Adult Books for Teens

Court recently wished she had a list for a family of books in the adult section to suggest to teens.

Of course, each one of these readers' advisory conversations is an adventure of its own as you try to figure out if the question is "what can my brilliant 12 year-old read that won't have a whisper of sex?" OR "what will appeal to my jaded 15-year-old?" OR "what's kinda-clean for my high schooler?" Here are some jumping-off points:

Multnomah County Library list.

Overbooked.org has a long list that begins with genre; give the URL to the kid so s/he can explore.

YALSA's Outstanding Books for the College Bound helps readers prepare for college (or suggest to anyone who missed college or missed reading those Everyone Has Read-type books). From my knowledge of some of those titles, don't use this as a tool for someone who needs completely clean titles. NP owns a print version of the list: REF 011.625 MORE. An older edition circulates.

YALSA's Alex Award books are titles marketed to adults that teens may like. Again, not 100% G-rated.

Your best bet for G and PG-rated lists are CHPL's RA bookmarks. For adults, try "Gentle Reads"; for teens there's one called "Books that Don't Make You Blush."