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.