Books for Teens

Your Former Friend, Matthew By:  LouAnn Gaeddert  

        Matthew and Gail are best friends.  They do everything together.  Then they both go away for the summer.  Matt changes so much.  Gail needs her best friend back.  What happens? Find out!!  

For a review, click here

The Friends By: Kazumi Yumoto  

Outsiders at home and at school, Kiyama and his two weird sixth-grade friends decide to spy on an old man in their small Japanese town. They want to see what happens when he dies. For them, death is a fearful unknown. At first, the old man is angry, but he draws them into his house. Together they make his house neater, plant a garden, clean up his yard, and every day after school, meet there. They befriend the old, grumpy man. When he dies, there's no horror--only loving memories that give them strength to move on.  

Best Friends Think Alike By: Lynn Reiser   

Ruby and Beryl plan a trip to the park, agreeing on playing horse but each plans on being the horse.  They both have different points of view; Beryl wants blue, Ruby wants red, and when the two girls agree, they mix the colors and the color, of course, is purple.

While the two girls are arguing they are pictured as red and blue horses but at the end, when they have agreed to be both horses and riders, they are shown as girls and horses both.  Lynn Reiser's Crayola marker illustrations are cheerful and happy. What Happens???? Read and find out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Care And Keeping of Friends, Edited and illustrated Nadine Bernard Westcott   

A recent book added to the American Girl library.  Get advice on how to be a good friend, keep a good friend and how to keep a friend.  

  Danger Along the Ohio By: Patricia Willis   

            Historical fiction about 3 brave children who rescue and befriend an Indian boy while surviving on their own in the woods along the Ohio River.  When Shawnee Indians raid the grounds where 13-year-old Amos, his younger sister and brother escape, they don’t know what to do.  They don’t know whether their father has survived. They have to land on the Shawnee side of the river after an arrow sets the boat on fire, they head for Ohio, where they hope to find their father. On the way, they save a hurt Shawnee boy and are caught by warriors from his tribe. They finally learn that they have less to fear from the Indians than they thought, and Amos finds the courage to start a friendship.

Freak the Mighty By: Rodman Philbrick 

Whether he's called Mad Max, or any other exiting names, Maxwell Kane has never been free of his father's reputation. If that's not bad enough, he's also inherited his father's looks.  Max is a big 8^th grader, which makes him feel worse--huge as well as dumb. Then things begin to change for Max, when Kevin, born with a birth defect that's stunted his growth, moves in down the street. They become great friends. Kevin is clever, brave, and a good teacher for Max, who gains from the friendship an identity apart from his father for the very first time. The boys unite to become "Freak the Mighty" and venture out on adventures around the neighborhood. It's on one of these adventures where they meet Iggy and Loretta, who knows Max's father. What happens next is a shock: the story about friendship then turns horrifying when Killer Kane comes back and kidnaps his son.  What happens next???????  Find out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thunder Cave By: Roland Smith   

After his mother is killed in a jogging accident and his stepfather decides to ship him off to live with relatives in Nebraska, fourteen-year-old Jacob Lansa goes to Kenya in search of his father, a wildlife biologist tracking elephant herds. While crossing the Kenyan bush, Jacob meets Supeet, a young Masai on a quest to end the drought. On their trek they encounter a dangerous ring of poachers, whose greed threatens Africa's wildlife with extinction.