Swim the Fly, by Don Calame, 2009. Fifteen-year-old Matt and his two best friends Sean and Coop, the least athletic swimmers on the local swim team, find their much anticipated summer vacation bringing them nothing but trouble with unsuccessful schemes to see a live naked girl and with Matt, eager to impress the swim team's "hot" new girl, agreeing to swim the 100-yard butterfly. Realistic fiction.
Carter Finally Gets It, by Brent Crawford, 2009. Awkward freshman Will Carter endures many painful moments during his first year of high school before realizing that nothing good comes easily, focus is everything, and the payoff is usually incredible. Realistic fiction.
Two Parties, One Tux and a Very Short Film About the Grapes of Wrath, by Steven Goldman, 2008. Mitchell Wells may not survive 11th grade. He really only has one friend. His normally decent grade point average is in limbo due to a slightly violent, somewhat inappropriate claymation film. And girls, well, does hanging out with his sister count? Then his friend reveals he's gay, one of the most popular girls in school decides she must date Mitchell, and--oh right--prom's coming up. Realistic fiction.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan, 2010. When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both. Realistic fiction.
Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies), by Justina Chen Headley. 2006. Fifteen-year-old Patty Ho, half Taiwanese and half white, feels she never fits in, but when her overly-strict mother ships her off to math camp at Stanford, instead being miserable, Patty starts to become comfortable with her true self. Realistic fiction.
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, by David Lubar, 2005. While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer. Realistic fiction.
100 Sideways Miles, by Andrew Smith, 2014. Finn Easton, 16 and epileptic, struggles to feel like more than just a character in his father's cult-classic novels with the help of his best friend, Cade Hernandez, and first love, Julia, until Julia moves away. Realistic fiction.
Trouble is a Friend of Mine, by Stephanie Tromley, 2015. After her parents' divorce, Zoe Webster moves from Brooklyn to upstate New York where she meets the weirdly compelling misfit, Philip Digby, and soon finds herself in aseries of hilarious and dangerous situations as he pulls her into his investigation into the kidnapping of a local teenage girl which may be related to the disappearance ofhis kid sister eight years ago. Mystery fiction.
It's Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini, 2006. A humorous account of a New York City teenager's battle with depression and his time spent in a psychiatric hospital. Realistic fiction