Adult Books That Teens Might Enjoy
The End of Everything
Megan Abbott Lizzie's best friend is kidnapped, and the police seem clueless. Lizzie begins her own detective work and uncovers secrets and obsessions of friends and neighbors in midwestern suburbia. |
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender On her ninth birthday, Rose bites into her mother's lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she can taste her mother's emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can't discern. |
Insatiable
Meg Cabot Meena Harper, a cynical and talented soap opera writer, falls unexpectedly for a mysterious Romanian prince. Set on the Upper East Side of New York City, this is a witty addition to the vampire genre. (Sequel: Overbite) |
Girl With a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier Have you ever thought about the story behind a person in a painting? Griet is the girl with a pearl earring painted by Vermeer, an artist. As the story unfolds, she is only sixteen and a servant in the household of the painter himself. |
The Whistling Season
Ivan Doig Rose, who "can’t cook but doesn’t bite" arrives in Montana, bringing joy and order to three motherless boys and their father. |
Peace Like a River
Leif Enger Life turns upside down for 11-year-old Reuben when Davy, his older brother, kills 2 intruders who plan to harm them. After Davy breaks out of jail, the family sets off to find him. |
Ape House
Sara Gruen Five apes fluent in American Sign Language disappear from their research lab during an explosion. Their keeper and a reporter won’t quit until they find out whether a greedy scientist, a TV producer, or an animal rights group is responsible for the kidnapping. |
Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen Orphaned and penniless during the Depression, a veterinary student jumps a circus train and finds romance, danger, and an elephant named Rosie. |
Snow in August
Pete Hamill Eleven-year-old Michael lives with his widowed mother in 1940s Brooklyn. He finds a friend in Rabbi Judah Hirsch, a refugee from Prague, who trades stories from Jewish folklore for lessons in American culture, especially baseball. When prejudice rears its ugly head, Michael's real world and Hirsch's fantastical one fold together in an unexpected way. |
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini Set amid the destruction of modern Afghanistan, this novel follows two boys, linked by love, lies, sacrifice, and betrayal, and their different life paths. |
Just After Sunset: Stories
Stephen King A porta-potty prison, class warfare on an apocalyptic afternoon, and other terrors abound in this collection of macabre, absurd, and gleefully vulgar stories. Scary, dirty fun. |
The Spellman Files
Lisa Lutz Isabel can’t quit her private investigator job; she works for her family, and they’ll kill her if she tries to leave. A quickly paced, quirky mystery. |
Black Swan Green
David Mitchell In the British village of Black Swan Green, 13-year-old Jason survives ghost sightings, bullies, a first kiss, and his parents' divorce. |
The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger In this arresting romance, Henry travels time and space to meet his bride Clare in all her stages of life, from childhood to old age. |
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss Homeless thief Kvothe wins a place at a school of magic, where he hopes to learn about the mysterious person who murdered his parents. |
Bad Monkeys
Matt Ruff Jane Charlotte earns her living by killing bad people for good reasons in this high-octane, clever thriller of conspiracies, revenge, and secret government agencies. |
