Read on for recommendations starring misfits, explorers, and teens who like to challenge the status quo.

Crank, Ellen Hopkins; Simon Pulse

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter, but she meets a boy who introduces her to drugs and becomes a very different person, struggling to control her life and her mind.”

Gingerbread, Rachel Cohn; Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“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.”

A Great And Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray; Delacorte Press

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.”

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, Deb Caletti; Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“In the summer of her junior year, sixteen-year-old Ruby McQueen and her mother, both nursing broken hearts, set out on a journey to reunite an elderly woman with her long-lost love, and in the process, learn many things about “the real ties that bind” people to one another.”

How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff; Wendy Lamb Books

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land. “Every war has turning points and every person too.” Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way. A riveting and astonishing story.”

How It's Done, Christine Kole MacLean; Flux

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“Brought up in a God-fearing home, eighteen-year-old Grace feels trapped in a “suburban Alcatraz” by her hypocritical holy roller father and timid mother. And then he walks into her life . . . Michael Irving is a college professor, a man of the world, more likely to quote Shelley than scripture, and he’s gorgeous. He is everything Grace has ever dreamed of - and he loves her. Freedom brings with it unanticipated complications, though, qnd Grace emerges from a cage only to find herself in a maze. She quickly discovers that being the lover - and then the fiancée - of an older man is not all poetry and chardonnay. Told from Grace’s perspective, How It’s Done is an unflinching and insightful story of a young woman discovering who she wants to be.”

Jude, Kate Morgenroth; Simon Pulse

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“Still reeling from his drug-dealing father’s murder, moving in with the wealthy mother he never knew, and transferring to a private school, fifteen year old Jude is tricked into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit.”

Nailed, Patrick Jones; Walker, Distributed To The Trade By Holtzbrinck Publishers

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“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.”

Naruto, Vol. 1 (Library Edition) (Naruto), Masashi Kishimoto; VIZ Media LLC

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“In another world, ninja are the ultimate power—and in the village of Konohagakure live the stealthiest ninja in the world. But twelve years ago Konohagakure was attached by a fearsome threat—a nine-tailed fox demon which claimed the life of the Hokage, the village champion. Today, peace has returned, and a troublemaking orphan named Uzumaki Naruto is struggling to graduate from the ninja Academy. His goal: to become the next Hokage. But unknown to Naruto and his classmates, within him is a terrifying force…”

True Confessions Of A Heartless Girl, Martha Brooks; HarperTempest

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“A confused seventeen-year-old girl, a single mother and her young son, two elderly women, and a sad and lonely man, with their own individual tragedies to bear, come together in a small Manitoba town and find a way to a better future.”

Returnable Girl, Pamela Lowell; Marshall Cavendish Children's Books

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“Friendship with an outcast classmate and memories of her mother’s desertion interfere with the relationship thirteen-year-old Ronnie tries to establish with her new foster mother.”

The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares; Thorndike Press

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“During their first summer apart, four teenage girls, best friends since earliest childhood, stay in touch through a shared pair of secondhand jeans that magically adapts to each of their figures and affects their attitudes to their different summer experiences.”

Surrender, Sonya Hartnett; Candlewick Press

I’ll Do It My Way: Rebellious Protagonists

“As he is dying, a twenty-year-old man known as Gabriel recounts his troubled childhood and his strange relationship with a dangerous counterpart named Finnigan.”