Best of
Realistic-Fiction

1976

The Lottery Rose


Irene Hunt - 1976
    He withdraws into a safe and secret world of beautiful gardens filled with roses—just like those in the library book he treasures.When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a grocery store lottery he gives it all the love and caring he’s never had. Georgie’s life begins to open up for him when the courts send him to a home for boys where he will be safe. Slowly, and not without pain, Georgie learns to give—and to receive—love…

Very Far Away from Anywhere Else


Ursula K. Le Guin - 1976
    He knows what he wants to do with his life. But then he meets Natalie and he realizes he doesn't know anything much at all. A slender, realistic story of a young man's coming of age, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is one of the most inspiring novels Ursula K. Le Guin has ever published.

The Diary of Trilby Frost


Dianne Glaser - 1976
    Her mother disapproves of her romance with Saul Edwards, the rebellious half-Indian boy who helps with the chores on the Frost farm. Then there are the Frosts' two boarders--a disreputable bootlegger who tries to woo Trilby's older sister, and a sophisticated teacher who tries to win Trilby's heart. Trilby writes everything in her diary, from her turbulent relationship with Saul to her days at finishing school. Her words tell of the tragedies and joys of life in a log cabin in the early twentieth century and show that the trials of growing up are timeless.

Tunes for a Small Harmonica


Barbara Wersba - 1976
    McAllister, teenage cab driver. Or at least that is what J.F.'s mother thinks she looks like, appalled at her daughter's habit of dressing like a boy. Neither fish nor fowl, J.F. lives in New York City in a state of rebellious misery, chain-smoking her way through life until she falls in love with her poetry teacher, Harold Murth. Then everything changes, and J.F. discovers that her existence has a purpose. Determined to rescue Harold from poverty, she embarks on a wild plan that eventually alters her life and that of the people around her: her Park Avenue parents, her best friend Marylou, her psychiatrist Dr. Waingloss, and the beloved Harold himself.

Mrs Flannagan's Trumpet


Catherine Cookson - 1976
    While staying with his grandparents on the eastern coast of England in 1890, 16-year-old Eddie finds himself allied with his rather prickly and reputedly deaf grandmother in the struggle to free his sister and the household maid from a band of white slavers.

Nicholas And The Gang At School


René Goscinny - 1976
    

First Pink Light


Eloise Greenfield - 1976
    Because Tyree wants to stay awake all night so that he can surprise his father when he comes home in the morning, the young boy makes a deal with his mother.

The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations


Ellen Conford - 1976
    As Julie muddles through her sophomore year of high school, her experiences often are contrary to those mentioned in the student handbook.