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High School Recommended Reading Lists: Grades 9-10

Grade 9-10 recommended reading list

Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi

F AHM (Realistic Fiction) 

Sixteen-year-old Scott Ferdowsi's impromptu trip to a famous professor for advice about success turns into a summer of freedom that brings him answers in unexpected places.

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

F AHM (Realistic Fiction) 

Maya Aziz, seventeen, is caught between her India-born parents world of college and marrying a suitable Muslim boy and her dream world of film school and dating her classmate, Phil, when a terrorist attack changes her life forever.

What if It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

F ALB (Realistic Fiction) 

Told in two voices, when Arthur, a summer intern from Georgia, and Ben, a native New Yorker, meet it seems like fate, but after three attempts at dating fail they wonder if the universe is pushing them together or apart.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

GN AND (Graphic Novels) 

A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

F AVE (Fantasy Fiction) 

Determined to protect her heart--and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her--Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all . . . starting with the crown on Maven's head.

Wonder Woman: War Bringer by Leigh Bardugo

F BAR (Fantasy Fiction) 

Diana, Princess of the Amazons, journeys to the World of Man in this coming-of-age young adult story.

A Girl like That by Tanaz Bhathena

F BHA (Realistic Fiction)

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sixteen-year-old half-Hindu/half-Parsi Zarin Wadia is the class troublemaker and top subject for the school rumor blogs, regularly leaving class to smoke cigarettes in cars with boys, but she also desperately wants to grow up and move out of her aunt and uncle's house

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

F BRO (Classics Fiction) 

Forced by a storm to spend the night at the home of the somber Heathcliff, Mr. Lockwood uncovers a tale of terror and hatred on the Yorkshire moors.

The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown

GN BRO (Graphic Novels) 

Don Brown depicts moments of both heartbreaking horror and hope in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.

Once and for All by Sarah Dessen

F DES (Realistic Fiction) 

Louna's years working at her mother's wedding planning business--as well as the tragic end of her first love--have shaped her cynical views on romance, but the arrival of serial-dater Ambrose may start to change Louna's mind and give her a second chance at love.

Unbecoming by Jenny Downham

F DOW (Realistic Fiction) 

Life has just become very complicated for seventeen-year-old Katie; her father walked out a year ago, her mother is stressed out, her brother is a "special needs" teenager, and she is caring for the maternal grandmother she has never met, who is suffering from Alzheimer's--and Katie has a secret of her own that she cannot reveal.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

F GAI (Fantasy Fiction)

Charlie Nancy was leading a comfortable life until his father died and discovered that dear old dad was a human form of Anansi, the African trickster god, and that he had a brother, Spider, who inherited some of his father's godlike abilities. 

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

F GAR (Fantasy Fiction) 

Two sisters, Scarlett and Tella, leave their cruel father to attend Caraval--a faraway once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show--and, along the way, Tella is kidnapped and Scarlett is aided by a mysterious sailor and finds herself enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. 

Girl Mans Up by M-E. Girard

F GIR (Realistic Fiction) 

A girl named Pen grapples with her identity, and the expectations traditional gender roles play in her family, with her friendships, and at school. 

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

F GRE (Realistic Fiction) 

Aza Holmes is a young woman navigating daily existence within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. Panda book. 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

F HUX (Classics Fiction) 

A satirical novel about the utopia of the future, a world in which babies are decanted from bottles and the great Ford is worshipped. 

Darius the Great Is not Okay by Adib Khorram

F KHO (Realistic Fiction) 

Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life. 

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

F LAC (Realistic Fiction)

After picking up and leaving everything behind in California, eighteen-year-old Marin, with the help of her former friend, must confront her grief and the truths that caused her to flee her home. 

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

F LEG (Horror Fiction)

Who are the Sawkill Girls? Marion: The newbie. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she's sure she'll never find. Zoey: The pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. 

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

F LEE (Humor Fiction) 

Felicity Montague must use all her womanly wits and wiles to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor--even if she has to scheme her way across Europe to do it. 

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

F LU (Fantasy Fiction)

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list.... Bruce will walk the dark line between trust and betrayal as the Nightwalkers circle closer.

Warcross by Marie Lu

F LU (Spy/Thriller Fiction) 

When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way into the opening tournament of the Warcross Championships, she glitches herself into the game as well as a sinister plot with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire. 

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

F MAF (Romance Fiction)

It's 2002, a year after 9/11. It's an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. 

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

F MAN (Mystery Fiction) 

In 1889, the ship Etruria departs Liverpool, England, for New York carrying Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her crime-solving partner, Thomas, a famous escape artist, and a cold-blooded killer. 

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

F MCM (Mystery Fiction) 

When the creator of a high school gossip app mysteriously dies in front of four high-profile students all four become suspects. It's up to them to solve the case. 

People like Us by Dana Mele

F MEL (Spy/Thriller Fiction) 

When a girl is found dead at her elite boarding school, soccer-star Kay Donovan follows a scavenger hunt which implicates suspects increasingly close to her, unraveling her group of popular friends and perfectly constructed life. 

Puddin' by Julie Murphy

F MUR (Romance Fiction)

 Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a little girl. Not this year. This year she has new plans to chase her secret dream of being a newscaster--and to kiss the boy she's crushing on.  

Before I Go by Marieke Nijkamp

F NIJ (Realistic Fiction) 

Returning to her small Alaska home town after her bipolar best friend's death, Corey uncovers chilling secrets about the townspeople and their treatment of Kyra prior to her drowning. 

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

SC OBR (Short Stories) 

Contains a collection related fiction short stories with recurring characters, interwoven plot and themes told by a foot soldier retelling his experiences in the Vietnam War. 

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

F OLI (Mystery Fiction)

It's been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. 

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

F REY (Mystery Fiction) 

As Will, fifteen sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know. Panda Book. 

I Am not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

F SAN (Realistic Fiction)

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. 

The Rule of One by Ashley Saunders

F SAU (Science Fiction) 

In their world, telling the truth has become the most dangerous crime of all. In the near-future United States, a one-child policy is ruthlessly enforced. Everyone follows the Rule of One. 

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

F SMI (Romance Fiction)

Alice doesn't believe in luck--at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she's been pining for her best friend, Teddy. Panda Book. 

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

F STE (Classics Fiction)

Two drifters, George and Lennie, see their dreams of buying their own farm come to a tragic end when Lennie, a simple-minded man, accidentally commits a crime. 

Sadie by Courtney Summers

F SUM (Mystery Fiction) 

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. 

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

F TAY (Fantasy Fiction)
 
In the aftermath of a war between gods and men, a hero, a librarian, and a girl must battle the fantastical elements of a mysterious city stripped of its name. 
 
 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

F THO (Realistic Fiction)

The Hate U Give. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Panda Book. 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

F TOL (Classics Fiction)

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return. 

The prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

GN WAN (Graphic Novels)

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride--or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. 

Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott

F WIV (Historical Fiction)

Amid the brutality of Auschwitz during the Holocaust, a forbidden gift helps two teenage girls find hope, friendship, and the will to live in this novel in verse that's based on a true story.  

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

F ZUS (Realistic Fiction)
 
Upon their father's return, the five Dunbar boys, who have raised themselves since their mother's death, begin to learn family secrets, including that of fourth brother Clay, who will build a bridge for complex reasons, including his own redemption. 
 
 

Grades 9-10 recommended reading list in PDF

HS Librarian