Showing results by narrator "Taylor Meskimen" in Literature & Fiction

Based on the massively successful CW show, Riverdale, this prequel novel explores what the gang was doing before season one. Why did Jughead and Archie have a falling out? What did Veronica’s life look like in the Big Apple? And how long has Betty really been in love with Archie? Told from multiple points of view, your favorite characters tell their story their way. 

Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and - lately - concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Katie can't leave her house during the day: she has a rare disease that makes even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. But everything changes when one evening, singing her heart out on a deserted station platform, she meets Charlie. Before the night is out, Katie is smitten. But she hasn't told Charlie her secret. She just wants to have her normal love story before reality kicks in. Lost in her nighttime summer romance, Katie knows that love will light the way.

When Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead take a road trip, they discover that their small-town problems seem to follow them wherever they go. Archie's on trial for murder, and the evidence is stacked against him. Betty, Veronica, and Jughead all know that Archie is being framed by Hiram Lodge, but how can they prove it? The gang comes up with a last-ditch plan to prove Archie's innocence: They have to go back to the scene of the crime. They have to go back to Shadow Lake.

Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence, and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty - forced marriages and murder plots - for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.

Willa likes certain things to be certain ways. Her socks have to be soft...and definitely can't have irritating tags on the inside. She loves the crunch of popcorn and nachos...but is grossed out by the crunch of a baby carrot. And slimy foods? Those are the worst. Willa can manage all these things - but there are some things she can't deal with, like her father's big news. He's been keeping a big secret from her...that he's been dating the mom of Willa's best friend Ruby.

After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual. This year, it is my turn. My name is Ivy Westfall and my mission is simple: to kill the president's son - my soon-to-be husband - and return the Westfall family to power.

Molly Frost is fed up...because Olivia was yelled at for wearing a tank top. Because Liza got dress coded and Molly didn't, even though they were wearing the exact same outfit. Because when Jessica was pulled over by the principal and missed a math quiz, her teacher gave her an F. Because it's impossible to find shorts that are longer than her fingertips. Because girls' bodies are not a distraction. Because middle school is hard enough. And so Molly starts a podcast where girls can tell their stories, and before long, her small rebellion swells into a revolution.

Fifteen-year-old Alyx Atlas was raised as a boy, yet she knows something others don't. She's a girl. And after her dad dies, it becomes painfully obvious that she must prove it now - to herself and to the world. Born with ambiguous genitalia, Alyx has always felt a little different. But it's after she sustains a terrible beating behind a 7-Eleven that she and her mother pack up their belongings and move from California to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to start a new life - and Alyx begins over again, this time as a girl.

Twelve-year-old Olivia Hales has a foolproof plan for winning a million dollars so that she and her little sister, Berkeley, can leave behind Sunny Pines Trailer Park. But first she has to: Fix the swamp cooler and make dinner and put Berkeley to bed because her mom is too busy to do all that. Write another letter to her dad even though he hasn't written back yet. Teach Berk the important stuff, like how to make chalk drawings, because they can't afford day care and Olivia has to stay home from school to watch her.

It's October 1942, in Oslo, Norway. Fifteen-year-old Ilse Stern is waiting to meet boy-next-door Hermann Rod for their first date. She was beginning to think he'd never ask her; she's had a crush on him for as long as she can remember. But Hermann won't be able to make it tonight. What Ilse doesn't know is that Hermann is secretly working in the Resistance, helping Norwegian Jews flee the country to escape the Nazis.

Being the new kid at school is hard, but Sophie has a secret weapon: her vivid imagination and her oversized, trusted Big Book of Monsters, an encyclopedia of myths and legends from all over the world. Sophie is convinced she is a monster because of the monster mark on her face. At least that's what she calls it. The doctors call it a blood tumor, and it covers almost half of her face. The Big Book of Monsters gives Sophie the idea that there might be a cure for her monster mark.

Welcome to Pity Party, where the social anxieties that plague us all are twisted into funny, deeply resonant, and ultimately reassuring psychological thrills. There's a story about a mood ring that tells the absolute truth. One about social media followers who literally follow you around. And one about a kid whose wish for a new, improved self is answered when a mysterious box arrives in the mail. There's also a personality test, a fortune teller, a letter from the Department of Insecurity, and an interactive Choose Your Own Catastrophe.

The dark truth behind the Johnstown Flood of 1889 - one of the greatest calamities our country has ever experienced - is revealed in a beautiful, harrowing story, told in luminous verse.

Jilly thinks she's figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn. A big fantasy reader, Jilly connects with another fan, Derek, who is African American and a deaf ASL user. She goes to Derek for advice but doesn't always know the best way to ask for it and makes some mistakes along the way. Jilly has to step back to learn to be an ally, a sister, and a friend, understanding that life works in different ways for different people, and that being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.

Port Winston, Texas - home to sun, sand, and shopping. What's not to like? Everything to 14-year-old Elizabeth Barker. Port Winston is a far cry from small-town Missouri where Elizabeth used to be somebody and family meant something a whole lot different. Taunted at school as the newbie camera geek, Elizabeth's given up trying to fit in. Between Mom's journalism assignment in Mexico, Dad's 14-hour workdays on top of weekends minding Grandpa and his shrimp boat, Elizabeth's once close-knit family life is in shreds....

Maddie Robinson has always been overlooked: by her parents (who disappeared), by her friends (who are nonexistent), and even science fair judges (who think she has “so much...potential”). So when a mysterious man called The Recruiter invites her to join a secret society of spies, Maddie is floored. Then she discovers that these super secret super spies are the Illuminati — the world’s most covert organization rumored to control, well, everything. And one more thing: The Illuminati are kids, like Maddie!