Monte Vista High School Library

After First Death (Cormier)

Events of the hijacking of a bus of children by terrorists seeking the return of their homeland are described from the perspectives of a hostage, a terrorist, an Army general involved in the rescue operation, and his son, chosen as the go-between.

Angus, Thong, and Full-Frontal Snogging (Rennison)

Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

Arizona Kid (Koertge)

Sixteen-year-old Billy spends the summer with his gay uncle in Tucson and works at a racetrack, where he falls in love with an outspoken horse exerciser named Cara Mae.

Artemis Fowl (Colfer)

The main character, a boy named Artemis, is the greatest criminal mastermind that has ever lived. Now the Fowls have been criminals for centuries -- pirates, forgers, gunrunners, robbers, con men, etc. -- but Artemis is something special. He's as cool as a cucumber, with an authority well beyond his 12 years. He has a commanding persona that's as smooth as China silk and is merciless in achieving his goals.

The Bell Jar (Plath)

This extraordinary work chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, successful - but slowly going under, and maybe for the last time.

Blackwater (Bunting)

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.

Catherine, Called Birdy (Cushman)

The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

The Chocolate War (Cormier)

A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.

Divine Wind (Disher)

On the eve of World War II, Hart, an Australian boy and Mitsy, a Japanese-Australian girl, fall in love but are driven apart.

Downriver (Hobbs)

Fifteen-year-old Jessie and the other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival school team abandon their adult leader, hijack his boats, and try to run the dangerous white water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Dragonsinger (McCaffrey)

In this second breathtaking fantasy in Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall Trilogy, Mellony develops her studies to become a Harper as well as her relationship with the nine fire lizards.

Dragonsong (McCaffrey)

Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

Ender's Game (Card)

Once again, the Earth is under attack. Alien "buggers" are poised for a final assault. The survival of the human species depends on a military genius who can defeat the buggers. But who? Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic master. And a child. Recruited for military training by the world government, Ender's childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battleschool. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in real combat conditions? After all, Battleschool is just a game.

Freeze Tag (Cooney)

When Meghan and West first played Freeze Tag with Lannie, it was no ordinary game. Because when Lannie tagged someone, they really froze. Icy blue and cold. Like death. Now Meghan, West, and Lannie are in high school, and Meghan and West are in love. They're the perfect couple. But Lannie is determined to have West for her very own... and if she doesn't get her way, she'll freeze Meghan... to death.

Girls In Pants (Brashares)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants graduates from high school and spends their last summer before college learning about life and themselves.

The Giver (Lowry)

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Gypsy Davey (Lynch)

Twelve-year-old Davey is the man of the household, taking care of his mother and older sister as best he can and avoiding them when they're either too mean or too sad.

The Harry Potter Series (Rowling)

Orphaned as a baby, Harry Potter has spent 11 awful years living with his mean aunt, uncle, and cousin Dudley. But everything changes for Harry when an owl delivers a mysterious letter inviting him to attend a school for wizards.

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Adams)

The story of a British earthling plucked from his planet, and his subsequent adventures elsewhere in the universe.

Holes (Sachar)

Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something.

The House On Mango Street (Cisneros)

Esperanza Cordero, a girl coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses poems and stories to express thoughts and emotions about her oppressive environment.

How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (Alvarez)

It's a long way from Santo Domingo to the Bronx, but if anyone can go the distance, it's the Garcia girls. Four lively latinas plunged from a pampered life of privilege on an island compound into the big-city chaos of New York, they rebel against Mami and Papi's old-world discipline and embrace all that America has to offer.

I Am The Cheese (Cormier)

A young boy desperately tries to unlock his past yet knows he must hide those memories if he is to remain alive.

Jason's Gold (Hobbs)

When news of the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon Territory in 1897 reaches fifteen-year-old Jason, he embarks on a 10,000-mile journey to strike it rich.

Kissing Doorknobs (Hesser)

Fourteen-year-old Tara describes how her increasingly strange compulsions begin to take over her life and affect her relationships with her family and friends.

Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas (Rennison)

Georgia Nicolson -- she is one treble-marvelloso Brit! And she's back with more distinctly hilarious revelations.

Land Of Loss (Applegate)

For 1,000 years and more, Everworld has existed apart from the real world. But now Everworld is in trouble. The cozy universe created by Earth's ancient immortals has been invaded by the creatures of myths that are no part of human tradition. The gods are under attack, divided, and terrified. And in this moment of supreme danger, Loki, Norse god of evil, reaches across the barrier between Everworld and the real world to seize a new power: Senna Wales.

Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold (Brooks)

Landover was a genuine magic kingdom, with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement promised. But after he purchased it, Ben Holiday learned that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention.

Magic Steps (Pierce)

In this novel, book one of Pierce's "The Circle Opens" quartet, fourteen-year-old Lady Sandrilene Fa Toren is honing her skills as a weaver of magic. Sandry is the great-niece of the ailing Duke Vedris IV of Emalen, who is recovering from a heart attack. When Sandry discovers a young boy named Pasco, who possesses the unusual talent for dancing spells, she undertakes to teach the boy in the ways of magic. Meanwhile, members of a wealthy merchant family are turning up brutally murdered, their severed heads displayed in public places. Sandry figures out a way to find the murderers by using her own and Pasco's magical talents. Teacher and student work together to ensnare the criminals in a magical trap.

Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras (Hopkins)

Brit author Cathy Hopkins helps teen girls get a grip on life with this insightfully sassy novel starring three close-knit pals.

Mates, Dates, and Sole Survivors (Hopkins)

After a missed connection with Tony, Lucy takes the advice of her best pals and decides to instead focus on other boys and on herself. She and Izzie attend a spa/self-help retreat for the weekend, but Lucy is surprised when a run-in (literally) with a guy turns out to be more than she expected. Ah, Daniel seems so sweet at first: attentive to her, generous, into fashion...but then Lucy gets word that his past relationships have fizzled because of his overbearing behavior. Read that: He has a history of being a control freak -- but is that just history, or will it happen with Lucy, too? Never fear, for Lucy's good sense and her friends' sage advice put her on the path of being true to herself.

The Midwife's Apprentice (Cushman)

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.

Poppy and Rye (Avi)

When their home next to a brook is destroyed by beavers, a large family of golden mice is aided by Poppy the deer mouse and her grumpy porcupine friend, who in the process forges a relationship with the son he had abandoned.

Rules Of The Road (Bauer)

Sixteen-year-old Jenna gets a job driving the elderly owner of a chain of successful shoe stores from Chicago to Texas to confront the son who is trying to force her to retire, and along the way Jenna hones her talents as a saleswoman and finds the strength to face her alcoholic father.

Search For Senna (Applegate)

In the dark past, Zeus and Odin, Huitzilopoctli and Ra, and the other gods of myth decided to abandon the real world. They created another universe, where magic rules, where all the mystery and terror of these capricious immortals holds sway. It is a place where Vikings still sail in the name of Thor, where the Aztecs still make human sacrifices to Huitzilopoctli, and where Merlin still weaves his subtle webs.

The Second Summer Of The Sisterhood (Brashares)

The four girls who starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants -- Tibby, Bee, Lena, and Carmen -- find themselves wrapped up in a summer of unexpected surprises. After Bee finds out that five years' worth of Grandma's letters to her have been kept secret, she leaves for Alabama on a mission to connect with her past, which also means dealing with her mom's death. Meanwhile, Tibby's decided to attend a filmmaking workshop in Virginia (she's getting a perspective on Bailey's death), and Carmen's at home, screwing up her mom's dating life and then putting it back together. And as for Lena, well, she's busy getting over Kostos -- that is, until he shows up for a surprise visit. But despite whatever happens to this foursome, the Pants find their way into the hands of one of them at just the right time.

The Secret School (Avi)

In 1925, fourteen-year-old Ida Bidson secretly takes over as the teacher when the one-room schoolhouse in her remote Colorado area closes unexpectedly.

The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants (Brashares)

A funky pair of dungarees and a strong friendship lie at the heart of this compelling coming-of-age novel. During the first summer they'll be separated from each other, four friends share a pair of second-hand jeans...and experience happiness, heartbreak, and all the complications of growing up.

Slam (Myers)

Sixteen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

Stormbreaker (Horowitz)

After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Street Magic (Pierce)

When Briar Moss spots a street kid using magic in the marketplace, he knows he must find her a teacher. Before he can do so, Briar and the young mage are swept up in gang warfare that puts them both in grave danger. Now Briar must decide if he's ready to step in as young Evvy's mentor ­ and if he's ready to put his own gang life behind him for good.

Tangerine (Bloor)

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

True Confessions Of A Heartless Girl (Brooks)

A confused seventeen-year-old girl, a single mother and her young son, two elderly women, and a sad and lonely man, with their own individual tragedies to bear, come together in a small Manitoba town and find a way to a better future.

Weetzie Bat (Block)

Weetzie Bat is an ultramodern L.A. teenager, experiencing life and love as fully as possible. Although the array of characters is offbeat, even eccentric, a look beneath their brashness reveals quirky, yet real, people. Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan’s nonchalant, breezy comfort with Weetzie’s slang lanky-lizards, Lanka girls, ducks, makes Block’s short novel highly entertaining. Bresnahan’s melodious and versatile alto performs without a trace of reading. Her clear distinctions between cool Weetzie, the Lanka witch, beautiful Dirk and the three-wish-granting genie make this selection an excellent match of narrator and material.