Airing Dirty Laundry
For recommendations of other good books for teens, contact Teen Library Betsy Su at bsu@champaign.org.
Baby Blue
by Michelle Kwasney
Teen Fiction/Kwasney
Twelve-year-old Blue grows up fast when her father dies, her mother marries an abusive man, and her sister runs away. Blue is determined to find her sister and help her mother, but she needs to help herself if she is to succeed.
Dirty Laundry: Stories About Family Secrets
ed. by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
Juvenile Fiction/Fraustino
This collection of eleven short stories on family secrets includes Chris Crutcher, M. E. Kerr, Richard Peck, and Bruce Coville.
Freaky Green Eyes
by Joyce Carol Oates
Teen Fiction/Oates
Fifteen-year-old Frankie relates the events of the year leading up to her mother‘s mysterious disappearance and her own struggle to discover and accept the truth about her parents‘ relationship.
Full Tilt
by Neal Shusterman
Teen Fiction/Shusterman
Sixteen-year-old sober Blake and his wild younger brother Quinn become trapped in a demonic carnival, and Blake has to survive seven psychological rides in order to get them both out again.
Nothing to Lose
by Alex Flinn
Teen Fiction/Flinn
A year ago, Michael ran away and joined a carnival after the murder of his stepfather, for which his mother is on trial. Now if he wants to keep his job with the carnival, he has to go where it takes him — even if that is back to the hometown he fled.
The Revealers
by Doug Wilhelm Teen Fiction/Wihelm
Three students who are frequently bullied and want revenge start an online forum called The Revealer, where they and other students can tell their stories of abuse.
Shadow of a Doubt
by S. L. Rottman
Teen Fiction/Rottman
Shadow idolized his troublesome older brother growing up, but then Daniel disappeared without a trace. Seven years later, Shadow is 15, and Daniel unexpectedly returns home after being arrested for murder. Daniel and his murder charge consume his parents, and Shadow has to wonder — did Daniel really do it?
Splintering
by Eireann Corrigan
Fiction/Corrigan
Paulie and Jeremy, two teens narrating in prose poems, detail the splintering effect of one night‘s tragedy. After a drug addict breaks into their home and terrorizes the family, each member of the family copes differently, some dangerously, as they attempt to put together the pieces of their fragile lives.
Tangerine
by Edward Bloor
Teen Fiction/Bloor
Though Paul is legally blind, with his thick classes he is still one of the best soccer goalies around. When his family moves to Tangerine, Florida, Paul begins to learn the secrets behind his condition and behind his brother‘s malicious nature.
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