There are many religions across the globe.  This list provides a starting point for exploring fiction around some of the major religions. After reading fiction, you might be interested in more information.  We conclude the list with some non-fiction titles.  For more recommendations, just ask us.  We’re happy to help.

Buddhism:
Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja YFIC KOJ
A Buddhist boy has trouble being accepted by the other students in a contemporary high school. Assigned to work on a joint project with another student, he begins to fit in.

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick YFIC SON
Thirteen-year-old San Lee is the new student in his middle school. He uses his Zen Buddhism knowledge to make an impression on his classmates.

Roots and Wings by Many Ly YFIC LY
Grace is an Asian-American whose mother is Cambodian. While in Florida to arrange for her grandmother’s funeral, she learns more about her Cambodian heritage and her Buddhist religious beliefs.

Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen YFIC YOL
Fourteen-year-old Marina and sixteen-year-old Jed accompany their parents’ religious cult, The Believers, to await the end of the world on a remote mountaintop.

Beyond the Reflection’s Edge by Bryan Davis YSF DAV
Sixteen-year-old Nathan has lost his parents, an investigator and a violinist. He joins forces with the daughter of a family friend to continue his father’s work, which takes them into another world where they must deal with dark forces they do not understand.

The Book of Jude by Kimberly Heuston YFIC HEU
It is 1989, and Jude’s mother has accepted a Fulbright scholarship to study art at a university in Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). The family postpones its plans to move to Utah in order to join her there, and the move to a country in an unstable political situation causes psychological difficulties for Jude.

A Friend at Midnight by Caroline Cooney YFIC COO
Lily’s younger brother has gone to live with his father after their parents’ divorce. When her brother calls one night to say his father has abandoned him at the airport in Baltimore, Lily must deal with her feelings of bitterness and resentment.

The God Box by Alex Sanchez YFIC SAN
A gay high school transfer student who is a Christian causes his schoolmate Paul, a religious high school student, to examine Christian teachings and his own beliefs concerning homosexuality.

Long Gone Daddy by Helen Hemphill YFIC HEM
Fourteen-year-old Harlan Q. Stank has had a rift with his preacher father. He is now apprenticing with the local funeral home, which is where he first meets his grandfather, on the mortuary table. He talks his father into driving his grandfather’s body to Las Vegas for burial in the mortuary’s station wagon to fulfill the terms of his grandfather’s will. Various hilarious situations result during this epic road trip.

Hinduism:
Maya Running by Anjali Bannerjee YFIC BAN
Maya is a middle-school student born in India, now living in Manitoba, Canada. Her cousin, Pinky, arrives from India to visit, bringing a statue of the god Ganesha. Maya must reconcile these two cultural traditions in her own life.

Shiva’s Fire by Suzanne Fisher Staples YFIC STA
A teenaged dancer gives up her family and friends to dance under the direction of a guru.

Tusk and Stone by Malcolm Bosse YFIC BOS
A 14-year-old Brahmin boy named Arjun living in 7th century India is traveling in an elephant caravan to study in a distant city when a criminal gang attacks them, kidnaps his sister, and sells Arjun into the Army. Arjun has many jobs as he travels throughout India, and the book talks about the Hindu gods and about different roles in Indian society in the 7th century.

Does My Head Look Big in This?

In the Name of God by Paula Jolin YFIC JOL
Seventeen-year-old Nadia becomes involved in a violent revolutionary group in Syria. This group aims to uphold a strict version of Islam based on the laws of the Qu’ran, and to support Muslim rule in Syria against the increasing influence of Western politics and materialism, which affect her family.

The Flame Tree by Richard Lewis YFIC LEW
Isaac is a son of Christian missionary doctor parents living in Indonesia about the time of September 11, 2001. His best friend is Ismail, a Muslim of the same age. Isaac’s parents decide he should return to the U.S., but he is kidnapped by Muslim extremists who want to convert him to Islam. (It includes graphic details.) This book reveals links between Christianity and Islam, and examines how religious ideas can lead to atrocities against humanity if incorrectly interpreted. The author is the son of missionaries in real life.

Judaism:
The Deeper Song by Patricia Curtis Pfitsch YFIC PFI
Judith, the daughter of a high priest of Solomon, decides to write down the oral scriptures. She confronts the traditional role of women in her society.

Drummers of Jericho by Carolyn Meyer YFIC MEY
A fourteen-year-old Jewish girl goes to live with her father and stepmother in a small town where there are few Jewish families. She objects when the marching band of which she is a member plans to march in the formation of a cross.

Pharaoh’s Daughter: A Novel of Ancient Egypt by Julius Lester YFIC LES
This is the story of Miriam, the sister of Moses, who accompanies her baby brother to the Pharoah’s court to live there. She is torn between her Jewish faith and her ambition to advance in Pharoah’s service, which would require her to adopt the Egyptian religion.

In the Shadow of the Ark by Anne Provoost YFIC PRO
This novel is a contemporary retelling of the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark.

Secrets in the House of Delgado by Gloria D. Miklowitz YFIC MIK
It is 1492 in Spain, which is the time of the Inquisition. Members of religious faiths other than Catholicism are being persecuted. Maria, who is Jewish, is offered a job working for the Delgados, a wealthy Catholic family, but the Church asks something of her in return.

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah by Fiona Rosenbloom YFIC ROS
Stacy Friedman is preparing for her bat mitzvah and everything seems to be going wrong, including her relationship with her Mom and her crush on Andy Goldfarb.

Just The Facts:

General:
My Friends’ Beliefs by Hiley H. Ward 290W
This book contains interviews with teenagers who actively practice their faiths.

Daughters of the Desert: Stories of Remarkable Women from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Traditions by Claire Rudolf Murphy Y220.92D
This book is a collection of short stories about the lives of individual women taken from the scriptures in the Bible and the Qu’ran. The background was well researched.

What You Will See Inside a Hindu Temple by Mahendra Jani J 294.5 J
This book has photographs of the basic elements of a Hindu temple.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction by David Macaulay J 726.6M 1999
This book shows how a medieval cathedral in Europe was built through line drawings and descriptions.

Judaism:
The Synagogue by H.A. Meek 296.6M 1995
This book contains photographs of historical synagogues throughout the world.

Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life by Edward Feinstein Y296.7F

Shinto:
Shinto by Paula Hartz J299.56H 1997