Finding Hope by Colleen Nelson

Finding Hope
Fiction N3319f
Colleen Nelson

Hope lives in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. With a drug addict for a brother, she focuses on the only thing that keeps her sane, writing poetry. To escape, she jumps at the chance to attend Ravenhurst Academy as a boarding student. She’ll even put up with the clique-ish Ravens if it means making a fresh start.

At first, Ravenhurst is better than Hope could have dreamed. She has a boyfriend and a cool roommate, and she might finally have found a place she can fit in. But can she trust her online boyfriend? And what can she do after her brother shows up at the school gates, desperate for help, and the Ravens turn on her? Trapped and unsure, Hope realizes that if she wants to save her brother, she has to save herself first.

(from publisher)

How I Discovered Poetry

How I Discovered Poetry
Marilyn Nelson
811 W186ho

A unique and powerful memoir, a window into an astonishing decade, a glimpse of the awakening of artistic inspiration...

How I Discovered Poetry is the story of Marilyn Nelson's own childhood, and of America in the 1950s.  This highly decorated poet has created fifty eye-opening, intimate poems that tell the tale of her development as an artist and young womand during one of the most turbulent decades in our nation's history.  These poems, spanning her fourth to fourteenth years, touch on many aspects of the time: racism and the Civil Rights Movement, the "Red Scare," the shadow of the atom bom, and the first stirrings of the feminist movement.

This is a book to study, discuss, and treasure--a deeply felt, masterfully crafted autobiographical history.

(From publisher.)

The Crossover

The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
Fiction Al27c

“A bolt of lightning on my kicks . . . The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” raps twelve-year-old Josh Bell. Thanks to their dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his
blood—he’s got mad beats, too, which help him find his rhythm when it’s all on the line.

As their winning season unfolds, things begin to change. When Jordan meets a girl, the twins’ bond unravels. Josh and Jordan must grow up on and off the court and realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story’s heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family. Told in dynamic verse, this fast and furious middle grade novel bounces with rhythm and bursts with heart.

(From publisher.)