A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

Liz says:

“Through beautifully written free verse poems, Sones recounts the year that her sister was diagnosed as a manic depressive.!”

When her sixteen-year-old sister is hospitalized for depression and her parents want to keep it a secret, fourteen-year-old Elena tries to cope with her own anxiety and feelings of guilt that she is determined to conceal from outsiders.

Liz says:

“Told with extraordinary directness, this is the story of the impact of Depression on an entire family. With a true economy of words, Schumacher deftly portrays each multi-dimensional character allowing for complicated emotions and relationships.”

When she is almost sixteen years old, Rosemary decides she is sick of being overweight, mocked at school and at Heavenly Hair–her mother’s beauty salon–and feeling out of control, and as she slowly loses weight, she realizes that she is able to cope with her mother’s cancer, having a boyfriend for the first time, and discovering that other people’s lives are not as perfect as they seem from the outside.

Liz says:

“This story has the magic of being able to make you laugh and cry from one page to the next. Tackling tough issues of self-image and self-esteem with unflinching reality and humor, Supplee has written a delightful book that is sure to be a winner with 7th and 8th grade girls.”

Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend’s death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder.

Liz says:

“Anderson is one of my favorite authors but I have to say that I can only recommend this book to a very limited audience. Wintergirls deals very realistically with the physical and emotional devastation of eating disorders; there is no sugar-coating or easy answers found in this story. If you or someone you know is suffering from anorexia or bulimia, you will want to read this as a cautionary tale.”

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

Liz says:

“Melinda Sordino is one of the most memorable characters ever. She narrates her story through snapshots/scenes which are divided into the 4 quarters of her 9th grade year. The format and the story are compelling. This is a must read for girls.”

Three teenaged girls from very different backgrounds, thrown together to pick peaches in a Georgia orchard, spend a summer in pursuit of the right boy, the truest of friends, and the perfect peach.

Liz says:

“I’m going on the recommendation of a colleague and teens who’ve read this. It’s on my list to read!” (If you like it, there are 2 more in this series – The Secrets of Peaches: A Novel and Love and Peaches).

Sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and boyfriend, takes a job at a hotel in 1906 where the death of a guest renews her determination to live her own life.

Liz says:

“Based on a real murder (the same murder that Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy is based on) is compelling as a murder mystery but is much more. This is also a glimpse of life at the turn of the century in upstate New York. Mattie is an incredibly intelligent and determined young lady whose decisions and relationships are inspiring. Moms will enjoy reading this along with their teens.”

Jane, a plain and penniless orphan in nineteenth-century England, accepts employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall and soon finds herself in love with her melancholy employer, Mr. Edward Rochester, a man with a terrible secret.

Liz says:

“This is one of my all time favorites. It can be read from young adulthood and on. Moms who have not yet read this or who read it so long ago they don’t remember much will want to reread this along with their teens. I just reread it and I love it more than ever.”