LibraryAware TEEN HIGH: Quick Reads

These books contain great stories that you'll read quickly. These titles are classified as Teen High School (TH) and can be found in the Teen section of the library.

Jane Anonymous
by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Locked in a room by an unknown kidnapper who slid her basic needs through a pet door, a 17-year-old girl escapes back home to her family and struggles with crippling PTSD that compels her to write a therapeutic diary chronicling her efforts to uncover the truth of what happened.

How I Live Now
by Meg Rosoff

To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

Words in Deep Blue
by Cath Crowley

Rachel left a love note for Henry in his favorite book tucked away in his family's bookstore and has returned years later to work alongside him as they both struggle through challenges and find hope in each other.

The Inheritance Games
by Jennifer Barnes

When a Connecticut teenager inherits vast wealth and an eccentric estate from the richest man in Texas, she must also live with his surviving family and solve a series of puzzles to discover how she earned her inheritance.

Stormbreaker
by Anthony Horowitz

After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Girls with Sharp Sticks
by Suzanne Young

A group of students at the Girls of Innovations Academy learns lessons about obedience and troublesome personal interests give way to dark secrets and the truth about their identities.

Heroine
by Mindy McGinnis

Determined to see her softball team through a historic tournament run despite severe injuries, a socially awkward teen is prescribed opioid painkillers that initially help before high pressure leads to an out-of-control addiction.

Patron Saints of Nothing
by Randy Ribay

Setting aside his college ambitions when he learns that his cousin has been murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, a high school senior travels to the Philippines to uncover the truth and the part he may have played in it.

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph
by Brandy Colbert

Sixteen-year-old Dove "Birdie" Randolph's close bond with her parents is threatened by a family secret and by hiding her relationship with Booker, who has been in juvenile detention.

Run, Hide, Fight Back
by April Henry

Holiday shoppers struggle to survive as three masked shooters open fire in a crowded mall and five teens form a plan to stop them.

Five Feet Apart
by Rachael Lippincott

Seventeen-year-olds Stella and Will, both suffering from cystic fibrosis, realize the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, but their love for each other is slowly pushing the boundaries of physical and emotional safety.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay
by Adib Khorram

A Persian-American youth who prefers pop culture to the traditions of his mixed family struggles with clinical depression and the misunderstandings of older relatives while bonding with a boy who helps him embrace his Iranian heritage.

Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds

Driven by the secrets and vengeance that mark his street culture, 15-year-old Will contemplates over the course of 60 psychologically suspenseful seconds whether or not he is going to murder the person who killed his brother.

Dear Martin
by Nic Stone

Profiled by a racist police officer in spite of his excellent academic achievements and Ivy League acceptance, a disgruntled college youth navigates the prejudices of new classmates and his crush on a white girl by writing a journal to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the hopes that his iconic role model's teachings will be applicable half a century later.

Girls Like Us
by Gail Giles

Graduating from their school's special education program, aggressive Quincy and shy Biddy are placed together in their first independent apartment and gradually discover unexpected things they share in the face of past challenges and harrowing trauma.

Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck

This classic tells the story about the strange relationship of two migrant workers who are able to realize their dreams of an easy life until one of them succumbs to his weakness for soft, helpless creatures and strangles the farmer's wife.

NOTE: This title is found in Adult Fiction.

Orbiting Jupiter
by Gary D Schmidt

Twelve-year-old Jack narrates the story of foster teen Joseph, who after serving time in a juvenile facility has been placed with a family on a rural Maine farm and who resolves to track down the daughter he has never met.

Solo
by Kwame Alexander

This novel in verse tells the story of 17-year-old Blade Morrison, who endeavors to resolve painful issues from his past to navigate the challenges of his former rock-star father's addictions, scathing tabloid rumors, and a protected secret that threatens his own identity.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
by Rachel Cohn

High school student Nick O'Leary, member of a rock band, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to avoid his ex-sweetheart.

Tiger Eyes
by Judy Blume

When Davey Wexler's father is killed in a holdup in Atlantic City, her mother moves Davey and her brother to Los Alamos to get away from the memories--but Davey is a girl frozen in fear and anger, until she meets an older boy called Wolf who can read her tiger eyes.