Updated 3/13

RealisticFiction

The Real Deal:

Fictional stories about teens just like — or completely unlike — you.

The Latte Rebellion

by Sarah Stevenson

When high school senior Asha Jamison is

called a “towel head” at a pool party, she and

her best friend Carey start a club to raise

awareness of mixed-race students that soon sweeps the

country. But the hubbub puts her Ivy League dreams,

friendship, and beliefs to the test.

Destroy All Cars

by Blake Nelson

Through assignments for English class, 17-year

-old James Hoff rants against consumerism and

his classmates’ apathy, puzzles over his feel-

ings for his ex-girlfriend, and expresses disdain for his

emotionally-distant parents.

Ask the Passengers

by A. S. King

Astrid copes with her small town’s gossip and

narrow-mindedness by staring at the sky and

imagining that she’s sending love to the pas-

sengers in the airplanes flying high over her backyard.

Maybe they need it — her mother doesn’t want it, her fa-

ther’s always stoned, her perfect sister’s too busy trying to

fit in, and the people in her town would never allow her to

love the person she really wants to: another girl.

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have

by Allen Zadoff

Fifteen year old Andrew Zansky, second fattest

student in his high school, joins the varsity

football team to get the attention of a new girl

on whom he has a crush.

Even more books to check out

Personal Effects

by E. M. Kokie

Matt has been sleepwalking through life while

seeking answers about his brother T.J.’s death in

Iraq. But after discovering that he may not have

known his brother as well as he thought he did, Matt is able

to stand up to his father, honor T.J.’s memory, and take

charge of his own life.

Me & Earl & The Dying Girl

by Jesse Andrews

Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become

part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high

school without having any friends. But his life changes when

his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew

in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

The Reece Malcolm List

by Amy Spalding

When her father dies suddenly, Devan is shipped

off to Los Angeles to live with her estranged

mother, Reece Malcolm, a bestselling novelist

with little time for a daughter, and Devan navigates her way

through her new performing arts school.

How to Save a Life

by Sara Zarr

Told from their own viewpoints, 17-year-old Jill,

in grief over the loss of her father, and Mandy,

nearly 19, are thrown together when Jill’s mother

agrees to adopt Mandy’s unborn child but nothing turns out

as they had anticipated.

Something Like Normal

By Trish Doller

When Travis returns home from Afghanistan,

his parents are splitting up, his brother has sto-

len his girlfriend and car, and he has night-

mares of his best friend getting killed but when he runs into

Harper, a girl who has despised him since middle school,

life actually starts looking up.

Some Girls Are

by Courtney Summers

Regina, a high school senior in the popular--

and feared--crowd, suddenly falls out of favor

and becomes the object of the same sort of

vicious bullying that she used to inflict on others, until she

finds solace with one of her former victims.

The Opposite of Hallelujah

by Anna Jarzab

For eight of her sixteen years, Carolina

Mitchell’s older sister Hannah has been a nun

in a convent, almost completely out of touch

with the family. So when she suddenly abandons her voca-

tion and comes home, nobody knows quite how to handle

the situation or guesses what explosive secrets she is hid-

ing.

All books are found under the author’s last name A Certain October

by Angela Johnson

Scotty compares herself to tofu: no flavor unless

you add something. And it’s true that Scotty’s

friends Misha and Falcone, as well as her

brother Keone, make life delicious. But when a terrible

accident occurs, Scotty feels responsible for the loss of

someone she hardly knew, and the world goes wrong.

The Spectacular Now

by Tim Tharp

In the last months of high school, charismatic

18-year-old Sutter Keely lives in the present,

staying drunk most of the time. That could

change when he starts working to boost the self-confidence

of a classmate, Aimee.

Trapped

by Michael Northrop

Seven high school students are stranded at

their New England high school during a week-

long blizzard that shuts down the power and

heat, freezes the pipes, and leaves them wondering if they

will survive.

The List

by Siobhan Vivian

Every year at Mount Washington High School

somebody posts a list of the prettiest and ugli-

est girls from each grade — this is the story of

eight girls, freshmen to senior, and how they are affected

by the list.