Fourth World


Kate Thompson - 2000
    Danny is different. He's slower than other kids his age, and prone to violent outbursts. But when Danny runs off to find his biological mother, his older stepbrother Christie impulsively follows him. Along the way the two boys are joined by a runaway girl, a bird, and a dog that can speak to humans. However, nothing can prepare them for what they learn when they finally locate Danny's mother at her laboratory, Fourth World. It seems Danny's mother has been performing experiments - secret experiments - with terrifying genetic significance...

Confessions from the Principal's Chair


Anna Myers - 2006
    Bird) is in with the cool clique. They wear the same clothes, talk the same way, and pick on the same girls. But when her Mom hears about a cruel prank against a less popular girl, she isn't going to tolerate the Queen Bee behavior. Within 24 hours, she pulls up stakes and moves them both to Prairie Dog, Oklahoma. Bird is positively furious, and she's going get revenge on her hippy artist mother. In fact, revenge is the only thing keeping her going in the remote town. How she's going to get it, though, she's not sure yet. When she goes to register at the local middle school, she's mistaken for the interim school principal. Who is Bird to correct the mistake when a prank like this will really get payback on her mom? Though she won't be able to pull this off forever, Bird's determined to make her mark on the middle school before she's found out. But life in the principal's chair is going to give her quite an unexpected change in perspective.

Seven Days to a Brand-New Me


Ellen Conford - 1981
    And his locker is right next to hers. But how can Maddy Kemper, self-labelled Mouse, get him to notice her?Why, with the help of that best-selling new book, Seven Days to a Brand-New You. In just seven days, Maddy is determined to go from dull to dazzling, from being next to Adam's locker to being in his arms.Only things don't quite work out the way Maddy planned.Suddenly, it's seven days to a great big mess!

Diary of A Young Girl


Mark Anthony - 2010
    Urban favorite Anthony returns with a gripping tale of a young woman who is forced to confront the dangerous lies she told as a teenager, and come face to face with some ugly demons.

Believe in Me: A Teen Mom's Story


Judith Dickerman-Nelson - 2012
    When her 17-year-old boyfriend, Kevin O'Brien, gives her a diamond ring the summer before her senior year, she feels as if her life is perfect. But her pregnancy changes everything. Kevin's parents don't want him to start a family at such a young age, and Mrs. O'Brien tells Judith to get an abortion. As a Catholic and an adopted child, Judith must look within her own heart and decide what to do. This beautifully written coming-of-age story will appeal to students of women's studies as well as teenagers and their parents and grandparents."Believe in Me is the honest and courageous story of 16-year-old Judith's transformation into a responsible young woman. Highly recommended reading for teens, parents, and educators."--Joyce Allan, R.N., author of Because I Love YouReviewDickerman-Nelson takes the reader along with her 16-year-old self on the roller coaster of joy, confusion, pain, rejection and hope she rode during her senior year of high school. Although the book is a story about teen pregnancy, it touches on many themes and situations to which a wide audience can relate, including adoption, adolescence, young love and the conflict between maturing teens and their parents, and within the teens themselves. --The Lowell Sun About the AuthorJudith Dickerman-Nelson became a mother at age 17. She later earned her B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and her MFA from Emerson College. For 15 years, she worked with young parents at the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association in Lowell, Mass. A poet and educator, she lives in Townshend, Vermont, with her husband, Bill.

Tightrope


Gillian Cross - 1999
    When she begins receiving bizarre threatening messages from someone who seems to know her every move, teenage Ashley, after seeking help from the neighborhood tough guy, comes to realize that she alone can end the stalker's reign of terror.

The Girl Who Became a Beatle


Greg Taylor - 2011
    And then she makes a wish—"I wish I could be as famous as the Beatles."The Beatles are her music idols. The next day, she gets up to find that the Caverns are not just as famous as the Beatles, they have replaced them in history! Regina is living like a rock star, and loving it. There are talk shows, music videos, and live concerts with thousands of screaming fans. And Regina is the star of it all.But fame is getting the better of Regina, and she has a decision to make. Does she want to replace the Beatles forever?Greg Taylor's The Girl Who Became a Beatle is a rocking young adult novel about the good and the bad of Hollywood, fame, and rock 'n roll.

Number 8


Anna Fienberg - 2006
    Until one night she disappears raising the stakes in a dangerous game where all bets are off. Prepared to be glued to your seat by this character-driven mystery novel filled with math, gangsters, and a just a touch of OCD.

Shadow of the Dragon


Sherry Garland - 1993
    He’s finally caught the eye of beautiful blond Tiffany Marie, only to find out that her brother is a white supremacist. And his life gets even more complicated when his cousin Sang Le comes to live with Danny’s family after spending years in a reeducation camp in Vietnam. Failing school and unable to get a job, Sang Le joins a Vietnamese gang—and Danny is determined to help his cousin escape before it’s too late.

Quake!


Joe Cottonwood - 1995
    With their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain.

Marco's Millions


William Sleator - 2001
    But Marco is curious, and before long he investigates. He finds a passage into a strange world, where he meets insect-like creatures who seem to know all about Lilly. They believe she is special and beg Marco to bring her to them so that she can embark on a dangerous quest to save their world from ruin. Can Marco help the creatures while protecting Lilly from harm?

Evvy's Civil War


Miriam Brenaman - 2002
    It is time for her to be introduced to society-no more climbing fences and jumping into streams. She is expected to be a lady now. But Evvy has an agenda of her own, questions of her own, and soon finds answers of her own too. She wants to prove that a woman can do everything a man can, and still be a true woman. But in order to find out all she needs to know, and keep her family together as the war rages around them, she must uncover her family's secrets, and ultimately make impossible choices. Evvy's fascinating story of honor, love and a little sneakiness is based on the real diaries of Civil War-era women, whose legacy became the next generation of feminists, the suffragettes. More than that, she is an independent-minded heroine whose thoughts and ideas shed a new light on what it meant to be southern and female during the Civil War.

The Night Room


E.M. Goldman - 1995
    Six other classmates will participate, including Sandra, on whom Ira has a serious crush. But Tess, a reporter for the school paper, is worried about the dangers involved. And she's right. As the students enter the Night Room, one by one, they learn surprising things about themselves-- and discover that one of them isn't at the reunion. Argus predicts she'll be long dead...

Cheating Lessons


Nan Willard Cappo - 2002
    Not the most popular girl in school, her focus has always been on academic, not social, success. When her favorite teacher names her to Wickham High School's state championship quiz bowl team, she believes that she has reached the pinnacle of her high school academic career. However, her elation quickly fades as she begins to suspect that perhaps someone cheated to get Wickham into the contest and is cheating still. In her search for answers, Bernadette must contend with a situation that isn't black and white, where a community's hope, hard work, and pride are on the line. Is a team -- and a school -- implicated by one person's behavior?Cappo's blend of suspense and humor makes Cheating Lessons a riveting story about right and wrong -- and the downside of trust.

The Serious Kiss


Mary Hogan - 2004
    It's up to me to create the life I want. I must be mistress of my destiny or I'll never even skim the surface of normal.And that's when the whole fiasco began.One summer day, Libby and her best friend, Nadine, come up with a plan. Before their freshman year is over, they will each experience a serious kiss. Libby already has her ideal boy picked out. Everything is set.But Libby's beer-guzzling father and fast food-addict mother have another plan: The family is moving. To the middle of nowhere. Away from all of Libby's friends and all hope of a normal life, much less a boyfriend.As her life and her family are falling apart, Libby starts to wonder, Is happiness really about being normal? Or is being happy maybe just...being yourself? As she begins to figure out who she is, Libby discovers the most amazing thing of all -- being herself could also be the key to a perfect, incredible, wonderful, serious kiss.