YALSA Top Teen Books 2015 , 2014, 2013
Interesting lists on Goodreads
A great list from Imagination Soup
100 Best Young Adult Novels
Book Options from Class:
Book Options
(All
books are advanced young adult fiction unless otherwise noted):
**Most
challenging adult fiction
*Adult
fiction
Contemporary Fiction:
Extremely
Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer **
Alternating
narrators tell the story of a boy’s search to find the meaning behind an object
he found in his father’s (who died on 9/11) closet.
My
Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult*
Conceived
as a bone marrow match for her sister, Anna begins to think about her identity
apart from her family.
The
Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo*
The
philosophical tale of a boy who yearns to travel and seeks adventure.
The
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
A
high school freshman navigates the social landscape of high school while
dealing with events of his past.
The
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
A collection of poetic
vignettes about a poor girl in Chicago who dreams of a better life
The
Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
A native American boy
tries to navigate life on and off the reservation. Hilarious and poignant
Into
the Wild by John Krakauer*
The true account of a boy
who left his privileged life after college to travel and iltimately live away
from society in Alaska’s wilderness
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
A
young biracial girl must deal with society’s ideas of race and class after a
family tragedy
Historical
Fiction/Classic Fiction:
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The
classic story of class struggle, friendship, loyalty, honor
The
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver**
The
4 daughters and wife of a southern preacher tell their story of their
evangelical trip to the Congo in the 1950s
The
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*
The
story of a disenchanted teenage boy out to seek what is real in New York City
in the late 1940s.
A
Separate Peace by John Knowles*
The
story of adventure, friendship, and competition between two boys at a boarding
school in the 1950s.
The
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd*
Set
in the 1960s south, 14 year old Lily discovers herself and what family means
while in search of her deceased mother’s past.
Sweet
Dates in Basra
Set
in Iraq in the 1940s, the friendship between a Muslim boy and a Jewish boy as
well as other issues of religion, loyalty and country are explored
Tales
of the Madmen Underground by John Barnes
Set in Ohio in 1973, this
story follows Karl and the group of kids he has been in group therapy with
since 4th grade
What
I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
A mystery set
in post World War Two America
To
Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Witness the trial of a
unfairly accused black man through the eyes of his white lawyer’s children.
A
Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A turn of the century
story about a girl struggling to grow amidst poverty and family struggle
Memoir:
I
Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou*
A
moving story of a girl who has to move forward and deal with a horrible thing
that happens to her as a child.
A
Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Ishmael
Beah’s memoir about his experience as a child soldier and how he was able to
leave it behind him.
Perspolis
(I & II) by Marjane Satrapi
A
graphic novel memoir of the author’s experiences growing up in Iran. (graphic
novel)
Teen
Angst by Ned Vizzini
The
author’s semi-autobiography about growning up in the Park Slope area of
Brooklyn.
The
Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
A memoir of how the
author survived a highly dysfunctional, non traditional upbringing
Vietnamerica:
A Family's Journey by GB Tran (graphic novel)
A memoir of an immigrant
family
Brown
Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
A memoir in verse of how
famous author Woodson found her voice and place.
Night
by Elie Wiesel**
An account of the
author’s time in the ghettoes and concentration camps of WW2
Science Fiction:
The
Golden Compass by Philip Pullman*
A
brilliant fantasy/science fiction novel in a vein similar to The Chronicles of
Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.
More Than This by Patrick Ness
A
boy wakes up in his old house, though the entire neighborhood seems deserted
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
A
science fiction coming of age story
The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
A
science fiction coming of age story
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Explores
artificial intelligence
