Back to School Stories

As teens and preteens prepare to go back to school, recommend a book that features the settings and situations of school. Adolescent readers will have plenty to relate to, and these books can spark valuable conversations about their attitudes toward school, as well as important school-based social issues such as peer pressure, bullying, and the history of public school integration.

Featured Title: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (2000, Knopf)

The comfortable roles and routines of Mica High School are turned upside down by the appearance of a sundress-wearing, ukelele-strumming, pet rat-carrying transfer student named Stargirl. Adolescent readers will join the narrator, Leo, in considering important questions about peer pressure, fitting in, and nonconformity in this extremely well-written and engaging book, an ALA 2001 Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults award winner.

Additional Recommendations

• Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande (2007, Knopf)
• The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga (2006, Houghton Mifflin)
• My Mother, The Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow (2007, Harperteen)
• Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals original publication: (1994, Washington Square Press) and abridged version for younger readers: (1995, Simon Pulse)