Anderson,
Laurie Halse. Catalyst. Viking, 2002 (YA) Fiction
Senior Kate Malone, top ten math and science student, finds
her world turned upside down for several reasons-she did not
get accepted to the only college she applied and her father
offers shelter to her nemesis and lively little brother when
their home burns. Kat's logical, organized world spirals out
of control.
Atkins,
Catherine. Alt Ed. Putnam, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Susan Callaway begins to heal both her inner and outer
"fat girl" when she is forced to join a school counseling
group made up of both popular and fringe teens from her high
school.
Beyer,
Rick. The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History
To Astonish, Bewilder, & Stupefy. HarperResource,
2003. (AD/YA) Nonfiction
This collection of entertaining and little-known, but true,
stories relates events that changed the course of history.
Did you know that President James Garfield was really killed
by his doctors' errors and would have lived if they had left
him alone? Did you know that baseball, the all-American sport,
was played in Britain in the mid-1700s, almost 200 years before
it started in America?
Bird,
Eugenie. Fairie~ality: The Fashion Collection from the
House of Ellwand. Candlewick Press, 2002. (YA) Graphic
This illustrated catalog features design by fairie couturier,
The House of Ellwand.
Black,
Holly. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. Simon & Schuster,
2002. (YA) Fantasy
Sixteen-year-old Kaye learns why her life has always been
unconventional when she rescues a gorgeous knight from mysterious
attackers, discovers she is a pixie under a spell, and becomes
involved in a terrifying war between two faerie kingdoms-a
war that is filled with despair, deceit, grisly death.
Bowler,
Tim. Storm Catchers. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2003.
(FR) Mystery
The kidnapping of Ella leaves her older brother Fin with
incredible guilt and intensifies the visions of her young
brother Sam. If Fin can find Ella in time, maybe he will find
the answers to the explosive secrets that have suddenly changed
his family forever.
Breton,
Marcos and Jose Luis Villegas (photographs). Home Is Everything:
The Latino Baseball Story. Cinco Puntos Press, 2002. (YA)
Nonfiction
The story of Latinos in major league baseball-pioneers
and current players-is revealed in bilingual narrative and
full-color photographs.
Brooks,
Martha. True Confessions of a Heartless Girl. Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2003. (YA) Fiction
An unusual group of people, including a single mother,
a seventeen-year-old girl, a lonely man, and two elderly ladies
take comfort in one another and do their best to make a family.
Brown,
Dan. The Da Vinci Code. DoubleDay, 2003. (AD/YA) Mystery
Full of twists, hidden messages, and puzzles to solve,
this murder of the curator of the Louvre museum in Paris is
a thriller with clues about the Holy Grail and clues hidden
in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
Cart,
Michael, Ed. Necessary Noise: Stories about Our Families
As They Really Are. Joanna Cotler Books, 2003. (YA) Collection
Ten stories about families that we are born to and families
we put together by such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Michael
Cart, Joan Bauer, Lois Lowry, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Cheripko,
Jan. Rat. Boyds Mills Press, 2002. (FR) Fiction
Jeremy is a "gym rat" who witnesses a sexual
assault involving the coach. Telling the truth about what
happened may cause him to lose his friends and his spot as
manager of the team.
Clark,
Catherine. Frozen Rodeo. HarperCollins, 2003. (YA)
Fiction
Peggy Fleming Farrell spends her summer before her senior
year working as a coffee wench at Gas 'n Git; she's in love
with the waiter at IHOP, takes a French class with a mysterious
teacher who never shows up for class, rides a bus three days
a week driven by a Kamikaze driver, takes Lamaze breathing
classes with her pregnant mother, and helps her dad design
his ice skating routine for the local rodeo, all while she
tends to her three siblings, Torval, Dean, and Dorothy Hamill
Farrell, as her mom forecasts the weather for the radio and
her dad sells houses to support the family.
Crowe,
Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of
the Emmett Till Case. P. Fogelman Books, 2003. (YA) Nonfiction
A vivid account of the murder of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old
black teenager from Chicago who was visiting relatives in
Mississippi during the summer of 1955, and the resulting impact
on the Civil Rights movement in America; black and white photos
depict the participants, the brutally-beaten body, the burial,
the trial, and leaders of the Civil Rights movement.
Crutcher,
Chris. King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-advised Autobiography.
Greenwillow Books, 2003. (YA) Biography
Crutcher tells of growing up in Cascade, Idaho, and shares
his struggles with his bad temper, his rocky relationship
with his parents and siblings, his youthful rites of passage-all
with humor, honesty, and insight.
Donnelly,
Jennifer. A Northern Light. Harcourt, 2003. (YA) Historical
Fiction
Sixteen-year-old Mattie discovers the truth about the death
of a young girl whom she met at the summer inn where she works,
and her life will be forever changed because of the encounter.
Draper,
Sharon. The Battle of Jericho. Atheneum Books for Young
Readers, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Cousins Josh and Jericho and their friends pledge the powerful
Warriors of Distinction club on campus. They face a grueling
hazing process, and after they decide how to handle the situation,
the consequences will forever change their lives.
Fields, Terri. After the Death of Anna Gonzales. Henry
Holt, 2002. (FR) Poetry
High school classmates, teachers, and other school staff
react to Anna's suicide in this novel-in-verse; we see each
character's thoughts through a free-verse poem-Anna's best
friend, a new student, her teachers, even Anna herself.
Fraustino,
Lisa, Ed. Soul Searching: Thirteen Stories about Faith
and Belief. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers,
2002. (YA) Collection
Most of the protagonists in this collection of thirteen
short stories face sometimes conflicting issues between faith
and belief, all with an overall message of hope and tolerance.
Gallo,
Donald R., Ed. Destination Unexpected: Short Stories.
Candlewick Press, 2003. (YA) Collection
When we start on journeys, we usually know our destinations,
but people we meet often re-route our directions and take
us to unexpected places in our lives. Ten stories of teens
who encounter unexpected situations and whose lives are changed
because of the experience.
Ghigna,
Charles. A Fury of Motion: Poems for Boys. Boyds Mills
Press, 2003. (FR) Poetry
This collection of forty-six poems, balanced between funny
and serious, rhymed and free-verse, target both male and female
teens.
Giles,
Gail. Dead Girls Don't Write Letters. Roaring Brook
Press, 2003. (YA) Mystery
When fourteen-year-old Sunny receives a letter from her
sister who died in a fire, she and her parents are shocked,
but when the girls shows up at their door and she is not who
she claims to be, the trouble really begins.
Going,
K. L. Fat Kid Rules the World. G. P. Putnam's Sons,
2003. (YA) Fiction
Troy Billings, fat kid of the world, contemplates suicide
on the edge of a subway platform only to be saved by a skinny
punk guitar genius, and so begins a life-altering relationship
for both of them.
Goobie,
Beth. Who Owns Kelly Paddik? Orca Books, 2003. (FR)
Fiction
Kelly is locked up in a "hospital" because she is
a "danger to herself," and all she thinks about
is escape. She must deal with her painful past in order to
regain her self-respect.
Halliday,
John. Shooting Monarchs. Margaret K. McElderry Books,
2003. (FR) Fiction
Macy grew up as unloved, unwanted, and became a murderer.
Danny grew up as a physically-disabled loner raised by his
grandmother and whose loves are photography and Leah. Leah
grew up as a beautiful, typical teen, but is kidnapped by
Macy. Their only encounter is terrifying and ends in death.
Halvorson,
Marilyn. Bull Rider. Orca Book, 2003. (FR) Fiction
Lane will stop at nothing to be a bull rider, despite his
mother's opposition to a career that killed his father.
Hartinger,
Brent. Geography Club. HarperTempest, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Russel Middlebrook discovers four other students, including
the jock he has a crush on, are gay and they decide to create
an after-school club, the "Geography Club," which
gives them the chance to meet without having to Come Out to
their peers-at least for a short time. Good characterization
and realistic dialogue.
Herrera,
Hayden, Foreword. Frida: Bringing Frida Kahlo's Life and
Art to Film. Newmarket Press, 2002. (AD/YA) Nonfiction
Featuring excerpts from the diaries and letters of Frida
Kahlo and Diego Rivera, their full-color paintings and drawings,
archival photographs and images from the movie about their
lives, this book weds biography with drama to bring to life
the art of two of Mexico's most acclaimed artists. Passion,
drama, art, tragedy, politics, history, and biography meet
in this book and leap off the pages.
Ingold,
Jeanette. Mountain Solo. Harcourt, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Tess, a musical prodigy on the violin, faces an emotional
crisis and meltdown after her New York debut recital. She
escapes to Montana to join her father and his new family in
hopes of leading a normal life.
Johnson,
Angela. The First Part Last. Simon & Schuster,
2003. (FR) Fiction
Then…Bobby and Nia, 16 years old, popular kids from
great homes, find their actions have created serious consequences.
Nia is pregnant. Now…Bobby is tired to the bone-going
to school and caring for his baby girl, Feather. Life and
its choices are never simple or without great cost.
Kidd,
Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. Viking, 2002. (AD/YA)
Fiction
Fourteen-year-old Lily Owens has spent her life living
with an abusive father and a blurred memory of the day her
mother was killed. Lily and her companion, Rosaleen, flee
their home after Rosaleen is victimized by racist police officers.
They find a safe harbor in Tiburon, South Carolina (a town
that could hold the secret to Lily's mother) at the home of
three beekeeping sisters.
Klass,
David. Home of the Braves. Frances Foster Books/Farrar,
Straus, & Giroux, 2002. (YA) Fiction
Captain of the soccer team and in love with Kris, the girl
next door, Joe thinks his senior year is going to be a breeze,
that is until a star soccer player from Brazil moves to town
and threatens Joe's place on the team and his relationship
with Kris.
Lekich,
John. The Losers' Club. Annick Press, 2002. (FR) Fiction
Alex, known as the Savior to the campus underdogs, decides
to challenge Jerry, the campus bully. Without parental support,
the losers band together for survival and find strength in
the painful and sometimes humorous process.
Mackler,
Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.
Candlewick Press, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Virginia struggles with living up to the image of her perfect
family. She deals with an inferiority complex, her very first
physical relationship, and her total disillusionment with
those she most admires.
McNamee,
Graham. Acceleration. Wendy Lamb Books, 2003. (YA)
Mystery
While working a summer job in the subterranean Lost and
Found Office of the Toronto Transit Commission, Duncan discovers
a lost journal containing a man's plans to murder women.
McNeal,
Laura and Tom. Zipped. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. (YA)
Fiction
When fifteen-year-old Mick discovers his step-mother is having
an affair, his relationships with a classmate and a college
girl who is pursuing him become confusing.
Meltzer,
Milton, Ed. Hour of Freedom: American History in Poetry.
Boyds Mills Press, 2003. (YA) Poetry
This collection of sixty-one poems from well-known poets as
well as ordinary people and organized in chronological sections
depicting American history reflects the intensity and passion
in each era; each section includes biographical and historical
background.
Murphy,
Jim. Inside the Alamo. Delacorte Press, 2003. (YA)
Nonfiction
In February 1836, General Santa Anna led the Mexican Army
to the town of San Antonio de Bexar, where they fought and
massacred almost all of the men holed up inside the complex
of the Alamo Mission defending the newly-formed territory
of Texas from Santa Anna's attempt to reclaim it for Mexico.
Naidoo,
Beverly. Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope.
HarperCollins, 2003. (YA) Collection
Set in five different decades, these seven stories represent
a timeline across Apartheid and include people of different
races and ethnic groups and how they coped with South Africa's
Apartheid laws.
Nelson,
Pete. Left for Dead. Delacorte Press, 2002. (YA) Nonfiction
A line in the movie Jaws referring to the sinking of the
USS Indianapolis leads eleven-year-old Hunter Scott on a six-year
investigation of the 1945 event and the resulting court-martial
of the captain; through letters, testimonies of the survivors,
and research, Scott sets the record straight on the rapid
sinking of this ship in shark-invested waters, the events
leading up to it, the bravery of the survivors, and eventually
the clearing of Captain McVay's name. Who says one person's
efforts cannot impact history?
Nixon,
Joan Lowery. Nightmare. Delacorte Press, 2003. (FR)
Mystery
Emily, sent to a camp for underachievers because her parents
feel she is not living up to her potential, finds that the
nightmares about a shadowy, slimy place where she is entangled
with vines and sees a body lying in water are only too real
and that her life is danger.
Nuwere,
Ejovi. Hacker Cracker: A Journey from the Mean Streets
of Brooklyn to the Frontiers of Cyberspace. William Morrow,
2002. (AD/YA) Biography
Surviving Brooklyn's dangerous and violent Bed Stuy provides
Ejovi Nuwere the skills necessary to rise from a life of crime
to Wall Street.
Osa,
Nancy. Cuba 15. Delacorte Press, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Violet Paz is half Cuban and half Polish, but she feels
100% American, so when her Cuban grandmother gives her a traditional
quinceanero party for the fifteenth birthday, Violet must
figure out a way to make the old traditions fit into her 21st
Century life.
Paolini,
Christopher. Eragon. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. (YA) Fantasy
Eragon finds a mysterious blue stone and a dragon hatches
from it; he is then thrust into his new role as Dragon Rider
and his adventures begin.
Philbrick,
Nathaniel. Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the
Whaleship Essex. G. P. Putnam's, 2002. (YA) Nonfiction
The harrowing true tale of survival, leadership and courage
as twenty men spend eighty-nine days at sea in open boats
after a sperm whale attacks and sinks the whaling ship, Essex.
Pierce,
Tamora. Trickster's Choice. Random House, 2003. (YA)
Fantasy
Though her parents disagree, sixteen-year-old Ally desperately
wants to be a spy like her father. Her spying skills are put
to good use after pirates kidnap her and she is sold as a
slave. Her new owners, of a royal family, find they need her
help to uncover a conspiracy and avoid assassination.
Platt,
Richard. Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science.
DK, 2003. (AD/YA) Nonfiction
Using actual case studies, great color photographs, and illustrations,
the book takes the reader through the crime-investigation
process and presents a readable overview of the better-known
aspects of forensic science.
Plum-Ucci,
Carol. The She. Harcourt, 2003 (YA) Mystery
After losing their parents at sea, Evan Barrett and his
older brother leave their seaside home and try to put their
lives back together, but years later Evan is asked to help
a fellow high-school student deal with another sea-related
tragedy, and the memories of that last day and last frantic
phone call for help emerge and force them to deal with the
questions surrounding their parents' deaths.
Prior,
Natalie Jane. The Encyclopedia of Preserved people: Pickled,
Frozen, and Mummified Corpses from Around the World. Crown
Publishers, 2002. (FR) Nonfiction
An attention-grabbing read of the unusual, the juicy, the
little-known facts of preserved people from around the world,
including "exploding kings and queens," the Egyptian
mummies, the bog bodies, and much more.
Prose,
Francine. After. Joanna Cotler Books, 2003. (YA) Fiction
After a school shooting occurs in a nearby town, Central
High is taken over by a grief counselor who imposes restrictions
to control the students. Students and teachers who protest
simply disappear.
Randle,
Kristen. Slumming. HarperTempest, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Nikki, Alicia, and Sam, three best friends, each choose
a classmate they think needs assistance in living up to his/her
full potential. In their attempts to transform others, they
come face to face with the brutal truths in their own lives.
Robins,
Madeleine. Point of Honour. Forge, 2003. (AD/YA) Mystery
Politics, deception, danger, and romance all come together
as Sarah Tolerance, a woman disowned by her family in 19th
century London, becomes an investigative agent and is hired
to find an antique Italian fan but finds herself the target
of killers when the seemingly harmless fan's secret is exposed.
Saldana,
Rene, Jr. Finding Our Way: Stories. Wendy Lamb Books,
2003. (FR) Collection
This collection of short stories conveys the teen dramas
of love, danger, loyalty, pride, and tragedy that bring friends
and families together.
Satrapi,
Marjane. Persepolis. Pantheon, 2003. (AD/YA) Graphic
Through this black and white autobiographical graphic novel,
Satrapi presents her view of life in Iran from the time of
the Shah, to his overthrow, through the rise to power of Islamic
fundamentalists, to the war with Iraq, and finally to her
family's sending her to Austria at the age of fourteen.
Sedgwick,
Marcus. The Dark Horse. Wendy Lamb Books, 2003. (YA)
Fantasy
Sigurd's family adopts Mouse, a strange girl gifted with
special powers and found living with wolves, and that starts
their village's troubles with The Dark Horse, a savage tribe
of invaders looking for their long-lost Princess Kara.
Shaw,
Tucker. Flavor of the Week. Hyperion, 2003. (FR) Fiction
A retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, with a lovable cast of
characters, including recipes that will melt your heart.
Simmons,
Michael. Pool Boy. Roaring Brook Press, 2003. (FR)
Fiction
Brett's father goes to prison for insider stock trading,
and, suddenly, Brett is poor-not rich like he has always been.
He has to go to work; he has to move to "wrong side of
the tracks"; he has to visit his father every two weeks
in the prison visiting area. He HATES it all-especially his
"idiot" father. There is a kind-of Karate Kid aspect
of the novel: Brett ends up working for his old neighborhood
"pool guy," an older man whose life experiences
help Brett mature.
Smith,
Sherrie. Lucy the Giant. Delacorte Press, 2002. (YA)
Fiction
Lucy, the largest girl in the small Alaskan town where she
lives with her alcoholic father, finds the opportunity to
escape from her life by posing as an adult and getting a job
on a commercial fishing boat.
Soto,
Gary. The Afterlife. Harcourt, 2003. (FR) Fiction
Jesus is knifed to death, but after life he falls in love,
evens the score with a small-time thief, and makes a new friend,
all while gradually disappearing.
Spinelli,
Jerry. Milkweed. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. (YA) Historical
Fiction
A Holocaust story with hope that expresses a different experience
from the point of view of a young gypsy boy.
Stone,
Miriam. At the End of Words: A Daughter's Memoir. Candlewick
Press, 2003. (YA) Poetry
Stone combines spare prose and poetry in a moving and powerful
remembrance of the illness and death of her mother from breast
cancer at the age of 50.
Torrey,
Michele. To the Edge of the World. Alfred A. Knopf,
2003. (YA) Historical Fiction.
Follow the adventures of the orphaned teen, Mateo, as he
sails around the world with Ferdinand Magellan in search of
the western route to the fabulous wealth of the Spice Islands.
Mateo must survive the intrigues of deception and political
infighting, murder, mutiny, starvation, beautiful native women,
and sharks.
Tower,
S. D. The Assassins of Tamurin. Eos, 2003. (AD/YA)
Fantasy
The river god had spared the infant girl the villagers
found drifting on a boat with a dead man and a dying woman,
so the superstitious townsfolk take her in, but she grows
up abused, unloved, and resented-until she comes to the attention
of the absolute ruler of the Despotate of Tamurin.
Trueman,
Terry. Inside Out. HarperTempest, 2003. (FR) Fiction
Zach, a schizophrenic who hears voices, is among those
taken hostage by teenaged robbers. His role in the hostage
situation is complicated by his disease.
Vance,
Susanna. Deep. Delacorte Press, 2003 (YA) Mystery
Two girls from different sides of the world, brought up
with totally different morals and viewpoints, meet on a deserted
island when they are kidnapped by a deranged psycho and have
the adventure of their lives-possibly their last one.
Weaver,
Will. Claws: A Novel. HarperTempest, 2003. (YA) Fiction
Jed Burg's All-American teenage life comes crashing down around
him as he discovers the truth about his parents. Enter Laura,
who brings hope and love-until the "claws" of life
set in motion events that change Jed forever.
FR = Fast Reads
AD/YA = Mature Books for Young Adult
YA = Books for Young Adult Readers Readers
