Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  Purple Hibiscus

In the city of Enugu, Nigeria, fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, lead a privileged life. Their Papa is a wealthy and respected businessman; they live in a beautiful house; and they attend an exclusive missionary school. But, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, their home life is anything but harmonious.

Hilari Bell.  The Goblin Wood

A young Hedgewitch, an idealistic knight, and an army of clever goblins fight against the ruling hierarchy that is trying to rid the land of all magical creatures.

Eugenie Bird.  Fairie-Ality:  The Fashion Collection from the

House of Ellwand   A fanciful collection of fairie dresses from the House of Ellwand includes frocks made from feathers and flower petals.

Libba Bray.  A Great and Terrible Beauty

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.

Herbie Brennan.  Faerie Wars

Troubled by family problems, Henry finds his life taking a whole new dimension when he and his friend, old Mr. Fogarty, become involved with Prince Pyrgus Malvae who has been sent from the faerie world in order to escape the treacherous Faeries of the Night.

Kevin Brooks.  Lucas

On an isolated English island, fifteen-year-old Caitlin McCann makes the painful journey from adolescence to adulthood through her experiences with a mysterious boy, whose presence has an unsettling effect on the island's inhabitants.

Martha Brooks.  True Confessions of a Heartless Girl

A confused seventeen-year-old girl, a single mother and her young son, two elderly women, and a sad and lonely man, with their own individual tragedies to bear, come together in a small Manitoba town and find a way to a better future.

Dorothea N. Buckingham.  Staring Down the Dragon

After being successfully treated for cancer, 15-year-old Rell returns to high school and doesn't want to be a "hero"--she just wants the normal life she used to have.

Guy Burt.  Sophie

Dia Calhoun.  White Midnight

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.

Michael Capuzzo.  Close to Shore:  The Terrifying Shark

Attacks of 1916   In the summer of 1916, a rogue great white shark terrorized the Jersey Shore with a series of attacks that would change the way Americans thought of the beach forever. It also offers fascinating information about shark physiology and behavior which only heightens the tension as we learn just what kind of damage a great white can do -- and how, and why. A riveting read for anyone who has ever contemplated dipping a toe in the water. . . .

Jake Coburn.  Prep

One-time tag-artist, Nick tries to come to terms with the death of a friend, to protect the brother of his would-be girlfriend, to escape the violence of wealthy New York City prep school hoods, and to figure out who he really is.

Judith Ortiz Cofer.  The Meaning of Consuelo

In this novel, we follow a Puerto Rican girl's quest to negotiate her own terms of survival within the confines of her culture. Coming of age in the 1950s, when American influence threatens to dilute the island's traditional Spanish customs, as well as to harm, perhaps irreparably, its fragile ecology, Consuelo watches her family being torn assunder - much like the island itself.

Chris Crowe.  Getting Away With Murder:  The True Story of

the Emmett Till Case   Presents a true account of the murder of fourteen-year-old, Emmett Till, in Mississippi, in 1955.

Chris Crutcher.  King of the Mild Frontier:  An Ill-Advised

Autobiography   Chris Crutcher, author of young adult novels such as "Ironman" and "Whale Talk," as well as short stories, tells of growing up in Cascade, Idaho, and becoming a writer.

Amanda Davis.  Wonder When You'll Miss Me

After being attacked at a Homecoming game, 16-year-old Faith Duckle attempted suicide and was briefly hospitalized, losing 58 pounds in the process. She is haunted by "the Fat Girl," a hideously distorted version of her former self whom only Faith can see, and seeks a new identity and a new home with a traveling circus.

Jennifer Donnelly.  A Northern Light

In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.

Sharyn November, ed.  Firebirds:  An Anthology of Original

Fantasy and Science Fiction   Firebirds is more than simply an anthology--it is a celebration of wonderful writing. It gathers together sixteen original stories by some of today's finest writers of fantasy and science fiction.

Candace Fleming.  Ben Franklin's Almanac:  Being a True

Account of the Good Gentleman's Life   Brings together eighteenth century etchings, artifacts, and quotations to create the effect of a scrapbook of the life of Benjamin Franklin.

Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin.  Fight On!  Mary

Church Terrell's Battle for Integration   Profiles the first black Washington, D.C. Board of Education member, who helped to found the NAACP and organized pickets and boycotts that led to the 1953 Supreme Court decision to integrate D.C. area restaurants.

E. R. Frank.  Friction

When a new girl at the private school Alex attends starts rumors about Alex's favorite teacher, Alex and her eighth-grade classmates are not sure how to act around him or with each other.

Russell Freedman.  In Defense of Liberty:  The Story of

America's Bill of Rights   Describes the origins, applications of, and challenges to the ten amendments to the United States Constitution that comprise the Bill of Rights.

Barbara Freese.  Coal:  A Human History

The fascinating history of a simple black rock that has shaped the world--and now threatens it. In this remarkable book, Freese takes readers on a rich historical journey that begins hundreds of millions of years ago and spans the globe.

Helen Frost.  Keesha's House

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.

K. L. Going.  Fat Kid Rules the World

Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band.

Alison Goodman.  Singing the Dogstar Blues

In a future Australia, the saucy eighteen-year-old daughter of a famous newscaster and a sperm donor teams up with a hermaphrodite from the planet Choria in a time travel adventure that may significantly change both of their lives.

Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan.  Runaway Girl:  The Artist

Louise Bourgeois   Introduces the life of renowned modern artist Louise Bourgeois, who is known primarily for her sculptures.

Mark Haddon.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the

Night-Time   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.

Wilborn Hampton.  September 11, 2001:  Attack on New York

City   Describes the September 11 attacks in the United States and presents several personal stories of tragedy told by New Yorkers who lived through the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Pete Hautman.  Sweetblood

After a lifetime of being a model student, sixteen-year-old Lucy Szabo is suddenly in trouble at school, at home, with the "proto-vampires" she has met online and in person, and most of all with her uncontrolled diabetes.

Lian Hearn.  Across the Nightingale Floor

Already a sensation around the world, this first book of The Otori Trilogy is a brilliantly imagined, wholly seductive tale of war, passion, and intrigue, evoking the spirit of medieval Japan. It is the story of a boy who is suddenly plucked from his life in a remote and peaceful village to find himself a pawn in a political scheme filled with treacherous warlords, rivalry, and the intensity of first love.

Kevin Henkes.  Olive's Ocean

On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman.  A Stir of Bones

After discovering the secrets that lie in an abandoned house, fourteen-year-old Susan Backstrom, with the help of some new friends, has the ability to make a safe, new life for herself.

Kimberly Willis Holt.  Keeper of the Night

Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl living on the island of Guam, and her family try to cope with the death of Isabel's mother who committed suicide.

Polly Horvath.  The Canning Season

Thirteen-year-old Ratchet spends a summer in Maine with her eccentric great-aunts Tilly and Penpen, hearing strange stories from the past and encountering a variety of unusual and colorful characters.

A. M. Jenkins.  Out of Order

Sophomore Colt Trammel loves baseball and his girlfriend Grace, but he hates the rest of high school and maintains a tough facade to hide his feelings of inferiority.

Angela Johnson.  The First Part Last

Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.

Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson.  Target

After being brutally raped, Grady finally goes to a new high school where he meets an outgoing African American and several other students who try to help him deal with the horrible secret that is robbing him of his life.

Susan Juby.  Alice, I Think

Fifteen-year-old Alice keeps a diary as she struggles to cope with the embarrassments and trials of family, dating, school, work, small town life, and a serious case of "outcastitis."

Kathe Koja.  Buddha Boy

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.

Gordon Korman.  Jake, Reinvented

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.

Trudy Krisher.  Uncommon Faith

In 1837-38, residents of Millbrook, Massachusetts, speak in their different voices of major issues of their day, including women's rights, slavery, religious differences, and one fiery girl named Faith.

David Levithan.  Boy Meets Boy

High school sophomore, Paul lives in a town where differences are accepted and same sex relationships are not a problem.

Jason Little.  Shutterbug Follies

A comic murder mystery filled with unlikely coincidences, this graphic novel is written and illustrated by an award-winning cartoonist.

Karin Lowachee.  Burndive

From the author of the acclaimed and bestselling debut novel "Warchild" comes a new action-packed adventure about a young man's journey into adulthood amid interstellar war.

Tracy Mack.  Birdland

Fourteen-year-old, tongue-tied Jed spends Christmas break working on a school project filming a documentary about his East Village, New York City, neighborhood, where he is continually reminded of his older brother, Zeke, a promising poet who died the year before.

Carolyn Mackler.  The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round

Things   Feeling like she does not fit in with the other members of her family, who are all thin, brilliant, and good-looking, fifteen-year-old Virginia tries to deal with her self-image, her first physical relationship, and her disillusionment with some of the people closest to her.

Manuel Luis Martinez.  Drift

An explosive, fierce, and lyrical novel, set in the barrios of San Antonio and Los Angeles.  At sixteen, Robert Lomos has lost his family.   But Robert's got a plan: Duck trouble, save his money, and head to California to put the family back together

Joyce Maynard.  The Usual Rules

Through the eyes of 13-year-old Wendy, readers follow what happens when her mother is killed in September 2001 and her father takes her back with him to California, where she is launched into an utterly unfamiliar life.

Graham McNamee.  Acceleration

Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, seventeen-year-old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him.

L. A. Meyer.  Bloody Jack:  Being an Account of the Curious

Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy   Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates.

Jim Murphy.  An American Plague:  The True and Terrifying

Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793   It's 1793, and there's an invisible killer roaming the streets of Philadelphia. The city's residents are fleeing in fear. This killer has a name--yellow fever--but everything else about it is a mystery. Its cause is unknown and there is no cure. This [book] traces the devastating course of the epidemic.

Jim Murphy.  Inside the Alamo

An overview of the struggle between the Texan settlers and Mexico's General Santa Anna for control of Texas, with a detailed description of the 1836 siege of the Alamo.

Jaye Murray.  Bottled Up:  A Novel

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.

Lauren Myracle.  Kissing Kate

Sixteen-year-old Lissa's relationship with her best friend changes after they kiss at a party and Lissa does not know what to do, until she gets help from an unexpected new friend.

Beverly Naidoo.  Out of Bounds:  Seven Stories of Conflict and

Hope   Seven stories, spanning the time period from 1948 to 2000, chronicle the experiences of young people from different races and ethnic groups as they try to cope with the restrictions placed on their lives by South Africa's apartheid laws.

Donna Jo Napoli.  Breath

Elaborates on the tale of "The Pied Piper," told from the point of view of a boy who is too ill to keep up when a piper spirits away the healthy children of a plague-ridden town after being cheated out of full payment for ridding Hameln of rats.

Nancy Osa.  Cuba 15:  A Novel

Violet Paz, a Chicago high school student, reluctantly prepares for her upcoming "quince," a Spanish nickname for the celebration of an Hispanic girl's fifteenth birthday.

Jeff Parker.  The Interman

Graphic novel about Interman, a genetic experiment.

Edith Pattou.  East

A young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear who is the victim of a cruel enchantment.

Gary Paulsen.  How Angel Peterson Got His Name and Other

Outrageous Tales About Extreme Sports   Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel.

Richard Peck.  The River Between Us

During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.

Tamora Pierce.  Trickster's Choice

Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy.

Terry Pratchett.  The Wee Free Men

A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland.

Adam Rapp.  33 Snowfish

A homeless boy, running from the police with a fifteen-year-old, drug-addicted prostitute, her boyfriend who just killed his own parents, and a baby, gets the chance to make a better life for himself.

Celia Rees.  Pirates!

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.

Philip Reeve.  Mortal Engines:  A Novel

In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another.

Mary Roach.  Stiff:  The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Explains what happens to bodies donated to science.

J. K. Rowling.  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Cynthia Rylant.  God Went to Beauty School

A novel in poems that reveal God's discovery of the wonders and pains in the world he has created.

Marjane Satrapi.  Persepolis

In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.

Peter Sis.  The Tree of Life:  A Book Depicting the Life of

Charles Darwin:  Naturalist, Geologist & Thinker   Presents the life of the famous nineteenth-century naturalist using text from Darwin's writings and detailed drawings by Sis.

Arthur Slade.  Dust

Eleven-year-old Robert is the only one who can help when a mysterious stranger arrives, performing tricks and promising to bring rain, at the same time children begin to disappear from a dust bowl farm town in Saskatchewan in the 1930s.

Jerry Spinelli.  Milkweed

In Nazi-occupied Poland, a young orphan boy learns about the harsh treatment of being Jewish.

Jonathan Stroud.  The Amulet of Samarkand

Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.

Craig Thompson.  Blankets:  An Illustrated Novel

At 592 pages, Blankets may well be the single largest graphic novel ever published without being serialized first. Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers.

Terry Trueman.  Inside Out

A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage.

Susanna Vance.  Deep

Somewhere in the Caribbean, seventeen-year-old Morgan and thirteen-year-old Birdie, two girls whose lives are worlds apart, are brought together by the maniacal Nicholas.

Vivian Vande Velde.  Heir Apparent

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.

Ellen Wittlinger.  Zigzag

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.

Jacqueline Woodson.  Locomotion

In a series of poems, eleven-year-old Lonnie writes about his life, after the death of his parents, separated from his younger sister, living in a foster home, and finding his poetic voice at school.

Patricia D. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.  Sorcery & Cecelia,

Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot:  Being the Correspondance of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country   In 1817 in England, two young cousins, Cecilia living in the country and Kate in London, write letters to keep each other informed of their exploits, which take a sinister turn when they find themselves confronted by evil wizards.

Jane Yolen.  Sword of the Rightful King:  A Novel of King Arthur

Merlinnus the magician devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful king of England--pulling a sword from a stone--but trouble arises when someone else removes the sword first.

Timothy Zahn.  Dragon and Thief:  A Dragonback Adventure

Jack Morgan has been framed for theft. He's hiding on a distant planet and must clear his name before the cops get him. A firefight in the skies leaves a downed ship near Jack's hiding place, with a single unlikely survivor--a dragon, and it must join with a human host within six hours or die. The only available host is Jack.