Books for the Teen Age 2001
Blizzard!
Jim Murphy | Scholastic, ©2000 | 974.71-M
It was one of the warmest winters on record. On Saturday, March 10 the sky was clear with just a few clouds. The nation was not prepared on March 12, 1888 for what would become know as The Great Blizzard. New York City took a big hit, as did the entire Northeast seaboard from Virginia to Maine.
Bodega Dreams
Ernesto Quiñonez | Vintage, ©2000 | FIC Q
Chino and Blanca, a young couple in Spanish Harlem, work hard to complete their college education so they can share a better life together. Through friends from the Barrio, Chino meets Willie Bodega, a man with a very big dream - for Spanish Harlem - and he wants Chino to help him make it come true. Believing in the dream, Chino soon finds himself caught between Willie Bodega and his family, a nightmare situation.
Diamond Dogs
Alan Watt | Little, Brown, ©2000 | FIC W
Everyone in his little town in Nevada knows that Neil will get a college football scholarship and be a famous player someday. One Friday night the players have a party where Neil drinks too much then hits and kills a boy while driving home in the dark. His decisions and his father's cause Neil's life to spin out of control.
Dreamland
Sarah Dessen | Viking, ©2000 | FIC D
A hot, wild looking boy snaps 16-year-old Caitlin out of the fog left behind when her perfect older sister runs away. He introduces Caitlin to sex, drugs and physical abuse and she seems unable to escape. As her exciting life turns into a nightmare, Caitlin struggles to find her identity and self-respect.
Fever 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson | Simon & Schuster, ©2000 | FIC A
The hot, dusty summer seemed endless to Mattie as she worked at the crowded inn run by her mother and grandfather. Soon, however, Mattie would wish for the safety of those days before Malaria struck threatening to make a ghost town of Philadelphia, killing thousands and separating Mattie from her family.
Forgotten Fire
Adam Bagdasarian | DK Ink/Melanie Kroupa, ©2000 | FIC B
Vahan's father and uncle have disappeared. The soldiers have murdered his two brothers in cold blood in the backyard garden. The year is 1915 in the country of Armenia and Christian Armenians are at risk. Vahan's mother urges her two remaining sons to run for their very lives.
How All This Started
Peter Fromm | Picador USA, ©2000 | FIC F
Austin and his much admired older sister, Abilene, practice pitching to the point of exhaustion on an abandoned Texas airstrip. His fast ball is impressive, but his sister orders him to stay away from his high school team because she has other plans for him. He is unwilling to admit that his wonderful sister's moods are increasingly destructive despite his family's efforts to explain that Abilene is manic depressive.
Jefferson's Children
Shannon Lanier and Jane Feldman | Random House, ©2000 | 973.4609-L
Controversy has always surrounded the lives of President Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, a woman enslaved on the Jefferson family estate. Was Thomas Jefferson the father of Sally Hemings' children? A young descendant of Sally travels across the nation to interview black and white members of his extended American family.
The Last Dive
Bernie Chowdhury | HarperCollins, ©2000 | 363.14-C
Adventure crosses the line into danger as a father and son become obsessed with learning the secrets of a World War II U-boat under the waters of New York Harbour. Only 18 years apart in age, their constant bickering is the background for the thrilling world of deep sea diving and the constant threat of death that lurks there.
Learning To Swim
Ann Turner | Scholastic, ©2000 | 811 Turner
During what should be a perfect family vacation, Annie is taken upstairs by Kevin, an older boy from down the street, with "hands that grab", under the pretext of reading to her. Her life is forever changed. This memoir in verse sheds light on the dark reality of childhood sexual abuse.
Meely Labauve: A Novel
Ken Wells | Random House, ©2000 | FIC W
Fifteen-year-old Meely lives pretty much alone while his father is off hunting in the Louisiana bayou. When Meely does attend school, Junior Guidry, a bully, makes his life miserable. Meely, his friends, and his father triumph over the local villains in a most satisfying way.
Rebel
Cheryl Aylward Whitesel | HarperCollins, ©2000 | FIC W
In turn-of-the-century Tibet, foreigners were to be avoided for they would bring about the country's downfall. Thunder, always the rebellious one in his family, is saved by a foreigner, and tries to hide this from his family. They become so angry when they discover what he has done that they send him to a monastery to become a monk. Even there, he meets more trouble.
A dozen from 2000: These titles have been selected from Books for the TeenAge 2001, prepared every year by The New York Public Library, Office of Young Adult Services.