This list contains books that are, well, realistic, set in the present day, and cover a general range of topics. Simple. Some of these will also show up on my other genre lists, because, hey, every day life can be funny, suspenseful stories can be realistic, and romance generally happens to everyone at one point or another.
Clicking on the book title will take you to the review/mini-review if I have one. Also, be sure to see my note about reading and age appropriate levels at the bottom of the page.
15
Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins
(4.0)
(UG) (family relationships, alcoholism)
24
Girls in 7 Days
by Alex Bradley
(4.3)
(UG) (friendship, dating, humor)
A
Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
(4.5)
(MG) (family, secrets, Autism)
A
Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck
(/)
(UG) (best friends, grief)
Ask
the Dark by Henry Turner
(4.9)
(UG) (kidnapping, mystery, juvenile delinquents)
Beholding
Bee by Kimberly Newton Fusco
(4.6)
(MG+) (orphans, physical deformities, societal outcasts, friendship)
Being
Henry David by Cal Armistead
(5.0)
(MG+) (amnesia, homelessness, friendship)
Bird by Angela Johnson
(4.2) (MG) (family, friendship,
abandonment)Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin
(4.7) (UG) (high school, suicide,
mystery, brothers and sisters)
Burning
Blue by Paul Griffin
(4.3)
(UG) (family, cutting, deception)
Canned by Alex Shearer
(4.2)
(MG-) (friendship, mystery, kidnapping, humor)
Challenger
Deep
by Neal Shusterman
(5.5)
(UG) (mental illness)
Charm
& Strange by Stephanie Kuehn *
(4.1)
(UG) (family secrets, ptsd, mental illness, survival, friendship)
Compromised
by Heidi Ayarbe
(3.3)
(UG) (runaways, friendship, survival)
Crash
and Burn by Michael Hassan
(6.3) (UG)
(ADHD, psychosis, school shooters)
Deacon
Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher
(/)
(MG+) (grandmothers, friendship, growing up)
Dead
End in Norvelt
by Jack Gantos
(5.7)
(MG) (family, elderly, humor, death)
Dead
Ends by Erin Jade Lange
(4.6)
(UG) (Down Syndrome, friendship, delinquents, fathers & sons, mystery, abuse)
Dead
to You by Lisa McMann
(3.8)
(UG) (kidnapping, family relationships, amnesia)
Death
by Eggplant by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe
(4.3)
(MG) (middle school, family)
Eight
Keys by Suzanne LaFleur
(3.8)
(MG) (family, orphans, secrets)
Eleven by Patricia
Reilly Giff
(4.1) (MG) (orphans, family,
friendship, secrets, learning disabilities, boys)
Emily’s
Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak
(3.7)
(UG) (grief, missing children, Emily Dickinson)
Fame
and Glory in Freedom Georgia by Barbara O’Connor
(4.3)
(MG-) (friendship, middle school, family relationships)
Fell
of Dark by Patrick Downes
(/)
(UG) (parent/child relationships, giftedness, mental illness, abuse)
Freak
Magnet by Andrew Auseon
(5.0)
(MG+) (romance, friendship, family relationships)
Freak
the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
(5.5)
(MG) (friendship, learning disabilities, death, physical handicaps)
Gentlemen
by Michael Northrop
(5.4)
(UG) (murder, friendship, teachers and students)
Going Underground by Susan Vaught
(5.2) (UG) (life-altering events,
friendship, probation)
Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt
(4.4) (MG+) (grandmothers, family
secrets, technology addiction)
Golden
Boy
by Tara Sullivan
(5.1)
(MG+) (Africa, albinos, survival, family, friendship, coming of age)
Half
Brother
by Kenneth Oppel
(4.4)
(MG) (family dynamics, psychology experiments)
Here
Today by Ann M. Martin
(4.9)
(MG) (family, friendship, abandonment)
If
You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
(4.5)
(UG) (kidnapping, neglect)
In
the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith
(4.9)
(UG) (brothers, psychopaths, survival)
Instructions for the End of the
World by Jamie Kain
(/) (MG+) (sisters, relationships
with parents)
Jellicoe
Road by Melina Marchetta *
(5.0)
(UG) (family, love, secrets, abandonment, surviving tragedy)
Kill
the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky
(/)
(MG+) (fangirls, mystery, humor)
Livvie
Owen Lived Here
by Sarah Dooley
(5.3)
(MG) (autism, family relationships)
Madapple
by Christina Meldrum
(4.8)
(UG) (family, secrets, murder)
Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn
(3.5) (UG) (domestic abuse, family, murder, friendship)
Of
Sound Mind by Jean Ferris
(5.1)
(MG+) (family, deafness)
Okay
for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
(4.9)
(MG) (family relationships, abuse, friendship)
Paper
Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard
(5.7)
(UG) (teenage boys, boarding school, relationships, secrets, death)
Perfectly Good White Boy by Carrie Mesrobian
(4.8) (UG) (relationships, life
choices)
Playing
in Traffic by Gail Giles
(3.8)
(UG) (deception, murder, relationships)
Pretty Girl - 13 by Liz Coley
(4.3) (UG) (kidnapping, multiple
personalities)
Rikers
High by Paul Volponi
(5.3)
(UG) (juvenile offenders, prison life)
Scrawl by Mark
Shulman*
(4.3)
(MG+) (poverty, high school, humor)
Sea
Legs
by Alex Shearer
(4.8)
(MG-) (brothers, pirates, humor, adventure)
Six
Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo
(4.4)
(MG+) (friendship, family, death)
Slam
by Nick Hornby
(4.4)
(UG) (teen pregnancy)
Since
You Asked by Maureen Goo
(4.6)
(MG+) (Korean Americans, family, friendship, high school)
Solitaire
by Alice Oseman
(/)
(MG+) (high school, sabotage, mystery, romance)
Sure
Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington
(4.8)
(MG) (family, mental illness)
Survive
by Alex Morel
(4.9)
(MG+) (survival, suicide, airline accidents)
Tending
to Grace by Kimberly Newton Fusco
(4.2)
(MG+) (abandonment, family relationships, stuttering)
The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
(4.0)
(UG) (Native Americans, family, friendship, high school)
The
Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan
(5.1)
(MG+) (Africa, child slave labor, brothers)
The
Cardturner by Louis Sachar
(5.0)
(MG) (poker, friendship, physical disabilities)
The
Counterfeit Family Tree of V. Crawford Wong
by L. Tam Holland
(5.2)
(UG) (family secrets, friendship, immigrants)
The
Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes
(3.8)
(MG+) (friendship, scandals, wilderness survival)
The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary by NoNieqa Ramos
(/) (UG) (poverty, neglect, family
relationships, friendship)
The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi
(/) (UG) (conspiracies, kidnapping)The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin
(5.1) (UG) (teenage girls, camps,
jealousy)
The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel
(6.3) (UG) (family relationships, coming of
age)
The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon by Sara Beitia
(6.0)
(UG) (missing persons, abuse)
The
Last True Love Story by Brendan Kiely
(5.3)
(UG) (grandfathers, Alzheimer’s, road trips, adoption, romance)
The
One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
(4.2)
(UG) (memory loss, relationships)
The
Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
(5.1)
(UG) (family, death, friendship, recovery from addiction)
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin*
(4.3) (UG) (family, child abuse,
survival)
The
Storyteller
by Antonia Michaelis
(4.7)
(UG+) (murder, mystery, siblings, survival, friendship, romance)
The
Sweet Revenge of Celia Door by Karen Finneyfrock
(5.7)
(UG) (friendship, bullying, *)
The Trap by John Smelcer
(6.2) (MG) (family, Alaska, Athabascan
Indians, wilderness survival)
The
Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick
(4.5)
(MG) (fathers & sons, grief, alcoholism, bullying)
There
Will Be Lies by Nick Lake
(4.8)
(UG) (mothers & daughters, family secrets)
Trapped
by Michael Northrop
(4.3)
(UG) (high school, blizzards, survival)
Trouble
by Gary D. Schmidt *
(5.7)
(UG) (family, secrets, racial intolerance, refugees, death)
Wild
by Alex Mallory
(MG+)
(feral children, orphans, romance)
Yaqui
Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
(4.3)
(UG) (bullying, inner-city high schools, friendship)
You
Are My Only by Beth Kephart
(4.4)
(UG) (mothers & daughters, mental illness, secrets, kidnapping)
You
Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle
(UG)
(friendship, coming of age, reality shows)
Note: Lists are arranged with Title, Author, Reading Level, Age Appropriate Level, and Descriptive Tags.
(Age appropriate level denotes the youngest readers that the book is appropriate for. That doesn't mean that older readers will not enjoy the book!)
* = books that I thought were GREAT
UG = upper grades (contain sex, drugs, and/or very graphic violence; deal with mature subject matter such as rape, prostitution, child abuse, etc. )
MG+ = junior high (may contain some profanity or sexual references; may deal with subject matter too mature for younger audiences)
MG = 4th through 6th grades (nothing inappropriate for children, but may not keep the interest of younger readers)
MG- = all ages (perfect for bedtime stories or read-alouds, or for precocious readers in the lower grades)
* = LGBTQ themes - characters, situations, or references to same-sex couples
Books included in this list are all ones that I have read myself and given a rating of at least 3 out of 5 Stars (why would I recommend anything less?) When a book is part of a series, only the first title is listed, but the reading level for all books in the series is shown. Lists will be updated periodically as I read new books.
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