Adams, Douglas.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe.
Arthur Dent, a refugee from the late planet Earth, and his pal from the planet Betelgeuse, Ford Prefect, thumb their way through comic misadventures throughout the universe.
Anderson, M.T. Burger Wuss.
Hoping to lose his loser image, Anthony plans revenge on a bully which results in a war between two competing fast food restaurants.
Avi. Romeo and Juliet Together (and Alive!) at Last.
The eighth grade’s plan to get two reluctant “lovers” together by means of a classroom production of Shakespeare’s play has some very unexpected results.
Bauer, Joan. Squashed.
As a sixteen-year-old pursues her two goals – growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself – she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.
Also recommended: Thwonk
Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat.
Bleach-blond L.A. girl Weetzie Bat encounters a genie who grants her three wishes: a Hollywood cottage, a dream man for her and a surfer guy for her gay friend, Dirk but Weetzie’s wishes soon begin to backfire.
Cabot, Meg. The Princess Diaries.
Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the Prince of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess and the heir to the throne.
Also recommended:
Princess in Love
Princess in Pink
Princess in the Spotlight
Princess in Waiting
Conford, Ellen. A Royal Pain.
A sixteen-year-old in Kansas, who discovers she is really a princess, is taken to a tiny European monarchy to assume her duties and marry a distasteful neighboring prince, and in the ensuing weeks tries to become such a "royal pain” that everyone will want to be rid of her.
Danziger, Paula. The Pistachio Prescription.
A high school “freshperson” attempts to rise above such inconveniences of life as her older sister, parents and school.
Also recommended:
This Place Has No Atmosphere
Elish, Don. Born Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth-Grade Basket Case.
Thirteen-year-old Matt is so envious of his best friend Keith that he wishes things would go badly for him, and when Keith’s fortune changes while at the same time Matt finds his first true girl friend, Matt is overcome with guilt.
Evans, Douglas. The Classroom at the End of the Hall.
Strange things are happening in the classroom at the end of the hall, like a chalk genie that appears while the erasers are being cleaned, and the new art teacher who resembles a stick figure.
Ferris, Jean. Love Among the Walnuts: Or, How I Saved My Family from Being Poisoned.
Born and raised in isolation in a wealthy, eccentric family, Sandy is shocked when he, his parents and their servants become victims of a vicious plot by his greedy uncles to incapacitate them and take their money.
Also recommended:
Once Upon a Marigold
Gantos, Jack. Jack’s Black Book.
Comic misadventures ensue when seventh-grader Jack tries to write the great American novel.
Also recommended:
Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade
Gliori, Debi. Pure Dead Magic.
The Strega-Borgia children accidentally create five hundred clones of themselves at the same time that the roof on their Scottish castle falls in, attracting evil contractors who want their home,
Also recommended:
Pure Dead Wicked
Pure Dead Brilliant
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot.
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.
Jones, Jennifer B. Dear Mrs. Ryan, You’re Ruining My Life.
In an effort to get his mother to stop writing about him in her books, fifth-grader Harvey and his best friend decide to try to make a romantic connection between her and their school principal.
Keller, Beverly. The Amazon Papers.
Fifteen-year-old Iris gets into hilarious trouble when her mother goes on vacation and leaves her alone.
Koertge, Ronald. Confess-O-Rama.
While his mother grieves the death of her fourth husband, Tony vents his feelings to the Confess-O-Rama, never suspecting who’s on the other end of the line.
Korman, Gordon. The Chicken Doesn’t Skate.
Wild things happen at the South Middle School when Milo’s science project, Henrietta the chicken, becomes the hockey team’s mascot and their only chance for a winning season.
Also recommended:
The 6th Grade Nickname Game
Losing Joe’s Place
No More Dead Dogs
Son of the Mob
Something Fishy at MacDonald Hall
Lynch, Chris. Slot Machine.
When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul’s Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong.
Mills, Claudia. You’re a Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman.
Twelve-year-old Julius has his hands full over the summer when his mother attempts to improve his grades and teach him responsibility by signing him up for a French class and getting him a job babysitting.
Paulsen, Gary. The Schernoff Discoveries.
Harold and his best friend, both hopeless geeks and societal misfits, try to survive unusual science experiments, the attacks of the football team and other dangers of junior high school.
Also recommended:
The Boy who Owned the School
Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered
Peck, Richard. A Year Down Yonder.
During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of the fearsome woman.
Also recommended:
A Long Way from Chicago
Pullman, Philip. I Was a Rat.
A boy turns life in London upside-down when he appears at the house of a lonely old couple and insists he was a rat.
Rennison, Louise. Angus,Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.
Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.
Also Recommended:
On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas: Further, Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants: Even Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Robinson, Barbara. The Worst School Year Ever.
The six horrible Heardmans, the worst kids in the history of the world, cause mayhem throughout the school year.
Sheldon, Dyan. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
In her first year at a suburban New Jersey high school, Mary Elizabeth Cep, who now calls herself “Lola,” sets her sights on the lead in the annual drma production, and finds herself in conflict with the most popular girls in school.
Also recommended:
Planet Janet
Sleator, William. Oddballs: Stories.
A collection of stories based on experiences from the author’s youth and peopled with an unusual assortment of family and friends.
Strasser, Todd. Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date.
When Brad asks someone else to the senior prom, Nicole resorts to a desperate measure – she decides to make her next-door neighbor over into a dream date.
Also recommended:
How I Spent My Last Night on Earth
Tolan, Stephanie. Surviving the Applewhites.
Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family’s Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.
Van Draanen, Wendelin. How I Survived Being a Girl.
Twelve-year-old Carolyn, who has always wished she were a boy, begins to see things in a new light when her sister is born.
Williams, Carol Lynch. A Mother to Embarrass Me.
Twelve-year-old Laura can hardly believe how embarrassing her mother has become, especially now that she is pregnant.