Best Books for Young Adults - 2003
(from YALSA- Young Adult Library Services Association)
Available in the Great Lakes Media Center 		Awesome Books
NONFICTION | FICTION

NONFICTION

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
BLACK POTATOES: THE STORY OF THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE, 1845-1850
Bartoletti relays a detailed account of the Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 and its long-lasting effect on the Irish people.

Fleischman, John
PHINEAS GAGE: A GRUESOME BUT TRUE STORY ABOUT BRAIN SCIENCE
Phineas is never the same after a metal rod enters his head at the chin and comes out his forehead.

Hampton, Wilborn
MELTDOWN: A RACE AGAINST NUCLEAR DISASTER AT THREE MILE ISLAND
Journalist Hampton gives an eyewitness account of the 1979 disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, relating in to the bombing of Hiroshima and the Chernobyl power plant explosion.

McPherson, James M.
FIELDS OF FURY: THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
McPherson delivers a battle-by-battle guide to the deadliest American War.

*Nelson, Peter
LEFT FOR DEAD: A YOUNG MAN'S SEARCH FOR JUSTICE FOR THE USS INDIANAPOLIS
A school project eventually leads to the truth about sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the navy's cover-up and the court martial of the captain.

*Nye, Naomi Shihab
19 VARETIES OF GASELLE POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
In an exquisite poetry collection, Nye draws on her Palestinian American heritage to see the Middle East through the eyes of an American and the U.S. through the eyes of the Palestinian.

*Partridge, Elizabeth
THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME
Partridge tells about the tragic story of the rambling folksinger Woody Guthrie who wrote, "This Land is Your Land."

Philbrick, Nathaniel
REVENGE OF THE WHALE: THE TRUE STORY OF THE WHALESHIP ESSEX
Survivor accounts the basis for a harrowing account of the 1820 voyage of the whaleship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale.

FICTION

Alvarez, Julia
BEFORE WE WERE FREE
Twelve-year-old Anita becomes more aware of the boys around her and of the mounting danger to her family in the Dominican Republic in 1960.

Auch, Mary Jane
ASHES OF ROSES
Irish immigrant Rose Nolan survives Ellis Island, resentful relatives and an unscrupulous sweatshop owner before finally landing a choice job in New York’s City’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Barker Clive
ABARAT
Candy Quackenbush lives her home in Chickentown, Minnesota and enters the magic world of Abarat, where wicked Lord Carrion pursues her.

Blackwood, Gary L.
YEAR OF THE HANGMAN
What if America had lost the revolutionary war? A Rowdy English teen encounters the remnants of the unsuccessful revolution when he's exiled to the colonies.

Clements, Andrew
THINGS NOT SEEN
Bobby awakens one morning to discover that he is invisible.

Fama, Elizabeth
OVERBOARD
While on a trip to visit her uncle, 14-year-old Emily escapes a sinking ferry and finds herself - and a courageous you Muslim boy - adrift in the waters off Sumatra.

*Farmer, Nancy
THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION
In a world where human clones are a reality and drug lords rule, Matt discovers the horrible secret of his creation and El Patron's despicable plans for him. A 200 Printz Honor Book and a 2003 Newbery Honor Book.

Gaiman, Neil
CORALINE
While exploring her family's new home, Coraline wanders into the eerie world of the Woman with the Black Button Eyes.

Giff, Patricia Reilly
PICTURES OF HOLLIS WOODS
Artistic foster child Hollis Woods, who seeks a real home, recalls the tragegy of the previous summer while hiding out and caring for an elderly woman who has Alzheimer's disease. A 2003 Newbery Honor book.

Grimes, Nikki
BRONX MASQUERADE
Mr. Ward's open-mike Fridays draw inner-city students to share and listen. The poetry performance gives the teens strength and insight into themselves. A 2003 Coretta Scott King Author Award winner.

Halam, Ann
DR. FRANKLIN'S ISLAND
Sole survivors of a plane crash on a remote island. Arnie, Semi, and Miranda discover they aren't alone, the island is the home of Dr. Franklin, a mad scientist.

Hiaasen, Carl
HOOT
A strange, unschooled kid leads middle-schooler Roy Eberhardt into a crusade against a new pancake shop that will displace a colony of burrowing owls. A 2003 Newbery Honor Book.

Jordan, Sheryl
THE HUNTING OF THE LAST DRAGON
Having survived a dragon's attack, Jude befriends caged sideshow freak Jing-wet and begins a quest that imperils them both.

*Korman, Gordon
SON OF THE MOB
Vince wants nothing to do with "the family business," but he can't help becoming involved when he discovers that his girlfriend's dad is the FBI agent assigned to bring his own family to justice.

McCaughrean, Geraldine
THE KITE RIDER
Danger lurks everywhere in thirteenth-century China as Haoyou rescues his widowed mother from the villian who wants to marry her and joins a traveling circus as a kite rider.

Oates, Joyce Carol
BIG MOUTH & UGLY GIRL
What are the consequences when big-mouth junior Matt Donaghy jokingly threatens to blow up the school?

Park, Linda Sue
WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO: A NOVEL OF KOREA IN WORLD WAR II
In 1940, when Japanese occupiers force Koreans to change their names. Kim Sun-hee has to comply, but she struggles to keep her Korean identity in the face of war, hunger, and loss.

Powell, Randy
THREE CLAMS AND AN OYSTER
Three members of a high-school flag football team search for a fourth member during a week-end in which they confront their attitudes about friendship, girls, and their shared past.

SHATTERED STORIES OF CHILDREN AND WAR
ed. by Jennifer Armstrong
In 12 stories, familiar authors as well as several new to young-adult literature write about the shattering effects of war on young people.

Smith, Sherri L.
LUCY THE GIANT
To escape an unhappy home life, Lucy gets a job on a Bering sea fishing boat, where she finds a family of a different sort.

Tolan, Stephanie
SURVIVING THE APPLEWHITES
Bad-boy Jake has no trouble getting kicked out of Traybridge Middle School, but the Applewhite family's Creative Academy is a different story. A 2003 Newbery Honor book.

Woodson, Jacqueline
HUSH
Toswiah Green struggles toward a new identity as Evie Thomas when her family joins the Witness protection Program and everything she has know is lost to her.

Yolen, Jane and Robert J. Harris
GIRL IN A CAGE
Imprisoned in a cage by the ruthless English King Edward Longshanks, Princess Marjorie wages psychological war against her captor and her father, the king of Scotland, defends his country against the ruthless tyrant.


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