Angier, Bradford and Barbara Corcoran,
Ask for Love and They Give You Rice Pudding.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977.
This is a sensitive novel about a lonely rich kid who uses money to buy friends. He learns more about himself and others whom he discovers the journal of his father who left many years ago.
Bishop, Curtis.
Fast Break.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1967.
This novel focuses on the importance of team-play in basketball and the pitfalls of athletes “showboating”.
Blume, Judy.
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret.
New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1970.
Confusion about religion and uncertainty about puberty are the themes of this novel.
Blume, Judy.
Blubber.
New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1974.
This book illustrates the cruelty groups can direct toward peers. It also demonstrates the power a group leader can wield over a victim.
Blume, Judy.
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t.
New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1971.
This novel gives insight into the conflicts adolescents face when they are unable to solve their problems and feel there is no one they can confide in.
Danziger, Paula.
Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice?
New York: Delacorte Press, 1979.
Family problems and confusion about being oneself are the themes of this novel.
Danziger, Paula.
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit.
New York: Delacorte Press, 1974.
A girl with a poor body image invents one hundred excuses for not dressing for gym.
Danziger, Paula.
The Pistachio Prescription. New York:
Delacorte Press. 1978.
A teenage girl eats red pistachio nuts to cure any problem. She feels unattractive amidst a family of beautiful people. Family problems, a poor relationship with her sister, and asthma attacks cause her additional problems. She develops a more positive self-image after her election as freshperson class president.
Lipsyte, Robert.
One Fat Summer.
New York. Harper & Row Publishers, 1977.
An overweight fourteen year-old boy is the brunt of cruelty, ridicule, and intimidation from a group of roughnecks. He sheds his excess weight and learns to stand up for himself.
Miles, Betty.
The Real Me.
New York: Knopf, 1974.
An eleven year-old girl takes a stand to end sex discrimination in her school’s physical education program and change the newspaper’s rule forbidding girls to deliver newspapers.
Miles, Betty.
The Trouble With Thirteen.
New York: Knopf, 1979.
Two friends try to maintain their friendship despite one friend’s move to another city and the unexpected changes that begin to pull them apart.
