A librarian’s top teen book picks

By Lesley Cruickshank
Sissonville High School

Sissonville High School librarian Julee Strahler recommended the following books for teens. Reading is a personal hobby with widely varying tastes. The list covers a wide range of genres to accomodate these tastes.

Adventure

Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”: The tale of Buck, a sled dog, and his perilous yet fantastic journey through the hands of an assortment of owners and the wilderness.

Autobiography/Biography

“The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” by Earnest J. Gaines: Slave Jane Pittman recalls the things that happened to her and others during her lifetime, spanning from the Civil War to the civil rights movement.

Dave Pelzer’s “A Child Called It”: The author’s recollection of childhood with an alcoholic mother.

“First They Killed My Father” by Loung Ung: A Cambodian family endures hardships during the Pol Pot regime.

Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”: A young girl grows up in the racist South, facing many traumas during childhood and adolescence.

Fantasy

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling: The first book of the wildly popular series about the boy wizard.

“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien: This precursor to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy details Bilbo Baggins’ excursions through Middle Earth.

“A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula Le Guin: Duny is a talented wizard but also somewhat of a restless soul.

Fiction

Lucy Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables”: Orphaned Anne Shirley, a witty, intelligent girl, has adventures in Avonlea.

Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War”: The stark tale of Jerry’s disputes with himself and others at Trinity High School.

Mitch Albom’s “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”: Eddie travels through the afterlife, where meets five people who have impacted his life.

“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes: A mentally-challenged janitor, volunteers himself for an intelligence-enhancing experiment, and befriends the lab mouse, Algernon, who has undergone the same treatment.

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen: An old man’s story of love, an elephant and a circus during the Great Depression.

Graphic Novel

“Maus I” by Art Spiegelman: A painfully realistic tale based on the author’s father’s experiences during the Holocaust.

Historical Fiction

Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”: Huck journeys down the Mississippi River on a raft with his friend Jim.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Remarque: The atrocities of World War I as seen through the eyes of German soldier Paul Bäumer.

“Cold Sassy Tree” by Olive Ann Burns: Will Tweedy’s recollection of the eight years following his grandmother’s death, including his grandfather’s remarriage.

“The Coffin Quilt” by Ann Rinaldi: The Hatfield-McCoy feud seen through the eyes of the youngest McCoy, Fanny.

Horror

Stephen King’s “Carrie”: A vindictive teen’s encounter with high school, telekinesis and issues at home, brought on by her Christian fundamentalist mother.

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”: The classic tale of scientist Victor Frankenstein’s creature, brought to life by a bolt of lightning.

Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire”: The first book of “The Vampire Chronicles,” about Louis, a plantation owner in New Orleans, and his horrifying adventures with the vampire Lestat.

“The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe”: Some of Poe’s most fascinating stories, including “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Humor

“The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler: A teen girl struggles with life in private school while trying to overcome her many insecurities.

Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”: Arthur Dent’s rollicking journey in search of the planet Magrathea and the Question to the Ultimate Answer.

Mystery

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon: The autistic Christopher’s investigation of the death of his neighbor’s poodle, for which he is blamed, and the things he encounters in this investigation.

“Troubling a Star” by Madeleine L’Engle: Vicky discovers the true nature of her relations with Adam when stranded on an iceberg off Antarctica’s coast.

Science Fiction

George Orwell’s “1984”: Outer Party member Winston Smith’s struggle with the corrupt truths of his world in a post-WWII United Kingdom.

“Feed” by M.T. Anderson: Privacy has become a thing of the past in Titus’ dystopian world thanks to Feednet.