2006 ALA Best Books for Young Adults (Fiction Part 1)
Discover the top fiction picks from the 2006 ALA Best Books for Young Adults list (Part 1). Explore award-winning titles perfect for teens and young adult readers.
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The Diary of Pelly D
by L. J. Adlington
Toni V is a teenager working for the City Five demolition crew. While drilling through concrete he unearths a battered water can containing a parcel …
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Spacer and Rat
by Margaret Bechard
Jack's predictable existence on Freedom space station is transformed when Kit, the Earthie rat, enters his life and enlists him and a sensitive robot in …
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Valiant
by Holly Black
When seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, …
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Code Talker
by Joseph Bruchac
Throughout World War II, in the conflict fought against Japan, Navajo code talkers were a crucial part of the U.S. effort, sending messages back and …
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Upstate
by Kalisha Buckhanon
A powerful coming-of-age novel, in the vein of "The Color Purple," is filled with tragedy, struggle, love, and triumph.
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Boy Proof
by Cecil Castellucci
What happens when an aloof and antisocial cinephile meets a new boy savvy enough to see through her cool, impenetrable disguise? Castellucci's smart and vulnerable …
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Love Sick
by Jake Coburn
After an accident seems to end his college and athletic dreams, Ted is offered a second chance at school if he agrees to spy on …
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Red Kayak
by Priscilla Cummings
Brady loves life on the Chesapeake Bay with his friends J.T. and Digger. But developers and rich families are moving into the area, and while …
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The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch
by Joseph Delaney
Capturing witches Binding boggarts Driving away ghosts For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now …
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Every Man for Himself
by Nancy E. Mercado
An anthology of ten original short stories about such things as family problems, sexuality, and courage, written by well-known authors of children's books.
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Bang!
by Sharon Flake
Mann is only thirteen, yet he has already had to deal with more than most go through in a lifetime. His family is still reeling …
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Zap
by Paul Fleischman
A comic drama which combines famous scenes from well-known plays to create something to keep the audience guessing to the very end.
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Wrecked
by E. R. Frank
Anna wasn't drunk--but she had been drinking--and now she feels guilty for an accident that leaves her brother's girlfriend dead. Therapy reveals her dreams, memories, …
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Anansi Boys
by Neil Gaiman
One of fiction's most audaciously original talents, Neil Gaiman now gives us a mythology for a modern age -- complete with dark prophecy, family dysfunction, …
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Looking for Alaska
by John Green
The award-winning, genre-defining debut from John Green, the #1 international bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down and The Fault in Our Stars Winner …
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Where I Want to be
by Adele Griffin
Two teenaged sisters, separated by death but still connected, work through their feelings of loss over the closeness they shared as children that was later …
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Dark Sons
by Nikki Grimes
Alternating between biblical times and contemporary Brooklyn, Grimes masterfully tells the stories of two boys separated by time, geography, and culture in this novel about …
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The Witch's Boy
by Michael Gruber
In his first novel for young readers, the author of the acclaimed thriller "Tropic of Night," creates a world that is at once deceptively familiar …
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Siberia
by Ann Halam
After spending two years at a prison school, thirteen-year-old Sloe sets off on a trek across frozen wastelands, tending to the secret "seeds" of wild …
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Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf
by Sonya Hartnett
Satchel O'Rye, devoted son of an impoverished couple in a dying rural town, must weigh in balance the life of his most cherished dog and …
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Invisible
by Pete Hautman
Doug and Andy are unlikely best friends--one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater--who grew …
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The Minister's Daughter
by Julie Hearn
Set during the tumultuous era of the Civil War in England, this stunning debut by a student of Philip Pullman ("His Dark Materials") captures the …
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Flush
by Carl Hiaasen
With their father jailed for sinking a floating casino, Noah Underwood and his younger sister must gather evidence that the casino's owner is illegally flushing …
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An Innocent Soldier
by Josef Holub
A sixteen-year-old farmhand is tricked into fighting in the Napoleonic Wars by the farmer for whom he works, who secretly substitutes him for the farmer's …
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Stained
by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Jocelyn has two boys in her life. And a priest. Gabe has shared fourteen years of growing up next door. He's "a golden boy, an …
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13 Little Blue Envelopes
by Maureen Johnson
When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What …
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Real Time
by Pnina Kass
Sixteen-year-old Thomas Wanninger is on a mission: to find out what his grandfather, a Nazi officer, did during World War II. Thomas is going to …
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Daisy Kutter
Daisy Kutter, notorious bandit of the New West, takes one last train heist before leading a normal life. But this job will alter her life …
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Heavy Metal and You
by Christopher Krovatin
High schooler Sam begins losing himself when he falls for a preppy girl who wants him to give up getting wasted with his best friends …
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Black Juice
by Margo Lanagan
As part of a public execution, a young boy forlornly helps to sing his sister down. . . . A servant learns about grace and …
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Magic Or Madness
by Justine Larbalestier
From the Sydney, Australia home of a grandmother she believes is a witch, fifteen-year-old Reason Cansino is magically transported to New York City, where she …
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Absolutely, Positively Not
by David LaRochelle
Chronicles a teenage boy's humorous attempts to fit in at his Minnesota high school by becoming a macho, girl-loving, "Playboy" pinup-displaying heterosexual.
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Day of Tears
by Julius Lester
Through flashbacks, foreshadowing, and shifting first-person points of view, readers will travel with Emma and others through time and space. They come to discover that …
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Are We There Yet?
by David Levithan
Sixteen-year-old Elijah is completely mellow and his 23-year-old brother Danny is completely not, so it's no wonder they can barely tolerate one another. So what …
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Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
by David Lubar
While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely …
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Inexcusable
by Chris Lynch
High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date …
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The Highest Tide
by Jim Lynch
A mesmerizing, allegorical, and beautifully wrought first novel about one boy’s fascination with the sea during the summer that will change his life. One moonlit …
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Gil's All Fright Diner
by A. Lee Martinez
Earl and Duke help Loretta with her on-going zombie problem.