Teen Booklists

6th Grade in YA

Becoming Muhammad Ali

Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali.
Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man

Now in Knopf Paperback, seventh-grade gumshoe Sammy Keyes returns in her second mystery--a Halloween intrigue involving Frankenstein and a skeleton man in a tale of greed, grudges, and getting even.
Grammar

Grammar is one of five titles in this series of language reference guides to help children of 7-11 master the basics of literacy. It xplains the basics of grammar in a way that is easy to understand. It shows you how the different parts of speech work, and how sentences are put together. It will answer your questions about language use, and give you the help you need to write more confidently and effectively. It is will be an invaluable resource for both teachers and parents.John Butterworth is the author of several language activity books for children including the other titles in this series: Comprehension, Punctuation, Spelling, and Word Origins and Using the Oxford School Dictionary and Using the Oxford Primary School Dictionary.
The Alchemyst

He holds the secret that can end the world.

The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. Nearly 700 years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life.

The records show that he died in 1418.

But his tomb is empty.

The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. That's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it.

Sometimes legends are true.

And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.

From the Hardcover edition.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One: Lightning Thief, The (Movie Tie-In Edition)

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves. /DIV DIVWith cover art from the major motion picture, this first installment of Rick Riordan's best-selling series is a non-stop thrill-ride and a classic of mythic proportions.
Hidden Talents

American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults"
American Library Association "Quick Picks for Young Adults"

Martin Anderson and his friends don't like being called losers. But they've been called that for so long even they start to believe it. Until Martin makes an incredible discovery: each of his friends has a special hidden talent.

Edgeview Alternative School was supposed to be end of the road. But for Martin and his friends, it just might be a new beginning.
Supergifted

Donovan is back at Hardcastle, along with nerdy genius Noah Youkilis who is being bullied by a basketball star. His efforts to protect Noah earn Donovan a restraining order. One evening, Donovan gets word of Noah heading over to the bully's house to challenge him. Donovan rushes out to stop him. During the argument, the boys notice an out of control propane tanker. Donovan leaps into the moving truck and steers it to safety, and the boys flee. The next morning school is buzzing with the news of the hero; all anyone saw of him was his legs. Donovan sweats as police collect evidence, but soon the hero reveals himself--Noah! He explains to Donovan that he is trying to protect him. Overnight, Noah becomes a star. Unused to popularity, he has no idea that he's becoming even worse than the jocks and A-listers who once bullied him. Donovan and Noah's friendship deteriorates, to the dismay of the robotics team at ASD, who still depend on them. Word arrives that the Governor himself is coming to town to award Noah a medal for bravery and public service. At the assembly, the robotics team are scheduled to entertain the governor with a demonstration of Heavy Metal. Suddenly the robot goes berserk. All eyes turn to the super-kid, but Noah is frozen with horror. It's Donovan who bursts into action, tackling and subduing the runaway robot. In so doing, his legs kick out horizontally in a manner that is instantly recognized by the driver of the propane truck. The police decide to forgive him in light of his heroism. Besides, regardless of what really happened with the propane truck, everyone is confident of one thing: There has never been anyone more un-super than Donovan Curtis.
The Bone Magician

Pin Carpue is on his own in the world. His mother is dead and his father is missing after being labeled a suspect in a rash of murders. Pin finds a job working for the local undertaker as a body watcher, making sure people are really dead before they're buried. The body he's supposed to be watching tonight is currently surrounded by three people engaged in a most unusual ceremony. An old man, a bone magician, and his young female assistant are waking a woman so her grieving fiancé can have one last goodbye with her. Pin can't believe it will work, but then the dead woman sits up and speaks.

Pin is determined to discover how the magic works. He cannot believe they are raising the dead. He cannot believe his father is a murderer. Then Pin himself nearly becomes the killer's next victim.

As this mysterious tale unfolds with delicious creepiness, Pin will learn more about the bone magician, the girl Juno, and a hideous creature called the Gluttonous Beast that is kept in a local tavern where people pay for a glimpse.

Once again, F.E. Higgins delivers a story that is full of intrigue and suspense.
Found

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who's also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere -- and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives.

Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying?

With Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix begins a new series that promises to be every bit as suspenseful as her Shadow Children series -- which has sold more than 41/2 million copies -- and proves her, once again, to be a master of the page-turner.
Coraline

When a young girl ventures through a hidden door, she finds another life with shocking similarities to her own.

Coraline has moved to a new house with her parents and she is fascinated by the fact that their 'house' is in fact only half a house! Divided into flats years before, there is a brick wall behind a door where once there was a corridor. One day it is a corridor again and the intrepid Coraline wanders down it. And so a nightmare-ish mystery begins that takes Coraline into the arms of counterfeit parents and a life that isn't quite right.

Can Coraline get out? Can she find her real parents? Will life ever be the same again?
Gregor the Overlander Collection:

Read all five books in the New York Times bestselling Gregor: The Underland Chronicles! When Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in the laundry room of their New York apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland beneath the city. There, humans live uneasily beside giant spiders, bats, cockroaches, and rats--but the fragile peace is about to fall apart. Gregor wants no part in this conflict, but again and again, he and his family are drawn into the Underland. Gregor must find his place in the frightening prophecies he encounters, the strength to protect his family, and the courage to defend against an army of giant rats. In this action-packed and masterful series, Suzanne Collins unfolds the fate of the Underland and its great warrior, Gregor the Overlander.
Artemis Fowl

When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Al Capone Shines My Shoes

Moose and the cons are about to get a lot closer in this much-anticipated sequel.

It?s 1935. Moose Flanagan lives on Alcatraz with his family, the other families of the guards, and a few hundred no-name hit men, con men, mad dog murderers and a handful of bank robbers too. And one of those cons has just done him a big favor.

You see, Moose has never met Al Capone, but a few weeks ago Moose wrote a letter to him asking him to use his influence to get his sister, Natalie, into a school she desperately needs in San Francisco. After Natalie got accepted, a note appeared in Moose?s freshly laundered shirt that said: Done.

As this book begins, Moose discovers a new note. This one says: Your turn. Is it really from Capone? What does it mean? Moose can?t risk anything that might get his dad fired. But how can he ignore Al Capone?
The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)

From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a riveting new series that defies what you think you know about the world of magic. Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . . From the remarkable imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping, mind-blowing, pulse-pounding plunge into the magical unknown.

7th-8th Grade

9th-10th Grade

11th-12th Grade