The Breadwinner / Deborah Ellis. -- Douglas & McIntyre, Buffalo, N.Y.: c 2002. 170p.
Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest.

A Corner of the Universe / Ann M. Martin. -- Scholastic Press, New York: c2002. 189p.
The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes to Hattie's small town.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead / Avi. – Hyperion, 2002. 261p. $15.99 ISBN 0-7868-0828-4; PLB $16.49. ISBN 0-7868-2647-9.
The power of a name is apparent in this novel set in 14th-century England. "Asta's son" is all the destitute, illiterate hero has ever been called, but after his mother dies, he learns that his given name is Crispin, and that he is in mortal danger. This is a meticulously crafted story, full of adventure, mystery, and action. Newbery winner.

Dancing in my nuddy-pants : even further confessions of Georgia Nicolson / Louise Rennison. -- HarperTempest, New York : 2003.
An English teenager tries to decide whether her musician boyfriend Robbie, whom she may get the chance to accompany on tour, is her one and only, or if her ex, Dave the Laugh, could fill his shoes

Dolores: Seven Stories About Her / Bruce Brooks. -- HarperCollins, New York: c2002., 135p.
A series of events captures the life of a free-spirited girl as she grows from a savvy seven-year-old to a self-assured sixteen-year-old.

Double Dutch / Sharon Draper. -- Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York: c2002. 183p.
Three eighth-grade friends, preparing for the International Double Dutch Championship jump rope competition in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, cope with Randy's missing father, Delia's inability to read, and Yo Yo's encounter with the class bullies.

The Gospel According to Larry / Janet Tashjian. -- Henry Holt, New York: 2001. 227p.
Seventeen-year-old Josh, a loner-philosopher who wants to make a difference in the world, tries to maintain his secret identity as the author of a web site that is receiving national attention.

A Hole In The World / Sid Hite. -- Scholastic Press, New York: c2001. 204p. 
Fifteen-year-old Paul Shackleford experiences an eye-opening and transformative summer living and working on the central Virginia farm of his distant relatives all of whom seem to be haunted by the death of a much-loved and admired farmhand the year before.

Hoot / Carl Hiaasen. -- Knopf, New York: c2002. 292p. 
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. 

The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer. -- Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York: c2002. 380p. 
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States

How Angel Peterson Got His Name: and other Outrageous tales about Extreme Sports / Gary Paulsen. -- Wendy Lamb books, New York: c2003. 111p.
Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel.

Lucy the Giant / Sherri L. Smith. -- Delacorte Press, New York: c2002. 217p.
Fifteen-year-old Lucy, the largest girl in her school, leaves her small Alaska town and her alcoholic father and discovers hardship--and friendship--posing as an adult aboard a commercial fishing boat.

Mississippi Trial, 1955 / Chris Crowe. -- P. Fogelman Books, New York: c2002. 231p.
In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African-American from Chicago.

Numbering All the Bones / Ann Rinaldi. -- Jump at the Sun/Hyperion books for Children, New York: c2002. 170p.
Thirteen-year-old Eulinda, a house slave on a Georgia plantation in 1864, turns to Clara Barton, the eventual founder of the American Red Cross, for help in finding her brother Neddy who ran away to join the Northern war effort and is rumored to be at Andersonville Prison

Pictures of Hollis Woods / Patricia Reilly Giff. -- Wendy Lamb Books, New York: c2002. 166p.
A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.

The Same Stuff as Stars / Katherine Paterson. -- Clarion Books, New York: c2002. 242p.
When Angel's self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their poor great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl worries not only about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, the frail old woman, but also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.

Things Not Seen / Andrew Clements. -- Philomel Books, New York: c2002. 251p.
When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it.

Touching Spirit Bear / Ben Mikaelsen. -- Harpercollins, New York: c2001. 241p.
After his anger erupts into violence, fifteen year-old 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.

12 Again / Sue Corbett. -- Dutton Children’s Books, New York: c2002. 227p.
Bernadette, having wished on the eve of her fortieth birthday to be young again, wakes up the next morning as a twelve-year-old, and enrolls in her son Patrick's class in hopes of somehow enlisting his help in returning to her old self.

When My Name Was Keoko / Linda Sue Park. -- Clarion Books, New York: c2002. 199p.
With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.