Criminal Elements:
Dealing With Crime and its Consequences
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The Afterlife A senior at East Fresno High School lives on as a ghost after his brutal murder in the restroom of a club where he had gone to dance. subjects: Mexican Americans, Murder, California, High School Students |
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Bad In an attempt to please her friends, sixteen-year-old Dallas goes along with their plan to rob a convenience store and when her father refuses to allow her to come home, she is sentenced to six months in the Girls' Rehabilitation Center. subjects: Juvenile Delinquency |
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Black and White Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2006, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2006 subjects: African Americans, Race Relations, Basketball, Juvenile Delinquency, High Schools |
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Boy Kills Man Two thirteen-year-old boys, blood brothers and best friends, get drawn into a dangerous, violent world on the streets of a troubled Columbian city. awards: ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2006 subjects: Organized Crime, Assassins, Best Friends, Friendship, Medellin (Colombia) |
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Inexcusable High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong. awards: Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice 2005, SLJ Best Books for Children 2005, ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2006, Booklist Editor's Choice 2005 subjects: Rape, High Schools, Family Life, Alcohol, Football |
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Inside Out A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2004 subjects: Schizophrenia, Mental Illness, Juvenile Delinquency, Suicide, Hostages |
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Kissing the Rain Fifteen-year-old Moo Nelson, shy, overweight, and bullied by his classmates, finds his life spinning out of control after he witnesses a car chase and a fight that results in a murder. subjects: Emotional Problems, Overweight Persons, Bullying, Criminals, Police, Trials (Murder), England |
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The Long Night of Leo and Bree On the anniversary of his sister's murder, Leo, tormented by his mother's insane accusations and his own waking nightmares, kidnaps a wealthy girl intending to kill her, but instead their long night together helps them both face their futures. subjects: Family Problems, Murder, Victims of Crimes, Emotional Problems |
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Making up Megaboy When thirteen-year-old Robbie shoots an old man in a liquor store, everyone who knows the quiet, withdrawn youth struggles to understand this act of seemingly random violence. subjects: Emotional Problems, Murder, Violence |
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On the Head of a Pin While drinking alcohol and playing with a loaded gun at a party, a teenage boy accidentally shoots and kills another student and then tries to conceal her death. subjects: Violence |
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Paranoid Park A sixteen-year-old Portland, Oregon skateboarder, whose parents are going through a difficult divorce, is engulfed by guilt and confusion when he accidentally kills a security guard at a train yard. awards: ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2007 subjects: Guilt, Skateboarding, Murder, Conduct of Life, High Schools |
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Party Girl The death of her best friend Ana in a drive-by shooting causes fifteen-year-old Kata to question her position in the Los Angeles gang life. subjects: Gangs, Murder, Hispanic Americans, Los Angeles (Calif.) |
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Rx Thyme Gilchrest is an honors student. Thyme Gilchrest is popular. Thyme Gilchrest is on student council. Thyme Gilchrest is a drug dealer. Like piecing together a logic puzzle, Thyme has organized a complex trading system that enables her to obtain the meds her friends need. They all come to her to diagnose their problems and provide the "cure" -- be it Prozac, Ritalin, Vicodin...She's therapist, doctor, and pharmacist all in one. She helps people. And that makes her feel a little more in control -- a little more capable of dealing with her own frantic high school life. Because Thyme Gilchrest is nothing if not good at dealing. subjects: Medication Abuse, Drug Dealers, High School Students |
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Scorpions After reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang, the Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he acquires a gun--until a tragedy occurs. subjects: Gangs, African Americans, Harlem (New York, NY) |
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Shattering Glass When Rob, the charismatic leader of the senior class, turns the school nerd into Prince Charming, his actions lead to unexpected violence. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2003, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2003, ALA Popular Paperbacks 2005, Texas Tayshas Reading List 2004, Georgia Peach Award Nominees 2006 subjects: Popularity, High Schools, Violence |
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Shooting Monarchs Macy and Danny, two teenage boys who have both grown up under difficult circumstances, turn out very differently--one becomes a hero, the other a murderer. subjects: Mentally Ill, People with Disabilities, Criminals |
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Smack After running away from their troubled homes, two English teenagers move in with a group of squatters in the port city of Bristol and try to find ways to support their growing addiction to heroin. subjects: Runaways, Heroin, Drug Abuse, England |
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Sold Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi, though poor, enjoys her life until the Himalayan monsoons wash away her family's crops and she is sold to a brothel in India by her stepfather. She remembers her mother's wisdom, “Simply to endure is to triumph,” until the day comes that she can reclaim her life. awards: Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Books: 2006, Bulletin Blue Ribbons: 2006, Booklist Editor's Choice: 2006, ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2007, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2007, Kentucky: Bluegrass Award Nominees: 2008 subjects: Teenage Girls, Family Problems, Friendship, Child Prostitution-India, India |
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Stealing Heaven Danielle and her mother have spent years traveling from town to town, making their living by selling items stolen from upscale homes. Dani must evaluate her past life and what she will do in the future when she begins to make friends in a new town. subjects: Theft, Friendship, Mothers and Daughters |
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No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row A collection of essays in which inmates at American prisons who were sentenced to death while still in their teens share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up in prison and how they feel about capital punishment. subjects: United States Capital Punishment, Administration of Juvenile Justice, Death Row Inmates, Juvenile Delinquents |
List updated May 2009— Patti Cook
