Award Winning Books
Books by Subject
Teen Book Reviews
Summer 2010
Don’t know what else to read? Here are a few ideas . . .
Ashes of Roses – Auch, Mary Jane
Sixteen-year-old Rose Nolan arrives on Ellis Island in 1911 in the hopes of starting a new life, but after most of her family is sent back to Ireland, she must find her own way in a new country and fend for herself and her younger sister.
Backwater – Bauer, Joan
While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, 16-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.
Light of the World – Ciencin, Scott
Phoebe and Piper travel to the beach to be bridesmaids in a friend’s wedding and realize the groom is possessed by the spirit of the lighthouse keeper who wants the bride’s priceless family heirloom.
Ascension – Dalkey, Kara
Nia, a young mermyd, has longed all her life to become one of the ten Avatars who rule the undersea city of Atlantis, but what she does not realize is that if her wish is granted, it could mean the end of Atlantis forever. Reunion and Transformation are next in the trilogy.
Godless – Hautman, Pete
When 16-year-old Jason Bock and his friends create their own religion to worship the town’s water tower, what started out as a joke begins to take on a power of its own.
Girl at Sea – Johnson, Maureen
High-school junior Clio Ford reluctantly gives up her dream job and a potential first kiss to take a working vacation with her estranged father on a yacht in Italy.
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits- McKinley, Robin, and Peter Dickinson
Presents six fantasy stories about mermaids, sea serpents, and other fabulous creatures associated with the element of water.
Bloody Jack – Meyer, L. A.
Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a 13-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates.
Surf Mules – Neri, Greg
When a tragic accident and sudden financial woes cause recent high school graduate Logan to question plans for his future, he agrees to make a road trip with his best friend and surfing buddy, Z-boy.
She – Plum-Ucci, Carol
After his parents are lost at sea, Evan Barrett and his older brother leave their seaside home in West Hook to escape bad memories, but years later even worse questions emerge when Evan is asked to help a fellow student deal with another sea-related tragedy.
Midnight Pearls – Viguie, Debbie
A woven tapestry of magic, adventure, and romance tells the tale of a stunning mermaid, a horrible curse, and the power of love in the Kingdom of Aster, a place where legends are born.
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Summer 2009
Express yourself further…find these topics, or ask a librarian for help:
Acting Monologues – 812.54
Beauty & Fashion – 646.7
Body Art – 391.6 & 391.65
Crafts – 745.5
Creative writing – 808.042 & 808.3
Dance – 793.33
Drawing – 741.2 & 741.5
Gaming design – 794.8
Photography – 775
Relationships – 305.235, 306.874 & 646.77
Sports – 796
Web design – 005.72 & 006.6
Writing Poetry – 808.1
Express yourself on these websites:
Educating Jane (educatingjane.com/girls/girls.html)
Get smart, be smart, and express yourself!
Merlyn’s Pen (merlynspen.org/write/)
Get published online and in their print magazine. Track your submission online through the publishing process and learn even more
Monologue Archive (monologuearchive.com)
Find comic, dramatic or classic monologues to perform or audition with.
Mortified (getmortified.com)
Mortified is a comic excavation of adolescent writing, art & media
Open Diary (opendiary.com)
Keeping a journal on Open Diary can be a unique online experience connecting you to the best interactive community on the web.
Teenage Diaries: Teen Reports (radiodiaries.org/teenagediaries.html)
A group of teenagers from around the country work as beat reporters for National Public Radio. Check out their Teen Reporter Handbook to find out how to become a reporter yourself.
TeenReads (teenreads.com/)
Teenreads.com is THE place online for teens to talk about their favorite books, and find the hippest new titles!
Teen Ink (teenink.com)
Journal written by teens for teens. You can submit articles for consideration.
Teen Poetry Wiki (ipl.org/div/teenpoet)
Add your poetry to this wiki found on the Internet Public Library’s Teenspace. Read what other teens have written.
Teen Voices (teenvoices.com)
Get your own ideas published in this teen-authored journal.
YouthSpeaks (youthspeaks.org)
Youth Speaks is the leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs in the country.
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Fall 2008
Lock and Key Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen Trouble
Sunrise over Fallujah
Summer 2008
Bitten – Armstrong, Kelley
Elena Michaels comes to terms with her feral appetites as the world’s only living female werewolf.
Marked: The House of Night Book 1 - Cast, P C
In this first book of a new series, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night, a school where she will train to become an adult vampyre. Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been marked by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. But she is not the only fledgling with special powers.
Spiders in the Hairdo: Modern Urban Legends – Holt, David
Hey, did you hear the one about the lady who had her beehive hairdo sprayed so hard that spiders started to nest in it? Of course you did, it happened to your next-door neighbor’s cousin. Or was it your cousin’s next-door neighbor?
Blood and Chocolate – Klause, Annette Curtis
Vivian Gandillon and her werewolf family try to fit into life in the suburbs, but she wants no part of her squabbling pack since her father’s death. She falls in love with an actual meat boy, but her loyalties are divided when a brutal murder threatens the pack’s survival. Noted as a best book by the ALA and “School Library Journal.”
Alien Agenda – Marrs, Jim
The bestselling author of “Crossfire” weaves together a wealth of new and long-suppressed evidence to present this unique, definitive examination of alien and paranormal events “here” and “now”. 16 pages of photos.
Historic Haunted America – Norman, Michael
“Historic Haunted America” is an engrossing investigation into North American ghost legends, a comprehensive compendium documenting yesterday and today’s most shocking hauntings in the United States. The authors tell stories of the past and present so terrifyingly real that even the most skeptical reader will believe.
The Dreamer’s Dictionary: From A to Z – Robinson, Stearn
The result of years of research, this easy-to-use guide tells how to distinguish the four types of dreams, identify dream symbols, and understand meanings.
Cirque Du Freak #1: A Living Nightmare – Shan, Darren
The first book in the bestselling horror series that introduced the world to the Vampire Prince.
Vampires – Suckling, Nigel
Where and when did legends of these bloodsucking creatures of the night first arise? Enjoy snippets from ancient tales that fed superstitions, and discover real recorded incidents from the Middle Ages to the recent past that hint of their existence. Of course, there’s a full, illustrated survey of vampires in books, films, and TV.
The Secret Hour – Westerfeld, Scott
The first volume in a mesmerizing new trilogy which introduces a group of teens, who call themselves Midnighters, living in a world that is frozen in time and inhabited by dark creatures that lurk in the shadows.
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Summer 2007
Shadowland
Meg Cabot
After moving from New York to California with her newly married mother, 16-year-old Susannah has to cope with her new stepbrothers, but also the handsome ghost sitting in her new bedroom and the angry girl ghost haunting her new school.
And Then There Were NoneAgatha Christie
Ten strangers, each with a dark secret, are gathered together on an isolated island with a mysterious host. One by one, they die, and before the weekend is out, there will be none.
TendernessRobert Cormier
A psychological thriller told from the points of view of a teenage serial killer and the runaway girl who falls in love with him.
Jennifer Donnelly
In 1906, 16-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic 15-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
Norma Howe
On his 16th birthday, still trying to cope with the unexpected death of his father, David decides–or does he–to change his name to Blue Avenger, hoping to find a way to make a difference in his Oakland neighborhood and in the world.
Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, 16-year-old Steve records his experience in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.
Carol Plum-Ucci
Torey Adams, a high school junior with a seemingly perfect life, struggles with doubts and questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast.
Gregory David Roberts
Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means “man of God’s peace,” which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a strong of armed robberies performed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but that’s only the beginning.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Mary Roach
A look inside the world of forensics examines the use of human cadavers in a wide range of endeavors, including research into new surgical procedures, space exploration, and a Tennessee human decay research facility.
Markus Zusak
After capturing a bank robber, 19-year-old cab driver Ed Kennedy begins receiving mysterious messages that direct him to addresses where people need help, and he begins getting over his lifelong feeling of worthlessness.
Trouble
Lock and Key
