Mack, Tracy. Birdland. 2003.
Thirteen-year-old Jed spends Christmas break working on a school project filming a documentary about his East Village, New York City, neighborhood, where he is continually reminded of his older brother, Zeke, a promising poet who died the summer before.
Manzano, Sonia. The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. 2012.
In New York City’s Spanish Harlem in 1969, fourteen-year-old Evelyn is trying to spread her wings and break free from her conservative family. When her activist grandmother comes to stay, she finds life getting more complicated and dangerous.
2013 Pura Belpré Award
Marshall, Paule. Brown Girl, Brownstones. 2009.
This book centers on the daughter of Barbadian immigrants living in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. Selina Boyce is caught in the middle of her parents’ differing views of her future. Her mom wants Selina to get an American education, while her dad dreams of returning to Barbados. Along with her parental woes, the heroine must deal with the poverty and racism that surrounds her.
Marsico, Katie. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Its Legacy of Labor Rights. 2010.
New York City’s garment district was at its heyday during the Industrial Revolution. Then, tragedy struck in 1911, when hundreds of laborers – mostly women – died, primarily because of their crowded and unsafe work environment. Afterward, a trial helped bring about changes for children, women, and laborers everywhere.
McCann, Jim. Mind the Gap Volume 1: Intimate Strangers TP. 2012.
This graphic novel is a mystery taking place in New York City with a paranormal twist. Elle, in a spirit form detached from her comatose body, must not only unravel the mystery of her attacker’s identity and motive, but her entire life as well. Who can she trust, in both this world and in the gap she exists that lies between life and death?
McCreight, Kimberly. Reconstructing Amelia. 2013.
In this mystery/thriller, Kate tries to prove that her fifteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, didn’t jump from the roof of her prestigious Brooklyn private school. The story is told in alternating voices, Kate’s and Amelia’s, as well as through text messages, Facebook updates, and blog posts revealing that the teen was involved with a secret club.
2013 School Library Journal Best Books Adult Books for Teens
McCulloch, Derek. Gone to Amerikay. 2012.
In this graphic novel, Ciara O’Dwyer is a young woman raising a daughter alone in the Five Points slums of 1870; Johnny McCormack is a struggling actor drawn to the nascent folk music movement in 1960 Greenwich Village; and Lewis Healy is a successful Irishman who’s come to present-day Manhattan on his wife’s anniversary-present promise to reveal a secret.
McNeal, Laura and Tom McNeal. Zipped. 2003.
At the end of their sophomore year in a small town high school outside Syracuse, New York, the lives of four teenagers are woven together as they start a tough new job, face family problems, deal with changing friendships, and find love.
Medina, Meg. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. 2014.
Piddy Sanchez’s life is turned upside down when she finds out that Yaqui Delgado wants to kick her ass. While struggling to deal with the threat on her own, Piddy explores her identity, her culture, and the role of others in her life. A powerful story about bullying and resilience, set in a Queens school.
2014 Pura Belpré Author Award Winner
Mercer, Paul and Vicki Weiss, for the Friends of the New York State Library. The New York State Capital and the Great Fire of 1911. 2011.
In the early morning hours of March 29, 1911, a fire broke out in the New York State Capital at Albany. Within the building lay the entire collection of the New York State Library, almost completely reduced to ashes. The authors have included recently discovered photographs documenting the original construction of the building, beginning in 1867, as well as eyewitness accounts of its destruction.
Miller, Barnabas. Rock God: The Legend of B.J. Levine. 2012.
After moving to New York City, thirteen-year-old B.J. Levine decides he’s going to become the next big rock star, despite his lack of musical talent.
Monir, Alexandra. Timekeeper. 2013.
Philip Walker is a new student at Michele Windsor’s high school and he seems to be the love she lost when they said goodbye during her time travels. He does not remember her or the Philip Walker of 1910. Michele must thwart her nemesis and deal with Philip’s reappearance in this sequel to Timeless.
Monir, Alexandra. Timeless. 2012.
When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with her wealthy, aristocratic grandparents. There, she discovers a diary that sends her back to the year 1910.
Montalvan, Luis Carlos with Bret Witter. Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him. 2011.
The story of how two wounded warriors, one soldier and one golden retriever, who had given so much and suffered the consequences, found salvation in each other. It is a story about war and peace, injury and recovery, psychological wounds and spiritual restoration.
Moriarty, Chris. The Watcher in the Shadows. 2013.
In early 20th-century New York, as thirteen-year-old Sacha Kessler, the Inquisitor’s apprentice, faces enemies old and new that threaten him and his family, he changes his mind about learning magic.
Myers, Walter Dean. Darius & Twig. 2013.
Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that Harlem life throws at them.
2014 Coretta Scott King Honor Book
2014 Notable Children’s Book
Myers, Walter Dean. Game. 2008.
If Harlem high school senior Drew Lawson is going to realize his dream of playing college, then professional, basketball, he will have to improve at being coached and being a team player, especially after a new – white – student threatens to take the scouts’ attention away from him.
Myers, Walter Dean. Lockdown. 2010.
Reese needs to stay on track to get early release from the Progress juvenile detention facility in the Bronx.
2011 Coretta Scott King Author Honor
2015 YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Top Ten
Myers, Walter Dean. 145th Street: Short Stories. 2000.
Myers uses ten short stories to create snapshots of a pulsing, vibrant community with diverse ethnic threads.
2001 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults