Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki, and Houston, James D. Farewell to Manzanar. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1973. ISBN 0913374040. Ages 9-14.

The true story of one spirited Japanese American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention, and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States. This true story offers a real look at Japanese Internment during World War II, but does so through a child's eyes, simplifying the experience in some ways. The content can be more appropriate for older tweens at times, dealing with issues like death and alcoholism. Tweens will identify with Jeanne's struggle to be herself when her family tells her it’s one thing and society tells her it’s another.

Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. Greenwillow Books, 2001. ISBN 0688180191. Ages 12-14.

Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students. TJ embodies many different aspects of everyday older tweens--he is multiracial, athletic, adopted, angry, and suffers from issues of abandonment. However, he takes all of these things with stride, and uses the best of them to try and save others. Many tweens will find aspects of his character that they can relate to, as well as the band of outcasts he forms his swim team with. Tweens will also be intrigued by the unconditional support of TJ's adopted, hippy parents.

Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses. Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1944. ISBN 978-0152052607. Ages 9-12.

Wanda Petronski is different—she has a different name, she is plain and poor, and she is shy and quiet. But Peggy, Maddie, and the other girls tease her because she claims she has one hundred dresses, even though she wears the same drab one every day. Maddie wishes they wouldn’t tease her, but does not speak up until it is too late and the Petronskis leave due to their poor treatment. Written for younger tweens, even reluctant readers with little experience reading chapter books will sail through this simple story. Girls may identify with the story more, and can learn about the cattiness and bullying that often occurs between them in real life. All readers will take away from the story the moral that just because someone is different does not make it right to tease and bully them.

Herman, Mark. (Director). (2008). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas [Motion picture]. United States: Miramax Films. Ages 13-14.

After Bruno’s soldier father receives a promotion in Nazi Germany, Bruno and his family move to the country. Cooped up and bored, Bruno begins to explore the surrounding area where he sees farmers working in their pajamas, and befriends a young Jewish boy named Shmuel behind an electrified wire fence. Young and naïve, Bruno believes that the fence is up for Shmuel’s protection. Then one day Bruno decides to help Shmuel find his missing father by stealing into the camp disguised in a pair of Shmuel’s pajamas, with horrifyingly tragic results. Based on the bestselling young adult novel by John Boyne.

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 978-0375831003. Ages 12-14.

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young orphaned German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her foster family, their neighbors, and the Jewish man they are hiding in their basement in war-torn Munich. But when the Nazis close in on her Jewish friend, Liesel must witness one of the most heart-wrenching and terrifying experiences of the Holocaust.

Though Liesel begins the story as a nine-year-old and we follow her through her childhood, the content of the story is quite complex and full of adult content simplified through the eyes of a child. Tweens interested in learning about Nazi Germany and Holocaust history, as well as those who have ever experienced issues of abandonment and/or finding themselves will enjoy this story. It can be powerful and emotional at times, but extremely rewarding. Death's commentary and Max's drawings add a special touch to the story as a whole.

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little, Brown and Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0316013680. Ages 12-14.

Amateur cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Though his intent is to get a better education, he endures prejudice and bullying both from the kids in the new school where he sticks out like a sore thumb and from the reservation he has chosen to abandon. Despite suffering through these circumstances as well as other personal tragedies, Junior finds solace and humor in his artwork, as well as basketball, and begins to make a life for himself. And in turn, he learns what it means to define his culture, instead of letting it define him.