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Jump to: Sexual Abuse/Rape | Alcohol/Drugs | Death/Dying | Disabilities/Diseases/Mental Health | Disfunctional/Violent Families | Divorce/Relationships | Fitting In | Food Issues/Weight Concerns | Pregnancy/Sex | Working & Living Together | On the Edge

 

 

Sexual Abuse/Rape

 

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak.
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect of Melinda's freshman year in high school.

Cole, Brock. The Facts Speak for Themselves.
At the request of her social worker, thirteen-year-old Linda gradually reveals how her life with her unstable mother and her younger brother led to her rape and the murder she witnessed.

Crocker, Nancy. Billie Standish Was Here 
When the river jeopardizes the levee and most of the town leaves, Miss Lydia, an elderly neighbor, and Billie form a friendship that withstands tragedy and time.

Kwasney, Michelle D. Blue Plate Special 
In alternating chapters, the lives of three teenage girls from three different generations are woven together as each girl learns to deal with the hands they’ve been dealt including rape, having an alcoholic mother and an over controlling boyfriend.

Lundgren, Mary Beth. Love, Sara.
In a series of emails and journal entries Sara, a high school junior with a history of sexual abuse and foster home care, reveals her feelings about herself and two friends who are headed for destruction.

Neufeld, John. Boys Lie.
Eighth-grader Gina Smith is targeted as easy by some boys in her new school because of her physical development and because of an incident in her past in which she was assaulted in a public swimming pool.

Peck, Richard. Are You in the House Alone?
A sixteen-year-old girl with a steady boyfriend suddenly begins receiving threatening phone calls while she is babysitting and anonymous notes in her high school locker.

 

Alcohol/Drugs

 

Draper, Sharon. Tears of a Tiger.
The death of high school basketball star Rob Washington in an automobile accident affects the lives of his close friend Andy, who was driving the car, and many others in the school.

Friend, Natasha.  Lush. 
Unable to cope with her father's alcoholism, thirteen-year-old Sam corresponds with an older student, sharing her family problems and asking for advice.

Go Ask Alice.
Based on the diary of a fifteen-year-old drug user chronicling her struggle to escape the pull of the drug world.

Hopkins, Ellen.  Crank    
Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter, gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul - her life

Hopkins, Ellen.  Glass   
In a powerful sequel to Crank, Kristina is determined to manage her addiction to crack in order to keep her newborn child, but when she is unable to manage her use of the drug and the pull becomes too strong, her greatest fears are quickly realized.

Murray, Jaye. 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. Grade 7 and up

Pearson, Mary.  A Room on Lorelei Street   
To escape a miserable existence taking care of her alcoholic mother, seventeen-year-old Zoe rents a room from an eccentric woman, but her earnings as a waitress after school are minimal and she must go to extremes to cover expenses.

Rapp, Adam.  Punkzilla   
"Punkzilla" is on a mission to see his older brother "P" before "P" dies of cancer. Still buzzing from his last hit of meth, he embarks on long trip to Memphis, Tenn., writing letters to his family and friends. Along the way, he sees a sketchier side of America and worries if he will make it to see his brother in time.

 

 

Death/Dying

 

 

Abelove, Joan. Saying It Out Loud.
With the help of her best friend, sixteen-year-old Mindy sorts through her relationships with her solicitous mother and her detached father as she tries to come to terms with the fact that her mother is dying from a brain tumor.

Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie.
Maybe you once had a mentor who gave you advice and helped you see the world as a more profound place. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college.

Bauer, Joan.  Hope Was Here  
When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor.

Bray, Libba.  Going Bovine  
Slacker Cameron is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and as he lays in the hospital, he encounters a punk rocker angel, Dulcie, who claims there's a curre for him.  So together with hypochondriac, stoner dwarf Gonzo and a lawn gnome they pick up along the way, they head out from Texas to Tomorrowland in Orlando in an hallucinogenic road trip.  Bray critiques everything from religious cults, to American education to materialism.  

Coman, Carolyn. Many Stones.
After her sister Laura is murdered in South Africa, Berry and her estranged father travel there to participate in the dedication of a memorial in her name.

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.

Cook, Karin. What Girls Learn.
Two sisters cope with their mother's death by cancer while getting to know her new husband.

Cooney, Caroline. Driver's Ed.
Three teenagers' lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign from a dangerous intersection and a young mother is killed in an automobile accident there.

Cormier, Robert. The Bumblebee Flies Anyway.
Sixteen-year-old Barney has only fleeting memories about his past but, as a voluntary patient at the institute for experimental medicine, he knows he is different from the terminally ill patients surrounding him. His involvement with the bitter, slowly dying, Mazzo brings Barney hope, pain, and a moment of heroic glory.

Deaver, Julie Reece. Say Goodnight, Gracie.
When a car accident kills her best friend Jimmy, with whom she has shared everything from childhood escapades to breaking into the professional theater scene in Chicago, seventeen-year-old Morgan must find her own way of coping with his death.

Dowdham, Jenny.  Before I Die  
A terminally ill teenaged girl makes and carries out a list of things to do before she dies.

Forman, Gayle.  If I Stay 
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.

Hurwin, Davida.  A Time for Dancing  
Seventeen-year-old best friends Samantha and Juliana tell their stories in alternating chapters after Juliana is diagnosed with cancer.

Jocelyn, Marthe.  Would You   
When her beloved sister, Claire, steps in front of a car and winds up in a coma, Nat's anticipated summer of working, hanging around with friends, and seeing Claire off to college is transformed into a nightmare of doctors, hospitals, and well-meaning neighbors.

Johnson, Angela.  Toning the Sweep                   
On a visit to her grandmother Ola, who is dying of cancer in her house in the desert, fourteen-year-old Emmie hears many stories about the past and her family history and comes to a better understanding of relatives both dead and living.

Mahy, Margaret. Memory.
On the fifth anniversary of his older sister's death, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart, troubled by feelings of guilt and an imperfect memory of the event, goes in search of the only other witness to the fatal accident and, through a chance meeting with a senile old woman, finds way to free himself of the past.

Mazer, Norma Fox. After the Rain.
After discovering her grandfather is dying, fifteen-year-old Rachel gets to know him better than ever before and finds the experience bittersweet. Newbery Honor book 

McDaniel, Lurlene.
McDaniel's books deal with the sickness and death of loved ones from a teen's point of view.

McDonald, Joyce. Swallowing Stones.
Dual perspectives reveal the aftermath of seventeen-year-old Michael MacKenzie's birthday celebration during which he discharges an antique Winchester rifle and unknowingly kills the father of high school classmate Jenna Ward.

Mori, Kyoko. Shizuko's Daughter.
After her mother's suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother's family, and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy.

Nolan, Han. Dancing on the Edge.
A young girl from a dysfunctional family creates for herself an alternative world which nearly results in her death but which ultimately leads her to reality.

Schmidt, Gary D.  Trouble
Fourteen-year-old Henry, wishing to honor his brother Franklin's dying wish, sets out to hike Maine's Mount Katahdin with his best friend and dog. But fate adds another companion--the Cambodian refugee accused of fatally injuring Franklin--and reveals troubles that predate the accident.

Yeomans, Ellen. Rubber Houses   
A novel in verse that relates seventeen-year-old Kit's experiences as her younger brother is diagnosed with and dies of cancer and as she withdraws into and gradually emerges from her grief.

 

Disabilities/Diseases/Mental Health

 

 

Barrie, Barbara. Adam Zigzag.
Adam, who is dyslexic and has great difficulty with his homework, struggles to find the right school, resist the lure of drugs, and endure the jealousy of his older sister Caroline.

Bloor, Edward. Tangerine.
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Bowler, Tim. Midget.
Subject to strange fits, physically abnormal, and psychologically disturbed from the constant torment and abuse of his older brother, fifteen-year-old Midget finds himself in control of his life for the first time when he gets his own sailboat and discovers untapped mental powers.

Durant, Penny Raife. When Heroes Die.
Devastated that his hero uncle, Rob, is dying of AIDS, twelve-year-old Gary, in need of advice and guidance in his life, draws strength from Rob himself.

Ferris, Jean. Invincible Summer.
Seventeen-year-old Robin, in treatment for leukemia, falls in love with a boy who also has the disease, and together they attempt to survive their ordeal.

Fox, Paula. The Eagle Kite.
Liam's father has AIDS, and his family cannot talk about it until Liam reveals a secret that he has tried to deny ever since he saw his father embracing another man at the beach.

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 attention-deficit disorder when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control.
Joey, who is still taking medication to keep him from getting too wired, goes to spend the summer with the hard-drinking father he has never known and tries to help the baseball team he coaches win the championship. Sequel to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.

Griffin, Adele. Amandine.
Her first week at a new school, shy, plain Delia befriends Amandine, not anticipating the dangerous turns their friendship would take. 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.

Hurwin, Davida. A Time for Dancing.
Seventeen-year-old best friends Samantha and Juliana tell their stories in alternating chapters after Juliana is diagnosed with cancer.

Lebert, Benjamin. Crazy.
Sixteen-year-old Benjamin Lebert wrote this semi-autobiographical novel about his partial paralysis and fitting in at a new boarding school.

Lewis, Catherine. Postcards to Father Abraham.
When sixteen-year-old Meghan loses her leg to cancer and her brother to Vietnam, she expresses intense anger in postcards which she writes to her idol, Abraham Lincoln.

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.

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.

Nolan, Han. Dancing on the Edge.
A young girl from a dysfunctional family creates for herself an alternative world which nearly results in her death but which ultimately leads her to reality.

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. Thirteen-year-old Rocky, self-conscious about the braces on her leg, has her life changed by the remarkable artist who comes to her small Kansas town

Paulsen, Gary. The Monument.
to design a war memorial.

Pennebaker, Ruth. Both Sides Now.
Fifteen-year-old Liza tries to deal with the normal everyday crises of life in an Austin, Texas, high school, a process complicated by her mother's fight with breast cancer.

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.

Ruby, Lois. Miriam's Well.
When Miriam is diagnosed with a tumor, her belief in faith healing clashes with her friends' beliefs in traditional medicine.

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy.
A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

Sparks, Beatrice. It Happened to Nancy.
Teenage Nancy's worst nightmares come true when she contracts the AIDS virus.

Stoehr, Shelley. Crosses.
Unhappy at home, Nancy and her friend Katie adopt punk lifestyles and find relief in cutting themselves, until Nancy is forced to confront her problems.

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.


Disfunctional/Violent Families

 

 

Corrigan, Eireann. Splintering
Relates, in a series of poems from different perspectives, the events and after-effects of an intruder's violent attack on a family.

Flynn, Alexandra. Breathing Underwater
Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.

Klass, David. You Don't Know Me
Fourteen-year-old John creates alternative realities in his mind as he tries to deal with his mother's abusive boyfriend, his crush on a beautiful, but shallow classmate and other problems at school.


Divorce/Relationships

 

Fine, Anne. Flour Babies.
When his class of underachievers is assigned to spend three torturous weeks taking care of their own "babies" in the form of bags of flour, Simon makes amazing discoveries about himself while coming to terms with his long-absent father.

Frank, Lucy. Oy, Joy!
Although her ailing uncle creates problems for her whole family when he moves in with them, Joy survives his bungling attempts at matchmaking even as she plays the game herself. Mack, Tracy.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Ice.
When thirteen-year-old Chrissa is sent to her paternal grandmother's farm, she learns more about her absent father and some of the reasons for her distant relationship with her mother.

Nolan, Han. Born Blue.
Janie was four years old when she nearly drowned due to her mothers neglect. Through an unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her dream of someday being a famous singer.

Shoup, Barbara. Wish You Were Here.
A high school senior tries to cope with the shifting patterns of his life while struggling to come to terms with his parents' divorce, his best friend's sudden departure, his mother's remarriage, and his father's nearly-fatal accident.

Wittlinger, Ellen. Hard Love.
After starting to publish a 'zine in which he writes his secret feelings about his lonely life and his parents' divorce, sixteen-year-old John meets an unusual girl and begins to develop a healthier personality.

 

Fitting In

 

Bauer, Cat. Harley, Like a Person.
Fourteen-year-old Harley, an artistic teenager living with her alcoholic father and angry mother, suspects that she is adopted and begins a search for her biological parents.

Castellucci, Cecil. Boy Proof
Feeling alienated from everyone around her, Victoria Denton Los Angeles high school senior and movie lover shaves her head and takes on the name Egg, after a favorite character in a science fiction film she has seen 42 times. Her shaved head and white cloak make her actress mother call her Boy Proof. Changes begin when an interesting new boy arrives at school and helps her realize that there is more to life than just the movies.

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War.
A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.

Griffin, Adele. Amandine.
Her first week at a new school, shy, plain Delia befriends Amandine, not anticipating the dangerous turns their friendship would take.

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.

Howe, James. The Misfits.
Four students who do not fit in at their small-town middle school decide to create a third party for the student council elections to represent all students who have ever been called names.

Koss, Amy Goldman. The Girls.
Each of the girls in a middle-school clique reveals the strong, manipulative hold one of the group exerts on the others, causing hurt and self-doubt among the girls.

Lebert, Benjamin. Crazy.
Sixteen-year-old Benjamin Lebert wrote this semi-autobiographical novel about his partial paralysis and fitting in at a new boarding school.

Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed.
Torey Adams, a high school junior with a seemingly perfect life, struggles with doubts and questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast.

Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.
Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

Rennison, Louise. On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.
Fourteen-year-old Georgia continues her diary in which she records her misadventures trying to reclaim the attention of seventeen-year-old Robbie, while coping with her friends, family, and dog-like cat Angus at the same time. Sequel to Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging.

Sheldon, Dyan. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
In her first year at a suburban New Jersey high school, Mary Elizabeth Cep, who now calls herself "Lola," sets her sights on the lead in the annual drama production, and finds herself in conflict with the most popular girl in school.

Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl.
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

Weiss, M. Jerry and Helen S. Weiss, eds. Lost and Found.
Authors such as Shelley Stoehr, Tamora Pierce, Mel Glenn, and Paul Zindel write stories based on their real-life experiences as teenagers.

Yep, Laurence. Dream Soul.
In 1927, as Christmas approaches, fifteen-year-old Joan Lee hopes to get her parents' permission to celebrate the holiday, one of the problems of belonging to the only Chinese American family in her small West Virginia community.

 

Food Issues/Weight Concerns

 

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

Bauer, Joan. Squashed.
As a sixteen-year-old pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.

Bennett, Cherie. Life in the Fat Lane.
Sixteen-year-old Lara, winner of beauty pageants and Homecoming Queen, is distressed and bewildered when she starts gaining weight and becomes a fat girl.

Block, Francesca Lia. The Hanged Man.
Having stopped eating after the death of her father, seventeen-year-old Laurel feels herself losing control of her life in the hot, magical world of Los Angeles.

Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes.
The daily class discussions about the nature of man, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high-school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help.

Dessen, Sarah. Keeping the Moon.
Fifteen-year-old Colie, a former fat girl, spends the summer working as a waitress in a beachside restaurant, staying with her overweight and eccentric Aunt Mira, and trying to explore her sense of self.

Friend, Natasha. Perfect 
Following the death of her father, a thirteen-year-old uses bulimia as a way to avoid her mother's and ten-year-old sister's grief, as well as her own.

George, Madeleine.  Looks   
Two high school girls, one an anorexic poet and the other an obese loner, form an unlikely friendship.

Holt, Kimberly Willis. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town.
During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.

Lipsyte, Robert. One Fat Summer.
An overweight fourteen-year-old boy experiences a turning point summer in which he learns to stand up for himself.

Mackler, Carolyn.  The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things
Feeling like she does not fit in with the rest 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.

Marino, Peter.  Dough Boy   
Overweight, fifteen-year-old Tristan, who lives happily with his divorced mother and her boyfriend Frank, suddenly finds that he must deal with intensified criticism about his weight and other aspects of his life when Frank's popular but troubled, nutrition-obsessed daughter moves in.

Newman, Leslea. Fat Chance.
In a series of diary entries, thirteen-year-old Judi recounts her struggles to lose weight, hide her bulimia from her mother, find a boy friend, and decide on a profession.

Strasser, Todd. How I Changed My Life.
Overweight high school senior Bo decides to change her image while working on the school play with a former star football player who is also struggling to find a new identity for himself.

Supplee, Suzanne.  Artichoke’s Heart  
Sixteen years old Rosemary decides she is sick of being overweight and mocked at school and at her mother's beauty salon, Heavenly Hair.

Vrettos, Adrienne Marie.  Skin  
When his parents decide to separate, eighth-grader Donnie watches with horror as the physical condition of his sixteen-year old sister, Karen, deteriorates due to an eating disorder.

 

 

On the Edge

 

Flinn, Alex. Fade to Black
HIV-positive Alejandro Crusan, a Florida high-school junior, has been attacked with a baseball bat while driving to school. Clinton Cole, the bigot accused of the crime denies having been involved. Dana Bickell, a classmate with Down Syndrome, is only witness. The three alternate telling their stories through free verse. They reveal how the assault has changed their lives as they tell of its aftermath. (Grade 7-10)

 

Love, Sex & Pregnancy

 

Behrens, Andy.  All the Way   
Hoping to have sex for the first time with a girl he has met on the Internet, seventeen-year-old Ian drives with his two best friends from Illinois to South Carolina.

Bunting, Eve. Doll Baby.
A fifteen-year-old girl who is pregnant decides she wants to keep her baby, not realizing how much harder it will be than caring for her beloved Daisy Doll.

Cart, Michael, ed. Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth 

Efaw, Amy.  After  
In complete denial that she is pregnant, straight-A student and star athlete Devon Davenport leaves her baby in the trash to die, and after the baby is discovered, Devon is accused of attempted murder.

Doherty, Berlie. Dear Nobody.
Eighteen-year-old Chris struggles to deal with two shocks that have changed his life, his meeting the mother who left him and his father when he was ten and his discovery that he has gotten his girlfriend pregnant.

Fienberg, Anna. Borrowed Light.
A sixteen-year-old feels alienated from her family while struggling with the difficult decisions surrounding her unplanned pregnancy.

Grant, Cynthia. The White Horse.
In her writing for a concerned teacher, sixteen-year-old Raina reveals her troubles with a dysfunctional family, life on the streets, drug abuse, and finally an unplanned pregnancy.

Martin, C.K. Kelly.  I Know It’s Over   
Sixteen-year-old Nick, still trying to come to terms with his parents' divorce, experiences exhilaration and despair in his relationship with his girlfriend Sasha especially when, after instigating a trial separation, she announces that she is pregnant.

Pennebaker, Ruth. Don't Think Twice.
Seventeen years old and pregnant, Anne lives with other unwed mothers in a group home in rural Texas where she learns to be herself before giving her child up for adoption.

Plummer, Louise. A Dance for Three.
When fifteen-year-old Hannah becomes pregnant and her rich, popular boyfriend claims he is not responsible, she is forced to face some hard facts about her life.

Wallington, Aury.  Pop 
When seventeen-year-old Marit decides to lose her virginity to her best friend, she finds that separating sex from love proves to be more complicated than she expected.

Young, Cathy, ed. One Hot Second: Stories about Desire   
A collection of eleven stories by award-winning authors that explore the many varieties of teenage desire, including first crushes, first kisses, and first times.

 

Living in Towns Big and Small

Abelove, Joan. Go and Come Back.
Alicia, a young tribeswoman living in a Amazonian village in the Andes, tells about the two American women anthropologists who arrive to study the way of life of her people.

Bradbury, Ray.  Dandelion Wine 
One magical summer in the life of 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding in a small Illinois town.

Brooks, Martha.  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.

Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963.
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

Finch, Susan. The Intimacy of Indiana.
In a small Indiana town, Olivia, Adam, and Neil, friends since childhood, face difficult choices as they enter their senior year in high school.

Frank, E.R. Life Is Funny.
The lives of a number of young people of different races, economic backgrounds, and family situations living in Brooklyn, New York, become intertwined over a seven year period.

Friedman, Amy.  The Year My Sister Got Lucky  
When fourteen-year-old Katie and her older sister, Michaela, move from New York City to upstate New York, Katie is horrified by the country life-style but is even more shocked when her sister adapts effortlessly, enjoying their new life, unlike Katie.

Koss, Amy Goldman. Strike Two.
Haley's hope of spending the summer playing softball and hanging out with her cousin Gwen is ruined when her father and her uncle land on opposite sides of the local newspaper strike.

Leitch, Will.  Catch   
Teenager Tim Temples must decide if he wants to leave his comfortable life in a small town and go to college.

Pearsall, Shelley.  All of the Above 
Five urban middle school students, their teacher, and other community members relate how a school project to build the world's largest tetrahedron affects the lives of everyone involved.

Spinelli, Jerry. Crash.
Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.

Wittlinger, Ellen. What's In a Name?
Each of ten teenagers living in Scrub Harbor, Massachusetts, explores his or her identity at the same time that the local residents consider changing the name of their town.

 

Comments or Suggestions?
Contact Cathy Lichtman, Teen Librarian


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