Best Books for Young Adults - 2003

- chosen as one of the top 10 books this year

Fiction:

Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free.
12-year-old Anita de le Torres' increasing physical maturity is matched by an increasing social awareness, not only of the boys around her but also of the mounting danger to her family, active opponents of the Dominican dictator, Trujillo. (YA Fic  Alvarez)

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Catalyst.
Kate Malone, the preacher's daughter, learns there is more to life than her obsession about getting into MIT when she becomes involved with her tragedy-stricken neighbors. (YA Fic  Anderson)

Anderson, M. T. Feed.
Titus and Violet are teenagers living in a future society where corporations define the lives and lifestyles of Americans and where it has become common for prosperous parents to endow their newborn children with Feed: mini-computers with wireless Internet connections that are implanted in their heads. (YA Fic SF  Anderson)

Auch, Mary Jane. ASHES OF ROSES
16-year-old Irish immigrant Rose Nolan survives the breakup of her family on Ellis Island, an uncomfortable stay with resentful relatives, and a sweatshop owner's roving hands before finally landing a choice job in New York City's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Bardi, Abby. The Book of Fred: A Novel.
How do the lives of 15-year-old Heather, her mother and uncle change when 15-year-old Mary Fred Anderson, raised in a fundamentalist commune, is placed in their home as a foster child? (Fic  Bardi)

Barker, Clive. Abarat.
Candy Quackenbush leaves her home in Chickentown, Minnesota and enters the magical world of Abarat, where she is pursued by the wicked Lord Carrion. (Juv Fic SF  Barker)

Bechard, Margaret. Hanging on to Max.
17-year-old teen father Sam juggles the care of his eleven-month-old son, Max, and his desires for both of their futures. (YA Fic  Bechard)

Black, Holly. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale.
Kaye never imagined that saving the life of the impossibly gorgeous Roiben would bring her to the attention of the unseelie court, as the intended sacrifice for the tithe. Or does it? (YA Fic SF  Black)

Blackwood, Gary L. YEAR OF THE HANGMAN
In an alternate "what-if" history, set in 1777, a rowdy English teen encounters the remnants of the unsuccessful American Revolution when he is exiled to the Colonies.

Breslin, Theresa. REMEMBRANCE.
The chaos and waste on the battlefields of World War I cause a comparable upheaval to traditional ways of life in the tiny Scots village that was home for Charlotte Armstrong Barnes and her brother Francis, from the big house, and Maggie Dundas and her brother John Malcolm, from the shop, in this tender love-and-war story.

Chambers, Aidan. Postcards from No Man's Land.
Jacob's visit to the seductive city of Amsterdam reveals family secrets and new ideas about sexuality and death, as he learns of a passionate love story from his family's past and perhaps begins to create one of his own. (YA Fic  Chambers)

Clements, Andrew. Things Not Seen.
15-year old Bobby Phillips wakes one morning to find that he is invisible. (YA Fic  Clements)

Cohn, Rachel. Gingerbread.
When 16-year-old Cyd Charisse is sent to New York to stay with her bio dad she gets to know not only her older brother and the sister who calls her "Daddy's little indiscretion" but also herself. (YA Fic  Cohn)

Crowe, Chris. MISSISSIPPI TRIAL, 1955
A gripping novel based on the true story of fourteen-year-old Emett Till, whose brutal lynching for whistling at a white woman helped to launch the Civil Rights movement.

de Lint, Charles. SEVEN WILD SISTERS. Illustrated by Charles Vess.
When one of seven red-haired sisters befriends a backwoods wisewoman, she unwittlingly draws all of them into a centuries-old feud between the bee fairies and 'sangmen' in this modern fairy tale.

Desai Hidier, Tanuja. Born Confused.
In the summer before her senior year, 17-year-old Dimple is confused about her relationships with her family, her heritage, and her beautiful best friend. (YA Fic  Desai Hidier)

Dessen, Sarah. This Lullaby.
Made cynical by her romance novelist mother's five failed marriages, Remy Starr is stunned to discover that her heart may not be made of stone, when she reluctantly falls for quirky-cute Dexter the summer before she leaves for college. (YA Fic  Dessen)

Ellis, Deborah. Parvana's Journey.
After her father died of the sickness that had dogged him since they had left Kabul, thirteen-year-old Parvana, disguised as a boy, wanders alone through war-torn Afghanistan looking for her mother and siblings who had disappeared in the tumult of the Taliban takeover of Mazer-e-Sharif, and forming a new family of abandoned children she has met along the way. (Juv Fic  Ellis)

Etchemendy, Nancy. Cat in Glass and Other Tales of the Unnatural. Illustrated by David Ouimet.
These eight tales range from the supernatural to the unknown to the horrific. (YA Fic M  Etchemendy)

Fama, Elizabeth. Overboard.
While on a trip to visit her uncle, Emily escapes a sinking ferry and finds herself-and a young, courageous Muslim boy-adrift in the waters off the islands of Sumatra. (Juv Fic  Fama)

Farmer, Nancy. The House of the Scorpion.
Matt is a clone. Livestock. No better than an animal. Generally, human clones have their brains destroyed at birth, but for some reason, Matt's patron has left his mind in tact. What could he want from him? (YA Fic SF  Farmer)

Ferris, Jean. Once Upon a Marigold.
Christian decides to leave his foster father, Ed the Troll, and his life in the forest in order to meet the princess he has observed through his telescope. (Juv Fic SF  Ferris)

Frank, E. R. America.
A young man named America gets "lost" in the social welfare system and after a series of foster homes, hospitals, and suicide attempts, he meets a caring psychiatrist who refuses to give up on him. (YA Fic  Frank)

Frank, Hillary. BETTER THAN RUNNING AT NIGHT
Native New Yorker Ellie Yelinsky's freshman year at art school turns into an unexpectedly strange and wonderful experience, as Ellie dances with the Devil and learns that painting is more about craft than it is about angst.

Froese, Deborah. OUT OF THE FIRE.
A careless moment at a teen bonfire party forces Dayle to re-evaluate her values and her relationships with her friends and family.

Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. Illustrated by Dave McKean.
One day, while exploring her family's new home, Coraline wanders down the wrong corridor. (Juv Fic M  Gaiman)

Giff, Patricia Reilly. Pictures of Hollis Woods.
An artistic foster child who has bounced from place to place seeks a real home and recalls the tragedy of the previous summer. (Juv Fic  Giff)

Giles, Gail. Shattering Glass.
Rob is very popular, and Rob is used to getting his own way. When he decides to make Simon Glass, class geek, popular, it surprises everyone. Especially Simon. What Rob doesn't count on is the iron will beneath Simon's push-over exterior. (YA Fic  Giles)

Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest. Edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling; Illustrated by Charles Vess.
Eighteen stories and poems that celebrate the pagan myth of the Green Man and other friendly or frightening fairy folk. (Juv Fic SF  Green)

Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade.
18 inner city teens in Mr. Ward's English class tell about their lives through text and poetry as they participate in weekly "Open Mike Fridays." This exercise brings them together, opens them up to one another, and forces them to learn about themselves and the people around them. (YA Fic  Grimes)

Halam, Ann. Dr. Franklin's Island.
While on their way to a special science camp in Ecuador, Arnie, Semi and Miranda find themselves the sole survivors of a plane wreck, and become castaways on a deserted island. Or so they think. Little do they know that the island is home to a mad genetic scientist who is just waiting for fresh teenage flesh to inject with animal genes. (Juv Fic SF  Halam)

Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot.
New to Florida and Trace Middle School, Ray Eberhardt is at the mercy of the local bully but intrigued by a strange unschooled kid whose passion for the local wildlife leads them both into a crusade against a new pancake shop that will displace a colony of burrowing owls. (YA Fic  Hiaasen)

Holeman, Linda. SEARCH OF THE MOON KING'S DAUGHTER
When Emmeline's mother sells her little brother to a master sweep to get money for drams of opiate to take away her pain, Emmeline must leave everything to try and find him before it is too late.

Jordan, Sherryl. The Hunting of the Last Dragon.
After Jude becomes the sole survivor from his village after a dragon attack, he finds himself becoming friends and unlikely allies with Jing-Wei, the "freak" in a sideshow, in a quest that could kill them both. (Juv Fic SF  Jordan)

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees.
In the summer of 1964, just after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, fourteen-year-old motherless Lily Owens breaks her black caretaker, Rosaleen, out of jail after a failed attempt to register to vote and they run off, finding a home with the beekeeping Calendar Sisters of Tiburon, South Carolina. (YA Fic  Kidd, Fic  Kidd)

Koertge, Ron. Stoner & Spaz.
What happens when a 16-year-old guy with C.P. and a caustic wit fall in love with a drugged-out girl with tattoos? Well...it isn't Romeo and Juliet! (YA Fic  Koertge)

Korman, Gordon. Son of the Mob.
The ultimate Romeo and Juliet tale. The son of the mob falls in love with the daughter of the FBI. Even communications are a problem when your girlfriend's dad is the agent in charge of bugging your house. (YA Fic  Korman)

Lawrence, Iain. The Lightkeeper's Daughter.
A teenage mother tries to reconcile with her lightouse-keeping parents, despite feeling that it was their remote and lonely lifestyle that led to her brother's death. (YA Fic  Lawrence)

Leavitt, Martine. THE DOLLMAGE
The Dollmage is the wise woman of Seekvalley. On the day she predicts to be the birthday of her successor, two girls are born, leading the dollmage to make a decision that will affect all of the lives in the valley.

McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Kite Rider.
Danger lurks everywhere in thirteenth-century China, as Haoyou rescues his grieving mother from an evil potential second husband, an action which forces him to join a traveling circus in the perilous role of the Kite Rider. (Juv Fic  McCaughrean)

Miller, Mary Beth. Aimee.
How well do you think you'd cope if your best friend made sure you were the only witness to her suicide, you weren't allowed contact with any of the rest of your tight-knit group of friends, and everyone believed that you must have helped Aimee kill herself or perhaps, even murdered her? (YA Fic  Miller)

Moore, Christopher. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.
WWJD? At age six? Thirteen? Eighteen? Restoring lizards to life and hanging out with Biff and Maggie are only a couple of His activities. (Fic  Moore)

Oates, Joyce Carol. Big Mouth & Ugly Girl.
What are the consequences when high school junior Matt Donaghy jokingly threatens to blow up the school during lunch one day? (YA Fic  Oates)

Park, Linda Sue. When My Name Was Keoko: A Novel of Korea in World War II.
In 1940, when the Japanese rulers of Korea decreed that all Koreans must take Japanese names, Kim Sun-hee's official name changed, but she did not lose her Korean identity or her patriotism, which grew as the war came far too close to home. Food and clothing became difficult to get, her uncle (who had been working for the underground) fled, and her brother joined the Japanese army to become a kamikaze pilot. (Juv Fic  Park)

Placide, Jaira. Fresh Girl.
Mardi's sunlit childhood in Haiti disappeared in the violence that forced President Aristide and thousands of other Haitians, including members of her own family, into exile ten years ago, but it took a long time for 14-year-old Mardi to admit to her family in Brooklyn just how traumatic her escape had been, to put violence behind her and begin to make her way in her new world. (YA Fic Placide)

Plum-Ucci, Carol. What Happened to Lani Garver.
Claire McKenzie is haunted by her brief relationship with Lani Garver, a newcomer to her close island community who changed her life. (YA Fic M  Plum-Ucci)

Powell, Randy. Three Clams and an Oyster.
Three members of a flag football team search for a fourth teammate over a weekend in which they confront their attitudes about friendship, girls, and their shared past. (YA Fic  Powell)

Rottman, S. L.  STETSON.
Stetson has learned to survive a drunken negligent father by fending for himself, working at the salvage yard, and devoting his free time to rebuilding his car, until a mystery younger sister turns up and turns his life upside down.

Santana, Patricia. MOTORCYCLE RIDE ON THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY
When fourteen-year-old Yolanda Sahagun's favorite brother returns from Vietnam in the spring of 1969, everything changes and everything is changing.

Savage, Deborah. KOTUKU.
Seventeen-year-old Wim Thorpe resists caring after the loss of her best friend, but the attractive New Zealand historian investigating Maori connections to her hometown looks exactly like a benevolent tattooed apparition who may be showing her the way to her own truth.

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones.
With wisdom and compassion, 14-year-old Susie Salmon narrates the story of her brutal murder and glowing afterlife as she watches her family and friends grapple with the hole her death has left in their lives. (Fic  Sebold)

Shattered: Stories of Children and War. Edited by Jennifer Armstrong.
The shattering effects of war on children are described in twelve short stories by authors well-known and new to the young adult field. (YA Fic  Shattered)

Sheppard, Mary C. SEVEN FOR A SECRET
Fifteen-year-old cousins Melinda, Kate and Rebecca face decisions that will determine their futures in a remote Newfoundland community in the 1960s.

Smith, Kevin and Phil Hester. GREEN ARROW: QUIVER. Illustrated by Ande Parks and Guy Major.
Oliver Queen, a.k.a. The Green Arrow, comes back to life, reunites with his old superhero pals, and unravels the mystery of his resurrection.

Smith, Sherri L. Lucy the Giant.
Lucy escapes her life with a drunken father by posing as an adult and gaining work on a commercial crabbing boat on the Bering Sea, where she finds a family of a different sort. (YA Fic  Smith)

Tolan, Stephanie. Surviving the Applewhites.
Jake Semple, a smartass troublemaker, is sent to live with his grandfather after being kicked out of several schools. Once there, it is no problem getting put out of Traybridge Middle School, but the Applewhite's Creative Academy is another story. (Juv Fic  Tolan)

Toten, Teresa. THE GAME
When Dani wakes up in a psychiatric hospital, she doesn't remember the events leading up to her attempted suicide. She only remembers the game that she and her sister played, and must come to terms with a terrifying reality.

Van Pelt, James. STRANGERS AND BEGGARS: STORIES
A giant spider that encapsulates a student and a teacher in its web, a kid who has always felt he was an alien and really is, and an endless trip in awful traffic that even death can't stop are just a few of the stories in this collection.

Weyr, Garret Freymann. My Heartbeat.
Ellen's question about her brother's relationship with his best friend James changes everything in this tight three-way friendship. (YA Fic  Weyr)

Woodson, Jacqueline. Hush.
Toswiah Green struggles toward a new identity as Evie Thomas when her family joins the Witness Protection Program and everything she has known before is lost to her. (YA Fic  Woodson)

Yolen, Jane and Robert J. Harris. Girl in a Cage.
Imprisoned in a cage by King Edward Longshanks, Princess Marjorie wages her own small war on him while her father, the newly crowned King of Scotland, defends his country from the ruthless King of England. (YA Fic  Yolen)

Nonfiction:

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850.
A detailed account of the rapid onset of the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850 and its devastating, long-lasting effect on the Irish people. (j941.5081  Bartoletti)

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science.
In 1848, a tamping iron accidently blasted through the head of Phineas Gage, foreman on a railroad construction gang, leaving him physically recovered but mentally and emotionally changed and providing new insights into the workings of the human brain. (j362.197481  Fleischman)

Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life.
Compelling story by prizewinning author Jack Gantos of how as a youth he helped smuggle hash on a yacht, was arrested by the FBI, convicted, sent to prison, how he did his prison time, and went to college to study writing. (YA 921 G158AAh)

Hampton, Wilborn. Meltdown: A Race Against Nuclear Disaster at Three Mile Island: A Reporter's Story.
An eye-witness account of escalating disaster of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident of 1979, told by a UPI reporter, set within the context of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and Chernobyl power plant explosion. (j363.179  Hampton)

McPherson, James M. Fields of Fury: The American Civil War.
Event by event, a noted Civil War historian chronicles for younger readers the deadliest conflict the United States ever fought, providing battle descriptions, personal anecdotes from participants, biographies of the most important players, illustrations from paintings, photographs, other historical documents and clear maps. (j973.7  McPherson)

Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis.
The USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine in the last days of World War II. Over fifty years later, a teen worked with the survivors of the disaster to clear the name of the Indianapolis's captain, who was wrongly court-martialed for the tragedy. (YA 940.5459  Nelson)

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East.
Nye's father is Palestinian and her mother is German-American, so she grew up in St. Louis, San Antonio, and Jerusalem. Her poetry includes stories of the Middle East through the eyes of an American child, as well as of America through the eyes of Middle Easterners. (j811.54  Nye)

Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made For You and Me: The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie.
The tragic life story of the rambling folk singer Woody Guthrie, author of "This Land is Your Land." (j782.4092  Partridge)

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex.
A detailed account of the 1820 voyage of the whaleship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. (j910.453  Philbrick)

Rall, Ted. TO AFGHANISTAN AND BACK: A GRAPHIC TRAVELOGUE.
Syndicated cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall shares the details of his fascinating and dangerous fall 2001 trip to Afghanistan along with his liberal political views in this graphic travelogue.

Steinberg, Jacques. THE GATEKEEPERS: INSIDE THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS OF A PREMIER COLLEGE.
A behind-the-scenes look at the college admissions process by the national education correspondent for the New York Times who shadows an admissions officer at Wesleyan through a year's work.

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4/21/10
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