Sharon M Draper

Gerald is only three years old when his mama leaves him alone in the house while she visits her drug dealer. He finds the hot thing she uses to light her cigarettes and in no time, the house is ablaze. Mama is sent to prison, and Gerald goes to live with his Aunt Queen. When he turns nine, Gerald unhappily learns that his mama is being released from jail and wants her son back. Suddenly, he must switch from a loving home to a household dominated by...

Keisha Montgomery's junior year was devastating. Her best friend died, and her ex-boyfriend committed suicide. But Keisha is getting her life back on track. She's been elected senior class president, and she has met Jonathan Hathaway, the new 23-year-old track coach. Tall and handsome, Jonathan actually talks to Keisha like she's a woman instead of a girl. But when this forbidden relationship takes a frightening turn, Keisha once again finds herself...

A brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy, considered by many to be mentally retarded, discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

When a burning cross set by the Klan causes panic and fear in 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town.

Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police.

The death of high school basketball star Rob Washington in an automobile accident affects the lives of his close friend Andy, who was driving the car, and many others in the school.

A teenaged boy's death in a hazing accident has lasting effects on his pregnant girlfriend and his guilt-ridden cousin, who gives up a promising music career to play football during his senior year in high school.

As Kofi, Arielle, Dana, November, and Jericho face personal challenges during their last year of high school, a misunderstood student brings a gun to class and demands to be taken seriously.

At her first ballet recital, a young ballerina overcomes a bout of stage fright to help a fellow dancer in need.

Ziggy, Jerome, Rashawn, and Rico are sure they will win the talent show and the prize money to fix up their clubhouse. A moral dilemma develops when they realize another contestant may need the prize money even more.