Teen Territory

Junior High Summer Reads 2008

Beanball by Gene Fehler YA/FEH
It's the last inning of a high school baseball game between arch-rivals Oak Grove and Compton. Center fielder Luke "Wizard" Wallace steps up to the plate--and is hit by a beanball, a wild pitch that shatters his skull, destroys the vision in his left eye, and changes his life forever.

Boot Camp by Todd Strasser YA/STR
Kidnapped and sent to live in a disciplinary boot camp where he is physically and psychologically tortured on a daily basis, fifteen-year-old Garrett knows that he has been wrongly imprisoned and so feels there is no choice but to attempt a daring escape in order to save the life he has left in him.

Bounce by Natasha Friend YA/FRI
Thirteen-year-old Evyn has to move from Maine to Boston when her dad (Birdie) decides to remarry. What's worse, the woman he chooses to marry already has six kids!

Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNish YA/MCN
When he and his mother move into an old farmhouse in the English countryside, asthmatic, twelve-year-old Jack discovers that he can communicate with the ghosts inhabiting the house and inadvertently establishes a relationship with a tormented, malevolent spirit that threatens to destroy both his mother and himself.

Bunker 10 by J. A. Henderson YA/HEN
Something is going terribly wrong at the top secret Pinewood Military Installation, and the teenage geniuses who study and work there are about to discover a horrible truth as they lead a small military force trying to retrieve data and escape before the compound self-destructs.

Defect by Will Weaver YA/WEA
After spending most of his life in Minnesota foster homes hiding a bizarre physical abnormality, fifteen-year-old David is offered a chance at normalcy, but must decide if giving up what makes him special is the right thing to do.

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: a Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz J/SCH
At the Barbary Asylum for Female Orphans, eleven-year-old Maud is adopted by three spinster sisters moonlighting as mediums who take her home and reveal to her the role she will play in their séances.
2009 Rebecca Caudill nominee

Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff J/GIF
When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and, with the help of a new friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are eventually answered.

Everlost by Neal Shusterman YA/SHU
When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing--even skinjacking--to break free.

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker YA/DEU
Groomed by his father to be a star player, football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick Johnson, who works hard for a spot varsity team his freshman year, then tries to hold onto his edge by using steroids, despite the consequences to his health and social life.

Hell Phone by William Sleator YA/SLE
Nick wants a cell phone so he can talk to his girlfriend, Jen, after school, but he doesn't have a lot of money. The used phone he buys seems like a bargain, until the phone calls begin-strangers calling night and day, some begging for help, others making demands. Nick wants to get rid of the phone, but something prevents him, and, soon he finds himself committing crimes-stealing, conning . . .and killing.

Huge by Sasha Paley YA/PAL
When Wilhelmina and April find themselves roommates at a fat camp, both with very different goals, they find they have very little in common until they are both humiliated by he same person.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer YA/PFE
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
2009 Rebecca Caudill nominee

My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow YA/SHA
Thirteen-year-old Louise uncovers secrets about her family and her neighborhood during the violent protests over school desegregation in 1960 New Orleans.

The New Policeman by Kate Thompson J/THO
Irish teenager JJ Liddy discovers that time is leaking from his world into land of the fairies, and when he attempts to stop the leak he finds out a lot about his family history, the music that he loves, and a crime his great-grandfather may or may not have committed.

Open Court by Carol Clippinger YA/CLI
A thirteen-year-old tennis prodigy grapples with her seemingly incompatible desires to be an exceptional athlete and a normal teenager.

Picture Perfect by Elaine Marie Alphin YA/ALP
A gap in his memory the afternoon that his best friend disappears in a redwood forest has a fifteen-year-old photographer wondering about his own role in the mystery, and who he can turn to for help.

The Pig Who Saved the World by Paul Shipton YA/SHI
Gryllus was turned into a pig when he was a member of Odysseus' army. The self-absorbed, very funny pig now travels with a teenage Homer, Sybil, and a crew of monkeys in search of Circe to change him back into a human.

Red Glass by Laura Resau YA/RES
Sixteen-year-old Sophie has been frail and delicate since her premature birth, but discovers her true strength during a journey through Mexico, where the six-yearold orphan her family hopes to adopt was born, and to Guatemala, where her would-be boyfriend hopes to find his mother and plans to remain.

Schooled by Gordon Korman YA/KOR
Homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never been part of modern society. But when his grandmother goes to the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and attend a local middle school. While Cap knows a lot about tie-dyeing and Zen Buddhism, no education could prepare him for the politics of public school.

Taken by Edward Bloor YA/BLO
Set in 2035 where the children of the privileged class are kidnapped for ransom on a regular basis, Charity Meyers becomes the latest victim when her security detail fails one morning, but as she awaits the money and her release, Charity comes to realize that she is in an especially dangerous situation when the identities of her kidnappers are finally revealed.

Tennyson by Lesley M. M. Blume YA/BLU
During the Great Depression, Tennyson's mother leaves to pursue a Bohemain career as a writer. Tennyson and her sister are sent to live with their aunt and uncle on their decaying plantation while their father goes in search of their mother.

Well Wished by Franny Billingsley J/BIL
Catty decides to use her once in a lifetime wish at the town's wishing well to switch bodies with her best friend, yet seeing life through different eyes isn't at all what she had expected and now must find a way to undo the damage she caused.

The Year My Sister Got Lucky YA/FRI
During her Freshman year, Katie moves from New York City to a rural town in upstate New York. She hates it, but her older sister loves it. Can she adapt?