Anderson, Laurie Halse. Catalyst
Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death.

Asher, Sandy, ed. With All My Heart, with All My Mind: 13 Stories about Growing Up Jewish
Original short stories about Jews coming of age by thirteen well-known Jewish authors.

Baer, Edith. Walk the Dark Streets.
Continues the story of Eva, a young Jewish girl living in Nazi Germany where she and her parents experience increasing tensions in daily life while considering possibilities of escape.

Bauer, Joan. Backwater.
While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, sixteen-year-old history buff Ivy Breedlove treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her to truly know herself and her family.

Beale, Fleur. I Am Not Esther.
After her mother unexpectedly leaves her with her uncle's family, members of a fanatical Christian cult, Kirby tries to learn what has become of her mother and struggles to cope with the repressiveness of her new surroundings and to maintain her own identity.

Brooks, Bruce. Asylum for Nightface.
A deeply spiritual seventeen-year-old takes a radical step to save himself from the fanaticism of his born-again Christian parents.

Clinton, Cathryn. A Stone in My Hand.
Eleven-year-old Malaak and her family are touched by the violence in Gaza between Jews and Palestinians when first her father disappears and then her older brother is drawn to the Islamic Jihad.

Collins, Pat Lowery. Signs and Wonders.
In a series of letters, a fourteen-year-old convent school student who never knew her mother and resents her father, grapples with her belief that God has chosen her to give birth to a prophet.

Coman, Carolyn. Tell Me Everything.
After her mother dies in a rescue mission on a snowy mountain, twelve-year-old Roz wonders if talking to God, and to the boy for whom her mother died, can help her understand what happened.

Cooney, Caroline B. What Child Is This? A Christmas Story.When seventeen-year-old Matt tries to find a family for an eight-year-old foster child, his attempt backfires and both of them need a Christmas miracle.

Cormier, Robert. Other Bells for Us to Ring.
When her father is transferred to an army camp in Massachusetts during the Second World War, Darcy feels isolated in her French-Canadian neighborhood until she meets the vivacious Kathleen Mary O'Hara and learns about Catholicism.

Daoust, Jerry. Waking Up Bees: Stories of Living Life's Questions.
Ten short stories portray Christian "coming of age" stories.

Delffs, Dudley J. The Martyr's Chapel.
Story about college chaplains in Tennessee.

Dickinson, Peter. Tulku.
A thirteen-year-old boy escapes from slaughter by the Boxers in China and joins forces with an English botanist and her escort, traveling with them to Tibet where the power of Buddhist monks transforms the lives of all of them.

Farish, Terry. Talking in Animal.
The arrival of new neighbors threatens to bring irreparable change to the steady life of eleven-year-old Siobhan, a loner who spends all her time with her dog Tree and a religious activist who rehabilitates hurt wild animals.

Gaeddert, Louann. Friends and Enemies.
In 1941 in Kansas, as America enters World War II, fourteen-year-old William finds himself alienated from his friend Jim, a Mennonite who does not believe in fighting for any reason, as they argue about the war.

Greene, Bette. Summer of My German Soldier.
Sheltering an escaped German prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a 12-year-old Jewish girl in Arkansas.

Gunn, Robin Jones. Christy Miller series.
The continuing story of teenage Christy Miller, missionary.

Gunn, Robin Jones. Sierra Jensen series.
The trials and tribulations of 16 year-old Sierra Jensen.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Leaving Fishers.
After joining her new friends in the religious group called Fishers of Men, Dorry finds herself immersed in a cult from which she must struggle to extricate herself.

Heynen, Jim. Cosmos Coyote and William the Nice.
When sent to live on a farm in Iowa as an alternative to juvenile detention, seventeen-year-old Cosmos falls in love with a religious girl and reconsiders his values and beliefs.

Kelley, Nancy. The Whispering Rod: A Tale of Old Massachusetts.
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Hannah Pryor is troubled by the persecution of Quakers by Puritan Boston's leading citizens, one of whom is her father, especially after learning of her deceased mother's friendship with a Quaker woman.

LaHaye, Tim and Jerry Jenkins. Left Behind: The Kids series.
Based on the popular adult series Left Behind, teens struggle with the end of the world.

Lasky, Kathryn. Pageant.
Sarah Benjamin, a Jewish teenager, wonders if she can endure four more years at an exclusive, very Christian and impossibly stuffy girls school.

L'Engle, Madeleine. A Ring of Endless Light.
During the summer her grandfather is dying of leukemia and death seems all around, 15-year-old Vicky finds comfort with the pod of dolphins with whom she has been doing research.

Levitin, Sonia. The Cure.
A sixteen-year-old boy living in 2407 collides with the past when he finds himself in Strasbourg in 1348 confronting the anti-Semitism that sweeps through Europe during the Black Plague.

Levitin, Sonia. Escape from Egypt: A Novel.
When Moses comes to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, Jesse, a Hebrew slave, finds his life changed by his growing faith in God and his attraction to the half-Egyptian, half-Syrian Jennat.

Levitin, Sonia. The Return.
As Jews, suffering from discrimination in Ethiopia, Desta and the other members of her Falasha family finally flee the country and attempt the dangerous journey to Israel.

Levitin, Sonia. Silver Days.
Escaping from Hitler's Germany, a prosperous Jewish family lives in a New York City tenement until Papa decides to move the family to California.

Marchetta, Melina. Looking for Alibrandi.
During her senior year in a Catholic school in Sydney, Australia, seventeen-year-old Josie meets and must contend with the father she has never known.

Matas, Carol. After the War.
After being released from Buchenwald at the end of World War II, fifteen-year-old Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine.

Matas, Carol. The Garden.
Tells the story of the Israel-Arab War.

Mazer, Norma Fox. Good Night, Maman.
After spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old Karin Levi and her older brother Marc find a new home in a refugee camp in Oswego, New York.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Song of the Magdalene.
Tells the story of Miriam, a young girl being raised by her widowed father in ancient Israel, who grows up to be Mary Magdalene.

Newth, Mette. The Dark Light.
While enduring a bleak existence in a hospital for lepers in Norway during the early 1800s, thirteen-year-old Tora tries to find meaning in a life surrounded by death.

Newth, Mette. The Transformation.
On a journey to appease the Sea's Mother, Navarana saves the life of one of the Strangers who had come to Greenland to rescue the few Christians living there and together they find a way to end the suffering of Navarana's people.

Orlev, Uri. The Man from the Other Side.
Living on the outskirts of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, fourteen-year-old Marek and his grandparents shelter a Jewish man in the days before the Jewish uprising.

Pausewang, Gudrun. The Final Journey.
During World War II, eleven-year-old Alice, whose life has been sheltered and comfortable, discovers some important things about herself and the people she meets when she and her grandfather board a train and begin an increasingly intolerable journey to an unknown destination.

Peck, Richard. The Last Safe Place on Earth.
When his sister Marnie's babysitter gives her nightmares involving evil and the fires of hell, then joins a local church group that wants certain books removed from his school, Todd examines his views on religion and censorship.

Peck, Robert Newton. Arly's Run.
Arly, an orphan in search of a home and a family, escapes from a brutal migrant labor camp, joins a traveling religious show, and battles a devastating Florida hurricane.

Porch Swings & Picket Fences. Lisa Tawn Bergren, Ed.
Short stories about love and life in a small town.

Quarles, Heather. A Door Near Here.
Four siblings struggle to maintain a seminormal home life when their single mother's alcoholism becomes debilitating.

Rallison, Janette. Deep Blue Eyes & Other Lies.
Sixteen year-old Holly pines for the popular football player Chad, but finds the only boys interested in her are nerds.

Rinaldi, Ann. The Staircase.
In 1878, after her mother's death on the way West, thirteen-year-old Lizzy Enders is left by her father at a convent school in Sante Fe, where she must deal with being the only non-Catholic student and where she plays a part in what some consider a miracle.

Roberts, Laura Peyton. The Clearwater Crossing Series.
Follow the student body of Clearwater Crossing High School in Clearwater Crossing, Missouri, as they deal with relationships, friendships, deeds good and bad, and God and religion. Books include: Get a Life (#1), Reality Check (#2), Heart & Soul (#3), Promises, Promises (#4), Just Friends (#5), Keep the Faith (#6), New Beginnings (#7), One Real Thing (#8), Skin Deep (#9), No Doubt (#10), More Than This (#11).

Rosen, Sybil. Speed of Light.
An eleven-year-old Jewish girl living in the South during the 1950s struggles with the antisemitism and racism which pervade her small community.

Ruby, Lois. Miriam's Well.
Adam questions whether it is hypocritical for his lawyer father to defend Miriam's right to refuse medical treatment when he knows she may die as a result.

Rylant, Cynthia. A Fine White Dust.
The visit of the traveling Preacher Man to his small North Carolina town gives new impetus to thirteen-year-old Peter's struggle to reconcile his own deeply felt religious belief with the beliefs and non-beliefs of his family and friends.

Rylant, Cynthia. The Heavenly Village.
Undecided souls who have died while they are not quite ready to go to heaven find themselves in the halfway place known as the Heavenly Village.

Schmidt, Gary. The Sin Eater.
While living on his grandparents' farm in New Hampshire, Cole hears stories about a mysterious sin-eater; these stories enable Cole to learn forgiveness and to connect with his ancestors.

Shusterman, Neal. What Daddy Did.
A fourteen-year-old living with his grandparents learns his father is to be released from prison after killing his mother and feels apprehensive about renewing the relationship. Based on true events.

Siegal, Aranka. Grace in the Wilderness: After the Liberation, 1945-1948.
Liberated from a German concentration camp at the end of World War II, but haunted by the memory of her ordeal, fifteen-year-old Piri starts a strange new life as a Jew in Sweden.

Singer, Marilyn. I Believe in Water.
An anthology of stories for teenagers exploring the topics of religion, belief, and spirituality by award-winning authors, including M.E. Kerr, Kyoko Mori, and Virginia Euwer Wolff.

Smurthwaite, Don. Do You Like Me, Julie Sloan?
Wally Whipple records the trials and tribulations of his junior year in high school.

Snelling, Lauraine. High Hurdles series.
DJ trusts her faith in God for her horses and competitions.

Stark, Lynette. Escape from Heart.
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Heart describes how her self-absorbed, hypocritical uncle nearly destroys the Mennonite community over which he has become leader.

Tolan, Stephanie S. Ordinary Miracles.
Tired of being a twin, Mark tries to spend more time away from his twin brother and meets a scientist who challenges some of Mark's long-held Christian beliefs about heaven, God, prayer, and death.

Voigt, Cynthia. Tree by Leaf.
A father's return home following World War I creates problems for his family, especially for twelve-year-old Clothilde, who struggles to accept his horrible disfigurement and opposes her mother's plan to sell Clothilde's land, a peninsula off the coast of Maine, to help pay the family's expenses.

Yolen, Jane and Bruce Coville. Armageddon Summer.
Fourteen-year-old Marina and sixteen-year-old Jed accompany their parents' religious cult, the Believers, to await the end of the world atop a remote mountain, where they try to decide what they themselves believe.

Zalben, Jane Breskin. Unfinished Dreams: A Novel.
Jason, a nine-year-old Jewish boy, pursues his dream of becoming a great violinist even as he deals with disappointments and deaths of loved ones.

updated 1/2006