The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Junior lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation, where he discovers that alcohol is more important to most residents than an education is. Junior decides to transfer from his reservation school to Reardan High, a white school that is more than twenty miles away. Once he arrives, Junior finds that he is the only Indian (besides the school’s mascot) there. His best friend on the reservation, Rowdy, stays behind and vows never to speak to Junior—the “traitor”—again. Junior also knows that everyone else on the reservation thinks he is an “apple”: red on the outside but white on the inside. Meanwhile, most of the students at Reardan treat Junior as an outcast as well.

Although he is stimulated by the intellectual challenges of Reardan’s advanced curriculum, Junior must fight to improve his social standing both on and off the reservation. He accomplishes this accidentally when he goes out for Reardan’s basketball team. He surprises himself when, as a freshman, he makes the varsity team and eventually even becomes a starting player. Junior’s biggest challenge comes when he must play against his former basketball team from the reservation, whose star player is none other than Junior’s ex–best friend, Rowdy.

Summary by Joyce Hart of eNotes.com

Winter Girls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Best friends Lia and Cassie share a live-threatening secret; they both have eating disorders. One day, after a stint in rehab that ended their friendship, Cassie calls Lia times. Lia never answers. The next day Lia discovers that Cassie has committed suicide. Racked with guilt over ignoring her former best friend's calls when she needed her, Lia becomes haunted by Cassie's "ghost". This ghost, or memory, of Cassie plagues Lia as she plunges deeper into her bulimia.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Laurie Halse Anderson writes the characters of Lia in a way that is stunningly realistic. With plot twists and fascinating character development, it kept me hooked from page one. It also serves as an eye opener to the psyche of a person struggling with an eating disorder amidst many other obstacles. I'd recommend this book to any fans of Anderson's previous work, or as a great starter novel if you're not yet a fan.

Reviewed by Sam age 17

Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson

Anthony has never been able to stand up for himself —- that is, not until his girlfriend is in someone else’s arms. Then Anthony vows revenge and devises the Plan. It begins with getting a job at the fast-food restaurant where his nemesis happens to be a star employee. But when the Plan is finally in place, will Anthony’s hunger for revenge be satisfied? Will he prove he’s not a wuss?
Barnes and Noble product description.

Thirteen Reason Why by Jay Asher
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
From www. RazorbillBooks.com

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?

Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa's Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of power.

Amazon.com review

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Having survived the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are back home in District 12. But although they’re out of the arena, living in comfortable housing and with plenty of food, the game is far from over. Because the two of them defeated the Capitol by forcing a change in the rules, the government considers them dangerous enemies of the state, even while publicly celebrating them as victors. Some people in the Districts view their victory as an act of defiance, and there are rumblings of unrest. A visit from President Snow makes the stakes clear: Katniss and Peeta must play the role of young lovers perfectly, and convince the world that they are no threat to the Capitol, or everyone they love will die. But as they begin the victory tour, events rapidly spiral out of control, and Katniss must make a choice between playing the game, and standing up to a government bent on crushing every last scrap of resistance.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
The story of a girl named Ruby who is abandoned by her mother and determined to make it on her own, even---and especially---when she is sent to live with her long-lost sister in a whole new world of privilege, family, and relationships. As Ruby learns, there's a big difference between being given help and being able to accept it. And sometimes, it takes reaching out to someone else to save yourself.

The Waters & The Wild
by Francesa Lia Block
For all of her 13 years, or at least for as long as she can remember, Bee (short for Beatrice) has never felt comfortable in her life, as if she doesn’t really belong. The one place in which she does find a bit of comfort is the gardens, where she can be close to the earth and the growing plants.

One night Bee wakes up to find an exact double of herself standing in her room. The girl whispers one sentence, “You are me,” and then disappears. Bee turns to her classmate Haze for answers. He explains that she is a doppelganger and that seeing one means your eminent death.

She also meets another loner, Sarah, who is a bit of an outsider as well and believes herself to be the reincarnation of a slave from the 1800s. The three begin to form a special friendship, find some happiness, and feel like they do belong in their own unique way. Suddenly, though, Bee gets sick. Haze and Sarah put some clues together and figure out the mystery behind Bee’s double and her illness. Their lives will never be the same.

Adapted from Teenreads.com

Angry Management by Chris Cutcher

Every kid in this group wants to fly. Every kid in this group has too much ballast.

Mr. Nak's Angry Management group is a place for misfits. A place for stories. And, man, does this crew have stories.

There's Angus Bethune and Sarah Byrnes, who can hide from everyone but each other. Together, they will embark on a road trip full of haunting endings and glimmering beginnings.

And Montana West, who doesn't step down from a challenge. Not even when the challenge comes from her adoptive dad, who's leading the school board to censor the article she wrote for the school paper.

And straightlaced Matt Miller, who had never been friends with outspoken genius Marcus James. Until one tragic week—a week they'd do anything to change—brings them closer than Matt could have ever imagined.

Chris Crutcher fills these three stories with raw emotion. They are about insecurity, anger, and prejudice. But they are also about love, freedom, and power. About surviving.

And hope.

Amazon product description.

Looking for a Scare this Halloween? Try these authors.
Lois Duncan

Neil Gaiman

Mary Downing Hahn

Darren Shan

Joan Lowery Nixon

Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Micah freely admits she is a liar. Over the years she has fooled classmates, teachers, and even her parents. She has always managed to stay one step ahead of her lies. That is until her boyfriend is brutally murdered and she becomes a suspect.

The boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But, Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate now place than what meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.
Amazon.com Review.

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
The body of Christopher Creed relates the story of the mysterious disappearance of a high school outcast. Christopher Creed is the boy no one likes, the boy the popular kids bully and tease, the boy that never seems to fit in with any of the high school cliques. When Christopher disappears, however, he captures the attention of the entire town, and he upsets the lives of those who tormented him. Creeds's disappearance has a profound effect on Torey Adams, the popular football star. Torey makes a mission out of trying to discover what happened to his classmate, and in the process discovers important truths about the impact his actions have on the lives of others. Overview from BookRags.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true. Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls - and their foray into the spiritual world - lead to?
Amazon product description.

Amazing Grace by Megan Shull
Teenage tennis-star Grace Kincaid has it all. But what happens when America's "It" girl doesn't want "It" anymore? Grace wants OUT. And she gets her wish-a total break from her lifestyle and identity. She becomes Emily O'Brien, everyday teenager. She is transported to a small town in Alaska, population 813 (including one very cute boy). At first Grace is shocked by her surroundings, but she comes to love them. For the first time in her life, Grace begins to feel normal.

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
For Matt and his sisters, life with their cruel, vicious mother is a day-to-day struggle for survival. One of Matt's early memories involves getting up during the night to sneak a cookie and being caught by his mother. Giggling and yelling "Cookie thief," she holds a knife to his throat, cutting him just a little bit to teach him not to steal. Unfortunately, the adults in Matt's life, a distant father and an uncaring aunt, don't help. Matt sees a glimmer of hope in Murdoch, who dates his mother, Nikki, and then leaves when he becomes another target for her escalating rage. It is Murdoch, with a violent past of his own, who is willing to risk getting involved and eventually becomes the change agent that the children so desperately need.

Funny Little Monkey by Andrew Auseon
Arty, 15, is 4 foot 2. His twin brother Kurt is 6 foot 3. They hate each other. In the twins tense relationship, Kurt lashes out at his brother physically, Arty verbally. Both brothers attend Millard Fillmore High School, where the school's beloved mascot (a statue of a boxing turtle named Millie) has just been stolen. Arty strikes up an unusual friendship with, Kerouac, the leader of some rebellious outcasts. At Arty's request, Kerouac's gang begins to torment Kurt, sabotaging his love life and blaming him for the destruction of Millie. Has Arty gone too far?

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
By Carolyn Mackler
Virginia Shreves is an overweight sophomore in high school struggling to live up to her parents' expectations of her. Her older siblings are perfect, while she lives by the "Fat Girl Code of Conduct". But everything she thought she knew about her family and herself gets turned upside down when she finds out that one member of her family is not quite so perfect.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Set in the future, 16 year-old Kat finds herself in the center of a nationally televised reality show "The Hunger Games" in which twenty-four teens must fight to the death.

Looking for Alaska by John Green
Miles dreams of starting anew Culver Creek boarding school, of finding Francois Rabelais's "The Great Perhaps." At school, he falls in with a prankster of a roommate, the Colonel, and the sassy, sexy, messed-up Alaska Young. For an unforgettable 128 days, Miles learns life lessons in love, loyalty, friendship, literature, and poetry, as well as experiences the thrill of a first girlfriend. When tragedy strikes Culver Creek, Miles is forced to undertake an even closer examination of his own character and relationship with his friends.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin
A fairy tale set in the present. Lucy is 17 when she discovers she is the recipient of the family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation.