5:30 a.m., Brianna Pelletier gets ready for her daily pounding. As she lies on the couch, her dad beats her chest, then her back, coaxing the mucus out of her lungs. The pounding doesn’t take care of everything. Brianna’s held out for a long time, but a body with cystic fibrosis doesn’t last forever. It doesn’t matter that Brianna has a brilliant mathematical mind or that she’s a shoo-in for MIT. Or even that her two best friends are beautiful, popular, and loyal. In the grand scheme of things, none of that stuff matters at all. The standard life, lasting maybe seventy-five years, is no more than a speck in the sum total of the universe. At eighteen, and doubting she’ll make nineteen, Brianna is practically a nonentity. Of course she’s done the math. But in her senior year of high school, Brianna learns of another kind of math, in which an infinitely small, near-zero quantity can have profound effects on an entire system. If these tiny quantities didn’t exist, things wouldn’t make the same sense. Funny, tear-jerking, and memorable, the author’s second novel for teens introduces readers to an extraordinary girl who learns that the meaning of forever can change, and that life – and death – is filled with infinite possibilities. Forever Changes is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Forever Changes

Teen & Young Adult

Halpin, Brendan

Literature & Fiction

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Since his dad died, Eddie's mom has spent all her time getting high on OxyContin, leaving Eddie to take care of himself. When Eddie's mom goes into rehab and his aunt and uncle take him away to Boston, everything changes. His new school, which he attends with his cousin Alex, is experimental: there's a CEO instead of a principal, classes are held in an office building, and the students, all sporting business-casual looks, are the only urban kids Eddie has ever seen outside of a rap video. As for Alex, it's bad enough that he has to share his bedroom with Eddie, but his parents are on his case about including his quiet cousin in his social life as well. Alex wants to do the right thing, but between talking to girls, playing video games, thinking about girls, laughing with his friends, and looking at girls, when is he supposed to find time to help Eddie and "work up to his potential" in school? 
Two boys find that they have a lot to learn from each other in this touching, funny novel about finding your place and looking out for your friends.

How Ya Like Me Now

Amanda and Lena have been soccer stars and best friends for years, but now, when Amanda makes the junior varsity team and Lena makes the varsity, Amanda finds herself increasingly shut out of her friend's life. Suddenly, everything Amanda took for granted is changing--but she's about to discover that might not be bad. Brendan Halpin's new novel is about friendship, family, soccer, and the confusing time when everything that used to feel simple suddenly feels complicated.

Shutout

Children's Books

“When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, I joked that I couldn’t decide between alcoholism and overeating as a coping strategy. My wife suggested I write about it instead. She is always right. I couldn’t write a cloying, sentimental story of inspiring courage, so instead I wrote what was real to me—fear, lust, annoyance, love, fatigue, resentment, existential terror, horror movies, alcohol, and country music. It’s not pretty, but it is real. I hope you like it.” This book is a horror story and a comedy, but, most of all, it is a love story. It is the story of what happens to a man who fears that his best friend might leave him forever. Feeling helpless, angry, and scared, Brendan Halpin sat down at his computer late at night or early in the morning and wrote. Pages poured out of him whenever something struck him as funny, whenever he was annoyed with a medical professional or family member, whenever he was terrified, and whenever he couldn’t sleep—in other words, every day. What came out is sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious, but always honest—a journey into the head of a man whose wife is critically ill. This book will take you to the depths of fear and despair. It will also make you laugh until you feel sick. If that sounds contradictory, well, start reading.

It Takes a Worried Man: A Memoir

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Diseases & Physical Ailments

Villard

Two of Us

Life is not going well for teenage Rosalind. As if losing her two moms to a truck-load of frozen poultry wasn't bad enough, she's been packed off to live with a guy she barely knows, just because he donated some sperm to her mothers years ago. Bewildered, but determined to do things right, Sean struggles with his new-found fatherhood, which is tested to its limits as his newly acquired daughter starts hanging out with Bitches With Problems and develops a worrying passion for heavy metal.But out of teenage misdemeanour, fist-fights at school and unresolved grief an unlikely alliance is formed. And in trying to make sense of what has happened to their lives, Rosalind and Sean gradually lay the foundations for something new.

Contemporary

Review

Life is not going well for teenage Rosalind. As if losing her two moms to a truck-load of frozen poultry wasn't bad enough, she's been packed off to live with a guy she barely knows, just because he donated some sperm to her mothers years ago. Bewildered, but determined to do things right, Sean struggles with his new-found fatherhood, which is tested to its limits as his newly acquired daughter starts hanging out with Bitches With Problems and develops a worrying passion for heavy metal. But out of teenage misdemeanour, fist-fights at school and unresolved grief an unlikely alliance is formed. And in trying to make sense of what has happened to their lives, Rosalind and Sean gradually lay the foundations for something new.

Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance

Fans of romance don't need to look any further than the fauxmance brewing between teen idols Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers-known on their hit TV show as Jenna and Jonah, next-door neighbors flush with the excitement of first love. But it's their off-screen relationship that has helped cement their fame, as passionate fans follow their every PDA. They grace the covers of magazines week after week. Their fan club has chapters all over the country. The only problem is their off-screen romance is one big publicity stunt, and Charlie and Fielding can't stand to be in the same room. Still, it's a great gig, so even when the cameras stop rolling, the show must go on, and on, and on. . . . Until the pesky paparazzi blow their cover, and Charlie and Fielding must disappear to weather the media storm. It's not until they're far off the grid of the Hollywood circuit that they realize that there's more to each of them than shiny hair and a winning smile.

Franklin, Emily

Arts, Music & Photography

Walker Childrens

As long as they've been able to walk and talk, it's always been Lucas and Tessa, Tessa and Lucas. Their friendship is the stuff of legend. As prom approaches and other events unfold, Lucas suddenly awakens to romantic feelings he is having for Tessa and asks her to the prom in a very public, grandstanding way-which completely backfires when she comes out to him as a lesbian. Humiliated and confused, Lucas feels betrayed by his best friend's secret. 
When Tessa decides to publicly come out for prom, by attending in a tastefully tailored tuxedo with her female crush, the community and Lucas are outraged. But when Tessa is banned from attending prom unless she goes in a more conventional way, Lucas must decide if he should stand on the sidelines as the community bashes his former best friend. Will his own outrage and hurt feelings lead him to join the Tessa opposition? Or will he make the grandest gesture of support and friendship of all?

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom

LGBTQ+ Books

Lucas and Tessa have always had a close friendship. So it's no surprise when Lucas finally realizes his true feeling for Tessa and he asks her to Prom. What no one expected, especially Lucas, was for Tessa to come out as a lesbian-or for Tessa's decision to wear a tuxedo and escort her female crush to Prom, to spark a firestorm of controversy. Humiliated and confused, Lucas must decide if he should stand on the sidelines or if he should stand by his friend to make sure that Tessa Masterson will go to Prom.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Halpin, Brendan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Halpin, Brendan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Halpin, Brendan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Forever Changes

How Ya Like Me Now

Shutout

It Takes a Worried Man: A Memoir

Two of Us

Two of Us

Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance

Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom