1. Lockdown- Diane Tullson
Contemporary
“Students can learn a great deal about what their words and actions can do to sensitive fellow students” (barnesandnoble.com).
Adam and three classmates find themselves in trouble when they cannot get into any classroom and must hide elsewhere. The terrified students soon discover that Josh, a ridiculed classmate, is the gunman. When Adam learns this, he begins to feel sorry for Josh and partly blames himself for not befriending him. Adam goes on a quest to stop Josh not only from hurting or killing other students but also from killing himself. The book describes a situation in which a student is bullied and humiliated to the point where he resorts to violent actions against his teachers and fellow students.

2. The Fault in our Stars-John Greene Contemporary
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic Business of being alive and in love.

3. Paranoid Park- Blake Nelson
Suspense/Set in Portland
“Nonstop page turning until the surprising conclusion” (Ilene Cooper ).
As if his parents' impending divorce isn't stressful enough, the 16-year-old unnamed protagonist and self-described Prep skater dude writes a confessional detailing his remorse over his role in the gruesome death of a railroad security officer while hopping a train to Safeway to get beer. After deciding not to call the police immediately following the accidental homicide, it gradually becomes easier to justify continued silence, and simultaneously becomes harder to imagine coming forward to anyone about what happened.

4. Speak- Laurie Halse-Anderson
Contemporary
“After reading Speak, it will be hard for any teen to look at the class ‘outcast’ again without a measure of compassion and understanding for that person--who may be screaming beneath the silence” (Hubert).
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise…. (Halse-Anderson).

5. Dreamland- Sarah Dessen
Contemporary
“This is intelligent fiction that takes a hard but realistic look at many of the pressures teens must face as they enter adulthood…” (bn.com).
After her older sister runs away, sixteen-year-old Caitlin decides that she needs to make a major change in her own life and begins a relationship with a boy who is mysterious, brilliant, and dangerous. Rogerson Biscoe, with his green eyes and dark curly hair, is absolutely seductive. Before long, sixteen-year-old Caitlin finds herself under his spell. And when he starts to abuse her, she finds she's in too deep to get herself out...

6. 13 Reasons Why- Jay Asher Contemporary
“Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers”
When Clay Jenson plays the cassette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah's voice and going to the locations she wants him to visit. The text alternates, between Hannah's voice (italicized) and Clay's thoughts as he listens to her words, which illuminate betrayals and secrets that demonstrate the consequences of even small actions. The message about how we treat one another makes for compelling reading.

7. Code Talker- Chester Nez
Non-Fiction- World War II
"You don’t need to be a fan of World War II literature to appreciate this memoir” (Assoc. Press)
He is the only original World War II Navajo code talker still alive—and this is his story His name wasn’t Chestesr Nez. That was the English name he was assigned in kindergarten. And in boarding school at Fort Defiance, he was punished for speaking his native language, as the teachers sought to rid him of his culture and traditions. But discrimination didn’t stop Chester from answering the call to defend his country after Pearl Harbor, for the Navajo have always been warriors, and his upbringing on a New Mexico reservation gave him the strength—both physical and mental—to excel as a marine. During World War II, the Japanese had managed to crack every code the United States used. But when the Marines turned to its Navajo recruits to develop and implement a secret military language, they created the only unbroken code in modern warfare

8. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
Fantasy/Contemporary- Trilogy
"Collins expertly blends fantasy, romance and political intrigue (so who needs vampires?)." — People Magazine
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

9. Divergent- Veronica Roth
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Trilogy
“You’ll be up all night with Divergent, a brainy thrill-ride of a novel.” (BookPage )
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

10. 19 Minutes- Jody Picoult Contemporary
“Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?” (barnesandnoble.com).
Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens-until the day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the state’s best witness, but she can’t remember what happened before her very own eyes-or can she? As the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show-destroying the closest of friendships and families.

11. Rough Necks- Thomas Cochran Sports Fiction
I really liked this book. It was very realistic and understandable. Mostly, it reminded me of my experiences with football. I found that I could really relate to this book and the characters in it. Sometimes I found myself laughing about things that had also happened to me, or to things that characters say that I have heard my coaches also say.
Once in a while you get a second chance. For Travis Cody this is one of those times. His team, the Oil Camp Roughnecks, is facing the Pineview Pelicans for the state championship. Travis will have forty-eight minutes head-to-head with rival Jericho Grooms. Forty-eight minutes to redeem himself for letting Grooms break him on the play that cost the Roughnecks an undefeated season. Forty-eight minutes to prove he isn’t a quitter.

12. Sunrise Over Fallujah-Walter Dean Meyers Contemporary-War
As I turned the pages of this novel about teenagers at
war, I found myself muttering, "No way, no way, no
way...." because I liked the kids in this story.
Robin "Birdy" Perry, a new army recruit from Harlem, isn’t
quite sure why he joined the army, but he's sure where he’s
headed: Iraq. Birdy and the others in the Civilian Affairs
Battalion are supposed to help secure and stabilize the
country and successfully interact with the Iraqi people.
Officially, the code name for their maneuvers is Operation
Iraqi Freedom. But the young men and women in the CA unit
have a simpler name for it: WAR