It's not easy to write about 'issues' in a way that's not didactic or preachy, but there are those authors whose passion and prose create a story that does more than just introduce us to people and places -- we develop new ideas, make new meaning in our lives, and are inspired in unexpected and lasting ways. Below, readers and writers share their experiences with children's literature that 'has issues':

"Of course, in SHINE, I was focused on the issue of post-9/11 discrimination against anyone who was perceived to be Arab, Muslim, or Middle Eastern, but that was an issue I… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Release Date: June 22, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061766664
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

It’s tough, living in the shadow of a dead girl… In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own. Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst… Continue reading

Paranormal tales are hot in YA literature right now.  The bookshelves are filled with zombies, vampires, faeries, werewolves, ghosts, and other creatures you're not likely to meet on the streets of your own hometown. I read and enjoyed paranormal stories while I was growing up, and I still enjoy them.  But my favorite books were those about kids dealing not with supervillains, flying, or shape-shifting, but with the troubles my friends and I were more likely to face in our own lives.  I wanted characters who, like me, had no special powers or magic to rely on. Fortunately, the tradition of contemporary… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
• Release Date: June 18, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0312380960
• ISBN (paperback): TBD                             

EYES LIKE STARS introduces Beatrice Shakespeare Smith. Behind the curtain at the Théâtre Illuminata, you can find the characters of every play ever written. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book--an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family--and she is about to lose them, and the only home she has ever known. The Author: Lisa Mantchev Location: Washington Lisa Mantchev wrote her first play in the fourth grade and… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Summer 2010
• Publisher: Flux
• Release Date: July 1, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she's Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don't exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn't bad enough, Gwen's on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she's scared he'll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves. When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen's home as their new… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: WestSide Books
• Release Date:  April 24, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover):  978-934813-06-5
• ISBN (paperback):  TBD

Shawna Stone is sixteen going on twenty-five. Already deeply scarred, she has learned to survive with a tough attitude and a thin blade. Her journey is destined to be short. SLIDING ON THE EDGE enters the world of a desperate teen and her disillusioned grandmother, each with secrets that stir mutual distrust. As these two unlikely companions struggle to co-exist we are reminded that the human spirit has the capacity to overcome even the deepest suffering. The Author: C. Lee McKenzie Location: Los Gatos, CA A native Californian, C. Lee McKenzie… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Harcourt
• Release Date: April 1, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): 978-0152066437

It's the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future--and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she's determined for Super Schnozz to… Continue reading

Every time I go to jump on a steam train as it chugs its way through Rowlesburg -- Every time I throw out my hands to grab the rusty metal rungs and haul myself up onto the side of one of them black coal cars, hoisting my knees up over its churning, screeching wheels -- Every single time I jump on a train -- my heart thumps even noisier in my ears than the clanking of the old iron horse I'm hopping up onto. I love steam trains. I love living in a town that's chock full of 'em. I love being on 'em, being anywhere near 'em. They're as much a part of my life around here as the mountains. Or breathing. But it's a dangerous business, hopping a ride onto a moving train. First off, there's always a right decent chance of getting killed. Second, and about ten thousand times worse, my father might find out. But I'm not like Dad -- I don't mind breaking the rules now and again. Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins
• Release Date: April 7, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 0061673013
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Bug Smoot was thirteen years old when her grandfather put her soul up as collateral on his dream car --a classic 1958 Cadillac Biarritz.  Now, five years later, Papa C is dead and buried, and Bug is trying to make it on her own by delivering pizzas and staying one step ahead of her landlord.  And then the repo man arrives.  Only Mr. Beals--stinking to high heaven of rotten eggs and sporting leathery wings--is not just any repo man...just as Pesto, Bug's longtime unrequited crush, is… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
• Publisher: Viking Children's Books
• Release Date: TBD
• ISBN: 978-0670011537

Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They've never told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends, and especially not Julia's boyfriend.When Julia dies suddenly, Colt tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew her. He discovers a journal she left behind. But he is not prepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay the price for the secrets he's kept. The Author: Jennifer R. Hubbard Location… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
• Release Date: January 2010
• ISBN: 0-545-09676-6

Reginald Garvey McKnight created a superhero character in kindergarten; now he dreams of being a real-life leading man: The Guy who's got game and gets The Girl. Instead, he threw up on the first day of school. In front of everyone. Eighth grade has gone downhill ever since. In EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO, Reggie wonders why things are so bad if God is so good; his faith at all levels is challenged by his friendships, his work at a homeless shelter, and a pair of "Dora The Explorer" shoes. Reggie's involvement… Continue reading