Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!

If YOU, my older Reading Rants adolescent friend, are anything like the teenagers I know and work with, I would guess that you tend to troll both the teen AND adult section of your local library or bookstore when looking for new reading material. Some of you even stoop to poking through your parents’ stacks of paperbacks to see if Oprah’s recommendations are any good. You may not even know what YA (Young Adult) fiction is, because you’re too busy reading your favorite adult authors or devouring genre fiction by the thick paperback-ful. (If that’s the case, please take a look at some of the other lists here on RR–I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a teen-published book somewhere on this site that might tickle your fancy as much as those Neil Gaiman or Jean Auel tomes weighing down your backpack) Well, if you’re looking for recommendations of adult published books that you might enjoy too, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve always reviewed adult books on RR that I thought teens might like, but I thought I’d make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for by corralling them all in one place. Now, be forewarned, the only things these books share in common is that they were published for an adult audience (although some titles come from the same subject lists, so they may share some of the same topics). But why should your parents have all the fun? Check out these adult-published reads and soon you’ll be the one giving the grown-ups in your life some good book recommendations! Want more adult-published reads recommended for teens? Browse through the Alex Awards, “given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18,” awarded by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association.

This epic story of a lonely boy, his loyal dog, and his family’s betrayal at the hands of his bitter uncle has haunted me (in a good way) since I read it, and I hope it will resonate with some of you as well. Set in rural 1970’s Wisconsin and employing some of the same elements as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the novel explores the inner life of mute boy Edgar Sawtelle and his family’s amazing fictional breed of near-mind-reading dog, simply called the Sawtelle dogs. (You can’t get one, because they don’t exist, but by the end of the book, you’ll want one!) Edgar’s life raising and training dogs on his family’s farm is idyllic until his father dies suddenly and Edgar suspects his uncle was involved. Determined to bring the man to justice, Edgar makes several crucial decisions that will change the course of his life and the fate of the Sawtelle dogs. Now, just because this buzz book is going to be all the rage in your mother’s book club next year is no reason to dismiss it out of hand. Trust me, underneath all the heaps of praise from frou-frou literary critics, a passionate, frustrated heart of adolescent angst beats at the center of this big book. (And don’t complain about the length, either. You ran right out and bought that monstrously huge Stephanie Meyer book, and didn’t even blink at the number of pages of the last Harry Potter. I just don’t buy that “I don’t read books this long” argument anymore.) So drop by your local library and grab it off the best-seller table or your dad’s desk and give it a go. Then come back here and tell me about it…

In a world where evil magicians called Danisoba steal away small children who display any hint of mystical talent, orphan pirate girl Kestrel works hard to hide her ability to whistle up the wind. But she may be forced to show her hand when her beloved Captain Binns is arrested by the Royal Navy and sentenced to hang for his dastardly deeds. Kestrel is frantic to save him. But if she allows her talent to show, any sailor worth his salt will sell her out to the nearest Danisoba for top dollar. So instead she relies on more earthly means to orchestrate the save of the century. Hampered by a mutinous crew, a disappearing ship, and a double-dealing jack o’ napes named Philip McAvery, (who may or may not be on her side but is far too good looking to be trusted either way) Kestrel has to decide if she’s willing to risk life and liberty to save the man who has been like a father to her. Shiver me timbers! This thrilling paperback original reminded me of my all-time favorite series, Bloody Jack(except with magic). So if you’re a fan of the nefarious Jack Sparrow, or just partial to spell-casting buccaneers and swashbuckling acts of derring-do, sail out the door to your nearest bookshop and drop some gold doubloons for this high seas fantasy adventure penned by newbie author Misty Massey.

Sarcastic, twenty-something amateur sleuth Madeline Dare, grown-up child of hippie parents, takes a job as a teacher at an elite, if fairly cult-ish private school for troubled teens. The head guru in charge, Santangelo, promises desperate parents results, no matter what technique he has to employ to get them, including isolation and humiliation. Madeline, who’s having nasty flashbacks about her own dad’s bizarre child-raising methods, is having serious doubts about whether she can continue to teach using Santangelo’s “unorthodox” techniques. Then, two of her fav students turn up dead and Madeline rejects the hypothesis that the kids offed themselves and instead begins to dig for evidence of corruption at the highest levels. Turns out that pseudo-suicides are the LEAST of what shady Santangelo has under his ridiculously pretentious opera cape. This bitterly funny mystery by Edgar Award-nominated author Cornelia Read has a great cast of teen characters, but the best voice is that of jaded, wickedly witty slacker sleuth Madeline Dare herself. This is one seriously dark comedic nailbiter.

Sometime in the near future, silvery parasitic aliens infiltrate the human population, bringing peace and love but causing their hosts’ personalities to be erased. Melanie Stryder is a seventeen-year-old post apocalyptic street fighter with a bad attitude who also happens to be stunningly gorgeous. Wanderer is a 1,000-year-old well-traveled female alien soul who, despite being parasitic, is altruistic to the point of martyrdom. The two of them are both attempting to occupy Melanie’s body and making a sorry hash of it. (Souls are surgically inserted into the base of the neck by doctors who have already been Body-Snatched.) Melanie is trying to keep the location of her small rebel human outpost a secret from her parasite, but eventually the soul breaks through and seeks out Melanie’s man, Jared, her little brother Jamie, and a rag tag assortment of other folks who have managed to evade having their brain stems coated with memory-wiping silver silly-putty. When Melanie’s body first shows up at the secret desert camp under the direction of Wanderer, the insurgent humans are all for murdering her on the spot, but Wanderer wins them over by giving voice to Melanie’s thoughts and discovering to her own surprise that she actually digs these passionate, violent, lusty life forms. Things get complicated when two of the men in camp both fall for the dystopian Sybil—Jared, Melanie’s hot, older-man savior-type, and Ian, a brooding bad boy who has lost his heart to the selfless Wanderer, who he calls “Wanda.” Sound familiar? It should–Meyer treads some of the same supernatural romantic love triangle ground she traveled so well in her enormously popular Twilight series. If you liked those books, you’re gonna love this one. Personally, Meyer’s melodramatic dialogue drove me a little nuts, but I did dig her descriptions of Wanderer’s past worlds, and the sympathetic alien’s fascination with this planet. Clocking in at over 600 pages, it’s also not going to be easy to stuff in your backpack. If you prefer your interspecies romances with a few less pages and a bit more grit, you may want to pick up a copy of the now classic Blood and Chocolate, one of my all time fav romantic horror stories, instead.

The Power of One meets Cheaper by the Dozen in this hilarious, heart-breaking memoir by Robyn Scott. When Robyn was seven, her New Zealand hippie parents moved her and her brother and sister to live in rural Botswana, where her father took a job as a bush doctor. He flew a small engine plane three days a week to different far-flung clinics where he would see more than 100 patients a day, and treat everything from pnemonia (real) to witch doctor’s curses (fake) and soon, the terrifying symptoms of AIDS. Robyn’s mother was into holistic food, medicine and home schooling, and her wacky lessons were like nothing you’ve ever seen in OR outside a classroom. Robyn and her sibs grew up swimming with crocodiles, taming house snakes, and riding bareback on half-broken horses. But they all managed to make it to adulthood with their limbs intact. This well-written and rollicking memoir may be just the ticket next time you’re feeling a little bored with your suburban existence. I guarantee you’ll get at least ten giggles and ten lumps in your throat from reading Twenty Chickens!

Four upper crust NYC siblings take on the stone cold world of celebrity in this brilliant debut novel by playwright Theresa Rebeck. After a picture of the three girls in the title is published with much fanfare in an issue of the New Yorker, the newly minted celebriteens must learn how to navigate the shark-filled waters of fame. Each sib takes his or her turn at telling the story of how reporters staked out their school, how their aging ex-beauty pageant mother sold them out, and how they finally brought their borderline evil agent to heel. After her wild ride on the unstoppable fame machine, eldest sister Daria decides that fame “feels like a disease to me, and everyone is sick, the reporters, and the photographers and the commentators and the people, everyone has this disease, and what the disease does is it makes them hungry all the time…only for everyone else in America, me and my life and my family’s lives are the things that they’re hungry for, and they can never be satisfied, and so there is no ending.” Consider THAT next time you snap open your latest issue of People magazine! Sharply observed and incredibly well written in realistic and riotous teenspeak, this is THE novel for fans of Britney, Perez and Entourage. Consider it the perfect beach book for you AND your mom.

Seventeen-year-old Luke is a self-described loser skate punk who begins to ponder the meaning of life after he correctly predicts the day, time, and method of his best friend’s untimely demise. Hailed as “the prophet of death” by the media and hounded by the local minister to come to Jesus, Luke nearly self-destructs under the intense public scrutiny. Until he finally figures out what it is he wants to live for–his dead friend’s girl. Can Luke handle both the guilt of loving dead Stan’s gorgeous girl Faith and the feeling (if not the seeing) of dead people who keep passing through his nerve endings on their way out? This outrageous, day-in-the-life chronicle of a basement-dwelling, pot-smoking burn-out turned modern day mystic manages to be philosophical, sad, and uplifting all at once. It powerfully reminded me of one of my all time fav teenage male manifestos, Rule of the Bone. Take a walk on the Other Side with Joanne Proulx’s semi-supernatural debut.

In modern day L.A., Lark is a savvy, white-collar criminal trying to assemble a new crew to assist in his perfect plan-to-end-all-plans. Peabody is a tired middle-aged cop who cares more about his family than his dead-end job. And Anthony is a newly hired dogcatcher who’s just fallen in love. These three men couldn’t be more different. But their lives become intertwined when Peabody is called on to investigate the disappearance and deaths of several of Anthony’s kennel colleagues. Suddenly, L.A.’s dogcatchers are dropping like flies. But Anthony’s too ga-ga over his new flame to wonder if he’s next. If he only knew his girl’s true nature, he wouldn’t just be worried, he’d be outta there faster than you could say, “here, boy!” Because she wears fur under her silky smooth skin, and answers to Lark, who, besides being a criminal mastermind, also happens to be a werewolf bent on world domination. Anthony’s girl is just one of his many disciples. Anthony and Peabody don’t know it yet, but they’re about to come into uncomfortably close contact with some very sharp teeth! You follow me so far? Good, because that’s only the first twenty pages or so. What comes next is an intricately plotted dog-eat-dog tale of blood, money and fangs that defies definition. First time adult novelist Toby Barlow has written a romantic supernatural noir mystery (in blank verse, no less!) that will keep you guessing right up until the final dogfight. If you are addicted to Stephen King or devoted to Dean Koontz, then Sharp Teeth is right up your dark alley. A four-star thriller—go fetch ST from your nearest library or bookstore asap! This one can’t wait to be read in paperback, it’s that cool AND that hot!

Uber-nerd Denis Cooverman (aka “The Coove,” as dubbed by his equally dweeby and possibly closeted best friend, Rich) decides to go for broke in his valedictorian speech and declare his love for head cheerleader Beth Cooper for all to hear. Unfortunately, “all” includes her huge military boyfriend, Kevin, who drives a Hummer and wouldn’t mind driving it over Denis after learning of his latent love for Beth. Even though perpetually sweaty Denis does manage to entice the intrigued Beth over to his house for a little “fat-free sourdough Gorgonzola pretzel dip” and then on to Queen Mean Girl Valli Woolly’s parent-free graduation party, they are dogged by Kevin and his squad of muscle-bound goons every step of the way. Will Denis ever get Beth alone long enough to figure out of they are meant-to-be, or just meant-to-be-friends? This Say Anything send-up is so freakin’ funny that I pretty much giggled my way through each page. Each chapter starts with a quote from some teen movie, (which is a party game in and of itself to try and figure out which movie is being referenced) along with a cartoon image of Denis, showing his increasing anxiety and worsening facial contusions as he continues to collect punches from Kevin and Co. each time they make a pit stop in Beth’s Cabriolet convertible. There were so many priceless moments of almost peeing my pants in this naughty teen sex dramedy that if I started listing them, I’d never stop. I’ll leave it at this: If you heart Superbad, then you are going to be McLovin’ I Love You, Beth Cooper.

Bec is a college student at loose ends. Not crazy about her advertising major, she’s successfully avoided deciding what to do with her life thus far by partying hard with her roommate and best friend Jill and carrying on a guilty affair with a married professor. Then, while looking for a new part-time job that pays more than waitressing, she answers an ad for a home health-care aide. Expecting a weak, bed-ridden old lady, Bec is surprised to find that wheelchair-confined Kate, afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease, is young, smart, and sophisticated, with a wicked sense of humor. Like this exchange: “‘Oh my god,’ I said embarrassed. ‘You think I’m like those TV movies where the person with the disease teaches everyone how to live.’ Kate laughed soundlessly. ‘It’s always so nice of us.’” When Bec begins working for Kate and her husband Evan, she discovers a whole new world of witty conversation, gourmet cooking, and urbane dinner parties. Soon Bec is so immersed in Kate’s life that it becomes difficult for her to distinguish where Kate’s life leaves off and her own begins. Kate is dying, but Bec’s life has just begun. Will she ever be able to establish her own identity and personality while under Kate’s charismatic shadow? This sharply observed novel, full of painful realizations, hilarious conversations and some of the best food descriptions I’ve ever read, perfectly captures that time in our early 20’s when our adult identities are beginning to form and we are so easily influenced by those around us whose personalities are set and stronger than our own.

Margaret Lea leads a reading life in her father’s antiquarian bookstore, making a modest living writing short biographies of interesting, if little known, dead people. Then the famously reclusive author, Vida Winter, asks her to write Winter’s own biography. Margaret is puzzled by the invitation. The solitary woman is known for her habit of publishing conflicting accounts of her life, all of which have been proven to be utterly fictitious. Still, Margaret is intrigued, so she accepts the challenge of teasing the truth out of Vida. As Vida begins to spin a Gothic tale of an insane mother, a set of feral twins, a ghostly gardener, and a tragic fire, Margaret begins to question whether or not she’s being told the truth. She wants to believe Vida, but her own deep, dark secret, also having to do with damaged siblings, makes her question the writer’s every word. Can Margaret trust Vida’s story? And as the tale grows more grisly, does she even WANT to? This wonderfully chilling suspense novel, a 2007 Alex Award winner has a slow build and a stunning conclusion. This book reminded me of Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and of course, the now classic Flowers in the Attic. Go ahead, try and put it down after the first chapter–I dare you!

Tilden is a twelve-year old mess. Her free-spirited mom has just uprooted her and her sister Elizabeth AGAIN, this time to go live with this guy on Long Island who owns a chauffeur business. Just as she and her little sis are getting settled, Tilden’s mother discovers she has a lump in her breast. How Tilden and Elizabeth deal with their mother’s cancer makes for a story that is both brave and tearful. This is definitely a three-hankie read.

Back in the day (1986), the WNBA was just a twinkle in some future sports promoter’s eye. But girls were still taking the ball to their male counterparts. Nancy and Raina, stepsisters and all-star players, are living out their last year of high-school stardom living, breathing and worshipping the Cult of the Hoop. But the girls are tired of dealing with the college recruiters that dog their every step, and the racism that is leveled at them because of their mixed African-American and Japanese-American household. In addition, both girls are dealing with their emerging sexual identities as young lesbian women of color. Can their already stressed-out friendship take the pressure when their teams come into direct competition–with each other? After reading this sharp and sweaty novel of competition on the riot-grrl level, you’ll be saying, “SHE got game!”

Medina Mason may know how to catch a wave, but she just can’t catch a break. In this psychologically tense first novel by Nicholson, Medina tries to surf away her problems. But that is getting harder and harder to do with a mother who is eating herself to death, a father who has a new girlfriend every week and a twin brother who is growing more and more distant. While Medina eventually finds redemption in the waves, it’s a wild and bumpy ride, filled with exhilaration and disappointment. Crack the binding on this baby and prepare to hang 10!

Abbie is no stranger to the club scene. As a nineteen year old aspiring fashion designer, she’s “been there, done that” about a hundred times. And she’s got a plan to get the hell out of the boring Dallas Design Institute and onto the catwalks of New York City. But what she didn’t plan on was falling for the fabulous Franco. Now Abbie has to make a difficult decision. Will she wimp out and follow Franco, or will she dump the dude and go for fashion and fame? Way back in 1997, Julie Taylor was paving the runway for couture-chick-lit., when the ideas for Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model were still waiting to born in Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks’ collective brain cells. But you know what, RR readers? Taylor’s novel still feels funky fresh. If you loved The Devil Wears Prada, you’re gonna want to follow THIS Donna Karan wanna-be on her wacky adventures through life, love and the pursuit of style.

You probably thought gangs were just for guys. Well, you haven’t met Mad Maddy Wirtz and Legs Sadovsky. In this totally tuff novel, Maddy, Legs, and three other girls decide that they have had enough of the conservative 1950’s scene and form a girl-gang called Foxfire. They pledge to always uphold the sisterhood no matter what, in the face of male oppression. Only the men aren’t going down without a fight. One group has to lose and one group has to win, and Legs is determined that Foxfire will overcome the odds…or die trying. And if you saw the lame modern-day version of this story on the big screen, forget about it! (Even though it was one of Angelina Jolie’s first roles–she’s good, but the movie sucks!) The book is way better, so shelve the video and give this paperback a chance. You won’t regret a single boy-bashing minute of it!

Can you imagine being forced to marry someone you didn’t know and couldn’t possibly love? That’s the situation that’s facing Rachel, a tough independent chick who’s trapped in the strict traditions of a Hasidic Jewish family. The only way Rachel can escape the hard demands of her family is through the romance books that she is forbidden to read, but that she manages to beg, borrow and steal anyway. Will Rachel bow to the traditions of her religion? Or will she make a stand for her own, new beliefs? Either way, its gonna suck for Rachel, and you’ll find yourself hanging in with her until the bitter end of this novel.

A harrowing look at how the bubonic plague of the 17th century almost destroys a small English village’s spirit. Anna Frith is just 18 years old, but already a widow with two small boys when a traveling tailor arrives from London, carrying a bolt of cloth that he intends to make clothes out of for the village people. Anna has a room to rent in her little house, and offers it to him. A few short weeks later, he dies painfully in bed of a high fever and pulsing sores, and soon everyone who bought a dress from him is also sick. For the tailor’s bolt of cloth carried fleas, and the fleas carried the dreaded Plague. And so begins a year of sickness that affects both the minds and bodies of Anna’s little village. In their fear and delirium, the townspeople begin to turn on each other, and claim that it is witchcraft that is spreading the disease. Anna, one of the few who doesn’t seem to be affected, works day and night helping the sick, squashing rumors of witchcraft, and questioning her own beliefs and morals when her two small sons die in her arms. A terribly sad yet thoughtful story full of complex questions about life, death and fate.

Almost indescribable, this collection of stories about complete oddballs will challenge you to try and figure out what a tattooed librarian, a homeless old lady named Aunt Helen and a little girl who’s dad is entirely too nice to strangers, have in common. This book defines the word “quirky.” A really original read that I haven’t been able to get out of my head, and I hope you will invite into yours.

Sassy 18 year old Alice doesn’t know if she can take being shut up with her dried up mother in law one second more. Her handsome new husband Charlie has gone off to fight in the Civil War on the side of the Union and left her in the care of his mother, a sour old lady who thinks Alice is too flighty and flirtatious. Alice’s story is told through a series of letters to her sister, where she complains about her mother in law, gossips about neighbors, worries about Charlie and shares quilt patterns. And Charlie isn’t the only one seeing action. In his absence, Alice contends with homeless vagrants, food shortages, and even accusations that she is being untrue to Charlie with a local man of ill repute. But through it all, Alice tries to stay hopeful that one day her solider boy will come walking home again. An earthy read with a little old fashioned scandal that will show you a side of the Civil War your textbook didn’t cover.

This may be the most unusual weepie I’ve ever read. At the beginning of the story, 14 year old Susie Salmon is already dead. She’s just been brutally murdered by a quiet serial killer in her 1970’s neighborhood, and now she’s in heaven watching the results of her death unfold down on earth. It’s painful for her to see her younger sister become older than Susie ever will, her parent’s marriage start to disintegrate as they grieve for her, and the first boy she ever kissed begin to grow up and forget her. Maybe worse is seeing Mr. Harvey, her murderer, continue to live contentedly in the house a block away from her parents, as the search for her killer tapers off and is finally closed. Susie finds that heaven doesn’t mean eternal happiness. But it helps that whatever you imagine becomes part of your own personal heaven, and for Susie, that means an ornate gazebo, a high school that is all extracurricular activities and no studying, and a gazillion dogs to play with and cuddle whenever she wants. Susie is terrified that her family will forget her. But until they learn to let her go they will never be healed. And neither will Susie. A contemplative weepie that will make you think and cry and then think some more. (3 weepies)

Forget WWJD–instead, think What Did Jesus Do when he was a rock and roll teen way back in the day? According to his best friend, Biff, J.C. was a happening guy. All the girls dug him, even though he couldn’t really date, seeing that he was the son of God and all. And he really did perform all those miracles–but Biff will be sure to fill you in on all the early ones that umm, backfired a little bit. Filling where the Bible leaves off (for those of you not in the know, the Word never gives any detail about Jesus as a teenager) author Christopher Moore has provided us with a highly irreverent and completely hilarious behind the scenes view of Jesus–the sort of guy who, according to the all-too-human Biff, is almost impossible to be best friends with, because he’s, well, perfect!

During the late 70’s and early 80’s, Jacob Green comes of age in a Jewish family where his narcissistic father Abram rules supreme. There is no getting around his father’s demand for perfection in all things, so Jacob just tries to hide his worsening learning disability from Abram’s prying eyes. He lives a vicarious life through his older brother, Asher, who never shrinks from confronting their father, and often belittles the one thing Abram reveres most–their Jewish religion. Jacob also escapes by having “unthinkable thoughts”–fantasies about his hippie babysitter and what he wishes he could REALLY write on his bar mitzvah thank you cards. But when Jacob’s mother Claire leaves Abram for another man, the shaky family finally falls apart and Jacob is left to pick up the pieces of his father’s shattered ego. You may have noticed that the author shares a last name with a certain brilliant actor/writer who penned the incredibly cool “Garden State” screenplay. You go on with your bad selves, burgeoning literary genius Braff brothers!!

Edwin Hanratty and his only friend, Flake, are two marginalized 8th graders who spend their miserably long days at school dodging the twin bullets of bullying jocks and sarcastic teachers. Edwin, who worries chronically about getting his locker open, spends many sleepless nights reminiscing about his childhood, when he felt connected to his parents and school was a place he enjoyed going. As Flake’s unstable temper grows shorter, he begins to convince Edwin that the only way to solve their problems is to kill themselves with his father’s guns and take as many people as they can with them. Edwin loves his parents and little brother Gus, but can’t see his future ever being anything but wretched. But when the moment of truth comes, and the gun is in his hands, Edwin is surprised and humiliated by his own extreme reaction…This is one for parents and teens to read together, to start discussions that help us avoid another Columbine. There’s powerful stuff between these pages–don’t be fooled by the short length. It really packs an emotional wallop.

Christopher Boone’s life is full of rules. Rule #1: No touching. Rule # 2: No lying. Rule #3: 5 red cars in a row on the way to school=Super Good Day. Rule #4: 4 yellow cars in a row on the way to school=Black Day. Rule #5: Nobody goes to heaven when they die because there is no heaven, only the universe, and so on and so forth. Christopher’s rules make sense to him because he has a mental illness called autism. Because of his illness, he feels very little emotion, and needs strictly enforced routines and patterns to make himself feel safe. When he discovers his neighbor’s dog dead on her lawn in the middle of the night during one of his nighttime rambles, he is frightened (because it doesn’t conform to his rules and routines) but also intrigued (because it seems like the beginnings of a good mystery; who killed the dog? and why?) As Christopher begins to conduct an amateur investigation into the dog’s mysterious death, he uncovers not only who was behind this brutal neighborhood crime, but also some deep and uncomfortable truths about himself and his family. Christopher’s voice is utterly unique, and I have found this original, brilliant book impossible to forget. I think you will, too.

I should have included this book a long time ago, but as the pregnant chick said on the way to the shot-gun wedding, better late than never. If you were bored out of your skull reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in English class, than ditch that dusty classic and pick up Rule of the Bone. Russell Banks has basically re-written the Huck Finn epic and made it way, way hipper. Huck is now Chappie, a fourteen year old trailer-park punk who gets kicked out of his house, hangs with bikers, and gets a tattoo. It’s only when he meets I-Man, a pot-smoking enlightened Rastafarian (who makes a great contemporary Jim) and travels with him to Jamaica, that Chappie realizes the potential that his life has and the man he will become. So much stuff happens in this book, including fires, break-ins and homeless people living in abandoned school buses that now you HAVE to read it to find out how it all ties together! It’s hokey for me to say it, but this is really a gem of a boy book.

Nick Twisp is man with a plan–which is to ultimately drive his selfish divorced parents insane, keep his hapless friend Lucky out of trouble, and bed his beautiful long-distance girlfriend Sheeni Saunders as soon as possible. There are only a few roadblocks on his highway to heaven–he’s 14, car-less, job-less and broke. But with sheer will and a very silly sense of humor, Nick can and will conquer all. Not too terribly deep, this over-thick novel is good for a few laughs on those long car-trips with your parents.

Yeah, yeah, you’ve seen The Shining and Children of the Corn half a dozen times at Halloween parties, and you know Stephen King supposed to be a really scary writer-dude. But what a lot of teens don’t realize is that what King writes are books about REAL people, people who are a lot like you and your friends. Then he just kind of adds a supernatural twist. Take Christine for instance. It’s just a book about a nerdy guy named Arnie who finds this great old car and decides to buy it and fix it up. How can he possibly predict that the old car that he affectionately calls Christine is POSSESSED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT THAT IS DETERMINED TO CRUSH OUT ALL THE POSITIVE THINGS IN ARNIE’S LIFE INCLUDING HIS CUTE GIRLFRIEND!!!! Whew! Not for the faint-hearted, this book packs a punch–between Christine’s playful antics(oh, just running over the bullies that make Arnie’s life hell) and the great characterization of teens, this is not a novel to be passed over like some used car on the lot! Take Christine for a test drive and I promise you’ll be hooked. This ain’t no Christopher Pike, baby!

I know that you’re thinking you’re just a little too old for that whole Tooth Fairy/Santa Claus bit, but let me assure you, this is a very gritty book and this fairy is no little pink-frocked, gossamer-winged cutie. Sam is in grade-school the first time he spots the Tooth Fairy. By waking up and surprising her on her way out of his room, Sam somehow forms a connection between himself and this hellish sprite that is sometimes male, sometimes female and always, always causing trouble. She’s there the day that a big bully threatens Sam and his friends and Sam goes for the bully’s throat. Did Sam really kill the kid who wouldn’t leave him and his mates alone, or is he just the victim of the Tooth Fairy’s hallucinogenic illusions? And if he’s not a murderer, then why do the police find a body in the woods behind Sam’s house? The Tooth Fairy is loose, and no one is safe. After reading this shivery page turner, you’ll think twice about what might be under your pillow!

Jesse and Eric live in Idaho—a state not exactly known for setting the world on fire with its cutting edge technology. Yet here in the middle of nowhere, Jesse and Eric are consummate Doom-playing, Internet-obsessed, expert computer hackers. They’re geniuses when it comes to hardware—it’s just their software (or social skills) that needs a little work. Pop culture guru Katz follows these two self-proclaimed “geeks” as they try to break out of their dead end, strip-mall-working lives and into the big city doings of Chicago. It’s an enlightening trip full of revelations about computer culture, societal pressure to be “normal” (whatever THAT is!) and how the labels people wear (in this case, GEEK) never really tell the whole story.

Life isn’t going too well for Tina S. Her family is living in a welfare hotel, and her mother’s new boyfriend is always giving her the evil eye. So when she meets the beautiful, doomed, drug-addicted April, it’s easy for her to shrug off her old life and join April and the other homeless teens who make Grand Central subway station in NYC their hang-out. Tina adores April, and wants to copy her every move, including April’s addiction to crack cocaine and scamming commuters for money. Soon, Tina can’t remember much of her life before the subway tunnels and crack dealers. Slowly, one painful step at a time, Tina fights her way back from jail, drugs and homelessness to becoming the kind of quality person she knows she is inside. A gritty, four-hanky read.

In what has got to be one of the funniest, and at the same time saddest memoirs ever, Esme Codell, (or“Madame Esme” as she likes to be called by her 5th graders) shares what it’s like to be a 24 year old, first-year, white teacher in an inner city, predominantly African American Chicago public school. Despite all her heroic efforts to teach kids in a fun and innovative way by hosting authors, making a fairy tale festival, and letting her worst kids learn how it feels to be her by letting them teach for a day, she is reprimanded, shunned, and generally told to fit the standard teacher mode or else! A book that will make you stand up and cheer, Educating Esme gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what a teaching life is REALLY like.

In the 1970’s, Sonsyrea Tate was a member of a family that belonged to the Nation of Islam. She didn’t go to public school, but instead attended a private Muslim school where her subjects included Arabic, history according to the Honorable Elijah Mohammed, the Nation’s Leader, and black pride. She liked how the Nation gave her and her family a sense of identity and worth as a people. But as she grew older, Sonsyrea grew dissatisfied with the Nation. She hated the way the women were forced to be subservient and wear restrictive clothing. She felt that her parents were hypocrites who disobeyed the Nation’s rules against drugs by smoking pot. Her eyewitness account of the corruption that went on behind the scenes of the Black Muslim movement caused her to make a permanent break with the Nation when she became a young adult. The feelings expressed in Sonsyrea’s story will probably remind you of feelings of disillusionment that you may have had about your parents or the religion you were brought up in. An absorbing first hand account of the Nation of Islam from the inside-out.

Of course, no bio list from me, the rabid Doors fan, would be complete without the inclusion of the legend, the Lizard King, the bad boy to end all bad boys–Jim Morrison. Yes, the lead singer of the Doors had a very bad rep. as a drug-addicted alcoholic who publically exposed himself at concerts and ran around on his girlfriend. But author Danny Sugerman, who was part of the Doors entourage, also writes about the sensitive, wacky kid that Jim was. His I.Q. was off the charts and he read tons of philosophy and classical lit. in his teens that most people don’t even try to tackle until college. Sugerman also writes about the Jim Morrison who felt so distanced from his military parents that he told reporters during an interview that they were dead, even though at the time, they were very much alive. (Admit it, you’ve been tempted sometimes to do the same thing)This biography is also a good book about the 60’s and how the Doors music influenced and was influenced by the political and moral movements of that time. Now kids, I’m not endorsing Jim’s lifestyle in any way, shape or form. All I’m saying is that despite all his bad behavior, Jim Morrison was also a gifted poet and a voracious reader–one habit of his that I think would be great for you to pick up.

If you were assigned to read about Christopher Columbus, I would suggest this modern day adventuring Chris instead. Christopher McCandless was a twenty-something nature loving college graduate looking for adventure. Unfortunately, in this advanced technological age, there just wasn’t too much frontier left for him to explore. He hitched around out West for awhile with no car and very little money, just to see how far he could push himself. But he found that just moving around on the edge of civilization wasn’t extreme enough, so he decided to trek up to the last great American wilderness left–Alaska. Only a few months after he was last seen heading out into the Land of the Midnight Sun, his body was found in an abandoned school bus in the wilderness, where he had apparently starved to death. What made him do it? Was his crazy camping trip a suicide mission or just a good plan gone wrong? True adventure author Jon Krakauer has taken Chris’s life, death and thirst for the extreme and turned it into a first rate biography. You may not have the same fanatical wanderlust as Chris McCandless, (and I hope you don’t, you see what it got him)but nevertheless, this book speaks to the would-be rock-climbing, parachute-jumping runaway in all of us. And the movie, starring Emile Hirsch and directed by Sean Penn ain’t bad either.

Imagine this: you’ve just parked your car next to a quiet lake a few miles out of town to get some peace from your hectic job as the local whiz-kid baker supreme. Like, your cinnamon rolls are out of this world, man. But they don’t care about your baking skills. They don’t care, because they don’t eat. They only drink. And you don’t want to dwell too long on what it is that they drink. They surround you so quietly you never even hear them. And just as soundlessly, they take you away to a decrepit old mansion in the middle of nowhere, chain you to a wall, and leave one of their own chained opposite you. And now, it’s growing dark. And your fellow prisoner is slowly waking up. And he’s very, very thirsty…and if you think you know how this story ends, let Robin McKinley prove you wrong in this very dense, very surprising vampire tale.