--• Best Books for Teens : Fiction 2005 •--

A YALSA committee of librarians voted these fiction titles the best books published for teens in 2005.  These titles are located throughout the library; please find the location in the catalog by clicking on the title. Synopses are taken from NoveList, or as otherwise indicated.

Adlington, L. J. - The Diary of Pelly D.   (282 pages) When Toni V, a construction worker on a futuristic colony, finds the diary of a teenage girl whose life has been turned upside-down by holocaust-like events, he begins to question his own beliefs.  

Bechard, Margaret - Spacer and Rat.  (183 pages) Jack's predictable existence on Freedom space station is transformed when Kit, the Earthie rat, enters his life and enlists him and a sensitive robot in an effort to outwit the Company. 

Black, Holly - Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie. (314 pages) Seventeen-year-old Val runs away to New York City, where she falls in with a gang of squatters who live in the city's subway system and consort with faeries, trolls, and other strange creatures.

Bray, Libba - Rebel Angels.   (548 pages) Gemma and her friends from the Spence Academy return to the realms to defeat her foe, Circe, and to bind the magic that has been released.  

Bruchac, Joseph - Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two.  (231 pages) After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.

Buckhanon, Kalisha - Upstate.  (247 pages) In jail after being charged with his father's murder, seventeen-year-old Antonio finds his love with sixteen-year-old Natasha tested and engages in a ten-year correspondence with her from behind bars.

Castellucci, Cecil - Boy Proof. (203 pages) Feeling alienated from everyone around her, Los Angeles high school senior and cinephile Victoria Denton hides behind the identity of a favorite movie character until an interesting new boy arrives at school and helps her realize that there is more to life than just the movies. 

Coburn, Jake - LoveSick. (228 pages) After an accident seems to end his college and athletic dreams, Ted is offered a second chance at school if he agrees to spy on a classmate and help her father monitor her bulimia.

Cummings, Priscilla - Red Kayak.  (209 pages) Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.

Delaney, Joseph - Revenge of the Witch. (344 pages) Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties."

Every Man for Himself: Ten Short Stories About Being a Guy. (154 pages) An anthology of ten original short stories about such things as family problems, sexuality, and courage, written by well-known authors of children's books.

Flake, Sharon G. - Bang!  (298 pages) A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man.

Fleischman, Paul - Zap. (83 pages) A comic drama which combines famous scenes from well-known plays to create something to keep the audience guessing to the very end.

Frank, E. R. - Wrecked.  (247 pages) After a car accident seriously injures her best friend and kills her brother's girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Anna tries to cope with her guilt and grief, while learning some truths about her family and herself.

Gaiman, Neil - Anansi Boys.(336 pages) His past marked by his father's embarrassing taunts and untimely death, Fat Charlie meets the brother he never knew and is introduced to new and exciting ways to spend his time. 

Galloway, Gregory - As Simple as Snow. (308 pages) In awe of high school girl Anna Cayne and her penchant for affectionate magic tricks and riddles, a man is baffled by her mysterious disappearance just before Valentine's Day and retraces the time they spent together for clues to her fate.

Green, John - Looking for Alaska.  (221 pages) Miles has no social life to speak of before he moves to Alabama to attend boarding school at Culver Creek Academy. There he finally fits in, making new friends, involving himself in elaborate pranks, and falling hard for the beautiful but mercurial Alaska, a girl who encourages his strange past time of memorizing the last words of the dead.   It’s all going so well, and then it all goes so wrong. (Synposis by Karen Reed)

Griffin, Adele - Where I Want to Be. (150 pages)  Two teenaged sisters, separated by death but still connected, work through their feelings of loss over the closeness they shared as children that was later destroyed by one's mental illness, and finally make peace with each other.

Grimes, Nikki - Dark Sons. (216 pages) Alternating poems compare and contrast the conflicted feelings of Ishmael, son of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, and Sam, a teenager in New York City, as they try to come to terms with being abandoned by their fathers and with the love they feel for their younger stepbrothers.

Gruber, Michael - The Witch's Boy. (377 pages) A grotesque foundling turns against the witch who sacrificed almost everything to raise him when he becomes consumed by the desire for money and revenge against those who have hurt him, but he eventually finds his true heart's desire.  

Halam, Ann - Siberia: A Novel. (262 pages) After spending two years at a prison school, thirteen-year-old Sloe sets off on a trek across frozen wastelands, tending to the secret "seeds" of wild animals her mother left in her care, trying to reach a new life for all of them.

Hartnett, Sonya - Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf. (200 pages) Satchel O'Rye, devoted son of an impoverished couple in a dying rural town, must weigh in balance the life of his most cherished dog and the freedom of a rare striped tiger.

Hautman, Pete - Invisible. (149 pages) Doug and Andy are unlikely best friends--one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater--who grew up together and share a bond that nothing can sever. 

Hearn, Julie - The Minister's Daughter.  (272 pages) Conceived on May Morning, Nell is claimed by the piskies and faeries as a merrybegot, one of their own. She is a wild child: herb gatherer and healer, spell-weaver and midwife...and, some say, a witch. Grace is everything Nell is not. She is the Puritan minister's daughter: beautiful and refined, innocent and sweet-natured...to those who think they know her. But she is hiding a secret -- a secret that will bring everlasting shame to her family should it ever come to light.  (Synopsis by Karen Reed)

Hiaasen, Carl - Flush. (272 pages) With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the protected waters around their Florida Keys home.

Holub, Josef - An Innocent Soldier. (231 pages) A sixteen-year-old farmhand is tricked into fighting in the Napoleonic Wars by the farmer for whom he works, who secretly substitutes him for the farmer's own son.

Jacobson, Jennifer Richard - Stained.  (200 pages) In Weaver Falls, New Hampshire, in 1975, seventeen-year-old Jocelyn looks for answers when her lifelong neighbor and friend, Gabe, turns up missing and she learns that, while her boyfriend has been telling everything to a priest, Gabe has been keeping terrible secrets.

Johnson, Maureen - 13 Little Blue Envelopes. (289 pages) When seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss-cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.

Kass, Pnina Moed - Real Time. (186 pages) Sixteen-year-old Tomas Wanninger persuades his mother to let him leave Germany to volunteer at a kibbutz in Israel, where he experiences a violent political attack and finds answers about his own past.

Kibuishi, Kazu - The Last Train. (153 pages) Daisy Kutter, the most feared gunfighter in the New West, has just retired from a life of crime to start a general store and, hopefully, a new life. However, old habits die hard, and she is pulled back into the life of a gunslinger by the ghosts of her past. The story is set in the dusty town of Middleton, the young gunfighter must learn to deal with the trials and tribulations of day-to-day life while fighting hordes of robots and a rogues' gallery of malicious criminals.

Krovatin, Christopher - Heavy Metal and You.  (186 pages) High schooler Sam begins losing himself when he falls for a preppy girl who wants him to give up getting wasted with his best friends and even his passion for heavy metal music in order to become a better person.

Lanagan, Margo - Black Juice. (201 pages) Provides glimpses of the dark side of civilization and the beauty of the human spirit through ten short stories that explore significant moments in people's lives, events leading to them, and their consequences.

Larbalestier, Justine - Magic or Madness.  (271 pages) From the Sydney, Australia home of a grandmother she believes is a witch, fifteen-year-old Reason Cansino is magically transported to New York City, where she discovers that friends and foes can be hard to distinguish.

Larochelle, David - Absolutely Positively Not. (219 pages) Chronicles a teenage boy's humorous attempts to fit in at his Minnesota high school by becoming a macho, girl-loving, "Playboy" pinup-displaying heterosexual.

Lester, Julius - Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue.  (177 pages) When gambling debts and greed enter into the Butler household, Pierce Butler decides to host the biggest slave auction in American history and breaks a promise by selling Emma, his most-valued slave and caretaker of his children--a decision that brings about unthinkable consequences.

Levithan, David - Are We There Yet? (215 pages) Tricked by their parents into taking a trip to Italy together, two brothers--one in high school and the other recently graduated from college--reflect on the directions of their own lives and on the distance that has grown between them.

Lubar, David - Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie. (279 pages) While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.

Lynch, Chris - Inexcusable.  (165 pages) High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong.

Lynch, Jim - The Highest Tide.  (247 pages) Miles O'Malley, a boy with a fascination for the sea, copes with the trials of growing up, his infatuation with the girl next door, bickering parents, and his fear that his life and his beloved Puget Sound are slipping away.

Martinez, A. Lee - Gil's All Fright Diner. (268 pages) Hired by the owner of an all-night diner to eliminate the zombie problem that is costing her customers, werewolf Duke and vampire Earl tackle an even stickier adversary who is out to take over the diner.

McGhee, Alison - All Rivers Flow to the Sea.  (168 pages) After a car accident in the Adirondacks leaves her older sister Ivy brain-dead, seventeen-year-old Rose struggles with her grief and guilt as she slowly learns to let her sister go.

Meyer, Stephenie - Twilight. (498 pages)  When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

Myers, Walter Dean - Autobiography of My Dead Brother. (212 pages) Jesse pours his heart and soul into his sketchbook to make sense of life in his troubled Harlem neighborhood and the loss of a close friend.

Oppel, Kenneth - Skybreaker. (369 pages)Matt Cruse, a student at the Airship Academy, and Kate de Vries, a young heiress, team up with a gypsy and a daring captain, to find a long-lost airship, rumored to carry a treasure beyond imagination.

Pearson, Mary E. - A Room on Lorelei Street.  (266 pages) To escape a miserable existence taking care of her alcoholic mother, seventeen-year-old Zoe rents a room from an eccentric woman, but her earnings as a waitress after school are minimal and she must go to extremes to cover expenses.

Peet, Mal - Keeper.  (225 pages) In an interview with a young journalist, World Cup hero, El Gato, describes his youth in the Brazilian rain forest and the events, experiences, and people that helped make him a great goalkeeper and renowned soccer star.

Peña, Matt de la - Ball Don't Lie. (280 pages) Seventeen-year-old Sticky lives for basketball and plays at school and at the Lincoln Rec Center in Los Angeles but he is unaware of the many dangers--including his own past--that threaten his dream of playing professionally.

Perkins, Lynne Rae - Criss Cross. (337 pages) Teenagers in a small town in the 1960s experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.

Qualey, Marsha - Just Like That. (233 pages) A tragic accident ending with the death of two people her own age changes life forever for an eighteen-year-old woman.

Riordan, Rick - The Lightning Thief. (377 pages) After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

Rowling, J. K. - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. (652 pages) Sixth-year Hogwarts student Harry Potter gains valuable insights into the boy Voldemort once was, even as his own world is transformed by maturing friendships, schoolwork assistance from an unexpected source, and devastating losses. 

Salisbury, Graham - Eyes of the Emperor. (228 pages) Following orders from the United States Army, several young Japanese-American men train K-9 units to hunt Asians during World War II.

Spillebeen, Geert - Kipling's Choice.(147 pages) In 1915, mortally wounded in Loos, France, eighteen-year-old John Kipling, son of writer Rudyard Kipling, remembers his boyhood and the events leading to what is to be his first and last World War I battle.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher - Under the Persimmon Tree. (275 pages) During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmal, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her husband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Stein, Tammar - Light Years. (263 pages) Maya Laor leaves her home in Israel to study astronomy at the University of Virginia after the tragic death of her boyfriend in a suicide bombing.

Thal, Lilli - Mimus.  (394 pages) Tricked by the enemy, the King of Moltavia is imprisoned along with his son, Prince Florin, who must find a way to save himself, his father, and his kingdom after he is forced into an apprenticeship with the court jester, Mimus.

Tingle, Rebecca - Far Traveler.  (228 pages)  After the death of her mother, Aethelflaed of Mercia, seventeen-year-old Aelfwyn flees imprisonment by her uncle King Edward and, in the guise of a youthful bard, plays her part in the resolution of the tangled political enmities of tenth century Britain. 

Tullson, Diane - Red Sea.  (169 pages) When fourteen-year-old Libby, her Mom, and her new step-dad Duncan set out on a year-long sailing adventure, Libby believes missing her friends and being forced to spend time with her mom and Duncan is the worst thing that could happen to her, until their sailboat is attacked by violent modern-day pirates.

Vaughan, Brian K. - Pride and Joy. (unpaged) When six young friends discover that their parents are all secretly super-powered villians, they run away together and find strength in one another to overcome their evil legacy.

Vaught, Susan - Stormwitch. (208 pages) In Pass Christian, Mississippi in 1969, sixteen-year-old Ruba, trained by her Haitian grandmother in both voodoo and Amazonian warrior tactics, uses her skills to fight against racism and the African witch Zashar, now coming ashore in the form of Hurricane Camille.

Volponi, Paul - Black and White.  (185 pages) Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught.

Waid, Mark and others - Superman: Birthright.  (287 pages) Reweaves the Superman legend incorporating his established history, from escape as an infant from the doomed planet Krypton to arrival as reporter Clark Kent at the Daily Planet.

Weaver, Will - Full Service. (231 pages) In the summer of 1965, teenager Paul Sutton, a northern Minnesota farm boy, takes a job at a gas station in town, where his strict religious upbringing is challenged by new people and experiences.

Westerfeld, Scott - Peeps.  (312 pages) Cal Thompson is a carrier of a parasite that causes vampirism, and must hunt down all of the girlfriends he has unknowingly infected.

Westerfeld, Scott - Uglies.   (425 pages) Just before their sixteenth birthdays, when they will be transformed into beauties whose only job is to have a great time, Tally's best friend runs away and Tally must find her and turn her in, or never become pretty at all.

Whitcomb, Laura - A Certain Slant of Light.  (282 pages) After benignly haunting a series of people for 130 years, Helen meets a teenage boy who can see her and together they unlock the mysteries of their pasts.

Wittlinger, Ellen - Sandpiper.  (227 pages) When The Walker, a mysterious boy who walks constantly, intervenes in an argument between Sandpiper and a boy she used to see, their lives become entwined in ways that change them both.

Wooding, Chris - Poison.   (273 pages) When Poison leaves her home in the marshes of Gull to retrieve the infant sister who was snatched by the fairies, she and a group of unusual friends survive encounters with the inhabitants of various Realms, and Poison herself confronts a surprising destiny.

Wynne-Jones, Tim - A Thief in the House of Memory.  (210 pages) The death of an apparent stranger in the Steeple family's old home triggers troubling questions for sixteen-year-old Declan as he tries to make sense of his fragmented dreams, random memories, and unexplained coincidences, hoping to learn the truth about the mother who suddenly left when he was ten.

Zusak, Markus - I Am the Messenger.  (357 pages) After capturing a bank robber, nineteen-year-old cab driver Ed Kennedy begins receiving mysterious messages that direct him to addresses where people need help, and he begins getting over his lifelong feeling of worthlessness.

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