Young Adult Books
New Adult Readers Recommended Book List
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A Northern Light
In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiancé, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.
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A Step from Heaven
A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America. (also audiobook)
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Born Confused
Seventeen-year-old Dimple, whose family is from India, discovers that she is not Indian enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans, as she sees her hypnotically beautiful, manipulative best friend taking possession of both her heritage and the boy she likes.
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Bronx Masquerade
While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears.
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Climbing the Stairs
In India, in 1941, when her father becomes brain-damaged in a non-violent protest march, fifteen-year-old Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father's extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life.
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Close to Famous
Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother escape from her mother's abusive boyfriend and end up in the small town of Culpepper, West Virginia, where they use their strengths and challenge themselves to build a new life, with the help of the friends they make there.
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Does My Head Look Big In This?
Life at an exclusive prep school would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style.
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Fever, 1793
In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic. (also audiobook)
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Fire from the Rock
In 1957, Sylvia Patterson's life--that of a normal African American teenager--is disrupted by the impending integration of Little Rock's Central High when she is selected to be one of the first black students to attend the previously all white school.
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Hatchet
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. (also audiobook, eBook)
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Holes
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. (also audiobook, eAudio, eBook, 2003 movie.)
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Hurricane Song
Miles Shaw lives with his father, a jazz musician, in New Orleans, and together they survive the horrors of Hurricane Katrina in the Superdome.
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Kissing Doorknobs
Fourteen-year-old Tara describes how her increasingly strange compulsions begin to take over her life and affect her relationships with her family and friends.
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Make Lemonade
In order to earn money for college, fourteen-year-old LaVaughn babysits for a teenage mother.
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Monster
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences 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. (also audiobook) See also All the Right Stuff.
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Once Was Lost
As the tragedy of a missing girl enfolds in her small town, fifteen-year-old Samara, who feels emotionally abandoned by her parents, begins to question her faith.
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Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind
When eleven-year old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present-day Pakistan, is pledged in marriage to an older man with money, she must either accept the decision, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes. (also audiobook)
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Sold
When she is tricked by her stepfather and sold into prostitution, thirteen-year-old Lakshmi becomes submerged in a nightmare where her only comfort is the friendship she forms with the other girls, which helps her survive and eventually escape. (also audiobook)
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Speak
A traumatic event in the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year of high school. (also audiobook, eAudio, 2004 movie)
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Split
A teenaged boy thrown out of his house by his abusive father goes to live with his older brother, who ran away from home years ago to escape the abuse.
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Stargirl
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever. (also audiobook, eBook)
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. (also audiobook, eAudio, eBook)
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The Cardturner
When his wealthy uncle, a champion bridge player who has lost his vision, asks seventeen-year-old Alton to be a cardturner for him, Alton has no idea how much he will ultimately learn from his eccentric relative. (also eBook)
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The Chocolate War
Jerry Renault is forced into a psychological showdown with Trinity School's gang leader, Archie Costello, for refusing to be bullied into selling chocolates for the annual fund raising. (also audiobook, 1989 movie)
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The First Part Last
Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.
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The Giver
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. (also audiobook, eBook)
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The Hunger Games
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. (also audiobook, eAudio, 2012 movie)
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The Queen of Water
Living in a village in Ecuador, a Quechua Indian girl is sent to work as an indentured servant for an upper class "mestizo" family.
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The Westing Game
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. (also audiobook)
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Things Not Seen
When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it. (also audiobook)
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Touching Spirit Bear
After his anger erupts into violence, Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.
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Tricks
A novel in verse about five troubled teenagers who fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family, and love.