Boat in front of an island Fun Reads for Teens
For Young Adults Ages 11 and Up
Selected by Patricia Foster pfoster@slco.lib.ut.us

The Salt Lake County Library System does not necessarily recommend that all teens read all books. These books offer a balance in reading level, interest level, and types of fiction. We encourage parents to read and discuss these books with their teens.

Adventure/Survival Stories | Fantasy | Historical Fiction | Humor | Mystery | Real Life/Contemporary | Science Fiction


ADVENTURE / SURVIVAL STORIES


Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Alden R. Carter
YF Carter
Cousins on a Minnesota canoe trip face deadly perils after their food is eaten by a bear.


Quake by Joe Cottonwood
JF Cottonwood
Lives of Franny and others are changed when the big earthquake hits.


A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
YF Farmer
A young Shona girl from Mozambique takes a perilous trip to Zimbabwe to find her father's family.


Julie of the Wolves by Jean George Craighead
YF Craighead
Julie, a Native American girl, befriends a wolf pack after becoming lost in the wilderness.


Downriver by Will Hobbs
YF Hobbs
A group of teens take their own trip on the unpredictable waters of the Colorado River.


Far North by Will Hobbs
YF Hobbs
Two boys must survive in the bitter Arctic winter after a plane crash.


Dogsong by Gary Paulsen
JF Paulsen
A modern Eskimo boy must survive in an Arctic storm with a dogsled, using the traditional skills taught to him by his grandfather.


Moon Dancer by Margaret I. Rostkowski
YF Rostkowski
A group of teens goes on a backpacking trip in Utah's canyon country, to check out observations made in a diary written by a pioneer woman.


No Way Out by Ivy Ruckman
YF Ruckman
A group of hikers is stranded in a narrow Utah canyon when a flash flood hits.


Free Fall by Joyce Sweeney
YF Sweeney
Four boys trapped in a cave, discover and confront their secret fears.


Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman
YF Ullman
Rudi is compelled to conquer the mountain that killed his father.


Deathwatch by Robb White
YF White
Ben must survive being hunted down in the desert, by a madman who has accidentally shot and killed an old prospector.

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FANTASY


Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander
YF Alexander
A king in India must go on a magical quest after he loses his kingdom and everything else he owns to a mysterious ruler who involves him in a game of chance.


Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
F Anthony
First book in the Xanth series, about a land where everyone must have a magic talent or be sent to Mundania.. Full of puns and word plays. Sequels include Castle Roogna, Source of Magic, and many others.


Heartlight by T. A. Barron
YF Barron
Kate and her astrophysicist Grandfather use one of his inventions to travel faster than the speed of light on a mission to save the sun from a premature death. Other books about Kate's adventures are The Merlin Effect and The Ancient One.


So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
YF Duane
Thirteen-year-old Nita, tormented by a gang of bullies because she won't fight back, finds the help she needs in a library book on wizardry which guides her into another dimension.


Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time by James Gurney
J398.245 Gur
Lavishly illustrated fictional journal of an explorer and his son, who discover a lost civilization where humans and dinosaurs have peacefully co-existed for hundreds of years.


Redwall by Brian Jacques
YF Jacques
The first book of the Redwall series where the animals of Mossflower Wood battle against the wicked one-eyed rat Cluny the Scourge and his evil army of rats.


Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
YF Jones
When seventeen-year-old Sophie is transformed into a 70 year old crone, she seeks help in a moving castle belonging to a mysterious wizard.


Book of Earth by Marjorie Bradley Kellogg
F Kellogg
A young girl must flee her kingdom to save her life, and acquires a young dragon who is not aware of his powers, and then later, a magical guide who shows her that she must help to save her kingdom from an evil priest.


Owl in Love by Patricia Kindl
YF Kindl
Owl's ability to change from a girl to an owl creates complications when she falls in love with a strange boy she discovers in the woods.


Blood and Chocolate by Annette Klause
YF Klause
A teen girl rebels from her werewolf heritage and becomes involved with a human boy.


Silver Kiss by Annette Klause
YF Klause
Zoe and Simon become involved in a vampire romance as her mother lays dying.


Zel by Donna Napoli
YF Zel
A new version of the Rapunzel fairy tale, told from the viewpoints of herself, her mother and the prince who falls in love with her.


Sabriel by Garth Nix
YF Nix
A naïve girl who knows nothing of her magical heritage must brave the terrors and challenges of the seven underworlds to rescue her wizard father.


Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
YF Pullman.
Accompanied by her daemon, a companion animal, Lyra sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments. This is the first book in His Dark Materials series. Book Two is The Subtle Knife, and Book Three is in the process.

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HISTORICAL FICTION


Beyond the Western Sea by Avi
YF Avi
Three Irish youths run away to America, in this two book set. Book One is The Escape From Home and Book Two is Lord Kirkle's Money.


Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker
F Bakker
A prehistoric raptor manages to survive the perils of prehistoric Utah long enough to find a new mate, after her first mate has been killed. This animal biography was written by a famous paleontologist.


My Daniel by Pam Conrad
JF Conrad
A brother and sister discover some of the first dinosaur bones found on the Great Plains in the 1870's.


Prairie Songs by Pam Conrad
YF Conrad
Louisa's life in a loving pioneer family on the Nebraska prairie is altered by the arrival of a new doctor and his beautiful, tragically frail wife.


Dove and the Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Nancy Garden
YF Garden
The story of Joan of Arc as told by her childhood companion. When her friend Joan begins to hear voices that tell her she has been chosen by God to lead an army and crown the dauphin as King of France, Gabrielle questions Joan's sanity but follows her onto the battlefield.


Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O'Dell
YF O'Dell
Sacagawea's moving tale of the Lewis and Clark expedition.


Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
YF Paterson
Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Maasachusetts, in the 1840's.


An Acquaintance With Darkness by Ann Rinaldi
YF Rinaldi
After President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, Emily Pigbush suspects that her family is involved in the murder


Callendar Papers by Cynthia Voigt
YF Voigt
In nineteenth century Massachusetts, an orphaned girl becomes fascinated by the family papers of a reclusive artist, and finds she is in danger when she learns about the mysterious long-ago death of his wife and the subsequent disappearance of their young child.


Blitzcat by Robert Westall
YF Westall
World War II adventures of Lord Gort, a courageous black cat separated from, and searching for her beloved master, in war-torn England.


Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
YF Westall
A group of boys salvage a machine gun from the wreckage of a German plane and plan to protect their English seacoast town from invaders.


I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane Lee Wilson
JF Wilson
Mongolian girl in the fourteenth century joins the Khan's army , in disguise, to avoid an arranged marriage.


Sunshine Rider: the First Vegetarian Western by Ric Lynden Hardman
YF Hardman
A boy sent to deliver a cattalo to its owner lands a job as an assistant cook with a cattle drive. When a disastrous stampede occurs, fearing he's the cause, Wylie sets off on his own, with only the cattalo (a cross between a Texas longhorn and a buffalo) as his companion.

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HUMOR


The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
F Adams
Tongue-in-cheek guide to traveling the galaxy. Just before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect. Other books in the Hitchhiker "trilogy" are The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe, and Everything; Mostly Harmless; and So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.


Squashed! By Joan Bauer
YF Bauer
Sixteen year old Ellie Morgan struggles to defeat the odious Cyril Pool by growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa.


Thwonk! By Joan Bauer
YF Bauer
A silly-looking cupid gets an unpopular teen girl entangled in a dreamed-of romance with a handsome boy.


I Love You, I Hate You, Get Lost! By Ellen Conford
YF Conford
A collection of seven humorous stories about the ups and downs of teen love.


Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice? By Paula Danziger
YF Danziger
A 9th grade girl tries to fit in junior high school while dealing with a weird family and a younger boyfriend.


A Fate Totally Worse Than Death by Paul Fleischman
YF Fleischman
An offbeat spoof of teen horror novels, about a group of self-centered girls who want to teach a beautiful exchange student a lesson.


Pumpkins of Time by Mel Gilden
YF Gilden
An encounter with an exploding dandelion mush sends two teens traveling through time, trapped inside a huge pumpkin.


Answer My Prayer by Sid Hite
YF Hite
he lovelorn Lydia Swain joins forces with a lazy angel named Ebol, sent to help her in her quest for love, during a political upheaval that is threatening the precious jeefwood forests in her country.


Faith and the Electric Dogs by Patrick Jennings
JF Jennings
Edison is a Mexican street dog, but he's far from ordinary. He can speak Bowwow and several other dog languages, and understands English, Spanish and French. When a girl named Faith rescues him, together they design, build and fly their own rocket ship. A new sequel is entitled Faith and the Rocket Cat.


Confess-o-rama by Ron Koertge
YF Koertge
Tony vents his feelings about his mother, his friends, and his girlfriend to the Confess-o-rama phone service, not realizing who is listening at the other end of the phone.


The Chicken Doesn't Skate by Gordon Korman
JF Korman
Wild things happen at the Soputh Middle School when a chicken from a science project becomes the hockey team's mascot, and their only chance for a winning season.


Schernoff Discoveries by Gary Paulsen
JF Paulsen
Harold and his best friend, both hopeless geeks and social misfits, survive unusual science experiments, attacks by the football team, and other dangers of junior high school.

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MYSTERY


Wolf Rider by Avi
YF Avi
After receiving an apparent crank call from a man claiming to have committed a murder, Andy sets out to uncover the truth.


Coverup by Jay Bennett
YF Bennett
Realizing that his friend has killed a pedestrian on a deserted road after a party, Brad returns to the accident scene and meets a girl searching for her father.


Another Kind of Monday by William E.Coles
YF Coles
Discovering three hundred dollars and a cryptic note in an old library copy of Dickens' Great Expectations, Mark is challenged to find a series of clues that may lead to more money and further discoveries. He enlists Zeena, a casual acquaintance, to help him in the quest.


I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
YF Cormier
Fourteen-year-old Adam desperately tries to unlock memories of his past, while facing the trauma of his present life as the "guest" of the government.


All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell
F Cornwell
A whodunit about the baffling serial murders of five college-age couples.


Poison by Alane Ferguson
YF Ferguson
Following the mysterious death of her stepfather, Chelsea and her best friend Amber attempt to snare the killer, but instead find themselves trapped in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.


Getting Lincoln's Goat by E. M. Goldman
YF Goldman
Elliot gets some experience in his planned career as a detective when he tries to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of Lincoln High School's mascot.


The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King
F King
Young Mary Russell begins a promising career as a sleuth under the guidance of an older Sherlock Holmes, eventually becoming his wife, in this cleverly-written series, which includes A Monstrous Regiment of Women; The Moor; and A Letter of Mary.


Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle
YF L'Engle
As she tries to stay alive after being left on an iceberg in Antarctica, sixteen-year-old Vicky recalls the series of events that brought her there and involved her in a dangerous mystery.


The Weekend Was Murder by Joan Lowery Nixon
YF Nixon
A teen detective and her boyfriend attend a weekend murder mystery party, only to discover a real murder has been committed.


Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
YF Pullman
The beginning book in a trilogy of mysteries set in Victorian England, featuring Sally Lockheart, an independent young woman. Other books in the trilogy are The Tiger in the Well, and The Shadow in North.


Nightmare by Willo Davis Roberts
YF Roberts
When a falling body hits Nick's car as he drives under an underpass, the police call it a suicide, but Nick suspects murder and finds his life in danger when he tries to investigate.


Twisted Summer by Willo Davis Roberts
YF Roberts
Fourteen-year-old Cici hopes for a romantic summer at the beach, but instead finds herself trying to solve a murder which had occurred there the previous year.

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REAL LIFE/CONTEMPORARY


Go and Come Back by Joan Abelove
YF Abelove
Two American women anthropologists visit a Peruvian jungle village to study its culture, in a tale narrated by Alicia, one of the Isabo girls in the community.


Babcock by Joe Cottonwood
YF Cottonwood
Babcock, a seventh grade overweight black boy who likes dragonflies, poetry and music, and who is trying to start up a rock band, begins a friendship with Kirsten, a skinny freckled blonde, at the same time that his eccentric Uncle Earl moves in with his family.


Tangerine by Edward Bloor
YF Bloor
A boy with damaged vision fights for the right to play soccer and struggles to understand his older brother's cruelty to him.


Smack by Melvin Burgess
YF Burgess
Tar and Gemma, two teenage runaways, becomes involved with squatters who have serious heroin habits.


What I Did for Roman by Pam Conrad
YF Conrad
A teenage girl falls in love with a handsome and enigmatic animal keeper at a local zoo and risks her life for him.


Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt
YF Voigt
A girl who has lost a leg in an auto accident struggles to put her life together again.


Flour Babies by Anne Fine
YF Fine
A group of high school boys must care for their flour sack babies for a parenting project, with surprising results.

YF Fine

A group of high school boys must care for their flour sack babies for a parenting project, with surprising results.


Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
YF Fleischman
A sixteen-year-old boy must go to the four corners of the United States and build and place wind toys called whirligigs there, as ordered by the court and the mother of a girl who died in an accident that he caused.


Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
JF Fleischman
Tenants in a housing project get to know each other while planting gardens in an abandoned city lot.


Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr
YF Orr
Following an automobile accident in which her neck is broken, a teenage karate champion begins a long and painful recovery with the help of her family and a newfound friend.


Buried Onions by Gary Soto
YF Soto
When nineteen-year-old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican-American living in a violence-infested barrio in Fresno.


Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
YF Thomas
The son of an astronaut becomes a member of a rebellious group at a local high school.


Making Up Megaboy by Virginia Walter
YF Walter
Reactions of a varied group of people after the murder of a local store owner by a teen boy.


I Am An Artichoke by Lucy Frank
YF Frank
Girl hired as a mother's helper for an eccentric woman tries to become a friend to her anorexic daughter. Will You Be My Brussels Sprout? is the sequel to this book.


Maestro by TimWynne-Jones
YF Wynne-Jones
Boy who is hiding in a secluded lakeside cabin meets the owner, a famous musician, who helps him come to terms with his abusive father.

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SCIENCE FICTION


The White Mountains by John Christopher
JF Christopher
First book in the Tripods Trilogy, about a society where giant three-legged machines rule the human population. Other books in the trilogy are The City of Gold and Lead and The Pool of Fire, and a prequel, When The Tripods Came.


Eva by Peter Dickinson
YF Dickinson
After a terrible accident, Eva finds that she now resides in the body of a chimpanzee.


The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
YF Farmer
In Zimbabwe of 2194, three detectives with unusual abilities search for the three missing children of the country's leader, General Matasika.


Bug Park by James P. Hogan
F Hogan
Hi-tech teens Kevin and Taki realize that they can make millions with their Bug Park concept, an interactive entertainment park, but someone wants to squash their idea before they get started.


Hexwood by DianaWynne Jones
YF Jones
Anne discovers that the wood near her village is under the control of a Bannus, a machine that manipulates reality, placed there many years ago by powerful extraterrestrial beings called Reigners, who rule the universe.


Shade's Children by Garth Nix
YF Nix
A group of children, trying to avoid being enslaved at the age of fourteen by a master race who use the Earth to play senseless and violent war games, are guided by a mysterious computer-generated mentor named Shade.


Found by June Oldham
YF Oldham
Children wandering in the countryside in a post-atomic world find an orphaned baby and are determined to care for her.


Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen
YF Paulsen
A youth on a survival hike in the desert is transported to a primitive society by a bolt of lightning.


Interstellar Pig by William Sleator
YF Sleator
The new neighbors at the summer cottage play a game that puts the future of the universe at stake.


The Night the Heads Came by William Sleator
YF Sleator
When aliens abduct both Leo and his artist friend Tim, Leo tries to determine why these creatures from outer space want particularly to use his friend's talent.


Plague by Ure
YF Ure
Teens returning from summer camp find that almost everyone in London is dead from an apocalyptic plague.


Walker of Time by Helen Hughes Vick
YF Vick
Walker, a fifteen year old Hopi boy, and Tag, the freckled son of an archaeologist, are transported back in time 800 years to when the Sinagua people left their ancient cliff dwellings. The story is continued in Walker's Journey Home and Tag Against Time.


Psion by Joan Vinge
YF Vinge
Cat, a telepathic teen tries to survive in the twenty-fifth century. More about Cat's life can be found in Catspaw and Dreamfall.

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4/14/99

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