Names Will Never Hurt Me
Jaime Adoff
Y Fic Ado

Several high school students relate their feelings about school, themselves, and events as they unfold on the fateful one-year anniversary of the killing of a fellow student.

subjects: High Schools, Emotional Problems

The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
Fic Alb

While working routine carnival ride maintenance on his 83rd birthday, Eddie saves a little girl but dies in the process. In heaven he meets five people who teach him lessons on fate, sacrifice, loyalty, love, and forgiveness.

subjects: Accident Victims, Amusement Rides,Future Life, Aged Men, Heaven, Death

Finding Miracles
Julia Alverez
Y Fic Alv

Fifteen-year-old Milly Kaufman is an average American teenager until Pablo, a new student at her school, inspires her to search for her birth family in his native country.

subjects: Adoption, Central America, High Schools

What a Song Can Do: 12 Riffs on the Power of Music
Jennifer Armstrong (editor)
Y SS Arm

Music pulses through the lives of the prodigies, the unremarkable talents, and the rebellious musicians in this collection of stories about teenagers and music

subjects: Music, Short Stories

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials
Marc Aronson
J 133.43 AR

What happened in Salem? Sifting through the facts, myths, half-truths, misinterpretations and theories the book presents a vivid narrative of one of the mysteries of American history.

subjects: Trials (Witchcraft)-Massachusetts-Salem-History-17th Century

A Heart Divided
Cherie Bennett
Y Fic Ben

When sixteen-year-old Kate, an aspiring playright, moves from New Jersey to attend high school in the South, she becomes embroiled in a controversy to remove the school's Confederate flag symbol.

subjects: High Schools, Moving-Housholds, Racism, Race Relations, Theatre

Wake Up OUr Souls: A Celebration of Black American Artists
Tonya Bolden
J 704.039 BO

Presents a history of African American visual arts and artists from the days of slavery to the present.

subjects: African American Art, African American Biography, Artists

A Great and Terrible Beauty
Libba Bray
Y Fic Bra

After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.

subjects: Magic, Supernatural, Boarding Schools, England-Social Life and Customs-19th Century

Walking Naked
Alyssa Brugman
Y Fic Bru

After being in detention with a girl called "The Freak," Megan finds herself torn between the developing friendship the two share and her involvement with a popular clique.

subjects: Friendship, Cliques (Sociology), Self-Perception, Suicide

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart
Deb Caletti
Y Fic Cal

In the summer of her junior year, sixteen-year-old Ruby McQueen and her mother, both nursing broken hearts, set out on a journey to reunite an elderly woman with her long-lost love and in the process learn many things about "the real ties that bind" people to one another.

subjects: Interpersonal Relations, Love, Old-Age, Self-Perception

White Midnight
Dia Calhoun
Y Fic Cal

While barbarians threaten the land, mysterious visions help guide fifteen-year-old Rose when she is given the chance to free her family from servitude, if only she will provide a wicked old man an heir fathered by his deformed grandson, "the Thing" locked in the attic.

subjects: Toleration, People With Disabilities, Social Classes

Ostrich Eye
Beth Cooley
Y Fic Coo

Fifteen-year-old Ginger, who lives with her mother, stepfather, and younger stepsister and never knew her father, is convinced that the strange man who keeps showing up unexpectedly is really her dad.

subjects: Fathers, Kidnapping, Stepfamilies, Interpersonal Relations

Bucking the Sarge
Christopher Paul Curtis
Y Fic Cur

Luther T. Farrel has got to get out of Flint, Michigan. As his best friend Sparky says, "Flint's nothing but the Titanic." And his mother, a.k.a. the Sarge, says, "Take my advice and stay off the sucker path."

subjects: Business Enterprises, Fraud, Group Homes, Mothers, People With Mental Disabilities, African Americans, Flint (Mich.)

The Truth About Forever
Sarah Dessen
Y Fic Des

The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

subjects: Grief, Death, Caterers and Catering, Interpersonal Relations

The Oracle Betrayed
Catherine Fisher
Y Fic Fis

After she is chosen to be "Bearer-of-the-god," Mirany questions the established order and sets out, along with a musician and a scribe, to find the legitimate heir of the religious leader known as the Archon.

subjects: Fantasy

Who Am I Without Him? Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives
Sharon Flake
Y SS Fla

The feeling of not being good enough or pretty enough or smart enough to have a loving relationship is on the mind of most teenagers, so join the characters in these stories as they explore the importance of being loved and loving someone special.

subjects: Interpersonal Relations

Nothing to Lose
Alex Flinn
Y Fic Fli

A year after running away with a traveling carnival to escape his unbearable home life, sixteen-year-old Michael returns to Miami, Florida, to find that his mother is going on trial for the murder of his abusive stepfather.

subjects: Runaways, Wife Abuse, Murder, Mothers and Sons, Trials (Murder)

Keesha's House
Helen Frost
Y Fic Fro

Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

subjects: Teenagers, Home, Family Problems, Interpersonal Relations, Poetry

Tending to Grace
Kimberly Newton Fusco
Y Fic Fus

Having stammered since grade school, Cornelia rarely speaks, so her passion for language and literature gets lost in the remedial classes she's given. Her life changes forever when she's abandoned by her neglectful mother in a primitive backwoods cottage with an elderly great-aunt.

subjects: Emotional Problems, Stuttering, Mothers, Aunts

Playing in Traffic
Gail Giles
Y Fic Gil

Shy and unremarkable, seventeen-year-old Matt Lathrop is surprised and flattered to find himself singled out for the sexual attentions of the alluring Skye Colbly, until he discovers the evil purpose behind her actions.

subjects: Interpersonal Relations, Murder, High Schools, Family Problems

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Mark Hadden
Fic Had

Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

subjects: Autism, Savants (Savant Syndrome), England

The Last Chance Texaco
Brent Hartinger
Y Fic Har

When Lucy Pitt is sent to the last-chance foster home, she does her best to fit in despite the girl who tries to get her in trouble, the fight she gets into at her new school, and the mysterious car fires that are being set close to the home.

subjects: Foster Home Care, Orphans

Letting Go of Bobby James: Or How I Found my Self of Steam
Valerie Hobbs
Y Fic Hob

After being left by her husband at a gas station in Florida, sixteen-year-old Sally Jo Walker, also known as Jody, makes some difficult decisions and a better life for herself....At turns heart-wrenching and funny, Valerie Hobbs's latest novel introduces readers to an unforgettable and surprising young woman who manages to break free of an abusive relationship and finds true strength and her "self of steam."

subjects: Coming of Age, Self-Esteem, Wife Abuse, Florida

The Key to the Golden Firebird
Maureen Johnson
Y Fic Joh

As three teenaged sisters struggle to cope with their father's sudden death, they find they must reexamine friendships, lifelong dreams, and their relationships with each other and their father.

subjects: Grief, Sisters, Fathers and Daughters, Alcoholism, Automobile Driving, Grief

Margaux With an X
Ron Koertge
Y Fic Koe

Margaux, known as a "tough chick" at her Los Angeles high school, makes a connection with Danny, who, like her, struggles with the emotional impact of family violence and abuse.

subjects: Emotional Problems, Sexual Abuse Victims, Family Violence, Los Angeles (calif.)

The Blue Mirror
Kath Koja
Y Fic Koj

Seventeen-year-old loner Maggy Klass, who frequently seeks refuge from her alcoholic mother's apartment by sitting and drawing in a local cafe, becomes involved in a destructive relationship with a charismatic homeless youth named Cole.

subjects: Emotional Problems, Artists, Homeless Persons, Runaways, Mothers and Daughters, Alcoholism

Buddha Boy
Kath Koja
Y Fic Koj

Justin spends time with Jinsen, the unusual and artistic new student whom the school bullies torment and call Buddha Boy, and ends up making choices that impact Jinsen, himself, and the entire school.

subjects: Conduct of Life, Peer Pressure, Artists, Buddhism, High Schools, Orphans

Jake, Reinvented
Gordon Korman
Y Fic Kor

Rick becomes friends with the popular new boy, Jake Garrett, football player and host of superlative parties, and in the process discovers the true nature of his schoolmates and uncovers the mystery of Jake's past.

subjects: self-Perception, Peer Pressure, Social Acceptance, Conduct of Life, High Schools

Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle
Gordon Korman
Y Fic Kor

Eighteen-year-old Vince Luca, son of mob boss Anthony Luca, goes away to college in southern California hoping to escape his past, but soon his brother and a series of "uncles" appear at his dorm, and before long he is caught up in criminal activity once again.

subjects: Organized Crime, Colleges and Universities, Santa Monica (Calif.)

B for Buster
Iain Lawrence
Y Fic Law

When Kak is 6, he lies about his age to join the Canadian Air Force, thinking it will be an exciting adventure to fly bombing raids to Germany, but he is not prepared for the horrors of war.

subjects: World War 1939-1945, Air Pilots, Bombers, Interpersonal Relations, War

A Crack in the Line
Michael Lawrence
Y Fic Law

Sixteen-year-old Alaric discovers how to travel to an alternate reality, where his mother is alive and his place in the family is held by a girl named Naia.

subjects: Space and Time, England

Gifts
Ursala K Le Guin
Y Fic Leg

When a young man in the Uplands blinds himself rather than use his gift of "unmaking"--a violent talent shared by members of his family--he upsets the precarious balance of power among rival, feuding families, each of which has a strange and deadly talent of its own.

subjects: Fantasy

Girl 15, Charming But Insane
Sue Limb
Y Fic Lim

If nothing else, Jess Jordan is a comic, but her life is full of trials with her mother; Ben, the cutest and most popular guy in school; Flora, her almost perfect best friend; and, of course, Fred, the boy next door.

subjects: Best Friends, Friendship, Dating (Social Customs), Schools, England

Vegan, Virgin, Valentine
Carolyn Mackler
Y Fic Mac

Mara's niece, who is only one-year-younger, moves in bringing conflict between the two teenagers because of their opposite personalities.

subjects: High Schools, Aunts, Nieces

Saving Francesca
Melina Marchetta
Y Fic Mar

Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother's help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed.

subjects: Sexism, Catholic Schools, Depression-Mental, Family Life-Australia, Australia

Leap Day: A Novel
Wendy Mass
Y Fic Mass

On her fourth Leap birthday, when she turns sixteen, Josie has a number of momentous experiences, including taking her driver's test, auditioning for a school play, and celebrating with her family and friends.

subjects: Birthdays, Interpersonal Relations, High Schools, Orlando (Fla.)

Bottled Up
Jaye Murray
Y Fic Mur

A high school boy comes to terms with his drug addiction, life with an alcoholic father, and a younger brother who looks up to him.

subjects: Brothers, Problem Families, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, High Schools

Is This Forever, Or What? Poems and Paintings From Texas
Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
J 811.008 IS

Poetry and artwork from Texas authors showcase both the diversity and the universality of daily life in the Lone Star State.

subjects: Texas-Juvenile Poetry, Texas-In Art, Texas-in Poetry, American Poetry

Luna
Julie Anne Peters
Y Fic Pet

Fifteen-year-old Regan's life, which has always revolved around keeping her older brother Liam's transsexuality a secret, changes when Liam decides to start the process of "transitioning" by first telling his family and friends that he is a girl who was born in a boy's body.

subjects: Transsexuals, Brothers and Sisters, Identity, Family Problems

Rob&Sara.com
PJ Peterson
Y Fic Pet

TO: ALL OUR READERS From: Rob & Sara Subject: Our Story Rob: Don’t worry. I’m weird, but I’m not dangerous. And I won’t send you ads. Sara: The truth is, I couldn’t bear to go back to the way things were before you read my poem. Maybe it doesn’t matter who you are. . . . They’ve never met. They’re hundreds of miles apart. He won’t tell her his real name. And they have nothing in common. Or do they?

subjects: Email, Interpersonal Relations, Emotional Problems, Letters

My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult
Fic Pic

When Kate's parents learn that she suffers from a rare from of leukemia, they conceive another child, Anna, to provide a bone marrow match. However, Anna rebels against the wishes of her parents and jeopardizes the life of her sister.

subjects: Sisters, Teenage Girls, Leukemia, Organ Donors, Sick Children, Mothers and Daughters

Pirates! The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates
Celia Rees
Y Fic Ree

In 1722, after arriving with her brother at the family's Jamaican plantation where she is to be married off, sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure.

subjects: Pirates, Blacks-Jamaica, Slavery, Jamaica-History-18th Century, Adventures and Adventurers, Sea Stories

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Mary Roach
611 Ro

Death is not boring! What happens to a body as it decays? What is the history of medicinal cannibalism? Explore all the ways dead bodies advance human knowledge and well being as they are used in medical schools, in criminal investigations, in automobile and airplane crash tests, and in weapons development.

subjects: Human Experimentation in Medicine, Dead, Human Dissection

The Burn Journals
Brent Runyon
J 362.28 RU

Brent Runyon was fourteen years old when he set himself on fire. In this book he describes that suicide attempt and his recovery over the following year.

subjects: Teenage Boys-Biography, Teenage Boys-Suicidal Behavior-Case Studies

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Y Fic Sae

As a Chicano boy living in the unglamorous town of Hollywood, New Mexico, and a member of the graduating class of 1969, Sammy Santos faces the challenges of "gringo" racism, unpopular dress codes, the Vietnam War, barrio violence, and poverty.

subjects: Death, Grief, Violence, Mexican Americans

Face Relations: 11 Stories About Seeing Beyond Color
Marilyn Singer (editor)
Y SS Fac

In eleven short stories from young adult authors, teens from a wide range of cultures struggle with understanding their identities and with finding their places in a diverse world.

subjects: Short Stories-American, Interpersonal Relations

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
Sonya Sones
Y Fic Son

Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

subjects: Fathers and Daughers, Moving-Houshold, Actors and Actresses, Interpersonal Relations, Homosexuality, Los Angelos (Calif.)

Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?
Eleanor Updale
Y Fic Upd

In Victorian London, after his life is saved by a young physician, a thief utilizes the knowledge he gains in prison and from the scientific lectures he attends as the physician's case study exhibit to create a new, highly successful, double life for himself.

subjects: Robbers and Outlaws, Identity, London (England)-History-1800-1950, Identity (Psychology), Thieves

Double Helix
Nancy Werlin
Y Fic Wer

Eighteen-year-old Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering.

subjects: Genetic Engineering, Bioethics, Huntington's Chorea, Science Fiction

So Yesterday
Scott Westerfield
Y M Wes

Hunter Braque, a New York City teenager who is paid by corporations to spot what is "cool," combines his analytical skills with girlfriend Jen's creative talents to find a missing person and thwart a conspiracy directed at the heart of consumer culture.

subjects: Missing Persons, New York (NY), Adventure and Adventurers, Mystery and Detective Stories, Missing Persons

See You Down the Road
Kim Ablon Whitney
Y Fic Whi

Sixteen-year-old Bridget, member of an Irish Traveller community in the United States, questions the traditions of her family's nomadic and criminal way of life and begins to wonder if she wants to continue living it.

subjects: Irish Travellers (Nomadic People), Irish Americans, Family Life, Individuality, Sex Role, Conduct of Life

One Night
Margaret Wild
Y Fic Wil

In this novel written in free verse and narrated by alternating characters, a teenaged girl decides to have her baby and care for it on her own after a "one night stand" results in pregnancy.

subjects: Pregnancy, Teenage Mothers

No Laughter Here
Rita Williams-Garcia
Y Fic Wil

In Queens, New York, ten-year-old Akilah is determined to find out why her closest friend, Victoria, is silent and withdrawn after returning from a trip to her homeland, Nigeria.

subjects: Friendship, Coming of Age, Female Circumcision, Nigerian Americans, African Americans, Queens (New York, NY)

Zigzag
Ellen Wittlinger
Y Fic Wit

A high-school junior makes a trip with her aunt and two cousins, discovering places she did not know existed and strengths she did not know she had.

subjects: Automobile Travel, Vacations, Cousins, Aunts, Interpersonal Relations

Emako Blue
Brenda Woods
Y Fic Woo

Monterey, Savannah, Jamal, and Eddie have never had much to do with each other until Emako Blue shows up at chorus practice, but just as the lives of the five Los Angeles high school students become intertwined, tragedy tears them apart.

subjects: African Americans, High Schools, Los Angeles (Calif.), Interpersonal Relations

Raising the Griffin
Melissa Wyatt
Y Fic Wya

When the people of Rovenia vote to restore their monarchy, sixteen-year-old Alex Varenhoff must suddenly leave his native England to become prince of a land he knows only from his grandfather's stories.

subjects: Princes, Identity, Interpersonal Relations, Responsibility, Europe

Orphea Proud
Sharon Dennis Wyeth
Y Fic Wye

While reciting her poetry at a club in Queens, New York, seventeen-year-old Orphea recounts her childhood in Pennsylvania, leaving after her parents and the girl she loves die, and learning about her family and herself while living with her great-aunts on a Virginia mountaintop.

subjects: Family Life, Poetry, Lesbians, Artists, Entertainers, Racially Mixed People, Queens (New York, NY)

Dragon and Thief
Timothy Zahn
Scf Zah

While running from the law for a crime he did not commit, a young reformed thief meets up with a dragon-like symbiont named Draco. This unlikely alliance of dragon and thief leads to the uncovering of a plot against a major interstellar company owner.

subjects: Dragons, Life on Other Planets, Fugitives From Justice, False Testimony

Contents Under Pressure
Lara M. Zeises
Y Fic Zei

Lucy, a fourteen-year-old high school freshman, experiences the happiness and confusion of dating a popular older boy, changing relationships with life-long friends, and sharing a bedroom with her older brother's pregnant girlfriend.

subjects: Interpersonal Relations, Family Problems, Brothers and Sisters, Pregnancy, High Schools, Delaware

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