Complete List of Nominations for the 2003 Teens' Top Ten Books
Note: All quotes used in the book descriptions below are from our teen nominators.
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Author
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Title
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Publisher
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Genre
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Bagdasarian, Adam
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First French Kiss and Other Traumas
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Farrar
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Short Stories
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Will’s funny, frustrating life from age ten to twenty makes a “feel-good book” that “comes from the heart.”
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Bauer, Joan
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Stand Tall
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Putnam’s
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Realistic
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The tallest seventh grader in school, Tree copes with his parents’ divorce by building relationships with friends and his grandfather, in a book with a “down-to-earth, real feeling, like it could happen.”
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Black, Holly
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Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
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Simon & Schuster
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Fantasy
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When Kaye helps an injured faerie in New Jersey, she enters a power struggle between two faerie factions in a “remarkable” romance story full of peril. “It drew me in and I couldn’t get out.”
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Bowler, Tim
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Storm Catchers
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McElderry/
Simon & Schuster
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Mystery
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The turmoil begins in the midst of a storm when a kidnapper tears Ella away from her family in this “engaging mystery.”
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Brashares, Ann
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The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
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Delacorte
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Realistic
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In this sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the four friends face a challenging summer: “It takes a really good book to leave you laughing one moment and crying the next. This book did just that.”
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Brennan, Herbie
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Faerie Wars
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Bloomsbury
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Fantasy
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Demons in spaceships are after Pyrgus, Prince of Faerie, and only ordinary English schoolboy Henry can help in this “hilariously decent book that surpasses Harry Potter.”
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Brooks, Martha
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True Confessions of a Heartless Girl
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Farrar
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Realistic
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Teen runaway Noreen lands in a small Canadian town where the customers in Lynda’s Café help her evaluate her life through “more than one point of view.”
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Carey, Janet Lee
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Wenny Has Wings
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Atheneum/
Simon & Schuster
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Realistic
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What do you do when you survive the accident that killed your sister? This story is “comforting to someone who has suffered a loss.”
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Cohn, Rachel
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The Steps
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Simon & Schuster
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Realistic
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Annabel copes with her blended family from New York City to Australia, revealing “many true stories that relate to today.”
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Downer, Ann
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Hatching Magic
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Atheneum/
Simon & Schuster
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Fantasy
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Theodora’s boring Boston summer is transformed when Gideon chases his pet wyvern through a hole in time from the 13th century in this “cool book” that “makes you feel you are right in the story.”
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Duane, Diane
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A Wizard Alone
Sixth Book in
Young Wizards series
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Harcourt
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Fantasy
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Nita and Kit help an autistic child wizard whose mind is controlled by the Lone Power; “this series is still strong after six books.”
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Ferris, Jean
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Once Upon a Marigold
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Harcourt
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Fantasy
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Adopted by a troll, Christian falls for Princess Marigold, who can read people’s thoughts in this “engaging” and “relaxing” book.
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Flieger, Verlyn
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Pig Tale
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Hyperion
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Fantasy
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Her soulmate is a pig, but “Mokie’s tragedies and discoveries will break your heart, make you laugh, then make you cry all over again.”
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Frank, E. R.
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America
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Atheneum/
Simon & Schuster
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Realistic
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A racially mixed and lost young man unravels his painful life story at a treatment center, an “uncommon” tale among “kids-in-therapy” books.
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Fredericks, Mariah
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The True Meaning of Cleavage
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Atheneum/
Simon & Schuster
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Realistic
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Sari will do anything to get the guy she wants, which is tough for her best friend Jess to watch; readers wonder “what’s going to happen next.”
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Funke, Cornelia
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The Thief Lord
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Chicken House/
Scholastic
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Fantasy
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In this German translation, two orphaned brothers run away to Venice and join a gang run by the masked Thief Lord in a city more magical than it seems, showing “the world through the eyes of children” in a “captivating” story “with characters you can get attached to.”
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Giles, Gail
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Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters
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Roaring Brook
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Mystery
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After announcing her arrival by letter, Sunny’s supposedly dead sister comes home. Could this girl really be Jazz? “Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, one surprise twist changes everything.”
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Hopkins, Cathy
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Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras
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Simon Pulse/
Simon & Schuster
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Romance
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Lucy’s wacky woes include hippie parents and a boyfriend who would be perfect if she could find him again in this “hilariously funny” British tale that “isn’t fake or superficial and has a great message.”
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Horvath, Polly
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The Canning Season
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Farrar
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Realistic
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Spending the summer in a remote Maine town with her elderly aunts, Ratchet finds warmth and humor that she never expected in this “wonderful” book, perfect “for a quiet afternoon read.”
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Jarvis, Robin
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Thorn Ogres of Hagwood
Book I The Hagwood Trilogy
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Harcourt
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Fantasy
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The werlings are tiny forest creatures who shapeshift and who “you can strangely relate to”—how can they face the bloodthirsty Thorn Ogres? “Lots of adventures and surprises won’t let you put the book down.”
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Johnson, Angela
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The First Part Last
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Simon & Schuster
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Realistic
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Bobby decides to keep his baby Feather, revealing the trials of teen fatherhood “from a different, exciting angle.”
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Mayfield, Sue
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Drowning Anna
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Hyperion
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Realistic
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After becoming the target of a cruel classmate’s bullying in her private London school, Anna is devastated, but no one sees how desperate she is in this “moving, emotional” book that “all teenagers should read, so they realize the traumatizing effects bullies can have.”
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McCaffrey, Laura Williams
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Alia Waking
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Clarion
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Fantasy
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Aspiring to become “keenten” or warrior women, 12-year-old Alia and her friend Kay capture two young enemies, learning from them a shocking secret about their own people in this “powerful” story that shows “how evil can blind you and twist your thoughts.”
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Meyer, L. A
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Bloody Jack
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Harcourt
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Historical
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Orphaned Mary disguises herself as a ship’s boy, sailing off to pursue pirates in “an extremely exciting story” that “makes you think about the life you could have lived during the 17th century.”
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Morvan, John-David & Philippe Buchet
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Wake #4/5: The Sign of the Demons
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NBM
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Graphic Novel
Science Fic
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In postnuclear French science fiction, the human girl Navee, discovered alone on Earth by beings from another world, faces terrorists and interplanetary intrigue. “Its graphics flow smoothly and it has a great storyline.”
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Nix, Garth
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Abhorsen
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HarperCollins
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Fantasy
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Abhorsen-in-training Lirael and Sabriel’s son Sam must destroy the necromancer Hedge and his army of the dead, “ending an awesome series with an awesome book” that “you can picture vividly.”
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Plum-Ucci, Carol
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What Happened to Lani Garver?
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Harcourt
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Mystery
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Queen-of-the-in-crowd Claire befriends mysterious newcomer Lani in this “wonderfully written book” that “opens your mind” and shows “the meaning of friendship and hope.”
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Prose, Francine
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After
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HarperCollins
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Realistic
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After a school shooting, a grief counselor takes more than he gives in this book about “the systematic loss of freedoms.”
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Rapp, Adam
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33 Snowfish
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Candlewick
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Realistic
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Three teens drift through the Midwest to escape lives of abuse by adults; their story “lets you into the minds of poor, homeless young people who do anything to survive.” Their “sheer hopelessness is so compelling. It’s a page-turner.”
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Rumstuckle, Cornelius
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The Book of Wizardry:
The Apprentice’s Guide to the
Secrets of the Wizards’ Guild
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Llewellyn
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Nonfiction
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This interactive book contains magical crafts, useful tricks, and a quest. “This book is about you. It isn’t a story about someone else.”
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Snyder, Midori
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Hannah’s Garden
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Viking
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Fantasy
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Cassie misses her junior year to help care for her ailing grandfather, with no idea that otherworldly forces in her grandmother’s garden will change her life forever. This very “original” story “left me with a different feeling than most books—its tone is wonderful, and you want more and more of it.”
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Vande Velde, Vivian
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Heir Apparent
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Harcourt
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Science Fic
Fantasy
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Giannine plans 15 minutes of fantasy gaming in a virtual reality arcade, but becomes trapped in the constantly repeating game that will kill her if she doesn’t win in this “unique book” with “cool characters, rich scenery, and humor.”
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Weston, Carol
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For Teens Only:
Quotes, Notes, and Advice
You Can Use
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HarperCollins
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Nonfiction
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Weston offers conversational counsel on all aspects of teen life, highlighted by wise and amusing quotes ranging from Shakespeare to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “It opens your eyes to the real world. If you need a good, logical book, this is it.”
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WritersCorps
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Paint Me Like I Am:
Teen Poems from WritersCorps
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HarperCollins
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Poetry
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Written by San Francisco teens “pouring their hearts out into each poem,” this book tells “the truth of the world” and “captures the soul.”
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Yolen, Jane
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Sword of the Rightful King:
A Novel of King Arthur
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Harcourt
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Fantasy
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This retelling of what Yolen calls “an old story but a good one” focuses on Arthur’s and Guinevere’s beginnings in “a new, interesting, and original story of King Arthur before he was king.”
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Last Updated 7.24.03
Note: All quotes used in the book descriptions above are from our teen nominators.
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Teens Top Ten Nominations 2003