Cindy Otis
Books

INFLUENCED
Scholastic

OUT AUGUST 19, 2025 – PRE-ORDER NOW

What happens when friendship goes too far?

Tenth grade isn’t going according to plan for Lainey. Her twin brother moved across the country to live with their dad and stepmom, leaving Lainey—and her anxiety—behind. And Lainey’s starting to realize that maybe most of her friends were really her brother’s friends. Thank god for Bliss.

Bliss is navigating her own tough sophomore year, determined to find her place. But no matter what’s going on in her life, Bliss is really good about being there for Lainey. She’s confident and fearless, all that Lainey wishes she could be. It seems like Bliss is getting everything she’s ever wanted, including a new boyfriend and becoming the first wheelchair user to land a lead role in the school production.

What no one knows is that Bliss is struggling. At school it feels like everyone is always watching her, and at home, she’s overwhelmed by her parents’ expectations. When things get worse for Bliss, Lainey stops hearing from her completely. Panicked that something awful has happened, Lainey rushes to find out what’s going on. But when Lainey arrives at Bliss’s apartment, nothing is what it seems, and everything Lainey thought she knew about her friend is a lie . . .

AT THE SPEED OF LIES
Scholastic, June 6, 2023

Trust no one. Question everything.

Quinn Calvet was supposed to be having an epic year. She had all kinds of plans with her best friend, Ximena, and sister, Ava, and to grow her following as an influencer on The Whine. Instead, Quinn finds herself third wheel to Ximena and her new boyfriend or getting ditched by Ava who has turned into an overachiever, obsessed with studying and joining every school club. It brings up Quinn’s old feelings that her disability has her left behind. She tries to talk to Ava about it, but she’s too busy with the newest club at school, Defend Kids, which is working frantically to help find two kids who were recently kidnapped from a nearby town.

Suddenly, Defend Kids is all anyone is talking about, and whenever Quinn posts about them on The Whine, she gains tons of new followers and her posts go viral. When two of Quinn’s classmates are kidnapped, the dangers that Defend Kids are trying to fight become all too real. Before she knows it, Quinn and The Whine are at the center of it all, trying to find out what’s really happening. Only the truth might be more deadly than anyone knows…

Book Details  

TRUE OR FALSE
Macmillan, 28 July 2020

-“If I could pick one book to hand to every teen—and adult—on earth, this is the one. True or False is accessible, thorough, and searingly honest, and we desperately needed it.” —Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda-

A former CIA analyst unveils the true history of fake news and gives readers tips on how to avoid falling victim to it in this highly designed informative YA nonfiction title. 

“Fake news” is a term you’ve probably heard a lot in the last few years, but it’s not a new phenomenon. From the ancient Egyptians to the French Revolution to Jack the Ripper and the founding fathers, fake news has been around as long as human civilization. But that doesn’t mean that we should just give up on the idea of finding the truth.

In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis will take readers through the history and impact of fake news over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that readers today can gain from them. Then, she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news, how to make sense of the information we receive each day, and, perhaps most importantly, how to understand and see past our own information biases, so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.

 

Are you a teacher? Download the free classroom resource guide here: TrueFalse_TeachersGuide.

Book Details  

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