Seventy-six books were chosen as Best Books for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association. The list of titles includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and biography recommended for young adults ages 12-18. Five titles received a unanimous votes from the 15 member committee: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, a novel set in the household of the Dutch painter Vermeer; 145th Street: Short Stories, a collection set on a single block in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers; The Beet Fields, an autobiographical coming-of-age novel by Gary Paulsen; Homeless Bird, a novel by Gloria Whelan about a teenage widow in India struggling to make a life for herself; and Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson, which explores how three brothers cope with the death of their mother.
Committee members were Alice F. Stern, Chair, The Winsor School, Boston, MA; Margaret Butzler, Bethel Park Public Library, Bethel Park, PA; Valerie Diamond, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD; Katherine Fitch, Rachel Carson Middle School, Herndon, VA; Susan Geye, Crowley Ninth Grade Campus, Crowley, TX; Donna Gilliland, University of St. Thomas Minnesota, MN; Nancy Maltby Henkel, Maple Valley Library, King County Library System, Maple Valley, WA; Jan Hoberecht, Newton High School, Newton, KS; Andrea Howe, Albuquerque Academy, Albuquerque, NM; Susan Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT; Donna McMillen, Algona-Pacific Pacific, WA; Diane Monnier, Bethesda Regional Montgomery County, MD; Rosemary Moran,Tulsa City-County Library Tulsa, OK; Andrew Parson, Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY; Sandra Schultheis, Evansville-Vanderburgh County, Evansville, IN; Stephanie Zvirin, Consultant, American Library Association,Chicago, IL; Douglas Uhlmann, Administrative Assistant, William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, PA.
Fiction
Almond, David Kit's Wilderness $15.95 Random House- Delacorte Press 0-385-32665-3
Anderson, Laurie Halse Fever 1793 $16.00 Simon and Schuster 0-689-83858-1
Appelt, Kathi Kissing Tennessee and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance $15.00 Harcourt 0-15-202249-X
Bagdasarian, Adam Forgotten Fire $17.95 DK 0-7894-2627-7
Bauer, Cat Harley, Like a Person $16.95 Winslow Press 1-890817-48-1 (hc)1-890817-49-x (sc)
Bauer, Joan Hope was Here $16.99 G. P. Putnam's Sons 0-399-23142-0
Blackwood, Gary Shakespeare's Scribe $15.99 Dutton 0-525-46444-1
Brooks, Martha Being with Henry $17.95 DK Publishing, Inc 0-7894-2588-2
Cabot, Meg The Princess Diaries $15.95 HarperCollins 0-380-97848-2
Calhoun, Dia Aria of the Sea 15.95 Winslow Press 1-890-817-25-2
Chevalier, Tracy Girl with a Pearl Earring $21.95 Dutton, 052594527X
Coman, Carolyn Many Stones $15.95 Front Street 1-886910-55-3
Creech, Sharon The Wanderer $15.95 trade, $15.89 library HarperCollins: Joanna Cotler Books 0-06-02773-0 trade, 0-06-027731-9
Crichton, Michael Timeline $26.95 Knopf 0-679-44481-5
Cross, Gillian Tightrope $16.95 Holiday House 0-8234-1512-0
Dessen, Sarah Dreamland 15.99 Viking 0-670-89122-0
Deuker, Carl Night Hoops $15.00 Houghton Mifflin 0-395-97936-6
Fienberg, Anna Borrowed Light $14.95 Delacorte 0-385-32758-7
Fogelin, Adrian Crossing Jordan $14.95 Peachtree 1-56145-215-7
Giff, Patricia Reilly Nory Ryan's Song $15.95 Delacorte 0-385-32141-4
Glenn, Mel Split Image $15.95 HarperCollins 0-688-16249-5
Gray, Dianne E. Holding up the Earth $15.00 Houghton Mifflin 0-618-00703-2
Haruf, Kent Plainsong $24.00 Alfred A. Knopf, 0-375-40618-2
Hyde, Catherine Ryan Pay It Forward $23.00 Simon and Schuster 0-684-86271-9
Isaacs, Anne Torn Thread $15.95 Scholastic Press 0-590-60353-9
Karr, Kathleen The Boxer $16.00 Farrar Straus Giroux 0-374-30921-3
Kessler, Cristina No Condition is Permanent $17.99 Philomel 0-399-23486-1
Konigsburg, E. L. Silent to the Bone $17.00 Jean Karl Book, Atheneum Books 0-689-83601-5
Koss, Amy Goldman The Girls $16.99 Dial 0-8037-2494-2
Lawrence, Iain Ghost Boy $15.95 Delacorte Press 0-385-32739-0
Lebert, Benjamin Crazy $17.95 Knopf 0-375-40913-0
Logue, Mary Dancing with an Alien 14.95 Trade/14.89 Library HarperCollins 0-06--028319-X
Lynch, Chris Gold Dust $15.95 HarperCollins 0-06-028174-X
Marillier, Juliet Daughter of the Forest $25.95 TOR 0-312-84879-x
Morris, Gerald The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf $15.00 Houghton Mifflin Company 0-395-97126-8
Murphy, Rita Night Flying $14.95 Delacorte Press 0-385-32748-X
Myers, Walter Dean 145th Street Short Stories $15.95 Delacorte Press 0-385-321376
Oughton, Jerrie Perfect Family $15.00 Houghton Mifflin 0-395-98668-0
Peck, Richard A Year Down Yonder $16.99 Dial 0-80372518-3
Peters, Julie Anne Define "Normal" $14.95 Little, Brown and Company 0-316-70631-0
Philbrick, Rodman The Last Book in the Universe $16.95 Blue Sky Press, an Imprint of Scholastic Inc. 0-439-08758-9
Platt, Randall Beth The Likes of Me $15.95 Delacorte Press 0-385-32692-0
Plum-Ucci, Carol The Body of Christopher Creed $17.00 Harcourt 0-15-202388-7
Plummer, Louise A Dance for Three $15.95 Delacorte Press 0-385-32511-8
Rennison, Louise Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson $15.95 Trade/$15.89 Library HarperCollins, 0-06-028814-0/0-06-028871-X
Ryan, Pam Munoz Esperanza Rising $15.95 Scholastic Press 0-439-12041-1
Schwartz, Virginia Frances Send One Angel Down $15.95 Holiday House 0-8234-1484-1
Spinelli, Jerry Stargirl $15.95 Alfred A. Knopf 0-679-88637-0
Trueman, Terry Stuck in Neutral $14.95 HarperCollins 0-06-028519-2
Wallace, Rich Playing Without a Ball $15.95 Knopf 0-679-88672-9
Wells, Ken Meely LaBauve $19.95 Random House 0-3755-0311-0
Whelan, Gloria Homeless Bird $15.95 HarperCollins 0-06-028454-4
White, Ruth Memories of Summer $16.00 Farrar Straus Giroux 0-374-34945-2
Williams, Lori Aurelia When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune $17.00 Simon & Schuster 0-689-82468-8
Wittlinger, Ellen What's in a Name $16.00 Simon & Schuster 0-689-82551-X
Woodson, Jacqueline Miracle's Boys $15.99 Putnam 0-399-23113-7
Yolen, Jane and Robert J. Harris Queen's Own Fool $19.99 Philomel Books 0-399-23380-6
Nonfiction
Armstrong, Lance with Sally Jenkins It's Not About the Bike..My Journey Back to Life $24.95 G.P. Putnam 0-399-14611-3
Bachrach, Susan D. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 21.95 Little Brown 0-316-07086-6 0316070874p
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell Kids on Strike! $20.00 Houghton Mifflin Company 0-395-88892-1
Beckett, Wendy My Favorite Things: 75 Works of Art from Around the World $29.95 Harry Abrams, Inc. 0-8109-4387-5
Fradin, Dennis Brindell, and Judith Bloom Fradin Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement $18.00 Clarion Books 0-395-89898-6
Franco, Betsy (editor) You Hear Me?: Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys $14.99 Candlewick Press 0-7636-1158-1
Freedman, Russell Give me Liberty!: The Story of the Declaration of Independence 24.95 Holiday House 0-8234-1448-5
Glover, Savion and Bruce Weber Savion: My Life in Tap $19.95 Morrow 0688156290
Gottlieb, Lori Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self $22.00 Simon & Schuster 0-684-86358-8
Katz, Jon Geeks: How two boys rode the Internet out of Idaho $22.95 Villard 0-375-50298-X
Lalicki, Tom Spellbinder:The Life of Harry Houdini $18.95 Publsiher: Holiday House 0-8234-1499-X
Lanier, Shannon and Jane Feldman Jefferson's children: The story of One American Family 19.95 Random House 0-375-80597-4
Levine, Ellen Darkness over Denmark : The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews $18.95 Holiday House 0-8234-1447-7
Marrin, Albert Sitting Bull and his world $27.50 Dutton 0-525-45944-8
Paulsen, Gary The Beet Fields $15.95 Delacorte Press 0-385-32647-5
St. George, Judith In the Line of Fire: Presidents' Lives at Stake $18.95 Holiday House 0-8234-1428-0
Turner, Ann Learning to Swim 14.95 Scholastic Press 0-439-15309-3
Ung, Loung First They Killed My Father : A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers $23.00 HarperCollins 0-06-019332-8
Winick, Judd Pedro and Me $15.00 Henry Holt and Co. 0-8050-6403-6
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