A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Alder, Elizabeth    Crossing the Panther's Path          "Fifteen-year-old Billy Calder, son of a Mohawk mother and Irish father, is anxious to work with Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief who is hard at work trying to mobilize the Indian tribes between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to rebuff the constant encroachment of American settlers in the early 1800's, and Billy's linguistic talents make him a valuable interpreter for the Shawnee warrior."

Alexander, Lloyd     The Iron Ring     High adventure in a quest for honor, as young King Tamar loses everything in a dice game and enters a battle between good and evil while trying to resolve his debt.

Almond, David     Kit's Wilderness     The Watson family moves to Stoneygate, an old, coal mining town, to care for Kit's recently widowed grandfather.  When Kit meets John Askew, another boy whose family has both worked and died in the mines, Askew invites Kit to join him in a game called Death.  As Kit's grandfather tells him stories of the mine's past and the history of the Watson family, Askew takes Kit into the mines, where the boys look for the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors. 

Almond, David     Counting Stars   A book of interconnected stories which are the "kernels of his novels," telling of Almond's life growing up in a large Catholic family.

Almond, David     Skellig     Skellig is a creature, which enters the life of Michael, a young English boy whose life is shadowed by the life-threatening illness of his baby sister. This is a time of loneliness, isolation, and fear for the boy, and when he stumbles upon Skellig hiding out in the garage, a special friendship ensues.  Although it is unclear just who or what Skellig is, it is clear that he has a profound effect on the lives of those he touches, especially Michael's.

Alphin, Elaine Marie   Counterfeit Son     "When serial killer Hank Miller is killed in a shoot-out with police, his abused son, Cameron, adopts the identity of one of his father's victims in order to find a better life."

Alphin, Elaine Marie    Simon Says     "An alienated, aspiring young painter who attends high school at a boarding school for the arts discovers that being true to himself means opening the door to both pain and pleasure."

Alvarez, Julia   Before We Were Free         "Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom growing up in the Dominican Republic. . . .but by her twelfth birthday in 1960, most of her relatives had  immigrated to the United States.  As the situation on the island becomes increasingly dangerous and her family is forced into hiding, Anita must struggle to overcome her fears and fly to freedom, leaving all that she once knew behind.  An unforgettable novel about adolescence, perseverance, and what it means to be free."

Anderson,  M. T.      Feed       In this "smart, savage satire," where "feeds" that obliterate abilities to read, write, and think are transplanted into brains, one girl cares about what is happening to the world.

Angelou, Maya     Gather Together in My Name     Seventeen-year-old Rita Johnson is black with an illegitimate son who's just trying to make ends meet as best she can.

Anonymous     Annie's Baby: A Diary of Anonymous, A Pregnant Teenager     (Edited by Beatrice Sparks, PhD)         This novel tells the story of Annie from her encounter with Danny, who becomes her baby's father, through her pregnancy and childbirth, and her decision about whether or not to keep her child.  Told in the form of a diary, the novel appeals to younger readers who may benefit form the editor's appendix, which includes answers to questions about sex, pregnancy, and std's, statistics, and resources for teenagers in need.

Appelt, Kathi    Poems from Homeroom (A Writer's Place to Start)   "Appelt has written a series of insightful poems that strike at the heart of adolescent longing" and then has included a section "exploring how they were written and how readers can begin poems of their own."

Armstrong, Jennifer    The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan    In a city and a family torn apart by the Civil War, Mairhe weaves her dreams into her days.  She tends bar in the Irish slums of Washington, D.C. watching the chaotic overflow of the Civil War and holding close to the two men she loves the most.  But when her brother, Mike, suddenly enlists in the Union Army, Mairhe is left with an ailing, brokenhearted father, a paralyzing fear for her brother's life, and a blurring sense of who she is and who she wants to be.

Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia    In the Forests of the Night     Written by a fourteen-year-old girl, this tale of vampires alternates between Concord, Massachusetts in the days when witches were being hunted and the present where Risika now lives as a vampire.  Through the alternating chapters we find out what actually happened three hundred years ago when she was taken into the dark world.

B

Bacon, Katherine     Finn     Unable to speak since an airplane crash left him the sole survivor in his family, fifteen-year-old Finn slowly begins the process of recovery on his grandmother's farm.  His burnt hand and broken leg are on the mend but his mental and emotional state are fragile because he refused to let himself think about or acknowledge the tragedy.  Renewing his friendship with Julia, his sister's longtime summer friend who comes to the farm to work with the horses, is a beginning for Finn.  This many-layered story involves drug dealers who establish a drop site on the edges of the farm as well as a hybrid wolf isolated in the wild which Finn and Julia free from a trap and slowly gain his trust.  In the stunning climax, the drug dealers' doings, the hybrid wolf, and Finn's fears and loyalties come together to create a compelling and action-packed ending. 

Barrett, Tracy     Anna of Byzantium     Anna Comnena born in 1083 as the firstborn of her father, the emperor of Byzantium, had every reason to believe she would follow in her father's footsteps as empress.  This story tells of how she fell out of favor with her father's mother who in turn encouraged the emperor to take Anna out of the line of succession.  Upon the death of her father, fearing  her brother (the next emperor) is being unduly influenced by her grandmother, Anna and her mother take drastic actions.

Barron, T. A.     The Lost Years of  Merlin     A young boy washes up on the shore of Wales with no memory of his past. He saves a beautiful woman also washed ashore from the savage tusks of a boar.  Later she claims to be his mother.  When he turns twelve his powers start showing themselves and because he repented his misuse of these powers and hurled himself into a fire to try to save his victim, he was blinded.  From his mother he learns to develop his "second sight" and now he desperately wants to know his past and who his father is.

Bauer, Joan     Rules of the Road     At sixteen, Jenna drives the 73-year-old owner of the chain of shoe stores she works for to a major board meeting in Texas to get as far away as possible from her recently returned alcoholic father and to make twice the money she does at the  shoe store, Little does she know just what kind of adventures are in store for her and how her pride in and knowledge about selling shoes will work in her favor.

Beals, Melba Pattillo    Warriors Don't Cry     This is the true story of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 as told by one of the nine black students who integrated the school.  Terrifying and unrelenting assaults, both verbal and physical, were the norm in the school lives of these teens.  Troops had to be called in to protect the teens, but in the hallways and restrooms they were mainly on their own to meet the hostility in whatever ways they could.

Beatty, Patricia     Lupita Manana     When 13-year-old Lipita's father dies in a commercial fishing accident in the seas near their small Mexican village, Lupita's mother makes a difficult decision.  Lupita and her brother Salvador must cross over the border to the U. S. to earn enough money to support their mother and younger siblings.  But crossing over the border is a difficult and dangerous business, which can end in capture, imprisonment, or death.

Bell, Hilari    A Matter of Profit       "Ahvren's disdain for war is even greater than his mistrust of peace.  The last thing he wants is to rejoin the emperor's fleet and conquer the next planet.  So he strikes a bargain with his father.  If he can uncover the plot to assassinate the emperor, Ahvren can choose his own path. It's a challenge that will take more wits than strength, and Ahvren's not sure he's up for it. But it's also the most important test he's ever faced and his success is vital.  For not only does the emperor's life depend on it, so does Ahvren's."

Bennett, Cherie     Life in the Fat Lane     After Lara becomes homecoming queen she hopes the rest of her junior year will be as wonderful.  The trouble starts when she begins to gain weight and nothing she does helps at all. Her parents nag, put her on diets, and encourage her to work out. Lara is horrified at her ballooning body and when she gains almost 100 pounds she wonders if anyone will still be her friend.  But more importantly, will she be able to accept herself?

Berg, Elizabeth    Joy School     Teenage Katie deals with the complexities of an unstable home when she falls in love with a young married man.

Bitton-Jackson, Livia    I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust     Thirteen when she and her family were sent to Auschwitz, Bitton-Jackson vividly describes the horrors they faced.

Blackwood, Gary   The Year of the Hangman        "What if . . . . The British had won the Revolutionary War?  The year is 1777.  The rebellious, American colonies have been soundly defeated by the powerful British redcoats.  General George Washington has been captured and is to hang from the end of a gibbet.  The rest of the revolutionary leaders have gone underground.  This didn't happen, but it could have!"

Block, Francesca Lia    Baby Be-Bop     This prequel to Weetzie Bat takes us into the life of Dirk before he met Weetzie.  We see him struggle with knowing he is different and as a child knowing "that the main thing was to keep to himself and never to seem afraid." Grandma Fifi was a wonderfully accepting grandmother, but he didn't want to take a chance on losing her because of his difference.  Then one night he was beat up outside a bar, and while drifting in and out of consciousness he hears the stories of his great grandmother and his mother and father as they all urge him to fight to live and to accept himself.

Block, Francesca Lia    Girl Goddess     This collection of nine short stories features girls of every shape, size, and disposition.  Each story is well crafted and interesting because the main characters are REAL girls who don't fit the mold and stereotypes of being female in our society.  This collection very subtly questions the Barbie-doll mentality as these girls deal with such issues as the death of a mother.

Bloor, Edward     Crusader    After a violent virtual reality game arrives at the mall arcade where she works, fifteen-year-old Roberta finds the courage to search out the person who murdered her mother and to confront the reality of her father's life.

Bloor, Edward     Tangerine    Twelve-year-old Paul Fisher, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Brooks, Kevin     Martyn Pig         "Faced with the possibility of living with a dreadful aunt, fifteen-year-old Martyn Pig decides not to tell authorities when his alcoholic father dies accidentally, instead asking a friend for her help in disposing of the body."        

Brooks, Martha     Bone Dance     When Alexandra inherits a log cabin in the wilderness from a father she never met, she goes there to make sense of their relationship—and meets Lonny.

Bruchac, Joseph     The Heart of A Chief     Chris Nicola, who lives on a Penacook Indian Reservation, begins school full of trepidation that he and his few Indian friends will not be accepted.  This fear does not prevent him from speaking out in class about the ending of The Sign of the Beaver .  He explains that the end of the book is not accurate because it shows the Indians just going away.  "We didn't go away.  We're still here."  His leadership abilities are quickly realized by his peers who elect him to lead their group project on using Indian names for sports teams, an issue that directly affects his school. Involved and happy at school, all is not going well at home.  He worries about the health of his aging grandparents, about his Harvard-educated alcoholic father who does not live with him, and about the impact of a casino will have on the land he loves.

Bunting, Eve     SOS Titanic     Barry is leaving his upper class grandparents in Ireland to join his equally prosperous parents in the United States.  On his trip over on the Titanic he gets to know and care for Pegeen, the sister of the troublemakers from his village.  We see life on the ship and how the first class passengers are treated differently than those in steerage.  From his steward, Barry hears about the premonitions of disaster.  When it strikes he moves fast to find Pegeen who is locked behind a door in steerage manned by crew members to prevent these passengers from leaving.

Burgess, Melvin     Smack     After fourteen-year-old Tar runs away from an abusive father and alcoholic mother, he is quickly joined by his girlfriend Gemma when he finds a place to live in an abandoned building.  Their new life starts out with parties and drinking and quickly descends to heroin use with their new friends who also live "on the streets." 

Burks, Brian     Soldier Boy     After running from Chicago in 1876 to save his life because he refused to throw a boxing match, Johnny ends up in St. Louis and is immediately recruited for the army despite his tender years.  This story focuses on Johnny's time in the army, his difficulties in accepting authority, and the practices of the veterans who see recruits as fair game. After almost no basic training, Johnny and his friend are sent into the Indian wars at Little Big Horn.

Buss, Fran Leeper    Journey of the Sparrows     Eager for a new life in the United States, Maria, her pregnant older sister, her little brother, and a stranger endure a terrifying journey nailed in a crate in the back of a truck

C

Cabot, Meg     All American Girt      It's Sam's turn to explain why she doesn't like her sister, Lucy—and to become a celebrity!

Cadnum, Michael     Forbidden Forest:  The Story of Little John and Robin Hood      "Our adventure begins on a ferry north of Nottingham. A thwarted attempt to save a man's life forces Little John into the life of an outlaw.  As he flees the king's men, Little John pushes farther into Sherwood Forest, and it is here that he joins Robin Hood's band of merry men—and the excitement begins."

Cart, Michael     Tomorrowland:  Stories of the Future     In this collection of ten short stories, we find different visions of the future.  "Yet all of  (the stories) contain the same implicit invitation to think about how the seeds of possibility we planted in the past and continue to sow in the present might blossom into the future."

Carter, Alden R.     Bull Catcher     "Bull" Larsen hopes to cap his high-school baseball career with a college scholarship and then a move to the pros, but, like his love life, Bull's baseball dreams don't turn out as expected.

Carter, Alden R.     Up Country     When his alcoholic mother is arrested for a hit-and-run accident, Carl Staggers is sent to rural Wisconsin to live with an aunt and uncle. Can this "street-wise" city kid handle life in the "boonies"?

Carvell, Marlene     Who Will Tell My Brother?        "Evan is a typical high-school student who suffers the same worries and anxieties as his peers . . . and then some. Determined to persuade high-school officials to remove offensive Indian mascots, he assumes a struggle that spirals him onto a soul-searching journey and exposes him to a barrage of bullying, taunting, and escalating violence."

Chabon, Michael     Summerland          "Summerland is a magical place, where the local Little League gathers to play baseball on a perfectly manicured lawn, and the sun is always shining in a flawless blue sky.  However, the small beings known as ferishers, who ensure this perfect weather, are threatened by an ancient enemy and need a hero—a baseball star, in fact—to vanquish their foe.  The ferishers recruit Ethan Feld, possibly the worst ballplayer in the history of the league, as their chosen leader.  No one is more surprised that Ethan at their choice, but their faith spurs him on."

Chambers, Aidan     Postcards from No Man's Land         "Seventeen-year-old backpacker Jacob Todd has come to Amsterdam as part of a trip to honor his grandfather, a soldier who died in a nearby town in World War II.  He isn't ready for the city's seductive assault.  A sexy stranger flirts with him in a café, leaving him with this prophetic scribbled message:  Nothing in Amsterdam is what it appears to be.  . . .By turns playful and wrenching, thrilling and meditative, this extraordinary novel, told in dual narratives, takes the reader on a memorable voyage of discovery—the discovery of family secrets, of sex, of art, of ideas, and of oneself in a foreign city or in the midst of war."

Clarke, Judith               Wolf on The Fold          "Kenny is fourteen.  His dad has just died, and to keep the family together, Kenny must find work.  'Be careful going through the flatlands,' his mother warns him. 'Don't stop for anyone.'  But Kenny does stop, and what happens next will define the man he becomes."

Connelly, Neil               St. Michael's Scales           "Keegan Flannery, fleeing responsibility for his twin brother's death and his mother's mental illness, believes he must atone by committing suicide before his 16^th birthday, but he gains new insight when he joins his school's wrestling team."

Cook, Karin     What Girls Learn     Tilden is entering the turbulent teen years when her mother brings a man into their lives.  Soon she, her mom, and her sister are moving from the South to live in the cold North

with Nick.  Not only must Tilden get used to having a man in the house, she also has to get used to a new school and making new friends while dealing with her rebellious younger sister.   Then her mom gets sick.  Within a year it's obvious that she's not going to survive.  No one in the family knows how to talk about what's happening.

Conrad, Pam     Holding Me Here     Fourteen-year-old Robin is still upset about her parents' divorce when her mother decides to take in a border to make ends meet.  Sensing sadness in the boarder Robin begins to snoop and read Mary's diary.  When she finds that Mary has two children and a husband in another city, she decides to intervene so they can all be reunited.  How can she know that she will make the situation worse and put Mary and herself in danger?

Conrad, Pam     Stonewords:  A Ghost Story     In this eerie and gripping time fantasy, we come to know Zoe, a girl left to live with her grandparents by her mother.  At their farm she discovers a playmate whom no one else can see. Eventually she understands that this girl from the past is here for a reason.

Conrad, Pam     Zoe Rising    Zoe, traveling back in time when her mother was a child, intervenes in the past in order to save the future.

Cooney, Caroline B.    The Face on the Milk Carton     Fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson glanced at the face on the carton of milk she was drinking.  It was the face of a three- year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey.  She was suddenly overcome with shock.  She recognized that little girl—it was she!  How could it be?  Janie can't believe that her loving parents kidnapped her, but as she begins to piece things together, nothing makes sense.  Something is terribly wrong.

Cooney, Caroline B.    Whatever Happened to Jane?      The sequel to The Face on the Milk Carton.

Cooney, Caroline B.    The Voice on the Radio     This book continues the saga of The Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Jane?  Reeve, Janie's neighbor and first love, goes away to college and takes a position as a radio announcer for WSCK, the college's station.  In his first broadcast Reeve was tongue-tied and failing until, in a last ditch effort, he began to tell the story of Janie's discovering  her own picture on a milk carton at the school cafeteria and the quest that followed as she sought the truth about her past.  All the intimate details she trusted only Reeve to know spun out over the airways.  Each time Reeve was on the air he told one more of her trials, riveting listeners to their radios to hear another "janie."  He wanted to stop but the attention was irresistible.

Cooney, Caroline B.    What Child Is This?  A Christmas Story     Several teens discover the true meaning of Christmas.

Cormier, Robert     Tenderness    Fifteen-year-old Lori loves eighteen-year-old serial killer Eric Poole.

Creech, Sharon    Chasing Redbird     Zinny, at odds with her siblings, escapes the chaos by restoring a historic trail and unearths fascinating information about her family.

Creech, Sharon    Walk Two Moons     This novel tells the story of Salamanca Tree Hiddle, whose great-great-grandmother had been a Seneca Indian, and of Sal's journey with her grandparents to Idaho and her mother.  Sal tells her grandparents one story—of Phoebe Winterbottom, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic, while she lives her own—of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother. 

Crew, Linda     Children of the River     Sundara escaped from war-torn Cambodia with her aunt and uncle four years ago, and now she feels torn between maintaining the old ways and making some adaptations to American culture—especially now that she has met Jonathan!

Crowe, Chris               Mississippi Trial, 1955           "It's summer, 1955.  A small sleepy community in Mississippi is rocked by the news that a teenage boy has been murdered. Almost immediately it seems that everyone in town knows who committed the crime—so why are people pretending the murder can't be solved? Hiram Hillburn wants to find out . . . . This novel is based on the true story of Emmett Till—whose tragic murder helped to spark the Civil Rights Movement.

Crutcher, Chris       Chinese Handcuffs     After witnessing his brother's suicide, Dillon is drawn to a troubled over-achieving girl who's headed in the same direction.  Dillon refuses to experience another suicide.

Curtis, Christopher Paul    Bud, Not Buddy     Bud's been in the Home since his Mama died when he was six.  Now ten, he's been through several foster homes.  When he's placed in a new one at the beginning of the summer deep in the Depression he has to run away after getting in trouble.  After living by his wits, he decides to go looking for the man he believes is his father.

Curtis, Christopher Paul    The Watsons Go to Birmingham      This novel examines the lives of five African American family members during the fight for Civil Rights in the 1960's.  Kenny Watson, the ten-year-old of the family, acts as narrator in this exploration of family relationships and racial turbulence encountered during a trip to grandmother's home in Birmingham,Alabama.  History is shown so subtly through the young protagonist's perspective that it reveals poignantly how the strength of an African American family can shield its youngest members from harm.

Cushman, Karen     The Ballad of Lucy Whipple     The novel traces the life of California (Lucy) Whipple from the summer of 1849 to the autumn of 1852 and gives the reader a unique perspective on the California Gold Rush.  It highlights Lucy's discoveries about home and family and herself.  She resists her mother's dream to travel to California so much that she refuses to accompany her mother and the rest of her family to the Sandwich Islands.  Her plan to go home to New England, however, changes in an unexpected way.

D

De Lint, Charles     Trader    Max, a guitar maker, discovers he has lost his identity to another man, and determined to get it back, is drawn into a dream world, where spirits are not what they seem.

Dessen, Sarah   This Lullaby       "Remy always knows the perfect time to give a boyfriend "the speech" telling him it's over:  right after the first romantic rush, but before any real emotional involvement happens. So then what is it about Dexter that makes it so hard for Remy to follow her own rules?  He's everything she hates!  But there's just something about Dexter. . . . Could it be that Remy is finally finding out what all those love songs are about?  A girl who believes her heart is made of stone, and the boy who proves her wrong.   

Deuker, Carl     On the Devil's Court     Struggling with his feelings of inadequacy and his failure to make the basketball team in his new school, seventeen-year-old Joe Faust finds himself willing to trade his soul for one perfect season of basketball.

Deuker, Carl     Painting the Black     While catching for Josh during pitching practice, Ryan decides to try out for the team but finds himself in an ethical dilemma when he discovers his friend has a serious flaw.

Disher, Garry               The Divine Wind:  A Love Story       "Mitsy Sennosuke is the best friend of Hart's sister.  She is funny and feisty, ready to fight for justice, to do the right thing.  She is tough.  She is not beautiful.  And Hart is in love with her.  But Mitsy's  real name is Mitsu, and she is Japanese, and in the dark days before World War II, with fighter planes sweeping across the South Pacific, that might matter more than anything else.  To Hart's mother.  To  the Australian authorities.  And maybe, eventually, to Hart himself."

Doherty, Berlie     Dear Nobody     Helen and Chris are in their last year at school when Helen discovers that she is pregnant.  Faced suddenly with the frightening possibilities of parenthood, they each try in their own way to understand their own parents.  For Helen and Chris, the hardest thing to face is the unknown landscape of their future, together or apart.

Dorris, Michael     The Window     After being moved from one foster home to another, eleven-year-old Rayona Taylor learns the importance of family when she's finally sent to live with relatives she doesn't know in Kentucky.

Draper, Sharon    Forged by Fire     Gerald by the age of three knew how to stay out of his drug-addicted mamma's way when she had the white stuff.  He knew his Aunt Queen loved him and he loved being there while his mamma was in prison.  But then one day she shows up with a new husband and his half-sister.  After Aunt Queen's death, Gerald must go to live with his family.  He dearly loves his half-sister who always looks frightened and when he figures out that his step-father is abusing her he decides he must stop him.

Duncan, Lois     Don't Look Behind You     April Corrigan is a junior in high school with a boyfriend and big plans for the Junior-Senior Prom.  Her life is turned upside down when her family must relocate under the Federal Witness Protection Program.  Her father has been working undercover for the FBI, and now the lives of her whole family are in danger.  So that no one will be able to find them, her family must assume a new identity in a new town.  How can April give up her name, her friends, her boyfriend Steve, and everything she has ever known?

Duncan, Lois     Gallows Hill     Duncan interweaves the classic tale of The Crucible with a contemporary tale of witches and mystery.  In a crystal paperweight given to Sarah upon her father's death, she can see people's secrets and can predict events.  Her mother quits her job as an English teacher and moves with Sarah to the town where her new love resides.  Sarah detests him and his daughter Kyra from a previous marriage.  As the story unfolds Sarah gradually comes to believe that she, Sarah Zoltanne, has been reincarnated from a previous life as Sarah Good, one of the "witches" hanged on Gallows Hill at the time of the Salem witch trials.

Duncan, Lois     Ransom     Suddenly a bus ride home from school turns into a nightmare.  Five teenagers are kidnapped and taken to a remote cabin high in the mountains.  Their kidnappers have guns and have already murdered Mr. Godfrey, their bus driver. Behind their captors' backs, they manage to devise an escape plan.  Can it possibly work?  They soon find out that escape will not be easy.

Duncan, Lois     The Third Eye     High school senior Karen, who worries that her psychic powers will make her seem different from other people, is frightened at first when a young policeman asks her to use her gift to help the police locate missing children. 

Dygard, Thomas     Outside Shooter     A believable story of a first year coach and his challenge to shape up an uncontrollable yet talented player.  Bobby Haggard, an excellent high school basketball player, without whom his team cannot become Number One, alienates himself from the team by his extreme misbehavior with them and the school in general.

Dygard, Thomas     Wilderness Peril     Two teenage boys camping in the Minnesota woods encounter a desperate airplane hijacker attempting to escape with three-quarters of a million dollars.

E

Eager, Edward     Knight's Castle     Roger and Ann are sent to stay with their bossy cousins for the summer.  Playing with the castle his aunt and uncle bought him, Roger enters into the world of magic and chivalry and comes into contact with Robin Hood and Ivanhoe.  His cousins and sister join him in this knightly kingdom where they can make a difference if only they are smart enough and brave enough and true to their hearts.

Ehrlich, Amy     Where It Stops, Nobody Knows     Nina is used to her mother's moving them from town to town, but now that she is older, Nina wants to keep friends and become involved in school activities.  What is her mother running from?

Ellison, Pierson Suzanne    The Last Warrior    This novel, based on historical fact, traces several years in the life of Solita, a fourteen-year-old Apache who instead of finishing his warrior training, surrenders to the U. S. Army along with the rest of Geronimo's small band.  The degrading railroad trip to Florida for resettlement is told in graphic detail. Then Solita is torn away from his people along with all the other children in his band and sent to an Indian school to learn to be "white." Full of rage, Solita learns that to survive he must keep his Apache soul to himself.  He is placed with a Quaker family in Pennsylvania for the summer and bonds with that family.  When tragedy forces him to become a fugitive he walks back home to Arizona.  There he finds that he really has no home since he is now much more educated than the Apaches remaining on the reservation. 

English, Karen     Francie     When the sixteen-year-old boy whom she tutors in reading is accused of attempting to murder a white man, Francie gets herself in serious trouble for her efforts at friendship.  This novel shows close up a black family in the South and what their life was like in an earlier decade.

Erlich, Amy     When I Was Your Age:  Original Stories about Growing Up     This is a collection of stories about growing up. Some emotional pain lies within most of these moving stories.

Erlich, Amy    When I Was Your Age, Volume Two    

F

Farmer, Nancy    A Girl Named Disaster     The novel explores Nhamo's journey from Mozambique to Zimbabwe, where her father lives, and her coming of age.  Nhamo flees her village after her aunts betroth her to a cruel older man with three wives because she is blamed for the village's cholera epidemic.   Nhamo travels up the MusengeziRiver into Lake Cabora Bassa where she lands on several islands before camping on a larger island near a family of baboons.  She repairs her canoe and travels Eastward toward Zimbabwe, eventually abandoning her boat at Gato and walking toward Efifi where she lives with a group of scientists in a research center.  Nhamo is reunited with her father's family but discovers more about herself and her relationships with her grandmother and dead mother than she gains from her reunion. 

Farmer, Nancy     The Ear, the Eye and the Arm     Set in Zimbabwe, the time is 2194 when General Matsika's three children disappear after they run away in search of adventure. Seen as a perfect companion to The Giver, the novel examines evils from the past, technology of the future, and criminals of the present as three detectives hired by the children's parents, the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, search for the lost Matsika children.

Farmer, Nancy               The House of The Scorpion         "In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States."

Fenner, Carol     Yolanda's Genius     Yolanda loves Chicago and can get along just fine there.  But her mother decides it's getting too rough and so she moves the family to a small Michigan town where few black people live.  Now the challenges of getting along change, but Yolanda is up to the challenge as she makes sure other students know they can't mess with her.  Yolanda's soft spot is for her little brother who she knows is a musical genius but who is put in special education classes because he can't read. Yolanda is determined to do something to help her brother and a visit back to Chicago and the jazz festival are her opportunity.  What a kid! Everyone should have a big sister like this who believes in them and sticks up for them.

Ferris, Jean               Eight Seconds        "Eighteen-year-old John must confront his own sexuality when he goes to rodeo school and finds himself attracted to an older boy who is smart, tough, complicated, gorgeous, and gay."

Fleischman, Paul     Seedfolks     Urban neighbors splintered by race, economy, ethnicity, and age join hands in an empty lot to make a garden.

Flinn, Alex               Breaking Point          "Fifteen-year-old Paul enters an exclusive private school and falls under the spell of a charismatic boy who may be using him."

Fox, Paula    The Eagle Kite     When Liam is spending time at the beach with his father, he sees his father embracing another man in the distance.  Angry, he destroys and buries the eagle kite his father gave him for his tenth birthday.  Then, when he is thirteen, he learns that his father is very ill, that he will undoubtedly die of AIDS.  He travels again to see his father and together they sort out the turmoil of feelings with which Liam has been wrestling.

G

Gaiman, Neil               Coraline         "In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.  Only it's different. . . . She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself."

Gallo, Don     Time Capsules:  Short Stories about Teenagers Throughout the Twentieth Century     This collection of short stories has one story for each decade of the twentieth century with two pages of information ahead of the story to provide  some background on that particular decade.

Gallo, Donald R. (Editor)    No Easy Answers:  Short Stories about Teenagers Making Tough Choices      Teens face tough ethical and moral choices in this collection of sixteen stories.

Gantos, Jack               Hole in My Life         The author relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer."

Garland, Sherry     The Last Rainmaker    After her beloved grandmother's death, Caroline leaves her embittered Great Aunt Oriona to find out the truth about her mysterious mother who died at Caroline's birth.  She eventually joins the Wild West show in which her mother was a star. Caroline's journey to find out the truth about her mother brings her face-to-face with her own prejudiced feelings about the American Indians she meets in the show, but it also brings her a grandfather she didn't know existed.

Gavin, Jamila    Coram Boy         In this novel that explores the hidden world of infanticide and child slavery in eighteenth century England, a simple-minded boy saves a special infant from his vicious slave-trading father.

Giff, Patricia Reilly    Lily's Crossing     Lily Mollahan lives with her grandparents at the time of D-Day.  School days are giving way to summer and Lily is looking forward to their annual summer at Rockaway on the Atlantic Ocean.  She meets a Hungarian refuge, Albert, and a warm friendship evolves. Lily's world changes as her father goes off to war and her best friend, Margaret, moves with her family to a factory town.

Green, Timothy     Twilight Boy     When the old Navajo Harrison Chee's hogan is set on fire, his grandson, Jesse, works to find out who or what is trying to harm his grandfather. During his investigation he becomes involved with Carolyn, the daughter of the owners of the trading post, and together they look for hints and information about the skinwalker who might be trying to harm Harrison.  Through this compelling mystery we learn much about friendship and about Navajo culture and beliefs.

Griffin,  Adele     Sons of Liberty     Thirteen-year-old Rock is torn about running away from his controlling father, but older brother Cliff sees flight as the only way to deal with those kooky, bizarre midnights working on the roof.

H

Haddix, Margaret Peterson     Among the Hidden    Luke has lived his whole life hiding within his house because he is a "third" (child) in a society which only allows two children per family.  When a new subdivision is built where their woods used to be, Luke soon figures out there is another "third" living nearby.  He makes contact with Jen and she gradually convinces him the government is wrong and they must take action.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson     Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey     In her journal she writes for her English class, Sarah chronicles what is happening to her life since her abusive father returned home after a two-year absence. The responsible one, Sarah scrambles to provide for her younger brother when her mother leaves them alone and without money while she tries to find the husband who once again abandoned the family. Secretive and desperate, Sarah's schoolwork suffers as her life plummets downwards.  By finally allowing the teacher to read the journal she is able to ask for help.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson     Leaving Fishers     Dorry is new at school and lonely.  Suddenly Angela and her circle of friends take an interest in her.  They all belong to a religious group called Fishers of Men.  Dorry happily becomes involved and is flattered by all their attention.  But the Fishers make harsh demands on their members and Dorry finds herself compromising her grades, her job, and even her family's love.  How much is too much?  Can she find the strength to leave?

Hautman, Pete     Mr. Was     Jack accompanies his mother to see the dying grandfather he has never known and on his deathbed his grandfather tries to strangle Jack. While at his grandfather's house before the funeral Jack dreams of a door to the past and begins search for it in the house.  Although he finds the door, he doesn't decide to go back to the past until horrifying events in his life involving his alcoholic father, propel him to the door so that he can determine his own future. 

Hayes, Daniel     Flyers     While shooting a horror film for a school project, Gabe and his friends see unusual  sightings in their neighborhood that lead to more than a ghost.

Henson, Heather               Making The Run      Lulu McClellan, eighteen-year-old amateur photographer, has always felt like an outsider waiting for real life to begin.  Is her senior year "moving in a quick blur of drugs and drink," a "countdown to freedom," or the "end of innocence"?

Hesse, Karen     A Time of Angels     Hannah is separated from her parents during the war and moves in with her aunt in Boston.  An influenza sweeps through the tenement where they live, killing many around them.  Hannah contracts this deadly flu and is cared for by a gentleman in Vermont.  Hannah's burning desire centers on renewing her connection with her family.

Hesse, Karen     Music of Dolphins     Mila creates headlines around the world when she is rescued from an unpopulated island off the coast of Florida.  Not a teenager, she has been raised by dolphins from the age of four.  Researchers teach Mila language and music.  She learns, too, about rules and expectations, about locked doors and broken promises, disappointment and betrayal.  The more Mila finds out what it means to be human, the more deeply she longs for her ocean home.

Hesse, Karen     Out of the Dust     An account of the storms plaguing the people living in the dustbowl defines their bleak existence.  Billie Jo sees a flaming bucket of kerosene sitting in the kitchen, grabs it, and flings it out the door, unaware that her mother is just starting into the house.  Her mother becomes "a column of fire," so  Billie Jo shoves her to the ground and struggles to beat out the flames with her hands.  The accident forever alters her life, for she loses her mother, and her crippled hands no longer can play the piano, the one activity she loves with passion.  

Hesser, Terry Spencer    Kissing Doorknobs     Tara was always a worrier.  By thirteen her "quirks" include counting every crack in the sidewalk on the way to school.  To calm herself she performs rituals over and over again but when she develops the new ritual of leaving the house only after she has kissed the doorknob a prescribed number of times, her parents reach their limit. 

Heuston, Kimberley                The Shakeress          "After twelve-year-old Naomi loses her parents in a fire and learns of her aunt's plan to send her to work in a mill, she and her siblings seek refuge in a Shaker village.  Because Naomi has some knowledge of herbs and doctoring from her mother, the Shakers assign her to an apprenticeship with the village herbalist in order to develop her skills as a healer.  The story of a young woman's quest for spiritual fulfillment in the raw and exciting world of early nineteenth-century America."

Hiaasen, Carl               Hoot        "Roy, who is new to his small Florida Community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save. . . burrowing owls from a proposed construction site."

Hinton, S.E.,      That Was Then, This Is Now     Sixteen-year-old Mark and Bryon have been like brothers since childhood, but now, as their involvement with girls, gangs, and drugs increases, their relationship seems to gradually disintegrate.

Hite, Sid                A Hole in The World          "When fifteen-year-old Paul Shackleford is sent to live on a relative's isolated Virginia farm as punishment for lying and a lesson in character building, he thinks he's in for the worst summer of his life.  But the mystical happenings that unfold when he befriends a surly dog, a beautiful girl, and the ghost of a beloved farmhand prove otherwise in this soulful Southern novel about the nature of loss and memory, and the power of words."

Hobbs, Will     Downriver     Jessie, who in the past has always done well in school, gets in trouble her sophomore year—driving without a license, two car accidents, truancies, hanging around with the wrong crowd.  Her father sends her to Discovery Unlimited, a camp in Colorado that is supposed to straighten her out.  Jessie makes some new friends at Discovery Unlimited, and they decide to ditch the program.  The group is having the time of their lives whitewater rafting in the Grand Canyon—no adults, no permit, no river map.  No one can foresee the harrowing experiences that lie ahead.  What will be the consequences of their reckless adventure?

Hobbs, Will     Far North     A survival story about two kids stuck in Canada's winter.

Hobbs, Will               Wild Man Island       When fourteen-year-old Andy Galloway paddles away from his kayaking group, he is swept to Admiralty Island where he encounters bears, wolves, a dog, and a wild man as he attempts to survive danger and discovery.

Hogan, James P.      BugPark    Teenagers Kevin and Taki, who have created the interactive computer game BugPark, must use the game and their impressive computer skills to save Kevin's father from a murder plot.

Holmes, Barbara Ware    Letters to Julia     Liz's English teacher thinks Liz is such a good writer that she should send her work to a New York editor she knows of. Imagine Liz's surprise when the editor not only responds to her work but also establishes a relationship with her through their letters.  Liz writes of her eccentric divided family and Julia shares much about herself and her life.  Unexpected events happen when the two finally meet.  

Holt, Kimberly Willis    When Zachary Beaver Came to Town    During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend, Cal, meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.  Through his interactions with Zachary, Toby is able to look at himself more honestly and deal with his mother's abandonment as he finds out what real friendship means.

Horowitz, Anthony               Point Blank           "They look like they're supposed to.  They talk like they're supposed to.  But they sure don't act like they're supposed to. Sixteen boys, children of some of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the world.  Juvenile delinquents all.  Yet suddenly they're perfect, well-behaved and studious.  Identical in every way—or almost every way. Something is wrong. Very wrong. Only fourteen-year-old secret agent Alex Rider can save these boys from themselves.  Should he fail, one man's sinister plan to conquer the world will become reality."

Howe, James     The Watcher     A strange girl who sits and stares at the beach, a teen lifeguard who can't escape the rejection he feels from his father, and a twelve-year-old boy whose parents are struggling to hold their relationship together, all three meet in an unexpected way as two of them try to save the third from abuse or death at the hands of a parent.  In the saving, all find something important about themselves.

Howe, Norman      Blue Avenger and the Theory of Everything         "While continuing to ponder the concepts of free will and time, Blue Avenger becomes involved in the schemes of a quirky multimillionaire that may determine not only Blue's financial future but also that of his girlfriend, Omaha Nebraska Brown."

I

Ingold, Jeanette       The Big Burn      Summer, 1910, a vast wild fire—one of the biggest of the century—changes the face of Montana and Idaho as well as the lives of three teenagers caught in its path.

J

Jiang, Ji Li     Red Scarf Girl:  A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution     During the tumultuous time of the Cultural Revolution in China, this story details the life and difficulties of a twelve-year-old girl. Always an outstanding student and from a family viewed as well off, she is shocked by the changes that label intellectuals and people with money as criminals who are hounded and often persecuted.  Her family's apartment is ransacked several times by the Red Guard and humiliated.  Then her father is arrested and the Communists want her to testify against him.  If she does so she will be guaranteed a place in the rising Communist Party, if she doesn't she will sacrifice her future in China.                                                    

Jimenez, Francisco               Breaking Through (Sequel to The Circuit)         At the age of fourteen, Francisco Jimenez, together with his older brother, Roberto, and his mother, is caught by la migra. Forced to leave their home in California, the entire family travels for twenty hours by bus, arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona.  In the months and years that follow, Francisco, his mother and father, and his sister and four brothers not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice."

Jordan, Sherryl     The Raging Quiet     When Marnie's family falls on hard times, it is decided that she will marry the Lord's son, Isake, a much older man.  They are wed but a few days after the wedding he falls off the roof of the cottage he was repairing for them in the little village by the sea.  The townspeople come to believe that she killed him and all, except the priest who knows the truth, are cold towards her.  This beautiful story, about a young woman who sensing kindness and humanity in the outcast, Raven, befriends him, shows us a world where those different were thought to be evil.  For eventually Marnie comes to understand that Raven is deaf.  When she finds ways to communicate with him and when she refuses to give the cottage back to her husband's family, the town accuses her of being a witch and she must endure the test.  

Jordan, Sherryl     The Hunting of the Last Dragon         "As the story opens, our heroes, Jude and Lizzie (aka Jing-wei) are nerving themselves to take on a fire-breathing monster.  How they got into (and out of) this predicament makes for an engaging adventure tale." 

K

Kelton, Elmer     Cloudy in the West     When twelve-year-old Joey flees his East Texas farm to escape the deadly intentions of his stepmother and her lover, he finds adventure and danger in the company of outlaws and his wastrel cousin.

Kerner, Elizabeth    Song in the Silence     Vibrant young Lanen Kaelar is compelled to leave the farm on which she was raised to seek out the awe-inspiring dragons that she's dreamed of since childhood.

Kerr, M.E.    Deliver Us From Evie     A lesbian teenager comes out of the closet to face bigotry and pain.  The novel touches on a topic that people are reluctant to talk about.

Kerr, M.E.    "Hello," I Lied     Lang spends the summer with his mom on a glitzy estate where she works for a celebrity.  He's come out to his mom and is open about his relationship with his boyfriend so he believes he has everything worked out.  Then the celebrity asks Lang to help entertain a teenager from France who will be visiting him.  As Lang becomes good friends with the lovely Huguette and their relationship grows, he is thrown for a loop when he realizes he cares deeply about her. 

Kim, Helen     The Long Season of Rain     Set in Korea, this book explores the changing life of eleven-year-old Junehee.  The rainy season not only isolates Junehee with her sisters, mother, and grandmother, it also brings a young boy, orphaned by a mudslide, into her household.  The boy's (Pyungsoo's) arrival, however, serves as a catalyst for the unfolding of Junehee's own family story and reveals stultifying Korean traditions which limited her mother's choices.  Junehee vows to break free of traditions that will cause her to neglect her own dreams.

Kindl, Patrice     The Woman in the Wall     Painfully and obsessively shy, Anna comes of age in a world of her own, which she builds within the walls of her family's Victorian house.

Klass, David     Home of the Braves       Joe Brickman anticipates his senior year as soccer captain, but never suspects the violence that will suddenly occur in his average American high school.

Klass, David     Wrestling with Honor     Champion high-school wrestler Ron Woods faces a soul-searching session when he refuses to retake a mandatory drug test that he has failed.

Klause, Annette Curtis    Blood and Chocolate     This book begins with a group of people/werewolves being burned out of their home because of recent violence in the area. The werewolf pack, which stays disguised, works hard at living in peace with their neighbors and has a very strict code that includes no violence towards humans.  Against a backdrop of burgeoning violence and power struggles within the pack, Vivian, at fifteen begins to fall in love with a non-werewolf. Because she loves the part of herself that "puts on the fur" during the full moon and runs free, she believes she can show her boyfriend that side of herself.  But is the time right?  Will he think she is the one responsible for the human deaths in the neighborhood? Will he still love her if he sees her in her wolf form?

Koller, Jackie French    The Falcon     Luke is annoyed when his eleventh-grade English teacher requires the class to keep a journal.  Soon, to his surprise, he finds himself recording all his thoughts about his life.  He knows that his supportive parents worry about his frequent, seemingly reckless behavior, but when his unplanned mountain climbing adventure results in his hospitalization and possible loss of his sight, he worries about himself, too. Will Dr. Jim be able to help him figure out why he seems so self-destructive.          

Koller, Jackie French    A Place to Call Home     Anna comes up the driveway after school to discover that her mother's car is gone and that her seven-month-old brother is screaming in his crib.  When five-year-old Mandy comes home from school it becomes obvious that their mother will be gone for some time, perhaps on another drinking binge.  Anna stays home from school to care for her brother and sister and one day while going to a rather remote park, she is sure she sees her mother's car beneath the surface of the water.  Desperate and frightened, Anna has to make a plan to survive since she fears what will happen to the three of them if it is discovered her mother is dead. 

Korman, Gordon           Son of the Mob      Vince Luca is a typical high school guy except that his father is a mafia boss. . . . and now Vince has fallen in love with the daughter of the FBI agent trying to expose his dad!

Krakauer, Jon     Into Thin Air:  A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster     Only a handful of people have stood atop Everest. Krakauer is one of them, but the story he tells here is not of glorious triumph.  Rather, it is a true account of survival and death that will grab readers from the very first page.

Krisher, Trudy    Kinship     When Pert Wilson's daddy returns to Kinship after an absence of more than fourteen years, she is sure her life will be perfect because she so desperately wants his acceptance.  Throughout this story, narrated in alternate chapters by Pert and residents of her trailer park, we see her dad's actions through many eyes. Pert doesn't want to see what other's see and won't take a hard look at her daddy even when he stands her up for a father-daughter dance.  All she knows is that her mother and brother get quieter and quieter the longer he is around.  It takes her most of the summer to understand the difference between kin and family and to truly understand what home means.

L

Lantz, Francess     Someone to Love     In letters to her soon-to-be-adopted sibling, Sara explains how, defying her parents, she becomes friends with the birth mother, Iris, and ruins everything.

Lawrence, Iain               The Lightkeeper's Daughter        "Three years have passed since Squid McCrae last saw her parents and the remote island off the coast of British Columbia where she grew up.  Squid returns now at seventeen, a young woman with a daughter in tow.   The visit, she knows, will be rough. LizzieIsland—paradise to some, a stifling prison to others—brings an onslaught of memories.  It is the place of Squid's idyllic childhood, where she and her brother, Alastair, explored the abundant natural life, and where they blossomed into precocious adolescents.  But LizzieIsland is also the place where Alastair died. Now the past collides with the present as Squid's homecoming unleashes a bittersweet recollections, revelations, and accusations."

Lee, Marie G.     Necessary Roughness     Chan Jung Kim is forced to leave the life he enjoys in L.A. to move with his family to a little town in Minnesota to run a convenience store. When he starts school he learns there is no soccer team.  When the main kicker of the football team is put out of commission, the head coach approaches Chan to see if he will join the team.  Despite his father's disapproval, through football Chan finds his place in the small community.  When his sister begins to date Chan's best friend, the relationship has to be kept secret, since the Kim children are not allowed to date until college.

Levenkron, Steven    The Luckiest Girl in the World      Fifteen-year-old figure skater Katie Roskova inflicts pain on herself when she can't manage her feelings about her absent father, her overbearing mother, the pressures of her sport, and her school life.

Levine, Gail Carson    Dave at Night     In 1926 when Dave is eleven his dad dies and his stepmother decides to get rid of him because she thinks he causes too much trouble.  He is placed in the Hebrew Home for Boys and then the adventures begin.  Peopled with adults who seem Dickensian, Dave is befriended by many of the other orphans.  Since the headmaster has "stolen" a carving that Dave's dad made, Dave vows he will get it back and leave.  In experimenting with his escape plans, he gets out of the home one night and ends up at a party in Harlem with an old man who tells fortunes.

Levine, Gail Carson    Ella Enchanted      This retelling of the Cinderella tale follows the exploits of Ella of Frell, whose fairy gift has become a curse.  At her birth, a fairy had given her the gift of obedience, which forces Ella to obey any order given to her.  When her father marries for money and then abandons his family to travel in peace and freedom, Ella endures the cruelty of a step family who has discovered the nature of her curse.  Ella's strength, however, allows her to break the curse and make her own happy ending.

Levitin, Sonia     The Cure     Set in the distant future, Gemm 16884 is branded a deviant because of his strong emotions and love of music.  His only chance to redeem himself is if he agrees to go back in time to experience what emotion and individuality result in.  He is propelled to Strasbourg,Germany in the year 1348, at the onset of the Black Death as a sixteen-year-old Jewish boy. This chilling story allows us to experience life as a Jew at this time when Jews are being blamed as the cause of the plague.

Lord, Walter     A Night to Remember     An account of the sinking of the Titanic.

Lowry, Lois     A Summer to Die     Thirteen-year-old Meg envies her sister's beauty and popularity. Her feelings don't make it any easier for her to cope with Molly's strange illness and eventual death. 

Lowry, Lois     The Giver     Jonas lives in a world where everything is perfect.  There is no war, no fear of pain.  Spouses are chosen by a Committee of Elders. Couples are monitored for three years before they can apply for children.  Everyone is assigned a job in the Community, and those who do not fit in are "released."  Jonas is chosen for a special job, Receiver of Memory.  But as he begins his training, he learns things that no one else knows or understands.  He decides he must escape the community, knowing that if he does he can never return. What will he find when he travels beyond the river?

 M

Mah, Adeline Yen     Chinese Cinderella     This true story tells about growing up as an unwanted child in Shanghai.  The youngest of five children, her mother died when she was two weeks old and she was viewed as bringing bad luck.  Her father remarried in less than a year and the stepmother treated his five children very poorly, making them use the back entrance to their house and forbidding them to bring friends home.   This child only had one aunt who cared deeply about her, but even she could not intercede when the stepmother decided to send her away. 

Marsden, John     Burning for Revenge (#5)     The teens finally give up hoping that they will be rescued by the New Zealanders and decide to go to a different part of the country to see if they can be effective there.  There, staying in Ellie's grandma's house, they run into groups of squatter children trying to survive in groups.  The countryside is crawling with invaders and they have to draw from deep within to meet the challenge.    

Marsden, John     Darkness Be My Friend (#4)     This fourth book is as action-packed and tense as the other three as the five remaining teens go back into the action after getting a short break when they were air-lifted to New Zealand.  In this novel some New Zealanders go back with them but disappear soon after and the kids take up their guerrilla war with increased determination

Marsden, John     The Dead of the Night (#2)     In attempting to find out about their injured friend Corrie, and Kevin who drove her to the hospital, the five get involved in more combat.  Later they find a group of adults who also escaped capture in another town and even though they don't trust the commander, they hook up with them until they find out how incompetent the group is.  In an attempt to make a difference they decide to blow up the section of the town where the commanders live and they hope they can escape to the place called Hell.

Marsden, John     Letters from the Inside    Through the mails, Mandy and Tracey become fast friends. They share news about their boyfriends, their siblings, and their pets.  They trade stories about home and school and confide in each other or do they? What are the secrets hidden between the lines of their cheerful letters?

Marsden, John     So Much to Tell You     After the "accident" Marina is sent to a boarding school because she has not made progress emotionally in the hospital. Although thrust into a world filled with people again, Marina still doesn't speak at all.  Then she starts writing in a journal for English class and bit by bit the trauma of her silence unfolds as a shocking nightmare that continues to haunt her.  

.

Marsden, John     The Third Day, The Frost (#3)     In this thriller, the group attacks a military wharf and manages to blow up a tanker and create havoc.  At last they are captured and imprisoned.   During this time they each have to come to terms with themselves in their long weeks in isolation.  A bombing raid at the end works mainly in their favor. 

Marsden, John     Tomorrow, When the War Began (#1)      This riveting adventure takes us to Australia and into the lives of seven teens who return from a camping trip to find that their country has been invaded and their town has been taken over by the enemy who imprisoned all the inhabitants in the fairgrounds complex.  Recovering quickly from the shock, they make plans to do something and to find out what happened to their families.  Taking risks becomes part of their life as they decide to blow up a bridge necessary for military transport. 

Martinez, Victor     Parrot in the Oven    This book explores the life of fourteen-year-old Mann Hernandez who wants to be more than what his father has labeled him, a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect.  This coming-of-age story traces the difficult life Manny leads in a neighborhood where joining a gang is seen as the way to gain respect.  Manny, though, isn't sure joining a gang is for him.  He wants to be the one to decide what happens to him and to his life. 

Maxwell, Robin     Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn     Elizabeth,England's monarch receives her mother's secret diary and becomes acquainted with a mother she has never known. 

Mazer, Norma Fox     Good Night Maman     When the Nazis enter Paris in 1940, Karin's life changes drastically.  After her father is killed, she and her mother and older brother flee and hide wherever they can.  Leaving their very sick mother behind, they make it to Naples,Italy where they are able to board a ship which will take them to America and safety.  Going to school, making friends, and worrying about whether or not she is important to her older brother keep Karin from thinking about what might have happened to her darling Maman.  One day, however, she can no longer avoid the painful subject. This book offers detailed information about Karin's life on the run and about the reception the refugees got in New York (the only WWII refugee camp on American soil) as we see America through the eyes of someone new to this country.

Mazer, Norma Fox     When She Was Good     Em's dad is an alcoholic, her mom can barely hold her life together, and her sister is mentally ill and violent.  This is the story of Em's life before and after her sister's death as she tries to figure out how to nurture herself and support herself financially.  After Em's mom dies, Pamela, now 18, drags Em away so they can live together on their own.  But Pamela has no skills to allow her to hold down a job.  Sinking even deeper into depression and/or fantasy she constantly abuses her sister psychologically and physically.  Em thinks she might be free when her sister dies suddenly, but she has to learn how to cope with the voice of her sister that she carries in her head.

McCaughrean, Geraldine               The Kite Rider        "In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan."

McDonald, Janet       Chill Wind      Aisha Ingram, teenage mother of two, has a "chill-out" philosophy until she receives notice that her welfare benefits will end and has to devise a successful way to survive.

McDonald, Janet      Spellbound         "Raven's life has been derailed. She never expected she'd be a mother at sixteen like her best friend, Aisha.  Is she going to be just another high school dropout, a project girl with few prospects? Could be, except Raven has ambition. Still, when is she going to find the time to finish school?  Her older sister, Dell, tells her about a spelling bee that promised the winner enrollment in a college prep program and a scholarship for college. SPELLING?  There isn't a subject she's worse at!  But Raven is fiercely determined to win, and so she starts memorizing words." 

McDonald, Joyce     Swallowing Stones    On his sixteenth birthday Michael receives a rifle and some bullets from his grandfather.  Amid the din on the Fourth of July, he and his friend Joe step into the woods and fire a lone shot into the air.  Over a mile away Jenna Ward looks up at her father as he fixes their leaky roof.  He lifts an arm to wave and suddenly tumbles down the roof and lands in a heap at her feet, dead from a gunshot wound.  In the weeks that follow the truth remains hidden.  Neither Michael nor Jenna can continue the relationships they previously enjoyed.  In a tangled web the teenagers move toward an inevitable resolution.

McKinley, Robin     Rose Daughter     Beauty, who possesses the gift of growing roses, is compelled to stay at the Beast's castle and help him bring his magnificent garden, the heart of his magical kingdom, back to life.

McLaren,Clemence     Inside the Walls of Troy     The beautiful Helen and the prophetess Cassandra describe, from their respective viewpoints, the events that led to the great Trojan War.

Meyer, Carolyn     Jubilee Journey     Young biracial Emily is shocked out of her feelings of comfort as she discovers she needs to come to terms with her racial identity when she visits her African American family in Texas.

Miklowitz, Gloria    Anything to Win     When Cam Potter needs to gain weight and muscle to win a college football scholarship, he sees no harm in using steroids—until he comes face to face with the sometimes tragic results.

Mori, Kyoko     One Bird     This story presents a view of Japan and Japanese culture from the perspective of Megumi, a fifteen-year-old girl left to live with her father because custom dictates it when her mother leaves her father and travels back to her childhood home.  A coming-of-age story with an international flavor, the novel traces Megumi's life with her father but, most positively, with Dr. Mizutani, a female veterinarian who offers Megumi a job helping her heal sick birds.  Megumi's discoveries about herself in the clinic also help her understand her mother and gain confidence and strength.

Myers, Walter Dean    Fallen Angels     An African-American enlists in the service to escape his neighborhood and fights in Vietnam.

Myers, Walter Dean    Hoops    A teenage basketball player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after being forced to quit because of a point shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other young athletes from repeating his mistake.

Myers, Walter Dean    Monster    At sixteen Steve is in jail waiting for his trial on charges of being an accomplice to a murder.  He records his thoughts during his time in jail in a diary and what happens in the court room in the form of a movie script to help him grapple with the course his life has taken.

Myers, Walter Dean    Scorpions    Jamal's life changes drastically when he acquires a gun.  Though he survives the experience, it's not without sacrificing his innocence and possibly his friendship with his best friend.

Myers, Walter Dean    Slam!    Greg Harris, Slam, is 17 and new at a mainly white school. Besides his basketball skills, he's brought with him one giant attitude, feeling everyone is picking on him and not giving him a chance.  With a supportive family (including an annoying little brother,) an assistant coach who's on his side, and a girlfriend who has his best interests at heart, Slam comes face to face with the fact that he's playing with his own future. 

Muse, Daphne, (Editor)    Prejudice:  A Story Collection     This collection of short stories is meant to help students "reexamine their lives and how they think about and treat others."  Because there are so few young adult works dealing with prejudice, the editor has collected accessible stories from many authors.  The stories examine a wide range of prejudices.

N

Namioka, Lensey      An Ocean Apart, a World Away      Yanyan has an unorthodox dream for a girl growing up in China in 1911.  When she comes to the United States, she must define her own role and "help carve a new path for generations of women" following her.

Namioka, Lensey      Ties That Bind, Ties That Break      At five, Ailin is spirited enough to rebel against foot binding and her intended husband's family breaks the marriage agreement.  As she enters adolescence she realizes just how powerful a girl of good family with no prospect of marriage is in Chinese society.  This saga of a girl who defies the ancient traditions of her class and heritage details how she survived and emerged as a young woman with an indomitable spirit.

Napoli, Donna Jo     For the Love of Venice     Percy isn't thrilled that he'll miss soccer and the big sailing race to accompany his family to Venice for the summer.  Once there he's surprised when he meets a girl who becomes special and when he's catapulted into the middle of a Venetian plot to blow up a water system to keep tourists out of the city. Percy  feels caught between his friends and his father who is the engineer working on the floodgates in the water system.

Napoli, Donna Jo     Stones in Water     Abducted by Nazis from a movie house near his home in Venice, Roberto finds himself a slave laborer in German work camps, until he escapes in the frozen Ukraine and struggles to return home.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds    Outrageously Alice     The irrepressible Alice, now in eighth grade, suffers an identity crisis that leads to outrageous experiments with her appearance and behavior.

Nix, Garth      Lirael:  Daughter of the Clayr        In this luminous sequel to Sabriel, young Lirael mourns that she alone, among all the sisterhood of the Clayr, cannot see the future, but finds her destiny is much larger when she is sent on a quest to save the Old Kingdom from Free Magic, helped only by The Disreputable Dog and bungling Prince Sameth.

Nix, Garth     Shade's Children     In this city of the future children are warehoused in dormitories until their brains are removed when they are fourteen and put in the bodies of creatures of the Overlords.  But some children have escaped and work feverishly with the help of an adult, whose only embodiment is in a computer, to fight the powers of evil. An engrossing story that focuses on four children and what they are willing to do and give up to help free humanity. 

Nixon, Joan Lowery    The Other Side of Dark     Stacy wakes up in a hospital bed only to discover that she's been in a coma for four years.  She soon learns that the stranger that shot her killed her mother. As she struggles to recall the stranger's identity, she fears that he may be stalking her.

Nixon, Joan Lowery    Whispers from the Dead     After a near-death experience, a girl moves into a new home and begins hearing the whispers of a murdered woman.  She decides to try to solve the murder of the spirit she heard.  Don't skip the Prologue, or it won't make sense.

Nodelman, Perry     Behaving Bradley     Bradley Gold is on a mission:  to gather input in order to change the proposed Code of Conduct at his high school which he considers barbarous and disrespectful to students. Little does he know that by taking on this project he will be taking on bullies, weak-willed student leaders, righteous faculty members, and people with personal agendas.  Brad's humor helps him through this difficult period as he comes face to face with his own belief system.

Nolan, Han     Dancing on the Edge     Miracle McCloy, who lives with her eccentric grandmother and her distant father, knows she's different.  She's been told stories of her mother's tragic death and her miraculous birth but now her father disappears and her grandmother announces he's "melted."  Miracle longs for him and invents stories about what she could do to make him reappear. When she and her grandmother move in with her grandfather, he pays attention to Miracle and lets her take dance lessons while insisting she not tell her grandmother.  Because mystery shrouds so much of her life, Miracle turns inward and hides her pain until it comes bursting through when she sets herself on fire.  Then the secrets are told and she can begin to deal with the hard truth about her past. 

Nolan, Han     A Face in Every Window     At fifteen, JP is comfortable living with his mentally challenged father, his grandmother who takes care of everything, and his mother who hasn't had much of a taste of responsibility.  Then his grandmother dies and his mom wins a big farmhouse which changes everything.  Soon she is taking in neighborhood outcasts and JP and his dad seemed to be pushed out of the center of his life.  His anger pushes him farther away from his friends and family and he must deal with the fact that all his problems don't lie outside of him.

Nye, Naomi Shihab    Habibi    When 14-year-old Liyana Abboud's family moves from St. Louis to Jerusalem, the city where her father was born, her whole life is changed.  She works to learn new languages, to understand tensions and the resulting discrimination between peoples, to fit into the sprawling family of her father, and to figure out how she, as an American Arab, can find a comfortable place for herself in this new world.   Liyana is a charming, sometimes mischievous girl, who questions the ways of her father and his people by striking up a friendship with a delightful Jewish boy. 

Nye, Naomi Shihab     19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East     This is the entire collection of Nye's poems about the Middle East, peace, and growing up an Arab-American in the United States.

O

Orr, Wendy     Peeling the Onion     Anna struggles to recover her health and her life after a car accident shatters her body and leaves her brain damaged.

Oughton, Jerrie     The War in Georgia     Orphaned Shanta Cola Morgan must reconcile her feelings of loss and confusion about not being part of a "real" family in a small southern town during World War II.

P

Paulsen, Gary    Sarny     As the Civil War is ending, Sarny's two children are ripped away from her and this sequel begins with Sarny's search for her children.  She journeys to New Orleans to find them and on her way meets an extraordinary woman who befriends her.  This story lingers on Sarny's early life as she marries and begins schools to teach others to read and then quickly takes us to her 94^th year.

Paulsen, Gary    The Schernoff Discoveries     Everybody knows a Harold Schernoff—the nerd, the geek. In this laugh-out-loud tale, Harold and his buddy team up for everything—from scientifically retrieving golf balls to designing that first kiss.

Peck, Richard       Are You in the House Alone?     A high school girl receives threatening notes and phone calls, realizes that she is under constant observation, and survives her worst nightmare.  It is a disturbing but realistic look at rape.

Peck, Robert Newton    Horse Thief      A fast-moving adventure of a seventeen-year-old boy who turns to horse thieving when the only family he knows, small town rodeo, goes belly-up.

Penman, Sharon Kay    The Queen's Man     Young Justin de Quincey finds himself in a viper's nest of murderous nobles and false allies when the queen chooses him to discover the truth about her son, who's gone, missing on his return from the Crusades. 

Persea, Anee Mazer (Editor)     Working Days: Short Stories about Teenagers at Work     Fifteen short stories about teenagers finding their way in the world of work.

Pike, Christopher    Falling Into Darkness     Although no body or witnesses have been produced, Sharon McKay stands accused of murdering her best friend, and she must prove that the troubled teen committed suicide or else go to jail.

Pike, Christopher    See You Later     Sequel to Falling Into Darkness.

Philbrick, Rodman    Max the Mighty     Maxwell Kane doesn't mean to get in trouble. It's just that he met 11-year-old red-haired Worm when he protected her from bullies and now she's in real danger so what's he to do?  He makes a snap decision to take her away from her trouble and is pursued by the police and a man called Undertaker. Together they flee across country dodging in and out of adventures and staying ahead of the law until Worm feels she is safe.

Plummer, Louise     A Dance for Three     When she finds out she's pregnant at 15, Hannah believes she'll be all right.  She'll start a family with Milo, and the three of them will live happily ever after. Then reality hits hard.  Louise Plummer tells Hannah's powerful story from three perspectives.  But from every angle, this is a tale of loss, recovery, and self-discovery.

Plum-Ucci, Carol     What Happened to Lani Garver?     "Sixteen –year-old Claire is unable to face her fears about a recurrence of her leukemia, her eating disorder, her need to fit in with the popular crowd. . , and her mother's alcoholism until the enigmatic Lani Garver helps her get control of her life at the risk of his own."

Porter, Tracy    Treasures in the Dust     Eleven-year-old Annie and her friend Violet tell of the hardships endured by their families when dust storms, drought, and the Great Depression hit rural Oklahoma.  When everything else is dying their friendship is the one thing that flourishes. Theirs is the story of friendship, courage, and hope—treasures shining through the face of hardship.

Pullman, Philip     The Subtle Knife    Lyra journeys to a new world and meets Will who considers himself a murderer because he acted to save his mother.  His father had mysteriously disappeared years ago and Will wants to find him.  The two team up and travel between Will's world and a new, strange world where Will finds himself the keeper of the "subtle knife" which can easily give them access to other worlds.  The adventure continues as the boundaries between the worlds thin and the danger of destruction at the hands of the specters continues. 

Q     

R

Rapp, Adam     The Buffalo Tree     While serving a six-month sentence at a juvenile detention center, thirteen-year-old Sura struggles to survive the experience with his spirit intact.  After reading this you'll look very differently at kids who get in trouble.

Reynolds, Marilyn     Too Soon for Jeff     A look at the teen pregnancy issue from the father's experience, exploring the guy's feelings and responsibility. Jeff's girlfriend gets pregnant and refuses to consider adoption or abortion.  At first he claims he will have nothing to do with her because it is too soon for him to be a father.

Reynolds, Marjorie    The Starlite Drive-In     Thirteen-year-old Callie falls hard for the romantic drifter who disrupts the lives of her lonely mother and bitter father. 

Rinaldi, Ann     An Acquaintance with Darkness     Set during the time of President Lincoln's assassination, this historical novel examines the mystery of Lincoln's murder through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Emily.  Emily's mother's death forces Emily to live with her uncle, whom her mother had detested.  What Emily discovers while living in her uncle's house proves to be an even greater mystery than that surrounding Lincoln's death.  Emily confronts not only her friend's involvement with John Wilkes Booth, but the mystery surrounding her uncle's medical experiments on the house's grounds and beyond.

Rinaldi, Ann     Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons     A fictional account of the life of Phyllis Wheatley, the slave kidnapped from Senegal who became America's first published black poet.  Rinaldi brings to life this intriguing woman not often mentioned in history books.    

Rinaldi, Ann     The Second Bend in the River     As a child in 1798 Rebecca, a settler in Ohio, meets Tecumseh when he visits her family homestead built on the site his village used to occupy.  Throughout the years Rebecca and her family become good friends with Tecumseh.  She helps him with his English in the speeches he writes and he teaches her about Indian life and beliefs.  Their relationship gradually deepens into something much more than friendship and both must make a decision about what to do.

Roberts, Willo Davis    Twisted Summer     Fourteen-year-old Cici is excited to be returning to her grandparents' beach house for the summer.  She hopes Jack will now consider her old enough to pay attention to. Once there, she is shocked to find out a murder has been committed and Jack's brother jailed.  She's sure a mistake has been made and begins to investigate but is horrified when it appears someone close to her may have been involved in the crime.

Rochman, Hazel and Darlene Z. McCampbell (Editors)     Leaving Home     Leaving whatever one considers home can cause many emotions, as experienced in this collection of short stories, poems, and essays.

Rodriquez, Luis J.    Always Running     Luis Rodriquez writes the story of  his involvement in a gang as a young man, his exit from the gang, and the pain of watching his son get involved in street gangs.

Rosenberg, Liz     17 A Novel in Prose Poems      "Seventeen-year-old Stephanie journeys from fall to spring and from childhood to womanhood as she experiences first love and deals with her fear of inheriting her mother's mental illness.

Rowling, J. K.     Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone     Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Ruby, Lois     Skin Deep     Dan's senior year stinks now that his family's moved to a town where he can't find a job or get on his school's swim team, but a Neo-Nazi group is glad to welcome him as a new member.

S

Sachs, Marilyn     Another Day     Divorce hurts, and 14-year-old Karin feels neither of her parents care about her anymore.  She can't even count on her wonderful but recently-widowed grandmother who has withdrawn into silence in her grief.  Karin's focus on her own misery eases when she overcomes her fear of dogs to give an ignored little poodle a better life.

Savage, Deborah     Kotuku      "Still having difficulty facing the death of her best friend, Wim must deal with a difficult great-aunt and Maori visitors from New Zealand who uncover a dark family secret."

Shaw, Susan     Black-eyed Suzie         " 'I live in a box with four sides, tall and brown.  I cannot get out.'  With these words, readers enter the world of Suzie, a dark-eyed twelve-year-old who desperately needs to feel safe and worthy of love. Suzie's box is a psychological prison. Although she doesn't know it, living in a box threatens her life.  Suzie's mother, a singer who feels she sacrificed her career in order to raise a family, insists that Suzie is just "going through a stage."  Life begins to change when Suzie's Uncle Elliot stops by unexpectedly.  Realizing at once that Suzie is in serious trouble, Elliot demands that she be taken to a hospital.  Suzie must piece together a puzzle that involves seemingly unrelated clues—and yet, when the pieces finally come together, they reveal a secret that will change Suzie's life forever."

Sheldon, Dyan      My Perfect Life      "Ella has no interest in running for class president at her suburban New Jersey high school, but her off-beat friend Lola tricks her into challenging the rich and overbearing Carla Santini in a less-than-friendly race."

Shoup, Barbara     Stranded in Harmony     How can Lucas, a high-school senior, loosen the grip of his parents, his girlfriend, and his best friend, all of whom want him to live up to their expectations?

Shusterman, Neal     The Dark Side of Nowhere     Feeling trapped and bored in his normal, peaceful hometown, Jason slowly learns that he and most of the townspeople are aliens.

Skurzynski, Gloria    The Clones:  The Virtual War Chronologs Book 2     "Sequel to Virtual War.  Having won the Virtual War for the Western Hemisphere Federation, fifteen-year-old Corgan finds himself raising a clone of the young mutant genius who helped him win before dying."

Skurzynski, Gloria    Virtual War     Genetically engineered soldiers prepare for a virtual war. Even in cyberspace, adolescents rebel and there are FLKs (funny-looking kids.)

Sleator, William     The Spirit House     Julie's family hosts an exchange student from Thailand. After fearing and mistreating the student, Julie learns the damages of stereotyping.

Smith, Sherri L.     Lucy the Giant         Lucy Otswego is a big girl who towers over just about everyone and everything in her small Alaskan town—except for her father's reputation as a mean drunk.  At fifteen, Lucy runs away from the cruel classmates who see her only as the Giant, the neighboring adults who pity her, and the abusive father whose fleeting attention is worse than his indifference.  When the crew of a crabbing boat assumes she's much older than she is and invites her to sign on for the season, she jumps at the chance to escape her teenage life.  Lucy the Giant faces life on her own terms, not as an oversized teen, but as a powerful adult.  But in her masquerade, she learns that there are no shorcuts to growing up."

Soto, Gary    Buried Onions     Mexican-American Eddie tries desperately to escape his violence-infested life in Fresno,California.

Southgate, Martha    Another Way to Dance     Vicki, fourteen, is selected to attend the summer program at the School of American Ballet in New York.  She is one of only two African American students at the dance school and for the first time is keenly aware of the nubby curls of their hair as compared to the other fair-haired debutantes around them.  At home in Newark all of Vicki's friends are white, so this friendship and an evolving romance with a youth from Harlem jar Vicki's earlier complaisance.

Sparks, Beatrice (Editor)     Go Ask Alice     Readers get to watch Nancy's deterioration as she writes in her diary about experimenting with, getting addicted to, and selling drugs.

Sparks, Beatrice and James Jennings (Editors)     It Happened to Nancy    Diary entries of a young girl who has contracted AIDS from a date rape.

Spinelli,  Jerry     Wringer    Poor Palmer.  He is a gentle soul who abhors violence towards animals, but lives in a town which thinks it is great sport each year to kill 5000 pigeons as its chief fund raiser.  Most of the little boys relish the thought of turning ten and helping wring the necks of the pigeons which are not killed outright.  Not Palmer.  He dreads his tenth birthday and becomes increasingly unhappy with his decision to be part of a gang.  After a pigeon pecks on his bedroom window and Palmer takes him into his life—everything changes.  This is the story of Palmer's journey towards acquiring the courage to be himself.

Spinner, Stephanie     Quiver      Atalanta, baby girl saved by Artemis, now at sixteen defies the father who abandoned her in a suspenseful tale immersed in ancient Greek mythology.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher    Dangerous Skies     Buck Smith and Tunes Smith have been friends since birth.  Tunes' dad works for Buck's family just like his ancestors did.  Race has never been an issue for these two as they fish and boat together in the flats of the Chesapeake Bay area.  Then a murder is committed and because Tunes and Buck find the body, they are in danger of being accused of the crime.  Will Buck speak up when Tunes is accused by the white man who tried to assault her?  The crime tears open the community and brings out the latent racism and hypocrisy that have been part of our country's history.

Sterling, Shirley    My NAME is SEEPEETZA     Based on her own experiences, the author tells the story of living and studying at an Indian residential school and having her name and everything about her life changed.  Strict and unhappy nuns, arbitrary and unfair rules, and worst of all, a complete denial of all that being an Indian means to her, govern "Martha's" world.  Only vacation times at home feed Martha's hunger for the true life she has had to leave behind.        

Steinbeck, John     Of Mice and Men     Lennie is a man of tremendous size, the strongest man working on the ranch, but he is mentally retarded.  He always manages to get himself into jams—like when he innocently touched a young girl and was accused of molesting her—and his friend George ends up having to rescue him.  But even George cannot protect Lennie when the wife of the boss's son begins flirting with him. 

Stoehr, Shelley     Crosses    Nancy has alcoholic parents and Katie has her own dysfunctional family, so their friendship produces many self-destructive behaviors such as smoking, taking drugs, and cutting oneself with glass.

Strasser, Todd     The Accident     Everyone had been drinking that snowy night when Chris's car plunged into the ravine.  Luckily, Matt hadn't gone with the group.  Now four of his friends are dead.  Everyone blames Chris for the tragedy, but Matt thinks there's something fishy about the investigation that followed the accident.  Was it a case of drunk driving or something more?  Matt is determined to uncover the truth, but no one is talking.  What really happened that night?

Strasser, Todd    Moving Target     When 18-year-old Angelo Conti's father goes into the Witness Protection Program, Angelo can't resist seeing his girlfriend one last time, and he endangers the lives of everyone he cares about.

T

Tan, Amy     The Joy Luck Club     Chinese American daughters find conflict, love, and connection with their mothers, who are haunted by their early lives in China.

Tashjian, Janet     Tru Confessions     The computer diary of twelve-year-old Tru is sprinkled with lists and icons and a variety of appealing computer applications.  Her twin brother was without oxygen in the womb for too long and is developmentally delayed.  Tru's quest is to find a "cure."  Because of her keen interest in television broadcasting, she is delighted when a local cable station sponsors a teen video competition.  Tru is certain this is her big chance.

Tate, Sonsyrea     Little X:  Growing Up in the Nation of Islam     Sonsyrea, who was raised in a Nation of Islam family, honestly describes life in the strict religious community.

Temple, Frances     The Beduins'Gazelle     In 1302, two cousins of the nomadic Beni Khalid tribe who are betrothed become separated by political intrigue between warring tribes. Halima becomes lost in a desert storm and saved by a rival tribe.  The leader claims her as his betrothed.  Will she be able to escape this life as the youngest wife of the greedy Raisula?

Thomas, Rob     Doing Time:  Notes from the Undergrad     Ten high school students doing mandatory community service in order to graduate give ten different voices and viewpoints to the enterprise.

Thomas, Rob     Rats Saw God     After the divorce of his parents, Steve goes from a National Merit Scholar to an underachieving "stoner" by the end of his junior year. 

Thomas, Rob     Satellite Down     Patrick Sheridan, editor of his Texas high school paper, is an avid journalist who is thrilled when he is tapped to be an anchor on a news show that is broadcast directly to high schools across the country.  He is amazed and disturbed when he becomes the show's top-rated personality.  Sent to Northern Ireland for a story, he decides to take drastic actions to free himself from the media whirlwind and find out who he really is.

Thomas, Rob     Slave Day     It's Slave Day at RobertE.LeeHigh School, a fund-raiser in which students and a few willing teachers perform errands for the "masters" who bid on them in the school auction.  One African-American student challenges the whole idea and when he can't seem to get any support for outlawing the day, he decides to "purchase" the Student Council president who is also African-American.  Written from multiple perspectives in alternating chapters, this story of one day in the lives of high school students and teachers shows how the day's events cause many to rethink their approaches to their own lives.

Tomey, Ingrid     Nobody Else Has to Know     When fifteen-year-old Webber's grandfather lets him drive on a country road, he wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the accident in which a little girl was badly hurt.  His Grandpa has assumed the blame and may have to go to jail. As Webber's memory slowly comes back he is struck by what he has done but his grandfather insists he not ruin his young life by confessing.  How long can Webber live this way?

Trembath, Don     A Fly Named Alfred     The anonymous columnist called Alfred is the hit of the high school paper with his witty, always right-on-target observations of students and teachers.  When he describes a tough guy's actions of parking his convertible in the school bus lanes and  refusing to move, the tough guy is determined to find Alfred and punish him. 

Trueman, Terry       Stuch in Neutral         Shawn looks like a total spazz to the world because of cerebral palsy, but inside he is a normal and very intelligent 14-year-old boy who enjoys his life even though he can't speak or move.  So how can he persuade his father not to kill him to "put him out of his pain"?

U  V

Van Draanen, Wendelin    Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief    Sammy Keyes is a white urban girl with attitude.  She's fatherless, semi-motherless, and living illegally with her loving grandmother in an apartment meant only for senior citizens.  She spends a lot of time trying not to get caught going in or out of her grandma's apartment and so spends lots of time looking out the window with her binoculars.  That's when the real sleuthing adventure begins because she sees a man in an apartment stealing a purse.  Nosy, inquisitive, and fearless, she leads her friend into helping her solve the mystery of the thefts in the neighborhood. 

Vick, Helen Hughes    Tag Against Time     This sequel to Walker of Time follows Tag, who was zapped back to ancient Hopi times, as he journeys forward to his own time in this century.  He doesn't get home all in one "walk" through time but stops in different historical periods in the Hopi canyon to help change attitudes and behavior in order to preserve the remnants of Hopi culture.  This engrossing story is also a history of how native ruins were destroyed and how the conservation movement began.

Villasenor, Victor    Walking Stars:  Stories of Magic and Power     This collection of the stories of Victor's family is absolutely magical.   He started out his journey towards story collecting by doubting the stupendous incidents his parents talked about.  Until he went to Mexico to see for himself and learned that we are all walking stars if we would only recognize the special brilliance and power we have as human beings.  Not only are these stories interesting and engaging, they validate the importance of stories from our own cultures.

Voight, Cynthia     A Solitary Blue     No man is an island, but Jeff Green is trying to be one. He changed after his mother moved out. It was better that way—better not to feel, better not to care.  Then, years later, Jeff's mother invited him to visit her.  She seemed so warm and caring that he started to open up, to trust. He's forgotten about the pain, but now he can't remember anything else.

W

Walker, Alice    The Color Purple     Sisters Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a southern woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, share their thoughts and experiences throughout a thirty-year correspondence.

Walter, Mildred Pitts    Second Daughter:  The Story of a Slave Girl     Sissa, a slave girl who never knew her parents, lives in a household with her older sister who seems better able than Aissa to outwardly accept that she is a slave.  Set in the years just prior to the Revolutionary War, the reader sees the struggles of the slaves in the Ashley household to submit to their owner's demands. Aissa and her sister, Bett, meet free blacks and because their owner is part of the group of white men of property writing the Massachusetts Constitution, they are privy to the political thought of the time.  Eventually Bett can take no more of her mistress's treatment and she approaches lawyers she knows through her master to take her case and declare slavery illegal in Massachusetts. 

Wayland, April Halprin        Girl Coming in for a Landing:  A Novel in Poems      A novel of "over 100 poems recounting the ups and downs of one adolescent girl's school year."

Werlin, Nancy       Black Mirror       Frances is forced to deal with her brother's suicide alone in her private New England boarding school. . . until she discovers that he may not have killed himself and there's something not quite right about the Unity Service organization and its organizers.

Wersba, Barbara     Whistle Me Home     Seventeen-year-old Noli is thrilled when the gorgeous new boy at school, TJ, chooses her as his special friend.  She falls in love with him as they spend time together talking, watching old movies and reading poetry; she views him as her soulmate. Nagging doubts about him have been pushed to the back of her mind; but suddenly his secrets come tumbling out and change everything.

White, Ruth     Belle Prater's Boy     Woodrow comes down from the Appalachian hills to live with his grandparents after his mother disappears.  Told from the point of view of his cousin, Gypsy who lives right next door, this gentle, poignant tale takes us into the deep inner places where sadness and loneliness stay, 

Williams, Carol Lynch    The True Colors of Caitlynne    Caitlynne and her sister, forced to fend for themselves when their mother storms out and never returns, take off on their bikes to search for a grandmother they barely know.

Williams-Garcia, Rita    Like Sisters on the Homefront     Mama has had it when street-wise, fourteen-year-old Gayle, already with one baby, gets in trouble again. Mama demands she have an abortion and then sends her down South to live with her very proper aunt and her minister uncle.  Gayle doesn't think she can stand the confinement of the house or the small town atmosphere of her nearly perfect cousin.  Once she starts interacting with Great, the family matriarch, Gayle at least has someone to talk to.  Through living with these relatives Gayle comes to understand the importance of family and the African American oral tradition as well as what her place might be in the larger picture.

Wilson, Jacqueline      Girls in Love (Book One of the Girls Trilogy)      In the first book of a funny trilogy, Ellie begins ninth grade and vows to stay best friends with Magda and Nadine, go on a diet, get a glamorous hairstyle and find a boyfriend?

Wilson, Jacqueline       Girls Under Pressure (Book Two of the Girls Trilogy)        Book two finds "not-so-glamorous-but-kind-of-funny" Ellie looking awful, horrible, and fat, so she goes on a diet that turns her into a thin, but nasty, grouch!

Wolff, Virginia Euwer    Bat 6     Twenty-six girls narrate this story of what should have been a simple softball game—and the new girl (returned from a Japanese internment camp) who shatters the deeply-held values of a picture-perfect post-war American town.  The Bat 6 girls hold up a mirror to us as they reveal, little by little, the irreversible consequences of what happens when good people refuse to do what they know is right.

Wolff, Virginia Euwer     Make Lemonade     Accepting a part-time babysitting job to earn college money, fourteen-year-old LaVaughn comes to love and understand her two charges, and their unmarried teenage mother Jolly, in a way no one else seems to want to.  It's a realistic look both at how difficult it is to be a poor teenaged mom and how it is possible to turn a life around with help.

Woodson, Jacqueline    From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun    Melanin Sun and his hip mom have a good life together. Then she breaks it to him that she is in love with a white woman.  His reaction to this news, which he feels shatters his world, is very realistic. He withdraws, won't speak to her, and doesn't know how to think about what is happening.  He fears he will be labeled as gay and his anger causes him to refuse to meet the woman so important to his mom.

Woodson, Jacqueline    If You Come Softly     After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions. 

Woodson, Jacqueline    Lena    Thirteen-year-old Lena and her younger sister, Dion, morn the death of their mother as they hitchhike from Ohio to Kentucky while running away from their abusive father.  In this sequel to I Never Meant to Tell You This , we see how these young girls cope with being out on their own. 

Wyeth, Sharon Dennis    Once on This River     It is 1760 and Monday and her mother are leaving Madagascar by ship to visit relatives in America where mother was born. Monday is appalled to see people her color aboard the ship as cargo, being taken to America to be sold into slavery.  In New York, eleven-year-old Monday learns that the purpose of the trip is to gain Uncle Frederick's freedom from slavery and that it is a dangerous place to be African.  Through her contacts with her free relatives she unravels the secrets of her mysterious parentage and becomes involved in a plot to free the brother she didn't know she had.

X Y Z

Yee, Paul     Breakaway     Eighteen-year-old Kwok Wong desperately wants to play soccer and attend the university—it's his way out of his Chinese family's traditions and their dirt-poor farm.

Site Created by: Mit Patel

Revised: 09/09/2009