Young adult literature has never been so culturally significant. rascal books lift it to new heights.

so many of the most popular titles in this third millennium have been young adult books. Here is a collection of books that is as full of imagination, delight and promise as anything to be found in current literature.

 

CHELSEA BOLT

Born in the quaint town of Mount Airy, North Carolina and raised in the small town of Hillsville, Virginia, Chelsea’s Bolt's storytelling days began. After moving to the South Carolina coast as a teenager, she found that the tales her family and friends back in the mountains told were more than worthy of being written down.  Her first novel is spellbinding:

moonshine

Left alone in the world, Isis Underwood abandons her life filled with small town rumors and escapes into the Blue Ridge Mountains, planning to expose the truth of her tragedy. This is the tale of Isis Underwood, a young woman who has lost everything she loves. Having resorted to living hidden in the mountains, she is filled with many emotions and struggles to find her place in society, if it still exists. Meanwhile, two young men, Finn and his less than serious cousin, Clay, stumble upon Isis and her hideout.

Available now at $10.95 plus tax.

JAY DURET

Jay is a San Francisco based writer and illustrator. He has written hundreds of stories.
You can read some at www.jayduret.com

Nine digits

On her 15th birthday, Nee-Nee was struck by an intense realization; she had been born into the wrong family. There was just no way she was actually a Marcus. No one with half a brain could think that she belonged with the other members of the Marcus family. She devised a simple plan to escape the family in which she did not belong--she would appear on a reality show, win big and move away. The plan didn't work--except it did.

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

BLAKE FONTENAY

An award winning author, Blake Fontenay spent more than 25 years as a reporter, columnist and editorial writer for major newspapers. His debut novel, “The Politics of Barbecue,” published  in September, 2012, won the Independent Publishers Book Awards gold medal for fiction in the South  in 2013. Now he has turned his attention to young adult fiction in a way that is all too frighteningly real.

scouts' honor

Sam and Eddie are 16-year-old Eagle Scouts on a final camping trip of the summer with two adult scoutmasters and a group of younger boys. Their trip takes them into the Boundary Waters, a vast lake-covered wilderness on the border between Minnesota and Canada that’s accessible only by canoe. A campground mishap sends one of the boys and one of the scoutmaster’s home early. Then the trip takes an even worse turn when Sam stumbles across a campsite where a group of terrorists who have crossed the border from Canada are discussing plans to bomb one of America’s busiest gathering places.

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

"I’ve been watching the boy for a while now, for some odd reason. Something about those haunting, stormy-gray eyes attracts me. He’s caught glimpses of me before, in my wolf form. Many times when his parents fight he sits outside on the back porch steps, staring at me, or my home, with longing. Because I don’t trust humans, I never let him get within a car length of me. And yet, I want him to come nearer."   --from Chapter One of Viper's Legacy

ABIGAIL HERNANDEZ

Abigail Hernandez lives in North Carolina and is a 16-year-old junior in high school. This is her first book published, though there are many more to come. She loves to cook, draw, read and write. When not drowning in school work, she spends her time breathing stories to life. Enjoy her first novel

viper's legacy

Viper is a half-demon teenage girl living on Earth with no childhood memories. Ethan is a human boy with sad gray eyes and a broken life. The two form an unlikely friendship and when a demon named Phyton kidnaps them both their lives are irreversibly changed. Now, Viper must fight against the lie's and enchantment's her father weaves around her. Ethan must train to become the warrior Viper needs and the general the demons around him don't believe he can become. Will they be able to save each other and vanquish the evil opposing them?

Available now at $12.95 plus tax.

shadow girl by kate ristau

Shadow girl

Áine lives in the light, but she is haunted by darkness, and when her fey powers blaze out of control, she escapes into the Shadowlands. But she cannot outrun her past. Fire fey and a rising darkness threaten the light, burning a path across the veil. Her fiery dreams come to life, and with the help of Hennessy, an uninhibited Irish girl, Áine dives into the flames to discover who she truly is. Her mother burned to keep her secret safe, and now Áine wields the deadly Eta. She must learn to fight in the shadows — or die in the flames. This is not a fairy tale.

Now available for presale at $12.95.

kate ristau

Kate Ristau is an author and folklorist who writes young adult and middle grade fiction. In her ideal world, magic and myth combine to create memorable stories with unforgettable characters. Until she finds that world, she’ll live in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, her son and her dog.

SARA K. WALL

Sara K. Wall has penned two marvelous young adult novels for Rascal Books readers. She draws in her readers with unique, believable characters who find themselves snared in dangers and relationships far beyond their experiences. And in every case there are the elements of danger, mystery and the magical.

christmas after woodstock

It’s the week before Christmas, 1969, and an unexpected gift arrives for 15-year-old Arthur August Mallory. His namesake great uncle, a man whose existence was unknown to him until the package arrived, has sent him a remarkable gift. Because of the ancient book, this teenage boy has the power to make the world over any way he wants—but not the power to overcome the unintended consequences of his actions. Whom can Mallory trust to help him discover a way to deal with the problems he has created?  

Available now at $9.95 plus tax.

enchanted beast

Doctors' visits and counseling bring no relief to 15-year-old Lyn. Then she has an exquisite dream--one that brings her immediate and lasting relief. Simply remembering the dream fills her with serenity. Then a stranger, a handsome young man, comes into her life by chance. She begins to believe that the creature who came to her in her dream is actually this same young man. As she grows to know him better, she realizes their encounter is only the final element in a lengthy, dangerous entanglement in which she has been used as bait to lure an enchanted beast to his death. 

Available now at $9.95 plus tax.