- Billingsley, ReShonda Tate. With Friends Like These. 2007. (YA Fiction Billi.R)
- Billingsley's Ten Commandments-based teen series continues with this story of a group of girls who find faith and friendship in an after-school church group. Having established friendships with each other and an easy relationship with their group leader, Camille, Angel, Alexis, and Jasmine are reluctant to accept two new girls who join their after school church youth group.
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- Bonham, Frank. Durango Street. 1999. (YA Fiction Bonha.F 1999)
- When Rufus Henry gets out of work camp for Grand Theft Auto, he has only one place to go— back to Durango Street. Almost right away, he gets on the wrong side of the Gassers, has to join the rival Moors— and starts running for his life. Years ahead of its time, Durango Street, like The Outsiders, shows that gang violence is, sadly, nothing new— and nothing glamorous.
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- Booth, Coe. Tyrell. 2006. (YA Fiction Booth.C)
- This astonishing debut novel is of a young, African-American teen who can't get a break. Tyrell is living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter. He feels he needs to score some money to make things better. Will he end up following in his fathers footsteps?
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- Booth, Coe. Kendra. 2008. (YA Fiction Booth.C)
- High schooler Kendra longs to live with her mother who, unprepared for motherhood at age fourteen, left Kendra in the care of her grandmother to pursue her goal of a PhD.
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- Buckhanon, Kalisha. Upstate. 2005. (YA Fiction Buckh.K)
- Antonio and Natasha, two Harlem teenagers, are deeply in love with each other, but their relationship is put to the test when Antonio goes to jail just before their senior year for killing his father, a crime he may or may not have committed. The story is written in the form of letters between Antonio and Natasha.
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- Draper, Sharon M. Romiette And Julio. 1999. (YA Fiction Drape.S)
- Romiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating.
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- Elkeles, Simone. Perfect Chemistry. 2009. (YA Fiction Elkel.S)
- When wealthy, seemingly perfect Brittany Ellis and Alex Fuentes, a Latino Blood gang member from the other side of town, develop a relationship after they each discover that the other has more to them than they let on, they must face the disapproval of their schoolmates--and others.
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- Flake, Sharon. Bang!. 2005. (YA Fiction Flake.S)
- A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man.
- Jones, Traci L.. Standing Against The Wind. 2006. (YA Fiction Jones.T)
- As
she tries to escape her poor Chicago neighborhood by winning a
scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, shy and studious Patrice discovers that she has more options in life than
she previously realized.
- Jordan, Dream. Hot Girl. 2008. (YA Fiction Jorda.D)
- Kate, a fourteen-year-old Brooklyn girl and former gang member, risks losing her first good foster family when she adopts the risqué ways of her flirtatious new friend, Naleejah.
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- Langan, Paul. Blood Is Thicker. 2007. (YA Fiction Bluford)
- Hakeem Randall can't take it anymore. First he must leave his friends at Bluford High and move in with his uncle in faraway Detroit. Then things go from bad to worse when Hakeem is forced to share a bedroom with his moody and secretive cousin, Savon.
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- McDonald, Janet. Project Girl. 1999. (YA B Mcdon.J Mcdon.J)
- The compelling story of a black woman's coming-of-age, "Project Girl is the powerful story of a black woman with a genius IQ whose coming-of-age in a Brooklyn public housing project locks her into a struggle with the growing poverty, drug abuse, and violence of a neighborhood in decline.
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- McMullan, Margaret. Cashay. 2009. (YA Fiction Mcmul.M)
- When her world is turned upside down by her sister's death, a mentor is assigned to fourteen-year-old Cashay to help her through her anger and grief.
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- Myers, Walter Dean. Dope Sick. 2009. (YA Fiction Myers.W)
- Seeing no way out of his difficult life in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Jeremy "Lil J" Dance flees into a house after a drug deal goes awry and meets a weird man who shows different turning points in Lil J's life when he could have made better choices.
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- Myers, Walter Dean. Street Love. 2007. (YA Fiction Myers.W 2007)
- This story told in free verse is set against a background of street gangs and poverty in Harlem in which seventeen-year-old African American Damien takes a bold step to ensure that he and his new love will not be separated.
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- Mowry, Jess. Babylon Boyz. 1997. (YA Fiction Mowry.J)
- Inner-city teenagers find a suitcase full of cocaine and must decide whether to sell it and take the opportunities the money would provide or to destroy it to keep the drug from poisoning their community.
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- Parra, Kelly. Graffiti Girl. 2007. (YA Fiction Parra.K)
- A high school student and artist is tempted by the seductive world of graffiti art. Kelly’s book brilliantly captures her search for her true identity as she struggles to follow her dream.
- Sapphire. Push : A Novel. 1996. (YA Fiction Sapphir 1997)
- A courageous and determined young teacher opens up a new world of hope and redemption for sixteen-year-old Precious Jones, an abused young African a American girl living in Harlem who was raped and left pregnant for the second time by her father. (The movie, "Precious," is based on this book)
- Schraff, Anne E. A Matter Of Trust. 2007. (YA Fiction Bluford)
- Darcy Wills and Brisana Meeks were friends in grade school, but all that changed at Bluford High when Darcy started hanging with “the zeros”—a group of students Brisana despises. Now the former friends are bitter rivals.
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- Schraff, Anne E. Someone To Love Me. 2007. (YA Fiction Bluford)
- At first, Bobby Wallace was everything Cindy Gibson hoped for. He was friendly, seemingly mature, and handsome--the perfect escape from her problems in school and even bigger troubles at home. But then, Bobby starts behaving strangely, and Cindy gets scared.
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- Schmidt, C. A. Useful Fools. 2007. (YA Fiction Schmi.C)
- Alonso, a dirt-poor teenager living in Peru, helps out at the public health clinic his mother, Magdalena, opened, so that he can see Rosa, the beautiful and wealthy daughter of the clinics doctor. Alonso and Rosa are both shattered when Magdalena is assassinated by a revolutionary terrorist organization.
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- Serros, Michele M.. Honey Blonde Chica : A Novel. 2006. (YA Fiction Serro.M)
- This sexy new novel for chicas everywhere tells the story of high schooler Evie Gomez who's not sure if she wants to be a fun-loving, high-heeled, hair-streaked Sango or a laid-back surfer chick Flojo.
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- Simone, Ni-Ni. If I Was Your Girl. 2008. (YA Fiction Simon.N)
- Smokin' hot Toi McKnight never had no trouble catching boys. With a body like Beyonce she's everywhere you want to be - in the arms of that guy you want, at the hippest parties, walking out of the finest fashion stores, full bags dangling on her arms. But, all that comes crashing to an end when she finds out she's pregnant. Now it's strollers and diapers all the way. Who'd want her now? Toi is alone and her old life is gone, 'cuz she's got to be good to her child. Then Toi meets Harlem and it turns out he sees her for who she is, not just some deadbeat teen mom. Soon she learns the struggles of being a good mom while trying to keep love alive. Can she make it work? Can she hold on to Harlem? Or should she push him away and avoid the hurt she knows is probably coming?
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- Sitomer, Alan Lawrence. Homeboyz. 2007. (YA Fiction Sitom.A)
- This story follows an African-American teenager through four years at her inner-city high school. Seventeen-year-old Teddy Anderson, who is known on the streets as T-Bear, decides to seek revenge on the person responsible for his little sister's death, which was caused by a stray bullet from a semiautomatic handgun.
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- Stork, Francisco X. Behind The Eyes. 2006. (YA Fiction Stork.F)
- Sixteen-year-old Hector is the hope of his family, but when he seeks revenge after his brother's gang-related death and is sent to a San Antonio reform school, it takes an odd assortment of characters to help him see that hope is still alive.
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- Souljah, Sister. The Coldest Winter Ever : A Novel. 2006. (YA Fiction Souljah 2006)
- After a black drug dealer goes to jail in Brooklyn, his ruthless 17-year-old daughter, Winter, takes over his empire. Souljah looks at the mores and manners of the black underclass, this one with money.
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- Williams-Garcia, Rita. Jumped. 2009. (YA Fiction Willi.R)
- The lives of Leticia, Dominique, and Trina are irrevocably intertwined through the course of one day in an urban high school after Leticia overhears Dominique's plans to beat up Trina and must decide whether or not to get involved.
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