Accidental Love by Gary Soto
Boy meets girl (accidentally), girl falls for boy (love). But they’re from two different schools, two different neighborhoods, and truly two different worlds. The odds of them making it are slim to none in this well-crafted story of young love.
Code Orange by Caroline Cooney
While completing his infectious disease report for science class, Mitty fears he may have contracted smallpox. When he searches the internet for information about this disease, he alerts a terrorist group who plans to kidnap him and use him as a biological weapon against the people of New York City.
Crackback by John Coy
Miles can’t remember why football was fun after being sidelined by a new coach, criticized by his father, and shunned by his best friend for avoiding performance enhancing drugs.
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
What is the most annoying thing in the world? For Steven, the answer is obvious; his little brother Jeffrey. When Steven finds out that Jeffrey is sick, however, he must use all of his skills as a drum-playing, girl-crushing, friend-finding, parent-manipulating teenager to help his family keep laughing through this heartbreaking year.
Epic by Conor Kostick
Epic is a fantasy role-playing game that is more than just a game—it’s New Earth’s government and economy. Everyone has always played Epic the same way, by slowly accumulating wealth, but no one can rival the Committee, the world’s tyrannical ruling group. But Erik, a risk taker, thinks he and his friends may be able to change all that.
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
It is 1941. Eddy Okubo is 16 years old, a Japanese American, and enlists in the US Army to protect the country he loves. The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and suddenly Eddy is the enemy. He and 24 other Japanese American soldiers are sent on a terrifying secret mission that will test their loyalty and courage.
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Maas
If before your 13th birthday, you received a quadruple-locked, mysterious box engraved “The Meaning of Life”, lovingly handcrafted by your dead father, what do you do? You run around all of Manhattan with your best friend, trying to find the missing four keys.
Life as We Knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Miranda, a sixteen year old high school sophomore, is looking forward to getting her license, junior year, and just being a teenager. She doesn’t give a second thought to the news of a meteor speeding towards the moon, until it hits. Life as she knew it will never return.
Pieces of Georgia by Jen Bryant
Artistic loner Georgia McCoy writes a series of letters to her dead mother in the hope of understanding her father’s sadness, her friend’s curiosity about drugs, and her own feelings of loneliness. When she receives an anonymous membership to the local art museum, Georgia’s life changes dramatically.
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landry
When Stephenie’s uncle dies and includes her in his will, she meets Skulduggery Pleasant and quickly enters a world of secrets, magic, and danger. Can Stephenie and Skulduggery work together to defeat the evil powers of Serpine?
Award Winners
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.
.***National Book Award Finalist 1998***
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
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.
***National Book Award Winner 1999***
Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles
Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in their small southern town, but even so the ten-year-old is unprepared for the series of heart-wrenching events that begins on the first day of Easter vacation with the sudden death of her beloved great-uncle Edisto.
***National Book Award Finalist 2005***
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899.
***Newbery Honor Book 2000***
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.
***Newbery Medal Winner 1984***
Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes
While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.
***Coretta Scott King Award Winner 2003***
Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.
***Coretta Scott King Award Winner 2001***
A Step from Heaven by Ann Na
A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.
***Printz Award Winner 2002***
Contemporary Fiction
Story Time by Edward Bloor
George and Kate are promised the best education but instead face obsessed administrators, endless tests, and evil spirits when they are transferred to Whittaker Magnet School.
1,000 Reasons Never to Kiss a Boy by Martha Freeman
After her first boyfriend cheats on her, sixteen-year-old Jane vows to never kiss another boy.
All-in by Pete Hautman
Having won thousands of dollars playing high-stakes poker in Las Vegas, seventeen-year-old Denn Doyle hits a losing streak after falling in love with a young casino card dealer named Cattie Hart.
Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli
Will Tuppence's life has always been ruled by science and common sense but in ninth grade, shaken up by the discovery that protons decay, he begins to see the entire world differently and gains new perspective on his relationships with his little sister and two closest friends.
Box Out by John Coy
High school sophomore Liam jeopardizes his new position on the varsity basketball team when he decides to take a stand against his coach who is leading prayers before games and enforcing teamwide participation.
Sam I Am by Ilene Cooper
Twelve-year-old Sam, the son of a Jewish father and Christian mother, struggles to understand religion and its role in his family's life during the Hanukkah and Christmas holidays.
Son of the Mob Gordon Korman
When teenage Vince Luca--whose family connections make dating difficult--finally finds a girl worth pursuing, her father turns out to be the FBI agent whose life's goal is to take out Vince's mob boss dad.
Soccer Chick Rules by Dawn FitzGerald
While trying to focus on a winning soccer season, thirteen-year-old Tess becomes involved in local politics when she learns that all sports programs at her school will be stopped unless a tax levy is passed.
Squashed by Joan Bauer
As a sixteen-year-old pursues her two goals - growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself - she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.
Historical Fiction
Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Fire From the Rock by Sharon Draper
In 1957, Sylvia Patterson's life--that of a normal African American teenager--is disrupted by the impending integration of Little Rock's Central High when she is selected to be one of the first black students to attend the previously all white school.
The Last Girls of Pompeii by Kathryn Lasky
Twelve-year-old Julia knows that her physical deformity will keep her from a normal life, but counts on the continuing friendship of her life-long slave, Mitka, until they learn that both of their futures in first-century Pompeii are about to change for the worse.
Assassin by Anna Myers
In alternating passages, a young White House seamstress named Bella and the actor John Wilkes Booth describe the events that lead to the latter's assassination of Abraham
Lincoln.
Fire in the Hills by Donna Jo Napoli
Upon returning to Italy, fourteen-year-old Roberto struggles to survive, first on his own, then as a member of the resistance, fighting against the Nazi occupiers while yearning to reach home safely and for an end to the war.
***Sequel to Stones in Water***
Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen
Eager to enlist, fifteen-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
Battle Cry by Jan Neubert Schultz
In 1862, two best friends, one white and one half Dakota Indian, find themselves involved in a bloody war when the Dakotas, fed up with being mistreated by the federal
government and local citizens, erupt with violence.
Classics
Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott
Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England.
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
A fourteen-year-old English girl wins a horse in a raffle, trains it, and rides it in the Grand National steeplechase.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Abandoned at an early age, Oliver Twist is forced to live in a dark and dismal London workhouse lorded over by awful Mr. Bumble who cheats the boys of their meager rations! Desperate but determined, Oliver makes his escape. But what he discovers in the harsh streets of London's underworld makes the workhouse look like a picnic. Penniless and alone, he is lured into a world of crime by the wily Fagin--the nefarious mastermind of a gang of pint-sized pickpockets.
Will a life of crime pay off for young Oliver? Or will it earn him a one-way ticket to the gallows?
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve mysteries in these exciting short stories.
White Fang and Call of the Wild by Jack London
White Fang: The adventures in the northern wilderness of a dog who is part wolf and how he comes to make his peace with man.
Call of the Wild: Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Adventure/Mystery
The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
Gifts from Gwyn's grandmother on his ninth birthday open up a whole new world to him, as he discovers he has magical powers that help him heal the breach with his father that has existed ever since his sister's mysterious disappearance four years before.
Also read the sequel, Emlyn’s Moon.
Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Arthur Penhaligon is supposed to die at a young age, but is saved by a key that is shaped like the minute hand of a clock. The key causes bizarre creatures to come from another realm, bringing with them a plague. A man named Mister Monday will stop at nothing to get the key back. Arthur goes to a mysterious house that only he can see, so that he can learn the truth about himself and the key.
Be sure to read the sequel Genius Squad.
Downsiders by Neal Shusterman
When fourteen-year-old Lindsay meets Talon and discovers the Downsiders world which had evolved from the subway built in New York in 1867 by Alfred Ely Beach, she and her new friend experience the clash of their two cultures.
Secret of the Three Treasures by Janni Lee Simner
While pretending to be the heroine of her father's adventure novels, Tiernay discovers new friends, buried Revolutionary War treasure, and answers to a long-ago mystery.
Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon by Rick Yancey
The last descendant of Sir Lancelot, teenage misfit Alfred Kropp is drawn back into the OIPEP to battle a group of demons bent on freeing themselves from the confines of an ancient relic.
Be sure to read the first book in the series: The extraordinary adventures of Alfred Kropp.
The Book of the Sword by Carrie Asai
Nineteen-year-old Heaven Kogo, the sole survivor of a plane crash when she was just an infant, has been raised in luxury as the adopted daughter of a Japanese crime boss, but her life takes a drastic change when her wedding is interrupted by a ninja attack, leading her to train to become a samurai and learn the truth about her past.
Book 1 of the Samuri Girl series
The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
Two eleven-year-old misfits try to solve the mystery of a dead magician and stop the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais, who are searching for the secret of immortality.
Be sure to read the sequel: If You’re Reading This, It Is Too Late
The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
Sixteen-year-old Seph, a powerful wizard, gets caught up in a conflict between the Wizard Council, smaller groups with their own agendas, and a rogue politician--the Dragon--whose identity and whereabouts the others seek to know.
Be sure to read the sequel: The Warrior Heir
The Tenth Power by Kate Constable
Having lost her magical powers of chantment, eighteen-year-old Calwyn searches for the missing half of the broken Wheel of the Tenth Power with the hope of stopping the plague and endless winter that have fallen on her world.
Be sure to read the first two books of The Chanters of Tremaris trilogy
The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson
On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.
Dirty Magic by Carol Hughes
After his little sister Hannah becomes mortally ill, ten-year-old Joe follows a shadowy figure to the war-torn land of Asphodel, a mysterious and dangerous world of dying children, where he entrusts himself to a devious blind guide, faces ruthless killing machines, and discovers a shocking truth about himself.
Firestorm by David Klass
After learning that he has been sent from the future for a special purpose, eighteen-year-old Jack receives help from an unusual dog and a shape-shifting female fighter.
Caretaker trilogy; bk. 1
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Arthur Penhaligon is supposed to die at a young age, but is saved by a key that is shaped like the minute hand of a clock. The key causes bizarre creatures to come from another realm, bringing with them a plague. A man named Mister Monday will stop at nothing to get the key back. Arthur goes to a mysterious house that only he can see, so that he can learn the truth about himself and the key.
Be sure to read the rest of The Keys to the Kingdom series.
Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper
When twins Connor and Grace's ship is wrecked in a storm and Connor is rescued by pirates, he believes that Grace has been taken aboard the mythical Vampirate's ship, and he is determined to find her.
Be sure to read the sequels: Tide of Terror and
Blood Captain