Note that there has been absolutely no attempt to balance this list by genre, gender, or age designation. Just my from-the-heart, gut-reaction favorites.
Anderson, M.T.. Feed (gr. 8-12)
Chronicles the lives of teens in a warped future where corporations rule culture, and most newborn children are implanted with a “feed,” or mini-computer in their heads.
Barker, Clive. Abarat (gr. 7-12)
Teenaged Candy Quakenbush finds herself spirited away to the mystical land of Abarat, where each hour of the day is a different island, and the Lord of Midnight stalks her.
Frank, E.R.. America (gr. 9-12)
Troubled foster child America reveals the sad confusion of his short life to the sympathetic Dr. B., the one adult who might finally be able to help him.
Frank, Hillary. Better Than Running at Night (gr. 9-12)
Ellie Yelinsky’s freshman year at art school turns out to be an unexpectedly strange experience, as Ellie dances with the Devil and learns that painting is more about craft than angst.
Freymann-Weyr, Garrett. My Heartbeat (gr. 8-12)
Their three-way friendship is forever altered when 14 year old Ellen questions whether her older brother and his best friend are more than just locker buddies.
Gaiman, Neil. Coraline (gr. 5-9)
Young Coraline gets more than she bargained for when she discovers a secret passageway in her house that leads right back to her house…only different.
Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life (gr. 8-10)
The infectiously funny author of the Joey Pigza books switches gears with this serious memoir about his mixed-up youth, and how the time he spent in prison as a young man influenced him as a writer.
Lawrence, Iain. The Lightkeeper’s Daughter (gr. 9-12)
A teenage mother tries to reconcile with her lighthouse-keeping parents, despite feeling that it was their remote and lonely lifestyle that led to her brother’s death.
Powell, Randy. Three Clams and an Oyster (gr. 9-12)
Three members of a flag football team search for a fourth teammate over a weekend in which they confront their attitudes about friendship, girls and their shared past.
Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones (gr. 9-12)
Susie Salmon narrates the story of her brutal murder and glowing afterlife as she watches her family and friends try to cope with the gaping hole her death has left in their lives.
Slade, Arthur. Tribes (gr. 8-12)
High school senior Percy Montmount copes with his anthropologist father’s death by keeping a detailed record of the strange and elusive tribe known as Grade Twelve, of which he is a lonely outsider.