SERIES
Y Bre Eighth
Grade Bites (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod) by Heather Brewer (funny)
For thirteen years, Vlad, aided by his aunt
and best friend, has kept secret that he is half-vampire, but when his missing
teacher is replaced by a sinister substitute, he learns that there is more to
being a vampire, and to his parents' deaths, than he could have guessed.
Y
Col Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (suspense/adventure)
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.
J
Col Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles)
by Suzanne Collins (fantasy)
When
eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange
underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats,
cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.
Y Das The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy) by James Dashner (suspense/adventure)
Sixteen-year-old
Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must
work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
Y
Gri Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham (mystery)
With
two attorneys for parents, thirteen-year-old Theodore Boone knows more about
the law than most lawyers do. But when a high profile murder trial comes to his
small town and Theo gets pulled into it, it's up to this amateur attorney to
save the day.
Y Had Among
The Hidden (Shadow Children series ) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (mystery/suspense)
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.
Y Hig Black
Book of Secrets (Tales from the Sinister City) by F.E. Higgins (mystery)
When Ludlow Fitch runs away from his thieving
parents in the City, he meets up with the mysterious Joe Zabbidou, who calls
himself a secret pawnbroker, and who takes Ludlow as an apprentice to record
the confessions of the townspeople of Pagus Parvus, where resentments are many
and trust is scarce.
Y Hor Stormbreaker
(Alex Rider Series) by Anthony Horowitz (suspense/
adventure)
After the death of the uncle who had been his
guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's
dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
Y Nes The
Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos
Walking Trilogy) by Patrick Ness (suspense/adventure)
Prentisstown isn't
like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an
overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise.
Just a
month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog,
Manchee, whose thoughts Todd can hear, too, whether he wants to or not, stumble
upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is
impossible, something terrible has been hidden.
J
Nix Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom #1) by Garth Nix (fantasy)
Arthur Penhaligon is supposed to die at a
young age, but is saved by a key that is shaped like the minute hand of a
clock. The key causes bizarre creatures to come from another realm, bringing
with them a plague. A man named Mister Monday will stop at nothing to get the
key back. Arthur goes to a mysterious house that only he can see, so that he
can learn the truth about himself and the key.
Y
Pao Eragon (the Inheritance cycle) by Christopher Paolini (fantasy)
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.
Y Pat The Dangerous Days of Daniel
X by James Patterson (adventure)
At
first glance, Daniel might seem like an average fifteen-year-old, but Daniel
has a little bit more responsibility then your average kid: he's the next Alien Hunter, bequeathed with the list of
hidden alien outlaws living and lurking on Earth. All must be destroyed in
order to protect the human race from eventual takeover. It's a big job for one
teenager.
J San Alcatraz
versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (humor/adventure)
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child
Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil
Librarians who are trying to take over the world, and Alcatraz is introduced to
his grandfather and his own special talent, and told that he must use it to
save civilization.
Y
Sco The Alchemyst (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas
Flamel series) by Michael Scott (fantasy)
While working at pleasant but mundane summer
jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find
themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival
alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and
powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.
Y
Sha Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan (horror)
Two boys who are best friends visit an
illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a deadly spider
forces them to make life-changing choices.
Y
Shu Everwild (Skinjacker trilogy) by Neal Shusterman (fantasy)
Nick, known as the dreaded "Chocolate
Ogre," is trying to find all the children in Everlost and release them
from the limbo they are in, while Mikey and Allie have joined a band of
skinjackers and are putting themselves in danger by visiting the world of the
living.
Y
Wes Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (science
fiction)
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old
Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to
take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with
Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to
fly genetically-engineered beasts.
STAND ALONE BOOKS
Y
Col Half Moon Investigations
by Eoin Colfer
Twelve-year-old private investigator Fletcher
Moon, nicknamed "Half Moon" because of his shortness, must track down
a conspiracy or be framed for a crime he did not commit.
Y
Cur The Watsons go to
Birmingham – 1963
by Christopher Paul
Curtis
A hilarious, touching, and tragic novel about
civil rights and the impact of violence on one African American family.
Narrated by Kenny, 9, the story tells about his middle-class black family, the
Watsons of Flint, Michigan, and their trip to Birmingham, Alabama, to visit
Grandma. They happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is bombed.
Y
Gai The
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens is a normal breathing boy whose
home is a graveyard, raised by a guardian who belongs neither to the mortal
world nor the realm of the dead. Among the mausoleums and headstones of his
home, Bod experiences things most mortals can barely imagine. But real,
flesh-and-blood danger waits just outside the cemetery walls: the man who
murdered the infant Bod’s family will not rest until he finds Nobody Owens and
finishes the job he began many years ago.
Y
Gre Baseball Great by Tim Green
All
twelve-year-old Josh wants to do is play baseball but when his father, a minor
league pitcher, signs him up for a youth championship team, Josh finds himself
embroiled in a situation with potentially illegal consequences.
Y
Gre Football
Hero by Tim Green
When twelve-year-old Ty's brother Thane is
recruited out of college to play for the New York Jets, their Uncle Gus uses Ty
to get insider information for his gambling ring, landing Ty and Thane in trouble
with the mafia.
Y
Gre Football Genius by Tim Green
Troy,
a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they
occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta
Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players.
Y
Len Questors
by Joan Lennon
Three confused children are brought together
then, with little training, sent off to save three worlds that were held in
perfect balance until a cataclysmic disruption in the space-time continuum
threatened their existence, which is just what their enemy desires.
Y Lie I
Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
In Omaha, Nebraska, twelve-year-old Oliver
Watson has everyone convinced that he's extremely stupid and lazy, but he's
actually a very wealthy, evil genius, and when he decides to run for
seventh-grade class president, nothing will stand in his way.
Y Lon White Fang and Call of The Wild by
Jack London
Rescued from a life of fear and abuse, a part
dog, part wolf finds man can be be a friend and companion.
The adventures of an unusual dog, part St.
Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold
fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.
Y
Lub Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar
While
navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his
new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and
gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.
Y
Lup Hero by Mike Lupica
Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same
special abilities as his father, who was the President's globe-trotting
troubleshooter until "the Bads" killed him, and now Zach must decide
whether to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life.
Y
Lyn Slot Machine by Chris Lynch
When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin
Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul's Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two
best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where
they belong.
Y
Mas Jeremy
Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Just before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy
Fink receives a keyless locked box--set aside by his father before his death
five years earlier--that purportedly contains the meaning of life.
Y Mye Monster by Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an
accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences
in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come
to terms with the course his life has taken.
Y Pat Middle
School, the Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
When Rafe Kane enters middle school, he teams
up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make
school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.
Y Per As
Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
A teenaged boy encounters one comedic
calamity after another when his train strands him in the middle of nowhere, and
everything comes down to luck.
Y
Sac 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.
Y
Sch The
Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now by
Gary D. Schmidt
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday
afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school,
seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read
the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the
world he lives in.
As a fourteen-year-old
who just moved to a new town, with no friends, an abusive father, and a louse
for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him until
he finds an ally in Lil Spicer--a fiery young lady. Together, they find a safe
haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John
James Audubon's birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage.
Y Shu The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
A Brooklyn
eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish"
boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by
nearly everyone.
Y Son Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonneblick
When his younger brother is diagnosed with
leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions,
his school life, and his desire to support his family.
Y
Tas The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashijan
Seventeen-year-old Josh, a loner-philosopher
who wants to make a difference in the world, tries to maintain his secret
identity as the author of a web site that is receiving national attention.
Y
Wer Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his
attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the
grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.
Y
Win Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip
While serving as co-editors of their school
newspaper, middle-schoolers Adam and Jennifer uncover fraud and corruption in
their school and in the city's government.
FOR OLDER TEENS
Y
Bla White Cat and Red Glove by
Holly Black
When Cassel Sharpe discovers that his older
brothers have used him to carry out their criminal schemes and then stolen his
memories, he figures out a way to turn their evil machinations against them.
When federal agents learn that
seventeen-year-old Cassel Sharpe, a powerful transformation worker, may be of
use to them, they offer him a deal to join them rather than the mobsters for
whom his brothers work.
Y Bod The
Compound by S. A. Bodeen
After his parents, two
sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by
his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust, fifteen-year-old
Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind, discovers that his
father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.
Y Bra Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
When best friends Chris
and Win go on a cross country bicycle trek the summer after graduating and only
one returns, the FBI wants to know what happened.
Y Bra Going Bovine by Libba Bray