 Lunch-Box
Dream
by Tony Abbott
Ages 10–14
It’s the summer of 1959 and Bobby
is on a trip to visit Civil War battlefields with his
mother, older brother, and recently widowed grandmother.
Bobby is not comfortable around “chocolate colored” people
or death, so the trip from Ohio to Florida is difficult
for him. Interwoven with Bobby’s narration is the story
of a black family in Georgia, told from a variety of
first-person viewpoints. This beautifully written books
deals with the uncomfortable subjects of racial conflict,
sibling rivalry, and marital discord. |
|
 Keeper
by Kathi Appelt, August Hall
Ages 8–12
Since her mother swam away and never
returned seven years ago, 10-year-old Keeper, convinced that
her mother is a mermaid, has lived on the Texas coast with
her guardian Signe. Keeper has waited all summer for the blue
moon, when Signe will make a special gumbo, but she accidentally
spoils everything. So Keeper sets out in a small boat into
the sea to find her mother and set everything right. Mermaid
lore, local legends, Cajun superstitions, and natural history
enliven this magical tale. |
|
 Pink
Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat
by Francesca Lia Block
Ages 14–up
In this prequel to Weetzie
Bat, we meet Louise as a 7th grader. When her father
suddenly leaves for New York City, she must cope with
her own grief as well as her mother’s depression. It
doesn’t help that she faces a clique of mean girls
at school and the sinister family in Unit 13 of her
condominium. Anonymous notes, an attractive older boy,
and two new friends who are also outcasts help Louise
transform herself into Weetzie, the artist. |
|
 Small
Persons With Wings
by Ellen Booraem
Ages 10–up
When Mellie was five, she told
her Kindergarten class about the fairy living in her
bedroom. Her classmates teased her unmercifully, and
the Parvi Pennati (a Small Person with Wings who hates
to be called a fairy) moved out. Now 13, Mellie and her
family move into an inn inherited from her grandfather.
Before long Mellie finds that she has not left her problems
behind. The inn is infested with Parvi, and Mellie learns
that her family must honor a thousand-year old agreement
to provide a home for the Parvi. Themes of bullying and
alcoholism are explored in this clever and humorous fairy
story. |
|
 The
Secret Life of Prince Charming
by Deb Caletti
Ages 12–up
Quinn is surrounded by women
who have been disappointed by love. When her own romance
also disintegrates, Quinn wonders if there are any
good men out there. Then she discovers that her womanizing
father, Prince Charming, may have stolen more than
the hearts of the women he charmed. With her step-sisters,
Quinn sets out to right her father’s wrongs by returning
the stolen treasures. |
|
 Jump
by Elisa Carbone
Ages 12–up
P.K. (16) runs away from home to
avoid being sent off to boarding school. Critter, who has
the ability to see colors that reveal emotions, escapes
from a psychiatric hospital. Bonded by a shared love of
rock-climbing, the two hitchhike to Las Vegas to attempt
the first-ever climb up a steep rock face. Pursued by the
police, who believe that P.K.’s life is in danger, the
pair share their hopes and fears of the past and present.
Told from the perspectives of both teens, this exciting
book explores themes of independence, belonging, love,
and endurance. |
|
 Because
I am Furniture
by Thalia Chaltas
Ages 12–up
Anke’s father is abusive to
her older brother and sister, but not to her. She is
invisible and helpless. Then Anke makes the volleyball
team at school and her confidence builds until she
begins to hope that her voice will soon be loud enough
to rescue everyone at home, including herself. This
powerful novel in poems is devastating yet offers empowerment
and hope. |
|
 Waiting
for Normal
by Leslie Connor
Ages 10–up
Sixth-grader Addie’s mother disappears
for days at a time, leaving the resilient Addie to struggle
to maintain a normal life. Addie’s optimism in the face
of child neglect makes for a powerful story. |
|
 Walk
Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
Newbery Medal 1995
Ages 10–14
Salamanca Tree Hiddle’s mother leaves
home on a spiritual quests, but promises to return. She doesn’t,
and Sal and her father move from Kentucky to Idaho. Her new friend
Phoebe is also 13 and also has a mother who vanished. Sal convinces
her grandparents to drive to Idaho in search of her mother while
telling the story of Phoebe. Sal’s journey through the grieving
process of denial, anger, and acceptance is presented realistically
and with compassion. |
|
 Happyface
by Stephen Emond
Ages 12–up
Our narrator, an introverted and artistically
talented high school sophomore, decides to try out a new happy-go-lucky
persona at his new school, and quickly earns the nickname Happyface.
The plan works, and Happyface soon has a new collection of
friends who accept him at face value. But his sketchbook reveals
the truth: his parents’ failing marriage, his own broken heart,
and the real reason he had to switch schools. Happyface is
able to illustrate the feelings he can’t write about, and the
reader is gradually able to get to know the real person behind
the facade. |
|
 Saint
Training
by Elizabeth Fixmer
Ages 9–12
It’s the late 1960s, and sixth-grader
Mary Clare longs for the quiet orderly life of the
convent. The fourth of nine children in a Catholic
family in a small town in Wisconsin, Mary Clare works
hard to help her mother maintain some sort of order
in their chaotic household, while writing letters to
a Mother Superior, describing her daily life and hopes
for the future. Mary Clare’s older brothers argue about
the Vietnam War (one wants to enlist, the other applies
for conscientious objector status), her mother is depressed
with yet another pregnancy, and Mary Clare struggles
for acceptance among her Protestant neighbors and at
school where she feels ashamed of her poverty. This
painfully honest novel is both funny and hopeful. |
|
 Suicide
Notes
by Michael Thomas Ford
Ages 14–up
Jeff, the 15-year-old narrator, is
in a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt. At first convinced
he is the only sane one surrounded by crazy kids, Jeff slowly
begins to form relationships and to understand his own problems
and confusions. This darkly humorous novel presents issues
of identity in a compelling and witty manner. |
|
 King
of the Screwups
by K.L. Going
Ages 12–up
Liam Geller (17) has everything,
a super-model mother, CEO father, popularity, and good
looks. But somehow he always manages to do exactly
the wrong thing and infuriate his father. When he is
kicked out of the house he is sent to stay with his
gay uncle who lives in a trailer in the middle of nowhere.
To regain his father’s approval, Liam tries to reinvent
himself as a nerd, but eventually the likeable Liam
learns to just be himself. |
|
 Out
of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
Newbery Medal 1998
Ages 11–up
Billie Jo (14) records the grim realities
of living in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the Depression. In
her free verse journal, she reveals her mother’s death and her
own burns in a fire and her father’s grief. Billie Jo’s hope
for a better future shines through all the pain and struggle
to survive. |
|
 The
Whole Story of Half a Girl
by Veera Hiranandani
Ages 9–12
Sonia Nadhamuni, half Indian
and half Jewish American, loves her private school.
But when her father loses his job at the end of her
5th grade year, Sonia enters a racially divided public
school. For the first time her mixed heritage is an
issue, and she begins to think about who she really
is. Even harder to deal with is the depression that
overtakes her father when he can’t find another job.
Sonia’s struggles to cope with new family problems
and to fit into her new school without losing her own
individuality are beautifully portrayed. |
|
 Identical
by Ellen Hopkins
Ages 14–up
Kaeleigh and Reanne are identical 16-year-old
twins. From the outside their family seems perfect, but since
an accident their mother is emotionally unreachable and the
girls are self destructive in different ways. Narrated in free
verse, this disturbing novel is both beautiful and shocking. |
|
 The
Snowball Effect
by Holly Nicole Hoxter
Ages 12–up
Lainey (18) has a lot to deal
with—her mother commits suicide, leaving Lainey
in charge of her challenging 5-year-old adopted brother
Collin. Then her estranged older step-sister Vallery
arrives to take charge. Lainey’s long-time boyfriend
tries to help out, but she takes her anger out on him
and breaks up. Lainey’s efforts to deal with her grief
as she and Vallery try to work together to raise Collin
are honestly and effectively portrayed. |
|
 Try
Not to Breathe
by Jennifer Hubbard
Ages 14–up
Ryan (16) hasn’t had a
good year. He’s endured a new school, mono, romantic
rejection, and a suicide attempt that sent him
to a psychiatric facility. The awful year is finally
over, but Ryan is finding that there wasn’t a happy
ending. He is back in school, has the same parents,
and nothing has gotten easier while he was gone.
His only friends are those he met in the hospital;
the kids at school think he is creepy. Then he
befriends Nicki, who demands that he explain in
words what he has gone through, which finally brings
about change. |
|
 Outside
Beauty
by Cynthia Kadohata
Ages 12–up
When 12-year old Shelby’s beautiful
mother is critically injured in a car crash, Shelby and
her three sisters are parceled out to their four different
fathers. As Shelby plans to reunite the sisters, she
begins to appreciate her father’s kindness and begins
to understand the difference between beauty and perfection. |
|
 Please
Ignore Vera Dietz
by A.S. King
Ages 13–up
Vera has spent her whole life
in love with her best friend and neighbor Charlie Kahn
until he betrayed her and ruined everything. But now
Charlie is dead, suspected of being involved in a crime,
and only Vera knows the truth. Vera has decided to
live at home with her father, a recovering alcoholic,
while delivering pizzas to earn money for community
college. The relationship between Vera and her father,
and her struggle to deal with her memories of Charlie,
form the heart of this darkly comic novel. |
|
 Jumping
Off Swings
by Jo Knowles
Ages 14–up
Ellie craves a boyfriend, but
instead she gets pregnant by Josh, who avoids her after
their one time together. Afraid to tell her parents,
she confides in her best friend Corinne, and the compassionate
mother of her childhood friend Caleb. Josh confides
in Caleb, who begins spending time with Corinne because
of their shared concern for Ellie. This sensitive and
absorbing novel shows how a crisis can change a person’s
life as well as the lives of others around her. |
| |
|
 Angry
Young Man
by Chris Lynch
Ages 12–up
Xan (17) is so enraged by unsportsmanlike
behavior by the opposing soccer team that he fouls
a player so hard that he is given a two-week suspension.
Narrated by Xan’s older half-brother Robert, who isn’t
crazy about Xan’s loner tendencies, this book reveals
the stresses of life in a single-parent household with
money troubles. Robert realizes that he has been so
caught up in his own problems, that he didn’t understand
how much his brother needs emotional support. This
honest book doesn’t shy away from the brutal truth
of an angry youth who longs desperately to belong,
yet manages to portray some hope. |
|
 The
Piper’s Son
by Melina Marchetta
Ages 14–up
After Thomas Mackee’s young
uncle was killed by a suicide bomber, his family fell
apart. His grieving father becomes an alcoholic, and
mother leaves town with his younger sister. Tom, who
is living with his single and pregnant Aunt Georgie,
drops out of university. Tom doesn’t feel capable of
helping his family heal, but knows that if he doesn’t
no one else will either. This intense novel is a sequel
to Saving
Francesca, taking up the story five years later. |
|
 I
Know It’s Over
by C.K. Kelly Martin
Ages 14–up
Still coping with his parents’
divorce, 16-year-old Nick is stunned when his ex-girlfriend
Sasha tells him she is pregnant. Nick struggles to do
the right thing by Sasha. His pain and uncertainty are
portrayed with frankness in this emotionally complex
coming-of-age story. |
|
 You
Don’t Know About Me
by Brian Meehl
Ages 12–up
Billy, nearly 16, has spend
his whole life traveling from place to place with his
mother working as “ninja warriors for the Lord.” Billy
is a willing crusader, but he longs to give up home
schooling and settle down for awhile, living a normal
life and attending a regular high school. The arrival
of a message from the father he thought was dead prompts
Billy to break free and head out on a wild road trip,
joining forces with Ruah, a closeted gay professional
baseball player. The friendship between the unlikely
pair causes Billy to question everything he’s ever
known as the two try to figure out who they really
are. |
|
 Recovery
Road
by Blake Nelson
Ages 13–up
Maddy (16) is sent to the Spring
Meadows rehab center to learn to cope with her drinking
problem and her rage. At the weekly movie night in
town, she meets Stewart, who is at another rehab center.
After her release, Maddy struggles to deal with her
loneliness, and pressure from her old drinking buddies
to become a party girl again. Maddy hopes that Stewart’s
release will be her salvation, but learns that she
is the only one who can take control of her own life.
This gripping novel shows the often fatal consequences
of addiction, and the hard-to-resist temptation of
relapse. |
|
 Ways
To Live Forever
by Sally Nicholls
Ages 9–12
Eleven-year old Sam is in the final
stages of leukemia. In his journal he keeps facts, questions,
and lists. As the book progresses, Sam’s friend Felix dies
and Sam begins to decline. Sam and his family face death with
humor and grace in this moving novel. |
|
 Long
Story Short
by Siobhán Parkinson
Ages 12–up
Jonathan (14) has learned to
cope with his mother’s drinking, but when she hits his
little sister Julie hard enough to break her cheekbone,
he decides it’s time to run away before the social workers
take Julie away. Their escape isn’t too successful, and
they are soon picked up by the police. Jonathan’s narration
is both funny and heart-breaking, revealing his world
with a mother who fails to care for her children, leaving
them with a choice of options ranging from bad to worse. |
|
 Dogtag
Summer
by Elizabeth Partridge
Ages 8–12
Tracy (12) has always felt
different. In Vietnam she was mocked because her father
was an American soldier, and she doesn’t fit in with
her adoptive family in California either. Then Tracy
and her friend Stargazer find a dogtag in her father’s
ammo box, which sets of a chain of reactions causing
painful memories and misunderstandings. Tracy struggles
to balance her memories of her natural mother with
building a relationship with her father’s wife as her
step-mother tries to understand the memories haunting
both her husband and adoptive daughter. Includes an
historical appendix and a teacher's guide for discussing
the book in the context of a unit about Vietnam. |
|
 Jacob
Have I Loved
by Katherine Paterson
Newbery Medal 1981
Ages 12–up
Growing up on Chesapeake Bay island in
the early 1940s, Louise knows that like Esau from the Bible she
is hated while her twin sister Caroline, like Jacob, is the one
everyone loves. While the family pampers the beautiful and gifted
Caroline, lonely and miserable Louise learns the way of the watermen
from old Captain Wallace. Eventually Louise learns that she has
her own strengths. |
|
 Octavia
Boone’s Big Questions about Life, the Universe and Everything
by Rebecca Rupp
Ages 9–12
Seventh grader Octavia Boone
is used to her flaky mother moving from cause to cause,
but when she joins a fundamentalist religious group
and wants to move in with her fellow Redeemers, Octavia
is worried. She is respectful of religion, but doesn’t
like or trust the Redeemers and decides to use her
science-fair project to prove there is no god, hoping
that will bring her mother to her senses. Octavia’s
artist father is convinced that Henry David Thoreau
holds the key and her parents begin to drift apart.
Octavia tries to understand everyone’s viewpoints,
but can’t find the one answer that will bring her parents
back together. This humorous and touching novel celebrates
those who seek the truth in a complicated world. |
|
 Last
Night I Sang to the Monster
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Ages 14–up
Zach (18) is bright, articulate,
and in a rehab center for drugs and alcohol. But Zach
doesn’t remember how he got there, he only knows it was
something really bad. Written as a homework assignment
for his therapist, this beautifully written first-person
narrative offers insight into addiction, dysfunction,
and mental illness. |
|
 Stitches
by David Small
Ages 12–up
In this memoir, David Small tells the
story of his boyhood in the 1950s. Believing that science can
fix everything, his radiologist father subjected David to numerous
x-rays for various childhood ailments, resulting in cancer
that was untreated for years. At age 14, unaware that he had
throat cancer and was expected to die, David awoke from an
operation left him nearly mute. Beautifully told from a child’s
perspective, this pen and ink graphic novel is both dark and
delightful. |
|
 Stick
by Andrew Smith
Ages 14–up
Stark McCellan is known as Stick since
he is so tall and thin. Now 14, Stick hasn’t had an easy life.
Born with only one ear, Stick has been bullied at school. His
older brother Boston tries to protect him, but neither boy
can protect the other from their abusive parents. When Stick
realizes that Boston is gay, he tries to prevent a violent
confrontation with their angry father, and Boston leaves home.
Stick steals the family car and sets off in search of his brother,
knowing he will never feel whole again without him. |
|
 Maniac
Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
Newbery Medal 1991
Ages 8–12
After being orphaned as a baby, Jerry
Magee is brought up by his aunt and uncle, who fight all the
time. He runs away at age eight to Two Mills, Pennsylvania and
becomes a folk hero—Maniac Magee, the boy who can outrun
any dog, hit any pitch, untie any knot. He is taken in by a black
family but that causes problems in the racially divided town.
Maniac keeps searching for the perfect family and eventually
helps the town bridge the gap between racial and cultural differences. |
|
 Irises
by Francisco X. Stork
Ages 14–up
Kate (18) dreams of going to medical
school at Stanford University, and her sister Mary (16) is
a talented painter. When their strict minister father dies,
the two sisters are forced to make some painful decisions.
Their mother has been in a persistent vegetative state after
an accident two years earlier, and the insurance company denies
their father’s policy. Then the church threatens to evict them
from their home. Free of their father’s loving but restrictive
control, the two sisters begin to grow in unexpected ways as
they struggle with supporting themselves and the decision of
maintaining their mother’s life support. |
|
 The
Last Summer of the Death Warriors
by Francisco Stork
Ages 14–up
Pancho Sanchez (17) is sent
to a Catholic orphanage after his father and sister
die within a few months. Pancho is determined to avenge
the death of his sister by killing the man he believes
is responsible. D.Q., a fellow orphan, asks Pancho
to come with him to Albuquerque as support during his
brain cancer treatment. Pancho agrees since that's
where the man he is stalking lives. But D.Q.’s
“Death Warrior Manifesto,” a document
he has composed to help him live out his last days
with purpose, gradually influences Pancho to consider
choosing life over murder. This powerful novel deals
with themes of responsibility, racial and family
tension, and the purpose of life. |
|
 Marcelo
In The Real World
by Francisco Stork
Ages 14–up
Marcelo Sandoval hears music
no one else can hear and attends a special school specializing
in autism and Asperger’s. The summer before his senior
year, he arranges a job caring for ponies, but his father
wants him to work in the mail room in his law firm in
order to experience the real world. and then attend a
regular school in the fall. Readers enter Marcelo’s private
world as he navigates the unfamiliar world outside his
school in this powerful novel celebrating the difference
in all of us. |
|
 Glimpse
by Carol Lynch Williams
Ages 12–up
Hope (12) is horrified when her sister
Lizzie (14) tries to shoot herself. Lizzie becomes an elective
mute and is institutionalized and Hope desperately tries to
understand what has happened. Ever since their father died,
Hope and Lizzie relied on each other. Their mother is a reluctant
parent at best, turning tricks to support the family and her
dependence on alcohol. Narrated in blank verse from Hope’s
perspective, flashbacks fill in the girls’ past. The appalling
truth is finally revealed when Hope reads Lizzie’s diary in
this lyrical yet heartbreaking novel. |
|
 Blink & Caution
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Ages 14–up
Blink has been living on the streets
ever since he ran away from his abusive step-father. While
trying to steal leftover food from room service in a hotel,
he witnesses a fake kidnapping of an oil executive. Caution
is on the run from her abusive drug-dealing boyfriend, and
trying to deal with her guilt over the accidental shooting
of her brother. The two teens try their hands at blackmail,
and are quickly caught up in racial and environmental issues
that they can’t fix in this compelling noir crime novel. |
|
 Dicey’s
Song
by Cynthia Voigt
Newbery Medal
1983
Ages 12–up
Dicey (13) and her three siblings are
living on a farm with her grandmother. Their father deserted
the family, and their mother is in a mental institution. Used
to being the main support for her siblings, Dicey must get used
to the fact that they don’t need her in the same way. All of
the children must adjust to a new school and a new life with
Gram, who is fiercely independent. (sequel to Homecoming) |
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