Teen Services
Top 10 Best Books for Teens in 2002
All books are listed in alphabetical order by author. Click here to see if a book is in!
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
by Ann Brashares
Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they're great. Lena and Bridget also think they're fabulous. Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything), thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs they decide to form a sisterhood, and take the vow of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... the next morning, they say good-bye. And now the journey of the pants-and the most memorable summer of their lives-begins.
The Rag and Bone Shop
by Robert Cormier
Twelve-year old Jason is accused of the brutal murder of a young girl. Is he innocent or guilty? The shocked town calls on an interrogator with a stellar reputation: he always gets a confession. The confrontation between Jason and his interrogator forms the chilling climax of this terrifying look at what can happen when the pursuit of justice becomes a personal crusade for victory at any cost.
Whale Talk
by Chris Crutcher
TJ 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.
Breathing Underwater
by Alex Flinn
To his friends, popular and handsome sixteen-year-old Nick Andreas has led a charmed life. But the guys in Nick's anger management class know differently. So does his ex-girlfriend Caitlin. Now it looks like the only person who doesn't realize how far from perfect Nick's life has become is Nick himself. Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.
Damage
by A.M. Jenkins
As the Pride of the Panthers, football star Austin Reid is a likable guy, good with the ladies. Lately though, he doesn't like his life - or anything else - so much. And the worst part is that he can't seem to figure out why. Seventeen-year-old football hero, Austin, tries to understand the inexplicable depression that has drained his interest in life.
Zazoo
by Richard Mosher
Zazoo is Vietnamese by birth but feels entirely French. She has lived with her adoptive Grand-Pierre in France in an old stone mill between the river and the canal since she was two, sharing poetry, adventures, and the predictable rhythms of the seasons. Then one misty October morning, a young man on a bicycle rides into Zazoo's small village and asks a question from which many stories begin to unfold. A love story within a love story.
Lirael
by Garth Nix
Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Nonetheless, it is Lirael in whose hands the fate of the Old Kingdom lies. She must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil--one that opposes the Royal Family, blocks the Sight of the Clayr, and threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog to help her, Lirael must find the courage to seek her own hidden destiny.
The Land
by Mildred Taylor
After the Civil War, Paul finds himself caught between two worlds of colored folks and white folks as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own.
Every Time a Rainbow Dies
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Ever since the night he found her battered and raped in the alley near his home, Thulani has not been able to thing of anything else but Ysa. This is the first time since his mother died that Thulani has given a thought to anything but the rock doves he keeps on the roof of his house in Brooklyn. With his father in Jamaica and his older brother always wanting to "man him up," the only place he finds soalce is near the sky with his birds. Now that he has seen Ysa, Thulani finally has a reason to come down from the roof. But it's not so easy for him - especially when it seems that Ysa doesn't want him in her world at all.
True Believer
by Virginia Euwer Wolff
LaVaughn is fifteen now, and she's still fiercely determined to go to college. But that's the only thing she's sure about. Loyalty to her father bubbles up as her mother grows closer to a new man. The two girls she used to do everything with have chosen a path LaVaughn wants no part of. And then there's Jody. LaVaughn can't believe how gorgeous he is...or how confusing. He acts like he's in love with her, but is he?