Booklist for Teens Grades 8-9 Fiction Title: Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1) Author: Jonathan Stroud Summary: In an alternative London, a young apprentice gets back at the magician who cruelly humiliated him by summoning the djinni, Bartimaeus, to steal that magician's most prized possession. Title: Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast Author: Robin McKinley Summary: Her older sisters might actually be more beautiful, but Beauty is smart and loyal and more than strong enough to face the Beast in his lair. Title: Black Mirror Author: Nancy Werlin Summary: After her brother commits suicide, Frances gets involved with the charitable group he was connected with at their school, only to become suspicious his death might not have been a suicide. Title: Bloody Jack: Being the Account of the Curious Adventures of Author: L. A. Meyer Summary: Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a 13-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventures. Title: Body of Christopher Creed Author: Carol Plum-Ucci Summary: When outcast Christopher Creed goes missing, everyone suddenly wants to know what happened to the classmate no one liked. Title: Born in Sin Author: Evelyn Coleman Summary: Keisha, a studious 14-year-old African American girl, is mistakenly sent to an at-risk summer program for poor kids instead of the pre-med program she so desires, and almost gives up hope for a better future. Title: Dragonsong Author: Anne McCaffrey Summary: Forbidden all music by her harsh father, Menolly braves the deadly Threadfall of the planet Pern to take refuge with wild fire lizards. Title: Ender's Game Author: Orson Scott Card Summary: Slated from birth to be humanitys savior when the alien bugs invade, Ender must grow up fast, tough and totally isolated in the orbiting Battle School. Title: Eva Author: Peter Dickinson Summary: Eva is alive, but as what's human or chimpanzee? Title: Flipped Author: Wendelin Van Draanen Summary: From 2nd grade on, Juli knows she wants to kiss Bryce, but Bryce thinks Juli is irritating and weird-at least until 8th grade. Title: Geography Club Author: Brent Hartinger Summary: To avoid attracting attention, a group of gay and lesbian students form the boring-sounding "Geography Club" at their school so they can discuss their lives. Title: Golden Compass Author: Philip Pullman Summary: In another England, Lyra follows her kidnapped friends to the far north to keep them from being used in gruesome experiments to stop the mysterious "Dust." Title: Heaven Author: Angela Johnson Summary: For Marly, the town of Heaven truly is perfect, but a letter from a stranger will reveal a shocking family secret that could change that. Title: House of the Scorpion Author: Nancy Farmer Summary: When he discovers the horrifying fate awaiting him, the young genetic clone of a powerful drug lord who rules a country called Opium, plans his escape. Title: Keeping You a Secret Author: Julie Anne Peters Summary: Holland's senior year of high school turns upside down when she falls in love with an openly gay new girl at school. Title: Kiss the Dust Author: Elizabeth Laird Summary: Thirteen-year-old Tara Hawrami and her family flee their luxurious home in Northern Iraq after the secret police come looking for her father, a member of the Kurdish rebel army. Title: Make Lemonade Author: Virginia Euwer Wolff Summary: To earn money, 14-year-old LaVaughn takes an all-consuming job babysitting for the two small children of a teen mother who is trying to stay on her feet. Title: One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies Author: Sonya Sones Summary: When Ruby's mom dies of cancer, she leaves Boston to live in Los Angeles with the famous movie actor father she's never met. Title: Outsiders Author: S. E. Hinton Summary: When his best friend kills the member of a rival gang, Ponyboy goes into hiding and questions his life as a "greaser." Title: Shade's Children Author: Garth Nix Summary: In a futuristic world where children are fodder for the war games of Overlords, its up to a group of brave teenage escapees to destroy the evil aliens. Title: Shizuko's Daughter Author: Kyoko Mori Summary: After her mother's suicide, 12-year-old Yuki spends years in Tokyo with her distant father and resentful stepmother. Title: Slam Author: Walter Dean Myers Summary: Greg "Slam" Harris is in control on the basketball court, but that won't change his low grades or the drugs and drive-by shootings in his Harlem neighborhood. Title: Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals and the Country Author: Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer Summary: Cecelia and Kate, best friends and cousins, are separated for the London Season but both soon stumble onto a mystery involving enigmatic wizards, a vengeful witch, an enchantingly beautiful girl, two handsome (but horrible!) young men, and a very strange chocolate pot. Title: Squashed Author: Joan Bauer Summary: This year Ellie Morgan intends to grow the largest pumpkin in the county, but distractions and difficulties abound, so it's not easy. Title: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Author: Chris Crutcher Summary: Eric was willing to stay fat to keep the best friend he ever had, but is he willing to let her go so she can escape the past that scarred her face? Title: Stuck in Neutral Author: Terry Trueman Summary: Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who lives with severe cerebral palsy, shares life from his perspective, including suspicions about his father. Title: Thin Ice Author: Marsha Qualey Summary: Arden is convinced that her brother didn't really die in a snowmobile accident and sets out to find him. Title: Things Not Seen Author: Andrew Clements Summary: When 15-year-old Bobby wakes up one day and finds himself invisible, he needs help from family and friends to figure out how to reverse it. Title: Touching Spirit Bear Author: Ben Mikaelsen Summary: After severely injuring a classmate, Cole reluctantly agrees to go to a remote Alaskan Island for alternative sentencing, and must face the harshness of the climate and land. Title: When My Name Was Keoko Author: Linda Sue Park Summary: Older brother Tae-yul and younger sister Sun-hee are Korean, but must deny their culture during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1940s. Title: When She Hollers Author: Cynthia Voigt Summary: Tish, a teenager who has endured abuse at the hands of her stepfather since she was a child, finally decides she can't take it anymore. Non-Fiction Title: 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East Author: Naomi Shihab Nye Summary: Nye, an Arab-American, shares 60 poems that thoughtfully, lovingly and achingly describe the Arab people and their ways of life in the Middle East, with special focus on the Palestinian perspective. Call Number: 811.54 NYE Title: Always to Remember: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Author: Brent K. Ashabranner Summary: This photo essay tells the story of the Vietnam veteran who headed the drive to create a memorial, the architect whose design was chosen, and the memorial's effect on those who visit it Call Number: 959.70433 ASH Title: Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child Author: Elva Trevino Hart Summary: This powerful collection of vignettes by a successful career woman looks back with stark dignity on her childhood and her Mexican-American family's impoverished years. Call Number: 973.046872 HAR Title: Ben Franklins Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentlemans Life Author: Candace Fleming Summary: More like a scrapbook than an almanac, this biography celebrates the life and interests of Benjamin Franklin, one of Americas most original thinkers. Call Number: B FRANKLIN Title: Fighting for Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II Author: Michael L. Cooper Summary: Based largely on the diaries and accounts of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all Japanese American unit, this book describes the experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II, both in internment camps and fighting abroad. Call Number: Y940.530899 COO Title: First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Author: Loung Ung Summary: Loung Ung's memoirs reveal the horrors of life under the Pol Pot regime in Phom Penh in the 1970s, and the tough resilience required to survive during such a brutal period in Cambodia's history. Call Number: 959.6042 UNG Title: King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography Author: Chris Crutcher Summary: Popular teen author Chris Crutcher shares humorous tales of his life growing up in Idaho with a strict father and alcoholic mother. Call Number: B CRUTCHER Title: Left for Dead: A Young Mans Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis Author: Peter Nelson Summary: While watching Jaws one day, 11-year-old Hunter Scott learned about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and was so moved that he began his own investigations, which eventually led to the righting of an old injustice. Call Number: 940.545973 NEL Title: Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex Author: Nathaniel Philbrick Summary: An angry whale sinks a ship and leaves the remaining crewmembers to fight for survival during the three months they float at sea. Call Number: 910.9164 PHI Title: The Lost Childhood: A World War II Memoir Author: Yehuda Nir Summary: Eleven-year-old Yehuda Nir, his mother, and his sister disguise themselves as Polish Catholics to escape harm as they hide out in different countries during the Holocaust. Call Number: B NIR Title: Within Reach: My Everest Story Author: Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin Summary: Sixteen-year-old Mark Pfetzer, the youngest climber ever to attempt the highest mountain in the world, describes his Mount Everest expedition in 1996the year a severe storm ended the lives of eight climbers ahead of him. Call Number: 796.522092 PFE