For Teens
Fiction for Teens - Ages 14 and Older
Chicago Public Library recommends the following books as some of the best fiction published in 2011 for teens in high school. For more ideas of outstanding things to read, please check out Teen Volume Reads, browse the Teen Volume collection at your neighborhood library and ask your librarian for assistance. Best of the Best is part of the Kraft Great Kids Initiative. Read, Learn, Discover!
Ashfall
By Mike Mullin
Tanglewood
Alex plans to enjoy a solitary weekend when a super volcano erupts under Yellowstone National Park leaving him to survive in a new world and find his way across the ash- and snow-covered terrain to be reunited with his family.
The Auslander
By Paul Dowswell
Bloomsbury
Taken in by a German family after his parents die in the Soviet invasion of Poland, Peter attempts to assimilate to his new culture but is very soon thrust into a gripping race to freedom and safety with a pretty classmate.
Beauty Queens
By Libba Bray
Scholastic
Can the Miss Teen Dream contestants survive a plane crash, a deserted island, reality show pirates and an evil corporate plot, and still be ready to put their best face forward for the pageant judges?
The Beginning of After
By Jennifer Castle
HarperTeen
Laurel struggles to find a way to survive and move on with her life after her entire family is killed in a car accident.
Between Shades of Gray
By Ruta Sepetys
Philomel
Readers will be deeply moved by the harrowing tale of Lina, a 15 year-old Lithuanian artist, and the imprisonment of her family and fellow countrymen in Russia under Stalin’s brutal reign.
Chime
By Franny Billingsley
Dial
Briony struggles with her guilt over her stepmother’s death and her twin sister’s infirmity as she fights off not only the Old Ones in the Swampsea, but also her feelings for the strange new man in her town.
eAudio | eBook
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
By Laini Taylor
Little, Brown
Raised by Chimeara, human-born Karou never questions her “family” until she meets a mysteriously familiar Seraph who helps her to uncover the mystery of her past . . . but at what cost?.
Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories
Edited by Megan Kelley Hall & Carrie Jones
HarperTeen
Divided into categories including “Survival,” “Regret” and “It Gets Better,” this collection features essays, poetry, comics and letters by popular authors who have been affected by bullying.
Delirium
By Lauren Oliver
Harper
Lena is only ninety-five days from her eighteenth birthday, when she’ll be “cured” of the disease deliria (or, love), when she meets Alex and her careful, well-planned future is turned upside down.
eAudio | eBook
Divergent
By Veronica Roth
HaperCollins/Katherine Tegen
In a future Chicago, 16 year-olds must choose among five factions to determine their identity, but when Beatrice finds out that she is a “divergent” it sets in motion a series of events that test not only her physical and mental strength, but her entire world.
eBook
Eddie’s War
By Carol Fisher Saller
Namelos
Life for Eddie in rural Illinois was easy until World War II “hits home” and his older brother and friends go off to fight, leaving him to navigate through friendship, love and betrayal on his own.
Guantanamo Boy
By Anna Perera
Albert Whitman
After being falsely accused of terrorist activity while on a family trip to Pakistan, British teen Khalid Ahmed is captured, tortured and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay shortly after the events of 9/11.
Huntress
By Malinda Lo
Little, Brown
Taisin, a powerful sage, foresees that her upcoming journey will involve dangerous encounters and falling in love with the Chancellor’s daughter, but she still isn’t fully prepared for what she discovers on her quest to understand the mysteries of the unchanging seasons.
I am J
By Cris Beam
Little, Brown
Born into a girl’s body, transgendered “J” struggles against family, friends and himself to become the man he feels he is on the inside.
I’ll Be There
By Holly Goldberg Sloan
Little, Brown
Sam and Riddle have never known stability until being welcomed into the home and hearts of the Bell family, but when their criminal paranoid father discovers where they’re living everything falls apart again.
Legend
By Marie Lu
Putnam
June is being groomed to join the highest ranks of the Republic of America, but when she meets Day, who is perceived to be a threat to the plague-ridden Republic, sparks fly.
Leverage
By Joshua C. Cohen
Dutton
The rivalry between football and boy's gymnastics at a sports-obsessed high school leads to a brutal steroid-induced attack, which is heightened by an unlikely friendship between some members of the teams.
eAudio
Shine
By Lauren Myracle
Amulet
After her estranged friend is brutally beaten in an apparent hate crime, Cat is compelled to uncover the mystery behind the assault and learn more about her own tragic past.
The Space Between
By Brenna Yovanoff
Razorbill
When Lucifer’s daughter Daphne leaves the heat of Pandemonium to track down her beloved brother Obie on Earth, she finds out that humans and demons have a lot more in common than she ever imagined.
Where She Went
By Gayle Forman
Dutton
Adam is still reeling from Mia’s virtual disappearance three years ago when an accidental meeting brings them together for one night to work through their mutual grief and rediscover the love they lost.
White Crow
By Marcus Sedgewick
Roaring Brook
A quiet English seaside village hides a horrid history, which is uncovered when two lonely and troubled girls experiment with the bounds of good, evil and the afterlife.
Why We Broke Up
By Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman
Little, Brown
Film-obsessed Min crafts a falling-out-of-love letter comprised of memories and mementos in an attempt to explain to Ed what happened in, and to, their relationship.
Wither
By Lauren DeStefano
Simon & Schuster
In a future where girls only live to 20 and boys to 25, 16 year-old Rhine is kidnapped and sold into a life of luxury, but unlike her other “sister wives” her only desire is to gain freedom and return to life with her brother.
You Against Me
By Jenny Downham
Random House/David Fickling
The brother of a date rape victim and the sister of the accused must struggle to deal with the aftermath of the crime and the development of their own new relationship.
2012 Award Winners
Michael L. Printz Award
Where Things Come Back
By John Corey Whale
Atheneum
Michael L. Printz Honor
Why We Broke Up
By Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman
Little, Brown
Michael L. Printz Honor
The Returning
By Christine Hinwood
Dial
Michael L. Printz Honor
Jasper Jones
By Craig Siley
Knopf
Michael L. Printz Honor
The Scorpio Races
By Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic
William C. Morris Award
Where Things Come Back
By John Corey Whaley
Atheneum
Great Kids Read, generously sponsored by The Kraft Foods Foundation, through the Chicago Public Library Foundation, is a collaboration created by the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Park District to emphasize the importance of reading and family literacy at an early age.
Published in 2012