While not much is known about the life and legacy of Anna de Koning, this children’s book aims to make her a household name and have her story taught at schools – of how an enslaved child arrived in the Cape Colony from Bengal and would remarkably become one of the wealthiest and most influential women of her time.

Anna lived in a village surrounded by a thick rainforest filled with striped tigers that roared at night. Her mother had grown up in that village, and she would have too until strangers came and sold her family to the captain of a big ship with large white sails. When the ship finally arrived at the shores of the Cape of Good Hope, Anna’s life changed, and she was no longer free.

Woman of Freedom brings to life the historically accurate journey of a young enslaved girl who became one of the wealthiest and most respected women in the early Cape Colony.

Teaching children about one of South Africa’s matriarchs in an inspiring narrative true to the culture and history of our land.

Recommended by Malala Yousafzai, The Breadwinner is the first book in Deborah Ellis's bestselling series set in Afghanistan. This award-winning novel explores loyalty, survival, family and friendship under extraordinary circumstances.

Parvana's father is arrested and taken away by Taliban soldiers. Under Taliban law, women and girls are not allowed to leave the house on their own. Parvana, her mother, and sisters are prisoners in their own home. With no man to go out to buy food, they face starvation. Forbidden to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy, and become the breadwinner to save her family.

It is a dangerous plan, but their only chance.

In fear, she goes out, and witnesses the horror of landmines, the brutality of the Taliban, and the desperation of a country trying to survive. But even in despair lies hope . . .

WOULD YOU ACCEPT THE DARE?

In Marley's town, senior student pranks are a rite of passage. They start out simple: Marley and her friends - Atlas, Lucia and Jesse - egg houses, fill the headteacher's office with glitter-filled balloons and set chickens loose in the halls.

But when Jesse accepts a dare to drive Danger Alley, a ten-mile stretch of winding road that's notorious for car crashes, with no headlights, things take a turn for the worse. With her friends never backing down, Marley is caught between keeping the peace and keeping herself safe.

Just how far will they all go to finish a dare? And, more importantly, will any of them make it back the same?

Akhona’s Journey is about a young girl who grows up in a township and faces difficulties that threaten her childhood and family life.

Through this reads, discover the profound impact of her experiences and the critical choices she makes to forge ahead.

They Both Die at the End
On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. Through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

The First to Die at the End
Adam Silvera revisits the world of Death-Cast 7 years before the events of They Both Die at the End in this story about the lasting impact that people have on each other. It’s the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there’s one question on everyone’s mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax? Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he’s going to die, but Valentino Prince only just registered for Death-Cast, prompted in part because his twin sister nearly died. When the first round of End Day calls goes out their lives are forever changed—and, through one unforgettable day together, they learn how life is always worth living to the fullest.

There’s power in a book… They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened. Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who. Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood. In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).

A bag of chips. That's all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad's pleadings that he's stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad's every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the pavement?

There were witnesses: Quinn - a varsity basketball player and Rashad's classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan - and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his saviour could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team - half of whom are Rashad's best friends - start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD WINNER NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER Shaindy is a twelve-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl who struggles in school and has no good friends. She watches with envy as her next-door neighbor, GAYIL, excels socially and academically. They have little to do with each other, and it comes as a surprise when Shaindy looks out her window one September evening and sees Gayil staring out at her from her own window with a sign reading want to know a secret? The secret (at first) is that Gayil has a key fob that will allow them to break into their school after hours. Together, they set up a harmless prank in their classroom. But under Gayil’s instigation the mischief becomes malice, and Shaindy sees that the pranks and humiliations are targeted only at certain girls. But what could they have in common? With the fear of Gayil’s fury and her own reluctance growing, Shaindy comes to the terrifying conclusion that if she can’t figure out how to stop it, the next target could be her.

Uncle Kelly is a drag performer who lives with his nephew Eli. Eli is about to start school and he has a birthmark on his face that he is afraid he will be bullied about. Uncle Kelly helps Eli find his confidence and encourages him to love himself as he is.

Eli finds a creative way of owning his insecurity and with his new confidence makes friends and inspires other children to accept their peers, and to even express their own creativity.

A book that encourages love and acceptance and embraces otherness, What’s Wrong With Glitter is a rhyming book that is filled with bright illustrations.

Sixteen-year-old Adrienne Lewis is in charge of eight-year-old Emma Warner, the youngest member of the snooty Warner family. Emma is an evil genius who has gotten all five previous nannies fired -- and she's the good news. Because then there's Emma's half brother, Graydon, who goes to college -- yet always seems to be lurking around waiting to hit on Adrienne. But worst of all is Emma's beautiful seventeen-year-old half sister, Cameron, whose reputation as a wild girl, a liar, and a user is known to everyone ...everyone, that is, except Adrienne.

New York Times bestseller Karina Yan Glaser brings everyone’s favorite Harlem family back in this poignant fourth novel in the “delightful and heartwarming” (New York Times Book Review) Vanderbeekers series.

When autumn arrives on 141st Street, the Vanderbeekers are busy helping Mr. Beiderman get ready for the New York City Marathon and making sure the mysterious person sleeping in the community garden gets enough to eat.

But when they discover the true identity of the person making a home in the community garden’s shed, their world turns upside down as they learn what it means to care for someone in an impossible situation.

In this fourth book in the Vanderbeekers series, return to 141st Street with Isa, Jessie, Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney as they attempt to make their neighborhood a better place, one heartfelt plan at a time.

Thirteen-year-old Jasper Robinson-Woods is not okay — his name is too long, he never sees his dad, he can't sleep, and his goldfish is dying. Things go from bad to worse when his mother announces her annoying boyfriend is moving in. When his mostly absent father arrives on the doorstep to take him on a road trip Jasper begrudgingly finds himself away with his father. In terrible timing, it is while he is away that his goldfish dies and Jasper is forced to face yet again one of his greatest fears, death. His nightmare even comes to visit Jasper in the night, coming to life and destroying the house they are staying in. Furious, his father takes him home, to the safety of his tree. But Jasper is mortified when the girl from school he likes comes over and he is too embarrassed to get down from the tree. Jasper lashes out at school and destroys a precious piece of art owned by his mother's boyfriend.

After being suspended from school, he finally realises things must change. He goes to see the school counsellor and starts understanding his nightmare, and what it truly represents. This is the story of a young man who learns that even when you hit rock bottom, you just don't know what, and who, is around the corner.

A sprawling, evocative, and groundbreaking autobiographical novel told in the unforgettable and hilarious voice of a young Iranian refugee. It is a powerfully layered novel that poses the questions: Who owns the truth? Who speaks it? Who believes it?

“A patchwork story is the shame of the refugee,” Nayeri writes early in the novel. In an Oklahoman middle school, Khosrou (whom everyone calls Daniel) stands in front of a skeptical audience of classmates, telling the tales of his family’s history, stretching back years, decades, and centuries. At the core is Daniel’s story of how they became refugees—starting with his mother’s vocal embrace of Christianity in a country that made such a thing a capital offense, and continuing through their midnight flight from the secret police, bribing their way onto a plane-to-anywhere. Anywhere becomes the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and then finally asylum in the U.S.

Implementing a distinct literary style and challenging western narrative structures, Nayeri deftly weaves through stories of the long and beautiful history of his family in Iran, adding a richness of ancient tales and Persian folklore. Like Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Nights, Daniel spins a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth.

A tale of heartbreak and resilience and urges readers to speak their truth and be heard.

What do you do when your daughter just wants to be pretty like the girls she sees on screens and magazines? All the Ways to be Pretty aims to provide parents with a starting point for conversations about beauty from an Islamic perspective. All humans are beautiful in their own unique ways, and this book is not about diminishing that gift. It is a gentle reminder that beauty is also what lies on the inside; our character and our actions beautify us, so why be 'just pretty' when you could be ‘pretty wise’ like Khadijah RA, ‘pretty smart’ like Aisha RA, or ‘pretty brave’ like Sumayya RA!

Velile, bullied at school because of being much older than the other children in his grade, hates school. Instead, he goes to the forest to hunt for birds and other animals. After his mother dies, her sister takes him in, but Emihle, his cousin, remains unaccepting of him.

Velile becomes one of the top students in their district, but unfortunately bad choices and friends involving him in illegal mining and gambling result in suspension from high school. After being spat on by a snake (meant to make him successful and wealthy) Velile is hospitalised, where he bumps into one of his old friends, now a priest. He convinces Velile to return to school and attend ABET classes.

When he meets ex-classmate Lawukazi, who had gone to Cuba to study medicine, Velile is inspired to change his ways.

Goue reeks is een van die heel bekendste en gewildste inheemse leesreekse met beproefde sukses oor dekades. Derduisende onderwysers en ouers het self daarmee leer lees – en dit werk steeds! Op publieke aanvraag is die volledige reeks nou weer beskikbaar. Dit volg ’n basiese benadering tot leesonderrig deur klank- en woordbouvaardighede en is gebaseer op herhaling, herkenning en inoefening. Goue reeks se hersiene uitgawe (2009) bied alles wat nodig is om jong leerders te ontwikkel in jong lesers.

The Wave is based on a nightmarish true episode in a Californian high school, when a teacher wanted to demonstrate the dangers of propoganda and group-think.

Laurie isn't sure what to make of 'The Wave'. It had begun as a simple history experiment to liven up their World War II studies and had become a craze that was taking over their lives. Laurie's classmates are changing from normal teenagers into chanting, saluting fanatics. 'The Wave' is sweeping through the school - and it is out of control.

Laurie's friends scoff at her warnings but she knows she must make them see what they have become before it's too late.

Cover2Cover Books is delighted to announce the publication of an anthology of short stories written in isiXhosa, Akusayi Kuphind, by emerging author Sonwabiso Ngcowa.

The stories in Akusayi Kuphind are written in language that comes straight from the daily lives of young people from urban and rural communities all over South Africa. The characters respond to the kinds of challenges faced by many South African youth.

These include families where one of the parents had to work far from home; poverty; being a single parent; abuse of women and girls; bullying in schools and loss of self-esteem; arranged marriages; HIV and AIDS; as well as same sex relationships and the way they are looked at in the communities.

Khanyisile is devastated when his mother dies unexpectedly. When his father takes him from their Eastern Cape village to Cape Town, his life is turned upside down even more.

At his new school, Harmony High, Khanyisile meets Given, who invites him to join the amaVura gang. But how far is he prepared to go to be part of them? And how does Given know Matchstix, the mysterious stranger his father takes him to meet in prison?

When Khanyisile finds out the truth, it is almost too late for him to turn back from the dangerous path he has chosen …

A wild night of partying and a run-in with one of the most notorious drug dealers in Gauteng turns Barries’ life upside down.

The police give him one simple choice – if he wants to stay out of jail, he has to spend the next six weeks on a farm, near a small coastal town in the Eastern Cape, right in the middle of nowhere. With his estranged father.

Slowly but surely, Barries comes to realise that the bottle of brandy stashed under the bed is not the only – or the darkest – secret his father is hiding.

Breath, a translation of the best-selling Asem, is a gripping novel for teens that doesn’t hesitate to tackle difficult themes.

Barbara Dee explores the subject of #MeToo for the middle grade audience in this heart-wrenching—and ultimately uplifting—novel about experiencing harassment and unwanted attention from classmates.

For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it’s his birthday, and asks her for a “birthday hug.” He’s just being friendly, isn’t he? And how can she say no? But Callum’s hug lasts a few seconds too long, and feels…weird. According to her friend, Zara, Mila is being immature and overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like?

But the boys don’t leave Mila alone. On the bus. In the halls. During band practice—the one place Mila could always escape.

It doesn’t feel like flirting—so what is it? Thanks to a chance meeting, Mila begins to find solace in a new place: karate class. Slowly, with the help of a fellow classmate, Mila learns how to stand her ground and how to respect others—and herself.

From the author of Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed comes this timely story of a middle school girl standing up and finding her voice.

Award-winning author Jessica Young and New York Times bestselling illustrator Renee Kurilla crafted a heartwarming story about the first day of school, told from the perspective of three timely characters: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.

Yesterday and Tomorrow do everything together. Now that the first day of school is here, Yesterday and Tomorrow are unsure about what the day will bring! Until sure enough they discover the power of living in the present with the help of their new friend, Today.

From the New York Times bestselling illustrator of Just Because, here is a gentle and uplifting picture book for anyone facing a new experience.

It only takes a few hours for Turner Buckminster to start hating Phippsburg, Maine. No one in town will let him forget that he's a minister's son, even if he doesn't act like one. But then he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a smart and sassy girl from a poor nearby island community founded by former slaves.

Despite his father's-and the town's-disapproval of their friendship, Turner spends time with Lizzie, and it opens up a whole new world to him, filled with the mystery and wonder of Maine's rocky coast.

The two soon discover that the town elders, along with Turner's father, want to force the people to leave Lizzie's island so that Phippsburg can start a lucrative tourist trade there. Turner gets caught up in a spiral of disasters that alter his life-but also lead him to new levels of acceptance and maturity.

This sensitively written historical novel, based on the true story of a community's destruction, highlights a unique friendship during a time of change.

Beloved author Gary D. Schmidt expertly blends comedy and tragedy in the story of Doug Swieteck, an unhappy "teenage thug" first introduced in The Wednesday Wars, who finds consolation and a sense of possibility in friendship and art.

At once heartbreaking and hopeful, this absorbing novel centers on Doug, 14, who has an abusive father, a bully for a brother, a bad reputation, and shameful secrets to keep. Teachers and police and his relatives think he's worthless, and he believes them, holding others at arm's length. Newly arrived in town, he starts out on the same path—antagonizing other kids, mouthing off to teachers, contemptuous of everything intimidating or unfamiliar. Who would have thought that the public library would turn out to be a refuge and an inspiration, that a snooty librarian might be a friend, or that snarky redheaded Lil would like him—really like him?

With more than his share of pain, including the return of his oldest brother from the Vietnam War, shattered and angry, will Doug find anything better than "okay for now"?

Aldan Valentyn is niemand nie.

Hy plaas ʼn foto van homself sonder sy hemp, op Instagram. En word die bespotting van die skool.

Maar dit sal binnekort verander. In die gym. Met gewigte. En die KRAG in die naalde.

“Wat is die ergste wat kan gebeur?”.