YA Stars 2003 Overbooked: YA Stars 2003 Overbooked: a resource for readers

YA Stars 2003 - For Teens & Older Others (Young Adult Literature)

The list includes both fiction and nonfiction books. Titles are arranged alphabetically by author. The edition listed is the trade book, library bindings are not listed unless that is the only available format. Titles received starred reviews from Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Horn Book. The theme information is derived from cataloging information and is not comprehensive. Books are suggested for ages 12 and older. Age and grade designations are approximate, parental judgement should be used.

Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine or the Library of Congress CIP description.

  • Alt Ed
    Author: Atkins, Catherine
    Publisher: Putnam $ 17.99 ISBN: 0399238549
    starPW
    In her second novel, Atkins paints a gripping portrait of an overweight teenage girl who's coming to terms with her father's estrangement, her brother's hostility, and the slow torture she's received at the hands of her classmates.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Hawksong
    Author: Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia
    Publisher: Delacorte $ 9.95 ISBN: 0385730713
    starSLJ
    Danica Shardae is an avian shapeshifter, and the golden hawk's form in which she takes to the sky is natural to her. The only thing more familiar to her is war: It has raged between her people and the serpiente for so long, no one can remember how the fighting began.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Walk Softly, Rachel
    Author: Banks, Kate
    Publisher: Frances Foster $ 16 ISBN: 0374382301
    starKirkusstarPWstarSLJ
    From the author of Dillon Dillon comes this searing new novel that explores the inner lives of 14-year-old Rachel and her late brother, Jake, with exquisite sensitivity and precision.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Flame
    Author: Bell, Hilari
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 16.95 ISBN: 0689854137
    starBookliststarKirkus
    In this first volume of The Book of Sorahb, Bell introduces readers to a world of honor, danger, and magic in a spellbinding tale of self-discovery of three young people who watch as their world is torn apart.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction | Action & Adventure
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Goblin Wood
    Author: Bell, Hilari
    Publisher: Eos $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060513713
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarPW
    When young hedgewitch Makenna witnesses the murder of her mother by their neighbors, she flees to the forest and forms an unexpected alliance with an army of goblins and leads an attack on the humans--who are now their common enemy.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
    Updated 7.30.03
  • For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy
    Author: Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker
    Publisher: Delacorte $ 17.99 ISBN: 0385900872
    starBookliststarKirkus
    Based on interviews with the real Suzanne David, this story of World War II heroism relates how a teenage Suzanne, training to become an opera singer, is recruited as a secret courier by an organizer in the French Resistance.
    Grades: 4-7 Category: Fiction/Historical
    Updated 7.30.03
  • The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
    Author: Brashares, Ann
    Publisher: Delacorte $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385729340
    starBulletinstarKirkus
    With a bit of last summer's sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the sisterhood that wears them--Bridget, Lena, Carmen, and Tibby--embark on their 16th summer in this sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Lucas
    Author: Brooks, Kevin
    Publisher: Chicken House $ 16.95 ISBN: 0439456983
    starBookliststarPW
    From the acclaimed author of Martyn Pig comes this gripping novel that shows how storytelling has the power to heal and transform. Lucas enters Caitlin's life, and she's deeply drawn to him. When Lucas is accused of a crime he didn't commit, Caitlin knows she must make a choice.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • True Confessions of a Heartless Girl
    Author: Brooks, Martha
    Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374378061
    starBulletinstarBookliststarKirkusstarSLJ
    With a rich cast of characters and an unlikely heroine as endearing as she is tough, this novel, set in America's prairie land, reminds readers that it's never too late for forgiveness--and that sometimes the most unlikely messenger can deliver a small miracle.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Necessary Noise: Stories About Our Families As They Really Are
    Author: Cart, Michael (editor)
    Publisher: Cotler $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060274999
    starBookliststarSLJ
    These are stories of today's families--fractured, blended, at risk, non-traditional, and some that are even still nuclear. Renowned author and noted anthologist Cart asked the most celebrated young adult authors the question "What does 'family' mean today?"
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction/Short Stories
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Starry Nights
    Author: Clarke, Judith
    Publisher: Front Street $ 15.95 ISBN: 1886910820
    starPW
    A haunting mystery of a family caught in a twilight zone- Author Judith Clarke has won numerous awards in her native Australia.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction/Horror & Ghost Stories
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Artimis Fowl: The Eternity Code
    Author: Colfer, Eoin
    Publisher: Miramax $ 16.95 ISBN: 0786819146
    starPW
    In the latest installment of the resourceful young criminal mastermind, Artemis steals fairy technology, constructs a supercomputer, saves the life of his trusty bodyguard, and enlists the help of his old rival Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police.
    Grades: 4-7 Category: Fiction/Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Amaryllis
    Author: Crist-Evans, Craig
    Publisher: Candlewick $ 15.99 ISBN: 0763618632
    starKirkus
    Through one brother's narration and another's letters from Vietnam, Crist-Evans offers a moving story of two brothers separated, yet forever connected, by the devastation of war.
    Grades: 9-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography
    Author: Crutcher, Chris
    Publisher: Greenwillo $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060502495
    starBookliststarBulletinstarKirkusstarPW
    From the award-winning author of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes comes this riveting, scorching, intelligent, and hilarious memoir of Crutcher's tricky road to adulthood.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Nonfiction/Autobiography
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Between Two Junes is a Forest: A Journal of Everything
    Author: Dilenscheider, Geoffrey
    Publisher: New Millenium $ 19.95 ISBN: 189322483x
    starPW
    Grades: 7+ Category: Poetry |
    Updated 10.28.03
  • A Northern Light
    Author: Donnelly, Jennifer
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 17 ISBN: 0152167056
    starBookliststarPWstarSLJ
    Booklist Top Youth First Novels
    Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, this coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, real, and wholly original.
    Grades: 9+ Category: Fiction | Historical
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Begging for Change
    Author: Flake, Sharon
    Publisher: Jump at the Sun $ 15.99 ISBN: 078680601x
    starBooklist
    Raspberry Hill, who once was homeless, vowed never to end up on the streets again. But after stealing from her best friend, she must finally confront the biggest of all her fears: is she really much different from her thieving father after all?
    Grades: 4-7 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Breakout
    Author: Fleischman, Paul
    Publisher: Cricket $ 15.95 ISBN: 0812626966
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarSLJ
    Growing up in foster care, Del pens a one-woman play about a Los Angeles traffic jam, providing readers with a backstage pass into a young playwright's psyche as her play parallels her own life.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Fight On: Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration
    Author: Fradin, Dennis
    Publisher: Clarion $ 17 ISBN: 0618133496
    starBulletinstarSLJ
    This well researched biography tells the story of influential yet little known civil rights leader Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
    Grades:5-9 Category: Nonfiction | Biography
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The True Meaning of Cleavage
    Author: Fredericks, Mariah
    Publisher: Atheneum $ 15.95 ISBN: 0689850921
    starBulletinstarPW
    Booklist Top Youth First Novels
    Talented newcomer Fredericks reveals what ninth grade is really all about in this story about two friends who are total opposites.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Keesha's House
    Author: Frost, Helen
    Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374340641
    starBulletinstarSLJ
    Booklist Top Youth First Novels
    In this extraordinary debut novel for young adults, Frost stretches the boundaries of traditional poetic forms as she weaves together the stories of seven teenagers who courageously struggle to hold their lives together and overcome their difficulties.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Destination Unexpected: Short Stories
    Author: Gallo, Donald (ed)
    Publisher: Candlewick $ 16.99 ISBN: 0763617644
    starBulletinstarBooklist
    Whether they're leaving the country or just walking around the block, the characters in these stories experience things along the way that change the way they look at the world, and at themselves. As distinct as they are compelling, these ten tales of intriguing teenage journeys are spun by ten outstanding authors.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fictioin | Short Stories
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Fat Kid Rules the World
    Author: Going, Kelly
    Publisher: Putnam $ 17.99 ISBN: 0399239901
    starBookliststarBulletinstarSLJ
    Booklist Top Youth First Novels
    In this outstanding, funny, and edgy debut, Going tells an engaging story of two unlikely friends who meet when a high-school dropout talks a boy out of suicide--and who ultimately save each other.
    Grades:8-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Singing the Dog Star Blues
    Author: Goodman, Alison
    Publisher: Viking $ 16.99 ISBN: 0670036102
    starKirkusstarSLJ
    Joss's partner in her class's study of time travel is a student who's an alien.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Goose Girl
    Author: Hale, Shannon
    Publisher: Bloomsbury $ 17.95 ISBN: 158234843x
    starSLJ
    Basing her story on the Grimms' fairy tale, Hale's debut weaves an incredible and original tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she's made her own.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Shooting Monarchs
    Author: Halliday, John
    Publisher: Margaret McElderry $ 15.95 ISBN: 0689843380
    starBulletinstarPW
    Macy grew up unwanted, unloved, and alone. Danny grew up physically disabled, raised by his grandmother, and a loner. Leah, the most beautiful girl in school, unwittingly causes these two very different boys to meet in a first and final terrifying encounter.
    Grades: 9+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • September 11, 2001: Attack on New York City
    Author: Hampton, Wilborn
    Publisher: Candlewick $ 17.99 ISBN: 0763619493
    starPW
    Through interviews and accounts of survivors, heroes, and even terrorists, the author of Kennedy Assassinated! creates a deeper understanding of the events of that tragic day.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Nonfiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad
    Author: Hansen, Joyce & Gary McGowan
    Publisher: Cricket $ 18.95 ISBN: 0812626737
    starKirkus
    The Underground Railroad was meant to be a set of secret pathways, but its traces have been obscured by time. The authors, Coretta Scott King Honor winners, show how archaeologists and historians sift through corn cobs and root cellars, study songs and quilts, and use the latest technology to reconstruct those heroic journeys.
    Grades:4-7 Category: Nonfiction/History
    Updated 7.30.03
  • What the Birds See
    Author: Hartnett, Sonya
    Publisher: Candlewick $ 15.99 ISBN: 0763620920
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarPW
    The acclaimed author of Thursday's Child entwines a tale of missing children with the story of a lonely little boy, capturing the tenderness and dread of childhood.
    Grades: 9-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Sweetblood
    Author: Hautman, Pete
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 16.95 ISBN: 0689850484
    starBookliststarPW
    When Lucy suggests in a term paper that the symptoms of untreated diabetes might look a lot like vampirism, she gets in a world of trouble--her teacher thinks she's disturbed and her parents are worried. Then Lucy meets a man who claims to be a real vampire.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Green Angel
    Author: Hoffman, Alice
    Publisher: Scholastic $ 16.95 ISBN: 0439443849
    starPWstarSLJ
    Haunted by a tragic loss, 15-year-old Green struggles to survive physically and emotionally. But in destroying her feelings, Green also begins to destroy herself. Only through a series of mysterious encounters will she learn the lessons of love and begin to heal.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Keeper of the Night
    Author: Holt, Kimberly Willis
    Publisher: Holt $ 16.95 ISBN: 0805063617
    starKirkusstarPWstarSLJ
    Isabel's mother died peacefully. At least that's what Isabel likes to think since no will talk about the truth. Set on the lush island of Guam, Holt has written a painfully beautiful story about a young woman's struggle to protect her family after suicide hits home.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • The Canning Season
    Author: Horvath, Polly
    Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374399565
    starKirkusstarSLJ
    National Book Award Winner
    By turns dark and humorous, Horvath offers adolescent readers enough quirky characters and outrageous situations to leave them reeling.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • The Farther You Run
    Author: Hurwin, Davida Wills
    Publisher: Viking $ 16.99 ISBN: 0670036277
    starBooklist
    This sequel to the acclaimed A Time for Dancing finds Samantha Russell mourning her best friend, Juliana. Sammie soon meets Mona, a Jules lookalike. Soon the girls must face the most difficult things in their life.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Out of Order
    Author: Jenkins, A.M.
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 16.89 ISBN: 0066239680
    starBulletinstarSLJ
    From the acclaimed author of Damage comes this story of Colt Trammel, a youth whose life falls apart when his mother won't let him play baseball until he raises his GPA to a C.
    Grades: 9+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Pagan's Crusade
    Author: Jinks, Catherine
    Publisher: Candlewick $ 15.99 ISBN: 076362019x
    starPW
    Looking for work as a squire, 16-year-old Pagan Kidrouk seeks out the Templar Knights in medieval Jerusalem. This first of four adventures is loaded with action, details of medieval life, and a healthy helping of sarcasm.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction | Historical | Action & Adventure
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The First Part Last
    Author: Johnson, Angela
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 15.95 ISBN: 0689849222
    starPWstarSLJ
    With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson tells the story of a teen father's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Alice, I Think
    Author: Juby, Susan
    Publisher: Avon $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060515430
    starKirkus
    This brilliantly observed debut novel was short-listed for two Canadian literary awards and is certain to appeal to fans of Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. Wise, witty, and entirely original, Alice, I Think is a chronicle of small-town life and a window into the soul of an utterly appealing heroine.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
    Author: Koertege, Ron
    Publisher: Candlewick $ 15.95 ISBN: 0763621161
    starSLJ
    From the author of Stoner & Spaz comes the story of a straight-talking 14-year old first baseman who's benched by mono and decides to take a swing at writing poetry. This compelling new novel is written in free verse.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Uncommon Faith
    Author: Krisher, Trudy
    Publisher: Holiday House $ 17.95 ISBN: 0823417913
    starSLJ
    A young woman in 19th-century Massachusetts speaks out on such issues as slavery and women's rights.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Historical
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna
    Author: Lekuton, Joseph Lemasolai
    Publisher: National Geographic $ 15.95 ISBN: 0792251253
    starSLJ
    Lekuton provides a firsthand look at growing up in Kenya as a member of a nomadic tribe and recalls his first encounter with a lion, the epitome of bravery in the warrior tradition.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Nonfiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Boy Meets Boy
    Author: Levithan, David
    Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375824006
    starBulletinstarBookliststarSLJ
    Boy Meets Boy is a romantic comedy starring two boys.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Silent Boy
    Author: Lowry, Lois
    Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 15 ISBN: 0618282319
    starBulletinstarPW
    The two-time recipient of the Newbery Medal presents a sensitive, moving story of a wide-eyed young girl growing up at the beginning of the 20th century and the influence of the farm community around her. Through Katy Thatcher's eyes, readers can experience for themselves the haunting impact of her friendship with the silent boy.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Twists and Turns
    Author: MacDonald, Janet
    Publisher: Frances Foster $ 16 ISBN: 0374399557
    starBooklist
    The Washington sisters--Keeba and Teesha--have just graduated from high school and soon discover that all they have to do is stick together to handle life's many twists and turns.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and Her Famous Brothers
    Author: Maurer, Richard
    Publisher: Roaring Brook $ 18.95 ISBN: 0761315462
    starBulletinstarBookliststarSLJ
    The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and Her Famous Brothers is a biography of the Wright brothers' sister.
    Grades: 4-7 Category: Nonfiction | Biography
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Ballad of Sir Dinadan
    Author: Morris, Gerald
    Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 15 ISBN: 0618190996
    starBulletinstarSLJ
    Young Dinadan has no wish to joust or quest or save damsels in distress or do any of the knightly things expected of him. He'd rather be a minstrel, playing his rebec and writing ballads. But he was born to be a knight, and knights, of course, have adventures.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/Legends, Myths, & Fables
    Updated 7.30.03
  • A Time to Love: Tales from the Old Testament
    Author: Myers, Walter Dean
    Publisher: Scholastic $ 19.95 ISBN: 0439220009
    starPW
    Combining the power of his finest fiction with the exquisite language of his poetry, Walter Dean Myers collaborates with his son to retell six stories from the Old Testament.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Religion | Short Stories
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Breath
    Author: Napoli, Donna Jo
    Publisher: Atheneum $ 16.95 ISBN: 0689861745
    starKirkus
    In this re-imagining of the Pied Piper tale, a boy afflicted with cystic fibrosis in the Middle Ages is an outcast. When the townsfolk of Hameln are affected by a grain mold, he survives an outbreak of madness, followed by a plague of rats.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Historical | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Great God Pan
    Author: Napoli, Donna Jo
    Publisher: Wendy Lamb $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385327773
    starKirkus
    Young readers are sure to relate to this adolescent love story set in Greek myth. The god Pan finds love in the form of the human daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/Legends, Myths, & Fables
    Updated 7.30.03
  • The New Rules of High School
    Author: Nelson, Blake
    Publisher: Viking $ 16.99 ISBN: 0670036447
    starPW
    Max Caldwell is tired of having a "perfect" girlfriend, tired of worrying about college applications, and tired of always doing what he's supposed to do. So for the first time, dependable, reliable Max steps back from his Mr. Perfect, straight-A life to see what happens when he lets go for a while.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Abhorsen
    Author: Nix, Garth
    Publisher: Eos $ 17.99 ISBN: 0060278250
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarPW
    The conclusion of Nix's Abhorsen trilogy finds former Second Assistant Librarian Lirael, now Abhorsen-in-Waiting, maintaining the border between Life and Death. Together with her friends, Lirael must forestall the waking of an unspeakable evil.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction/Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic/Action & Adventure
    Updated 7.30.03
  • When We Were Saints
    Author: Nolan, Han
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 17 ISBN: 0152163719
    starPW
    The National Book Award winner for Dancing on the Edge returns with this novel of a young man who, after the death of his domineering grandfather, goes on a pilgrimage that leads him to a closer relationship with God--and a burning desire for home.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction
    Author: November, Sharyn (editor)
    Publisher: Firebird $ 19.99 ISBN: 0142501425
    starKirkus
    This special anthology contains 16 original stories that showcase some of the genre's most admired authors, including multiple award-winners Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Lloyd Alexander, and Patricia A. McKillip.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction | Short Stories
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Freaky Green Eyes
    Author: Oates, Joyce Carol
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 16.95 ISBN: 0066237599
    starKirkusstarPW
    Following up her Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, Oates once again probes the secrets of an all-American family, as 15-year-old Franky witnesses the destruction of her world as she knows it.
    Grades: 9+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Small Avalanches and Other Stories
    Author: Oates, Joyce Carol
    Publisher: Avon $ 16.99 ISBN: 006001217x
    starBookliststarKirkus
    Following up her powerful debut in young-adult fiction, master storyteller Oates visits the dark, enigmatic psyche of the teenage years in these 12 riveting tales. Featuring both well-known favorites and fresh new stories, the collection includes three prestigious O. Henry Award winners.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction/Stories
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Cuba 15
    Author: Osa, Nancy
    Publisher: Delacorte $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385730217
    starBooklist
    Booklist Top Youth First Novels
    The 2001 winner of the Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel tells the story of a girl who while preparing for her 15th year celebration--her "quince"--probes into her Cuban roots and unwittingly unleashes a hotbed of conflicted feelings about Cuba within her family.
    Grades: 7 - 12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Eragon: Inheritance, Book 1
    Author: Paolini, Christopher
    Publisher: Knopf $ 18.95 ISBN: 0375826688
    starBooklist
    Beautifully written and taut with suspense, Eragon is the first installment in an epic fantasy trilogy about a 15-year-old farm boy who discovers his destiny as a Dragon Rider.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • East
    Author: Pattou, Edith
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 18 ISBN: 0152045635
    starBulletinstarBooklist
    This fresh and original fantasy is a novel retelling of the classic tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon, a sweeping romantic epic in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Speculative Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The She
    Author: Plum-Ucci, Carol
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 17 ISBN: 0152168192
    starBooklist
    It's been eight years since Evan's parents disappeared at sea. Searching for answers, Evan wonders if they were swallowed up by The She, the she-devil of legend that devours ships off the New Jersey coast.
    Grades: 9-12 Category: Fiction | Mystery & Suspense
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The Wee Free Men
    Author: Pratchett, Terry
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060012366
    starKirkusstarPWstarSLJ
    In a thrilling tale that is equal parts suspense and humor, Carnegie Medalist Pratchett spins the story of a young witch-to-be named Tiffany who must journey through the terrifying and ever-shifting dreamscape of Fairyland to rescue her kidnapped brother.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction/Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic/Action & Adventure
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Malka
    Author: Pressler, Mirjam
    Publisher: Philomel $ 18.99 ISBN: 0399239847
    starKirkusstarPW
    When the roundups start in the Polish village, Malka's mother knows she must get her daughters across the Hungarian border to safety--a place where Jews can live in peace. A shocking and unforgettable story of a child's heroic fight to stay alive during one of the most intense moments in human history.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction/Historical
    Updated 7.30.03
  • After
    Author: Prose, Francine
    Publisher: Joanna Cotler $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060080817
    starPW
    From the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist Blue Angel comes a haunting novel about what happens when protection at a school goes too far and what it means to have freedom extinguished in the name of safety.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/ Suspense/Thriller/Horror & Ghost Stories
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Pirates! The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates
    Author: Rees, Celia
    Publisher: Bloomsbury $ 16.95 ISBN: 1582348162 Date: 2003
    starPWstarSLJ
    This powerful and thrilling novel presents the story of the inspiring journey of two 18th-century women who break the bonds of gender, race, and position to find their own way to glory.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Action & Adventure
    Suggested Reading: Pirate Stars
    Updated 10.28.03
  • The House of Windjammer
    Author: Richardson, V.A.
    Publisher: Bloomsbury $ 16.95 ISBN: 1582348111
    starBooklist
    In the autumn of 1636, tulip fever is sweeping Amsterdam, and Europe's fortunes rise and fall with the promise of the New World. That year, the great Dutch family of Windjammer suffers the loss of their entire trading fleet and they face certain ruin. The only person who can save the family's home, fortune, and reputation is Adam, the family's young heir.
    Grades: 7-9 Category: Fiction/Historical
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    Author: Rowling, J.K.
    Publisher: Arthur A. Levine $ 29.99 ISBN: 043935806X
    starPW
    In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling's seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts the unreliability of the very government of the magical world, and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts. Despite this (or perhaps because of it) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty and unbearable sacrifice. Though thick runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages, and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.
    Grades: 3+ Category: Fiction/Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
    Updated 7.30.03
  • The Dark Horse
    Author: Sedgwick, Marcus
    Publisher: Wendy Lamb $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385730543
    starPWstarSLJ
    On the day of the wolf hunt, Sig rescues a girl who has been sheltered by wolves.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/Action &Adventure
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl's Story
    Author: Shea, Pegi Deitz
    Publisher: Clarion $ 15 ISBN: 0618247483
    starPW
    For the Hmong people living in overcrowded refugee camps in Thailand, America is a dream. In 1995, ten years after their arrival at the camp, 13-year-old Mai Yang and her grandmother are about to experience that dream.
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • Pool Boy
    Author: Simmons, Michael
    Publisher: Roaring Brook $ 15.95 ISBN: 0761318852
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarPWstarSLJ
    A wealthy boy's life changes drastically when his father is jailed for insider trading.
    Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Dust
    Author: Slade, Arthur G.
    Publisher: Wendy Lamb $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385730047
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarSLJ
    When several children go missing in a small Depression-era Saskatchewan town, ten-year-old Robert suspects a charismatic stranger who's come to town, and only Robert has the power to confront him
    Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction/Historical
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Afterlife
    Author: Soto, Gary
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 16 ISBN: 0152047743
    starBooklist
    A young man is murdered, but that's just when his life becomes interesting as he finally sees that people love him. He the faces the consequences of his actions and even stumbles on what may be true love.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction
    Updated 10.28.03
  • To the Edge of the World
    Author: Torrey, Michele
    Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375823387
    starPW
    An orphan boy joins Magellan's historical voyage.
    Grades: 7-9 Category: Fiction/Historical/Action & Adventure
    Updated 7.30.03
  • The Kings Are Already Here
    Author: Freymann-Weyr, Garret
    Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 15 ISBN: 0618263632
    starBulletinstarKirkusstarPW
    Fifteen-year-old Phebe Knight, a ballerina in training, spends the summer with her father in Switzerland and meets 16-year-old chess champion Nikolai Kotalev. Soon, Phebe and Nikolai study each other's obsessions--and what they are each willing to pay for perfection.
    Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Tadpole
    Author: White, Ruth
    Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374310025
    starBulletinstarPWstarSLJ
    In 1955 Kentucky, as Carolina Collins tries to find a niche for herself within her struggling family, the arrival of her 13-year-old guitar-strumming cousin, Tadpole, leads to surprises for all.
    Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction/Historical
    Updated 7.30.03
  • Sword of the Rightful King: A Novel of King Arthur
    Author: Yolen, Jane
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 17 ISBN: 0152025278
    starBookliststarPW
    The newly crowned King Arthur is unsure of himself; worse, the people are unsure of him. So Merlin magically places a sword into a slab of rock, lets it be known that whosoever removes the blade will rule all of England, and invites any man who would dare, to try to pull out the sword.
    Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction/Legends, Myths, & Fables
    Updated 7.30.03

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