Best of the Best: New Teen Classics from the 1980s

At a recent ‘Best of the Best’ conference held during the annual ALA (American Library Association) conference, 100 titles were chosen as the best books written for teens from 1966 to 2000. Here are a few of the fiction titles. Please click on the title to see the book in our online catalog.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, 1980
The hilarious journey of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, a space hitchhiker, who escape from earth seconds before it is demolished and travel to a variety of galactic civilizations gathering information for a hitchhiker's guidebook.

The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks, 1985
As Jerome, a black athlete, shares his skills and interest in basketball with Bix, a white baseball player, their friendship grows and the game becomes a reflection of both their lives.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, 1985
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a young genius in Battle School, where he is training to fight the alien Buggers, has to put his skills to the ultimate test much sooner than he expected.

Fade by Robert Cormier, 1988
One boy in each generation of the Moreaux family inherits the power--and the curse--of invisibility.

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden, 1982
Lisa and Annie meet at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, fall in love, and then find that a public declaration is too threatening to their friends and relatives.

The Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge, 1988
Working one summer at a racetrack, living with his gay uncle, and falling madly in love make wimpy, short, tenth-grader Billy Kennedy more self-confident and wiser in the ways of the world.

The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance by Margaret Mahy, 1984
With the help of an older boy who loves her, Laura "changes over" into a witch to fight the evil forces that are attacking her little brother.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman, 1987
Sally, 16 and an orphan, must find her way through a maze of 19th-century villains to claim her inheritance and her independence.

Runner by Cynthia Voigt, 1985
Bullet, a 17-year-old cross country runner, finds that compromise is sometimes necessary if an athlete is going to be the best

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, 1980
While growing up among the "water people" on an island off the coast of Maryland during the 1940s, Louise searches for her identity and fights the jealousy she feels toward her talented, fragile, and beautiful twin sister.

November 21, 2006