Will You Survive High School?

School has been in session for a couple of weeks now.  We've met out teachers.  We've figured out our schedules and classes.  We're settling into the school routine.  So I thought I would share some books for teens about high school.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

Vampire High by Douglas Rees
When his family moves from California to New Sodom, Massachusetts and Cody enters Vlad Dracul Magnet School, many things seem strange, from the dark-haired, pale-skinned, supernaturally strong students to Charon, the wolf who guides him around campus on the first day.

The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky
Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, follows the chilling stories of eleven school girls who struggle to identify a mysterious poet in the aftermath of a teacher's innocence-shattering disappearance.

Story Time by Edward Bloor
George and Kate are promised the best education but instead face obsessed administrators, endless tests, and evil spirits when they are transferred to Whittaker Magnet School.

Legacies: A Shadow Grail Novel by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
After her family is killed, Spirit White is taken to Oakhurst Academy, a combination orphanage and school for those with magical powers, where she and her new friends investigate when students start mysteriously disappearing.

Quarantine by Lex Thomas
When a virus deadly to adults infects their high school, brothers David and Will and the other students soon break into gangs that fight each other for survival and the hope of escaping their quarantine.


More Teen Books About High School --
The Brimstone Journal by Ron Koertge
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Evernight by Claudia Gray
Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudson
A Field Guide to High School: A Novel by Marissa Walsh
Freshman: A Novel by Michael Gerber
Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix
How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller
New Boy by Julian Houston
Nothing: A Novel by Janne Teller
Period 8 by Chris Crutcher
Rikers High by Paul Volponi
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie: A Novel by David Lubar
The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems by Mel Glenn
Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
Variant by Robison Wells


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through September 18, 2015.

Guys Read

Want some great book recommendations for the teen guys in your life?  Try one of these . . . .

Never Fall Down: A Novel by Patricia McCormick
Cambodian child soldier Arn Chorn-Pond defied the odds and used all of his courage and wits to survive the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

The Monstrumologist by Richard Yancey
In 1888, twelve-year-old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a scientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi.

Tangerine by Edward 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.

Happyface by Stephen Emond
After going through traumatic times, a troubled, socially awkward teenager moves to a new school where he tries to reinvent himself.

More Great Teen Books for Guys --
The Afterlife by Gary Soto
Mexican White Boy by Matt de la Pena
Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman

Reality Is Sometimes Scarier Than Horror

I've stated before that to me the scariest books are the ones that take place in everyday life.  Stories of kidnappings, murders, and abuse.  Here are some scary realistic books for teens . . .

The Boy From the Basement by Susan Shaw
A twelve-year-old boy is confined to his basement without food or clothing.

The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer
In Mallory, New York, as five sisters, aged eleven to seventeen, deal with assorted problems, conflicts, fears, and yearnings, a mysterious middle-aged man watches them, fascinated, deciding which one he likes the best.

After by Amy Efaw
In complete denial that she is pregnant, straight-A student and star athlete Devon Davenport leaves her baby in the trash to die, and after the baby is discovered, Devon is accused of attempted murder.
 Tangerine by Edward 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.

Pictures in the Dark by Patricia McCord
Life with their mentally ill mother becomes unbearable for twelve-year-old Sarah and fifteen-year-old Carlie as they are deprived of food and forbidden to use the bathroom.