Recommended Reads: Teen Books that Adults Can Enjoy

Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth to be young at heart? – Frank Sinatra

Many of us associate young adult books with the classics we had to read in our high school English class. There is so much fun, engaging, challenging, and delightful young adult literature. Adult patrons will love reading these marvelous books written for younger adult readers.

Recorded cassette (RC), braille (BR), large print (LT), and juvenile large print (JL) copies of these books are available from the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.

Watership Down by Richard Adams
RC 35730, BR 10851
A fable about a band of rabbits who set out bravely for a new home in the English countryside. They encounter many dangers and adventures along the way, and finally make it to safety after rescuing some does who become their mates. For junior and senior high and older readers.

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander
RC 47531, LT 2343
Bestseller. Chronicles the survival of Ernest Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men marooned on ice floes off the coast of Antarctica in 1915. Recounts the entrapment and later destruction of their ship, the Endurance, by pack ice and the hardships the men suffered before their rescue in 1916.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
RC 65403
Spokane Indian Reservation. Fourteen-year-old Junior--beset with physical problems caused by brain damage--transfers to an all-white town school. Called a traitor by his best friend and Tonto by his new classmates, Junior uses humor and wit to bridge the cultural divide. Some strong language. For junior and senior high readers. 2007.

The Pox Party: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson
RC 64106, BR 17254
National Book Award. Eighteenth-century Boston. Sixteen-year-old slave Octavian, the son of an African princess, is educated as part of a scientific experiment researching the intelligence of African Americans. When the experiments change, Octavian escapes and joins the fight against the British. Some violence. For senior high and older readers.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
RC 49958
Melinda starts high school ostracized after she called the police during a summer drinking party. What everyone doesn't know is that she was raped and the boy still taunts her in school. Eventually, Melinda chooses to confront the pain and tell someone. For senior high and older readers. Some violence.

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
RC 37026
Weetzie and her best friend Dirk, who is gay, "Duck hunt together" -- search for true love. Soon Dirk has his Duck and Weetzie has My Secret Agent Lover Man, and they all live together in Hollywood, making underground movies and taking care of their two little girls. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. For high school and older readers.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
RC 53252, BR 13765, LT 7392
Four fifteen-year-olds, "Bridget the athlete, Lena the beauty, Tibby the rebel, and Carmen...the one with the bad temper," have been friends since childhood. During this first summer apart, they share a pair of used jeans that magically fits each of them perfectly and helps them through tough times. For senior high readers.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
RC 37294, BR 9400, LT 4983
Pulitzer Prize. First book in The Good Earth trilogy. Describes the rise of Wang Lung, a poor Chinese peasant. The story begins on his wedding day, as he ponders his good fortune that now he will have a woman, O-lan, to light a fire to heat the water for his bath. With the help and patience of his new wife Wang Lung becomes a rich landowner. For high school and older readers.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
RC 23638, BR 116858, JL 68
After becoming an orphan, ill-tempered and neglected Mary is sent to live on an uncle's huge estate where she meets an equally wretched, invalid cousin. Together they conspire to restore a locked secret garden while her cousin regains his health and his father's affection.

Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
RC 50256, BR 13420, JL 110
Will Stanton, eleven, learns that he is the last of the Old Ones--immortals dedicated to controlling the forces of evil. Will's quest is to find the Signs of Light to defeat the Dark. Newbery Honor.

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
RC 59907, BR 15120
A city planned to survive for two hundred years, now in year 241, suffers shortages -- and a secret message-bearing box is missing. Independent-thinking twelve-year-olds Doon and Lina exchange obligatory jobs and make a discovery that could change their known world.

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science by John Fleischman
RC 54774
Examines an 1848 accident in which an explosion drove a thirteen-pound tampling rod through a railroad worker's skull. Recreates the event, recalls eyewitness accounts, and describes Gage's astonishing physical recovery accompanied by dramatic personality changes resulting from brain damage. Discusses this case's contribution to science. For grades 6-9.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
RC 57116, BR 14997, LT 5316
Twelve-year-old Meggie lives with her father, Mo, a bookbinder. She discovers a terrible secret: nine years ago when Mo read aloud from a book  the characters appeared in real life while her mother disappeared into the story. Mo's magic causes still more problems to solve. For grades 5-8 and older readers.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
RC 37689, BR 9626, LT 4405
Newbery Medal. Jonas lives in a utopia: there is no hunger, disease, or fear; the elderly and children are tenderly cared for, and society is uniformly run. Jonas eagerly awaits the Ceremony of Twelve, when 12-year-olds receive professional assignments for life. He is selected to be the new Receiver of Memories, and as such learns of misery and pain, but also of joy and love. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
RC 54950, LT 3777
Bestseller. Pi Patel, the sole human survivor of a shipwreck, is in a lifeboat with an injured zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and an adult Bengal tiger. Strangely, after 227 days in the Pacific, the boy and the tiger make landfall. Some violence. Booker Prize winner.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
RC 62066
After seventeen-year-old Bella moves in with her dad in Washington state she falls in love with high school senior Edward Cullen. Bella discovers that Edward and his adoptive clan are vampires. Though they feast on wildlife rather than humans, Bella is still in danger. For senior high readers.

Beloved by Toni Morrison
RC 26026, BR 16707, LT 757
Bestseller. Related in kaleidoscopic fashion and set in Ohio just after the Civil War, this chronicle of slavery and its aftermath traces the life of a former slave. She has a secret in her past so horrific it has alienated the community and her children, and threatened her relationship with her lover.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers
RC 56569, BR 12515, LT 5248
Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon sits in jail accused of being a lookout in a deadly robbery. An aspiring filmmaker, Steve reviews his time in jail as a movie script. He wonders if he has become the monster that the prosecutor has made him out to be. For senior high readers.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
RC 34768
In the title story, O'Brien uses the items that young American soldiers in Vietnam carried as a metaphor for their inner burdens -- cowardice, peer pressure, self-delusion, and fear. He continues the sequence with discussions of his own decision not to flee to Canada, friends, fetishes, killing, love, and how to tell a true war story. Strong language and violence.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
RC 62761, BR 14785, JL 38
Newbery Award. Accidentally left behind on an island off the coast of California when her tribe moved, an Indian girl tells about the eighteen years that she managed to survive and to find comfort, beauty, and, at times, joy in her solitude. For grades 6-9.

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
RC 61892, LT 5568
Fourteen-year-old Max and her adopted family -- Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel -- are part-human, part-bird lab experiments pursued by mutant predators. When Angel is kidnapped, Max leads the flock on a cross-country mission to rescue Angel, find their parents, exact revenge, and save the world. Some violence. For grades 6-9.

My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
RC 48269, JL 197
Paulsen proudly refers to himself as a "dog person," someone who loves dogs, and always has at least five or six. He writes about eight of the dogs who shared his life through the years that have been especially memorable. In the dedication to Cookie, he tells how she saved his life in 1980 when he had fallen through ice.

The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear by Kin Platt
RC 18186, BR 1311
Roger hates the speech impediment that makes him anxious about opening his mouth to talk. When his parents reject him and a teacher ridicules him, he retreats into dreams and fantasies until he is completely out of touch with reality. A sensitive psychological novel for junior and senior high readers.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
RC 44343, BR 13276, LT 7377
Set in Victorian England on an alternate Earth. Young Lyra Belacqua and her daemon enjoy an idyllic life among the scholars at Jordan College. Then her friend Roger and other children are abducted by the Gobblers. Venturing north in pursuit, Lyra encounters an alien and sinister world. Followed by The Subtle Knife (BR 13277, RC 45857). Violence. For junior and senior high readers.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
RC 58350, BR 15600, JL 291
Newbery Medal. The mysterious death of eccentric millionaire Samuel W. Westing brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they may claim their inheritance.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
RC 60079, BR 17293
Newbery Honor, Printz Honor. In 1911 Turner Buckminster hates being the son of the new minister in Phippsburg, Maine. Things improve for awhile when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from the poor, nearby Malaga Island community founded by former slaves. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
RC 50326, BR 11509, JL 86
Newbery Medal.  Events of one turbulent year teach Cassie Logan that she must choose her shots carefully to survive black and proud in Mississippi during the Depression.  For grades 6-9.