Young Adult

Touching story about child abuse that has been around for awhile and – like with too many books and authors – I am finally getting around to featuring on this site. Check out more of Irene Hunt’s books, as she is a gifted storyteller.

As Halloween is approaching, I figured a good page-turner about werewolves could peek the reading interests of plenty of reluctant teen readers. Good coming-of-age story that is the first in a series.

While this book is a little longer than other recommendations, consider that it is Japanese manga (a graphic novel) based on a video game. I have used these books to draw a lot of disinterested boys into reading graphic novels. Tip: hook kids on reading using whatever means necessary.

Let’s face it: Linda Sue Park is one of the most talented young adult authors today. I cannot get enough of her books, and I know you’ll find this piece, set in Japanese-occupied Korea during World War II, as compelling and lovely as I did.

The unlikely love story of two disabled African American teens, as told by their alternating first-person accounts.

A badly burned teen describes his life in a college application essay that is sure to hold your attention.

How can you walk by a book with this title and NOT pick it up? Perez just cracks me up with her sassiness, which make this book – one of several in the Dead Is series – a hit with lazy readers.

How does a family in a small town maintain honor in their family name? Three generations collide in this wonderful Western.

Ten vignettes of real-life marauders who masqueraded with false identities. Told in second person with cool graphic illustrations by Paul Hoppe, this quick read is always a hit with the boys.

A teen soldier returns home from the Iraq War with a tramautic brain injury, and everything has changed for him and the people closest to him. Not since All Quiet on the Western Front have I read a book that deals better with the realities rather than the “glamour” of war. This book should be in every school.

A teen will do just about anything legal to secure her family’s financial future to avoid ever being homeless again. Very touching and poignant story of life in the inner city.

This book is awesome. Your students – boy and girls alike – will not be able to put it down, as it chronicle’s a 14-year-old girl’s harrowing adventures on a sailboat, dealing with storms, pirates and all sorts of twists and turns.

I am always on the lookout for books that engage teens with positive messages. King’s book is funny and easy to read, and it provides very useful strategies anyone can use to maintain a proper and product positive perspective (how’s that for alliteration?).

There are plenty of books about bullying, but rarely do books address the power of friendship in overcoming the nastiness of others. Karen Bessey Pease has done all middle school and high school teachers a service in how to address the bullying of teenage girls in an informative and inspiring manner. I am so grateful for this book.

Ben has always believed that someday he would sprout wings and fly, and as he grows older he tests this theory from greater heights, much to the chagrin of his disbelieving brother. I love books with short chapters because they encourage page-turning and rapid reading, and I have witnessed some of the most reluctant teenage boy readers devour this book in only a couple of sittings.