NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The plot provided by the universe was filled with starvation, war and rape. I would not—could not—live in that tale.” Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were thunder. In 1994, she and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, fled the Rwandan massacre and spent the next six years migrating through seven African countries, searching for safety—perpetually hungry, imprisoned and abused, enduring and escaping refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing inhuman cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were dead or alive. When Clemantine was twelve, she and her sister were granted refugee status in the United States; there, in Chicago, their lives diverged. Though their bond remained unbreakable, Claire, who had for so long protected and provided for Clemantine, was a single mother struggling to make ends meet, while Clemantine was taken in by a family who raised her as their own. She seemed to live the American dream: attending private school, taking up cheerleading, and, ultimately, graduating from Yale. Yet the years of being treated as less than human, of going hungry and seeing death, could not be erased. She felt at the same time six years old and one hundred years old. In The Girl Who Smiled Beads, Clemantine provokes us to look beyond the label of “victim” and recognize the power of the imagination to transcend even the most profound injuries and aftershocks. Devastating yet beautiful, and bracingly original, it is a powerful testament to her commitment to constructing a life on her own terms.

Flan Flood is determined to be more than just Patch Flood's little sister when she begins her freshman year at Stuyvesant High, a huge public school downtown. When she meets a new group of friends that could help her become a new person, Flan has to convince them that she's just an ordinary girl, like they are. This becomes nearly impossible when her very not-normal friends Liesel, Philippa, and Sara-Beth Benny move in! Can Flan keep the Inside Girls hidden, find a new high school boy to date, and get her new friends to accept her? Flan Flood, a favorite character from the original Insiders series, offers a fresh, young, and girlcentric perspective that is perfect for early teen readers.

What's it like to grow up online and have every tantrum, every spot - even your first period - broadcast to hundreds of thousands of followers? Most parents try to limit their kids' online exposure. But not Eva's. Her parents run a hugely successful blog, Happily Eva After - and Eva is the star of the show. But Eva is getting sick of being made to pose in stupid mum-and-daughter matching outfits for sponsored posts. The freebies aren't worth the teasing at school. And when an intensely humiliating "period party" post goes viral, Eva is outraged. She's going to find a way to stop the vlog, even if she has to sabotage it herself.

A how-to manual for girls approaching puberty, with tips to deal with all the changes in their bodies and minds.

The Little Girl Inside of Me describes encounters of both physical and sexual abuse endured by a little girl who searched for venues of escape; however, found herself restrained to her mother's abuse. This book overviews her thirst to be removed from her mother's home and her journey to reach healing for the little girl that harbors inside of her. This book is an excellent resource for recovery and encouragement to the abused child or adult.

The Namesake meets The Secret Garden in this enchanting debut novel that is a dark, grown-up fairytale. The redemptive journey of a young woman unsure of her engagement, who revisits in memory the events of one scorching childhood summer when her beautiful yet troubled mother spirits her away from her home to an Indian village untouched by time, where she discovers in the jungle behind her ancestral house a spellbinding garden that harbors a terrifying secret.

A teen is snatched outside her kung fu class and must figure out how to escape—and rescue another kidnapped victim—in The Girl in the White Van, a chilling YA mystery by New York Times bestselling author April Henry. When Savannah disappears soon after arguing with her mom’s boyfriend, everyone assumes she's run away. The truth is much worse. She’s been kidnapped by a man in a white van who locks her in an old trailer home, far from prying eyes. And worse yet, Savannah’s not alone: ten months earlier, Jenny met the same fate and nearly died trying to escape. Now as the two girls wonder if he will hold them captive forever or kill them, they must join forces to break out—even if it means they die trying. Christy Ottaviano Books