Ten short stories told in the first-person voices of young African-American teenagers deal with the emotional ups and downs they encounter in their day-to-day dealings with the opposite sex. Readers get inside each narrator’s head, witnessing all the heart poundings and heartaches, the bickering and bullying that goes on in these character’s lives in their search for love and validation. Some stories are particularly gut-wrenching: for example, the young girl who completely gives up her identity to please the undeserving boy she has a crush on in “So I Ain’t No Good Girl.” But all are painfully realistic and true to the middle-school voice, something that distinguishes all of Sharon G. Flake’s writing. (Ages 11–14)

Guys and girls get together, get played, and get real.

Who Am I Without Him? is a Booklist Top Ten Romance Novel for Teens and is "breaking new and necessary ground"

in twelve short stories about guys and girls falling in and out of love and relationships, testing out ways to communicate with one another, respect each other -- and respect themselves.

This is a complex, often humorous, and always on-point exploration of today's teens determined to find love and self-worth . . . any way they know how.

Note: this is potentially going to be in a bind-up with You Don't Even Know Me.