Books for Teen Girls 2
Discover must-read books for teen girls, from gripping tales by Donna Jo Napoli to unforgettable stories by Han Nolan. This curated list features empowering, thought-provoking young adult fiction—including *The Gospel According to Larry*, *Zel*, and *Stones in Water*—perfect for building your teen's bookshelf with quality reads.
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If I Should Die Before I Wake
by Han Nolan
A neo-Nazi teen is transported back in time to World War II Poland, where she is now a Jewish girl in a Nazi ghetto.
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Born Blue
by Han Nolan
Janie was four years old when she nearly drowned due to her mothers neglect. Through an unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her dream of someday being a famous singer.
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Stones in Water
by Donna Jo Napoli
This is a book for every Bar Mitzvah boy and indeed anyone who wants to learn about the beliefs, philosophies and history of the Jewish religion.
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Spinners
by Donna Jo Napoli
A reinvention of the Rumplestiltskin story -- one spinner uses a stolen wheel, crippling his leg as he makes straw into a glittering dress for his beloved, whom he loses. A second spinner named Saskia becomes a master spinner -- until she too is forced to spin straw into gold. When they meet, a new tale must be spun.
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Sirena
by Donna Jo Napoli
The gods grant immortality to the mermaid Sirena when she rescues a human man from the sea and they fall in love, but his mortality creates great conflict between love and honor when he is called to defend Greece in the Trojan War.
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Zel
by Donna Jo Napoli
High in the mountains, Zel lives with her mother, who insists they have all they need -- for they have each other. Zel's life is peaceful and protected -- until a chance encounter changes everything. When she meets a beautiful young prince at the market one day, she is profoundly moved by new emotions. But Zel's mother sees the future unfolding -- and she will do the unspeakable to prevent Zel from leaving her..."Will leave readers spellbound."-- Publishers Weekly, starred review
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The Magic Circle
by Donna Jo Napoli
From the author of Zel, Stones in Water, and The Prince of the Pond. Deep in the woods lives the old witch called Ugly One. All she wants is to forget—the she was once a loving mother and a healer, blessed and powerful within her magic circle, and not a witch, claimed by the devils. Then one day she hears the footsteps she dreads. Then real voices—children’s voices. The Ugly One longs to take care of sturdy, sensible Gretel and her young brother Hansel. They are such good children, such delicious, beautiful children. But demons’ voices scream in her head: “Eat them!” How can she? . . . How can she not? “A brilliantly conceived and beautifully executed novel.”—School Library Journal, starred review “A work of great strength and powerful emotion, written with immediacy and intensity, filled with beauty and terror and pervading sense of compassion that must touch young and old.”—Lloyd Alexander An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
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The Doll in the Garden
by Mary Downing Hahn
Ten-year-old Ashley follows a kitten through an opening in the hedge; into a garden she has been warned never to go to.
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The Gospel According to Larry
by Janet Tashjian
Seventeen-year-old Josh, a loner-philosopher who wants to make a difference in the world, tries to maintain his secret identity as the author of a web site that is receiving national attention.