Black Beach

Sixteen-year-old Tamera struggles to find her path in life as she deals with a number of obstacles: the disappearance of young girls in her community, her mother’s mental illness, her relationship with her boyfriend, and an environmental disaster that threatens her community. Tamera manages to find the strength within to navigate these issues and help her community as well as herself. This contemporary coming-of-age novel can be used as a read-aloud, literature circle, or small group novel, and addresses topics of mental illness, depression, the impact of development on the environment, climate change, loss and death, relationships, and coming-of-age. Social considerations noted.