Annotated Bibliography of Young
Adult Literature
Fiction
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New
York: Farrar, 1999.
Melinda’s English
teacher, aka Hairwoman, “speaks to the flag” instead of to the class. Thus
begins her freshman year. Melinda doesn’t talk to her friends and they won’t
talk to her. They’re furious because she called the police to a summer party.
Facing the reason for that phone call will take all Melinda’s courage.
(Realistic Fiction)
Brashares, Ann.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. New York: Delacorte, 2001.
Four teens from Bethesda,
MD are about to spend their first summer apart. Bridget, attending soccer camp
in Mexico, will make sexual advances to her coach.. While Lena will find romance
on a gorgeous Greek isle, Carmen will feel betrayed by her divorced dad. Tibby,
who stays home, will meet Bailey, a young girl with leukemia. And some vintage
jeans will unite the friends. (Realistic Fiction)
Bunting,
Eve. The Wall. New York: Clarion Books, 1990.
“A man in a wheelchair
stares at the names. He doesn’t have legs. I’m looking, and he sees me looking
and smiles. ‘Hi, son.’ ” A young child meets a Viet Nam veteran when he and his
dad visit the Memorial. As they look for his grandfather’s name on the wall,
they share their feelings of loss with the others there that day. (Picture Book,
War)
Crutcher, Chris. Athletic Shorts. New
York: Greenwillow Books. 1989.
Lionel, a swimmer, lives
alone at age 16, because his parents are dead. Angus, who has two sets of gay
parents, loves football and girls. Louie loves football and hates bigots. John
and Petey are wrestlers trying to keep their weight down and nearly starving.
Stories. Short. Good. (Realistic Fiction)
Donnelly,
Jennifer. A Northern Light. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2003.
Mattie watches as the
wet, bruised body of Grace Brown is laid out. Did Grace’s fiancé murder her? If
Mattie investigates the murder, will this affect her own relationship with sexy
Royal Loomis? And what about the college scholarship and her wish to be a
writer? It’s 1906 and Mattie must choose what her life will be. (Historical
Fiction)
Duncan, Lois. Don’t Look Behind You.
Recorded Books, LLC., 1998.
One day she was slamming
winning tennis shots across a net and the next day she was watching TV in a
hotel room that she couldn’t leave. April Corrigan is forced to give up her
perfect senior year for a life on the run with her family. Her dad’s in the
witness protection program and April hates her new life. If she runs away, can
she run fast enough to escape the stalker? (Horror)
Fama, Elizabeth. Overboard. Chicago:
Cricket Books, 2002.
Emily is
14 and she is drowning. She had “sort of “ run away and now the ferry she was
riding in the Indian Ocean near Sumatra has sunk. Some of her fellow passengers
push people off rafts so they can survive. Emily decides on a different plan.
Humming a Beatles’ tune and clasping the hand of Isman, a young Muslim child,
she has decided to save both of them. Maybe. (Adventure, Multicultural)
Frost, Helen. Keesha’s House. New
York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.
Keesha is tough. And
smart. Dad threw her out of their house but she found a place to stay. And now
she’s helping others find this home. Stephie, who’s pregnant, Dontay, whose
parents are in prison, Carmen with the drinking problem, Harris who’s gay, and
Katie, whose stepfather tries to unlock her bedroom door. All are at Keesha’s
house. (Realistic Fiction)
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Night-time. Recorded Books, LLC., 2003.
Fifteen year old Chris Boone
has Aspergers’ Syndrome. He thinks logically and unemotionally. He speaks in
short sentences. He is a math wiz who hates being touched. And he finds his
neighbor’s dog, which has been killed. He narrates this story. It is a mystery.
It is about love. (Mystery, Realistic Fiction)
Horowitz, Anthony. Point Blank.
New York: Philomel Books, 2001.
Secret
agent Alex Rider, fourteen, is sent on a spy mission to Point Blanc It’s a
fortress boarding school for the problem sons of the wealthiest families. Or is
it? Maybe Dr. Grief is experimenting on the boys. Will Alex’s CD player, which
becomes a saw, and his ski goggles, which are infrared, be enough to get him to
safety before Dr. Grief starts to experiment on him? (Adventure, Spy)
Kerr, M. E. “Hello,” I Lied.” New
York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997.
When rock superstar Ben
Nevada asks Lang to describe himself in one word, Lang answers “torn”. Lang
can’t decide whether or not to “come out” as a gay young man. And should he
reveal his love for Alex? When he meets Nevada’s
daughter, a sexy French beauty, he becomes even more
confused. He is definitely homosexual, but he is definitely attracted to
Huguette. Kerr writes a fascinating work about sexual ambivalence. (Realistic
Fiction)
Myers, Walter Dean. The Journal of Biddy
Owens, New York: Scholastic Inc., 2001.
In 1948 Jackie
Robinson played in the white baseball league. All other black players were
segregated into the Negro baseball league. One of these players was Biddy Owens.
He played for the Birmingham Black Bears. This is the story of their last season
together and their race for their league World Series pennant. (Historical
Fiction)
Oates, Joyce Carol. Big Mouth & Ugly Girl.
New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2002.
Big Mouth, Matt Donaghy,
Creative Genius. Ugly Girl, Ursula Riggs, Warrior Woman. Matt, 6’ tall, cute,
freckles. Ursula, almost 6’ tall, ugly height, at least as Ursula sees herself.
Matt, the Defendant. He’s accused of threatening to blow up the school. Ursula,
the Defender. She believes he’s innocent. Can she stick up for her values and
for Matt? (Realistic Fiction)
Osa, Nancy. Cuba 15. New York:
Delacorte Press, 2003.
“All
the world’s a stage,” and fifteen year old Violet Paz, aspiring
woman/actress/wordsmith is going to figure out how to use the Shakespeare’s
phrase as a theme for her “quinceanero.” In traditional Cuban culture a young
lady of fifteen is honored by a party that includes “cake, music and speech
time.” Refusing to buy the dress-from-hell picked out by her grandmother, Violet
creates a quince that reflects her skills as a maturing young woman and comic
actress. (Multicultural, Humor)
Paulsen, Gary. Brian’s Return. BDD
Audio, 1999.
Brian’s
sixteen and he’s beaten a football player into a bloody mess. He only defended
himself, but it’s a reaction that is not appropriate if you live in suburbia.
Brian knows he must return to his beloved North Woods to find his soul. But can
he make this place of snow and danger his home for life? (Adventure)
Peck, Richard. Are You in the House Alone?
New York: Puffin Books, 2000.
Gail is
being harassed. She’s receiving notes and phone calls that are obscene. And
very, very frightening. She tries talking to her counselors at school, but none
seems to have an answer for her. And then he strikes. She is raped. Gail must
find a way to put her life back together. (Realistic Fiction)
---. The River Between Us. New York:
Dial Books, 2003.
Mysterious, seductive
Delphine from New Orleans steps off the Mississippi river boat with “style.” She
steps into a life with Tilly’s Illinois family. But only briefly, for Tilly’s
mom orders them to the battlefield where her son is fighting. They are to find
and bring Noah home. What they find are the horrors of a Civil War hospital,
where they will nurse Noah back to health, only to see him march into battle.
(War)
Pullman, Phillip. The Golden Compass.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
She will
journey to another world, chasing her father, Lord Asriel. She will be
accompanied by Pan and her defender, the white bear. And by a magical crystal
compass with golden hands that point to a dolphin, or a bee, or a thunderbolt.
It will reveal the truth to the one who can read it. Lyra, both ragamuffin and
child of destiny, has our world’s fate in her hands. (Fantasy)
Rennison, Louise. Knocked Out by My
Nunga-Nungas. Recorded Books, LLC., 2003.
Georgia Nicolson of
“…Full Frontal Snogging” makes an hilarious return. Will Angus the cat survive
the vet visit to fix his zipper? What are ear warmers? How will she explain her
school suspension to her parents? And will Robbie the Sex God be supplanted in
Georgia’s heart by Dave the Laugh, her old boyfriend! (Humor)
Testa, Maria. Becoming Joe DiMaggio.
Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2002.
Joe Paul
slaps baseballs into his grandfather’s mitt. The real DiMaggio, plays ball right
next door to his house. And because he can’t slap baseballs into his father’s
mitt since his dad is in prison. When Granddad and Joe Paul mourn for the world
as WWII takes hold, they also mourn for Joe D. He’s enlisted so he and his bat
can’t make the world smile anymore. Will the cheering start again? (Poetry)
Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral. New York:
HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000.
When the
seizures hit he sees red and laughs, he flies and runs, he feels his spirit
leave his body; he does all the things his body can’t. Shawn can’t because he
has cerebral palsy. While his family thinks he is unaware of everything in life,
he is really a genius with a photographic memory. And…his father may be trying
to kill him!
Yolen, Jane. Sword of the Rightful King.
Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2003.
Camelot is Cadbury, Merlin is Merlinnus, and the sword
in the stone is called Caliburnus. Yolen makes Merlin and Arthur both very human
and larger than life. Merlin lies all the time, but for good purpose. Arhthur
would much rather ride a horse to the hunt than sit on the King’s throne to play
judge at his own court. And Yolen has created the very best Guinevere ever!
“Once, there was a place called Camelot.”
Nonfiction
Bachrach, Susan. Tell Them We Remember. Boston: Little
Brown. 1994.
Wolfgang, 13, child of the Holocaust, fled from Germany to Paris
where he was captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz at age 17. He survived.
Joseph took part in an uprising at Birkenau camp and was killed. Judith survived
Dachau. She
weighed 48 lbs. when freed. With facts and pictures of Nazi terror, the people
who resisted, the concentration camps and liberation we become personally
involved in this story of horror and ultimately, victory. (Holocaust)
Blumenthal, Karen. Six Days in October. New York: Atheneum Books, 2002.
Money and speculation and
greed. Big loses by Groucho Marx and the founder of General Motors. Short, clear
explanations of bulls and bears and stocks and bonds. How the stock of Radio
Corporation, now RCA, rose and fell. Period photos, political cartoons, letters
and ads. All are part of this tale of the biggest stock market crash in U. S.
history—the crash of 1929.
Bunting, Eve.
The Wall. New York: Clarion Books, 1990.
“A man in a
wheelchair stares at the names. He doesn’t have legs. I’m looking, and he sees
me looking and smiles. ‘Hi, son.’” A young child meets a Viet Nam veteran when
he and his dad visit the Memorial. As they look for his grandfather’s name on
the wall, they share their feelings of loss with the others there that day.
Crutcher, Chris. King of the Mild Frontier. New
York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2003.
Older
brother John conviced Chris that peeing in the heating grate was “doing
something neat.” He cried so much his family nick-named him “bawl baby.” He and
his buddies put 3 month old stinky swiss cheese on a school bus engine to ruin
the senior class’s prank. But Chris Crutcher survived all to tell us the story
of his sad/fun youth where he failed at football, baseball and basketball, but
managed to succeed at life.
Murphy, Joe. An American Plague. New
York: Clarion Books, 2003.
“It was clear that
Catherine Le Maigre was dying…” But no one knew the cause or the cure. Only the
name which was Yellow Fever. Details of medicine and the efforts of wonderful
men like French Dr. Deveze, women like Dolley Todd Madison and the leaders of
the Free African Society tell the story of Philadelphia and the plague of 1793.
(Science)
Paulson, Gary. Woodsong. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1990.
“The beauty is…staggering.” “.
. . it was an act of almost unbelievable violence.” The words are from Woodsong,
but they also describe it. This is a book of a man’s journey to understand
beauty juxtaposed with death. He comes to understand both as he explores the
north woods, runs his sled dogs, defies unimaginable ice, wind, cold and snow,
and finally, triumphantly, revels in the dance that is the Iditarod.
Peck, Richard. Invitations to the World. New
York: Dial Books, 2002.
Richard Peck
became a teacher. In New York City in the sixties. From his young adult students
he learned what they liked to read. And what they didn’t like! He left teaching
to be a writer and this is the story of both of those adventures. With poetry,
humor and honesty Peck tells us his story.
Winick, Judd. Pedro & Me. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.
MTV’s Read
World in 1994. Two roommates. Pedro Zamora, born in Cuba, gay. Judd Winick, from
Long Island, straight. Judd is a cartoonist and Pedro, an Aids educator. They
become good friends as Pedro becomes famous. And ill.
MAT 5/1/04
MATodd!@aol.com