Keeper by Mal Peet
El Gato, the greatest goal keeper in the world, has just won the World Cup and is being interviewed by sports journalist, Paul Fautino. Imagine Paul’s surprise to find that El Gato grew up in the rainforest, worked for the local logging company and in his teens wandered upon a mysterious soccer field in the middle of the forest where he was trained by an apparition. Is this great sportsman under too much stress? This is a truly different sports story …where personal growth trumps even the game.
Leonardo da Vinci by Kathleen Krull
This is a very readable biography about the most famous “Renaissance Man” and about the end of the Middle Ages in which he lived. In a time when pig manure was a cure for nosebleeds and people believed in magic, Leonardo’s life-long craving for knowledge yielded hundreds of drawings and notebooks. It is claimed that the notebooks’ survival would have changed the history of the world.
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
This is a haunting, memorable story that floats between reality and imagination. From where do dreams come? In this tale, they come from dream makers – stealthy, kind, night-workers who enter a house in dark to feel out warm memories and who leave before daylight. In the story a very old, lonely woman and a very angry, damaged little boy who comes to live with her are desperately in need of good dreams. But dark horrors sometimes find their way into dreams – brought by the “sinisteeds”, who prey on the vulnerable. They fall upon a house in great fiery hordes! How will the gentle dream makers succeed? This short novel will stay with you for weeks to come.
New Boy by Julian Houston
Fifteen year old Rob Garrett, bright and gregarious, is leaving his segregated Virginian town and packing for a Connecticut boarding school. He will be the first and only black student on campus. Both he and his parents know what an opportunity this is, but Rob is not prepared for the subtle prejudice and the loneliness that he experiences his first term. The South is changing, and when he returns home for Christmas break, Rob finds his former high school classmates planning a sit-in at the local lunch counter. He also meets a girl he wants to get to know better. Will he… can he go back North? This historical novel is filled with quiet courage ... a great read.
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos
As part of a U.S. government crackdown on illegal immigration after 9/11 Muslim men were required to register with the government and many were arrested because their visas had long-since expired. Families who had lived and worked in this country were suddenly and forcibly reminded of their illegal status without any likelihood of changing it. For 18-year-old Aisha, this means the end of her dream of going to college and becoming a doctor. For 14-year-old Nadira, her younger sister, it means coming out from behind the shadow of her perfect older sister to reveal her own strength and find a way to reunite her nearly shattered family … a timely read.
The Boy Who Spoke Dog by Clay Morgan
Jack, a shipwrecked orphan, is marooned on a mysterious island where a flock of sheep is herded and cared for by sheepdogs, but no humans are to be found. Jack struggles to survive as he encounters in the forest another pack of dogs ... vicious, accomplished hunters of sheep, dogs and man. To stave off loneliness, Jack must form a bond with the narrator of the story, Moxie, the youngest of the border collies. With imagination, the lasting themes of self reliance and loyalty are explored in this suspenseful tale.
Jimi and Me by Jaime Adoff
Keith James is moving with his Mom out of Brooklyn, NY to a small town in Ohio. Keith's musician father was shot in a variety store hold-up ... wrong place, wrong time. All Keith has left is a trunk filled with his dad's psychedelic clothes and a zealous appreciation of his dad's favorite musician, Jimi Hendrix, guitarist extrordinaire. Keith finds comfort in Jimi's music, wisdom in his lyrics, and he manages to keep his dad’s memory close until powerful secrets from the past come to light and everything changes.
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
A terrific novel! High School freshman, Scott Hudson, is expecting a baby brother/sister. He writes a journal to this unborn sibling about how to survive high school as he negotiates the perils of his own first year. The journal entries are heartwarming and hilarious. Scott's inspiring English teacher keeps the pace of the story moving as he challenges his classes with thought provoking assignments.
Under the Baseball Moon by John Ritter
Andy's trumpet-playing ability goes through the roof whenever Glory is watching. And her softball pitches smoke the batters if Andy's in the bleachers. It seems almost too good to be true. Or is it all due to the elegant, eerie man in black who promises fame and fortune? Can this man really deliver?
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Miranda's world begins to change overnight when an asteroid pushes the moon closer to Earth. Tidal waves destroy cities, volcanic ash blots out the sun, and people are panicking in the streets. Is this the end of the world?
Cheating Lessons by Nan Willard Cappo
Can honesty be the worst policy?
Bernadette Terrell has always known the right thing to do. Not the most popular girl in school, her focus has always been on academic, not social, success. When her favorite teacher names her to Wickham High School's state championship quiz bowl team, she believes that she has reached the pinnacle of her high school academic career. However, her elation quickly fades as she begins to suspect that perhaps someone cheated to get Wickham into the contest and is cheating still. Cappo's blend of suspense and humor makes Cheating Lessons a riveting story about right and wrong -- and the downside of trust.
The Higher Power of Lucky by Cassandra Campbell
This 2006 Newbery Award winner is filled with superb characterizations and can be read on many different levels. The loveable, eccentric heroine feels she has run out of luck as she contemplates the loss of her guardian, a move to a California orphanage and parting with her beloved dog, HMS Beagle.
Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
Six thousand years ago. Evil stalks the land. According to legend, only twelve-year-old Torak and his wolf-cub companion can defeat it. Their journey together takes them through deep forests, across giant glaciers, and into dangers they never imagined. This fast-paced adventure delves into a world of spirits and mysticism. It is the first book of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. Don’t miss Book 2, Spirit Walker (2005) and Book 3, Soul Eater (2006).
The Great Brain Book: An Inside Look at the Inside of Your Head by H. P. Newquest
Newquist peels back the layers of the brain to explain what it's made of, how it works, and how to make your brain work for you. From eyeballs to neurons, vivid illustrations show pieces of its complex structure. Brain surgery and brain abnormalities are explained, as is the function of sleep and dreams. This is an informal and intriguing look inside your head.
For more great read look at some recommended titles from previous years.
Code Talker by
Joseph Bruchac
Ned Begay begins his education at an Anglo boarding
school where he and his peers are forbidden to speak their native language. By
the onset of WWII, only a handful of young Navajo men were fluid speakers, but
that was enough to make a difference in the Pacific theater. Ned tells of heroic
experiences in Guadacanal, Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook
Look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life by Candace Fleming
A lovely hands on biography of a woman with an unhappy childhood, who grew
up to truly be a citizen of the world.
Big
Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
When sixteen-year-old
Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school, his friends
turn against him, but an unlikely classmate comes to his aid. This is a fast
moving, timely story with well developed characters and a page turner plot.
The City of
Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Twelve-year-old Doon and his
acquaintance Lina are intent on finding a way to save Ember, a decaying,
futuristic city, where it is always night, but without moon or stars. Readers
will be fascinated by the haunting setting and mysterious action that propels
this novel. Sequels include The People of
Spark and Prophet of
Yonwood.
The
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
A historical
narrative about a free spirited 18th century girl brought up in the shimmering
Caribbean islands, who after the death of her parents, finds herself sent to
live with relatives in a stern Puritan community of the Connecticut Colony. This
is a wonderful tale of a thoughtful heroine coming of age in a time of bigotry
and superstition.
Replay by
Sharon Creech
While preparing for a role in the school play,
twelve-year-old Leo finds an autobiography that his father wrote as a teenager
and ponders the ways people change as they grow up. Leo’s boisterous Italian
family makes for a funny, insightful and wonderfully original novel.
Lizzie
Bright And The Buckminister Boy (Honor Book for 2005 Newbery Award) by
Gary D. Schmidt
A powerful novel about an actual event, the shameful
destruction of the African American island community of Malaga, Maine in 1912.
This lyrical and moving story brings to life the courage and unlikely friendship
of a young boy and girl who see beyond color.
Haymeadow
by Gary Paulsen
Fourteen-year-old John spends the summer taking
care of 6000 sheep alone in the meadow except for his dogs. Kije his father and
grandfather before, Gary must find the resourcefulness and ingenuity to care for
the survival of all.
Eagle Strike: An
Alex Rider Adventure by Anthony Horowitz
After a chance
encounter with assassin Yassen Gregorovich in the South of France, teenage spy
Alex Rider investigates international pop star and philanthropist Damian Cray
whose new video game venture hides sinister motives involving Air Force One,
nuclear missiles, and the international drug trade. (Other Alex Rider adventures
include Stormbreaker,’01
Point Blank,’02
Skeleton
Key,’03 Eagle
Strike,’04 Scorpia,’05 Ark Angel ’06.)
The Race to Save the Lord
God Bird by Philip M. Hoose
Tells the story of the ivory-billed
woodpecker’s extinction in the United States, describing the encounters between
species and humans, and discussing what these encounters have taught us about
preserving endangered creatures. Wonderful.
Milkweed by
Jerry Spinelli
The Story of a very young boy’s survival in the Polish
countryside during the grim events of the Holocaust.
Chasing
Vermeer by Blue Balliett
When seemingly unrelated and strange
events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears,
eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an
international art scandal. Readers who like visual puzzles and mysteries will
love this book. (New sequel The Wright 3)
Bucking The
Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
Dragon's Gate
by Laurence Yep
When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a
fifteen-year-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle,
and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad
through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867. A great historical novel by an
excellent young adult author (Sequel to Mountain Light)
Freaky
Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates
Fourteen-year-old Frankie
relates the events of the year leading up to her mother’s mysterious
disappearance and her own struggle to discover and accept the truth about her
parent’s relationship. An abuse theme told with compassion and insight.
Eldest by
Christopher Paolini
After successfully evading an Urgals ambush, Eragon
is adopted into the Ingeitum clan and sent to finish his training so he can
further help the Varden in their struggle against the Empire. Sequel to Eragon , a fantastic
fantasy adventure.
More Great Authors for Teens: Lloyd Alexander , Joan Bauer , Robert Cormier , Nancy Farmer, Jean Craighead George, Karen Hesse, Ursula Le Guin, Ann McCaffrey, Walter Dean Myers, Beverley Naidoo, Donna Jo Napoli, Scott O’Dell, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mildred Taylor, Ellen Wittlinger.
FICTION
Millions by Frank
Cottrell Boyce
After their mother dies, two brothers find a huge amount
of money which they must spend quickly before England switches to the new
European currency, but they disagree on what to do with it.
The Star Of
Kazan by Eva Ibbotson
After twelve-year-old Annika, a foundling
living in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, a
woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a
strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.
Al
Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
A twelve-year-old
boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were
housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in
addition to life with his autistic sister.
Bucking The
Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
kira-kira
(Winner of the 2005 Newbery Award) by Cynthia Kadohata
Chronicles
the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural
Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister
becomes terminally ill.
Lizzie
Bright And The Buckminister Boy (Honor Book for 2005 Newbery Award) by
Gary D. Schmidt
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of
Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a
girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town
fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.
Code Talker: A Novel
About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a
useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to
become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native
tongue.
A Northern Light
by Jennifer Donnelly
In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined
to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance,
takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a
guest. Based on a true story.
Dust by Arthur
Slade
Eleven-year-old Robert is the only one who can help when a
mysterious stranger arrives, performing tricks and promising to bring rain at
the same time children begin to disappear from a dust bowl farm town in
Saskatchewan in the 1930s.
Inkheart by
Cornelia Funke
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who
repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life
when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.
This author has most recently published Dragon Rider another
adventure-filled fantasy.
Run, Boy, Run: a
Novel by Uri Orlev
Based on the true story of a nine-year-old
boy who escapes the Warsaw Ghetto and must survive throughout the war in the
Nazi-occupied Polish countryside.
NONFICTION
The
Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery
Describes the research
that Samuel Marshall and his students are doing on tarantulas, including the
largest spider on earth, the Goliath bird eating tarantula. Striking close-up
photography and a 2005 Sibert Honor Book.
Face
Relations: 11 stories about seeing beyond color edited by Marilyn
Singer
A collection of stories about issues of diversity and race
relations
Race
To Save The Lord God Bird by Phillip Hoose
Tells the story of
the ivory-billed woodpecker's extinction in the United States, describing the
encounters between this species and humans, and discussing what these encounters
have taught us about preserving endangered creatures.
Here In Harlem:
poems in many voices by Walter Dean Myers
Inspired by Edgar Lee
Master’s classic Spoon River Anthology, Walter Dean Myers celebrates the voices
and aspirations of the residents of another American town.
A Maze Me: Poems
for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye
Written for a female audience,
this collection captures the wide array of coming-of-age emotion, drama, angst,
and joy through poems dealing with friendship, school, community, love, and
family.
In
Defense of Liberty: The Story of the Bill of Rights by Russell
Freedman
In a very readable format, Freedman describes the origins,
applications of and challenges to the ten amendments to the United States
Constitution. The founding fathers new the constitution was not perfect and
designed the first 10 amendments to preserve and protect the rights and
liberties of all citizens against a “too strong” government.
Canning
Season by Polly Horvath
Thirteen-year-old Ratchet spends a
summer in Maine with her eccentric great-aunts Tilly and Penpen, hearing strange
stories from the past and encountering a variety of unusual and colorful
characters.
Under the
Same Sky by Cynthia DeFelice
While trying to earn money for a
motor bike, fourteen-year-old Joe Pedersen becomes involved with the Mexicans
who work on his family's farm and develops a better relationship with his
father.
And in the Morning
by John Alexander Wilson
When fifteen-year-old Jim Hay's father is
killed in World War I, Jim is compelled to leave his native Scotland to fight,
and struggles with the horrors of war as he tries to survive in the trenches of
France.
Big
Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
When sixteen-year-old
Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his
friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid. (Teen Oates)
City of
the Beasts by Isabel Allende
When fifteen-year-old Alexander
Cold accompanies his individualistic grandmother on an expedition to find a
humanoid Beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural
world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians. (Teen Allende)
Ties
that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka
Ailin's life takes
a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society
by refusing to have her feet bound.
Storm
Catchers by Tim Bowler
Filled with guilt over his younger
sister's kidnapping, teenaged Fin tries to rescue her and in the process learns
about a dark family secret.
Touching
Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
The Native American form of
“Circle Justice” transforms a teenage bully as he is placed alone on an island
to survive. (Teen Mikaelsen)
After by Francine
Prose
In the aftermath of a nearby school shooting, a grief and crisis
counselor takes over Central High School and enacts increasingly harsh measures
to control students, while those who do not comply disappear.
Things Not
Seen by Andrew Clements
What happens when a perfectly normal
high school kid steps out of the shower one morning and discovers he is
invisible? (Teen Clements)
Eragon by
Christopher Paolini
In Alagaësia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown
lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an
intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves,
and monsters. (Teen Paolini)
City of
Ember by Jeanne Duprau
Ember, a 241-year-old, ruined domed city
surrounded by a dark unknown, was built to ensure that humans would continue to
exist on Earth. But the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker
and the food shelves are getting bare. (J Fic Duprau)
The Tale
of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
The winner of the 2004 Newbery
Medal draws the reader into an enchanting account of a smaller-than-usual mouse
in love with music, stories and a princess named Pea. (J Fic DiCamillo)
Non-Fiction
Going
Places: True Tales from Young Travelers by Compiled by Michelle Roehm
McCann
Photographs accompany sixteen real-life stories of teenagers who
describe in their own words a journey that changed their lives.
Harlem
Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick
Hill
Explores the literary, artistic, and intellectual creativity of
the Harlem Renaissance and discusses the lives and work of Louis Armstrong,
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and other notable figures of the era.
The Story of Architecture
by Jonathan Glancey
In this history of world architecture, the
commentator conducts a very readable odyssey through 5000 years of buildings,
from ancient Sumeria to the glass-and-steel towers of today's cityscapes.
After
the Last Dog Died: The True-life, Hair-raising Adventure of Douglas Mawson and
His 1911-1914 Antarctic Expedition by Carmen Bredeson
Describes
the life and career of the Australian explorer, Sir Doulgas Mawson, focusing on
his 1912 scientific expedition to Antarctica.
The
Book of Lists for Teens by Sandra and Harry Choron
Contains
more than 250 lists for teens which offer advice on various subjects and
information on popular topics. (Teen 031.02 C551)
Women
in the Middle East: Tradition and Change by Ramsay M. Harik and Elsa
Marston
In this revised edition, the authors discuss current social
issues with updated information on the topics of religion, veiling and political
participation. This book is a fluid read and a comprehensive look at the women
struggling to incorporate both tradition and change in their everyday lives.