LuAnn's Library

Top Ten Books to Read Aloud

No matter how old, kids still like to be read to. Here are ten of the best books I’ve found to read aloud or listen to on audio with teenagers.

Cormier, Robert. The Rag and Bone Shop. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2001.
A seven-year-old girl is found dead—a suspected murder. But who did it? The special investigator who is called in is an expert at getting a confession out of his suspect. But what if twelve-year-old Jason really is innocent and Trent is just trying to save his reputation? (Do a little pre-editing for implied content.)

DeFelice, Cynthia. Weasel. Harper Trophy, 1991.
A ruthless villain known as Weasel commits unspeakable atrocities in the frontier wilderness. When 12-year-old Nathan's family is victimized, the boy is determined to avenge the wrongs on his own.

Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker: An Alex Rider Adventure
When Alex Rider’s guardian uncle is killed in an automobile accident, Alex discovers that his uncle was really a spy killed on the job. Alex is taken into the agency in an effort to solve the crime Ian was investigating that involves a gift of computers to all British school children.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden. Simon & Schuster BYR, 2006.
Luke was a third child, hidden away from the world for fear the Population Police would find out about him and kill him. The series continues with: Among the Imposters, Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, Among the Brave, and Among the Free. Works with Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Escape from Memory Simon & Schuster BYR, 2003.
At a sleepover, Kira agrees to let her friends hypnotize her, but she reveals a buried memory of fleeing from danger with her mother and speaking in a language none of them understands. Then her mother disappears, and a woman shows up claiming to be Kira's benevolent Aunt Memory from a community called Crythe.

Plummer, Louise. The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman. Laurel-Leaf, 2005.
Kate Bjorkman narrates her tale of teen romance in the language and conventions of The Romance Writer's Handbook. This six-foot tall heroine with glasses thick as Coke bottles and an I.Q. off the charts proves that true love awaits even the gawkiest, most socially inept teen.

Taylor, Theodore. Lord of the Kill. Scholastic, 2004.
Sequel to Sniper. Ben is once again left in charge of the wild animal preserve when someone dumps a young woman into a cat cage where she is found dead. Ben must solve the crime before the authorities try to shut down the preserve.

White, Robb. Deathwatch. Laurel-Leaf, 1973.
Always a winner with reluctant readers. Ben is earning money by taking people on hunting trips, but this trip goes all wrong. When Madec shoots an old prospector, he wants to cover up the accident so he can get his bighorn sheep. Ben refuses and finds himself being hunted.

Williams, Carol Lynch. My Angelica. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1999.
Sage and George, two wannabe-authors secretly enamored with each other, plan to enter the school writing competition. Sage is eager to enter her "steamy" novel-in-progress, but George knows her writing is awful and wants to spare his beloved a humiliating loss.

Zindel, Paul. The Doom Stone. Hyperion, 2004.
Well-written thriller/horror set in Stonehenge. Jackson arrives in England to help his anthropologist aunt track down a murderous beast, a mutant hominid.