Top 10 Best Books for Teens in 2005

Click on "This Library Owns a Copy" button to see if this book is available for check-out. All books are listed in alphabetical order by author.
 

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

by Joshua Braff
A hilarious and heartbreaking novel about the unreasonable expectations a narcissistic father places on his less-than-perfect son.




 

Bucking the Sarge

by Christopher Paul Curtis
Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.



 

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird

by Phillip M. Hoose
Tells the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker's extinction in the United States, describing the encounters between this species and humans, and discussing what these encounters have taught us about preserving endangered creatures.



 

The Realm of Possibility

by David Levithan
A variety of students at the same high school describe their ideas, experiences, and relationships in a series of interconnected free verse stories.




 

Saving Francesca

by Melina Marchetta
Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother's help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed.




 

Private Peaceful

by Michael Mopurgo
When Thomas Peaceful's older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself.




 

Under the Wolf, Under the Dog

by Adam Rapp
Sixteen-year-old Steve struggles to make sense of his mother's terminal breast cancer and his brother's suicide.





 

Airborn

by Kenneth Oppel
Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface.




 

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood

by Benjamin Alire Saenz
As a Chicano boy living in the unglamorous town of Hollywood, New Mexico, and a member of the graduating class of 1969, Sammy Santos faces the challenges of "gringo" racism, unpopular dress codes, the Vietnam War, barrio violence, and poverty.




 

So B. It

by Sarah Weeks
After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agora phobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.