1.Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) H by Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
2.
Twisted (2007) H by Laurie Halse Anderson
17 year old Tyler enjoys his tough new reputation and the attentions of a popular girl, but when life starts to go bad again, he must choose between transforming himself or giving in to his destructive thoughts.
3. Ashes of Roses (2002) M/H by Mary Jane Auch
16 year old Margaret Rose Nolan, newly arrived from Ireland, finds work at New York City's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory shortly before the 1911 fire in which 146 employees died.
4. The Compound (2008) M/H by S. A. Bodeen
After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by his wealthy father, 15 year old Eli, discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.
5. Pieces of Georgia (2006) M by Jen Bryant
In journal entries to her mother, a gifted artist who died suddenly, 13 year old Georgia McCoy reveals how her life changes after she receives an anonymous gift membership to a nearby art museum.
6. Airhead (2008) M/H by Meg Cabot
16 year old Emerson Watts, an advanced placement student with a disdain for fashion, finds herself transformed into one of the world's most famous teen supermodels.
7. I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You (2006) M by Ally Carter
As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from "normal teenage life" until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission.
8. Graceling (2008) H by Kristin Cashore
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, and teams up with a young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.
9. Marked (2007) H by P.C. & Kristen Cast
16 year old Zoey Redbird never fit into the human world. When she becomes "marked" she must leave behind her friends and family to enter the House of Night school where she will either become a vampyre, or, if her body rejects the change, die.
10.
Hunger Games (2008) M/H by Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people against one another, 16 year old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.
11.
Face on the Milk Carton (1990) M/H by Caroline B. Cooney
A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity.
12.
The Red Kayak (2004) M by Priscilla Cummings
Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, 13 year old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.
13.
This Lullabye (2008) H by Sarah Dessen
Raised by a mother who's had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.
14.
Fire Within (2005) M/H by Chris D’Lacey
When college student David Rain rents a room in an unusual boardinghouse full of clay dragons, he has no idea that they will help jumpstart his writing career.
15.
The Breadwinner (2000) M by Deborah Ellis
Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitation on women's freedom and behavior, 11 year old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest.
16.
Beastly (2007) H by Alex Flinn
A modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" from the point of view of the Beast, a vain Manhattan private school student who is turned into a monster must find true love before he can return to his human form.
17.
Looks (2008) H by Madeleine George
Two high school girls, one an anorexic poet and the other an obese loner, form an unlikely friendship.
18.
Ithaka (2006) H by Adele Geras
The island of Ithaka is overrun with suitors demanding that Penelope choose a new husband, as she awaits the return of Odysseus from the Trojan War.
19.
Something Rotten: A Horatio Wilkes Mystery (2007) M/H by Alan M. Gratz
In a contemporary story based on Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, Horatio Wilkes seeks to solve the murder of his friend Hamilton Prince's father in Denmark, Tennessee.
20.
The Luxe (2007) H by Anna Godbersen
In Manhattan in 1899, five teens of different social classes lead dangerously scandalous lives, despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others.
21.
Football Genius (2007) M by Tim Green
Troy, a 6th grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players.
22.
Shug (2006) M by Jenny Han
Shug is beginning to think there's nothing worse than being twelve. She’s about to start junior high, and her best friends are acting strange -- especially Mark, the boy she's known her whole life.
23.
Stormbreaker (2000) M by Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, 14 year old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
24.
A Countess Below Stairs (2007) M/H by Eva Ibbotson
After the Russian Revolution turns her world upside down, Anna, a young Russian countess, flees to England. Penniless, Anna hides her noble background and takes a job as a servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family.
25.
Suite Scarlett (2008) H by Maureen Johnson
15 year old Scarlett is stuck in New York City for the summer working at her family's historic hotel, but her out-of-work brother's new friend and a seasonal guest who offers her an intriguing and challenging writing project improves her outlook.
26.
If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince? (2005) H by Melissa Kantor
When high school sophomore Lucy Norton’s father remarries, she finds herself tormented by two bratty stepsisters and a wicked stepmother.
27.
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (2004) M by E.L. Konigsburg
Upon leaving summer camp, 12 year old Margaret spearheads a campaign to preserve three unique towers her grand uncles have been building in their back yard for over forty years.
28.
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl (2006) H by Barry Lyga
A 15 year old "geek" who pours his energy into creating a great graphic novel, encounters Kyra, Goth Girl, who helps change his outlook on almost everything, including himself.
29.
Dough Boy (2005) H by Peter Marino
Overweight, 15 year old Tristan, who lives happily with his divorced mother and her boyfriend Frank, suddenly finds that he must deal with intensified criticism about his weight and other aspects of his life when Frank's popular but troubled, nutrition-obsessed daughter moves in.
30.
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life (2006) M by Wendy Mass
Just before his 13th birthday, Jeremy Fink receives a keyless locked box--set aside by his father before his death five years earlier--that purportedly contains the meaning of life.
31.
Traitor (2005) M/H by Andy McNab
A boy, who believes his grandfather to be a traitor (a spy who turned against England and then disappeared) tracks down his grandfather and finds out the truth.
32.
Acceleration (2003) H by Graham McNamee
Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, 17 year old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him.
33.
Fablehaven (2006) M by Brandon Mull
When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming.
34.
Princess Ben (2008) H by Catherine Murdock
A girl is transformed, through instruction in life at court, determination, and magic, from sullen, pudgy, graceless Ben into Crown Princess Benevolence, ruler of the kingdom of Montagne.
35.
Sabriel (1995) M/H by Garth Nix
Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead.
36.
Eragon (2002) M/H by Christopher Paolini
In Alagaesia, a 15 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.
37.
Dangerous Days of Daniel X (2008) M/H by James Patterson
15 year old Daniel has followed in his parents' footsteps as the Alien Hunter, exterminating beings on The List of Alien Outlaws on Terra Firma, but when he faces his first of the top ten outlaws, the very existence of Earth and another planet are at stake.
38.
Harris and Me (1993) M/H by Gary Paulsen
Sent to live with relatives on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an 11 year old city boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a whole new world.
39.
Steel Trapp: The Challenge (2008) M by Ridley Pearson
On a two-day train trip to enter his invention in the National Science Competition in Washington, D.C., 14 year old Steven “Steel” Trapp, possessor of a remarkable photographic memory, becomes embroiled in an international plot of kidnapping and bribery that may have links to terrorists.
40.
Tamar (2007) H by Mal Peet
In England in 1995, 15 year old Tamar, grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather, slowly begins to uncover the secrets of his life in the Dutch resistance during the last year of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and the climactic events that forever cast a shadow on his life and that of his family.
41.
Criss-Cross (2005) M by Lynne Rae Perkins
Teenagers in a small town in the 1960s experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.
42.
Ruby in the Smoke (1985) M/H by Philip Pullman
In nineteenth-century London, 16 year old Sally, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby.
43.
Geek Magnet: a Novel in Five Acts (2008) H by Kieran Scott
17 year old KJ Miller is determined to lose the label of “geek magnet” and get the guy of her dreams, all while stage managing the high school musical, with the help of the most popular girl in school.
44.
Alchemyst: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2007) M/H by Michael Scott
While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, 15 year old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.
45.
Stuck in Neutral (2000) M/H by Terry Trueman
14 year old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.
46.
Spud (2007) M by John Van de Ruit
In 1990, 13 year old John “Spud” Milton, keeps a diary of his first year at an elite, boys-only boarding school in South Africa, as he deals with bizarre housemates, wild crushes, embarrassingly dysfunctional parents, and much more.
47.
Rules of Survival (2006) H by Nancy Werlin
17 year old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.
48.
Storm: The Infinity Code (2008) M/H By E.L. Young
In London, the teenaged geniuses of STORM, a secret organization dedicated to eliminating the world's misery through science and technology, uncover plans for a deadly weapon and race to find and dismantle it, then confront the corrupt scientist behind the scheme.
49.
How Not to Be Popular (2008) H by Jennifer Ziegler
17 year old Sugar Magnolia Dempsey is tired of leaving friends behind every time her hippie parents decide to move, but her plan to be unpopular at her new Austin, Texas, school backfires when other students join her on the path to "supreme dorkdom."
50.
The Pigman (1968) H by Paul Zindel
Two high school sophomores from unhappy homes form a close friendship with a lonely old man with a terrible secret.
Young Adult Booklists
