Edgy Books Your Pre-Teen Will Love

One Crazy Summer

by Rita Williams-Garcia

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer.

The Hunger Games

Series: The Hunger Games, Book #1

by Suzanne Collins

View the Video Interview with Suzanne Collins

Operation Red Jericho

by Joshua Mowll

A sister and brother's search for their missing parents uncovers a mysterious secret society in an action-filled sea-and-land saga centered in 1920s Shanghai.

Ender's Game

Series: Ender

by Orson Scott Card

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers.

Wintergirls

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in fragile bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the thinnest. But then Cassie suffers the ultimate loss — her life — and Lia is left behind, haunted by her friend's memory and racked with guilt for not being able to help save her.