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At-risk teenagers congregate at a safe house, and we gradually learn what brought each of them there—an unplanned pregnancy, harassment about sexual orientation, and an unloving foster parent. A complicated poetic format (sestinas) doesn’t make for a complicated read — the plot is equal to the poetry.

Mexican-American poet Herrera wrote one of the first novels in verse for the teen audience. Sixteen-year old Cesar is the son of migrant workers, and he shares his coming-of-age experiences.

Hopkins has become the leading author of novels in verse, mainly due to her gritty, unflinching subject matter. Crank, her first novel, deals with Kristina/Bree and her addiction to crystal meth.

Damien, the star of the basketball team is headed to college. Junice is trying to hold her family together after tragedy. When these two meet, there is nothing but love, even if Damien’s parents are less than thrilled with his choice. As the drama unfolds, each character tells his/her story through verse, leaving the reader to wonder if Damien and Junice be able to rise above the adversity that surrounds them.

When Ruby’s mother dies, she must move to California to live with her movie-star father, whom she doesn’t really know. Though, she’s determined to hate her rich famous father and she misses her old life in Boston, she comes to accept her new life.

Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva are three very different girls who all meet the same bad boy with an irresistible knack for getting into their blood and under their skin. Will the choices they make and the paths they take lead them where they want to go?

Studious LaVaughn, 14, decides to earn extra money by babysitting for a child whose mother, Jolly, is only a bit older than LaVaughn herself. LaVaughn gradually comes to respect Jolly and eventually the two become friends.

Three female cousins share a summer home with their family in Maine and each has a summer romance. This beach read may bring a tear to the eye, and will definitely bring some sequels.

This book is part of a series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family. In this book The Penderwick sisters busily discover the summertime magic of Arundel estate’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. Best of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, the perfect companion for their adventures. Icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is less pleased with the Penderwicks than Jeffrey, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Is that any fun? For sure the summer will be unforgettable. 

The first of a four-volume series, the story tells of four friends who share a pair of “magical” jeans over the course of a summer. When the girls go to visit distant relatives, work a summer job, or attend a summer soccer camp, the jeans are there to play witness. Each of the books in the series spans a single summer, but a new reader really does need to start with the original volume.

Fourth-grader Kenny goes with his older brother Byron and his parents on a road trip from Flint, Michigan to the South, where Byron will be spending the summer with his grandparents, away from the temptations of city life. Curtis mixes humor with the volatility of the South in the summer of 1963.

The first of the Au-Pairs series sets the stage for a hot summer in the Hamptons. Eliza, who used to be rich but now has to be a nanny; Mara, a “regular” girl who just wants to work hard, and lovelorn, Brazilian Jacqui all work together as au-pairs for a wealthy family, but try to have some fun in the Hamptons at the same time.

All Irene wants to do is hair, but when she is fired by her mother during her summer job at a salon, her life becomes less glamorous… for a minute. While babysitting the neighborhood kids, she becomes “friends” with Starla, the mysterious lifeguard, and is drawn into an intriguing love triangle. No one does “mean girls” like Adele Griffin!

This is the true, inspirational story of a teenage girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark. While this could understandably ruin her life, her attitude and her faith bring this young girl through the tragedy.

One of the four novellas in this King classic is The Body, which became the basis for the movie Stand by Me. Four young guys find out about a body on the train tracks and decide to go see it. Often cited as one of King’s finest works, this story has that “things will never be the same after this summer” feel to it.

Chad is a Jersey Shore native who decides that becoming a boardwalk dunk-tank bozo is the best way to release his stresses. Hilarity ensues, along with some poignant moments about the real man behind the bozo.

This book uses beautiful photographs to tell the history of this warm weather sport. While the pictures are beautiful, the writing is also strong.

D.J. spends the summer helping her father with their farm work, while also getting coerced into training the rival football team’s quarterback. D.J. is one of the best athletes in their small Wisconsin town, but her relationships — with her family, her best friend, and quarterback Brian — are making her life so complicated.

Set in the time of the Crusades, this is a horse story, a war story, and a love story, all in one tale of historical fiction. This book is the first in a trilogy, but completely satisfying on its own.

In this society your brain cyberfeed provides an endless stream of information, entertainment and advertising. When Violet’s feed is disrupted, she’s cast adrift and everyone is forced to examine the power of the feed in his/her life.

A wonderful he-said, she-said story of how young teens go from hate to love (or dislike to like). Through the audiobook, listeners really experience the teens’ dialogue.

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? This is Book 1 in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.

Daisy is a spoiled American teen with plans to spend the summer in England with her aunt and cousins at their farmhouse. While her aunt is away, an unnamed country invades England, and soldiers take over the farmhouse. Lacking adult guidance, Daisy must stop thinking of herself and take responsibility for her young cousins. This novel won both the Printz Award (U.S.) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award (U.K.).

When a petty thief falls through a glass roof while fleeing from the police, it should have been the death of him. Instead, it marks the beginning of a whole new life. Soon he has become the most successful — and elusive — burglar in Victorian London, plotting daring raids and using London’s new sewer system to escape. He adopts a dual existence to fit his new lifestyle, taking on the roles of a respectable, wealthy gentleman named Montmorency and his corrupt servant, Scarper.