Imagined Diaries

Anonymous, Annie’s Baby.

A teenager writes about the relationship between herself and her boyfriend, and how they deal with her unplanned pregnancy and the difficult choices that face them.

Anonymous

Go Ask Alice

(Prentice-Hall, 1971)

The classic diary of a girl whose life is thrown into ruin when she uses drugs and alcohol.

Anonymous

It Happened to Nancy

(Avon Books, 1994)

A fourteen year old’s diary about contracting the HIV virus from a rapist.

Anonymous

Jay’s Journal

(Times Books, 1979)

A boy records the reasons for his growing depression in the months before he commits suicide.

Bloor, Edward

Tangerine

(Harcourt Brace 1997)

A boy fights for the right to play soccer despite his bad eyesight.

Blos, Joan

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal 1830-32; A Novel

(Aladdin, 1979)

The journal of a 14 year old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, recording the daily events in her small town and the changes in her family.

Blume, Judy

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

A young teenager struggles with her mixed-religion family and the changes her body is going though.

Brown, Todd
Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook
(Washington Square,1995)
A high school freshman keeps account of his family's failings, his friends' problems, his gay identity, and his quest for spiritual peace.

Butler, Octavia
Parable of the Sower
(Warner,1993)
A young woman tracks community destruction and religious rebirth in the 21st century.

Chbosky, Stephen

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

(Simon and Schuster, 1999)

Charlie writes letters to an anonymous friend (basically, a way of journaling) to record the frustrations of his freshman year.

Cole, Sheila
What Kind of Love?
(Lothrop, Lee & Shepard,1995)
A 15-year-old girl reveals her own reactions and those of her friends and family as her unplanned pregnancy develops.

Cushman, Karen
Catherine, Called Birdy
(Clarion,1994)
In the Middle Ages, a young girl faces her father's demands that she marry a suitor whom she does not want.

Deem, James
3 NBs of Julian Drew
(Houghton Mifflin,1994)
An abused boy writes in code about his life.

Denenberg, Barry
3 When Will This Cruel World Be Over?: the Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson
(Scholastic,1996)
A fourteen-year-old Virginia girl chronicles her family's losses.

Haddix, Marjorie

Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dumphrey

(Simon & Schuster, 1996)

Trish chronicles the changes in her life that result when her abusive father returns.

Hamilton, Fritz
Love, Debra
(Open Hand,1990)
A runaway girl addresses the entries in her diary to her dead mother.

Hesse, Karen

The Music of Dolphins

(Scholastic, 1996)

Researchers learn that an adolescent they have rescued from the ocean has been raised by dolphins and they attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world. This is her "diary" of the changes she goes through.

Holmes, Barbara Ware
Letters to Julia
(HarperCollins,1997)
Encouraged by a friendly editor, Liz channels her frustration with her family into a novel.

Mahon, K.L.
Just One Tear
(Lothrop, Lee & Shepard,1993) Frustrated by his inability to see justice done when his father is murdered, a boy keeps a record of his pain.

Marsden, John
So Much to Tell You
(Joy Street,1989)
A mute Australian girl writes about her traumatic past.

Newman, Leslea

Fat Chance

(Putnam, 1994)

In a series of diary entries, Judi recounts her attempts to lose weight, hide her bulimia, and find a boyfriend.

Schami, Rafik
A Hand Full of Stars
(Dutton,1987)
Set in Damascus, Syria, this German novel explores political repression and rebellion.

Terris, Susan
Nell's Quilt
(Farrar Straus Giroux,1987)
A teenager in 1899 New England dreams of college but faces the prospect of an arranged marriage instead.

Townsend, Sue
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
(Avon,1985)
Adrian's working class London comes to life with the laugh-out-loud scenes he describes in his diary.

Walker, Alice
The Color Purple
(Washington Square Press,1983)
In her letters to God, Celie describes a life of abuse and her ultimate refusal to be a victim.

Woodson, Jacqueline
From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun
(Scholastic,1995)
A 14-year-old boy uses his journal as a place to vent his feelings about his mother's new relationship.

Zindel, Paul
The Amazing and Death Defying Diary of Eugene Dingman
(Harper & Row,1987)
Eugene's love life is far from perfect the summer he's 15.