Young Adult
Summer Reading Booklist
Titles Published in 2009-2010
Crown of Earth by Hilari Bell
Fifteen-year-old Prince Ederan and fourteen-year-olds Arisa and Weasel finally realize the true meaning and value of the symbols of power in Deorthas when the Falcon demands the sword and shield in exchange for Weasel's life.
Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
Sixteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabel, an unusually talented weaver, must master her mysterious power and join a young wizard in stopping an imminent war in land.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeldt- Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.
The Shadow Project by Herbie Brennan
A young English thief stumbles on, and subsequently is recruited for, a super-secret operation that trains teenagers in remote viewing and astral projection techniques in order to engage in spying.
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Sixteen-year-old Valerie, whose boyfriend Nick committed a school shooting at the end of their junior year, struggles to cope with integrating herself back into high school life, unsure herself whether she was a hero or a villain.
Heist Society by Ally Carter
A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop's father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.
Fire by Kristin Cashore
In a kingdom called the Dells, Fire is the last human-shaped monster, with unimaginable beauty and the ability to control the minds of those around her, but even with these gifts she cannot escape the strife that overcomes her world.
They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney
When fifteen-year-old Cathy decides to carpool from Norwalk to tony Greenwich, Connecticut, to study Latin in summer school, she does not expect the shocking events that occured five years earlier to suddenly come flooding back into her relatively settled life.
A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper
On her sixteenth birthday in 1936, Sophia begins a diary of life in a fictional island country off the coast of Spain, where she is among the last descendants of an impoverished royal family trying to hold their nation together on the eve of the second World War.
Sword: a novel by Da Chen
When Miu Miu turns fifteen, she learns the truth about her father's violent death and discovers that she must avenge his murder before she can marry the man to whom she is betrothed. Based on a story told to the author by a former prisoner during China's Cultural Revolution.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
The Pale Assassin by Patricia Elliott
In early 1790s' Paris, as the Revolution gains momentum, young and sheltered Eugenie de Boncoeur finds it difficult to tell friend from foe as she and the royalist brother she relies on become the focus of le Fantome, the sinister spymaster with a long-held grudge against their family.
While covering baseball's World Series between the Washington Nationals and the Boston Red Sox, teenage sports reporters Stevie and Susan Carol investigate a rookie pitcher whose evasive answers during an interview reveal more than a few contradictions in his life story.
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl
In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.
Splendor: a Luxe novel by Anna Godbersen
In 1900 New York City, fashionable debutante Diana Holland and married soldier Henry Schoonmaker flaunt the rules of society to be with one another. Conclusion to the "The Luxe “series.
Claim to Fame by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Sixteen-year-old Lindsay, a former child star whose career ended when she developed the ability to hear what anyone, anywhere says about her and apparently suffered a nervous breakdown, comes to see this as an asset when, after her father's death, she learns that she is not alone.
Forest Born by Shannon Hale
When her beloved forest no longer gives her comfort and her brother Razo invites Rinna to the city to be one of Queen Ani's waiting women, she happily accepts, only to discover her own strength comes from places both expected and unexpected.
Green Witch by Alice Hoffman
A year after her world was nearly destroyed, sixteen-year-old Green has become the one villagers turn to for aid, especially to record their stories, but Green will need the help of other women who, like herself, are believed to be witches if she is to find her best friend and her one true love.
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Suspected in the death of her boyfriend, seventeen-year-old Luce is sent to a Savannah, Georgia, reform school where she meets two intriguing boys and learns the truth about the strange shadows that have always haunted her.
Ashes by Kathryn Lasky
In 1932 Berlin, thirteen-year-old Gaby Schramm witnesses the beginning of Hitler's rise to power, as soldiers become ubiquitous, her beloved literature teacher starts wearing a jeweled swastika pin, and the family's dear friend, Albert Einstein, leaves the country while Gaby's parents secretly bury his books and papers in their small yard.
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Omaha, Nebraska, twelve-year-old Oliver Watson has everyone convinced that he is extremely stupid and lazy, but he is actually a very wealthy, evil genius, and when he decides to run for seventh-grade class president, nothing will stand in his way.
Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough
Born into a family of witches, seventeen-year-old Tamsin is raised believing that she alone lacks a magical "Talent," but when her beautiful and powerful sister is taken by an age-old rival of the family in an attempt to change the balance of power, Tamsin discovers her true destiny.
Santa Claus in Baghdad and Other Stories about Teens in the Arab World by Elsa Marston
A collection of eight stories, most previously published in other anthologies, about what it is like to grow up in the Middle East today. Includes notes which place the stories in context.
Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski
After retrieving her cell phone from a fountain, high school senior Devi discovers the only person she can call is herself-three years earlier.
Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat
Fleeing across icy mountains from a pack of terrifying dog-men sent to hunt them down, four teenagers escape from their prison-like boarding schools to take up the fight against the tyrannical government that murdered their parents fifteen years earlier.
Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
Teenage Reese, serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past.
The Mark by Jen Nadol
While in Kansas living with an aunt she never knew existed and taking a course in philosophy, sixteen-year-old Cass struggles to learn what, if anything, she should do with her ability to see people marked to die within a day's time.
Daniel X: Watch the Skies by James Patterson and Ned Rust
When the small community of Holliswood is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a terrifying outlaw who deliberately instigates problems for the purpose of filming his crimes for television, modern superhero Daniel X assembles an all-star team to help protect fellow citizens.
By the Time You Read This, I'll be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
High school student Daelyn Rice, who has been bullied throughout her school career and has more than once attempted suicide, again makes plans to kill herself, in spite of the persistent attempts of an unusual boy to draw her out.
Wings by Aprilynne Pike
When a plant blooms out of fifteen-year-old Laurel's back, it leads her to discover the fact that she is a faerie and that she has a crucial role to play in keeping the world safe from the encroaching enemy trolls.
Intertwined by Gena Showalter
Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him: one can time travel, one can raise the dead, one can tell the future, and one can possess another human, and then he meets a girl who quiets the voices.
Everwild by Neal Shusterman
Nick, known as the dreaded "chocolate ogre," is trying to find all the children in Everlost and release them from the limbo they are in, while Mikey and Allie have joined a band of skinjackers and are putting themselves in danger by visiting the world of the living.
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade
In Victorian London, fourteen-year-old Modo, a shape-changing hunchback, becomes a secret agent for the Permanent Association, which strives to protect the world from the evil machinations of the Clockwork Guild.
How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
After moving to Baltimore and enrolling in a private school, high school senior Beatrice befriends a quiet loner with a troubled family history.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
In all the years she has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house, Grace has been particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been watching her with increasing intensity.
The Brothers Story by Katherine Sturtevant
In the late seventeenth century, fifteen-year-old Kit, driven to desperation by the starvation of one brother and mistreatment of his own simple-minded twin, realizes his dream of becoming an apprentice in London but feels drawn by duty to return home to Essex.
Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian
Feeling left out since her long-time best friend started a serious relationship, sixteen-year-old Emily looks forward to a summer program at the Philadelphia College of Art but is not sure she is up to the challenges to be faced there, including finding herself and learning to balance life and art.
Gorgeous by Rachel Vail
Ninth-grader Allison has always been the least attractive among her sisters, but when she allows the devil to possess her cell phone in exchange for appearing to be gorgeous, she must confront the power and deceptiveness of appearances.
Numbers by Rachel Ward
Fifteen-year-old Jem knows when she looks at someone the exact date they will die, so she avoids relationships and tries to keep out of the way, but when she meets a boy named Spider and they plan a day out together, they become more involved than either of them had planned.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.
Malice by Chris Wooding
Everyone's heard the rumors. Call on Tall Jake and he'll take you to Malice, a world that exists inside a horrifying comic book. A place most kids never leave. Seth and Kady think it's all a silly myth. But then their friend disappears.
Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
In late nineteenth-century New York state, wealthy sixteen-year-old twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe find that they are on opposite sides of an ancient prophecy that has destroyed their parents and seeks to do even more harm.
An Off Year by Claire Zulkey
Upon arriving at her dorm room, eighteen-year-old Cecily decides to postpone her freshman year of college and return to her Chicago home, where she spends a year pondering what went wrong while forging new relationships with family and friends.