SWan stories

Stories about men and women, boys and girls, who break out of their shells and become something more than what people said they could be. These stories are about characters who figure it out--they start believing they are nothing and rise to a place of accepting they are _______________ (badass assassins, beautiful, strong, intelligent, fighters, princesses, heroes, chosen...you name it).  Click on the cover to see more!

Bon Bons to Yoga Pants by Katie Cross

Lexie Greene has always had such a pretty face.Unfortunately, that’s where it seemed to stop. She’s grown up hearing her Mother’s voice constantly remind her that “beautiful girls aren’t overweight.” And Lexie is indeed overweight.

With her younger sister’s wedding on the horizon, a crush to stalk on Facebook every minute she’s not dreaming about chocolate, and working hard to win a competitive internship, Lexie’s had enough. She joins a dieting group and a gym, but as the pounds melt away, finds that life on the other side of the scale isn’t what she thought.

Lexie has to figure out the lines between healthy and skinny, all while navigating a brand new world she wasn’t quite ready for. This story is packed with laughter, tears, and a whole lot of drooling over really amazing food.

Heartless by S.R. Karfelt

Some people have a hard time fitting into the world. 

All of her life Carole Blank has been a little faster, a little stronger, and a little uncooperative. The voices in her head want her to follow their rules, and although they’re usually right, Carole doesn’t always listen. 

From foster care to a veil hidden in the desert, Carole searches for a place to belong. Her unnatural abilities and penchant for fighting are useful to the government. Unfortunately, her inability to follow orders over the demands of the voices gets her into trouble. 

Enter Lieutenant Colonel Ted White, a man she is inexplicably drawn to. A man who sentences her to the life of an assassin, while denying her the only thing she’s ever wanted—him. Follow the journey of a woman born in the wrong world, as she fights for a place to belong, and sacrifices everything for those she loves. 

Sometimes being heartless isn’t a choice, it’s a calling. 

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her life under her aunt's guidance learning to 
communicate with animals. 


As she grows up Ani develops the skills of animal speech, but is never comfortable speaking with people, so when her silver-tongued lady-in-waiting leads a mutiny during Ani's journey to be married in a foreign land, Ani is helpless and cannot persuade anyone to assist her. 


Becoming a goose girl for the king, Ani eventually uses her own special, nearly magical powers to find her way to her true destiny. Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can become queen of the people she has made her own.

The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.

But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything she’s been told, they resonate deep within.

Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, yet she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.

How can a fairy's blessing be such a curse?

At her birth, Ella of Frell was the unfortunate recipient of a foolish fairy's gift -- the "gift' of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day and a half, or chopping off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse -- once and for all.

In this incredible debut novel comes the richly entertaining story of Ella of Frell, who at birth was given the gift of obedience by a fairy. Ella soon realizes that this gift is little better than a curse, for how can she truly be herself if at anytime anyone can order her to hop on one foot, or cut off her hand, or betray her kingdom'and she'll have to obey? Against a bold tapestry of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella's quest to break the curse once and for all and discover who she really is is as sharply funny as Catherine, Called Birdy and as richly poignant as Beauty, and has all the marks of a classic in the making.

Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists—He is way too small for that—But with brains.

Bean is a genius with a magician's ability to zero in on his enemy and exploit his weakness.

What better quality for a future general to lead the Earth in a final climactic battle against a hostile alien race, known as Buggers. At Battleschool Bean meets and befriends another future commander—Ender Wiggins—perhaps his only true rival.

Only one problem: for Bean and Ender, the future is now.

House of the Scorpion 
​By Nancy Farmer

His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster -- except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself. 

As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patrón's power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn't even suspect.

Skin
By Ted Dekker

A freak storm has spawned three tornadoes that are bearing down on the town of Summerville.

Yet under the cover of the storm looms a much more ominous threat: A vindictive killer known as Red who's left a string of victims in his wake and is now bent on exacting his final revenge on the unsuspecting town.

But there is an enigma surrounding Red that the FBI is unwilling to admit-closely guarded secrets of something gone terribly wrong beneath the skin of Summerville. Secrets that will destroy far more than one small town.

Wendy Davidson is caught in the middle. She's a recovering cult survivor who takes refuge in Summerville on her way to visit her estranged mother. And with her, four strangers, any of whom could be the next victim . . . or the killer.

Dealing with Dragons
​by Patricia C Wrede

Cimorene is everything a princess is not supposed to be: headstrong, tomboyish, smart - and bored. So bored that she runs away to live with a dragon - and finds the family and excitement she's been looking for.

Great for younger readers to show that you don't HAVE to be what everyone expects you to be!