The Adventures of Blue Avenger by Norma Howe
Henry Holt, c1999
On his sixteenth birthday, still trying to cope with the unexpected death of his father, David Schumacher decides – or does he – to change his name to Blue Avenger, hoping to find a way to make a difference in his Oakland neighborhood and in the world.
YA FICTION HOW
America by E.R. Frank
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2002
America, a part-black, part-white, part-anything teenage boy who has spent many years in institutions for disturbed, antisocial behavior, tries to piece his life together.
YA FICTION FRA
Backwater by Joan Bauer
G.P. Putnam's Sons, c1999
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.
YA FICTION BAU
Breaking Rank by Kristen D. Randle
Morrow Junior Books, c1999
Seventeen-year-old Casey has some of her preconceived notions challenged when she begins to tutor Baby, a member of a ganglike non-conformist society called the Clan.
YA FICTION RAN
Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson
Candlewick Press, c1999
Anthony has never had to stand up for himself – until his girlfriend dumps him for another boy. He vows revenge and devises The Plan – he gets a job at the fast food restaurant where his rival is the star employee. Will Anthony's hunger for revenge be satisfied – and will he prove he's not a wuss?
YA FICTION AND
The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
HarperTrophy, 1993
A Harlem high school dropout escapes from a gang of punks into a boxing gym. With each grueling workout, he learns that being a contender is hard and often discouraging work, but that you don't know anything until you try.
PB YA FICTION LIP
Cut by Patricia McCormick
Front Street, c2000
While confined to a mental hospital, fifteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually starts to get better.
YA FICTION MCC
A Dance for Three by Louise Plummer
Delacorte Press, c2000
When fifteen-year-old Hannah becomes pregnant and her rich, popular boyfriend claims he is not responsible, she is forced to face some hard facts about her life.
YA FICTION PLU
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Viking, c2000
After her older sister runs away, sixteen-year-old Caitlin decides that she needs to make a major change in her own life and begins an abusive relationship with a boy who is mysterious, brilliant, and dangerous.
YA FICTION DES
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Simon & Schuster, 2003
Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.
YT FICTION JOH
Freewill by Chris Lynch
HarperCollins Publishers, c2001
A teenager trying to recover from the tragic death of his father and stepmother believes himself to be responsible for the rash of teen suicides occurring in his town.
YA FICTION LYN
Ghost Boy by Iain Lawrence
Delacorte Press, c2000
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.
YT FICTION LAW
The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin
Delacorte Press, c1998
After being acquitted of murder, seventeen-year-old David goes to stay with relatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he finds himself forced to face his past as he learns more about his strange young cousin Lily.
YA FICTION WER
Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser
Delacorte Press, c1998
Fourteen-year-old Tara describes how her increasingly strange compulsions begin to take over her life and affect her relationships with her family and friends.
PB YA FICTION HES
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
HarperCollins Publishers, c2000
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.
YA FICTION WHE
On the Devil's Court by Carl Deuker
Joy Street Books, c1988
Struggling with his feelings of inadequacy and his failure to make the basketball team in his new school, seventeen-year-old Joe Faust finds himself willing to trade his soul for one perfect season of basketball.
YA FICTION DEU
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Alfred A. Knopf, c1999
A tale of the interwoven lives of a community in Colorado. The characters include two cattle farmers who take in a girl, thrown out of her house for becoming pregnant. The novel describes the girl's impact on their lives, both men being bachelors.
FICTION HAR
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
G.P. Putnam's Sons, c1998
Sixteen-year-old Jenna gets a job driving the elderly owner of a chain of successful shoe stores from Chicago to Texas to confront the son who is trying to force her to retire, and along the way Jenna hones her talents as a saleswoman and finds the strength to face her alcoholic father.
YA FICTION BAU
Safe at Second by Scott Johnson
Philomel Books, c1999
Paulie Lockwood's best friend Todd Bannister is destined for the major leagues until a line drive to the head causes him to lose an eye and they both must find a new future for themselves.
YA FICTION JOH
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Farrar Straus Giroux, c1999
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school. Silence is her answer.
YA FICTION AND
Slot Machine by Chris Lynch
HarperCollins Publishers, c1995
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.
YT FICTION LYN
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
Greenwillow Books, c1993
The daily class discussions about the nature of human-kind, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high-school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help.
YA FICTION CRU
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Harcourt Brace, c1997
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.
YT FICTION BLO
Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star by Randy Powell
Farrar Straus Giroux, c1999
For a tribute to his mother, a dead rock star, fifteen-year-old Grady returns to Seattle, where he faces his mixed feelings for his retarded younger half-brother Louie while pondering his own future.
YA FICTION POW
Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block
Joanna Cotler Books, c2003
A brother and sister must deal with terrible consequences when their love for each other stretches past acceptable boundaries.
YA FICTION BLO
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Delacorte Press, c1991
As The Avenger searches for the teenage boys who trashed a house in his neighborhood, Buddy, one of the trashers, increases his drinking in order to cope with his parents' separation and his obsession with the daughter of the owner of the vandalized house.
YA FICTION COR
What's In a Name? by Ellen Wittlinger
Simon & Schuster c2000
Each of ten teenagers living in Scrub Harbor, Massachusetts, explores his or her identity at the same time that the local residents consider changing the name of their town.
YA FICTION WIT
