Young Adult Fiction That Won’t Make You Blush
Adapted from a booklist by YALSA
(Young Adult Library Services Association)
Elmhurst Public Library
Bauer, Joan Backwater
While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, sixteen-year-old history buff Ivy Breedlove treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her to truly know herself and her family. 185p
Bruchac, Joseph The Warriors
Jake left the reservation for Weltimore Academy, entering a very different world. Everyone there loves lacrosse, but no one understands it the way Jake does, as an Iroquois. And no one understands Jake either. 117p
Cabot, Meg All-American Girl
A sophomore girl stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed Teen Ambassador to the UN, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son. 247p
Cappo, Nan Willard Cheating Lessons
When her team is announced as finalists in the state Classics Bowl contest, Bernadette suspects that cheating may have been involved. 262p
Cleary, Beverly Fifteen
An older book about Jane Purdy, a sophomore in high school who suffers the agonizing awkwardness of adolescence. 254p
Ellis, Deborah Looking for X
Life starts to fall apart for eleven-year-old Khyber who lives with her mother and her autistic twin brothers in a poor neighborhood of Toronto. 132p
Ferris, Jean Love Among the Walnuts
Born and raised in isolation with his wealthy, eccentric family, Sandy is shocked when he, his parents, and their servants become victims of a vicious plot by his greedy uncles to incapacitate them and take their money. 216p
Fisk, Pauline Midnight Blue
Bonnie's newfound happiness in a world beyond the sky is threatened by the cruel Grandbag, and although she is offered help by the ancient, elusive lord and lady of the hill, she alone must meet the challenge in the end. 217p
Hesse, Karen Aleutian Sparrow
An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese. 156p
Hilgartner, Beth Murder for Her Majesty
Horrified at having witnessed her father's murder and fearing that the killers are agents of Queen Elizabeth I, eleven-year-old Alice Tuckfield hides in the Yorkshire cathedral by disguising herself as one of the choirboys. 241p
Karr, Kathleen The Boxer
Having learned how to box while in prison, fifteen-year-old Johnny sets out to discover if he can make a decent living as a fighter in late nineteenth-century New York City. 169p
Korman, Gordon Jake, Reinvented
Rick becomes friends with the popular new boy, Jake Garrett, football player and host of superlative parties, and in the process discovers the true nature of his schoolmates and uncovers the mystery of Jake's past. 213p
Lubar, David Dunk
While hoping to work as the clown in an amusement park dunk tank on the New Jersey shore the summer before his junior year in high school, Chad faces his best friend's serious illness, hassles with police, and the girl that got away. 249p
Mass, Wendy A Mango-Shaped Space
Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss of something important to her. 220p
Matas, Carol After the War
After being released from Buchenwald at the end of World War II, fifteen-year-old Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine. 116p
Mazer, Harry A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the midst of the Japanese attack and through the chaos of the subsequent days tries to find his father, a naval officer who was serving on the U.S.S. Arizona when the bombs fell. 104p
Oppel, Kenneth Airborn
Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface. 355p
Pinkwater, Daniel The Education of Robert Nifkin
Set in the 1950s in Chicago, Robert Nifkin tells about his highly unorthodox high school experiences in the form of a college application essay. 167p
Rallison, Janette Alls’ Fair in Love, War, and High School
When head cheerleader Samantha Taylor does poorly on the SAT exam, she determines that her only hope for college admission is to win the election for student body president, but her razor wit and acid tongue make her better suited to dishing out insults than winning votes. 183p
Rinaldi, Ann The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre
Fourteen-year-old Rachel Marsh, an indentured servant in the Boston household of John and Abigail Adams, is caught up in the colonists' unrest that eventually escalates into the massacre of March 5, 1770. 335p
Schindler, Nina An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries
Told entirely in letters and text messages, this is the story of Tim, a high school senior who sees the girl of his dreams while walking down the street, and the unexpected relationship that develops.
Shaw, Tucker Flavor of the Week
Cyril, an overweight boy who is good friends with Rose but wishes he could be more, helps his best friend Nick woo her with culinary masterpieces which Cyril himself secretly creates. Includes recipes. 220p
Sheldon, Dyan Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
In her first year at a suburban New Jersey high school, Mary Elizabeth Cep, who now calls herself "Lola," sets her sights on the lead in the annual drama production, and finds herself in conflict with the most popular girl in school. 272p
Smith, Greg Leitich Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo
Honoria, Shohei, and Elias, who are "united together against That Which Is The Peshtigo School," face conflict over their budding romantic interest and a science project gone awry. 179p
Sturtevant, Katherine At the Sign of the Star
In seventeenth-century London, Meg, who has little interest in cooking, needlework, or other homemaking skills, dreams of becoming a bookseller and someday inheriting her widowed father's book store. 140p
Trottier, Maxine Sister to the Wolf
This French-Canadian story is about a fifteen-year-old girl and her journey of self-discovery as she travels through the wilderness in the early 1700's, defying her grandmother, who expects her to behave like a proper lady. 348p
Van Draanen, Wendelin Flipped
In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years. 212p
Vaughan, Brian K. Runaways Vol.1: Pride & Joy
This teen comic is based on the interesting premise that parents don’t just seem evil, they actually are supervillains.
Voigt, Cynthia The Runner
As a dedicated runner, a teenage boy has always managed to distance himself from other people, until he coaches one of his teammates and gradually begins to see his place on the team in a different light. 181p
Weaver, Will Memory Boy
Sixteen-year-old Miles and his family must flee their Minneapolis home and begin a new life in the wilderness after a chain of cataclysmic volcanic explosions creates dangerous conditions in their city. 152p
Wynne-Jones, Tim The Maestro
An interactive exploration of Beethoven's 5th symphony, including information about Beethoven's life and the instruments of the symphony orchestra. Also includes 3 multimedia games to test the user's knowledge of classical music. 231p
Zeises, Lara M. Contents Under Pressure
Lucy, a fourteen-year-old high school freshman, experiences the happiness and confusion of dating a popular older boy, changing relationships with life-long friends, and sharing a bedroom with her older brother's pregnant girlfriend.
2006
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