Brothers in Youth Fiction

Today we're celebrating brothers in youth fiction with these ten recently published novels.  Enjoy!

The Absence of Sparrows by Kurt Kirchmeier - In the small town of Griever's Mill, eleven-year-old Ben Cameron is expecting to finish off his summer of relaxing and bird-watching without a hitch. But everything goes wrong when dark clouds roll in.
Old Man Crandall is the first to change--human one minute and a glass statue the next. Soon it's happening across the world. Dark clouds fill the sky and, at random, people are turned into frozen versions of themselves. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one knows how to stop it.
With his mom on the verge of a breakdown, and his brother intent on following the dubious plans put forth by a nameless voice on the radio, Ben must hold out hope that his town's missing sparrows will return with everyone's souls before the glass plague takes them away forever. 

American Road Trip by Patrick Flores-Scott - With a strong family, the best friend a guy could ask for, and a budding romance with the girl of his dreams, life shows promise for Teodoro "T" Avila. But he takes some hard hits the summer before senior year when his nearly perfect brother, Manny, returns from a tour in Iraq with a devastating case of PTSD. In a desperate effort to save Manny from himself and pull their family back together, T's fiery sister, Xochitl, hoodwinks her brothers into a cathartic road trip. Told through T's honest voice, this is a candid exploration of mental illness, socioeconomic pressures, and the many inescapable highs and lows that come with growing up--including falling in love.

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak - The breathtaking story of   five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father's disappearance.
At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge--for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.
The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

Deadfall by Stephen Wallenfels - Twin brothers Cory and Ty Bic, seventeen, search for an escape from criminals in the Pacific Northwest wilderness." -- (Source of summary not specified)
When they encounter a dying deer in the middle of a remote mountain road with fresh tire tracks swerving down into a ravine, twin brothers Ty and Cory Bic know they have to help. Reaching the wrecked car, the vehicle appears empty, with signs that the driver escaped. They hear a sound coming from the trunk, and discover something that puts them in the crosshairs of something darker and more sinister than their wildest nightmares.

Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson - When Abdi's family is kidnapped, he's forced to do the unthinkable: become a child soldier with the ruthless jihadi group Al Shabaab. In order to save the lives of those he loves, and earn their freedom, Abdi agrees to be embedded as a spy within the militia's ranks and to send dispatches on their plans to the Americans. The jihadists trust Abdi immediately because his older brother, Dahir, is already one of them, protégé to General Idris, aka the Butcher. If Abdi's duplicity is discovered, he will be killed.
For weeks, Abdi trains with them, witnessing atrocity after atrocity, becoming a monster himself, wondering if he's even pretending anymore. He only escapes after he is forced into a suicide bomber's vest, which still leaves him stumps where two of his fingers used to be and his brother near death. Eventually, he finds himself on the streets of Sangui City, Kenya, stealing what he can find to get by, sleeping nights in empty alleyways, wondering what's become of the family that was stolen from him. But everything changes when Abdi's picked up for a petty theft, which sets into motion a chain reaction that forces him to reckon with a past he's been trying to forget.

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan - Seventeen-year-old Joe hasn't seen his brother in ten years. Ed didn't walk out on the family, not exactly. It's something more brutal.
Ed's locked up -- on death row.
Now his execution date has been set, and the clock is ticking. Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with his brother, no matter what other people think ... and no matter whether Ed committed the crime. But did he? And does it matter, in the end?

Second in Command by Sandi Van - Sixteen-year-old Leo dreams of becoming a police officer and is on his way to earning the rank of Eagle Scout. He makes sure to always do the right thing and be responsible. With his mom deployed and his dad constantly working, Leo is often left in charge of his two younger siblings. Then Leo's brother, Jack, gets caught up in a dangerous plot that rocks the community. Can Leo keep his promise to stand by his brother no matter what, or will he stand on the side of justice?

Sorry For Your Loss by Jessie Ann Foley - As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. He's barely passing his classes. He lets his longtime crush walk all over him. And he's in no hurry to decide on a college path. The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother Patrick. But that was before Patrick died suddenly, leaving Pup with a family who won't talk about it and acquaintances who just keep saying, "sorry for your loss." When Pup excels at a photography assignment he thought he'd bomb, things start to come into focus. His dream girl shows her true colors. An unexpected friend exposes Pup to a whole new world, right under his nose. And the photograph that was supposed to show Pup a way out of his grief ultimately reveals someone else who is still stuck in their own. Someone with a secret regret Pup never could have imagined.

Time Sight by Lynne Jonell - Will Menzies and his younger brother Jamie are visiting relatives in Scotland where Will comes into possession of a magic book that enables him with the gift of "Far Sight"--the ability to see into the past. This "magical eye" proves especially dangerous when Jamie steps through a time portal into the Scotland of centuries long ago. Will and Nan have no choice but to leap through the portal to find Jamie. But time in the past moves more swiftly than real time. A whole year has gone by in the one day that Jamie has time traveled, and when Will and Nan catch up with him, Jamie no longer remembers them and refuses to return to the present. Can these time travelers restore the future through the past?

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles - When Marvin Johnson's twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid. The next day Tyler is missing, and it's up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels, mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.