2003 YA Masterlist

Students in grades 6-9 read or listen to 3in order to vote January 2003.

Alphin, Elaine Marie. COUNTERFEIT SON. Harcourt, 2000. 180 p. (Grades 8-9) When serial killer Hank Miller is killed in a shoot-out with police, his fourteen-year-old abused son, Cameron, adopts the identity of one of his father’s victims in order to find a better life and escape the horror of the past.

Bauer, Joan. HOPE WAS HERE. Putnam, 2000. 186 p. (Grades 7-9) Sixteen-year-old Hope and her Aunt Addie move from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, where they work as a waitress and a cook in the Welcome Stairways Diner and become involved in the diner owner’s political campaign against the town’s corrupt mayor.

Fogelin, Adrian. CROSSING JORDAN. Peachtree, 2000. 140 p. (Grades 6-9) Cassie’s father builds a fence when an African-American family moves next door. Through a hole in the wall Cassie and Jemmie become friends and running partners, and as team "Chocolate Milk", use a race to bring their families together.

Gray, Dianne E. HOLDING UP THE EARTH. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 210 p. (Grades 6-9) After her mother’s death and seven foster homes, fourteen-year-old Hope is spending the summer with her foster mother on a Nebraska farm. Hope explores the farm’s past through a series of old letters, a diary, and stories recorded by five generations of girls who have lived on the farm before her.

Hanley, Victoria. THE SEER AND THE SWORD. Holiday House, 2000. 340 p. (Grades 6-9) When her conquering father returns from war, he gives young Princess Torina a slave, and a stone in which she can see the future. Landen, a deposed prince, struggles to complete his battle training in a hostile kingdom while seeking a legendary sword that belonged to his father. When an evil man hatches a plot to take over Torina’s kingdom, the two must work together to save their world.

Karr, Kathleen. THE BOXER. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2000. 169 p. (Grades 8-9) Fifteen-year-old Johnny starts boxing and battles for the chance to make a better life for his family in the tenements of Manhattan in 1885.

Konigsburg, E. L. SILENT TO THE BONE. Atheneum/ Simon & Schuster, 2000. 261 p. (Grades 6-9) Thirteen-year-old Branwell becomes mute while making a 911 call to report that his baby sister is not breathing, and ends up in the juvenile behavioral center unable to speak about the events that led up to the emergency call.

Levine, Gail Carson. THE WISH. HarperCollins, 2000. 197 p. (Grades 6-8) Wilma Sturtz has been granted her dearest wish—to be the most popular girl in school. But what will happen to her extraordinary popularity when she graduates for the eighth grade in three weeks.

Park, Barbara. THE GRADUATION OF JAKE MOON. Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 2000. 115 p. (Grades 6-9) When Jake’s beloved grandfather, Skelly, gets Alzheimer’s disease, his behavior becomes embarrassing to Jake. Jake feels guilty and angry, and has a hard time making peace with the situation.

Peters, Julie Anne. DEFINE "NORMAL". Little, Brown, 2000. 196 p. (Grades 8-9) Antonia and Jasmine agree to do peer tutoring in their middle school. Antonia is the perfect straight A student on her way to great things, Jazz is a pierced punker on her way down. After a series of meetings, both girls wonder who is being counseled.

Philbrick, Rodman. THE LAST BOOK IN THE UNIVERSE. Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, 2000. 223p. (Grades 6-9) After an earthquake destroys most of civilization on Earth, Spaz, and epileptic, has no hope for a better life than the violent one he is now living, until he meets Ryter, one of the few people who can still read and write and whose most valuable possession is the manuscript of the book he is writing.

Whelan, Gloria. HOMELESS BIRD. HarperCollins, 2000. 216 p. (Grades 6-9) A widow at thirteen! Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage and is abandoned to a life of misery and loneliness when her sickly sixteen-year-old husband dies soon after their marriage. Koly is then doomed to the life of a widow, as dictated by Indian tradition, and must find the strength to survive.

Woodson, Jacqueline. MIRACLE’S BOYS. Putnam, 2000. 133 p. (Grades 6-9) After the loss of their parents, Ty’ree, Charlie, and Lafayette are trying hard to raise themselves. Ty’ree dreams of college, Charlie gets mixed up with some bad kids, and Lafayette just hides away from the world. It will be a hard struggle to survive, but brother to brother, they’ll work it out.