Seattle Picks: Teen - 20 Great Teen Novels of the 20th CenturyLike this list

20 items

1. 1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

   Angelou, Maya

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   An African American writer's painful youth.

2. 2. Go Ask Alice

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   The chronicles of a 15-year-old drug user, struggling to get clean.

3. 3. Weetzie Bat

   Block, Francesca Lia

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   The wild adventures of Weetzie and her cool L.A. friends - Dirk, Duck and My-Secret-Agent-Lover-Man.

4. 4. Forever...

   Blume, Judy

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   Two high school seniors believe their love to be so strong that it will last forever.

5. 5. Ender's Game

   Card, Orson Scott

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   Ender wages battle against a deadly alien race.

6. 6. The Chocolate War

   Cormier, Robert

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   Refusing to sell boxes of school chocolates can be very dangerous.

7. 7. The Diary of a Young Girl

   the Definitive Edition

   Frank, Anne, 1929-1945

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   Anne's innermost feelings, written in her secret hiding place.

8. 8. Lord of the Flies

   Golding, William, 1911-1993

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   A group of schoolboys, stranded on a deserted island without grownups, are forced to fend for themselves and create a society of their own.

9. 9. The Outsiders

   Hinton, S. E.

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   Without parents and in the face of constant threats from a violent gang, three brothers struggle to stay together and stay alive.

10. 10. A Separate Peace

    Knowles, John, 1926-2001

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    In a New England boys high school at the beginning of World War II, a pair of close friends face a life-altering experience.

11. 11. To Kill a Mockingbird

    Lee, Harper

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    A sleepy Southern town is awakened by tragedy and changed forever.

12. 12. A Wrinkle in Time

    L'Engle, Madeleine

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    After an atomic physicist disappears, his children and their friend go on an interplanetary search through time and space to find him.

13. 13. The Giver

    Lowry, Lois

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    Entrusted with his society's memories, Jonas discovers some terrible secrets.

14. 14. Hatchet

    Paulsen, Gary

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    When his plane crashes in the wilderness, 13-year-old Brian must survive on his own, with only a hatchet to aid him.

15. 15. The Chosen

    Potok, Chaim

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    An unlikely friendship develops between Reuven, a secular Jew, and Danny, a Hasidic Jew.

16. 16. The Golden Compass

    Pullman, Philip, 1946-

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    Lyra sets out to the Far North to prevent kidnapped children from becoming the subjects of horrible experiments.

17. 17. The Catcher in the Rye

    Salinger, J. D. (Jerome David), 1919-2010

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    Holden Caulfield goes underground in New York City, searching for truth.

18. 18. Maus

    a Survivor's Tale

    Spiegelman, Art

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    The son of a Holocaust survivor tells his father's story in comic book form.

19. 19. The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again

    Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973

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    Bilbo Baggins, a happy and comfortable Hobbit, is drawn into a fantastic adventure by Gandalf the Wizard.

20. 20. The Color Purple

    Walker, Alice, 1944-

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    In letters to God, Celie, an African American woman who has suffered abuse and despair, talks about her past sorrows and her positive outlook for the future.