Book Lists for Teens and Young Adults

Maya has reservations about transferring to a hearing school after studying in a school for the deaf for years, but grows closer to Beau Watson, the student body president, who starts learning sign language to communicate with her.

Simone, seventeen, HIV-positive and in love for the first time, decides that facing potential bullies head-on may be better than protecting her secret.

A suicidal teen fighting the symptoms of Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder creates a bucket list of ten goals to achieve by the tenth anniversary of his diagnosis, before a newcomer with her own troubled history unknowingly offers him more hopeful perspectives.
"Ten: three little letters, one ordinary number. No big deal, right? But for Troy Hayes, a 16-year-old suffering from Tourette Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the number ten dictates his life, forcing him to do everything by its exacting rhythm. Finally, fed up with the daily humiliation, loneliness, and physical pain he endures, Troy writes a list of ten things to do by the tenth anniversary of his diagnosis--culminating in suicide on the actual day. But the process of working his way through the list changes Troy’s life: he becomes friends with Khory, a smart, beautiful classmate who has her own troubled history. Khory unwittingly helps Troy cross off items on his list, moving him ever closer to his grand finale, even as she shows him that life may have more possibilities than he imagined. This is a dark, intense story, but it’s also realistic, hopeful, and deeply authentic.

Eighteen-year-old Maeve, a future filmmaker who has muscular dystrophy, fears she will never find romance until a project for her Video II class introduces her to new possibilities.

Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's easier-it's safer-it's better-for the other person. She's got issues. She's got secrets. She's got rheumatoid arthritis. But then she meets another sick kid. He's got a chronic illness Isabel's never heard of, something she can't even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father, who's a doctor. He's gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her. Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's complicated-it's dangerous-it's never felt better-to consider breaking that rule for him.

Forced to leave Stanford's pre-med program after contracting Lyme disease, Priya finds solace in an online chronic-illness support group and with best friend Brigid, whose own illness may be more unique than Priya suspected.

Depicts young teen Ricky Bloom's struggles with her recent chronic illness diagnosis, which comes amid family upheaval and challenges at school.

One year after the fire that claimed her parents' and cousin's lives and left her severely disfigured, sixteen-year-old Ava faces the return to high school.

Kalyn, living under a pseudonym, and Gus, who has cerebral palsy, get caught in an uproar in Samsboro, Kentucky as the truth about the brutal murder of Gus's father by Kalyn's comes to light.

In a class for the newly deaf, former musician Simon meets G and his quest to create an entirely new form of music helps him better understand her, himself, and his relationship to the hearing world.