Writing Young Adult Fiction

Ayla thinks she's just a comic-book geek with photophobia until the day a space fold opens in her living room. Her father drags her through to an alien world. Her birthplace. Karanik. For the first time in her life Ayla can see without pain. She's home.

Beck Teller's family bounced from one rental to another his entire life. When his father inherits an ancestral home, he and his siblings are thrilled to finally settle down, especially somewhere his family has roots. And those roots run deep—right to the on-site family cemetery where tombstone dates prove too many members met untimely fates. When Beck and his two brothers begin experiencing inexplicable things, they grasp for practical explanations. Then their little sister gets a warning from beyond the grave, and the time for rationalizing is over.

Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesméra, land of the elves, for further training in magic and swordsmanship, the vital skills of the Dragon Rider. It is the journey of a lifetime, filled with awe-inspiring new places and people, each day a fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and Eragon isn't sure whom he can trust.

In an empire ruled by the honored dead, seraphs are the ultimate weapons. Fueled by the pilot's very soul, these colossal humanoid war machines are unstoppable in battle. Only a few possess the gift to control such craft, and those men and women are prized above all others. Seth Elexen and a small group of elite pilots have tracked the renegade Veketon to the far side of the galaxy. With only one ship and a single squadron of seraphs, they alone must face the tyrant within the heart of his growing power. But Veketon is no easy mark.

The universe is a hamburger. That’s what sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor learns when a mysterious time-bending stranger saves her from a rampaging cyborg centipede. See, the top bun? That’s our dimension. The bottom bun? That’s the monster’s dimension. And the patty? That’s a dimension where the two worlds meet—and the Reavers can attack. The Reavers are horrific cybernetic killing machines, and their plans for the top bun? Well, they’re as terrifying as you’d expect. But Nicole isn’t helpless. She has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely.

Immediately after high school graduation, eighteen-year-old Maya is kicked out of her wealthy dad's NYC home; he prides himself on forcing his kids to "make their own way in the world." Maya's mom lives in Guatemala, so Maya crashes with friends while working and trying to land freelance writing gigs. Maya struggles to find her footing until she gets access to a "writing room," a shared workspace where she can focus―and get to know the intriguing neighbor, Jake, who's often there.

For Chicago's Oak Park and River Forest High School's Spoken Word Club, there is one phrase that reigns supreme: Respect the Mic. It's been the club's call to arms since its inception in 1999. As its founder Peter Kahn says, "It's a call of pride and history and tradition and hope." This vivid new collection of poetry and prose - curated by award-winning and bestselling poets Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi, Peter Kahn, and Dan "Sully" Sullivan - illuminates just that, uplifting the incredible legacy this community has cultivated.

As a servant to her faith, Delphine has two jobs: use her magic to work miracles of healing, and remain devout to one man. When she delivers a child while in her 40s, the leaders of the community grow suspicious. Can she keep this girl's true heritage a secret, even if this girl carries a dangerous magical gift?

After getting kidnapped by a demigod and imprisoned in another dimension, Makayla was really hoping that her life would get back to normal. Or at least as normal as life could be when you had a goblin for a best friend. But now her sleepy midwestern town is being invaded by shadows. Her neighbors are being stolen away and replaced by changelings. And when she tries to escape, her path threatens to take her to the one place she never wanted to return to: the mysterious and dangerous Land of Annwfyn.

Language Arts teacher Mrs. Kelsey Swan randomly has her students pick a writing assignment to be completed in two weeks from a top hat. Seventeen-year-old Veronica "Vroni" Swan draws the legend of her two times great-grandfather having buried treasure somewhere in Swanson. Not only must she write about her family, but her partner on this assignment is the awkward Suzie Carmichael.

Imagine coming of age surrounded by terror and militancy. Tamar, Nour, and Rivki all live in Jerusalem, and all are on the cusp of adulthood, but in a city of tribal culture and an intractable conflict, it is almost inconceivable they will ever meet, let alone become friends. Then, one night, during yet another cycle of violence, their paths cross just as a terrorist decides to carry out an attack on the light rail train.

Summer 1975: Helena is bored out of her mind - there's absolutely nothing to do and her supposed 'best friends' Gwen and Elaine are holidaying in the South of France without her. Summer 2021: New to the north, Hermione's mum has moved her away from London and all her friends to start a new life with new boyfriend Paul, who resembles a slab of meat from the butchers. By some miracle, the girls meet.

Veronica hates that people assume she's prejudiced just because she looks white, even though her mother is black. Can she handle being rejected again? Can she get through the day fearing people will make another racial slur? When school finally ends, Veronica's excited to escape the small town and spend the summer on Cape Cod with her friend Sally. But as soon as they drive off, she learns a terrible secret about Sally's family. Once they arrive at the cottage, things go from weird to worse.

A cataract of evil has fallen over the planet Varchal as its orbit enters the influence of Sol-Ar, stirring up tectonic upheavals called Black Hallows. As malignant rains fall on the Imperious Crescent, those who access these sites are transformed into shadows of shame. Accession to the Donnephon throne at the age of 18 has thrust monumental responsibility on Tayem Fyreglance, queen of the Dragon Riders. Yet, there is a greater burden to bear.

Meet Braelin, a young woman in the year 2056, whose life is soon to be changed forever by a virus known as C47 - a virus that wipes out much of the world, including her parents and her twin.

It was their passion...that's all people talked about. True love...it's complicated. Madeline and Elliot's partnership was the envy of the dance floor. Their story, an unspoken truth. Star crossed lovers focusing all their emotions into their craft...like I said it was complicated. Until the day, everything was taken away. Until they fell harder than ever before. It was always Elliot and Madeline, but now...What would you do? Would you fight for true love?

Klaas, a young medical student, can no longer stand idly by. He sees how the Germans are persecuting the Jews and oppress the Dutch with brutal force and he joins the resistance. Nothing in his life as a medical student had prepared him for the life of danger surrounded by ruthless Nazis and Dutch traitors. But God is still there. Although Klaas is not so sure if he still believes in the God of love that he learned about as a child on the knee of his mother.

When a comet streaks near Earth, its reverberation tears Croy Justice out of bed. The reverberation causes an onset of earthquakes which mark utter ruin on Earth, especially on the small island where Croy Justice lives. With a gang of boys who want to scour her of dignity, Croy must outrun the gang or risk a gruesome death at their hands. Will she survive these end times? Or, will Croy be snapped up into satan’s grip?

The world was cookie cutter ready for an alien invasion. Xenophen leveraged humanity's growing into a knowledge economy. To control us, they simply needed to offer a better education. Meet Ruth; a homeless woman whose only means of survival is serving humanity's destruction. As she sees mankind's noose slowly tightening, she scrapes for any means of escape. She flees with restricted knowledge, in the hope it can unravel our doom.

What will one day be known as the French-Eversole Feud (due west of the notorious Hatfields and McCoys) has ignited. Teenager Ezekiel Snopes must recover quickly from the loss of his younger sister - gunned down by a greedy feudist. He must now decide if he wants to live or die, remain at home, or take a stand against such lawlessness in the Appalachian hills.