“I am a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, with a degree in English. I once was a house parent for youth placed temporarily in shelters. I also worked with young people in a foster care program for about eight years, and then I skipped off to work for the University of Pittsburgh where they really believed me when I said I could write press releases and do public relations. I spent eighteen years at Pitt—some of the best years of my life by the way.”
Pinned
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Reading level: Ages 10 and up
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0545057183
ISBN-13: 978-0545057189
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
Nominated for a 2013 NAACP Image Awards, Outstanding Literary Work Category: Youth/Teens
Award-winning author, Sharon G. Flake, presents a powerful novel about a
teen boy and girl, each tackling disabilities.
Autumn and Adonis have nothing in common and everything in common. Autumn is
outgoing and has lots of friends. Adonis is shy and not so eager to connect
with people. But even with their differences, the two have one thing in
common--they're each dealing with a handicap. For Autumn, who has a learning
disability, reading is a painful struggle that makes it hard to focus in
class. But as her school’s most aggressive team wrestler, Autumn can take
down any problem. Adonis is confined to a wheelchair. He has no legs. He
can't walk or dance. But he’s a strong reader who loves books. Even so,
Adonis has a secret he knows someone like Autumn can heal.
In time, Autumn and Adonis are forced to see that our greatest weaknesses
can turn into the assets that forever change us and those we love.
Told in alternating voices, Takedown explores issues of self-discovery,
friendship, and what it means to be different.
You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems about Boys
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Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; Reprint edition (July 26, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1423100174
ISBN-13: 978-1423100171
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.4 inches
In 9 stories and 15 poems, Sharon G. Flake provides insight into the minds
of a diverse group adolescent African American males. There's Tow-Kaye,
getting married at age 16 to love of his life, who's pregnant. He knows it's
the right thing to do, but he's scared to death. James writes in his diary
about his twin brother's terrible secret, which threatens to pull James
down, too. Tyler explains what it's like to be a player with the ladies. In
a letter to his uncle, La'Ron confesses that he's infected with HIV. Eric
takes us on a tour of North Philly on the Fourth of July, when the heat
could make a guy go crazy. Still, he loves his hood. These and other
unforgettable characters come to life in this collection of urban male
voices. Sharon's G. Flake's talent for telling it like it is will leave
readers thinking differently, feeling deeply, and definitely wanting more.
The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street
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Reading level: Ages 8 and up
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; Reprint edition (April 28, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1423100352
ISBN-13: 978-1423100355
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
“Queen is smart. Queen is pretty. But nobody likes her except her kitty.”
Queen’s house—the biggest one on 33rd Street--looks just like a castle, and
in her bedroom, she has dozens of beautiful dresses and crowns. Queen thinks
she’s a real queen, and she treats everyone, even her teacher, like her
royal subject.
When a new kid comes to Queen’s school, riding a broken bike and wearing
smelly, worn-out clothes, Queen joins her classmates in making fun of him.
Her parents insist she be nice to Leroy, but Queen doesn't see why she
should. Leroy doesn’t just stink; Queen thinks he tells lies—whoppers in
fact. And when he says he’s an African prince from Senegal, Queen makes it
her mission to prove Leroy is an impostor.
But as she gets closer to discovering Leroy’s real story, Queen learns the
unexpected from her broken bike boy: what being a good friend and “happily
ever after” really mean.
Bang
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Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (July 31, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 078684955X
ISBN-13: 978-0786849550
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.6 inches
Bang! Guns really sound like that, you know.
Bang! And people bleed from everywhere, and blood is redder than you think.
And little kids look funny in caskets. That’s ’cause they ain’t meant to be
in one, I guess.
Mann is only thirteen, yet he has already had to deal with more than most go
through in a lifetime. His family is still reeling from the tragic shooting
death of his little brother, Jason, each person coping with grief in his or
her own way. Mann’s mother has stopped eating and is obsessed with
preserving Jason’s memory, while his father is certain that presenting a
hard edge is the only way to keep his remaining son from becoming a
statistic. Mann used to paint and ride horseback, but now he’s doing
everything he can to escape his emotions: getting involved in fights at
school, joyriding at midnight, and much worse. His father, at his wit’s end,
does the only thing he thinks will teach his son how to be a man: he
abandons him and his friend Kee-Lee in the woods, leaving them to navigate
their way home, alone.
Now Mann, struggling to find his way back to civilization, must also
reconcile himself to the realities of a world that has stolen his little
brother, and that isn’t even sure it still wants Mann in it. One wrong turn
and it could all be over for him, too. Bang.
Who Am I Without Him? Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their
Lives
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Reading level: Ages 8 and up
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (April 26, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786806931
ISBN-13: 978-0786806935
Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
There is "The Ugly One," whose only solace comes when she is locked inside
her own head. In "Wanted: A Thug," a teenager seeks advice on how to steal
her best friend's bad-guy boyfriend. And then there's Erika, who only likes
white boys. Sharon Flake takes readers through the minds of girls trying to
define themselves while struggling to remain relevant to the boys in their
lives. This is a complex, often humorous, always on-point exposition of
black youth resolving to find self-worth . . . any way they know how.
Money Hungry
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Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (July 17, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1423103866
ISBN-13: 978-1423103868
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.4 inches
Thirteen-year-old Raspberry Hill is starved for money. She will do just
about anything legal to get her hands on the almighty dollar--wash cars,
sell rotten candy, skip lunch, clean houses. She is obsessed. She is driven.
She is afraid. Memories of being homeless, sleeping in the streets, and
eating handouts keep Raspberry's eye on the only prize that matters to her:
cold, hard cash. When the green stuff greases her palm, she gets comfort
from feeling its crinkly paper power. And, when money is your best friend,
there's more to do than hold it. Raspberry kisses her cash. She smells it.
She loves it.
But even money can't answer the questions that keep Raspberry awake at
night. Will she and Momma ever move out of the projects? What did Ja'nae do
with the two hundred bucks Raspberry loaned her? And what's really going on
with Momma and that rich doctor?
A haunting story of greed and forgiveness by the award-winning author of The
Skin I'm In, this unforgettable novel will keep you glued to every page.
Bank on it.
Begging for Change - sequel to Money Hungry
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Reading level: Ages 10 and up
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Jump At The Sun (May 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786814055
ISBN-13: 978-0786814053
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
Raspberry Hill, who once was homeless, vowed never to end up on the streets
again. To her, money equals security. But when a troubled neighborhood
teenager attacks her mother, Raspberry is desperate for things in her life
to change and ends up stealing from her best friend. But nothing good comes
from bad money. And as her thoughts alternate between the two men in her
life-as her relationship with Sato blossoms and her relationship with her
drug-addicted father erodes-Raspberry must finally confront the biggest of
all her fears: is she really much different from her thieving father after
all? How will her friends react when the find out what she's done? Raspberry
is certain...something's got to change.
The Skin I'm In
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Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (July 31, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1423103858
ISBN-13: 978-1423103851
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
Maleeka suffers every day from the taunts of the other kids in her class. If
they're not getting at her about her homemade clothes or her good grades,
it's about her dark, black skin.
When a new teacher, whose face is blotched with a startling white patch,
starts at their school, Maleeka can see there is bound to be trouble for her
too. But the new teacher's attitude surprises Maleeka. Miss Saunders loves
the skin she's in. Can Maleeka learn to do the same?
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