Jimi & Me

by Jaime Adoff

"Barely a month has passed, and Keith is being forced to move from big-city Brooklyn, New York, to small-town Hollow Falls, Ohio. Keith enters the eighth grade at his new school, not surprised to find he’s the only one with an Afro, a wardrobe straight out of the ’60s, and a zealous appreciation of Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist who ever lived. Struggling to start over, Keith finds comfort in Jimi’s music, wisdom in his lyrics, and a connection to the man himself—Jimi was a left-hander who loved to write music and poetry, just like Keith. Through the storm of his tragic loss, Keith begins to see the few rays of happiness in this tiny new town--especially when the beautiful Veronica, long blond hair falling everywhere, looks his way.

Soon, however, Keith discovers there may be a journey even more painful than coming to peace with his father’s death—coming to peace with his father’s life. As powerful secrets from his dad’s past come to light, the man Keith once worshipped suddenly becomes the man he hardly knew. Everything is going to be different now."

From the author's website

Defining Dulcie

by Paul Acampora

"Following the accidental death of her father, Dulcie Morrigan Jones is taken to California by a mom who decides that she and her daughter should move away from Connecticut to reinvent themselves. But Dulcie doesn’t think she needs reinventing. Dulcie's solution? She steals her dead dad’s Chevy pickup truck and heads back home to Connecticut. There, under the supervision of a larger than life grandfather, she meets Roxanne Soule, a girl whose scary home life makes Dulcie realize that her own situation might not be so bad. And luckily for Roxanne, Dulcie Morrigan Jones is a girl with a storehouse of strength and generosity of spirit that stretches on for miles.

Defining Dulcie is about the connections we make, the resilience of the human spirit, and the absurdities that keep life interesting."

From the author's website