Raiders Night

This grim, disturbing story about high-school football centers on Matt, who is a co-captain of the Nearmont Raiders. With Division One schools aggressively recruiting him, Matt's future looks assured. His present, however, is a nightmare. Addicted to Vicodin and "juice,"the regular shots of steroids he receives with the support of his father, Matt rides a nonstop emotional roller coaster: he hates himself for feeling embarrassed by his developmentally disabled brother, and he hates his father for living out failed dreams of athletic stardom vicariously through him. Matt even hates football after he witnesses his sadistic co-captain sexually assault a rookie player at a preseason hazing (a brutal, graphic scene involving a plastic bat). After initially going along with the team's cover-up of the incident, Matt cooperates when an investigation is launched.

Rubber Houses: A Novel

Kit is a junior in high school when her younger brother is diagnosed with cancer. Despite the difference in their ages, they are kindred spirits who share a love of baseball. When Buddy loses his battle against the disease, Kit is devastated. Suddenly her family no longer functions as a whole. Instead they are like "-islands/too distant to matter." The teen must find a way to own her grief in order to mourn Buddy while at the same time joyfully celebrate the characteristics and quirks that constituted his presence in her life.

Accidents of Nature

It is 1970 and Jean, a cerebral palsy-stricken, wheelchair bound teenage girl is excited about attending summer camp for the first time. Camp Courage is designed for children with physical and mental disabilities. Jean loves swim time because she can escape the binds of gravity by floating blissfully in the lake, but is amazed that her new friend Sara refuses to swim because she hates getting out of the water and feeling the weight of gravity pulling her down again. She also learns how others have become cynical and jaded after years of being treated as "special," and how easily good intentioned counselors and administrators can patronize the campers.

Book of the Week - RX by Tracy Lynn

Thyme Gilchrest is an honors student.
Thyme Gilchrest is popular.
Thyme Gilchrest is on student council.
Thyme Gilchrest is a drug dealer.
Like piecing together a logic puzzle, Thyme has organized a complex trading system that enables her to obtain the meds her friends need. They all come to her to diagnose their problems and provide the "cure" -- be it Prozac, Ritalin, Vicodin...She's therapist, doctor, and pharmacist all in one. She helps people. And that makes her feel a little more in control -- a little more capable of dealing with her own frantic high school life. Because Thyme Gilchrest is nothing if not good at dealing.