Coming of Age Stories

Try these books if you're looking for:

• coming of age stories
• action
• adventure
• heart
• relationships

Touching Spirit Bear 
By Ben Mikaelsen
YA F MIKAELSE
After his anger erupts into violence, Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.

Code Talker 
By Joseph Bruchac
YA F BRUCHAC
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.

Power of One 
By Bryce Courtenay
F COURTENA
Follows Peekay, a white British boy in South Africa during World War II, between the ages of five and eleven, as he survives an abusive boarding school and goes on to succeed in life and the boxing ring, with help from a chicken, a boxer, a pianist, black African prisoners, and many others.

Across the Nightingale Floor 
By Lian Hearn
F HEARN Tales of #1
Takeo, brought up peacefully in a remote Japanese mountain village, learns that his father was a celebrated assassin, and that he, too, possesses extraordinary skills. To resolve split loyalties and his conflicted nature, Takeo embarks on a journey that will lead him to his destiny.

Mystery & Adventurous Sci-Fi

Try these books if you're looking for:

• mystery
• adventure
• sci-fi
• crime
• reads like Stephen King, James Patterson, Stephen R. Donaldson, and J.K. Rowling

The Last Policeman 
By Ben H. Winters
MYST WINTERS Last Po #1
When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about. This title is also available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Naked in Death 
By J. D. Robb
MYSTERY ROBB
Eve Dallas, a New York police lieutenant, is in over her head when she breaks the rules and falls in love with Roarke, an Irish billionaire and a suspect in her most recent case. Being a cop in the twenty-first century should not be as violent as being one in the twentieth was, since all guns are banned and have become collectors' items, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas is stunned to be called to a crime scene where the victim was killed by a gun. This title is also available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Steelheart 
By Brandon Sanderson
YA F SANDERSO Reckoner #1
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners - the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny. This title is also available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Teen Boy Adventure Books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure
• mystery
• reads like Rick Riordan and Margaret Peterson Haddix

Skulduggery Pleasant 
By Derek Landy
YA F LANDY Skuldugg #1
When twelve-year-old Stephanie inherits her weird uncle's estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world from the Faceless Ones. 

Stormbreaker 
By Anthony Horowitz
YA F HOROWITZ Alex Rid #1
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Fiction with Complex Characters and Situations

Try these books if you're looking for:

• complex characters and situations
• focus on characters and relationships

The Kitchen God's Wife 
By Amy Tan
F TAN
This novel begins and ends in California, but most of the story is set in mid-twentieth century China. Winnie tells her life story to her grown daughter—a story of a lonely childhood followed by an arranged marriage to a self-centered, second-rate businessman lacking honor and integrity. By her own wits and sense of values, her friendships, and more than a bit of luck, Winnie survives her marriage and Japanese bomb raids to go on to marry an American soldier and immigrate to the United States. This is an inspiring, triumphant story of one woman’s courage. 

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake 
By Aimee Bender
F BENDER
This bittersweet, offbeat novel is the story of Rose Edelstein who discovers in her childhood a supernatural ability to taste the emotions of others in their cooking . She grows up regarding food as a curse when it reveals everyone's secret realities. 

Like Water for Chocolate 
By Laura Esquivel
F ESQUIVEL
Tita is the youngest of three daughters and is expected to serve her mother for the rest of her life . Her sister is engaged to Pedro and from the moment Tita & Pedro meet they’re attracted to one another. In order to show her love to Pedro, Tita cooks for him. Eventually, Tita's culinary wizardry unleashes uncontrollable forces, with surprising results. Fanciful, earthy, and sublime, this is a joy to read.