College – the Real Deal 
Wondering what college will be like?  Read these books and find out!

 Battle Dress by Amy Efaw

As a newly arrived freshman at West Point, seventeen-year-old Andi finds herself gaining both confidence and self esteem as she struggles to get through the grueling six weeks of new cadet training known as the Beast.

Better Than Running At Night by Hillary Frank

A freshman art student from Manhattan spends her first year away from home in New England.

Beyond the Limbo Silence by Elizabeth Nunez

When Sara Edgehill leaves her home in Trinidad to attend college in Wisconsin, she finds solace and friendship with Courtney, another West Indian who covertly practices voodoo rituals, and Sam, a charismatic civil rights activist.

Body Bags by Christopher Golden

When one of her professors ends up dead, college freshman Jenna Blake starts making discoveries even the police have not seen, discoveries that link the late teacher to a dead congressional aide and a terrifying disease.

Jesse by Gary Soto 

Two Mexican American brothers hope that junior college will help them escape their heritage of tedious physical labor.

My Father’s Scar by Michael Cart

As he enters his first gay relationship, college freshman Andy Logan recalls key incidents in his life when he was growing up a lonely boy with an alcoholic, abusive father and an ineffectual mother in a homophobic community.

My Life As A Girl by Elizabeth Mosier

During her last summer in Phoenix, Arizona, before going to an eastern college, eighteen-year-old Jaime works two waitress jobs and plans her escape from a life forever changed by her father's prison sentence.

Number 6 Fumbles by Rachel Solar-Tuttle

Rebecca Lowe is an upbeat coed, the one who gets straight A's, the one friends and teachers count on. But when she sees No. 6 fumble the football at the Penn-Cornell game, Beck begins to question what would happen if she "fumbled the ball" in her own life. Suddenly filled with uncertainty, she begins to devolve, indulging in a personal odyssey of hard drinking and casual hookups, staying out all night as she tries to find the real Rebecca. But somehow the truth keeps evading her.

An Ocean Apart, A World Away by Lensey Namioka

Despite the odds facing her decision to become a doctor in 1920's Nanking, China, teenaged Yanyan leaves her family to study at Cornell University where, along with hard work, she finds prejudice and loneliness as well as friendship and a new sense of accomplishment.

On My Own, by Caitlin O’ Connor by Melody Carlson 

In her first year at college, Caitlin's diary reflects on her homesickness, the challenges of rooming with a non-Christian, and evolving friendships, old and new.

The Squared Circle by James Bennett

Sonny, a university freshman and star basketball player, finds that the pressures of college life, NCAA competition, and an unsettling relationship with his feminist cousin bring up painful memories that he must face before he can decide what is important in his life.

Sweetest Gift by Stephanie Perry Moore

During her freshman year in college, African-American teenager Payton adjusts to being away from home, deals with problems with boys and girlfriends, and discovers that her value is found in her relationship with Christ

Worst Case Scenario by Catherine Clark

Courtney, a vegetarian animal-rights activist, records in her diary the events of the beginning of her freshman year at a Wisconsin college, far away from Colorado and her boyfriend Grant, surrounded by cheese- and meat-lovers.

 

Researched and compiled by E. Burns, 7/28/2003