Based on the author's own experience, this heartbreaking yet funny story chronicles the adolescence of one contemporary Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he seems destined to live.
Chains
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Slaves Isabel and younger sister Ruthie are sold to harsh Loyalists at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Isabel must decide to be loyal or to spy for the American patriots.
The Boy Who Dared
Bartoletti, Susan C.
Told through flashbacks, this is a fictionalized biography of German teenager Helmuth Hubener, who was imprisoned and executed in 1942 for openly resisting the Nazis.
Tithe
Black, Hollie
Sixteen-year old Kaye, who has been visited by faeries since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny.
Let Me Play: the Story of Title IX, the Law that Changed the Future of Girls in America
Blumenthal, Karen
A Jane Addams Book Award Winner, this non-fiction novel takes a look at the history of Title IX, which gave girls and women equal access to physical education and athletic scholarships at schools and universities.
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
A totalitarian regime has ordered all the books to be destroyed, but one of the book burners suddenly realizes their merit.
A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Book 1)
Bray, Libba
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.
Sweetgrass Basket
Carvell, Marlene
Upon the death of their mother, Mattie and Sarah, two Mohawk sisters, must attend the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Pennsylvania, where they face an abusive headmistress. (Jane Addams Book Award Winner)
Crackback
Coy, John
Under the pressures of a new football coach, a critical father, and a best friend with bad ideas, Miles' love for the game begins to fade.
The Red Badge of Courage
Crane, Stephen
During his service in the Civil War a young Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.
Good Brother, Bad Brother: the Story of John Wilkes Booth and Edwin Booth
Cross, James Giblin
A non-fiction Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, this novel tells the story of the Booth brothers. Edwin was an actor on the verge of national fame when his brother, John Wilkes, shot and killed Abraham Lincoln.
Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods Series, Book 1)
Delacruz, Melissa
Select teenagers from some of New York City's wealthiest and most socially prominent families learn a startling secret about their bloodlines. [more mature themes]
Little Brother
Doctorow, Cory
There's been another major terrorist attack and the Department of Homeland Security has clamped down big time. It's up to Marcus, computer geek, to save everyone from this police state.
Double Dutch
Draper, Sharon M.
Three eighth-grade friends prepare for the international jump rope contest and cope with various personal family problems.
My Last Skirt: the Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier
Durrant, Lynda
Teenage Jennie Hodgers, an Irish immigrant to America, passes as a man to fight in the Civil War.
The House of Scorpion
Farmer, Nancy
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.
Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery
Feinstein, John
After winning a basketball journalism contest, 8th graders Stevie and Susan are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game.
Stardust
Gaiman, Neil
Living in a Victorian countryside town overshadowed by an imposing stone barrier, Tristran in compelled to retrieve a fallen star for the woman he loves and crosses to the wonderous other side of the barrier, where he encounters dangerous rivals for the star.
The Lost Voyage of John Cabot
Garfield, Henry
A fictionalized account of the voyages of explorer John Cabot, particularly his 1498 journey to the New World from which he and two of his sons never returned, inspiring his middle son Sebastian to eventually make his own voyages of exploration, looking for some trace of his long lost father and brothers.
Samurai Shortstop
Gratz, Alan M.
While obtaining a Western education at a prestigious Japanese boarding school in 1890, sixteen-year old Toyo also receives traditional samurai training which has profound effects on both his baseball game and his relationship with his father.
Uprising
Haddix, Margaret P.
In 1927, at the urging of twenty-one-year old Harriet, Mrs. Livingston reluctantly recalls her experiences at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, including the miserable work conditions and the fire that took the lives of her two best friends.
Promises to the Dead
Hahn, Margaret D.
During the period of the Civil War, 12-year-old narrator Jesse stumbles on a desperate pregnant runaway captive, Lydia, and her young son, Perry, fathered by her recently deceased master, Peregrine Baxter. She holds Jesse at knifepoint, yet as the woman is dying from childbirth, Jesse promises her that he'll deliver Perry to Peregrine Baxter's sister in Baltimore.
Soul Surfer
Hamilton, Bethany
Hamilton, a teenage surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack in the fall of 2003, shares her amazing story, detailing her return to surfing after this life-changing event.
Between Boardslides and Burnout: My Notes from the Road
Hawk, Tony
Hawk provides an exclusive look at the ups and downs of life on the road and in competitions.
Wild Man Island
Hobbs, Will
After slipping away from his kayaking group, 14-year old Andy is stranded on Admiralty Island in Alaska.
In Darkness, Death (The Samurai Mysteries Series)
Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas
In 18th century Japan, young Seikei becomes involved with a ninja as he helps Judge Ooka, his foster father, investigate the murder of a samurai.
Into the Wild (Warriors Series, Book 1)
Hunter, Erin
For generations, four clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to the laws laid down by their warrior ancestors, but now there is trouble. In the midst of this turmoil appears and ordinary house cat named Rusty, who may turn out to be the bravest warrior of them all.
Sand Dollar Summer
Jones, Kimberly K.
Twelve-year old Lisa and her family spend the summer in Maine as her mother recovers from a bad car accident.
A Separate Peace
Knowles, John
Against the backdrop of World War II, a conflict of loyalties between Gene and his fearless friend, Phineas, leads to tragedy.
Piratica
Lee, Tanith
The first book in a trilogy of novels involving 16-year old Art, who leads a pirates' adventure on the high seas featuring sword fights, stormy weather, and deadly cannon shots.
Day of Tears
Lester, Julius
An account in dialogue of a historical 1859 slave auction in Georgia. The novel follows the lives of multiple slaves to relate a picture of the south in mid-nineteenth century America. [contains some racially charged language]
Guardian
Lester, Julius
Ansel's world set in the 1946 deep South disintegrates from the hatred and injustice consuming his family and community following a brutal murder and an innocent man being lynched. [contains racially charged language]
The Goodness Gene
Levitin, Sonia
As son of the Compassionate Director of the Dominion of the Americas, Will, along with his twin brother Berk, has been groomed for leadership in a society that values genetic fitness, but he encounters information which causes him to question that society as well as his own identity.
Call of the Wild
London, Jack
The story of Buck, who is a loyal family pet until cruel men forcibly take him to the Klondike gold fields, where he eventually becomes the leader of a ferocious wolf pack.
Too Far
Lupica, Mike
A student on the local high school paper enlists the aid of city journalist Ben Mitchell to uncover the truth about the school's championship basketball team when rumors begin to circulate about violent hazing rituals on a team retreat.
The Merchant of Death
MacHale, D.J.
14-year old Bobby Pendragon has a family, a home, and a beloved dog. But there is something special about him…he is going to save the world. Before he can object, he is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory inhabited by strange beings, ruled by a tyrant, and plagued by a dangerous revolution.
Cybele's Secret
Marillier, Juliet
Paula travels with her merchant father to Istanbul and discovers a world filled with eunuchs, pirates, dervishes, and an entrance into the Other Kingdom.
Bonechiller
McNamee, Graham
An ancient demon, intent on satisfying its hunger for human flesh, stalks Danny and his three friends in the brutal cold of backwoods Canada.
Sunrise Over Fallujah
Myers, Walter Dean
In 2003, in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, young Robin Perry already wonders about "an enemy we can't identify and friends we're not sure about." Myers dedicates this novel to the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Services and to their families, and he offers a powerful study of the strange war they have been sent to fight, where confusion and randomness rule.
Tracker
Paulsen, Gary
At age thirteen, John must track a deer in the Minnesota woods for his family's winter meat, but he finds that he hates being a hunter.
Criss Cross
Perkins, Lynne Rae
A group of teenagers in the 1960's find different ways to view friendship and everyday life as they leave childhood behind. (Newbery Medal Book)
Trickster's Choice (series)
Pierce, Tamora
On the Copper Isles, Alianne struggles to survive in a royal court full of political intrigue and murderous conspiracy.
The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 1)
Pullman, Philip
Lyra Belacqua sets out the prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming subjects of cruel experiments in the Far North.
The Ever-After Bird
Rinaldi, Ann
Now that her father is dead, CeCe McGill is left to wonder why he risked his life for the ragged slaves who came to their door in the dead of night. When her uncle, an ornithologist, insists she accompany him to Georgia on an expedition in search of the rare scarlet ibis, CeCe is surprised to learn there's a second reason for their journey: Along the way, Uncle Alex secretly points slaves north in the direction of the Underground Railroad.
The Wednesday Wars
Schmidt, Gary
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world in which he lives.
Frankenstein
Shelley, Mary
A monster, assembled from parts of dead bodies by a scientist, develops a mind of his own as he learns to loathe himself and hate his creator.
I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee
Shields, Charles J.
The story of Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, is told in regard to her success, her childhood, her seclusion, and her rejection of fame.
Flygirl
Smith, Sherri L.
Meet 18-year-old Ida Mae Jones, a Louisiana girl who longs to be a pilot, in December 1941, on the eve of America's entrance into World War II. She is pretty and smart, but she has two huge strikes against her. She is black in an America where racism holds sway, and a competent pilot in an America in which she is denied her license because she is a woman
Milkweed
Spinelli, Jerry
A novel capturing the hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of WWII, through the eyes of a Jewish orphan who must use all his wits and courage to survive unimaginable events and circumstances.
Live and Let Shop (Spy Goddess Series, Book 1)
Spradlin, Michael P.
Beverly Hills teenager Rachel Buchanan gets in trouble with the law and winds up at mysterious Blackthorn Academy in Pennsylvania, where she uncovers secrets about the school and becomes entangled in a case of international espionage and the supernatural.
Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Book 1)
Tolkien, J.R.R.
Frodo Baggins, a young hobbit, sets out on a perilous journey to the Cracks of Doom, along with a band of warriors from different kingdoms, to destroy the Dark Lord's Ring of Power.
Heir Apparent
Velde, Vivian Vande
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen year old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself.
Double Helix
Werlin, Nancy
Eighteen-year old Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a Nobel Peace Prize winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering.
Uglies (series)
Westerfeld, Scott
Tally Youngblood lives in a future society where all citizens are considered "ugly" until undergoing a transformative operation on their 16th birthday.
Dragonkeeper
Wilkinson, Carole
An action-packed adventure set in China in 141 B.C. In a remote western palace, Ping, a slave girl of unknown origin, serves the emperor's Dragon Keeper, an incompetent man who neglects the two last-known dragons in his charge.
Black Storm Comin'
Wilson, Diana Lee
In 1860, with the Civil War looming, Colton joins the Pony Express to make a crucial delivery for his sick mother.
Into the Volcano
Wood, Don
Duffy and Sumo set off on an adventure into the belly of an ancient volcano without knowing exactly what they're looking for. Their discoveries shock and then nearly kill them.
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray
Wooding, Chris
In a world similar to Victorian London, Thaniel, a seventeen-year old hunter of deadly, demonic creatures called the wych-kin, takes in a lost, possessed girl, and becomes embroiled in a plot to unleash evil on the world.
