Jaime Adoff.  Names Will Never Hurt Me

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.

Mitch Albom.  The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Weaves three stories about 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement park. Eddie meets 5 individuals in heaven each with a story to share, a secret to reveal and a lesson. The have profound meanings for Eddie on the real purpose of his life.

Julia Alvarez.  Finding Miracles

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.

Jennifer Armstrong, ed.  What a Song Can Do:  12 Riffs on the

Power of Music   Twelve stories describe the power of music in young people's lives, from forming a community of individuals in a high school band to helping a young man connect to his Indian heritage through ancient songs.

Marc Aronson.  Witch-Hunt:  Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials

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.

Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld.  A Heart Divided

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.

Tonya Bolden.  Wake Up Our Souls:  A Celebration of Black

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

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.

Alyssa Brugman.  Walking Naked

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.

Deb Caletti.  Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

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.

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.

Rachel Cohn.  Pop Princess

Yearning to escape the small Massachusetts town where her family retreated after her sister's death, Wonder Blake gets her chance when her sister's manager offers Wonder a record contract on her sixteenth birthday.

Michael Coleman.  On the Run

Fifteen-year-old Luke is a skilled thief with a perfect record until the day he is caught running from a robbery gone wrong. He chooses to save the life of a blind girl, Jodi, rather than escape cleanly. As a result, Luke is given a shot at freedom if he will train to be Jodi's guide in the London Marathon. The friendship that develops between the two offers Luke one last chance to discover just how far-and in what direction-he is willing to run.

Beth Cooley.  Ostrich Eye

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.

Christopher Paul Curtis.  Bucking the Sarge

Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.

Sarah Dessen.  The Truth about Forever

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.

Catherine Fisher.  The Oracle Betrayed

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.

Sharon G. Flake.  Who am I Without Him?:  Short Stories about

Girls and the Boys in their Lives   A collection of short stories about boys and girls and their relationships.

Alex Finn.  Nothing to Lose

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.

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.

Kimberly Newton Fusco.  Tending to Grace

When Cornelia's mother runs off with a boyfriend, leaving her with an eccentric aunt, Cornelia must finally confront the truth about herself and her mother.

Gail Giles.  Playing in Traffic

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.

Nikki Grimes.  What is Goodbye?

Alternating poems by a brother and sister convey their feelings about the death of their older brother and the impact it had on their family.

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.

Brent Hartinger.  The Last Chance Texaco

Troubled teen Lucy Pitt struggles to fit in as a new tenant at a last-chance foster home.

Valerie Hobbs.  Letting Go of Bobby James, or, How I Found

Myself of Steam   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.

Maureen Johnson.  The Key to the Golden Firebird

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.

Ron Koertge.  Margaux With an X

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.

Kathe Koja.  The Blue Mirror

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.

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.

Gordon Korman.  Son of the Mob:  Hollywood Hustle

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.

Drew Lamm.  Bittersweet

When her beloved grandmother suffers a stroke, high school junior and talented artist Taylor finds her inspiration and creative energy disappearing until she learns to reconnect with others and herself in unexpected ways.

Iain Lawrence.  B for Buster

In the spring of 1943, sixteen-year-old Kak, desperate to escape his abusive parents, lies about his age to enlist in the Canadian Air Force and soon finds himself based in England as part of a crew flying bombing raids over Germany.

Michael Lawrence.  A Crack in the Line

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.

Ursula LeGuin.  Gifts

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.

Sue Limb.  Girl 15, Charming But Insane

Fifteen-year-old Jess, living with her mum, separated from her father in Cornwall, and with a best friend who seems to do everything perfectly, finds her own assets through humor.

Carolyn Mackler.  Vegan Virgin Valentine

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

Melina Marchetta.  Saving Francesca

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.

Wendy Mass.  Leap Day:  A Novel

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.

Kate Morgenroth.  Jude

Still reeling from his drug-dealing father's murder, moving in with the wealthy mother he never knew, and transferring to a private school, fifteen-year-old Jude is tricked into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit.

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.

Walter Dean Myers.  Here in Harlem:  Poems in Many Voices

Acclaimed writer Walter Dean Myers celebrates the people of Harlem with these powerful and soulful first-person poems in the voices of the residents who make up the legendary neighborhood. Exhilarating and electric, these poems capture the energy and resilience of a neighborhood and a people.

Naomi Shihab Nye, ed.  Is This Forever, or What?:  Poems &

Paintings from Texas   A collection of poetry and full-color artwork from Texas.

Mitali Perkins.  Monsoon Summer

Secretly in love with her best friend and business partner Steve, fifteen-year-old Jazz must spend the summer away from him when her family goes to India during that country's rainy season to help set up a clinic.

Julie Anne Peters.  Luna:  A Novel

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.

P. J. Petersen and Ivy Ruckman.  rob&sara.com

Rob, who lives at a school for troubled teenagers, and Sara, the sixteen-year-old daughter of an army colonel, meet in a poetry chat-room and develop a close relationship via email. 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?

Jodi Picoult.  My Sister's Keeper:  A Novel

Written with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity, this novel is about a teen who was conceived as a bone marrow match for her sister Kate, and what happens when she begins to question who she really is.

Celia Rees.  Pirates!:  The True and Remarkable Adventures of

Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female 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.

Mary Roach.  Stiff:  The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers-some willingly, some unwittingly-have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

Brent Runyon.  The Burn Journals

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.

Benjamin Saenz.  Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood

The Hollywood where Sammy Santos and Juliana Rios live is not the one on the West Coast, the one with all the glitz and glitter. This Hollywood is a tough barrio at the edges of a small town in southern New Mexico. The year is 1969 and Sammy and his fellow citizens of Hollywood attend Las Cruces High School where they face a world of racism, dress codes, the war in Vietnam and the everyday violence of their own barrio.

Marilyn Singer, ed.  Face Relations:  11 Stories about Seeing

Beyond Color   In this groundbreaking collection of original stories, outstanding authors tackle issues of diversity and race relations. Includes works by Joseph Bruchac, M.E. Kerr, Sherri Winston, and Ellen Wittlinger.

Sonya Sones.  One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother

Dies   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.

Todd Strasser.  Can't Get There From Here

Tired of being hungry, cold, and dirty from living on the streets of New York City with a tribe of other homeless teenagers who are dying, one by one, a girl named Maybe ponders her future and longs for someone to care about her.

Eleanor Updale.  Montmorency:  Thief, Liar, Gentleman?

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.

Nancy Werlin.  Double Helix:  A Novel

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.

Scott Westerfeld.  So Yesterday:  A Novel

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.

Kim Ablon Whitney.  See You Down the Road

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.

Margaret Wild.  One Night

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.

Rita Williams-Garcia.  No Laughter Here

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.

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.

Brenda Woods.  Emako Blue

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.

Melissa Wyatt.  Raising the Griffin

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.

Sharon Dennis Wyeth.  Orphea Proud

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.

Timothy Zahn.  Dragon and Thief

Jack Morgan has a dragon on his back--literally. We think of dragons as enormous fire-breathing, flying creatures of myth. But in Jack's universe, dragons--or, more precisely, the dragon like K'da--are big, but they also depend on being in a symbiotic relationship with a humanoid. And when the K'da warrior known as Draycos is the sole survivor of a space battle and must find a new bondmate or die, for better or worse Jack happens to be the only available host. They may be an odd couple, but together they're more than the sum of their parts; they are destined to travel far and wide, facing many perils--human, alien, and other, as they seek justice and safety--Jack for himself, and Draycos for his people.

Lara M. Zeises.  Contents Under Pressure

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.