YA Literature with Rock and Roll Themes

Block, Francesca Lia. Cherokee Bat & the Goat Guys. (1992)—With their parents away, four young people form a rock band that becomes wildly popular, carrying them into a "freer" life than they can cope with.

*Catelucci, Cecil. Beige. (2007)—Katy, a quiet French Canadian teenager, reluctantly leaves Montréal to spend time with her estranged father, an aging Los Angeles punk rock legend.

*Cohn, Rachel. Pop Princess. (2005)—Yearning to escape the small Massachusetts town where her family retreated after her sister’s death, Wonder Blake gets her chance when her sister’s manager offers Wonder a record contract on her sixteenth birthday.

*Cohn, Rachel and David Levithan. Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List. (2007)—Although they have been friends and neighbors all their lives, straight Naomi and gay Ely find their relationship severely strained during their freshman year at New York University.

*Cohn, Rachel and David Levithan. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. (2006)—High school student Nick O’Leary, member of a rock band, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to avoid his ex-sweetheart.

Conrad, Liza. Rock My World: A Novel of Thongs, Spandex, and Love in G Minor. (2005)—Seventeen-year-old Livy finds herself on the road with her father when her first assignment as an intern for Rock On magazine is to do a profile for his band’s reunion tour.

*Dent, Grace. LBD: It’s a Girl Thing. (2004)—Barred by their overprotective parents from attending a rock music festival, fourteen-year-olds Ronnie, Fleur, and Claude, also known as "Les Bambinos Dangereuses," decide to stage their own music festival at Blackwell School.

*Dessen, Sarah. This Lullaby. (2002)—Raised by a mother who’s had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.

*Dessen, Sarah. Just Listen. (2006)—Isolated from friends who believe the worst because she has not been truthful with them, sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.

*Garfinkle, D.L. The Band. (trilogy) (2007)—The friends in the band Amber Road always back each other up, onstage and off, but just as they have a chance to be noticed as professional musicians, an impulsive game threatens to tear them apart.

*Going, K.L. Fat Kid Rules the World. (2003)— 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.

Hornby, Nick. High Fidelity. (1995)—In a candid, engaging narrative voice, 35-year-old pop-music fanatic Rob, the owner of a vintage record shop who has just broken up with his longtime girlfriend, attempts to ease his misery by giving an account of his top-five most memorable split-ups.

*Hughes, Mark Peter. Lemonade Mouth. (2007)—A disparate group of high school students thrown together in detention form a band to play at a school talent show and end up competing with a wildly popular local rock band.

*Jones, Patrick. Nailed. (2006)—An outcast in a school full of jocks, sixteen-year-old Bret struggles to keep his individuality through his interest in drama and music, while trying to reconnect with his father.

*Korman, Gordon. Born to Rock. (2006)—High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his biological father is a punk rock legend.

*Krovatin, Christopher. Heavy Metal and You. (2005)—High schooler Sam begins losing himself when he falls for a preppy girl who wants him to give up getting wasted with his best friends and even his passion for heavy metal music in order to become a better person.

Landis, J.D. The Band Never Dances. (1989)—Working through the anguish of her beloved brother’s suicide and trying to forge an identity of her own, sixteen-year-old Judy goes on tour as drummer for the hot new rock band Wedding Night and forms love-hate relationships with two handsome musicians.

*Lane, Dakota. Orpheus Obsession. (2005)—Sixteen-year-old Anooshka Star who has a tumultuous relationship with her mother, becomes obsessed with a rock singer and follows him into his world, and an unexpected death magnifies her troubles.

*Lyga, Barry. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. (2006)—A fifteen-year-old "geek" who keeps a list of the high school jocks and others who torment him, and pours his energy into creating a great graphic novel, encounters Kyra, Goth Girl, who helps change his outlook on almost everything, including himself.

Manning, Sarra. Guitar Girl. (2003)—As her band, The Hormones, becomes an international sensation, seventeen-year-old Molly begins to question the high cost of fame.

*McNamee, Graham. Hate You. (1999)—Nursing hatred for the father who choked her and damaged her voice as a child, seventeen-year-old Alice writes songs she feels she cannot sing and seeks to reconcile her feelings for herself and her father.

Nelson, Black. Rock Star Superstar. (2004)—When Pete, a talented bass player, moves from playing in the high school jazz band to playing in a popular rock group, he finds the experience exhilarating even as his new fame jeopardizes his relationship with girlfriend Margaret.

Portman, Frank. King Dork. (2006)—High school loser Tom Henderson discovers that “The Catcher in the Rye” may hold the clues to the many mysteries in his life.

*Sakuishi Harold. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (manga). (2005)—Beck begins the compelling story of a boy who discovers who he is through music. A teenage boy meets an amazing guitar player and together they form the band Beck. Follow the bands ever-challenging road to fame, as told through the eyes of the impressionable boy.

Triana. Gaby. Backstage Pass. (2004)—After moving to Miami, Florida, sixteen-year-old Desert McGraw, whose life as the daughter of a rock star has been anything but normal, determines to make a permanent home for herself and her family—even if it means breaking up the band.

Watts, Leander. The Beautiful City of the Dead. (2006)—After joining a heavy metal band, high school student Zee learns that she is a god of water and is called upon to fight sinister forces that want her powers for their own.

*Westerfeld, Scott. The Last Days. (2006)—As an ancient evil stirs beneath the streets of New York City, infecting rats and people like a plague, five quirky teens come together to form a "New Sound" band whose music seems to have paranormal power.

*Yolan, Jane. Pay the Piper: A Rock ‘n Roll Fairy Tale. (2005)—When Callie interviews the band, Brass Rat, for her school newspaper, her feelings are ambivalent, but when all the children of Northampton begin to disappear on Halloween, she knows where the dangerous search must begin.

*Included in the Belmont Collection