Here is a list of books for teens which portray people handling difficult situations with integrity. Many of these listings will be highly enjoyable for adults too.
Eventually there will be a brief descriptions explaining why each of these books warrants mention. If you've read the book and are willing to write a few sentences about it, thanks!
Please submit ideas for further listings at [email protected]
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm
For middle school and older.
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren
Ages 8 and up.
Most enjoyable perhaps for the younger teen and pre-teen, especially girls.
Most enjoyable perhaps for the younger teen and pre-teen, especially girls.
I Am David by Anne Holm
For ages 11 and up, boys and girls, and adults. This is a moving story about a 12-year-old boy who escapes from a communist concentration camp in post-War Bulgaria. He journeys to Switzerland by boat and on foot, slowly regaining his trust of humankind after nearly the whole of his life lived in the camp. (This is still appropriate for children since the brutality there is underplayed.) The story has a very happy ending and depicts several characters worthy of emulation. The movie is also riveting (Click on the "Other film recommendations" tab of this site).
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
For ages 12 and up, especially college-bound girls. Published originally in 1912, now re-issued by Puffin Classics in 1995, this is an epistolary novel (consisting of letters) outlining the college "career" and emotional development of an orphaned girl. Over the years she writes to her anonymous benefactor and these are the collected letters, as it were. The girl/woman has a wry and subversive wit, remaining just this side of decorum. For this, she is not merely tolerated but recognized highly for her insights and her fundamental integrity.
The Facts of Life (television series 1979-1988, now on DVD)
This is about girls in a boarding school and their mother-equivalent facing all kinds of issues that teens face: boyfriends, divorced parents, pregnancy, drugs, suicide and the like. Especially in the earlier seasons, the episodes are well-written and sensitive without being polly-anna-ish. The mother-guide offers information and sage advice to the girls, steering them in the direction of honesty and thoughtfulness. Later seasons are not nearly as engaging.
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
2002, animated
This movie depicts one aspect of the struggle in the 1800s between American Indians and the European settlement, told from the point of view of a horse. The supreme instance of integrity comes at the very end when one of Spirit's U.S. military pursuers decides to leave him alone after the man has an epiphany in which he gains respect for the horse.
This movie depicts one aspect of the struggle in the 1800s between American Indians and the European settlement, told from the point of view of a horse. The supreme instance of integrity comes at the very end when one of Spirit's U.S. military pursuers decides to leave him alone after the man has an epiphany in which he gains respect for the horse.
Bird Lake Moon a novel by Kevin Henkes
In this novel, probably appropriate for sixth graders and up (and also enjoyable for adults) the 13-year-old main character experiments with dishonest behaviors after he learns his parents will get a divorce. As he experiences the consequences of his acts on other people, he comes to see the damage and also to confess. This book is not dogmatic or simple, and presents the ethical struggles of this teen with non-clichéd clarity.