Adolescent Issues
Anderson. Speak
A traumatic event happens at the end of the summer before Melinda's first year of high school. Because of it, she finds herself unable to enjoy school and is marked as an outcast. As the year progresses, Melinda withdraws from even her closest friends until she is able to confront what has happened.
Avi. Romeo and Julie Together (and Alive!) at Last
The eighth grade’s plans to get two reluctant “ lovers” together by means of a classroom projection of Shakespeare’s play has some very unexpected results.
Avi. What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?
This book is filled
with portraits of life in the middle-school years. In these stories you will
meet, among others William, of "What Do Fish Have to Do with
Anything?", who wonders why he shouldn't ask questions that have no
answers.
Blume. Tiger Eyes
Resettled in Los Alamos, New Mexico (Bomb City), with her mother and brother, Davey Wexler recovers from the shock of her father's death during a holdup of his 7-Eleven store in Atlantic City.
Bunting. Jumping the Nail
When a group of teenagers in a coastal California community challenge each other to leap from dangerous cliffs into the ocean, group pressure and manipulative relationships drive the game out of control.
Byars. The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown
Bingo is puzzled by the comic and confusing quesitons ofyouth and worried by disturbing insights about conflicts. This is also a REALLY funny book!
Conford. Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate
When she takes on the advice column forher school newspaper,
Carrie encounters more problems than she expects.
Dygard. Running Wild
When Coach Wilson and Officer Stowell encourage him to join the high school football team, Pete no longer believes that “nobody does anything for nothing.”
Fleischman. Whirligig
While traveling to each corner of the country to build a whirlgig in memory of the girl whose death he causes, 16-year-old Brian finds forgiveness and atonement.
Hesser. Kissing Doorknobs
Fourteen-year-old
Tara describes how her increasingly strange compulsions begin to take over her
life and affect her relationships with her family and friends
I loved this book because it helps people understand obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was very good. Cheyenne B.
Holt. Dancing in
Cadillac Light
The
time is 1968 and the place is Moon, Texas. Eleven-year-old Jaynell Lambert, a
tomboy at heart, is full of dreams and boyish playfulness — especially as she
climbs into abandon cars in Bailey's Automobile Salvage, pretending to drive
motionlessly. Life, though, takes on new meaning when her aging grandfather
comes to live with them upon the death of their grandmother. Jaynell watches
over her saddened grandfather, hiding his depressed, strange behavior, and trying to avoid his going
to a nursing home.
It Happened to Nancy
Nancy was an innocent 14-year-old when she fell in love for the very first time. Then he date-raped her and left her, leaving her infected w ith the HIV virus.
MacGregor. Hawk Moon
Will faces a mystery involving drugs at his high school while being framed for the disappearance and possible murder of his girlfriend.
Martin. The Slam Book
Hoping for
popularity, Anna and her friends start a slam book at the beginning of freshman
year, but instead the book begins a tragic chain of events.
It
was very funny! Shannon K.
Mills. Lizzie at Last
Lizzie, who has always been considered a nerd by the other kids, begins the seventh grade determined to change her image so that she can blend in better with the popular crowd.
Myers. 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.
A great, realistic story. Dan E.
Myers. Slam
Sixteen-year-old
"Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get
him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his
coach sees things differently.
Set in Harlem, it's about basketball and it's very realistic. Ian D.
Pearson. Scribbler of Dreams
Kaitlin Malone has
been raised to hate the Crutchfields, relatives the Malones have feuded with
for as long as Kaitlin can remember. This legacy of hatred has never been
questioned-until Kaitlin meets a boy and begins to fall in love with him before
she discovers that he is a Crutchfield . . . and the son of the man her father
has gone to prison for killing.
I loved this book because it was a very realistic romance. It had wonderful, real characters. Karen F.
I
like the details and the way it ended. It's really good. Emilly H.
Kait
is a very strong girl. The book was quite detailed. Scarlett T.
Plum-Ucci. The Body of Christopher Creed
Chris Creed grew up as the class freak-the bullies' punching bag. After he vanished, the weirdness that had once surrounded him began spreading. It was as if a darkness reached out of his void to grab at the most normal, happy people-like some twisted joke or demented form of justice. It tore the town apart. Sixteen-year-old Torey Adams's search for answers opens his eyes to the lies, the pain, and the need to blame when tragedy strikes, and his once-safe world comes crashing down around him.
This
book was very interesting and it keptmy on the edge of my seat. It was very
interesting and I didn't want to put it down. Gardner M.
Rawls. Where the Red Fern Grows
A young boy living
in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two
redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters.
A really good book about a boy and his coon dog. Lisa
I
enjoyed the issues Billy undnertakes. I think that it was very interesting to
read about them. Alex. F.
Rennison. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging
This is the wildly funny journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicolson. It perfectly captures the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager. In the spirit of Bridget Jones's Diary, this fresh, irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it's "Fabbity fab fab!"
This
is a great and funny book. It keeps you reading and you never want to stop.
Chelsea S.
Tashjian.The Gospel According to Larry
Seventeen-year-old Josh, a loner-philosopher who wants to make a difference in the world, tries to maintain his secret identity as the author of a web site that is receiving national attention.
What kind of mother would leave her four kids in a parked
car in a strange town and then just walk away? Five
children, abandoned after their mother's death, make their way, mostly on foot,
from New England to the eastern shore of Maryland in search of a grandmother
they have never seen.
When
fifteen-year-old Johnny Gibbs is told that he is really a foster child, he runs
off into the streets of Harlem and meets up with a gang that wants him to
participate in a mugging.
It can be disturbing and troubling. The characters and their emotional problems make it great, though. It's about gangs and being involved. Richard S.