Matthews, Andrew.
The Flip Side. YA/ MAT
Robert, aged 15, reading As You Like It, dallies with cross-dressing in contemporary England. He is sympathetic to his best friend Kev, who reveals that he is gay, and he wrestles with feelings for girl friend Milena. 147 pp fast read.
Chbosky, Stephen.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. YA/CHB
Letters (dated 1991-1992) from 16-year-old HS freshman Charlie, over the course of one year, where he recounts his family life and friendship with hot Sam, her gay stepbrother Patrick, and others. Drug use, graphic sex, f-word. . Excellent book, cross between Catcher In the Rye and Hairstyles of the Damned. 213 pp dense read.
Green, John.
Looking For Alaska. YA/GRE
Intelligent, loner, 16-yr-old “Pudge” memorizes famous peoples’ last words. Goes to boarding school to “seek a Great Perhaps,” meets friends, including Alaska Young -- who may have committed suicide; Pudge and best friend “the Colonel” attempt to puzzle out the last minutes of Alaska’s life. Alaska is like Spinelli’s Stargirl. Drunkenness, contains some sweet, graphic sex, f-word. 221 pp dense read.
Cooley, Beth.
Ostrich Eye. YA/COO
15-yr-old Freshman Ginger likes her adopted dad, but her mother never tells her the truth about her real father. When a blonde stranger comes to town, taking photos of Ginger and her 7-yr-old sister, she thinks it’s her long-lost father. It isn’t. 180 pp easy, fast read.
Going, K.L.
Fat Kid Rules the World. YA/GOI
Grossly overweight loner, 17-yr-old Troy, is contemplating suicide when he meets Curt, a Kurt Cobain-type ex-student who is a musical legend at Troy’s high school. Curt wants Troy to be in his punk band. Sensitive, frank descriptions of being fat and feeling invisible. Drunkenness, drug use, f-word. 183 pp medium to dense read.
Rees, Celia.
Soul Taker. YA/REE
In the Scottish Midlands, 16-yr-old Lewis, is overweight and insecure until he sets his mind to improving his self-image. He begins to work for Viktor Ladslow, a toymaker/ occultist who makes poppets and imbues them with human souls he harvests from suckers like Lewis. But Lewis, is made of stronger stuff. Well-written for what it is, which is a swift, eerie page-turner/ love story/ coming-of age in which everything turns out all right. 152 pp easy, fast read.
Wooding, Chris.
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray. YA/WOO
17-yr old Thaniel is a wych-hunter in an alternative gothic London, where he encounters crazed Alaizabel, who is being possessed so that the Fraternity can welcome their dark gods to Earth to take over. Very well-written for what it is, which is a dark, fast-moving gothic creepy page-turner/ love story/ near-screenplay in which everything turns out all right. 292 pp medium hard read.
Oates, Joyce Carol.
Sexy. YA/OAT
16-yr old Darren is a swimmer and a “guy’s guy.” So he doesn’t know what to make of English teacher Mr. Tracy’s odd, nervous, encounter with him as Tracy gives him a lift home one night. Amazing, accurate, painful account of homophobia and the ruining of a life in 2003-2004 New Hampshire. Drunkenness, drug use, f-word. 263 pp. Not dense, but heavy.
Dowell, Frances O’Roark.
Dovey Coe. YA/DOW
12-yr.old Dovey lives in the mountains of North Carolina with her family in 1928. She speaks her mind and gets impatient when others don’t do the same, which gets her into trouble. She hates the boy who’s been courting her sister, who has dreams of attending teacher’s college, and when he turns up dead after attacking Dovey she’s accused of murder. Cross between The Silent Boy and To Kill a Mockingbird, but not as well written as either of those. 181 pp. Not dense, but heavy for early adolescents. Easy read.
Hughes, Mark Peter.
I Am the Wallpaper. YA/HUG
Boy-crazy, plain-jane 13-yr.old Floey wants to change her life in a big way. She keeps a diary the summer she turns 13 and has to entertain her two younger cousins – and the cousins post her diary entries, unbeknownst to Floey, on a hugely embarrassing website. 228 pp. Not dense, but enjoyable for early adolescents. Easy read.
Hearn, Julie.
The Minister’s Daughter. YA/HEA
12-yr.old Nell lives in England in 1645, when suspicion of witches among the Puritans is rife. Her grandma, a healer, teaches Nell everything she knows – and is then killed by the villagers she has lived among her whole life. Towering over these events is the minister and his two daughters, one of whom tells the story and the other of whom is pregnant and blames it on Nell’s “bewitchment.” A lot like Witch Child by Celia Rees. 258 pp. Not dense, but heavy for early adolescents. Medium read, highly interesting, magical.
McCormick, Patricia.
Cut. YA/McC
15-yr.old Callie is in a residential facility for girls with “issues” – some are bulimic, some are anorexic, some have drug problems, and some – like Callie – cut themselves. Day by painful day, she begins to face her life and the feelings that prompt the cutting, and she must make the decision whether or not she wants to get “better.” 3 cassette tapes. Not dense, but heavy for early adolescents. Medium read, highly interesting, sympathetic.
Simmons, Michael.
Pool Boy. YA/SIM
15-yr old Brett Gerson’s dad, a stock trader, is arrested for insider trading, goes to prison, and loses everything – the houses, the cars, the MONEY. Brett hates him for this, and blames him for all that is wrong about his new life as a poor person. But Brett, who is a jerk at the beginning of the book, learns the hard way that money is not everything, when he loses his new employer and friend – a man who teaches Brett how to clean pools and take chances in life. Easy read, enjoyable. 3 cassette tapes.
Shaw, Susan.
The Boy From the Basement. YA/SHA
12-year old Charlie has been abused his whole life – but he doesn’t know it. He only knows he’s being punished by being kept in the basement. One evening, though, as he steps outside to pee (he is forbidden to leave the basement to use the bathroom) the door closes, and he’s locked outside. He is found, and taken to the hospital, where he begins to learn just how different his life has been. Excellent, poignant exploration of the need for love and affection a child has even for a parent who abuses him. 198 pp.
Easy read, but emotionally difficult matter.
Hautman, Pete.
Invisible. YA/HAU
17-year-old Doug is working on his masterpiece – a scale model of the Golden Gate Bridge made of matchsticks. His best friend, Andy, is popular, athletic, and handsome—everything Doug is not. But that has never mattered. Doug is troubled, though, and we begin to see that beneath his calm and logical exterior he hides a secret that has changed his whole life, and continues to haunt and harm him. 149 pp.
Easy, absorbing read.
Duble, Kathleen Benner.
The Sacrifice. YA/DUB
10-year old Abby (she talks and thinks older than her years) and her 12-yr old sister Dorothy are accused of being witches in 1692 Andover, near Salem, MA. They are thrown into Salem Prison (horribly graphic conditions) along with their aunt, who dies there. In order to get them out, their pregnant mother convinces them to accuse her of witchcraft, as she knows pregnant “witches” are never hung – until after the baby is born. 203 pp. Based on true accounts of the author’s ancestors. Extremely well-written historical fiction. Easy, absorbing read.
Colfer, Eoin.
The Wish List. YA/COL
Meg Finn, about 14 years old, has lived a good and bad life. So when she dies, in the middle of a botched break-in of a “pensioner’s flat,” she is sent to the afterlife with a perfectly balanced record – so she is sent back to try to tip the scales in her favor (of Heaven). But Satan wants her, too, and sends her accomplice from life after her to try to botch her attempts at salvation. 4 audiotapes. Medium difficulty; narrator has thick accent; need to have an excellent imagination to follow the “afterlife” scenes of Heaven/ Hell/ Purgatory.
Brooks, Kevin.
Martyn Pig. YA/BRO
14-year old Martyn’s dad is a hard drunk, and his mother left long ago. His only friend, Alex, is a girl two years older than him, but they are very close. Martyn loves mysteries, whodunits, potboilers – and this story is written in the style of a detective novel. Martyn’s dad dies in the middle of a drunken rampage, and Martyn is afraid he’ll be accused of murder – so he and Alex dispose of the body. 230 pp. Easy, absorbing read.
Flake, Sharon G.
Bang. YA/FLA
13-year old Mann lives in the inner city, where kids get killed for no reason at all. Two years ago, his little brother Jason was shot on their front porch, and since then Mann’s once-close family has shattered. Mann and Kee-lee, best friends, decide that life is not worth living if you’re going to die soon, anyway. Mann’s dad tries to make men of the boys by abandoning them at a forest preserve, but his plan goes terribly wrong. 298 pp. Easy but emotionally demanding, absorbing read. Drug use, gun violence.
Gardner, Sally.
I, Coriander. YA/GAR
This is the story of the early life of Coriander Hobie, who lives during Oliver Cromwell’s brutal reign in 1650s London. Coriander’s mother has a secret, which Coriander pieces together as she grows from a girl to a teen – her mother was a fairy who left her kingdom to meet and marry Coriander’s father, who became a wealthy merchant. Part historical novel, part fairy tale; involves negative portrayal of Puritans and positive use of magic and female moxie. Pages of historical background at the end. 275 pp. Easy, absorbing read.
Zevin, Gabrielle.
Elsewhere. YA/ZEV
Liz is 15, just a few weeks shy of her 16th birthday and getting her license, when she fails to look both ways on her bike and is hit by a car, and she dies. At first, she doesn’t realize she’s dead – the place she finds herself, called “Elsewhere,” is almost just like Earth. But her deceased grandmother is there, and so is a famous rock star, dead of a heroin overdose. Slowly Liz begins to accept “life” in Elsewhere, where people grow younger, not older. Wonderful exploration of life after death; a more cheerful version of Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. 276 pp. Easy, comforting, absorbing read.
