Young Adult Novels

The Word

Coming May 21, 2024!

After her parents split up, seven-year-old Lisa's father convinces her to leave out the window in the middle of the night. After all, according to their religion, she belongs to him, and it is her duty to obey him. Ever the dutiful daughter, at least on the outside, and confused about the sinful changes in her mother, Lisa complies.

She spends the next nine years on the run before the police finally catch up with her father, and she is returned to a mother who is "dead" in the eyes of their religion. But her father always had a plan for when the law came and took what was his—a plan that was set in motion the moment the police arrived at their home.

Now Lisa must make a decision: follow the plan with the hope that she'll see her brother and father again, or risk everything to figure out what life could be when she makes her own choices.

Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee

Winner of the of the 2017 Westchester Fiction Award and a finalist for the 2018-2019 Missouri Gateway award!

"Thompson expertly builds the novel’s tension to an unbearable pitch as she guides readers to a bittersweet, satisfying conclusion." - Publisher's Weekly

A Bittersweet homecoming holds dark secrets in this heart-wrenching story of loss, love, and survival for readers of Room.

When sixteen-year-old Amy returns home, she can’t tell her family what’s happened to her. She can’t tell them where she’s been since she and her best friend, her cousin Dee, were kidnapped six years ago—who stole them from their families or what’s become of Dee. She has to stay silent because she’s afraid of what might happen next, and she’s desperate to protect her secrets at any cost.

Amy tries to readjust to life at “home,” but nothing she does feels right. She’s a stranger in her own family, and the guilt that she’s the one who returned is insurmountable. Amy soon realizes that keeping secrets won’t change what happened, and they may end up hurting those she loves most. She has to go back in order to move forward, risking everything along the way. Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee is a riveting, affecting story of loss and hope.

Flicker and Mist

"This tale of mixed heritage and divided loyalties with an engaging heroine will appeal to fans of character-driven fantasy." - Kirkus

In Myra’s world, some people can flicker—become invisible—at will. The ability to flicker is a burden, not a gift. Flickerkin are viewed with suspicion by the ruling Plats: an invisible person might be a spy, a traitor, an assassin. Flickerkin discovered in New Heart City, the Plat capital, can be put to death. Myra, who is part Flickerkin, has never dared to used her inherited power.

But when mysterious happenings begin to occur around New Heart City—disturbances that appear to be caused by invisible people—the Plats’ fear and persecution of Flickerkin intensify. Myra sees her comfortable life eroding, her family split apart, and her budding romance on shaky ground. Violence between Plat and Flickerkin is inevitable, and Myra, with her duel identity and divided loyalties, is caught in the middle.

Tangled in intrigue, political manipulation, and betrayal, Myra feels mounting pressure to choose sides. And she knows that making herself invisible—the very ability she has desperately concealed—may be the only way to save herself.