Real Americans (2024) is Chinese American author Rachel Khong’s second novel. Khong’s first novel, Goodbye Vitamin (2017), was both a commercial and critical success and established her as an important new voice within Asian American literature. Real Americans is a polyvocal narrative that spans continents, generations, and decades to tell the story of May, Lily, and Nick Chen. It examines the impact of Mao’s Cultural Revolution on Chinese scientists and depicts the struggles of both... Read Real Americans Summary

Real Friends is a 2017 graphic novel memoir written by American author Shannon Hale (b. 1974) and illustrated by LeUyen Pham. The book chronicles Hale’s experiences growing up in Salt Lake City and starting school. The main narrative begins when Shannon starts kindergarten and ends just before she starts the sixth grade. Hale and Pham have since published two other graphic memoirs that continue the story of Real Friends. The second book in the series... Read Real Friends Summary

Reality Boy (2013) is a young adult novel by American writer A.S. King. Told through the first-person perspective of Gerald Faust, a teenage boy who grapples with trauma, the narrative explores Gerald’s childhood abuse and the public spotlight which facilitated it when his family is selected for a reality television series. Gerald’s account takes place during his teenage years and features chapters that flash back to the filming of the series.Plot SummaryWhen Gerald Faust was... Read Reality Boy Summary

Rebellion 1776 (2025) is a young adult historical novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. The story is set in March 1776 during the final, chaotic months of the British siege of Boston. Thirteen-year-old kitchen maid Elsbeth Culpepper is forced to navigate the dangerous, war-torn city after her father disappears on the night the British evacuate. Relying on her wits to survive, Elsbeth must contend with a raging smallpox epidemic, forge new alliances, and confront a cast... Read Rebellion 1776 Summary

Rebel Witch (2025) is the second and concluding book in the Crimson Moth duology, an adult fantasy romance series for young adults by Kristen Ciccarelli. The novel continues the story of a witch, Rune Winters, and a witch-hunter, Gideon Sharpe. In Rebel Witch, Rune, now a fugitive of the Republic, allies with former witch queen Cressida Roseblood to reclaim her throne from the Republic and reinstate the Reign of Witches. Gideon feels betrayed by Rune’s... Read Rebel Witch Summary

Rebound, published in 2018 by Kwame Alexander with illustrations by Dawud Anyabwile, is a novel in verse and a prequel to the Newbery Award-winning novel The Crossover (2014); it serves as the beginning of the three-part Crossover series. Kwame Alexander is an award-winning poet and author who primarily writes in the young adult and children’s genres, aiming to provide accessible entertainment for youth. An adaptation of the book series, The Crossover (2023), is available for... Read Rebound Summary

Reckless is the second installment in The Powerless Trilogy by American author Lauren Roberts. Published in July 2024, it follows Powerless (2023) and precedes Fearless (scheduled for 2025 release) The series also includes a stand-alone novel, Powerful (2024), set in the same universe. This young adult fantasy series first gained popularity on social media, where Roberts shared her writing journey and amassed a large readership. The popularity of her work stems from her reliance on... Read Reckless Summary

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (2015) is a non-fiction work by Sherry Turkle. A clinical psychologist and professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, Turkle specializes in human-technology interaction and has decades of experience writing on technology’s problematic effects on human connection. In Reclaiming Conversation, the book’s premise is in the title: Turkle believes that technology has detrimentally taken over human conversation and that we ought to... Read Reclaiming Conversation Summary

Redeeming 6 is a 2023 novel by bestselling novelist Chloe Walsh, and the fourth book in her Boys of Tommen series. A new adult romance about love, family, and new beginnings, Redeeming 6 centers on the relationship between two 18-year-old students, Aoife Molloy and Joey Lynch. As a sequel to the previous novel in the series, Saving 6, this novel continues the story of their breakup, reconciliation, and how they become parents. By employing many... Read Redeeming 6 Summary

Redeeming Love is a 1991 historical romance novel written by Francine Rivers. It is set in California in the 1850s, during the Gold Rush. Taking its inspiration from the Biblical Book of Hosea, it is built upon the foundation of the author’s Christian beliefs. Major themes include Direct Communication with God, The Strength of Family Bonds, and The Need for Redemption.Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of sexual content, child sexual abuse... Read Redeeming Love Summary

Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020) is bestselling American novelist Anne Tyler’s 23rd novel. A character-driven literary fiction novel, the story follows Micah Mortimer, a mid-forties self-employed IT technician who must learn and grow from the sudden arrival of an ex-girlfriend’s son and a breakup with his current girlfriend. Themes include reevaluating misconceptions, the value of second chances, and the effects of overbearing parenting.Notable works from Tyler, who is also a short story... Read Redhead by the Side of the Road Summary

Red Mars, a 1992 science fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, is the first book in the Mars trilogy about settling and terraforming the planet Mars. Red Mars follows the first 100 people who land on Mars and begin the complex process of terraforming the planet. In 1993, Red Mars won the Nebula Award and the British Science Fiction Association Award. This guide uses the 2009 HarperVoyager edition.Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions... Read Red Mars Summary

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution (1997) by Ji-li Jiang covers two and a half years in the author’s life, from the spring of 1966 when she was 12 years old to the fall of 1968 when she was 14 (although the Cultural Revolution continued until Mao Ze-dong’s death in 1976). The memoir is also Jiang’s coming-of-age story, as it focuses on a key time in her adolescent development. This study guide... Read Red Scarf Girl Summary

Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum (1987) is a historical family saga and a landmark novel of China’s “root-seeking” literary movement of the 1980s. First published as a series of five novellas in 1986, the novel is set in the author’s home province of Shandong. Mo Yan drew heavily from the region’s folklore and his own family’s history to create what the Swedish Academy would later call “hallucinatory realism” when awarding him the 2012 Nobel Prize in... Read Red Sorghum Summary

Red, White, and Whole is a 2021 middle grade novel by Indian American writer Rajani LaRocca. The novel is written in verse, which means that each of the many short chapters is actually a poem. All of the poems come together to tell the story of Reha, a 13-year-old Indian American girl growing up in the Midwest in 1983 and struggling to find a balance between her family’s Indian culture and her desire to fit... Read Red, White, and Whole Summary

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah is a young adult novel published in 2001. Benjamin Zephaniah was a novelist, poet, and activist who wrote about racism, incarceration, and the problems with the British legal system from his own life experience. Refugee Boy is a coming-of-age novel that outlines the experiences of Alem Kelo, a teenage boy escaping the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. Alem’s father leaves Alem in London, hoping to give him a new life away from the... Read Refugee Boy Summary

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover chronicles the turbulent relationship between Morgan Grant and her teenage daughter Clara. Published in 2019, Regretting You is a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller. Written from the alternating perspectives of both Morgan and Clara, Regretting You explores mother-daughter relationships, grief, and first love.This guide was written using the 2019 Montlake Kindle edition of Regretting You.  Plot SummaryRegretting You begins in the past as 17-year-old Morgan spends the summer with her... Read Regretting You Summary

Releasing 10 is a 2025 novel by international bestselling author Chloe Walsh. It is part of the Boys of Tommen series, a collection of six books about the lives of teenagers living in Cork, Ireland; Releasing 10 follows Lizzie Young, a minor character from previous novels. Lizzie is diagnosed with bipolar disorder at a young age, causing her to struggle to fit in with her peers and even her family as she changes schools, tries... Read Releasing 10 Summary

Remarkably Bright Creatures (2022) is American author Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel. It was published to critical acclaim and deals with themes of grief, family, and freedom. Van Pelt was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and uses the unique ecosystem of the area as a setting for the book, which highlights a sense of community and deep connection with the sea. This study guide references the hardcover edition of the novel from Bloomsbury... Read Remarkably Bright Creatures Summary

“Remember” appears in US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s first book of poems, She Had Some Horses (1983). The children’s book version, with illustrations from Michaela Goade, is from Random House Children’s Books (2023). Harjo is the first Indigenous American woman to be named Poet Laureate of the United States. Her work explores themes of current and historical culture of Indigenous people, feminism, and appreciation of the natural world. Like many of Harjo’s poems, “Remember” is... Read Remember Summary