Deadline, Chris Crutcher
Just before his senior year, Ben Wolf is diagnosed with a rare, incurable leukemia. At 18, he has the legal right to keep the news to himself until he's ready to reveal it. With only his doctor and therapist in on his secret, Ben sets out to live an entire lifetime in a year: There are insects that pack it all into a day, he reasons.

Absolutely True diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie
Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the "poor-ass" Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing that affix best friends so intricately together.

Prom Nights from Hell, Meg Cabot
Far from gauzy, rose-colored clichés, the prom nights depicted in this anthology are surreal, scary, and often populated with monsters and zombies. A well-known author for young adults contributes each of the five long stories.

Feed, M.T.Anderson
This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society.

Red Moon at Sharpsburg, Rosemary Wells
Her school shuttered at the outbreak of the Civil War, India Moody, a Southerner, receives tutoring in natural sciences from progressive Emory Trimble, who encourages the smart, restless girl to aim for college. Soon enough, though, India must set aside her ambitions to shoulder the traditional burdens of women in wartime--nursing the wounded, comforting the grieving, stoically enduring even as her "heart tears down its middle seam."

The Wall: growing up behind the Iron Curtain, Peter Sis
The author pairs his remarkable artistry with journal entries, historical context and period photography to create a powerful account of his childhood in Cold War–era Prague. Dense, finely crosshatched black-and-white drawings of parades and red-flagged houses bear stark captions: Public displays of loyalty—compulsory.

Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, David Lubar
Scott Hudson begins his freshman year of high school as a source of income to Wesley, the school shakedown artist. He gets roped into writing the sports column for the school newspaper, even though he's not an athlete. On top of everything else, his mom is pregnant.

Geography of girlhood, Kirsten Smith
In a powerful verse novel, Penny charts the landscape of her high-school years--her older sister's wild ways, her best friend's descent into depression, her first boyfriend's accidental death, her crush on a teacher, her father's new marriage, her protective relationship of her younger stepbrother, and, always, her longing for her missing mother.

Dark Angel, David Klass
Hastings look like a perfect family. However, they have a dark secret–they have another son, who is a murderer. Jeff is terrified when Troy is released from prison and horrified when his parents decide to take him in.

Firestorm, David Klass
Seventeen-year-old Jack Danielsons life has always been normal–except that his parents have encouraged him to blend in and not try too hard. But then he learns that he is different, that he has special powers and abilities, and that he is from the future and has been sent back to save the planet.

I am the Messenger, Markus Zuzak
When Ed Kennedy offhandedly stops a bank robbery, someone takes notice. The Ace of Diamonds appears in his mailbox with three addresses written on it. Ed is supposed to deliver a message to these addresses, but no one is telling him what that message is. All he is told is that his life depends on it.

Gingerbread, Rachel Cohn
Cyd Charisse is a "recovering hellion." Kicked out of boarding school, the teen returns home to San Francisco. True to her wild nature and obsession with boys, she does anything to get a rise from her parents. Finally, Sid and Nancy send her to bio-dad in NYC.

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, Valerie Zenatti
When teen Tal Levine witnesses a bombing in Tel Aviv, she becomes despondent. Like so many people, she wants Israel and Palestine to live in peace. One day she places a letter in a bottle, gives it to her brother, asking him to toss it into the Gaza Sea. A young man in Gaza finds the bottle, and responds

The Fortunes of Indigo Skye, Deb Caletti
Indigo Skye feels like she has it all - a waitress job she loves, an adorable refrigerator-delivery-guy boyfriend, and a home life that's slightly crazed but rich in love. Until a mysterious man at the restaurant leaves her a 2.5 million-dollar tip, and her life as she knew it is transformed.

Spain or Shine, Michelle Jellen
Elena signs up to study in Spain and oOnce there, she makes new friends, including Miguel, a good-looking local teenager. She longs to start a relationship with him, but even though he pays special attention to her, she is too insecure to believe that he would actually be interested in her. Meanwhile, her experiences in drama class show her that she has a real talent for playwriting as well as acting.

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany. She arrives having just stolen her first book and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when she’s roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death.

H.I.V.E., Mark Walden
H.I.V.E. is operated on a volcanic island in a distant ocean by G.L.O.V.E., a shadowy organization of worldwide wickedness. Otto Malpense soon discovers that here the slickest of young tricksters, thieves, and hackers have been brought against their will to be trained as the next generation of super villains. He’s determined NOT to be one of them.

Cujo, Stephen King
Cujo is the amiable St. Bernard infected by a brain-destroying virus that makes it into a monster. This book is so well-paced and scary that people tend to read it quickly, so they mostly remember the scene of the mother and son trapped in the hot Pinto and threatened by the rabid Cujo, forgetting the multifaceted story in which that scene is embedded.

Sunrise over Fallujah, Walter Dean Myers
Following September 11, Robin feels compelled to join the Army instead. By early 2003, Robin has completed Basic Training and is deployed to Iraq where he becomes part of a Civil Affairs Unit charged with building the trust of the Iraqi people to minimize fighting. Often put into deadly situations to test the waters, Robin finds that the people in his unit, who nickname him "Birdy," are the only ones he can trust. Robin quickly learns that the situation in Iraq will not be resolved easily and that much of what is happening there will never make the news. Facing the horrors of war, Robin tries to remain hopeful and comforting in his letters to his family, never showing his fear or the danger he actually faces.