What to Read Next?

Look for your favorite author, title, or genre, to find other books to read!

The titles listed here have been checked out most frequently from our library.  Look for your favorite author, title or genre, under each category below to find suggestions for other books, in that same genre.  Search for these suggested authors and titles on our online catalog for call numbers, although if they are fiction, it will be FIC then the first three letters of the author's last name.  These recommendations on this page were found by looking at the various subject headings listed under each title in our online catalog.  Use this method to continue to look for more books.    Email us if you have any suggestions of links you'd like to see!

 

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Author

Title

Genre

Adventure	Animals (Dogs, Cats, Horses)	Drama
Families	Fantasy	Friendship/Romance
Historical Fiction	Humor	Music
Multicultural	Mystery	Science Fiction
Sports	War

Author (Alphabetical by author's last name; click on genres listed next to them for a list of other suggested authors and titles):

Alcott, Louisa May        Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance

Alexander, Lloyd        Adventure, Fantasy

Austen, Jane         Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance 

Blume, Judy         Friendship/Romance  

Brashares, Ann       Friendship/Romance, Humor

Burnett, Frances Hodgson    Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance

Cabot, Meg    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Card, Orson Scott    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Christie, Agatha    Mystery

Colfer, Eoin    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Cushman, Karen    Adventure, Drama, Historical Fiction

Duncan, Lois    Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction

George, Jean Craighead    Adventure, Animals

Hemingway, Ernest    Adventure, War

Hesse, Karen    Historical Fiction, Drama, Families

Jacques, Brian    Animals, Fantasy

Konigsburg, E.L.    Drama, Families

Koss, Amy Goldman    Friendship/Romance, Humor

L'Engle, Madeleine    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Lewis, C.S.    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Lowry, Lois    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Friendship/Romance

McCaffrey, Anne    Adventure, Fantasy, Music, Science Fiction

McKinley, Robin    Fantasy

Napoli, Donna Jo    Fantasy

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Nix, Garth    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Orwell, George    Fantasy, Science Fiction

Park, Linda Sue    Multicultural, Families

Paterson, Katherine    Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance

Paulsen, Gary    Adventure, Historical Fiction

Pfeffer, Susan Beth    Families, Friendship/Romance, Humor

Pierce, Tamora    Adventure, Fantasy

Poe, Edgar Allan    Adventure, Mystery

Pullman, Philip    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Rennison, Louise    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Rinaldi, Ann    Adventure, Families, Historical Fiction

Rowling, J.K.    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Sachar, Louis    Drama, Friendship/Romance

Spinelli, Jerry    Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance

Staples, Suzanne Fisher    Multicultural, Families, Drama

Tan, Amy    Multicultural, Families, Drama

Taylor, Mildred D.    Drama, Historical Fiction, Families

Tolkien, J.R.R.    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Van Draanen, Wendelin    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Voigt, Cynthia    Drama, Historical Fiction, Families, Friendship/Romance

Von Ziegesar, Cecily    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Wharton, Edith    Drama, Historical Fiction

Yep, Laurence  Multicultural, Families, Drama, Historical Fiction

Yolen, Jane    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Zindel, Paul    Drama, Friendship/Romance

 

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Title (Alphabetical, ignoring "a, an, the" ; click on genres listed next to them for a list of other suggested authors and titles):

Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor ( Achingly Alice, Alice In-Between, ...)  Friendship/Romance, Humor

Amazing Gracie  Drama, Families

Anastasia on her Own and Anastasia, Absolutely  Families, Friendship/Romance, Humor

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Anne of Green Gables    Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance

Artemis Fowl    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Beauty:  A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast  Fantasy

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory    Fantasy, Humor

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time    Drama, Families

Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood    Drama, Families, Friendship/Romance

Dragonsong    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Ender's Game    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Flipped    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Freaky Friday    Fantasy, Families, Humor

Go Ask Alice    Drama

Gone with the Wind    Drama, Families, Historical Fiction, War

Good Night, Mr. Tom    Drama, Families, Historical Fiction, War

Gossip Girl    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Harry Potter    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Haveli    Multicultural, Families, Drama

The Hobbit    Adventure, Fantasy

Holes    Drama, Friendship/Romance

Homeless Bird    Multicultural, Families, Drama

House on Mango Street    Multicultural, Families, Drama

If You Come Softly    Multicultural, Families, Drama,

Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack    Adventure, Animals

Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Lord of the Flies    Adventure, Drama

Lord of the Rings    Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

The Lovely Bones    Drama, Families

My Side of the Mountain    Adventure, Drama

On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God    Friendship/Romance, Humor

The Princess Bride    Adventure, Fantasy, Friendship/Romance, Humor

Rebecca    Friendship/Romance, Mystery

The Road to Memphis    Drama, Historical Fiction, Families

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry    Drama, Historical Fiction, Families

The Secret Garden    Drama

Shabanu    Multicultural, Families, Drama

Shiva Accused    Multicultural, Families, Drama

Sherlock Holmes    Mystery

A Single Shard    Multicultural, Families, Drama

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (and now, up to the Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood)    Friendship/Romance, Humor

Stargirl    Drama, Friendship/Romance

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn    Drama, Families

 

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Genre:

ADVENTURE

     Bridle the Wind by Joan Aiken.   His journey back to Spain interrupted by shipwreck, loss of memory, and a stay in a forbidding French monastery, twelve-year-old Felix finally continues his journey in the company of a mysterious boy that he had rescued from hanging. Sequel to "Go saddle the sea."

     The El Dorado Adventure by Lloyd Alexander.   Traveling to Central America to inspect her real estate holdings, seventeen-year-old Vesper tries to stop a villain from building a canal which would destroy an Indian tribe's homeland.

     The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander.   On a visit to a remote European kingdom in 1872, a fearless sixteen-year-old orphan and her guardian research an ancient legend and become enmeshed in a dangerous rebellion.

     City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende.   When fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold accompanies his individualistic grandmother on an expedition to find a humanoid Beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians.

     Heaven Eyes by David Almond.   Having escaped from their orphanage on a raft, Erin, January, and Mouse float down into another world of abandoned warehouses and factories, meeting a strange old man and an even stranger girl with webbed fingers and little memory of her past.

     Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer.  After Artemis uses stolen fairy technology to create a powerful microcomputer and it is snatched by a dangerous American businessman, Artemis, Juliet, Mulch, and the fairies join forces to try to retrieve it.

     A Girl named Disaster by Nancy Farmer.  While journeying to Zimbabwe, eleven-year-old Nhamo struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

     The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman.   A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws. 

     The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle.  A marine biology student reporting to his summer job on an island off Portugal finds himself at the center of a power struggle between his boss and another group of Americans.

     The Secrets of Vesuvius by Caroline Lawrence.   Ten-year-old Flavia and her friends encounter the Roman admiral Pliny before making a journey to her uncle's farm near Mt. Vesuvius, where they try to solve a riddle, reunite a family, and get out of the path of a natural disaster.

     Life of Pi: A Novel by Yann Martel.

     The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell.   A tale of seven adventurers who left the summer camp of Coronado's army and struck out into the great Southwest to find the golden cities of Cibola.

     Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman.   In the mountains of Switzerland the wicked Count Karlstein plots to abandon his two orphaned nieces in a hunting lodge as prey for the Demon Huntsman and his ghostly hounds.

     Pirates! The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates by Celia Rees.   In 1722, after arriving with her brother at the family's Jamaican plantation where she is to be married off, sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure.

     Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.

     The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

     Lord of the Flies; A Novel by William Golding.

     Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan.

     Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

     Backwater by Joan Bauer.  While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, sixteen-year-old history buff Ivy Breedlove treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her to truly know herself and her family.

     Captives of Time by Malcolm J. Bosse.   Orphaned by the brutal murder of their parents, Anne and her gentle but mute brother suffer great hardships as they travel across a dangerous, pestilence-ridden Europe to their uncle, an armorer and clockmaker, and, after his death, to a distant city to deliver the commissioned plans of his precious clock.

     The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.  Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest.

     Julie's Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George.  Continues the story of Julie and her wolves in which Kapu must protect his pack from famine and disease while uniting it under his new leadership.

     Downwind by Louise Moeri.   After fleeing their California home to escape a possible radiation leak from a nuclear power plant, twelve-year-old Ephraim and his family find themselves caught up in circumstances perhaps even more threatening to them.

     The River by Gary Paulsen.  Because of his success surviving alone in the wilderness for fifty-four days, fifteen-year-old Brian, profoundly changed by his time in the wild, is asked to undergo a similar experience to help scientists learn more about the psychology of survival. Sequel to "Hatchet."

     Hit and Run by Joan Phipson.   Sixteen-year-old Roland's hit-and-run accident in a borrowed car sends him fleeing into the wild Australian countryside, where he struggles for both survival and self-respect.

     Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt.  Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an identity.

 

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ANIMALS  (DOGS, CATS, HORSES)

    DOGS

    Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf.  The story of Elizabeth Barret Browning's cocker spaniel, Flush. 

    Sounder by William Howard Armstrong.   Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and with the help of the devoted dog Sounder.

    All the Days Were Summer by Jack M. Bickham.  In the summer of 1943, as a 12-year-old boy tries to cope with his dog's blindness and his father's new job with German prisoners of war, he finds his life unalterably changing.

    Bel Ria by Sheila Every Burnford. Follows the wanderings of a little performing dog in France, England, and at sea during World War II. 

    Going on Sixteen by Betty Cavanna.  Fourteen-year-old Julie tries to escape her own sense of inadequacy and her friends' talk of boys and parties by devoting herself to raising an orphaned collie pup. 

    Zulu Dog by Anton Ferreira.  In post-apartheid South Africa, a Zulu boy keeps secrets from his family as he cares for an injured dog and befriends the daughter of a white farmer.

    Old Yeller by Fred Gipson.  In the late 1860's in the Texas hill country, a big yellow dog and a fourteen year-old boy form a close, loving relationship.

    Savage Sam by Fred Gipson.  Another dog story, set in Texas in the 1870's, about Old Yeller's son, Savage Sam.

    Listen to the Nightingale by Rumer Godden.  When she wins a scholarship to a famous ballet school, Lottie, an orphan reared by the costume mistress for a London ballet company, is torn between her lifelong dream and her love for a puppy. 

    Blissful Joy and the SATs: A Multiple-Choice Romance by Sheila Greenwald.  Her life moves along as carefully planned until sixteen-year-old Bliss is befriended one day on the subway by a stray dog. 

    Seaman: The Dog Who Explored the West with Lewis & Clark by Gail Karwoski.   Seaman, a Newfoundland, proves his value as a hunter, navigator, and protector while serving with the Corps of Discovery when it explores the West under the leadership of Lewis and Clark.  

    Lassie Come-Home by Eric Mowbray Knight.  A collie undertakes a thousand-mile journey in order to once again meet her former master at the school gate. 

    Call of the Wild by Jack London.  The dog hero, Buck, is stolen from his home and pressed into service as a sledge dog in the Klondike. 

    White Fang by Jack London.    Describes the taming of a wild wolf dog through the patience and devotion of one man.

    Nop's Trials by Donald McCaig.  Tells of the difficulties faced by the young Border Collie, Nop, after he is stolen, and of the relentless efforts made by his farmer owner to recover him. 

    Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollivant.   The beautiful blue merle Bob is a canny sheep dog, even as a pup, and fit to win the Shepherd's Trophy as the outstanding herder.  

    Buff: A Collie, and Other Dog-Stories by Albert Payson Terhune.  Buff helps clear his master's name of suspicion in a theft. Includes seven other stories of canine valor. 

    Gray Dawn by Albert Payson Terhune.  The exploits of a large silver gray collie whose eternal blunders more often than not turned out for the better.

    Beem by Gavriil Troepol skii.  Recounts the adventures of a Gordon setter who embarks on a desperate search for his beloved master, who had been taken to a hospital. 

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    CATS

    Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth by Lloyd Alexander.  A cat with miraculous powers takes his human friend with him when he makes his excursions into past eras. 

    Claws and Effect by Rita Mae Brown.   

    Catch as Cat Can by Rita Mae Brown.

    The House of Thirty Cats by Mary Calhoun.   

    The Almost All-White Rabbity Cat by Meindert De Jong.  Left alone in the family's new city apartment, a boy befriends a white cat that mysteriously appears and disappears. 

    The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane.  In New York, cats race to close a gateway to another world, from where dinosaurs are planning an invasion of Earth. The cats are members of an intelligent civilization which has its own language and the novel compares their culture with that of humans. 

    One-eyed Cat: A Novel by Paula Fox.   An eleven-year-old shoots a stray cat with his new air rifle, subsequently suffers from guilt, and eventually assumes responsibility for it.  

    A Mango-shaped Space: A Novel by Wendy Mass.  Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss of something important to her.  

    The Cats of Seroster by Robert Westall.  In medieval France, huge, powerful cats and a magic dagger help Cam, a young English jack-of-all-trades, through a series of unusual and dangerous adventures. 

    Cat Tales: Classic Stories from Favorite Writers.   The king of the cats/Stephen Vincent Benét--The Cheshire cat/Lewis Carroll--Who is to blame?/Anton Chekhov-The long-cat/Colette--A Persian tale/Rose Fyleman--Puss in boots/Charles Perraul -Tobermor /Saki--Little white king/Marguerite Steen -- Dick Baker's cat/Mark Twain-The Paradise of cats/Émile Zola. 

    Great Cat Tales.   Cat's Paradise, by E. Zola.--Lillian, by D. Runyan.--Saha, by Colette.--Childhood of Miss Churt, by F. R. Buckley.--Fat Cat, by Q. Patrick.--Undoing of Morning Glory Adolphus, by N. M. Campbell.--How a Cat Played Robinson Crusoe, by C. G. D. Roberts.--Ming's Biggest Prey, by P. Highsmith.--Mrs. Bond's Cats, by J. Herriot.--Dick Baker's Cat, by M. Twain.--A Cat Affair, by D. Tangye.--Kym, by J. Stranger.--Fine Place For the Cat, by M. Bonham.--Blue Flag by K. Hill.--Story of Webster, by P. G. Wodehouse.--Trouble Everywhere, by D. Tovey.--Heathcliff, by L. Alexander.--Cat That Walked by Himself, by R. Kipling.--Ship of Solace, by E. Mordaunt.--Particularly Cats, by D. Lessing.--White and Black Dynasties, by T. Gautier.--Midshipman, the Cat, by J. C. Adams.--Best Bed, by S. T. Warner.

 

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    HORSES

    Traveller: A Novel by Richard Adams.  Examines the events of the Civil War through the eyes of General Robert E. Lee's closest companion and devoted horse, Traveller.  

    Another Man o' War by C. W. Anderson.  Sally and her grandfather hope their new colt will be as great a race horse as Man o' War. 

    National Velvet by Enid Bagnold.   The story of Velvet Brown, her family, and her horse, The Piebald, and of their determination to enter the world's greatest horse race--The Grand National. 

    Banner Year by Betty Cavanna.  Starting her sophomore year on Martha's Vineyard, Cindy thinks the only thing she really cares about is a beautiful black horse she works with at a nearby farm, until she meets the new boy Tad. 

    The Wild Horse Killers by Mel Ellis.   In an effort to save a herd of wild mustangs from horse killers, eighteen-year-old Sandra attempts to lead them several hundred miles across desert and mountains to safety on federal lands.

    The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.  Pulled to a desert island by a wild black stallion he has freed during a shipwreck at sea, then rescued by a southbound freighter, a seventeen-year-old boy befriends the horse, trains him by night, and rides him to victory in a match race. 

    The Black Stallion and Flame by Walter Farley.  A plane wreck at sea separates Alec and the Black until the search for a rabid vampire bat leads the boy to Flame's island sanctuary.

    The Black Stallion and Satan by Walter Farley.    When the Black is returned to Alec Ramsey, the whole racing world, including Alec himself, wonders which horse is faster: the great stallion or his son, Satan.  

   The Black Stallion Mystery by Walter Farley.   In an attempt to clear up a mystery, Alec, his friend Henry and the black stallion journey to Spain, only to find greater mystery and adventure awaiting them. 

    The Black Stallion Revolts by Walter Farley.   When his wild black stallion revolts against the routine and schedule of stable life, becoming a killer and a threat, a plane crash thwarts Alec's plans to give the Black a free run in the desert and brings danger to both boy and horse.

    The Black Stallion's Courage by Walter Farley.   In order to raise money to rebuild a one-hundred-thousand-dollar barn, destroyed by fire, Alec returns to racing the Black.  

    The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt by Walter Farley.   A racing accident resulting in a frightened horse and an injured driver leads Alec Ramsey and Henry Dailey to try harness racing, working a son of the Black toward the Hambletonian.

    Man o' War by Walter Farley.   A fictionalized biography of the American race horse who won twenty of twenty-one races, told by a stable boy who grew up with the great horse.

    Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley.    Despite the violence and savage behavior of his desert-bred horse, Alec Ramsay continues to hope that his love will be returned by the stallion.

    The Black Stallion Challenged! by Walter Farley.   Alec Ramsey, racing the Black in Florida over the winter, receives a letter from Steve Duncan which results in the island stallion's challenging the champion. 

    The Black Stallion's Ghost by Walter Farley.   Alec Ramsay's life is changed after he spends a terrifying night lost in the Florida Everglades with a deranged Frenchman who is helping him search for the runaway black stallion. 

    The Blood Bay Colt by Walter Farley.   A boy is entrusted to attend the birth, train, and drive a blood bay colt that is the great hope of an aging reinsman who refuses to be reconciled to the fact that sulky-racing has moved from the county fair to the big night time, moneymaking raceways. 

    The Year the Summer Died by Patricia Lee Gauch.   Fourteen-year-old Erin feels left behind when her best friend's attention turns to a boyfriend and a horse, so she tries learning to ride in order to win her friend back. 

    Ride a Dark Horse by Lynn Hall.    Seventeen-year-old Gusty finds herself in increasing danger as she tries to prove her suspicions about dishonest breeding practices at the horse farm where she works. 

    The Horse Trader by Lynn Hall.   A fatherless teenage girl's special friendship with Harley Williams, the local horse trader and con man, begins to change after she buys one of his horses. 

    Black Gold by Marguerite Henry.   The story of Black Gold, a winner of the Kentucky Derby. 

    King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry.   Follows the adventures of the Arabian stallion brought to England to become one of the founding sires of the Thoroughbred breed and the mute Arab stable boy who tended him with loyalty and devotion all his life. 

    Mustang by Marguerite Henry.   The author tells, from the point of view of Annie Johnston, the story of this Nevada woman and her fight to protect the American wild horse, the mustang, from extinction because of professional killers who chased the horses for use in dog food. 

    Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.   Many of the characters from Misty of Chincoteague appear in this story of a little orphan colt. 

    Sarah's Page by Anna Murray.  When wealthy Manhattanite Sarah suddenly has to move to her sister's Michigan farm, she communicates with her best friend via e-mail messages that reflect the gradual changes brought about by this new environment.

    The Team by K.M. Peyton.   Fourteen-year-old Ruth acquires what is considered an unsuitable pony and determines to train him so that she can become a member of the Pony Club team. Sequel to "Fly-by-Night." 

    Horse of Air by Lucy Rees.    New York : Methuen, c1980.    A 16-year-old English girl has trouble adjusting to changes in her life until she acquires an almost uncontrollable Welsh cob horse.

    A Horse to Remember: A Novel and Illustrations by Sam Savitt.   When he learns that his newly acquired, uncontrollable horse was formerly a race horse of distinction, seventeen-year-old Mike Benson and his horse train to race again. 

    Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse by Anna Sewell.   A horse in nineteenth-century England encounters many misfortunes until he finds the happiness and contentment he deserves. 

    Not on a White Horse by Nancy Springer.  From the day twelve-year-old Rhiannon spots a lost white Arabian gelding in the woods near her small Pennsylvania mining town, her life finds a focus as she learns to deal with family problems and decides the direction her life will take.

    The Red Pony by John Steinbeck.   Ownership of a beautiful red pony teaches ten-year-old Jody about life and death. 

    I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane L. Wilson.   Oyuna tells her granddaughter the story of how love for her horse enabled her to win a race and bring good luck to her family living in Mongolia in 1339.

    Horses, Horses, Horses: Palominos and Pintos, Polo Ponies and Plow Horses, Morgans and Mustangs.   Champions of the Peaks, by P. Annixter.--Match Race, by W. Farley.--King of the Range, by M. Jamison.--Royal Greens, by R. G. Carter.--Squeak of Leather, by W. James.--Can A Horse Know Too Much?, by G. T. Eames.--Scott Makes Good, by S. P. Meek.--Black Stallion and the Red Mare, by G. F. Lewis.--High Courage, by C. W. Anderson.--Roping Contest, by S. Holt.--Such A Kind World, by M. L. Hunt.--Bucephalus: A King's Horse, by A. Gall and F. Crew.--Mohawk Makes A Comeback, by C. W. Anderson.--Cutter Rose, by S. Meader.--Death Dive, by S. Holt.--Jarvis Discovers Gold, by G. T. Eames.--Corral Walls, by D. Crew. 

    Magic Hoofs; Horse Stories from Many Lands by Phyllis R. (Phyllis Reid) Fenner.    Sixteen stories of horses from the folklore of many countries and peoples, including Russia, Scandinavia, Hungary, Spain, Albania, and the American Indians, including: The Boy Who Took the Letter to the World Where the Dead Live.--The Black Charger.--Prince Ivan, the Witch Baby and the Little Sister of the Sun.--The Magician's Horse.--The Dun Horse.--The Tangle-Coated Horse.--The Flaming Horse.--Dapplegrim.--The Black Horse.--The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfjoder.--The Seven Foals.--The Wonderful Horse.--Fifine and the White Mare.--The Enchanted Peafowl.--The Mud Pony.--The Little Humpbacked Horse. 

 

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DRAMA (Including tear-jerkers)

     Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah.

     Kiss the Clown by C.S. Adler.   Viki, who is troubled by unresolved problems with her parents; her boyfriend Marc, who is self-centered; and his dyslexic brother, who fears rejection; learn to accept themselves and each other.

     Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.   The classic story of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in nineteenth-century New England.

     Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson.   Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death.

     Go Ask Alice.   Based on the diary of a fifteen-year-old drug user chronicling her struggle to escape the pull of the drug world.

     Tangerine by Edward Bloor.  Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

     Dear Shrink by Helen Cresswell.   When the woman looking after them in their parents' absence dies suddenly, three children find themselves in foster care and must use all their courage and ingenuity to cope with the situation.

     Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher.  Still troubled by his older brother's violent suicide, eighteen-year-old Dillon becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her.

     The Thief Lord by Cornelia Caroline Funke.  Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from-- Venice's "Thief Lord." Welcome to the magical world of Venice, Italy, where hidden canals and crumbling rooftops shelter runaways and children with incredible secrets.

     What Would Joey Do? by Jack Gantos.   Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema.

     Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff.   A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.

     Fat Kid Rules the World by Kelly Going.   Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band.

     Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse.   Thirteen-year-old Nyle learns about relationships and death when fifteen-year-old Ezra, who was exposed to radiation leaked from a nearby nuclear plant, comes to stay at her grandmother's Vermont farmhouse.

     The Maze by Will Hobbs.   Rick, a fourteen-year-old foster child, escapes from a juvenile detention facility near Las Vegas and travels to Canyonlands National Park in Utah where he meets a bird biologist working on a project to reintroduce condors to the wild.

     Keeper of the Night by Kimberly Willis Holt.   Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl living on the island of Guam, and her family try to cope with the death of Isabel's mother who committed suicide.

     Stoner & Spaz by Ronald Koertge.   A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman. 

     Ghost Boy by Iain Lawrence.   Unhappy in a home seemingly devoid of love, a fourteen-year-old albino boy who thinks of himself as Harold the Ghost runs away to join the circus, where he works with the elephants and searches for a sense of who he is.

     A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry.   Thirteen-year-old Meg envys her sister's beauty and popularity. Her feelings don't make it any easier for her to cope with Molly's strange illness and eventual death.

     Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian.   A battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the Second World War.

     A Mango-shaped Space: A Novel by Wendy Mass.   Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss of something important to her.

     After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer.   After discovering her grandfather is dying, fifteen-year-old Rachel gets to know him better than ever before and finds the experience bittersweet.

     In the Face of Danger by Joan Lowery Nixon.   Deeply unhappy about her family's separation because of poverty, Megan gradually finds contentment and purpose in her new home on the Kansas prairie with a kind and loving adopted family.

     Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.   The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
     The Hunger Scream by Ivy Ruckman.  A girl who suffers from anorexia struggles to deal with the problem.

     Missing May by Cynthia Rylant.   After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.

     Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse by Anna Sewell.   A horse in nineteenth-century England encounters many misfortunes until he finds the happiness and contentment he deserves.

     Loser by Jerry Spinelli.  Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.

     Center Line by Joyce Sweeney.  Five teen-aged brothers run away from their alcoholic father in Ohio to search for a new way to live.

     Dan Alone by John Rowe Townsend.  Palmed off to relatives by his mother, eleven-year-old Dan runs away, and after a series of adventures with a family of ne'er-do-wells finally brings together the people who will become the family he's always dreamed of having.

     The Crazy Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher.  A high school athlete, frustrated at being handicapped after an accident, runs away from home and is helped back to mental and physical health by a black benefactor and the people in a special school where he enrolls.

     The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron.

 

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FAMILIES

     Zel by Donna Jo Napoli.  Based on the fairy tale Rapunzel, the story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Zel, her mother, and the nobleman who pursues her, and delves into the psychological motivations of each of the characters.

     Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.   The classic story of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in nineteenth-century New England.

     Eight Cousins or, The Aunt-Hill by Louisa May Alcott.

     Kit's Wilderness by David Almond.   Thirteen-year-old Kit goes to live with his grandfather in the decaying coal mining town of Stoneygate, England, and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past.

     Here's to You, Rachel Robinson by Judy Blume.   Expelled from boarding school, Charles' presence at home proves disruptive, especially for sister Rachel, a gifted seventh grader juggling friendships and school activities.

     Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks.   A sixteen-year-old cellist and musical prodigy travels crosscountry with her father, a product of the 1960s, to meet her mother, who abandoned her as a baby.

     Amazing Gracie by A.E. Cannon.   A high school girl has a lot to deal with in her sophomore year when her beloved mother who is a victim of depression remarries, a new brother is acquired, and the family moves to Salt Lake City.

     The Boy Next Door by Betty Cavanna.   Jane finds herself in a perplexing situation when she learns that her older sister finds Ken very attractive.

     Caramelo: or Pure Cuento: A Novel by Sandra Cisneros.

     Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg.

     The Moonlight Man by Paula Fox.   Fifteen-year-old Catherine and her father take their first joint vacation in Nova Scotia and finally get to know each other.

     Over the Moon by Elissa Haden Guest.   Over protests from her family, sixteen-year-old Kate makes a difficult journey to see her beloved older sister, who ran away without explanation four years before.

     Cousins by Virginia Hamilton.  Concerned that her grandmother may die, Cammy is unprepared for the accidental death of another relative.

     Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes.   On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.

     The First Part Last by Angela Johnson.  Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.

     The Potter's Wheel by Norma Johnston.   When sixteen-year-old Laura attends her wealthy, strong-willed grandmother's birthday celebrations in a village in Pennsylvania her grandmother is restoring, she becomes dramatically reacquainted with various relatives, hears of the dissolution of her parents' marriage, finds out some of her own strengths and talents, and learns what makes her grandmother interfere so forcefully in the lives of her family.

     From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.   Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself.

     The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty.

     Zazoo by Richard Mosher.  Amid old secrets revealed and rifts healed, a thirteen-year-old Vietnamese orphan raised in rural France by her aging "Grand-Pierre" learns about life, death, and love.

     A Family Apart by Joan Lowery Nixon.  When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.

     Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates.   Fifteen-year-old Frankie relates the events of the year leading up to her mother's mysterious disappearance and her own struggle to discover and accept the truth about her parents' relationship.

     In Summer Light by Zibby Oneal.  With the help of an attractive graduate student, Kate endures a summer with her overpowering artist father and gains the courage to pursue her own artistic goals.

     Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson.  Feeling deprived all her life of schooling, friends, mother, and even her name by her twin sister, Louise finally begins to find her identity. 

     The Same Stuff as Stars by Katherine Paterson.  When Angel's self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their poor great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl worries not only about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, the frail old woman, but also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.

     A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck.  During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.  

     Claire at Sixteen by Susan Beth Pfeffer.  To annoy her older sister Thea, satisfy her own ego, and raise much-needed funds for her sick younger sister, sixteen-year-old Claire, a past master at deceit and manipulation, uses a boy in love with Thea to delve into ugly secrets in the past.

     The Blue Door by Ann Rinaldi.  When her grandmother sends her alone on a difficult journey up North, fourteen-year-old Amanda encounters the exploitation of women in textile mills.

     Sydney, Herself by Colby Rodowsky.  As she writes in her self-awareness journal assigned in English class, fifteen-year-old Sydney tries to discover her true identity and comes to terms with her obsession about her absent father.

     A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.  After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune throughout this series of books. 

     Leave Me Alone, Ma by Carol Snyder.   Desperately unhappy and angry because her parents are constantly involved with their jobs, leaving her alone in their New York apartment with her grandmother, fourteen-year-old Jaimie longs for the opportunity to tell everyone how she really feels.

     The Most Important Thing by Jean Ure.  Once out of the shadow of her talented and spoiled sister, fourteen-year-old Nicola begins to seriously pursue ballet even though she has doubts about making a long-term commitment. A sequel to "Supermouse." 

     Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel by Rebecca Wells.

     I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson.    Marie, the only black girl in the eighth grade willing to befriend her white classmate Lena, discovers that Lena's father is doing horrible things to her in private.

     Child of the Owl by Laurence Yep.  A twelve-year-old girl who knows little about her Chinese heritage is sent to live with her grandmother in San Francisco's Chinatown.

    

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FANTASY

     The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander.  To escape the wrath of the king and his wicked soothsayers, an honest young man joins with a poet-turned-jackass and a young girl with mystical powers on a series of epic adventures.

     The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander.  On a visit to a remote European kingdom in 1872, a fearless sixteen-year-old orphan and her guardian research an ancient legend and become enmeshed in a dangerous rebellion.

     Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.   In a land that has been at war so long that no one remembers the reason for fighting, the shapeshifters who rule the two factions agree to marry in the hope of bringing peace, despite deep-seated fear and distrust of each other.

     Perloo the Bold by Avi.   Perloo, a peaceful scholar who has been chosen to succeed Jolaine as leader of the furry underground people called the Montmers, finds himself in danger when Jolaine dies and her evil son seizes control of the burrow.

     The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt.  The Prime Minister is compiling a dictionary and when no one at court can agree on the meaning of delicious, the King sends his twelve-year-old messenger to poll the country.

     Summerland by Michael Chabon.   Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy.

     Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.   When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a most ingenious criminal mastermind, and heir to the Fowl family empire, a centuries-old clan of underworld figures and famous con artists. When Artemis kidnaps Holly Short, one of the Fairy People, to help him on his quest for gold, he takes on a Fairy world determined to rescue Holly.

     Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer.   After Artemis uses stolen fairy technology to create a powerful microcomputer and it is snatched by a dangerous American businessman, Artemis, Juliet, Mulch, and the fairies join forces to try to retrieve it.

     The Grey King by Susan Cooper.  In this fourth book of The Dark Is Rising sequence, Will Stanton, visiting in Wales, is swept into a desperate quest to find the golden harp and to awaken the ancient Sleepers.

     Over Sea, under Stone by Susan Cooper.   Three children on a holiday in Cornwall find an ancient manuscript which sends them on a dangerous quest for a grail that would reveal the true story of King Arthur. 

     The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane.  In New York, cats race to close a gateway to another world, from where dinosaurs are planning an invasion of Earth. The cats are members of an intelligent civilization which has its own language and the novel compares their culture with that of humans.

     The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.   In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

The people of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau. Having escaped to the Unknown Regions, Lina and the others seek help from the village people of Sparks.

     The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.   A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers provides a cure for his boredom.

     Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle.   The fifteen-year-old Murry twins, Sandy and Dennys, are accidentally sent back to a strange Biblical time period, in which mythical beasts roam the desert and a man named Noah is building a boat in preparation for a great flood.

     The Farthest Shore by Ursula LeGuin.  A young prince joins forces with a master wizard on a journey to discover a cause and remedy for the loss of magic in Earthsea.

     The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis.  Bree, a talking horse, and Shasta, a young boy, are joined by the four English children and Aslan to help save Narnia from invasion.

     Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey.  Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

     Harpist in the Wind by Patricia A. McKillip.   In the midst of conflict and unrest the Prince of Hed solves the puzzle of his future when he learns to harp the wind, discovers who the shape changers are, and understands his own relationship to Deth, harpist of the wizard Ohm. 

     The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.  Harry, bored with her sheltered life in the remote orange-growing colony of Daria, discovers magic in herself when she is kidnapped by a native king with mysterious powers.

     Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr by Garth Nix.  When a dangerous necromancer threatens to unleash a long-buried evil, Lirael and Prince Sameth are drawn into a battle to save the Old Kingdom and reveal their true destinies. 

     Abhorsen by Garth Nix.   Abhorsen-In-Waiting Lirael and Prince Sameth, a Wallmaker, must confront and bind the evil spirit Oranis before it can destroy all life.

     The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton.   After escaping from an old English country house, Pod and Homily and Arrietty flee to the field and hedgerow where their troubles continue.

     Eragon by Christopher Paolini.  In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.

Eldest by Christopher Paolini. . After successfully evading an Urgals ambush, Eragon is adopted
into the Ingeitum clan and sent to finish his training so he can further help the Varden in their struggle against the
Empire.

     Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce.  Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy.

     The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.   Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

     The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.   Lyra and Will find themselves at the center of a battle between the forces of the Authority and those gathered by Lyra's father, Lord Asriel.

     Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman.  Lyra and Pantalaimon (now a pine-marten) are back at Oxford. But their peace is shattered by Ragi, the daemon of the witch Yelena, who is searching for a healing elixir to cure his witch.

     Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers.   A thirteen-year-old girl gains a much more sympathetic understanding of her relationship with her mother when she has to spend a day in her mother's body.

     Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.  When the government of the magic world and authorities at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry refuse to believe in the growing threat of a freshly revived Lord Voldemort, fifteen-year-old Harry Potter finds support from his loyal friends in facing the evil wizard and other new terrors.

     The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.

     The Hobbit, or,There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien .  Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.

     The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Pt. 1. The fellowship of the ring.--Pt. 2. The two towers.--Pt. 3. The return of the king. 

     Heart's Blood by Jane Yolen.   Jakkin, now a free dragon trainer, has his plans abruptly changed when he is asked to infiltrate rebel forces taking hold on the planet.

     Hobby: The Young Merlin Trilogy by Jane Yolen.  Young Merlin is orphaned by a fire and joins a traveling pair of magicians who help him begin to discover his true powers.

     Mariel of Redwall by Brian Jacques.   The mousemaid Mariel achieves victory at sea for the animals at Redwall Abbey, fighting the savage pirate rat Gabool the Wild, warlord of redent corsairs.

     The Bellmaker: A Novel of Redwall by Brian Jacques.   Worried about his daughter Mariel, Joseph the Bellmaker is led by a dream from Redwall Abbey to Southsward, where he is caught up in the battle between Squirrelking Gael and the vicious Foxwolf Nagru.

     The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce.  On her first tour as a knight errant, Alanna assumes a position of influence with a fierce desert tribe, makes some changes in the role of women in the society, and continues her own emotional development.

 

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FRIENDSHIP/ROMANCE

     The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott.

     An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott.  Polly's friendship with the wealthy Shaws of Boston helps them to build a new life and teaches her the truth about the relationship between happiness and riches.

     Here's to You, Rachel Robinson by Judy Blume.   Expelled from boarding school, Charles' presence at home proves disruptive, especially for sister Rachel, a gifted seventh grader juggling friendships and school activities.

     Summer Sisters: A Novel by Judy Blume.

     The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares.   Four best girlfriends spend the biggest summer of their lives enchanted by a magical pair of pants. 

     Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

     All-American Girl by Meg Cabot.  A sophomore girl stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed Teen Ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son.

     Among Friends by Caroline Cooney.   Six high school juniors discover surprising, often painful, things about themselves and their relationships with the people around them in the diaries they are asked to keep as a three-month English assignment.

     Remember Me to Harold Square by Paula Danziger.  When Frank spends the summer with Kendra and her family in their New York City apartment, a friendship develops as the two teenagers set off on a scavenger hunt exploring the city's museums, restaurants, and other landmarks.

     Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

     The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss.  Each of the girls in a middle-school clique reveals the strong, manipulative hold one of the group exerts on the others, and the hurt and self-doubt that it causes them.

     Gossip Times Three by Amy Goldman Koss.  The relationships between three friends change in seventh grade when they discover that two of them have a crush on the same boy.

     Anastasia, Absolutely by Lois Lowry.  More adventures of thirteen-year-old Anastasia Krupnick as she tries to deal with a new dog, her school values class, and a personal moral dilemma.

     A Mango-Shaped Space: A Novel by Wendy Mass.  Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss of something important to her.

     Babyface by Norma Fox Mazer.   The sudden departure of her inseparable friend Julie for California and her own father's unexpected illness challenge many of fourteen-year-old Toni's basic assumptions about friendship and her own happy and secure life.

     Mrs. Fish, Ape, and Me, the Dump Queen by Norma Fox Mazer.  A friendless girl, teased mercilessly at school because her uncle manages the town dump, finds a friend in Mrs. Fish, the school custodian, and gradually life becomes more bearable.

     Silver by Norma Fox Mazer.   Despite their different backgrounds, Sarabeth, a teenager living with her mother in a trailer and transferring to a new school, makes friends with Grant and her affluent friends, including troubled Patty who shares a painful secret about her uncle.

     Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.   An adventurous young orphan goes to live on a farm with an elderly brother and sister.

     Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates.  When sixteen-year-old Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid.

     Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.

     Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.  The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

     Remembering the Good Times by Richard Peck.   Trav, Kate, and Buck make up a trio during their freshman year in high school, but their special friendship may not be enough to save Trav as he pressures himself relentlessly to succeed, in his own eyes as well as in the eyes of his parents and the world.

     Define Normal: A Novel by Julie Anne Peters.  When she agrees to meet with Jasmine as a peer counselor at their middle school, Antonia never dreams that this girl with the black lipstick and pierced eyebrow will end up helping her deal with the serious problems she faces at home and become a good friend.

     Slumming by Kristen D. Randle.   In their senior year of high school, three best friends, Nikki, Alicia, and Sam, attempt an "experiment" in which they each befriend a classmate they think needs attention and try to improve that person's life.

     On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.    Fourteen-year-old Georgia continues her diary in which she records her misadventures trying to reclaim the attention of seventeen-year-old Robbie, while coping with her friends, family, and dog-like cat Angus at the same time.

     Holes by Louis Sachar.  As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, 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.

     Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw.  Cyril, an overweight boy who is good friends with Rose but wishes he could be more, helps his best friend Nick woo her with culinary masterpieces which Cyril himself secretly creates. Includes recipes from the story.

     Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.  In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

     Tell Me if the Lovers are Losers by Cynthia Voigt.   In 1961 at a college for academically gifted women, three roommates who differ substantially from each other are brought together by a common interest in volleyball.

     Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel by Rebecca Wells.

     I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson.  Marie, the only black girl in the eighth grade willing to befriend her white classmate Lena, discovers that Lena's father is doing horrible things to her in private.

     Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee.   In a series of journal entries, eleven-year-old child prodigy Millicent Min records her struggles to learn to play volleyball, tutor her enemy, deal with her grandmother's departure, and make friends over the course of a tumultuous summer.

     Crush by Ellen Conford.  A series of nine romantic episodes in the lives of B.J. and other students at Cutter's Forge High as they plan for the Valentine's Day Sweetheart Stomp.

     Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

     The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  

     Gossip Girl: A Novel by Cecily Von Ziegesar.

 

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HISTORICAL FICTION

     I Go by Sea, I Go by Land by P.L. Travers.  The diary, based on actual characters and events, of an eleven-year-old English girl who travels to America with her younger brother when World War II bombing raids threaten their country home.

     Midnight Magic by Avi.   In Italy in 1491, Mangus the magician and his apprentice are summoned to the castle of Duke Claudio to determine if his daughter is indeed being haunted by a ghost.

     Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi.   Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

     Bright Candles; A Novel of the Danish Resistance by Nathaniel Benchley.   The experiences of a sixteen-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation of his country in World War II.

     A Touch of Magic by Betty Cavanna.  Set in Philadelphia, this novel chronicles the lives of some teen-agers during the Revolutionary War. The central figure is Hannah Trent, a quiet Quaker girl who falls in love with one of General Washington's spies.

     The Tamarack Tree: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg by Patricia Clapp.   An eighteen-year-old English girl finds her loyalties divided and all her resources tested as she and her friends experience the terrible physical and emotional hardships of the forty-seven day siege of Vicksburg in the spring of 1863.

     The Winter Hero by James Collier.   Anxious to be a hero, a young boy relates how he becomes involved in Shays' Rebellion begun by farmers in western Massachusetts against unfair taxation levied on them by the Boston government.

My brother Sam is dead bt James.Collier. Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker familyduring the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.

     The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane.   During his service in the Civil War, a young Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.

     Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman.   The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

     The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman.   In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

     The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman.   In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.

     Rodzina by Karen Cushman.   Chicago, 1881 -- Somewhere in Illinois or Iowa -- Omaha -- Grand Island -- Western Nebraska -- Cheyenne -- Prairie east of Cheyenne -- Wyoming territory -- Thousand miles from Omaha -- Ogden, Utah territory -- Nevada -- Virginia City -- California.   A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery. 

     The Door in the Wall by Marguerite D Angeli.  A crippled boy in fourteenth-century England proves his courage and earns recognition from the King.

     An Enemy Among Them by Deborah H. DeFord.    A young Hessian soldier questions his loyalty to his king after fighting with the British in America during the Revolutionary War and spending time as a prisoner in the home of a German American family from Pennsylvania.

     Johnny Tremain: A Novel for Old & Young by Esther Forbes.  The Revolutionary War with its famous Boston Tea Party is described in this historical novel of the revolt in Boston.

     Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse.   An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese.

     The Bridge Between by Norma Johnston.   A fifteen-year-old girl who must care for her younger brothers and sisters tries to protect them from the violence of the American Revolution.

     The Secrets of Vesuvius by Caroline Lawrence.   Ten-year-old Flavia and her friends encounter the Roman admiral Pliny before making a journey to her uncle's farm near Mt. Vesuvius, where they try to solve a riddle, reunite a family, and get out of the path of a natural disaster.

     The Thieves of Osti : A Roman Mystery by Caroline Lawrence.  In Rome in the year 79 A.D., a group of children from very different backgrounds work together to discover who beheaded a pet dog -- and why.

     Touchmark by Mildred Lawrence.   An orphaned girl living in pre-Revolutionary Boston longs to be apprenticed to a pewterer.

     Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian.   A battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the Second World War.

     Summer of the Zeppelin by Elsie McCutcheon.  During the summer of 1918, with her father fighting in Germany and her stepmother perpetually irritable and critical, twelve-year-old Elvira decides to go live with an orphaned friend in an abandonned house and wait out the war. 

     By Secret Railway by Enid La Monte Meadowcroft.   A freed slave is rescued by a white friend when he loses his certificate of freedom and is taken south by slave catchers.

     Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer.  Mary Tudor, who would reign briefly as Queen of England during the mid sixteenth century, tells the story of her troubled childhood as daughter of King Henry VIII.

     Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer.   In 1520, thirteen-year-old Anne Boleyn, jealous of her older sister's beauty and position at court, declares that she will one day be queen of England, and that her sister will kneel at her feet.

     The Song of the Magdalene by Donna Jo Napoli.  Tells the story of Miriam, a young girl being raised by her widowed father in ancient Israel, who grows up to be Mary Magdalene.

     Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli.  After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice.

     The 290 by Scott O'Dell.   A shipyard apprentice finds high adventure aboard the S.S. Alabama, a Confederate ship which sails the Atlantic destroying Union vessels.

     Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell.  Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother who take opposite sides in the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her, Sarah Bishop struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness.

     Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen.  Twelve-year-old Sarny's brutal life as a slave becomes even more dangerous when a newly arrived slave offers to teach her how to read.

     Soldier's Heart: A Novel of the Civil War by Gary Paulsen.  Eager to enlist, fifteen-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.

     The River between Us by Richard Peck.  During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.

     The Slopes of War by Norah A. Perez.  Buck Summerhill, a young soldier from West Virginia, faces the horrors of the Battle of Gettysburg knowing that his two cousins, Curtis and Mason, may be fighting against him in the Army of Northern Virginia.

     The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi.  During the Civil War, Susan finds a way to help the Confederate Army and uncovers a series of mysterious family secrets.

     Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi.  To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, fourteen-year-old Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia as well as a Union spy working in the house of Confederate sympathizer Rose O'Neal Greenhow in Washington, D.C. 

     Quiver by Stephanie Spinner.  When her father commands that she produce an heir, the huntress Atalanta gives her suitors a seemingly impossible task in order to uphold her pledge of chastity, as the gods of ancient Greece look on. 

     Milkweed: A Novel by Jerry Spinelli.   

     The Bombers' Moon by Betty Vander Els.  In the summer of 1942, an American missionary family living in China is separated when the two children are evacuated to India with their school class to escape the Japanese invasion.

     So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins.   A fictionalized autobiography in which eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II.

     The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi.  As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious.

     Jane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron.

     A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

    

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HUMOR

     When Do Fish Sleep? and Other Imponderables of Everyday Life by David Feldman.

     Do Penguins Have Knees? An Imponderables Book by David Feldman.

     Dante's Infernal Guide to Your School by Franklin Allen Behrens.

     The New Yorker Book of Dog Cartoons.

     The Art of the New Yorker, 1925-1995 by Lee Lorenz.

     A Subtreasury of American humor.

     The Little Book of Famous Insults.

     The Face is Familiar; The Selected Verse of Ogden Nash. by Ogden Nash. 

     The Old Dog Barks Backwards by Ogden Nash.

     You Can't Get There from Here; [Poems] by Ogden Nash.

     Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems & Drawings of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein.   A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings.

     The Onion Ad Nauseam.

     Look, Ma, I am Kool! and Other Casuals.  On title page: (Being a collection of humor pieces by youngish writers, in which the question "Whatever happened to literate humor?" is, perhaps, answered)

     Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing from America's Favorite Humorist by Erma Bombeck.

     Oops!: Or, Life's Awful Moments by Art Linkletter.

     Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman.

     The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons.

     Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander.   Living alone in her wagon on the outskirts of a small town while waiting for her father's return, Rizka, a Gypsy and a trickster, exposes the ridiculous foibles of some of the townspeople.

     All-American Girl by Meg Cabot.   A sophomore girl stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed Teen Ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son.

     Princess in Love by Meg Cabot.  In a series of humorous diary entries, a New York City ninth grader agonizes over her love life, final exams, and future role as the princess of Genovia.

     Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.   Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into Mr. Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his own way.

     Matilda by Roald Dahl.  Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.

     The Twinkie Squad by Gordon Korman.   Chaos spreads when Douglas, the most eccentric sixth grader in Thaddeus G. Little Middle School, joins the Twinkie Squad, a special counselling group for problem students. 

     Anastasia, Absolutely by Lois Lowry.  More adventures of thirteen-year-old Anastasia Krupnick as she tries to deal with a new dog, her school values class, and a personal moral dilemma. 

     Homer Price by Robert McCloskey.  Six episodes in the life of Homer Price including one in which he and his pet skunk capture four bandits and another about a donut machine on the rampage.

     Fair Weather: A Novel by Richard Peck.   In 1893, thirteen-year-old Rosie and members of her family travel from their Illinois farm to Chicago to visit Aunt Euterpe and attend the World's Columbian Exposition which, along with an encounter with Buffalo Bill and Lillian Russell, turns out to be a life-changing experience for everyone. 

     I Was a Rat! by Philip Pullman.   A little boy turns life in London upside down when he appears at the house of a lonely old couple and insists he was a rat.

     Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.   Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

     Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas: Further, Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.    The saga of fourteen-year-old Georgia Nicolson continues as she travels to Scotland on a nightmarish family vacation, confesses her anxiety over being the girlfriend of a sex god, and tests the limits of true friendship. 

     Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants: Even Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.    The further confessions of teenaged Georgia Nicolson continue as, among other things, she begins to wonder if Robbie is really the right boy for her.

     The Man Who Ate the 747 by Ben Sherwood.

     A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.  After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune throughout this series of books. 

     Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

     Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade by Jack Gantos.  Copycat -- My brother's finger -- Candy Itani -- Rabies -- Donna Lowry -- Death and taxes -- My brother's arm -- Cocoa beach.   Jack's diary helps him deal with his problems which include dog-eating alligators, a terror for an older sister, a younger brother who keeps breaking parts of himself, and next-door neighbors who are really weird.

     Russell Baker's Book of American Humor.   Stories by N. Johnson, G. Keillor, R. Lardner, O. Henry, B.J. Friedman, L. Rosten, D. Runyon, R. Benchley, R. Blount, Jr., W. Allen, C. Himes, Bob and Ray, B. Vaughn, D. Barthelme, E.B. White, M. Twain, F.P. Dunne, L. Hughes, B. Franklin, by T. Meehan, J. Thurber, P.J. O'Rourke, R. Baker, F. Flagg, M. West, A. Loos, H.L. Mencken, A. Lincoln, S. J. Perlman, F. Gannon, M. O'Donoghue, A.J. Liebling, by D.O. Stewart, B. Harte, N. Ephron, P. De Vries, K. Hubbard, W. Geist, G. Marx, T. Berger, L. R. Hills, A. Ward, B. Ehrenreich, E. Bombeck. M. Arlen, P. Roth, F. Allen, D. Barry, A. Bierce, C. Trillen, M. Ivins, J. Heller, D. R. Locke, W. Irving, R. Ellison, R. Angell. J. Leo, E. Field, V. Geng, A. Buchwald, L. L. King, G. Ade, Z. N. Hurston, D. Marquis, S. Elkin, E. A. Poe, J. Mitchell, J. Shepherd, F. Sullivan, C. Day, M. Royko, F. Lebowitz, T. Wolfe, A. Hoppe, W. K. Zinsser. 

     Marrying Off Mother and Other Stories by Gerald Malcolm Durrell.

     The Best American Humorous Short Stories edited by Robert Newton Linscott.  Swallowing an oyster alive, by J. Robb.--How daddy played hoss, by G. Harris.--The shakers, by A. Ward.--Mrs. McWilliams and the lightning, by M. Twain.--Journalism in Tennessee, by M. Twain.--Brother Rabbit takes some exercise, by J. C. Harris.--How Mr. Rooster lost his dinner, by J. C. Harris.--Colonel Starbottle for the plaintiff, by B. Harte.--A piece of red calico, by F. Stockton.--Mr. Dooley on the game of football, by F. Dunne.--Pigs is pigs, by E. Parker.--The ransom of Red Chief, by O. Henry.--Little gentleman, by B. Tarkington.--Three without doubled, by R. Lardner.--Mr. and Mrs. Fix-it, by R. Lardner.--Death of Red Peril, by W. Edmonds.--Travel is so broadening, by S. Lewis.--The crazy fool, by D. Stewart.--Mr. and Mrs. Haddock abroad, by D. Stewart.--Benny and the bird-dogs, by M. Rawlings.--the legislature, by J. Cain.--The little hours, by D. Parker.--But the one on the right, by D. Parker.--The snatching of Bookie Bob, by D. Runyon.--An interesting cure, by F. Sullivan.--Gendarmes and the man, by D. Moffat.--Carnival days in sunny Las Los, by R. Benchley.--The guest, by M. Connelly.--Primrose path, by S. Benson.--The secret life of Walter Mitty, by J. Thurber.--The night the bed fell, by J. Thurber.--The night the ghost got in, by J. Thurber.--University days, by J. Thurber.--The man who hated moonbaum, by J. Thurber.--Father and his hard-rocking ship, by C. Day. The prince, by R. McKenney.--Chocolate for the woodwork, by A. Kober.--The terrible vengeance of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, by L. Ross.--Hand in nub, by St.C. McKelway.--Down with the restoration, by S.J. Perelman.--Kitchen bouquet, by S.J. Perelman.--Dental or mental, I say it's spinach, by S.J. Perelman.--

 

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MUSIC

     Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Dodds Baker.

     Anything Goes by Madison Smartt Bell.

     Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks.   A sixteen-year-old cellist and musical prodigy travels crosscountry with her father, a product of the 1960s, to meet her mother, who abandoned her as a baby.

     The Slave Dancer; A Novel by Paula Fox.   Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.

     Fat Kid Rules the World by Kelly Going.   Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band. 

     Does This School Have Capital Punishment? by Nat Hentoff.   Sam's oral history project about a legendary jazz musician and a dispute with a troublemaking classmate enliven his first year at Burr Academy.

     Jazz Country by Nat Hentoff.   A sixteen-year-old boy struggles to become a professional jazz musician.

     Wagner by Alexander Hunt.   

     Mountain Solo by Jeanette Ingold.  Back at her childhood home in Missoula, Montana, after a disastrous concert in Germany, a teenage violin prodigy contemplates giving up life with her mother in New York City and her music as she, her father, stepmother, and stepsister hike to a pioneer homesite where another violinist once faced difficult decisions of his own.

     Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula Le Guin.   Seventeen-year-old Owen Griffiths learns to find his own way to a future in science through a friendship with a girl whose life is dedicated to music. 

     Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey.   Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her. 

     The Beethoven Medal by K.M. Peyton.   Patrick Pennington can't seem to avoid getting into trouble despite a promising career as a concert pianist and a growing love for a sixteen-year-old girl. 

     Marion 's Angels by K.M. Peyton.  In hopes of saving a beloved medieval church from ruin, Marion prays for a miracle; but subsequent entanglement in a world of professional musicians who seem to solve her problems leads to some terrible ramifications which make Marion question whether her prayers were really a "success."

     Keeping Time by Colby F. Rodowsky.   Drew, a member of a band of street performers in Baltimore, finds himself slipping back in time to sixteenth-century England, where he acquires the strength to deal with his unusual life style.

     Turn It Up! A Novel by Todd Strasser.   Rock musicians Gary, Susan, Oscar, and Karl are dealt a hard blow while pursuing their dream of stardom. Sequel to "Rock 'N' Roll Nights." 

     The Lark in the Morn by Elfrida Vipont.    The "untalented" child of a musical family finally discovers where she fits in.

    

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MULTICULTURAL

     Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah.

     Only Earth and Sky Last Forever by Nathaniel Benchley.   Although recognizing the end of the Indians' freedom is near, a young Cheyenne still chooses to fight with Crazy Horse at the Little Big Horn to prove himself to the girl he loves. 

     When the Legends Die by Hal Borland.   After being betrayed by his own people and by white men, a Ute Indian boy tries to regain his pride in himself and his heritage. 

     The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.   Wang Lang, a simple peasant farmer, takes as a wife a battered slave girl who becomes an indomitable, loyal woman. Working the land together, they prosper and increase their holdings, yet Wang eventually betrays his family and neglects the earth he had worshipped.

     Samir and Yonatan by Daniella Carmi.   Samir, a Palestinian boy, is sent for surgery to an Israeli hospital where he has two otherworldly experiences, making friends with an Israeli boy, Yonatan, and traveling with him to Mars where Samir finds peace about his brother's death in the war. 

     The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert De Jong.   Alone in a sampan with his pig and three ducklings, a little Chinese boy is whirled down a raging river, back to the town from which he and his parents had escaped the invading Japanese, and spends long and frightening days regaining his family and new home. 

     Tulku by Peter Dickinson.   A thirteen-year-old boy escapes from slaughter by the Boxers in China and joins forces with an English botanist and her escort, traveling with them to Tibet where the power of Buddhist monks transforms the lives of all of them.

     Neela, Victory Song by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.   In 1939, twelve-year-old Neela meets a young freedom fighter at her sister's wedding and soon after must rely on his help when her father fails to return home from a march in Calcutta against British occupation. 

     Morning Girl by Michael Dorris.   Morning Girl, who loves the day, and her younger brother Star Boy, who loves the night, take turns describing their life on an island in pre-Columbian America; in Morning Girl's last narrative, she witnesses the arrival of the first Europeans to her world.

     Zulu Dog by Anton Ferreira.    In post-apartheid South Africa, a Zulu boy keeps secrets from his family as he cares for an injured dog and befriends the daughter of a white farmer.

     Blue Willow by Doris Gates.   A little girl, who wants most of all to have a real home and to go to a regular school, hopes that the valley her family has come to, which so resembles the pattern on her treasured blue willow plate, will be their permanent home.

     Water Sky by Jean Craighead George.   A boy who goes to Barrow, Alaska, to live with friends of his father for awhile learns the importance of whaling to the Eskimo culture. 

     The Ceremony of Innocence by Jamake Highwater.   Alone and destitute after the death of her husband, Amana finds lasting friendship, love and disillusionment, and eventually moves to a trading post town where she strives to give her daughter and grandchildren a sense of pride in their Indian heritage.

     Eyes of Darkness: A Novel by Jamake Highwater.   A Santee Sioux Indian named Yesa, after being taken at age seventeen to live among white men, becomes a doctor and then returns to the reservation to live as an Indian. 

     I Wear the Morning Star by Jamake Highwater.   Sitko, growing up in a hostile white world that tries to make him renounce his heritage as an American Indian, finds refuge in the pictures he paints.

     The Sun, He Dies: A Novel about the End of the Aztec World by Jamake Highwater.   A fictionalized account of Cortes's victory over the Aztec empire told from the Aztec point of view.

     The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler.   While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.

     Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth (Foreman) Lewis.   In the 1920's a Chinese youth from the country comes to Chungking with his mother where the bustling city offers adventure and his apprenticeship to a coppersmith brings good fortune. 

     One Bird by Kyoko Mori.   After her mother abandons them, fifteen-year-old Megumi tries to understand her father's need for his mistress while dealing with her own aching isolation.

     Zazoo by Richard Mosher.   Amid old secrets revealed and rifts healed, a thirteen-year-old Vietnamese orphan raised in rural France by her aging "Grand-Pierre" learns about life, death, and love.

     Chain of Fire by Beverley Naidoo.   When the villagers of Bophelong are forced to leave their houses and resettle in a barren "homeland," thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother join in a school demonstration and learn that the South African government treats even children who dissent with brutality. 

     The Song of the Magdalene by Donna Jo Napoli.   Tells the story of Miriam, a young girl being raised by her widowed father in ancient Israel, who grows up to be Mary Magdalene.

     The Amethyst Ring by Scott O'Dell.   Spanish seminarian Julián Escobar, known to the Mayas as Lord Kukulcán and worshipped as a god, witnesses the fall of the Mayan and Incan civilizations with the coming of Cortés and Pizarro. 

     The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell.  In claiming as his own the magnificent black pearl he finds, a sixteen-year-old youth enrages the sea devil who legend says is its owner. 

     The Captive by Scott O'Dell.   As part of a Spanish expedition to the New World, a Jesuit seminarian witnesses the enslavement and exploitation of the Mayas and his own seduction by greed and ambition. 

     Cuba 15: A Novel by Nancy Osa.   Violet Paz, a Chicago high school student, reluctantly prepares for her upcoming "quince," a Spanish nickname for the celebration of an Hispanic girl's fifteenth birthday. 

     A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park.   Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.

     When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park.   With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.

     Of Nightingales that Weep by Katherine Paterson.   The vain young daughter of a samurai finds her comfortable life ripped apart when opposing warrior clans begin a struggle for imperial control of Japan.

     Haveli by Suzanne Fisher Staples.  Having relented to the ways of her people in Pakistan and married the rich older man to whom she was pledged against her will, Shabanu is now the victim of his family's blood feud and the malice of his other wives. Sequel to "Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind."  

     Shiva's Fire by Suzanne Fisher Staples.   In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.

     Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples.   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 whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes.

     The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan.

     The Bombers' Moon by Betty Vander Els.   In the summer of 1942, an American missionary family living in China is separated when the two children are evacuated to India with their school class to escape the Japanese invasion.

     So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins.   A fictionalized autobiography in which eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II.

     Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan.  When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it.  

     Dragonwings by Laurence Yep.   In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine. 

     Mountain Light by Laurence Yep.   Swept up in one of the local rebellions against the Manchus in China, nineteen-year-old Squeaky loses his home and travels to America to seek his fortune among the gold fields of California. 

     Ties that Bind, Ties that Break: A Novel by Lensey Namioka.  In early twentieth-century China, Ailin's liberal father allows her to avoid the tradition of foot-binding, but a broken engagement makes her family fear for her future. Ailin's intelligence and hard work--and a lot of luck--lead her to a new life in America.

 

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MYSTERY

     Race Against Time by Jennifer Austin.   Eighteen-year-old Cassie Jones uncovers a dark side to the world of thoroughbred racing when she investigates the disappearance of a horse that had been favored to win the Kentucky Derby.

     Kneeknock Rise by Natalie Babbitt.  Everyone else in the village is afraid of the creature who supposedly dwells at the top of Kneeknock Rise but young Egan investigates for himself.

     The Da Vinci code: A Novel by Dan Brown.

     The Court of the Stone Children by Eleanor Cameron.  Aided by the journal of a young woman who lived in nineteenth-century France, Nina solves a murder mystery dormant since the time of Napoleon.

     Bell, Book, and Scandal: A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill.

     In the Middle of the Night by Robert Cormier.  Sixteen-year-old Denny lives in the shadow of a deadly accident with which his father was connected when he was Denny's age, a disaster for which some of the survivors still blame his father.

     The Baker Street Dozen by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Contains Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's thirteen favorite Sherlock Holmes tales. Includes an essay by a prominent Sherlockian.

     Don't Look Behind You by Lois Duncan.   Seventeen-year-old April finds her comfortable life changed forever when death threats to her father, a witness in a federal case, force her family to go into hiding under assumed names and flee the pursuit of a hired killer.

     The Black Stallion Mystery by Walter Farley.   In an attempt to clear up a mystery, Alec, his friend Henry and the black stallion journey to Spain, only to find greater mystery and adventure awaiting them.

     Ride a Dark Horse by Lynn Hall.  Seventeen-year-old Gusty finds herself in increasing danger as she tries to prove her suspicions about dishonest breeding practices at the horse farm where she works.

     Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye.   When Linka Perflinger, a jaunty mouse, brings a watch into his shop to be repaired and then disappears, Hermux Tantamoq is caught up in a world of dangerous search for eternal youth as he tries to find out what happened to her.

     The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler.   While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.

     Fell Back by M.E. Kerr.  When a classmate at his exclusive private school falls to his death from a tower, seventeen-year-old John Fell is determined to find out whether the incident was suicide, accident, or murder.

     The Dani Trap by Elizabeth Levy.  Shortly after sixteen-year-old Dani volunteers to work undercover in a police investigation of illegal liquor sales to teenagers, she finds herself being framed as a accomplice in a liquor store holdup.

     Secret, Silent Screams by Joan Lowery Nixon.  A high school senior is convinced her friend Barry did not commit suicide but was a murder victim, and she endangers her own life to prove it.

     The Dark Canoe by Scott O'Dell.  A sixteen-year-old boy sails from nineteenth-century Nantucket to a remote California bay with his two older brothers and finds himself in mysterious circumstances involving the death of one brother and the strange obsession of the other.

     The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman.   In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby.

     The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  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.

     Out of the Deep by Gloria Skurzynski.   Jack, Ashley, and their unreliable new foster sister set out to solve the mystery of why whales are beaching themselves at Acadia National Park.

     Janie's Private Eyes by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.   Intent on investigating a rash of dog disappearances, eight-year-old Janie forms a detective agency and involves her friends and unwilling family in tracing clues and suspects.

     For Mike by Shelley Sykes.   When Jeff's best friend Mike disappears in the fall of their senior year in high school, Jeff has disturbing dreams in which Mike urges him to come get him, and a secret begins to unfold.

     Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen.   Thirteen-year-old Sammy's penchant for speaking her mind gets her in trouble when she involves herself in the investigation of a robbery at the "seedy" hotel across the street from the seniors' building where she is living with her grandmother.

     Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception by Wendelin Van Draanen.   CD contents: Interview with Wendelin Van Draanen (23:37) -- Reading from Sammy Keyes and the search for snake eyes (11:38) -- Sammy Keyes song (3:57)   Seventh-grade sleuth Sammy Keyes investigates mysterious happenings at a local art gallery.

     The Man in the Woods by Rosemary Wells.   Fourteen-year-old Helen investigates what she considers the false arrest of a classmate and is nearly killed herself as her findings lead her into big-money drug dealings.

     Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie Barron.

     The Cat Who Smelled a Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun.

     A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie.

     The Trouble with Lemons by Daniel Hayes.   Tyler and Lymie, eighth grade misfits, discover a dead body in a quarry and work to uncover the mystery behind it.

     The Séance by Joan Lowery Nixon.  The séance started as a game, but it led to murder and terror for the people of a small east Texas community.

     Twisted Summer by Willo Davis Roberts.   Fourteen-year-old Cici hopes for a romantic summer at the beach but instead finds herself trying to solve a murder which had occurred there the previous year. 

     Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries by Alfred Hitchcock.  At head of title: Alfred Hitchcock's. Contents: The mystery of the five sinister thefts--The mystery of the seven wrong clocks--The mystery of the three blind mice--The mystery of the man who evaporated--The mystery of the four quarters.

 

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SCIENCE FICTION

     The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

     Feed by M.T. Anderson.  In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

     Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

     Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.

     Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

     2001, A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.

     King of Shadows by Susan Cooper.   While in London as part of an all-boy acting company preparing to perform in a replica of the famous Globe Theatre, Nat Field suddenly finds himself transported back to 1599 and performing in the original theater under the tutelage of Shakespeare himself.

     Prey by Michael Crichton.

     The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm: A Novel by Nancy Farmer.  In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic mine while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.

     The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.   In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

     Dustland by Virginia Hamilton.  Four children, all possessing extraordinary mental powers, are projected far into the future to a bleak region called Dustland.

     Alien Secrets by Annette Curtis Klause.

     A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle.  The youngest of the Murry children must travel through time and space in a battle against an evil dictator who would destroy the entire universe.

     City of Illusions by Ursula LeGuin.  After living for five years with the family of the House of Zove, the stranger known as Falk leaves them to discover his true identity.

     The Giver by Lois Lowry.   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.

     Aliens in the Family by Margaret Mahy.  Jake Raven, expecting to dislike her new stepsister and stepbrother, ends up helping them protect an alien from another dimension as he flees from mysterious pursuers with the ability to alter time.

     Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey.  Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

     Enchantment at Delphi by Richard L. Purtill.   Fascinated by the temple ruins at Delphi, a young girl manages to slip into the site when it is deserted and finds herself involved in a strange adventure.

     Keeping Time by Colby Rodowsky.  Drew, a member of a band of street performers in Baltimore, finds himself slipping back in time to sixteenth-century England, where he acquires the strength to deal with his unusual life style.

     The Dark Side of Nowhere: A Novel by Neal Shusterman.   Fourteen-year-old Jason faces an identity crisis after discovering that he is the son of aliens who stayed on earth following a botched invasion mission.

     House of Stairs by William Sleator.  Five fifteen-year-old orphans of widely varying personality characteristics are involuntarily placed in a house of endless stairs as subjects for a psychological experiment on conditioned human response.

     20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne.  A nineteenth-century science fiction tale of an electric submarine, its eccentric captain, and undersea world, which anticipated many of the scientific achievements of the twentieth century.

     The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.   An intellectually superior race invades the earth.

     Urn Burial by Robert Westall.   Ralph's discovery of the burial site of a creature from another world leads him into a chilling supernatural adventure.

     The Devil on the Road by Robert Westall.   While seeking shelter from a sudden rainstorm in an old barn, a young motorcyclist finds himself catapulted into a mid-17th century England troubled by witch hunts. 

     Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix.  In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.

     Dune by Frank Herbert.

     Nebula Awards 33: The Year's Best SF and Fantasy Chosen by the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.    Sister Emily's lightship / Jane Yolen -- Itsy bitsy spider / James Patrick Kelly -- The Nebula award for best novel / Connie Willis -- An excerpt from The moon and the sun / Vonda N. McIntyre -- The flowers of Aulit Prison / Nancy Kress -- The crab lice / Gregory Feeley -- The 1997 author emeritus: Nelson Bond / Connie Willis -- The bookshop / Nelson Bond -- Three hearings on the existence of snakes in the human bloodstream / James Alan Gardner -- The dead / Michael Swanwick -- Rhysling award winners / W. Gregory Stewart, Terry A. Garey -- The Elizabeth complex / Karen Joy Fowler -- Abandon in place / Jerry Oltion -- The grand master award: Poul Anderson / Connie Willis -- A tribute to Poul Anderson / Jack Williamson -- The Martyr / Poul Anderson -- Alive and well: messages from the edge (almost) of the Millennium -- A few last words to put it all in perspective / Connie Willis.

 

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SPORTS

    Babe Didrikson Zaharias: the making of a champion by Russell Freedman.   A biography of Babe Didrikson, who broke records in golf, track and field, and other sports, at a time when there were few opportunities for female athletes.

    Winning by C.S. Adler.  Vicky is thrilled to be on the eighth-grade tennis team, until she realizes that her new playing partner Brenda is ruthless about winning and will even cheat to do so.

    My brother, Angel by Hilary Beckett.  Carlos manages to care for his five-year-old brother during his mother's absence despite the pressure of an upcoming championship basketball game.

    Tangerine by Edward Bloor.   Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight. 

    Summerland by Michael Chabon.   Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy.    

    Whale talk by Chris Crutcher.   Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.

    Tournament upstart by Thomas J. Dygard.  Under the leadership of their new young coach, a Class B high school basketball team from the Ozark foothills challenges big-city schools for the state championship.

    Winning kicker by Thomas J. Dygard.   Relates what happens when a girl place-kicker joins a champion high school football team. 

    Noonan: a novel about baseball, ESP, and time warps by Leonard Everett Fisher.  A knock on the head with a baseball catapults a young baseball player one hundred years into the future to the year 1996.

    Joey Pigza loses control by Jack Gantos.   Joey, who is still taking medication to keep him from getting too wired, goes to spend the summer with the hard-drinking father he has never known and tries to help the baseball team he coaches win the championship. 

    Listen to the nightingale by Rumer Godden.   When she wins a scholarship to a famous ballet school, Lottie, an orphan reared by the costume mistress for a London ballet company, is torn between her lifelong dream and her love for a puppy.

    Snow in August: a novel by Pete Hamill.

    Dancer by Lorri Hewett.   Sixteen-year-old Stephanie struggles to perfect her ballet dancing as her classes are complicated by the introduction of a new male dancer. 

    Hear the wind blow by Patricia Pendergraft.   Twelve-year-old Isadora watches as her deeply religious best friend tries to reform the school troublemaker, Haskell Moore, who enjoys teasing Isadora about her dancing aspirations.

    The necessary hunger: a novel by Nina Revoyr.   

    Shiva's fire by Suzanne Fisher Staples.   In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.

    The most important thing by Jean Ure.  Once out of the shadow of her talented and spoiled sister, fourteen-year-old Nicola begins to seriously pursue ballet even though she has doubts about making a long-term commitment. A sequel to "Supermouse."  

    Tell me if the lovers are losers by Cynthia Voigt.   In 1961 at a college for academically gifted women, three roommates who differ substantially from each other are brought together by a common interest in volleyball. 

    The kings are already here by Garret Weyr.  Two teenagers, one obsessed with the world of ballet and the other with that of chess, join together in a quest across Europe and begin to learn not only how to connect with other people, but why.

    Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff.  In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one sixth-grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface.

    Sea glass by Laurence Yep.   A Chinese-American boy whose father wants him to be good in sports finally asserts his right to be himself.   

    Ironman: a novel by Chris Crutcher.   While training for a triathlon, seventeen-year-old Bo attends an anger management group at school which leads him to examine his relationship with his father.

    Running loose by Chris Crutcher.   Louie, a high school senior in a small Idaho town, learns about sportsmanship, love, and death as he matures into manhood.

    Stotan! by Chris Crutcher.   A high school coach invites members of his swimming team to a memorable week of rigorous training that tests their moral fiber as well as their physical stamina.  

    Athletic shorts: six short stories by Chris Crutcher.   Foreword--A brief moment in the life of Angus Bethune -- Pin -- Other pin--Goin' fishin'--Telephone man--In the time I get.   These stories feature new voices as well as characters from Chris Crutcher's acclaimed popular novels.

    Heart of a champion by Carl Deukner.

    Blue Tights by Rita Williams-Garcia.   Growing up in a city neighborhood, fifteen-year-old Joyce, unsure of herself and not quite comfortable with her maturing body, tries to find a place to belong and a way to express herself through dance.

    Winners and losers; an anthology of great sports fiction by L.M. Schulman .  Alibi Ike, by R. Lardner.--The Mexican, by J. London.--First Game, by T. Gallagher.--Champion's Due, by C. F. Coe.--Hundred Dollar Eyes, by B. Farbar.--Dormie One, by H. Hall.--The Ballplayer, by S. Elkin.--Tennis, by R. Angell.--Ping-Pong, by S. McKelway.--The Monarch's Last Tanto, by R. Sylvester.--My Old Man, by E. Hemingway.--The Bear, by W. Faulkner. 

    A whole other ball game: women's literature on women's sport.    Springboard/Adrienne Rich--Introduction / Joli Sandoz -- Raymond's run/Toni Cade Bambara--74th street/Myra Cohn Livingston -- Posting-up/Stephanie Grant -- Poem for my youth/poen for young women/Eloise Klein Healy--From Lady Lobo/Kristen Garrett--Sports afield/Judith Wright -- From All the way home/Ellen Cooney--Morning athletes / Marge Piercy -- Competition/Mariah Burton Nelson--October 1968, Mexico City (from Aquamarine)/Carol Anshaw--From "Candy Butcher"/Fannie Hurst--The lady pitcher/Cynthia Macdonald -- Revenge/Ellen Gilchrist--To throw like a girl/Nancy Boutilier- When I am 98/Carolyn Kremers--Atalanta in Cape Fair /Jessie Rehder--Women's tug of war at Lough Arrow/Tess Gallagher--Wet/Laurie Colwin--From Water dancer/Jenifer Levin -- Joan Benoit: 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist/Rina Ferrarelli--The loveliness of the long distance runner/Sara Maitland -- To swim, to believe/Maxine Kumin--Teamwork/Lucy Jane Bledsoe--Diamonds, dykes, and double plays/Pat Griffin -- A night game in Menomonie Park/Susan Firer--From In the year of the boar and Jackie Robinson/Bette Bao Lord -- Lindy Lowe at ba/Rebecca Rul --Double play/Eloise Klein Healy--From In Shelly's leg/Sara Bogan-- Hotshot/Nancy Boutilier -- Most valuable playe/Sarah Van Arsdale--A gold lullaby/Margaret Barbour --Two champions in the family/Elizabeth Corbett--The pregnant lady playing tennis/Karen Volkman--Scotti scores/Jane Gilliland--Skating after school/Barbara Crooker -- Revenge/Abbe Carter Goodlow--Her marathon/Jenifer Levin.  

   

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WAR

     I Go by Sea, I Go by Land by P.L. Travers.  The diary, based on actual characters and events, of an eleven-year-old English girl who travels to America with her younger brother when World War II bombing raids threaten their country home. 

     Traveller: A Novel by Richard Adams.   Examines the events of the Civil War through the eyes of General Robert E. Lee's closest companion and devoted horse, Traveller.

    Ghost Soldier by Elaine Marie Alphin.   Alexander, in North Carolina while his father decides whether to remarry and move there, meets the ghost of a Confederate soldier and helps him look for his family.

     The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War by Howard Bahr.

     The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War by Howard Bahr.

     Evvy's Civil War by Miriam Brenaman.   In Virginia in 1860, on the verge of the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Evvy chafes at the restrictions that her society places on both women and slaves.

     Samir and Yonatan by Daniella Carmi.   Samir, a Palestinian boy, is sent for surgery to an Israeli hospital where he has two otherworldly experiences, making friends with an Israeli boy, Yonatan, and traveling with him to Mars where Samir finds peace about his brother's death in the war.

     A Touch of Magic by Betty Cavanna.   Set in Philadelphia, this novel chronicles the lives of some teen-agers during the Revolutionary War. The central figure is Hannah Trent, a quiet Quaker girl who falls in love with one of General Washington's spies. 

     The Incredible Deborah; A Story Based on the Life of Deborah Sampson by Cora Cheney.   A fictional account of the life of a colonial girl, who, anxious to escape the narrow prescribed life of a female, disguises herself and serves with the Continental Army for three years during the Revolution. 

     Echoes of the White Giraffe by Sook Nyul Choi.   Fifteen-year-old Sookan adjusts to life in the refugee village in Pusan but continues to hope that the civil war will end and her family will be reunited in Seoul. 

     The Tamarack Tree: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg by Patricia Clapp.   An eighteen-year-old English girl finds her loyalties divided and all her resources tested as she and her friends experience the terrible physical and emotional hardships of the forty-seven day siege of Vicksburg in the spring of 1863.

     My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier.    Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.

     The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane.   

     The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert De Jong.   Alone in a sampan with his pig and three ducklings, a little Chinese boy is whirled down a raging river, back to the town from which he and his parents had escaped the invading Japanese, and spends long and frightening days regaining his family and new home. 

     Johnny Tremai : A Novel for Old & Young by Esther Forbes.   The Revolutionary War with its famous Boston Tea Party is described in this historical novel of the revolt in Boston.

     Dove Song by Kristine L. Franklin.   When eleven-year-old Bobbie Lynn's father is reported missing in action in Vietnam, she and her thirteen-year-old brother must learn to cope with their own despair, as well as their mother's breakdown. 

     The Little Fishes by Erik Christian Haugaard.   A tale of the tragedy of war: the story of a twelve-year-old orphaned beggar in occupied Italy, his daily search for food and for meaning in the life he witnesses, and the development of compassion and understanding that will help him survive. 

     Aleutian sparrow by Karen Hesse.   An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese. 

     Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt.   Jethro, who is nine years old when the first April blooms, must run the farm in southern Illinois almost alone during the Civil War. Dangers on the home front prove as exciting as those in battle.

     The Bridge Between by Norma Johnston.  A fifteen-year-old girl who must care for her younger brothers and sisters tries to protect them from the violence of the American Revolution. 

     Listen for Rachel by Lou Kassem.   Moving up into the mountains of Tennessee introduces Rachel to a possible calling, as she learns about folk medicine from a local healer, until the Civil War divides the family loyalties and brings romance into her life.

     Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith.   The story of Jeff Bussey, a farm boy living in 1861, who joins the Union army and goes on an important mission to discover how Stand Watie and his Confederate Cherokee Rebels are receiving repeating rifles from northern manufacturers.

     The Spring Rider by John (John Shults) Lawson.   A brother and sister become involved with the ghost of a Union soldier who returns to life each spring and, with his regiment, reenacts a Civil War battle which took place one hundred years before.

     Silver Days by Sonia Levitin.   Escaping from Hitler's Germany, a prosperous Jewish family lives in a New York City tenement until Papa decides to move the family to California.

     Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian.   A battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the Second World War.  

     In Country: A Novel by Bobbie Ann Mason.  Sam Hughes lives in Hopewell, Kentucky with her Uncle Emmett who is a Vietnam veteran. Sam's father was killed in Vietnam and she wants to understand about the war, but Emmett and other vets refuse to tell her much.

     Summer of the Zeppelin by Elsie McCutcheon.  During the summer of 1918, with her father fighting in Germany and her stepmother perpetually irritable and critical, twelve-year-old Elvira decides to go live with an orphaned friend in an abandonned house and wait out the war.

     Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

     Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers.   Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

     Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli.   After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice. 

     The 290 by Scott O'Dell.   A shipyard apprentice finds high adventure aboard the S.S. Alabama, a Confederate ship which sails the Atlantic destroying Union vessels.

     Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell.  Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother who take opposite sides in the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her, Sarah Bishop struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness.

     Sarny, a Life Remembered by Gary Paulsen.  Continues the adventures of Sarny, the slave girl Nightjohn taught to read, through the aftermath of the Civil War during which time she taught other Blacks and lived a full life until age ninety-four.

     Soldier's Heart: A Novel of the Civil War by Gary Paulsen.   Eager to enlist, fifteen-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat. 

     The River between Us by Richard Peck.  During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois. 

     The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi.  During the Civil War, Susan finds a way to help the Confederate Army and uncovers a series of mysterious family secrets. 

     A Ride into Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick by Ann Rinaldi.   When unrest spreads at the Revolutionary War camp in Morristown, New Jersey, under the command of General Anthony Wayne, a young woman cleverly hides her horse from the mutinous soldiers who have need of it. 

     Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South by Ann Rinaldi.  In South Carolina in 1780, fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll among her family and friends and comes to understand the true nature of war. 

     Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi.   To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, fourteen-year-old Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia as well as a Union spy working in the house of Confederate sympathizer Rose O'Neal Greenhow in Washington, D.C. 

     The Bombers' Moon by Betty Vander Els.   In the summer of 1942, an American missionary family living in China is separated when the two children are evacuated to India with their school class to escape the Japanese invasion. 

     Unto This Hour: A Novel by Tom Wicker.   Recreates the Second Battle of Bull Run, August, 28-30, 1862, with characters both real and fictional.

     Caribou by Meg Wolitzer.  When Becca's older brother Stevie is selected for the draft during the Vietnamese War, he decides to go to Canada instead, leaving his family upset and divided by his refusal to go to war.

       A Separate Peace by John Knowles.   

 

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