Good OLD Books: Teen Classics That Are Older Than You

Bad covers, yellowed pages, weird slang - Old books…they aren’t all that bad.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Some books contain mature situations and language

1999: Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
"I leaped onto the sliding ladder in the back room of Gladstone's Shoe Store of Chicago, gave it a shove, and glided fast toward the end of the floor to ceiling shelves of shoeboxes…”

1998: Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald
“ Michael MacKenzie had been awake since four that morning. His heart was pounding even faster than when he took his position at a track meet, waiting for the starters go..."

1997: Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
“Though I tried to clear my head of the effects of the fat, resiny doobie I’d polished off an hour before, things were still fuzzy as I stumbled into senior counselor Jeff DeMouy’s office…"

1996: Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
“It’s only half-an-hour since someone – Robyn I think – said we should write everything down, and it’s only twenty-nine minutes since I got chosen…"

1995: I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson
“There was always the Hocking River running a red mud trail through Chauncey, Ohio. But Chauncey, pronounced “chancey” – wasn’t always the place it is…"

1994: Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
“I am telling you this just the way it went/with all the details I remember as they were,/and including the parts I’m not sure about…"

1993: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
“ Gemma, tell your story again” Shana begged putting her arms around her grandmother and breathing in that special smell of talcum and lemon that seemed to belong only to her..."

1992: We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
“They entered the house at 9:02 p.m. on the evening on April Fools’ Day. In the next forty-nine minutes, they sh*t on the floors and pissed on the walls and trashed their way through the seven-room Cape Cod cottage…"

1991: The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
“The house was empty. Zoe knew as soon as she walked through the front door. Only a clock ticking in the kitchen challenged the silence…"

1990: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
“The reason Weetzie Bat hated high school was because no one understood. They didn’t even realize where they were living…"

1989: Eva by Peter Dickinson
“Eva was lying on her back. That was strange enough. She always slept facedown. Now she only knew that she wasn’t by the sensation of upness and downness…"

1988: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
“Somebody must have told them suckers I was coming.” “Told who?” I asked. “The Congs, man. Who you think I’m talking ‘bout…"

1987: Fell by M.E. Kerr
“On the night of the Senior Prom, I was stood up by Helen J. Keating – “Keats” they called her in Seaville, New York…"

1986: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
“In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three…"

1985: Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks
“Now, Bix Rivers has disappeared, and who do you think is going to tell his story but me? Maybe his stepfather? Man, that dude does not know Bix deep, and now he never will, will he?..."

1984: Interstellar Pig by William Sleator
“I’m telling you, there’s more history to this house than any other place on Indian Neck, and that’s the truth,” Ted Martin said, and took a long swallow of beer…"

1983: Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
“The year started out pretty smooth. Probably would have ended up that way, too, if Becky had stayed around or I hadn’t quit the football team and made myself look like the Jerk of the Universe…"

1982: Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
“It’s raining, Annie. Liza – Eliza Winthrop – stared in surprise at the words she’d just written; it was as if they had appeared without her bidding on the page before her…"

1981: Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
“It is the morning of the funeral and I am tearing my room apart, trying to find the right kind of shoes to wear. But all I have come up with are my Adidas, which have holes in the toes, and a pair of flip-flops…"

1980: Jacob I Have Loved by Katherine Paterson
“As soon as the snow melts, I will go to Rass and fetch my mother. At Crisfeld I’ll board the ferry, climbing down into the cabin where the women always ride…"

1979: Tex by S.E. Hinton
"There ain't no bear in that bush," I said. Negrito’s ears were pricked so far forward they almost touched, and he was picking up his feet like he was walking on eggshells..."

1978: Beauty by Robin McKinley
“I was the youngest of three daughters. Our literal-minded mother named us Grace, Hope, and Honour, but few people except perhaps the minister who baptized all three of us remembered my given name…"