Synopsis:
Hadley Jamison is shocked when she hears that her classmate, Archer Morales, has committed suicide. She didn’t know the quiet, reserved guy very well, but that doesn’t stop her from feeling there was something she could have done to help him.
Hoping to find some sense of closure, Hadley attends Archer’s funeral. There, she is approached by a man who calls himself Death and offers her a deal. If Hadley accepts, she will be sent back twenty-seven days in time to prevent Archer from killing himself. But when Hadley agrees to Death’s terms and goes back to right the past, she quickly learns her mission is harder than she ever could have known.
Time ticks away as Hadley looks for ways to not only talk to Archer but to know him on a deeper level. But just as she and Archer connect, a series of dangerous accidents starts pushing them apart. Hadley must decide whether she is ready to risk everything—including her life—to keep Archer alive.
Blurb:
“Compelling characters and several creative plot twists make this tale truly unputdownable. Readers will embrace Hadley and Archer (as well as Archer’s family) and their unusual yet endearing friendship. Tucked away between the wry humor and vivid NYC setting is a powerful look at grief and at the difference that even one person can make in another’s life.” Romantic Times
Synopsis:
Schneider Family Book Award, Best Teen Honor Book 2020
Contemporary fiction fans will find it hard to put down The Silence Between Us—a YA novel that doesn’t shy away from real-life issues including the challenges faced by those in the Deaf culture, relationship struggles, communication problems, and complicated families.
Deaf teen Maya moves across the country and must attend a hearing school for the first time. As if that wasn’t hard enough, she also has to adjust to the hearing culture, which she finds frustrating. As Maya looks past graduation and focuses on her future dreams, nothing, not even an unexpected romance, will derail her pursuits or cause her to question her own self worth.
Blurbs:
“The Silence Between Us is eminently un-put-down-able.” (NPR)
“Gervais deftly renders both the nuanced, everyday realities of life with disability and Maya’s fierce pride in her Deafness, delivering a vibrant story that will resonate with Deaf and hearing audiences alike.” – Booklist
“A solid addition to middle/high school fiction that allows for deep discussion about stereotypes concerning disabilities.” School Library Journal
“This is a great YA contemporary (clean) romance that follows Maya as she navigates a new school and plans for her future. The addition of representation by a Deaf character was really beautifully done. Highly recommend for people looking for a sweet, engaging, and educational romantic read.” (YA and Kids Book Central)
Synopsis:
From award-winning YA author Alison Gervais comes a contemporary mystery about a teen writer determined to discover what happened to a missing classmate, who finds herself caught up with a pair of very familiar detectives named Watson and Holmes. All her awakening powers of observation will be put to the test as she finds that the thing she thought was holding her back just might be her greatest strength.
Attending the prestigious Ashford College’s writing seminar is a dreamcome true for Jules Montgomery, but the summer isn’tunfolding as she hoped. Navigating London with her recent hearing loss is difficult, and hiding it from her classmates is a challenge. Even worse, she can’t seem to shake a case of writer’s block. When a fellow student goes missing, neither the police northeir teacher, Professor Watson, seem that concerned. Jules and her new friends Percy and Suruthi are determined to get to the bottom of the case and they’re not alone: the strange man who frequents Jules’ aunt’s antique shop is eager to help—and his name is none other than Sherlock Holmes.
Now there are two mysteries to solve. What happened to their missing classmate? And how can it be that Watson and Holmes—two fictional characters from the Victorian era—are alive and well in the 21st century? The only way to find answers might lie in a quote from one of Watson’s old stories: “You see, but you do not observe.” Jules may not be able to hear all that well, but without her hearing aids, she can certainly see more than the average person. And nothing about this is case is average.
A Children’s Book Council Teacher AND Librarian Favorites Winner!
Award-winning YA author Alison Gervais brings the little-known events of the Colorado Coalfield Wars of the early 20th century to life in Beyond the Dust, a gripping dual-narrative historical mystery of resilience, identity, and justice, set during one of the deadliest labor disputes in American history.
Evie is finishing her senior year of high school and working part-time at the local state history museum. What was supposed to be a way to take her mind off graduation becomes something much more mysterious when the more time she spends in the library and exhibits, the more she feels strangely inspired to draw. She soon discovers that the more she draws, the more her artwork tells the story of an old mining town in southern Colorado long forgotten by history.
Mariska is a young woman who has spent most of her life in Ferndale by 1913, a closed mining town owned by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. Determined to forge her own path, Mariska dreams of venturing outside the barbed wire fences surrounding town. Tensions are brewing between the company and the United Mine Workers of America, upending everything Mariska thought she knew about her community in Ferndale. She inevitably finds herself drawn into the miners’ decades-long fight for representation, fair wages and safe working conditions, causing her to question where her loyalties lie and what she is willing to sacrifice for the sake of her family as a strike looms on the horizon.
The compelling story of these two young women woven together across time offers a personal perspective of the American labor movement, immigration, industrialization, corporate greed, and what it means to honor the past when the past refuses to remain silent.