Odd Man Out: fiction about being yourself
compiled 11/19/05

Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins
YA FIC ATKI
Participating in a special after-school counseling class with other troubled students, including a sensitive gay classmate, helps Susan, an overweight tenth grader, develop a better sense of herself.

Dancing In Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone
YA FIC CIRR
Kayla, although she's a talented dancer, doesn't have the physique of a prima ballerina. After she loses out on a lead role, a teacher tells her that it's because of her well-endowed figure, and suggests cosmetic surgery.

Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
YA FIC COHN
After being expelled from a fancy boarding school, Cyd Charisse's problems with her mother escalate after Cyd falls in love with a sensitive surfer and is subsequently sent from San Francisco to New York City to spend time with her biological father. Sequel is Shrimp.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
YA FIC CRUT
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.

Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going
YA FIC GOIN
Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band.

The Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
YA FIC HART
A group of gay and lesbian teenagers finds mutual support when they form the "Geography Club" at their high school.

The Misfits by James Howe
YA FIC HOWE
Four students who do not fit in at their small-town middle school decide to create a third party for the student council elections to represent all students who have ever been called names. Sequel is Totally Joe.

Alice, I Think by Susan Juby
YA FIC JUBY
Fifteen-year-old Alice keeps a diary as she struggles to cope with the embarrassments and trials of family, dating, school, work, small town life, and a serious case of "outcastitis." First in a series.

Stoner & Spaz by Ron Koertge
YA FIC KOER
A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman.

Hidden Talents by David Lubar
YA FIC LUBA
When thirteen-year-old Martin arrives at an alternative school for misfits and problem students, he falls in with a group of boys with psychic powers and discovers something surprising about himself.

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
YA 741.5 NA
When Courtney and her materialistic parents move in with mysterious Uncle Aloysius, she doesn't expect this to be a good move. Little does she know how much she has in common with him. First in a series.

Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol
YA FIC OATE
When sixteen-year-old Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid.

On the Fringe
YA FIC ON
This collection of short stories looks at kids on the outside: kids who aren't athletes, aren't on student council, aren't "cool". The lineup of authors is stellar, and the collection is terrific. These stories don't center around kids who cracked under years of abuse. It centers around kids who are heroic in their daily lives; kids who show courage just by walking down the halls of school.

Luna by Julie Ann Peters
YA FIC PETE
Regan's life would be difficult enough, as any 15-year-old girl's would. But it's far more complicated than that. Regan's brother, Liam, is a transsexual and Regan is the only one that knows Liam's secret. She's always looked out for him. But where does taking care of Liam stop and taking care of Regan begin?

Elsewhere by Will Shetterly
YA FIC SHET
Ron, a teenage runaway, comes of age among the punk elves and humans of Bordertown, a run-down city on the border between the real world and the magic world of Faerie.

Lucy the Giant by Sherri L. Smith
YA FIC SMIT
Fifteen-year-old Lucy, the largest girl in her school, leaves her small Alaska town and her alcoholic father and discovers hardship--and friendship--posing as an adult aboard a commercial fishing boat.

Cruise Control by Terry Trueman
YA FIC TRUE
Paul's brother is completely dysfunctional, but Paul isn't. And Paul feels like his life is consumed by the attention his brother needs.

Razzle by Ellen Wittlinger
YA FIC WITT
When his retired parents buy a group of tourist cabins on Cape Cod, fifteen-year-old Kenyon Baker's days are filled with repair work until he becomes friends with an eccentric girl and makes her the subject of a series of photographs.