• 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis  
  

The author’s experience, as one of 14,000 children moved from Cuba to a refugee camp in Miami in 1961, is told through engaging, fast-paced writing and well-developed characters. Belpré Author Honor Book

• Aquamarine and Indigo by Alice Hoffman
  

Cast a spell over your teen with twin tales of mermaids

• Black Elk’s Vision: A Lakota Story by S.D. Nelson
  

This handsome, large-format volume combines archival photographs, original acrylic paintings and powerful first-person narrative to present the devastating story of the painful changes in life forced upon the Lakota people.

• Countdown by Deborah Wiles 
  

A “documentary novel” set in the 1960’s Cold War era, this title captures a girl’s fears about the world around her.

• Departure Time by Truus Matti

An eleven-year-old mourns the death of her father in chapters that alternate between the real world and a dreamlike hotel staffed by odd creatures.  Batchelder Honor Book

 

• The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan 
  

In language inspired by the Nobel Prize-winner’s own poetry, Muñoz Ryan tells the stunning tale of young Pablo Neruda’s self-discovery and the development of his ideologies and artistic voice. Belpré Author Award

• Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve 
  

A lone girl sets out on a mission to retrieve lost technology in a bleak and irrational London of the future.

• The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle 
  

A plantation owner’s daughter conspires with Swedish feminist Fredrika Bremer to secure the freedom of an African-born slave. Belpré Author Honor Book

• The Goats by Brock Cole
  

Your teen will be captivated by this tale of two outcasts stripped and stranded on a small island by their peers

• The Haymeadow by Gary Paulsen
  

This action-packed novel revolves around a 14 year old who spends the summer tending 6,000 sheep with only two horses and four dogs for company.

 

• Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus 
  

This swashbuckling adventure is based on the true story of Manjiro, the young fisherman believed to be the first Japanese person to visit America, who against all odds became a samurai. Newbery Honor Book

• Lafayette and the American Revolution by Russell Freedman  
  

This compelling biography of Lafayette looks at the whole of his life and illuminates the role he played in the American Revolution. Sibert Honor Book

• Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine 
  

Ten-year-old Caitlin who struggles with Asperger’s Syndrome seeks closure following the murder of her brother.

• Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool   
  

Alternating between World War I and the Great Depression, this tale of the eclectic people and mysteries of Manifest, Kansas is told through a mix of letters, newspaper articles, and a fortune teller’s tales. Newbery Medal

• Nothing by Janne Teller
  

As classmates struggle to convince a friend that life has meaning; they force each other to prove and provide meaning, with consequences that are deep, dark, and disastrous.  Batchelder Honor Book & YALSA Printz Honor Book

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares 
  

Four friends spend their summer apart — but keep connected through an amazing pair of jeans.

• Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi   
  

Nailer, a teenage scavenger, works to take apart ancient oil tankers in a future world where he must choose between harvesting riches or saving a girl. YALSA Printz Medal

• Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake by Louis Sachar
  

Fans of Holes won't want to miss this companion guide to everything from digging to avoiding desert scorpions.

 

• A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux 
  

A young refugee searches for identity, safe haven and truth in a journey from war-torn Caucasus to the freedom of France. Batchelder Award

• Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors by Joyce Sidman 
  

Three books in one! This amazing book of poetry is also a beautiful picture book and a nonfiction tribute to the adaptability of life on earth.

• We Shall Overcome: A Song that Changed the World by Stuart Stotts 
  

This iconic song handsomely illustrated here serves as the framework for new understandings of the Civil Rights Movement.

• Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri 
  

Based on true events, this graphic novel, told through the eyes of a younger boy, tells the story of Robert (Yummy) as he tries to navigate the dangerous world of a Chicago neighborhood. ALA Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book