8 Great Books for Young Readers ...

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Dessen is the queen of contemporary YA romance. This book is written in her trademark lyrical style and seems to effortlessly combine backstory with present tense. The book deals with the summer between Auden’s senior year of high school and freshman year of college. With the help of a damaged boy, Eli, she tries to understand a childhood that she was never allowed to have. The book is an excellent story about coming to terms with one’s past, present, and future.

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Jennifer Echols started out writing comedy novels and then branched into dramatic romances that are gritty and feature well developed characters. Her upcoming novel promises to be more of the same. This novel is set in a New York creative writing class and should have lots of tension and witty remarks... there's no photo of the cover available yet, because this book doesn't come out until July 2011!

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This is the story about a girl with Asperger’s Syndrome who finds the world difficult to understand and escapes into music. This urban fiction novel will have you cheering, biting your nails, and crying. It is a very good debut novel by author, Tara Kelly.

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There always seems to be one in every crowd, a girl who is not quite as pretty as her friends. In this story that person is Bianca. This book explores body image and how we are perceived by people around us. There is also a moral lesson to be learned about how your words can come back to haunt you.

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Life does not always go the way you think it will. This book chronicles a girl’s realization when her father quits his job and starts selling vitamins at the mall. Suddenly, she is expected to help out financially. One top of that, she is trying to deal with a best friend who has seemingly abandoned her and a boy who she doesn’t like but can’t stop kissing. It’s a perfect mix of teenage angst and the classic coming of age emotions.

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Not all stories are meant to be happy and not all main characters are supposed to live a perfect life. In this novel, the author explores child abuse as well as school bullying. It is a very well written novel that is told in first person with very well developed characters.

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Piper does not seem like a likely band manager, after all she is deaf. Still, she is determined to give it all she’s got. Not only does the experience teach Piper about leadership and true friendship, she also learns a little about some pretty awesome musicians including Jimi Hendrix, and the connecting power of music along the way.

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John Greene is one of the few male authors who have ventured into the genre of young adult fiction. His quirky story about a high school boy will not only have you rolling on the floor laughing, but also make you stop and think about life and society.

Each of these 8 great books for young readers features strong writing and memorable characters. Although romance is a theme in most of them, the characters are put in situations where they have to learn to think and act independently and not just rely on a guy for everything. Not only will teenagers enjoy reading them, but grown women can find lots of pleasure in the pages as well. What is your favorite book that you read as a teen?

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