"Just days after the close of World War II, Bess Myerson—, the college-educated daughter of poor Russian Jewish immigrants living in the Bronx—, is competing in the Miss America pageant. At stake: a $5,000 scholarship. The tension and excitement in Atlantic City’s Warner Theatre is palpable, especially for traumatized Jews rooting for one of their own. So begins Bessie. Drawing on biographical and historical sources, Bessie reimagines the early...

"Meet Vera Johnson, the uncommonly resourceful fifteen-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello and ally to the city’s corrupt politicians. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—the madam’s alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen, and scant morality, and the violent, debt ridden domestic life of the family paid to raise her. On the morning of the great...

Fifteen-year-old Eleanor Fromme just chopped off all her hair. How else should she cope after hearing that her bully, James, has taken his own life? When Eleanor's English teacher suggests students write a letter to a person who would never read it to get their feelings out, Eleanor chooses James. With each letter she writes, Eleanor discovers more about herself, even while trying to make sense of his death. And Eleanor not only learns what it means...

‘inyeon’, ‘jeonyeon’ hog-eun ‘eonna’lago bullineun sonyeoga issda. geodeubdoeneun appaui poglyeoggwa eommaui gachul-e sidallidaga jasin-ui bumoneun jinjja bumoga anilago hwagsinhago jinjja-eommaleul chajgi wihae jib-eul naonda. sonyeoneun hwang-geumdabang jangmieonni, taebaegsigdang halmeoni, gyohoe cheongnyeon, pyegaui namja, gagseol-ipae deung-eul mannamyeonseo ijeon-e neukkyeoboji moshan haengbog-eul neukkigido hajiman, gajang haengboghan...

"Anita is over her life in New York: her dead-end job, tiny studio apartment, self-obsessed friends, and overbearing mom. So she moves west to Los Angeles in search of a new career, enlightenment, and that nebulous target…wellness. She discovers an elite workout class called the Goddess Effect, run by a lifestyle guru named Venus who’s the very definition of #goals. One look at her Lululemon-clad acolytes sweating out their demons while dripping...

"Young Marcus Stroman is determined to make it to the highest playing level he can, despite every coach telling him he’s not tall enough to become a 'real' pitcher. He’ll show them…with some struggling and a whole lot of learning. It’s easy to forget that for every professional sports player there was a kid just learning that sport, dealing with nerves during try-outs, dropping the ball when all their teammates are counting on them, and learning...

"Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan. Students call their teachers by their first names, there are no grades, and every day begins with 20 minutes of contemplative silence in the Meetinghouse. It is during one of those meetings that an airplane hits the Twin Towers. For two Idlewild outcasts, 9/11 serves as the first day of an intense, 18-month friendship. Fay is prickly, aloof, and obsessed with gay men; Nell is shy, sensitive,...

"Siblings Jordan and Chung face a costly existence on their family’s Kansas farm. On a conciliatory trip once again turned violent, Jordan and Chung escape the chaos of their parents’ fighting to the middle of a lake. When something pulls them under, a voice speaks to them. In their long trudge back to the living, they find their chemistries altered. Jordan breathes smoke when angry. Chung flops like a fish out of water when provoked. In the years...