Teen Services
Top 10 Best Books for Teens in 2004
All books are listed in alphabetical order by author. Click here to see if a book is in!
True Confessions of a Heartless Girl
by Martha Brooks
In the midst of a heaven-rattling summer storm a young stranger blows into a small prairie town. On the run after taking her latest boyfriend's truck, with a pocketful of stolen money and a heart full of pain, seventeen-year-old Noreen Stall seems to invite trouble. And trouble comes soon enough as Noreen's new mistakes trigger calamities that shake the lives of the residents of Pembina Lake.
A Northern Light
by Jennifer Donnelly
Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories. Yet when the drowned body of a young woman turns up at the hotel where Mattie works, all her words are useless. But in the dead woman's letters, Mattie again finds her voice, and a determination to live her own life.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel
by Mark Haddon
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.
The First Part Last
by Angela Johnson
Bobby's a classic urban teenager. He's restless. He's impulsive. But the thing that makes him different is this: He's going to be a father. His girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant, and their lives are about to change forever. Instead of spending time with friends, they'll be spending time with doctors, and next, diapers. They have options: keeping the baby, adoption. They want to do the right thing. If only it was clear what the right thing was.
Boy Meets Boy
by David Levithan
This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a High School like no other. Cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be guy named Daryl and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help straight kids learn how to dance.
The Usual Rules
by Joyce Maynard
Through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Wendy, we gain entrance to the world rarely shown by those who documented the events of that one terrible day, September 11: a family's slow and terrible realization that Wendy's mother has died, and their struggle to go on with their lives in the face of such a crushing loss.
East
by Edith Pattou
Rose has always felt out of place in her family. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him, she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she finds love, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.
33 Snowfish
by Adam Rapp
On the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby, three young people with deeply troubled pasts and bleak futures struggle to find new lives for themselves.
The Amulet of Samarkand
by Jonathan Stroud
This witty, gripping thriller tells of Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, who finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, blackmail and revolt.
Blankets: An Illustrated Novel
by Craig Thompson
Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith.