Sharon Flake

All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.

Mann is only thirteen, yet he has already had to deal with more than most go through in a lifetime. His family is still reeling from the tragic shooting death of his little brother, Jason, each person coping with grief in his or her own way. Mann's mother has stopped eating and is obsessed with preserving Jason's memory, while his father is certain that presenting a hard edge is the only way to keep his remaining son from becoming a statistic....

Guys and girls get together, get played, and get real. Who Am I Without Him? is a Booklist Top Ten Romance Novel for Teens and is "breaking new and necessary ground"* in twelve short stories about guys and girls falling in and out of love and relationships, testing out ways to communicate with one another, respect each other— and respect themselves. This is a complex, often humorous, and always on-point exploration of today's teens determined to...

"Best friends Duck and Cat have a problem--Cat makes Duck sneeze! 'I think-achoo!-I'm allergic to you,' Duck declares. Hilarity ensues as Cat keeps trying to solve the problem--but Duck keeps sneezing! Is Duck really allergic to Cat or is something else going on?"--

Cat thinks Duck should stop meowing and start acting like a duck, but Duck doesn't want to be limited to acting like just one animal.

In the game of love, young men and women weigh what they need from the opposite sex against what they need to find in themselves. This popular short story collection, including two never- before-published entries, gives teens a chance to witness the outcomes of 12 unique trysts. As relationships go either right or wrong, with surprising, often funny, always on-point results, mindful readers will appreciate the warning signs and perhaps save themselves...