Teen Realism: Recognizable Life
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares
Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget are about to spend the summer apart
for the first time in their fifteen years. The summer is an emotional
roller-coaster for all four, but they still lean on each other by
way of a pair of thrift-store jeans. The pants get sent around the
world to all four summer destinations, to accompany and punctuate
their hilarious and heartbreaking experiences.
(Other books in this series are Second Summer of the Sisterhood
and Girls in Pants : The Third Summer of the Sisterhood.)
Ghost World , by Dan Clowes
Enid and Becky have finally graduated high school and are about
to embark on another aimless summer. But somewhere along the way,
they have to pick new directions for their lives—and they
might not be the same directions after all.
Annie on my Mind, by Nancy Garden
Annie and Liza are high school girls at different schools whose
friendship grows into something more. With everything on the line,
Liza has to decide what’s truly important to her—love,
acceptance, and where she can find it.
Toning the Sweep, by Angela Johnson
Em and her mother spend one last summer in the desert with Ola,
packing her house for her move to the city for cancer treatments.
Em battles with the impending loss of her grandmother and desert
sanctity while her mother must realize what brought her there
in the first place.
Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen
Though it reads as compellingly as fiction, this book is actually
Kaysen’s memoir of the two years she spent in a psychiatric
hospital following her diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.
She writes very frankly about her diagnosis, treatment, and eventual
recovery as a mental patient in the late 1960s.
The System, by Peter Kuper
In a complex urban setting, everyone—the interracial couple,
the clergyman, the corrupt cop—is connected as part of the
system. This silent story documents drug deals, hate crimes, victimization,
corruption, and the myriad other problems that connect people
in urban systems.
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
Steve is writing a screenplay of his murder trial as it unfolds,
cutting in scenes of his family and his time in his cell. He’s
16, scared, and alone—and not necessarily guilty.
A Door Near Here, by Heather Quarles
Katherine is 15 years old, and has to lead her siblings—mechanically-inclined
Douglas, social butterfly Tracy, and Narnia-seeking Alisa—through
the paces of normalcy, while their single alcoholic mother hides
in her room for weeks on end. Ultimately Katherine must decide
between holding things as they are or reaching out for help.
Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis is the autobiography of an Iranian girl growing up
during the Islamic Revolution. This black-and-white comic shows
Satrapi’s life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years
colored by the overthrow of one political regime, the beginnings
of a new regime, and war with Iran. The story is a memoir of Satrapi’s
day-to-day life in late-1970s Iran, including such incidents as
the first day she was required to wear a veil to school and the
bombing of her neighborhood, and her relationship with her political-activist
family. Her story is funny, touching, and deeply personal.
(To read about Satrapi’s teen years, pick up the sequel,
Persepolis 2 : The Story of a Return.)
Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
Leo is content being one of the crowd—that is, until he
meets Stargirl, who is not afraid to be radically different. But
what happens to Stargirl when Leo asks her to be just like everyone
else—and what happens to Leo?
Pedro and Me : Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, by Judd Winick
Judd Winick was excited to land a spot on MTV’s The Real
World. When the producers told him that one of his housemates
was HIV+, he was a little worried about what he was getting into,
but plunged in anyway. When he learned that it was his roommate,
Pedro, Winick wasn’t sure what to do. Winick quickly realized
he had only one choice: allow himself to befriend Pedro, even
though he knew he would eventually lose his best friend. Winick’s
true story Pedro and Me puts a very human face on the AIDS epidemic,
and allows readers to see AIDS patients as something more than
statistics.
Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger
John’s only safe place to vent his outsider feelings is
in the pages of the zine he writes and publishes, Bananafish.
When he discovers Escape Velocity, he immediately needs to meet
its creator, this Marisol Guzman. The two become close friends,
but as John’s feelings for Marisol deepen, she warns him
off several times, reminding him of her homosexuality. Struggling
with an emotional intimacy unlike any he’s ever felt, John
must decide how to proceed when he’s in love with his best
friend—who will never love him back.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
, by Paul Zindel
Tillie’s sister is crazy and vindictive; their mother is
neglectful and unsupportive. Can Tillie’s science fair exhibit
on mutations break her family out of these roles? Best billed
as a dramedy, Marigolds is a play highlighting family dynamics,
dysfunction, and the ability to rise above one’s history.
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