Click on the title to go to the Plymouth Library Catalog and see if a copy is available.

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  Wintergirls  
Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder.

Baker, Julie.  Up Molasses Mountain 
When union members arrive to organize their West Virginia coal mining town, fourteen-year-old Clarence Henderson, shunned for his cleft lip, and his neighbor Elizabeth Braxton narrate the changes in their own lives and in the lives of everyone in their community.

Bingham, Kelly.  Shark Girl 
After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes it imposes on her day-to-day life and her plans for the future.

Dowell, Francis O’Roarke.  Dovey Coe  
When accused of murder in her North Carolina mountain town in 1928, Dovey Coe, a strong-willed twelve-year-old girl, comes to a new understanding of others, including her deaf brother.

Elkeles, Simon.  Leaving Paradise 
In alternating chapters, seventeen-year-olds Caleb and Maggie relate the difficulties of readjusting to school, and changing relationships with family, friends, and one another, a year after a drunk driving accident sent her to the hospital with a crippling leg injury and him to prison.

Ferris, Jean. Of Sound Mind.
Tired of interpreting for his deaf family and resentful of their reliance on him, high school senior Theo finds support and understanding from Ivy, a new student who also has a deaf parent.

Froese, Deborah. Out of the Fire.
Sixteen-year-old Dayle survives a tragic fire and learns that her own resources go much deeper than appearances.

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.
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.

Griffin, Paul. The Orange Houses 
Tamika, a fifteen-year-old hearing-impaired girl, Jimmi, an eighteen-year-old veteran who stopped taking his antipsychotic medication, and sixteen-year-old Fatima, an illegal immigrant from Africa, meet and connect in their Bronx, New York, neighborhood, with devastating results.

Haddon, Mark.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time 
Despite his overhwhelming 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.

Harrar, George.  Not as Crazy as I Seem 
As fifteen-year-old Devon begins mid-year at a new prestigious prep school, he is plagued by compulsions such as the need to sort things into groups of four.

Hesser, Terry Spencer. 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.

Howell, Simmone.  Everything Beautiful 
When sixteen-year-old Riley unwillingly attends a religious summer camp, she forms a deep bond with another camper who happens to be wheelchair bound

Jenkins, A.M. Damage.
Seventeen-year-old football hero Austin, trying to understand the inexplicable depression that has drained his interest in life, thinks that he has found relief in a girl who seems very special.

Johnson, Harriet McBride.  Accidents of Nature
Having always prided herself on blending in with "normal" people despite her cerebral palsy, seventeen-year-old Jean begins to question her role in the world while attending a summer camp for children with disabilities.

Johnson, Scott.  Safe at Second
Paulie Lockwood's best friend Todd Bannister is destined for the major leagues until a line drive to the head causes him to lose an eye and they both must find a new future for themselves.

Koertge, Ron.  Stoner and Spaz  
A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman.

Marsden, John. Checkers.
Speaking from a mental hospital, a teenage girl recounts the tremendous media pressure that preceded the breaking scandal of her father's unethical business dealings.

McCormick, Patricia.  Cut 
While confined to a mental hospital, thirteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually starts to get better.

Mikaelson, Ben.  Petey  
In 1922 Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as an idiot and institutionalized; sixty years later, still in the institution, he befriends a boy and shares with him the joy of life.

Moore, Peter. Blind Sighted.
Kirk, a creative misfit who is in trouble at high school because he is bored with his classes, learns to deal with his alcoholic mother, new friends, and life with the help of a blind young woman who hires him to read to her.

Orr, Wendy.  Peeling the Onion 
Following an automobile accident in which her neck is broken, a teenage karate champion begins a long and painful recovery with the help of her family.

Philbrick, Rodman.  Freak the Mighty
At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.

Rosenberg, Liz. Seventeen: A Novel in Prose Poems.
Seventeen-year-old Stephanie journeys from fall to spring and from childhood to womanhood as she experiences first love and deals with her fear of inheriting her mother's mental illness.

Rottman, S.L. Head Above Water 
Skye, a high school junior, tries to find the time for both family obligations and personal interests, which include caring for her brother who has Down's Syndrome, dating her first boyfriend, and swimming competitively.

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending.
A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

Stork, Francisco X.  Marcelo in the Real World  
Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

Striegel, Jana. Homeroom Exercise.
When eleven-year-old Regan begins to suffer from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, she must face the possibility that her dream of being a professional dancer may never come true.

Tashjian, Janet. Multiple Choice.
Monica, a fourteen-year-old perfectionist and word game expert, tries to break free from all of the suffocating rules in her life by creating a game for living called Multiple Choice.

Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral.
Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.

Waters, Annie. Glimmer.
A college freshman slowly loses contact with reality.

Weaver, Beth Nixon.  Rooster 
On a small Florida orange grove in the 1960s, fourteen-year-old Kady Palmer is burdened with housework and caring for her senile grandmother and mentally handicapped neighbor, so when a rich, handsome boy from school becomes interested in her she devises a plan to spend time with him.

Wilson, Dawn. Saint Jude.
When committed to an upscale group home outside Asheville, North Carolina, eighteen-year-old Taylor Drysdale pretends that her bipolar disorder is under control and that she will leave soon, but relationships with her fellow residents may hold the key to real recovery.

Questions or Comments? Contact Cathy Lichtman, Teen Librarian