Books by Adele Griffin

Where I Want to Be

by Adele Griffin

Once, Jane was the big sister, teaching Lily to play make believe and protecting her from thunderstorms. But then Lily grew up. She started making friends and dating boys, while Jane wanted to go on playing make believe forever. For Jane, the line between fantasy and reality had always blurred, whereas Lily lived for a future bright with expectation and change. Inevitably, the sisters found a gulf widening between them-Lily reveling in her newfound love, while Jane could only watch, frustrated, from the sidelines. How had her little sister managed to eclipse her?
Then tragedy struck. But the story was not over. . . .
Adele Griffin has crafted a spellbinding book, told in the alternating voices of two very different sisters dwelling on opposite sides of life and death, who are bravely trying to overcome the void and bring light to each other.

Where I Want to Be

by Adele Griffin

As children, sisters Jane and Lily were inseparable. But as Lily grew up, older sister Jane wanted to forever stay in the makebelieve worlds they had created when they were young. For Jane, the line between fantasy and reality had always been blurred. Then tragedy strikes, and Lily is forced to take on the role of the big sister. But will she be able to carry on and live her life in real time when Jane is forever stuck in a world that is different from reality? With two voices and a haunting narrative, Adele Griffin tells a tale of two sisters whose bond is so strong that it ties them together even after death.

Hannah, Divided

by Adele Griffin

In 1934, a thirteen-year-old with a gift for numbers is offered the chance to leave her family's dairy farm to spend one term at an exclusive Philadelphia girls' school preparing for a scholarship exam.

Witch Twins and Melody Malady

by Adele Griffin

Ten-year-old twin witches Claire and Luna learn how to transform into their animal selves and are encouraged to use their abilities to help someone, but they get distracted when they meet child star Melody Malady.

Guys Read: Terrifying Tales (Guys Read, 6)

by Dav Pilkey, Claire Legrand, R.L. Stine, Rita Williams-Garcia, Jon Scieszka, Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown, Adam Gidwitz, Michael Buckley, Nikki Loftin, Kelly Barnhill, Daniel Jose Older

Be afraid, be very afraid of Terrifying Tales, the sixth volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading.
Eleven masters of suspense—Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley, Adam Gidwitz, Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown, Claire Legrand, Nikki Loftin, Daniel José Older, Dav Pilkey, R.L. Stine, and Rita Williams-Garcia—have come together to bring you a bone-chilling collection of original ghost stories with illustrations by Gris Grimly, perfect for sharing around the campfire, reading under the covers with a flashlight, and scaring your friends’ pants off.
Compiled and edited by kid-lit madman Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Terrifying Tales is a creepy-fun read (if you’re brave enough, that is).

All You Never Wanted

by Adele Griffin

With my eyes closed and Alex's core friends all around me, it was like I'd become my big sister, or something just as good. And so who cared if they were calling it Alex's party? One thing I knew: it would be remembered as mine.

Alex has it all—brains, beauty, popularity, and a dangerously hot boyfriend. Her little sister Thea wants it all, and she's stepped up her game to get it. Even if it means spinning the truth to win the attention she deserves. Even if it means uncovering a shocking secret her older sister never wanted to share. Even if it means crying wolf.

Told in the alternating voices of Alex and Thea, Adele Griffin's mesmerizing new novel is the story of a sibling rivalry on speed.

From the Hardcover edition.

Loud Awake and Lost

by Adele Griffin

There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. Eight months later, Ember feels broken. She can’t even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won’t talk about?

In the wake of her critically praised young adult psychological thrillers, Tighter and All You Never Wanted, National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin has created another triumph in this unflinching story of loss and recovery that Booklist called “exquisite” in a starred review.

My Almost Epic Summer

by Adele Griffin

Stuck babysitting during the summer while her friends take glamorous vacations, fourteen-year-old Irene learns some lessons about life after meeting a beautiful, yet troubled, girl.

Vampire Island

by Adele Griffin

Siblings Maddy, Lexie, and Hudson Livingstone, who are vampire-fruit bat hybrids, struggle to adjust to living as humans in New York City while maintaining their individual vampire strengths.

V is for . . . Vampire: A Vampire Island Story

by Adele Griffin

Lexie might be the first vampire ever to run for ninth-grade class president, but she's determined to make dreamy Dylan notice her, even if it means running against perfect, popular Mina. And things would be going pretty well, if it weren't for those annoying pixie houseguests! Blix and Mitzi are wreaking backwards-speaking, house-pinkifying havoc, and now they want Lexie to run a smear campaign against Mina. But how will all this dirty campaigning affect Lexie, when she's trying to shed her evil vampire nature and become human?

Picture the Dead

by Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown

"A perfectly haunting combination."―Jon Scieszka, bestselling author and Caldecott Honor winner
"I loved Picture the Dead. Eerie, romantic, moody, and immersive. A beautifully illustrated gothic delight!"―Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cat
"A tour de force, a remarkable feat of visual and verbal storytelling, as playful as it is serious, as haunting as it is delightful."―Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Jennie feels the tingling presence of something unnatural in the house now that Will is dead.
Her heart aches without him, and she still doesn't know how he really died. It seems that everywhere she turns, someone is hiding yet another clue. As Jennie seeks the truth, she finds herself drawn ever deeper into a series of tricks and lies, secrets and betrayals, and begins to wonder if she had every really known Will at all.

Picture the Dead

by Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown

A ghost will find his way home.
Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiancé falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past.
When Jennie forms an unlikely alliance with a spirit photographer, she begins to uncover secrets about the man she thought she loved. With her sanity on edge and her life in the balance, can Jennie expose the chilling truth before someone-or something-stops her?
Against the brutal, vivid backdrop of the American Civil War, Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown have created a spellbinding mystery where the living cannot always be trusted and death is not always the end.
Praise for Picture the Dead
"A tour de force, a remarkable feat of visual and verbal storytelling, as playful as it is serious, as haunting as it is delightful."
-Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist
"Love story, mystery, ghost story...Picture the
Dead is a gripping, gorgeously graphic novel about a girl who risks everything...Jennie's voice and the pictures she shows us bring this swift, wonderfully chilling story to life."
-Kit Reed, author of The Night Children
"I loved Picture the Dead. Eerie, romantic, moody, and immersive. A beautifully illustrated gothic delight!"
-Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale

Be True to Me

by Adele Griffin

A riveting tale of romantic suspense with a shocking twist ending set within the gates of a Fire Island colony of the super rich.

Jean, a privileged, sometimes cruel, often insecure, and always envious girl, is accustomed to living in her glamorous older sister’s shadow. So when Gil Burke, a handsome newcomer with uncertain ties to one of the most powerful families in the exclusive enclave of Sunken Haven, notices Jean, she is smitten. Then Fritz, a girl from outside the gilded gates who humiliated Jean in the island’s tennis championship last year, falls for Gil herself. Soon the girls are competing for much more than a tennis trophy, with higher stakes than either of them can imagine.

Through the alternating perspectives of Jean and Fritz against a backdrop of sunbathing, lobster bakes, and the Bicentennial summer, Adele Griffin captures the angst of feeling like you don’t belong and the urgency of first love with masterly prose and a sharp, intricate wit perfect for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.

The Becket List: A Blackberry Farm Story

by Adele Griffin

"Charming and beautifully humorous . . . A sparkling story of weathering change." —Booklist, starred review

Everything is changing for Becket Branch.

From subways to sidewalks to safety rules, she is a city kid born and raised. Now the Branch family is trading urban bustle for big green fields and moving to help their gran on Blackberry Farm, where Becket has to make sense of new routines, from feeding animals to baling hay.

But Becket is ready! She even makes her own “Becket List” for How to Be a Country Kid. Things don’t always work out the way she planned, but whether it’s selling mouth-puckering lemonade, feeding hostile hens, or trying to make a new best friend, Becket is determined to use her city smarts to get a grip on country living.

Get ready to yell “Beautiful Alert!” along with Becket as she mucks through the messy, exuberant experience of change she didn’t ask for, in a story that sparkles with quirky characters, cheerful humor, and unexpected adventures.

Tell Me No Lies

by Adele Griffin

When secrets are forced into the light, will the bonds between Claire, Lizzy, and Matt be enough to keep everything from falling apart?

Life changes for Lizzy Swift when Claire Reynolds transfers to the Argyll School in their senior year. Claire is all Lizzy is not—reckless, independent, effortlessly cool. Claire introduces Lizzy to downtown Philadelphia—its clubs, parties, and vibrant art scene, and helps her get together with Matt, who Lizzy’s been crushing on for years. Soon Lizzy’s once-quiet life is full of adventure and passion. But Lizzy’s grades are slipping, and her new relationships are complicated. Sometimes Lizzy feels that she and Matt are soul mates, but other times he holds back from her. Claire can be moody and evasive, too. Lizzy knows her boyfriend and best friend are hiding things from her. Can what they have together last when the truth comes out?

Agnes and Clarabelle Celebrate!

by Adele Griffin, Courtney Sheinmel

Read & Bloom offers high interest, character driven stories for newly independent readers that feature full-color illustrations throughout and will transition kids from leveled readers to a lifetime of reading.

Celebrate with Agnes and Clarabelle!

Agnes the pig and Clarabelle the chicken are best friends who love to celebrate holidays! They wear flower crowns and dance around the Maypole, perform in the Fourth of July parade, make the spookiest Halloween costumes, and count down the New Year in style. Three . . . two . . . one . . . fun! For Agnes and Clarabelle, everything is better when they're together!

Agnes and Clarabelle

by Adele Griffin, Courtney Sheinmel

Read & Bloom offers high interest, character driven stories for newly independent readers that feature full-color illustrations throughout and will transition kids from leveled readers to a lifetime of reading.
Meet Agnes and Clarabelle!
Agnes the pig and Clarabelle the chicken are best friends through every season! Whether it's planning the perfect birthday party in the spring, spending a summer day at the beach, braving a big department store in the fall, or making the very best pizza in winter, they help each other through every up and down. For Agnes and Clarabelle, everything is better when they're together!

The Favor A Novel

by Adele Griffin

From National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin, an insightful and warmhearted story of two very different women who make an unexpected connection when one decides to carry a baby for the other.

At I'll Have Seconds, a high-end fairytale vintage dress shop in Manhattan, Nora Hammond loves nothing better than pairing a rare find with the perfect client.

At home, Nora grapples with the bleaker reality of enormous debt, a tiny apartment, and ever-dwindling hope that she and her husband Jacob will have a family of their own.

When socialite Evelyn Elliot charges into Nora's life, the women spark an immediate connection, and Nora is jettisoned into the heady whirl of New York's moneyed elite. As Evelyn's stylist and confidante, Nora needs to learn all new rules of engagement for the uber-wealthy. But it isn't until Evelyn decides her next cause is to carry a baby for Nora, that these rules-- and this unlikely friendship--are tested.

A contemporary story that celebrates alternative routes to family, The Favor is an incisive examination of what it means to long for a child and what relationships cost us--and what they're worth.