What if our girls formed their personal identities around characteristics like intelligence, bravery, and kindness-instead of around a word like pretty? What if that word hardly mattered at all? A book about self-concept for young girls that emphasizes the important role the people in a child's life play in the development of their self-esteem. At the beginning of the book Lena is complimented only on her appearance by passersby. As the book continues, Lena's family, teachers and caregivers reinforce Lena's other important characteristics. At the end of the book, Lena is able to make her own determination about who she is.

Twelve-year-old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret... or by telling it.

As their lives take them in different directions, Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget discover many more things about themselves and the importance of their relationship with each other.

The stunning conclusion to the New York Times bestselling series, perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Maggie Stiefvater! Is death the end . . . or only the beginning? Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves. Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect. Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

Fast moving and full of dramatic set pieces, Dead Pretty is a murderous journey with a twist in its tail. Mark Richards, having rebuilt his life after a traumatic, deprived past, is a private investigator in London. When his beautiful girlfriend, Lena, is brutally and sadistically slain his life is turned upside down. In his search for her killers, he becomes hunter and hunted, exacting revenge whilst trying to stay alive. His quest turns into a bloody rites of passage, which takes him from London to the Midlands, to the hills of south Wales, and, ultimately, to Amsterdam, where the savage climax of the book is played out amidst the seedy back alleys of the red light district. Mark Richards finds out more than he ever wanted to know, old demons rear up again in his mind, and he has to reach deep into his soul to survive. PRAISE FOR Dead Pretty: 'This is a thriller which will lead you by the nose through some fine writing. Granelli sets the scenes in London, South Wales and Amsterdam with keen observation and gives us characters that may sometimes be extreme but are always believable. The pace is electric and keeps you hooked. It would make a good film as well as a good read' Western Mail 'His characters breathe, make you care. One day the people who count will realise that Roger Granelli is one of the best street-level thriller writers around' Phil Rickman, Author 'Granelli should appeal to readers of grisly realistic thrillers and is the best such author to revel in his Welsh roots' Waterstones bookseller

The third novel in the wildly popular #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, from the author of The Whole Thing Together and The Here and Now. It’s the summer before the sisterhood departs for college . . . their last real summer together before they head off to start their grown-up lives. It’s the time when Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen need their Pants the most. Pants = love. Love your pals. Love yourself. “A fun and poignant coming-of-age story." —Entertainment Weekly “Readers of the other books won’t be disappointed.” —Booklist, Starred “A treat for anyone.” —Los Angeles Times “These are friends worth having.” —Chicago Tribune

There were no surprises in Gatlin County. We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere. At least, that's what I thought. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Fall under the spell of the Beautiful Darkness, the sequel to the instant New York Times bestselling gothic fantasy, Beautiful Creatures! There were no surprises in Gatlin County. At least, that's what I thought. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin as a place where nothing ever changed. Then mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes revealed a secret world of curses and Supernaturals with terrifying abilities. Lena showed him a Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. Sometimes life-ending. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature The companion to the Coretta Scott King Honor-winning I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, now available in paperback. At the end of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, Marie's friend Lena and her little sister Dion run away to escape their abusive father, leaving Marie full of longing and readers full of questions. Now those questions are answered. After cutting off all their hair, Lena and Dion leave one evening as the sun sets. Disguised as boys, they set out in search of their mother's family. But will they ever make it? Whom can two young girls trust? They can't afford to make even one mistake. Now, Lena tells what happened to the two girls out in the world, and of their search for a place to belong and the home they dream of and deserve.

Recounting the remarkable life of Dame Lena Gaunt—music’s most modern musician as the first theremin player of the 20th century—this novel about an octogenarian and former junkie is as geographically diverse as it is culturally and musically rich. An offer to play her unusual instrument, where sounds are produced not through touch but instead through hand movements in the air, leads Lena to revisit her life—from her discovery of music to falling in love and from Southeast Asia to Australia and Europe. Vignettes of growing up, the glittering years on the world stage, melancholy, war-time periods, and growing old all compose the story of a woman whose life is made and torn apart by those she gives her heart to.