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Titles & Annotations for Kids/Teens
List of kid (J) or teen (YA) titles in multi-copy kits for book discussion groups. Please contact a staff member to check availability and reserve kits. (Kits are not reserved through the catalog.)
* Recently added book club kits.
*The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (YA) 229 pages. Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Among The Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix (J) 153 pages. In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
*The BFG by Roald Dahl (J) 219 pages. Kidsnatched from her orphange by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants.
Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (J) 163 pages. In this classic novel, the friendship between young Jess and Leslie grows as they meet in Terabithia--their secret hiding place-- and ends with a tragic death. (Newbery Medal 1978)
Caddie Woodlawn by Trina Schart Hyman (J) 275 pages. The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (YA) 212 pages. Catherine keeps a journal during her fourteenth year. Her descriptions of life on a 13th-century English manor reach through time to speak to modern readers. (Newbery Honor 1995)
*Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (J) 254 pages. When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (J) 270 pages. This post-apocalyptic page turner tells the story of two twelve year olds that uncover vital clues to escaping the rapidly deteriorating city where they and previous generations have lived for hundreds of years.
*Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (J) 136 pages. While sorting through difficulties in her friendship with her neighbor Margaret, eight-year-old Clementine gains several unique hairstyles while also helping her father in his efforts to banish pigeons from the front of their apartment building.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (J) 162 pages. When Coraline steps through the locked door in her family's new flat, she finds a world which caters to her every whim. When she wants to leave, however, things rapidly change and she must fight a battle of good and evil to save herself.
*Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba (YA) 221 pages. Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note's powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn't know? Volume 1 of the Shonen Jump advanced series.
*Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (J) 217 pages. Middle-schooler Greg Heffley nimbly sidesteps his father's attempts to change Greg's wimpy ways until his father threatens to send him to military school.
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan (J) 262 pages. When a sudden tragedy shatters Esperanza's sheltered world, she and her mother emigrate to California to work in the fields and start a new life. (Pura Belpre Author Award, 2002)
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath (J)150 pages. Primrose’s only refuge is at a local restaurant, where the owner, Miss Bowzer, serves everything on a waffle, except advice and good sense.
Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (YA) 243 pages. The year is 1793 and fourteen-year-old Matilda Cook finds herself in the middle of a struggle to keep herself and her loved ones alive in the midst of the yellow fever epidemic.
First Test by Tamora Pierce (J) 228 pages. Ten-year-old Keladry of Mindalen, daughter of nobles, serves as a page but must prove herself to the males around her if she is ever to fulfill her dream of becoming a knight.
*The Giver by Lois Lowry (J) 179 pages. Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
Holes by Louis Sachar (YA) 233 pages. As punishment at Camp Green Lake's detention center, the boys must each dig a hole a day, five feet across, in the hard earth of the dried-up lake bed. The warden is using the boys to dig for loot buried by an outlaw. (Newbery Award 1999)
*The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman (J) 146 pages. Four fifth-grade students, a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker, as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complete homework assignments.
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (YA) 380 pages. To most people around him, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. As Matt tries to understand his existence, he is threatened by sinister characters.
The Janitor's Boy by Andrew Clements (J) 140 pages. When Jack is publicly embarrassed by his father, the school janitor, his revenge results in an unusual punishment--helping his father after school. The job leads to some surprising revelations about his father, the school, and himself.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (J) 377 pages. 12 year old Percy Jackson finds out he is the child of a mortal and an Olympic God after nearly losing his life in one breathtaking attempt after another.
Love, Ruby Lavender by Debbie Wiles (J) 212 pages. Nine-year-old Rudy Lavender and her grandmother, Miss Eula, rescue chickens from the Halleluiah, Mississippi, slaughterhouse.
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (YA) 380 pages. An astonishing and heartbreaking debut - this is the story of a young woman’s coming of age and the murder that rocked America.
Not My Dog by Colby Rodowsky (J) 69 pages. Ellie, who is eight years old, has to give up her dream of getting a puppy after her parents agree to take in the dog that great-aunt Margaret can no longer keep.
*The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes (J) 153 pages. Inconsolable at being separated from her older brother, eight-year-old Paris is apprehensive about her new foster family but just as she learns to trust them, she faces a life-changing decision.
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (J) 276 pages. Focusing on the struggles and triumphs of the Logan’s, a poor African-American family, the themes of racism and family heritage are explored.
Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples (YA) 240 pages. Spirited and courageous Shabanu, daughter of present-day Pakistani camel herders loves her family's life and her role in caring for their camels until a calamity occurs that changes forever her life of independence. (Newbery Honor, 1990)
Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan (J) 317 pages. This fictionalized account tells the adventures of eighteen-year-old Perce Blackborrow, who stowed away for the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition. After their ship Endurance was crushed by ice, he endures many hardships, including the loss of toes and his left foot to frostbite, during the nearly two-year return journey home.
A Single Shard by Linda Park (J) 148 pages. Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in Korea lives under a bridge in a potter’s village and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon sword.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (YA) 294 pages. Four best girlfriends hatch a plan to stay connected with one another as their lives start off in different directions: they pass around a pair of secondhand jeans which fits each girl perfectly.
Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac (J) 114 pages. After her parents disappear and she is turned over to the care of a strange “great Uncle”, Molly must rely on her dreams about Old Mohawk story for her safety and maybe even her life.
A Step from Heaven by An Na (YA) 156 pages. In her mesmerizing first novel, Na traces the life of Korean-born Young Fu from the age of four through her teenage years, wrapping up her story just a few weeks before she leaves for college.
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (J) 270 pages. Despereaux Tilling, a small but adventurous mouse, is different from the other mice. His big dreams lead him out of the world of mice and into the worlds of people and rats. Along the way he discovers some surprising things about himself and those around him. In the end, Despereaux learns that even the tiniest mouse can be as brave and successful as a knight in shining armor.
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (J) 171 pages. The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.
The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (J) 210 pages. The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. (Newbery Honor, 1996 & Coretta Scott King Award Honor, 1996)
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (J) 216 pages. The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. (Newbery Award, 1979)
Where the Red Fern Grows: the Story of Two Dogs and a Boy by Wilson Rawls (J) 212 pages. A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters.
White Star: a Dog on the Titanic by Marty Crisp (J) 150 pages. Twelve-year-old Sam, a passenger on the Titanic, volunteers to help care for the dogs in the ocean liner's kennel and becomes friends with the Irish setter of the ship's owner.