Thompson, Neal.Kickflip Boys: A Memoir of Freedom, Rebellion, and the Chaos of Fatherhood. Ecco, 2018.

What makes a good father, and what makes one a failure? Does less-is-more parenting inspire independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and trouble? Kickflip Boys is the story of a father’s struggle to understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable “skate dad,” and to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an unconventional and potentially fraught future.

Cumming, Alan.Not My Father's Son: A Memoir. Dey Street Books, 2014.

When television producers approached Alan Cumming to appear on a popular celebrity genealogy show, he hoped to solve the mystery of his maternal grandfather's disappearance that had long cast a shadow over his family. But this was not the only mystery laid before Alan. Alan grew up in the grip of a man who held his family hostage, someone who meted out violence with a frightening ease, who waged a silent war with himself that sometimes spilled over onto everyone around him.

McClelland, Edward.Nothin' But Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times, and Hopes of America's Industrial Heartland. Bloomsbury Press, 2013.

Nothin' but Blue Skies tells the story of how the country's industrial heartland grew, boomed, bottomed, and hopes to be reborn. Through a propulsive blend of storytelling and reportage, celebrated writer Edward McClelland delivers the rise, fall, and revival of the Rust Belt and its people.

Hooks, Bell.All About Love: New Visions.HarperCollins, 2000.

As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explore the question “What is love?” her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for individuals and for a nation.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi.Between the World and Me.Penguin Random House, 2015.

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Novak, Brandon and Joe Frantz.Dreamseller: An Addiction Memoir.Citadel, 2009.

At seven, Brandon was a skateboard prodigy. By the time he was fourteen, he was living the dream. Discovered by skate legends Bucky Lasek and Tony Hawk. Touring the U.S. with the elite Powell-Peralta team. Signing autographs and appearing in films and magazines. Brandon had it all. Then he got hooked on heroin. Soon the up-and-coming star was living a down-and-out life in a garage, begging for change, and hustling to score his next fix. He stole from his family and friends. He pushed the fantasy that everything was okay, that he was going to rehab, getting help, and getting better. But it was all a lie. This is the story of an addict—a dreamseller who stopped believing the lies he was selling and started believing in himself.

Meyer, Philipp.American Rust. Spiegel & Grau, 2009.

Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation—as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love—that arise from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, intertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes.

Chang, Leonard.Triplines.Seattle: Black Heron Press, 2014.

In this autobiographical novel, Leonard Chang, the author of critically acclaimed classics of Asian American literature, delves into his past, focusing on a pivotal period of his childhood when his mother was preparing to leave his alcoholic father, when he was befriended by and apprenticed with a local marijuana dealer, and when he began to discover the voice of his adulthood. This deeply felt and moving account of his preadolescence gives us a look at a young boy trying to find a sense of self and worth amid the turmoil of a fractured family life.

Birch, Dywane D.Silent Cry.Strebor Books, 2012.

In the sequel to Beneath the Bruises, this searing novel explores the effects of secondhand domestic violence on children. Silent Cry is the story of K’wan Taylor, the now fourteen-year-old son of Syreeta and Randall Taylor from Beneath the Bruises, who withstood his father’s sporadic outbursts and berating tirades by wishing, praying, and hoping his father would disappear. Feeling helpless and hopeless, K’wan spent most of his young life burdened with the pressure of believing he had to protect his mother from his father’s abuse, but not knowing how.

Whitmer, Benjamin.Cry Father.Gallery Books, 2014.

For Patterson Wells, disaster is the norm. Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he's still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more. Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping a woman tied up in the bathtub. In the ensuing chain of events, which will test not only his future but his past, Patterson tries to do the right thing. Still, in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice have made of each other strange, intoxicating bedfellows.

Mun, Nami.Miles From Nowhere.Riverhead Books, 2008.

Teenage Joon is a Korean immigrant living in the Bronx of the 1980s. Her parents have crumbled under the weight of her father's infidelity; he has left the family, and mental illness has rendered her mother nearly catatonic. So Joon, at the age of thirteen, decides she would be better off on her own, a choice that commences a harrowing and often tragic journey that exposes the painful difficulties of a life lived on the margins. Joon's adolescent years take her from a homeless shelter to an escort club, through struggles with addiction, to jobs selling newspapers and cosmetics, committing petty crimes, and finally toward something resembling hope.

Stutt, Ryan.The Skateboarding Field Manual.Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books, 2009.

Skateboarding is more than a sport; it is a passion and way of life driven by those who love to push the limits of gravity and inertia while bending the notions of social acceptability. The Skateboarding Field Manual addresses both the intricacies of the sport and the intangibles of its culture. Skateboard enthusiast and journalist Ryan Stutt provides outstanding advice, which ranges from how to stand on your board and how to fall without causing injuries to how to perform grinds, slides and flips. This comprehensive reference is simply the very best manual on the sport of skateboarding.

Akin, Jessica.Pregnancy and Parenting: the Ultimate Teen Guide. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

This book is for teen mothers and fathers who want to break negative perceptions of unplanned teen pregnancies. Stories from teen parents are shared in every chapter as a way for teen parents to learn from their peers. This book seeks to provide a new roadmap through true-life stories that educate, impact, and inspire teen parents.

Hugel, Bob.I Did It Without Thinking: True Stories About Impulsive Decisions That Changed Lives. Scholastic Inc., 2008.

This book is a collection of true stories from teens who made impulsive decisions that ultimately changed their lives. The text contains discussions of drug and alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy.

Morgan, Genevieve.Undecided: Navigating Life and Learning After High School. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

For high school students all over the country, figuring out what to do after graduation is a major question. For many, the logical answer is continuing their education, whether in a training program, a community college, or a four-year university. But no matter what the path, the preparation can be overwhelming, and it's hard to know where to start. That's where Undecided comes in! This comprehensive handbook outlines the different options available to teens after high school and provides suggestions on how to follow each path efficiently and successfully.

Flinn, Alex.Breathing Underwater. HarperCollins, 2001.

Intelligent, popular, handsome, and wealthy, sixteen-year-old Nick Andreas is pretty much perfect—on the outside, at least. What no one knows—not even his best friend—is the terror and anger that Nick faces every time he is alone with his father. Then he and Caitlin fall in love, and Nick thinks his problems are over. Caitlin is the one person he can confide in, the only person who understands him. But when Nick’s anger and jealousy overtake him, things begin to spiral out of control and Nick realizes that he’s more his father’s son than he wants to be. Now Nick must confront his inner demons to stop the history of violence from repeating itself.

Harmon, Michael B.Skate. A.A. Knopf, 2006.

There’s not much keeping Ian McDermott in Spokane, but at least it’s home. He’s been raising Sammy practically on his own ever since their mom disappeared again on one of her binges. They get by, finding just enough to eat and plenty of time to skateboard. But at Morrison High, Ian is getting the distinct, chilling feeling that the administration wants him and his board and his punked hair gone. Simply gone. And when his temper finally blows–he actually takes a swing at Coach Florence and knocks him cold–Ian knows he’s got to grab Sammy and skate.

Johnson, Angela.The First Part Last. Simon and Schuster, 2003.

Bobby is your classic urban teenaged boy—impulsive, eager, restless. On his sixteenth birthday he gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever. She's pregnant. Bobby's going to be a father. Suddenly things like school and house parties and hanging with friends no longer seem important as they're replaced by visits to Nia's obstetrician and a social worker who says that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption. With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson looks at the male side of teen pregnancy as she delves into one young man's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it.

Moser, Elise.Lily and Taylor. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2013.

After her older sister is murdered in a horrific incident of domestic abuse, Taylor begins a new life in a new town. She meets Lily, whose open, warm manner conceals a difficult personal life of her own, coping with her brain-injured mother. The two girls embark on a tentative friendship. But just when life seems to be smoothing out, Taylor’s abusive boyfriend, Devon, arrives on the scene, and before they know it, the girls find themselves in a situation that is both scary, and incredibly dangerous.

Quintero, Isabel.Gabi, A Girl in Pieces. Cinco Puntos Press, 2014.

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy's pregnancy, Sebastian's coming out, the cute boys, her father's meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

This resource was created, in part, with the generous support of the Open Society Foundation and The Center For Asian American Media.