A Journey Through the Pages: Exploring Clean & Compelling Novel Finds for Teenagers

I love reading books. The problem about today's generational books are that they are sub-plotted about romance and have immense swearing. Why? Well according to research, in recent years, there has been a drop in books read by teenagers, so the only way to keep them reading is to write them in their taste. Well, not EVERY teen has that taste!

I am trying to make a collection of 20 books, so your input would be extraordinary! It will obviously take time for more and more books to appear on list because it takes time to search for one with all these limitations, and read them myself. Hope you understand for the delay!

For now, take a look and get a read of these 18 books!

Prisoner B-3087

Author: Allan Gratz

Genre: Historical

Summary: Survive. At any cost.

Yanek Gruener is a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland when the Nazis invade. Everything he has and everyone he loves is brutally taken from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner, his arm tattooed with the number B-3087. Forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another as World War II rages around him, Yanek encounters evil he could never have imagined–and yet finds surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror.

10 different concentration camps. 10 different encounters with death.

Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will, and, most of all, his identity?

Based on the astonishing true story of one extraordinary boy.

Beautiful Blue World

Author: Suzanne LaFleur

Genre: Historical

Summary: This story captivates the life of a girl named Sofia, who lives in a war torn country, lacking safety and wealth. Sofarende is at war and the army is paying families well to recruit children, so if twelve-year-old Mathilde or her best friend Megs is chosen, they hope to help their families but fear they will be separated forever.

True Blue

Author: Deborah Ellis

Genre: Horrifying Mystery

Summary: Jess watched as her best friend Casey was being arrested, for murder, one she was not responsible. They had always worked together as camp counselors, but everything changed after an 8-year-old named Stephanie disappeared while under their supervision. Jess is growing weary of constantly being interrogated and is left with only a solitary 2:00 AM time slot to ride her bike aimlessly, contemplating her next steps.

Unplugged

Author: Gordon Korman

Genre: Suspense and Mystery

Summary: At a wellness camp, Electronics free, spoiled Jett that was once causing mishaps is now leading the other campers to stop a criminal.

The Bridge Home

Author: Padma Venkatraman

Genre: Survival

Summary: Four determined homeless kids make a life for themselves in Chennai, India.

This is not a personal Statement

Author: Tracy Badua

Genre: Lies

Summary: The story follows a gifted teenager, who after being rejected from her dream university, forges an acceptance letter to avoid getting in trouble by her parents and humiliating them. Upon arrival on her first day, she fakes her identity a lives in the dorm of a girl who would be away for a couple of weeks. From that point is where she begins her life of lies and stolen identity, leading her to doing things she wouldn't be allowed to do- both by her parents and by the law. (Although there is romantic elements, she is doing the wrong thing, and this is her journey on how she could have approached the issue differently)

Journey to the center of the Earth

Author: Jules Verne

Genre: Adventure

Summary: Professer Lidenbrock following the instructions of a medieval alchemist along with his nephew and a guide, begin their journey in an icelandic volcano in belief of making it to the center of the earth.

Grenade

Author: Allan Gratz

Genre: Historical

Summary: Two boys. Two grenades.

The day the Americans land on Okinawa during World War II, the Japanese Army pulls Hideki Kaneshiro and all the other boys out of middle school and gives them each two grenades. One grenade, they tell Hideki, is to kill an American soldier.

The other grenade is to kill himself.

Ray Majors is a newly-minted Marine from Nebraska, hitting the beach on Okinawa for his first action of World War II. He left home to get away from his father, who came back from World War I a broken, angry man. A monster. But how can Ray survive the Typhoon of Steel that is the Battle of Okinawa without becoming a monster himself?

Hideki and Ray are destined to meet — and when they do, both their lives will be changed forever

Refugee

Author: Allan Gratz

Genre: Historical

Summary: Three different kids.

One mission in common: ESCAPE.

Josef is a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world…

Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety and freedom in America…

Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe…

All three young people will go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers–from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But for each of them, there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, surprising connections will tie their stories together in the end.

Although some of them may be targeted at a little younger age, they are still compelling reads. If you have some recommendations, please leave a comment or privately message me with the Title, Author, Genre, and a brief description! 😄📚🙏🏼