father has spiraled into alcoholism as he ...

                                when you're walking in the nighttime, make sure the nighttime ain't walking into you. Long Way Down Jason Reynolds   Year Published: 2017 Pages: 306 Genres: YA fiction, poetry, contemporary realistic fiction Topics: Gun violence, revenge, cycle of violence, loss of a sibling, masculinity Recognition:      New York Times #1 Bestseller     Walter Dean Myers Award for Teen Literature, 2018     Coretta Scott King Honor Book, 2018     Newbery Honor Book, 2018     Printz Honor Book, 2018     Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2018     Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Poetry, 2017 Summary Fifteen-year-old Will's older brother Shawn was his closest friend, showing him the ropes and teaching him everything ...

  If I stop being angry, I'm afraid I'll fall apart until I'm just a warm mound of flesh on the floor. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Erika L. Sánchez   Year Published: 2017 Pages: 344 Genre: YA fiction, contemporary realistic fiction Topics: Immigrant families, mental health, coming of age, family secrets Recognition:      New York Times #1 Bestseller     Shortlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2017 Summary Olga Reyes is everything her fifteen-year-old sister Julia is not: tall, thin, light-skinned, modest, well-behaved. Julia is short, dark, surly, and rebellious. She wants nothing more than to move out of her south Chicago neighborhood and away from her parents —undocumented immigrants from Mexico who just want Julia to be more like her sister. When Olga is killed in a traffic accident, Julia's relationship with her parents grows even more strained. She feels smothered by her grieving mother's expectatio...