Short and Sweet
teen books under 150 pages
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Psyche in a Dress A young woman, Psyche, searches for her lost love and questions her true self in a modern retelling of Greek myths. (116 p.) subjects: Bullies, Schools |
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Blackwater When a boy and girl are drowned in the Blackwater River, thirteen-year-old Brodie must decide whether to confess that he may have caused the accident. (146 p.) subjects: Drowning, Death, Guilt |
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Heroes After joining the army at fifteen and having his face blown away by a grenade in a battle in France, Francis returns home to Frenchtown hoping to find--and kill--the former childhood hero he feels betrayed him. (135 p.) subjects: World War, 1939-1945--Veterans, Revenge, Orphans |
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The Midwife's Apprentice In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world. (122 p.) award: John Newbery Medal-1996 subjects: Middle Ages, Midwives |
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Iqbal A fictionalized account of the Pakistani child who escaped from bondage in a carpet factory and went on to help liberate other children like him before being gunned down at the age of thirteen. (120 p.) awards: ALA Notable Children's Books-2004, Texas: Lone Star Reading List-2005 subjects: Child labor, child abuse, Rug and carpet industry-Pakistan |
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Passion and poison : tales of shape-shifters, ghosts, and spirited women Contains eight short stories about female ghosts. (64 p.) subjects: ghost stories, supernatural, short stories |
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Drive-By Twelve-year-old Tito, while helping to care for his little sister, struggles to find his way during the aftermath of his brother's death in a gang-related shooting. (85 p.) award: ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers-1997 subjects: Gangs, death, brothers and sisters |
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Dead Girls Don't Write Letters Fourteen-year-old Sunny is stunned when a total stranger shows up at her house posing as her older sister Jazz, who supposedly died out of town in a fire months earlier. (126 p.) awards: Texas: Tayshas Reading List-2005, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers-2004, subjects: Sisters, death, mystery and detective stories |
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Sticks and Stones After developing an unearned reputation as a slut, Jujube finds a novel way to take on her tormentors and help a group of girls win back their self-esteem. (86 p.) awards: ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2003 subjects: Dating, gossip, high schools, self-esteem |
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Bluish Dreenie feels both intrigued and frightened when she thinks about the girl nicknamed Bluish, whose leukemia is making her pale and causing her to use a wheelchair. (127 p.) subjects: Leukemia, Wheelchairs, Physically Handicapped, Schools, New York (N.Y.), African Americans |
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Invisible Doug and Andy are unlikely best friends--one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater--who grew up together and share a bond that nothing can sever. (149 p.) subjects: Best friends, Railroads-models, Mental illness, Schools |
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Green Angel Haunted by grief and by her past after losing her family in a fire, fifteen-year-old Green retreats into her ruined garden as she struggles to survive emotionally and physically on her own. (116 p.) subjects: Gardening, Grief |
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La Línea When fifteen-year-old Miguel's time finally comes to leave his poor Mexican village, cross the border illegally, and join his parents in California, his younger sister's determination to join him soon imperils them both. (131 p.) awards: Texas: Lone Star Reading List-2008, ALA Best Books for Young Adults-2007 subjects: Brothers and sisters, Emigration and immigration, Survival, Mexicans, Mexico |
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Sweet, Hereafter Sweet leaves her family and goes to live in a cabin in the woods with the quiet but understanding Curtis, to whom she feels intensely connected, just as he is called back to serve again in Iraq. (118 p.) Final installment of the Heaven Trilogy (Heaven, The First Part Last) subjects: identity, interpersonal relations, Iraq War-2003, African Americans |
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The Shakespeare Bats Cleanup When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss. (116 p.) award: Texas: Lone Star Reading List : 2005 subjects: Poetry, Baseball, Authorship, Diaries |
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Freewill A teenager trying to recover from the tragic death of his father and stepmother believes himself to be responsible for the rash of teen suicides occurring in his town. (148 p.) awards: Michael L. Printz Honor Book-2002, ALA Best Books for Young Adults-2002 subjects: Emotional problems, death, grandparents |
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Twists and Turns With the help of a couple of successful friends, eighteen- and nineteen-year-old Teesha and Keeba try to capitalize on their talents by opening a hair salon in the run-down Brooklyn housing project where they live. (135 p.) awards: ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers-2004 subjects: African Americans, Public Housing, Entrepreneurship, Sisters |
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Notes from the Dog When Johanna shows up at the beginning of summer to house-sit next door to Finn, he has no idea of the profound effect she will have on his life by the time summer vacation is over. (133 p.) subjects: cancer, neighbors, self-confidence, gardening |
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A Day No Pigs Would Die To a thirteen-year-old Vermont farm boy whose father slaughters pigs for a living, maturity comes early as he learns “doing what's got to be done,” especially regarding his pet pig who cannot produce a litter. (150 p.) awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults-1973 subjects: Farm life, fathers and sons, pigs |
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Rewind Not long after learning that he was adopted, Peter is hit by a car and then given several chances to alter events that could lead to his death. (120 p.) subjects: Near-death Experiences, Adoption, Self-perception |
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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. (117 p.) 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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Like a Thorn Throughout her childhood, Melie believes her mother is two people--Rosy Mother and Dark Mother--and she performs more and more rituals to keep Dark Mother away as she reaches adolescence, when she begins to realize that her mother is mentally ill and that Melie may be, as well. (119 p.) subjects: mental illness, mothers and daughters, obsessive-compulsive disorder |
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One Good Punch Eighteen-year-old Michael Kerrigan, writer of obituaries for the Scranton Observer and captain of the track team, is ready for the most important season of his life--until the police find four joints in his school locker, and he is faced with a choice that could change everything. (114 p.) award: ALA Best Books for Young Adults- 2008 subjects: Conduct of life, Integrity, Track and field, Journalism, High schools |
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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. (62 p.) award: ALA Best Books for Young Adults, ALA Children's Notable Lists subjects: Emotional Problems, Murder, Violence |
List updated February 2010—Joanna Nigrelli
