2011 Teen Recommended

This is a voting optional category. Feel free to vote within your school, we would be happy to publish the results on our Web site.

Teen Grand Canyon Readers Recommended List

 

  • Beastly   by Alex Flinn

    • Kyle annoys a witch and finds himself part of an online support group for monsters.  Companion idea: There are several popular fairy tale spin-off novels.

  • Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

    • Frankie begins dating one of the most popular boys.  When she learns that he belongs to a secret all-male club, she will not rest until she uncovers their secret.  She learns that sometimes the end does not justify the means.

  • Graceling  by Kristin Cashore 

    • Katsa was born with the “grace” of being a fierce fighter and killer and is encouraged to fight for her king.  After she meets the foreigner Po, she learns she can use her “grace” for good.

  • Hero by Perry Moore

    • Thom keeps both his gay orientation and his healing powers hidden but feels inadequate compared to the comic book superheroes  who patrol the skies. His dad is a disgraced superhero and his mother has literally disappeared.  Although invited to apprentice in the superhero league, he learns to accept himself.  Companion idea: although text, this novel compares well with graphic novels

  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

    • Tributes from each territory must compete in violent, controlled games to win glory for their territory.  Can Katniss and Peeta become friends and allies and defy the rulers?  Companion idea: The tributes sent to Thebes in Ancient Greec and Survivor shows.

  • I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee  by Charles J. Shields

    • Abridged from the adult version, Shields give insight into Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird and friend to Truman Capote. 

  • Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

    • Marcus, a teen techo-wizard, is caught in a roundup of terrorists. Held and interrogated by his own government, he contrives to escape.  Companion idea: 1984 by George Orwell

  • Me, the Missing and the Dead  by Jenny Valentine

    • Lucas sees and abandoned funeral urn and asks to take it home.   His mission is to find out who Violet Parks was and how to get her remains where they belong.  He believe Violet herself can help him.

  • Mexican Whiteboy by  Matt de la Pena

    •   Danny Lopez is half Mexican and half White.  He feels he belongs nowhere because he is too white and he doesn’t speak Spanish.  He is a phenomenal baseball player, but throws poorly whenever a scout is watching.

  • My Mother the Cheerleader by  Robert Sharenow

    • Louise is pulled out of school because of the court-ordered integrate in 1960’s New Orleans.  She learns about her family and about tolerance. Companion: Black history, Ruby Bridges.

  • Nation by Terry Pratchett

    • A tsunami leaves Mau, the sole survivor on his native island, and Ermintrude, the sole survivor of a British shipwreck.  The teens have no common language,  but learn to work together and learn together as more survivors arrive on the island.

  • Paper Towns by John Green

    • Quentin who never gets in trouble, has worshiped his neighbor Margo, a free spirit, for years.  On graduation night she takes him on a wild night of pranks.  Then she disappears.  Quentin and his friends find clues and search for Margo  at the same time finding themselves.

  • Sight  by  Adrienne Maria Vrettos

    • What if you had a gift of sight that allowed you to envision a child murderer moving in on his victim?

  • Sunrise Over Fallujah by  Walter Dean Myers

    • Birdy is a young US Army soldier in Iraq.  Through his eyes the reader sees his expectations of heroism replaced with reality. Companion idea: The main character is the nephew of Ritchie, from Myers’ Fallen Angels.

  • Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin  

    • Account of the author’s work to build schools for everyone in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Taliban forbid girls to go to school.  Companion idea: Mortenson’s charities with the Central Asian Institute and Pennies for Peace.

  • Wintergirls by  Laurie Halse Anderson

    • Lia is anorexic and more.  Her best friend is found dead of bulimia after leaving thirty-three messages on Lia’s phone because Lia would not answer, sending Lia ever deeper into her troubled life.

  • World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

    • This novel is in the form of a series of interviews detailing the world wide fight again Zombies that are still among us.  Each of the connected interviews is realistic including the gory details.