Some suggestions relating to this question
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy, by Sonya Sones
(1999) –
When her older sister has a nervous breakdown, 13 year old Cookie struggles to adjust. With so many bad things happening, one great surprise is that Cookie begins taking pictures and uses photography as a way to heal. Could open up conversations about mental illness, especially
as it relates to siblings. A novel in verse based on events in Sones's own life; suggested for grades 6-9 by Booklist & School Library Journal.
Born Confused, by Tanuja Desai Hidier (2002)
- Dimple is 17 and describes herself as "not quite Indian, not quite American." She is fascinated with photography and calls it her "third eye" -- but is also trying to learn how to become more than just an observer. What will she do when her beautiful but manipulative best friend starts taking over her culture and the boy she likes? Praised for its "exuberant" and "breathtaking" language; starred reviews in Publishers Weekly & Kirkus; suggested for grades 9 and up in Booklist and SLJ.
Razzle, by Ellen Wittlinger (2001)
- It couldn't be a bigger disaster when 15 year old Kenyon's parents buy a group of tourist cabins on Cape Cod. If Kenyon thought his life was "on hold" until now, spending his summer repairing the crumbling cabins is no help. Then he meets Razzle, an eccentric, independent, junk-collecting girl with a buzz cut. Ken starts taking portraits of Razzle -- and all of a sudden he's in the middle of the summer that's going to change his life. Suggested grades 7-12 in Booklist, 7-10 in SLJ.
The Seer of Shadows, by Avi (2008)
- (summary straight from Novelist) - "In New York City in 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs, but when Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn." Might be a little young for your list -- PW & Kirkus suggest ages 8-12 -- but it did
get starred reviews in SLJ & PW and could work.
Picture Perfect, by Elaine Marie Alphin (2003) –
A psychological thriller (and who doesn't love one of those) about 14 year old Teddy, who disappears in a redwood forest, and 15 year old Ian, who is a gifted photographer but is also keeping a terrifying secret about his abusive father (who's also his school's principal). Ian becomes a suspect in Teddy's disappearance, forcing him to confront what he's been hiding.
Most review sources suggest grades 9 and up.
Pictures, 1918, by Jeanette Ingold (1998)
(also straight from Novelist) - "Coming of age in a rural Texas community in 1918, fifteen-year-old Asia assists in the local war effort, contemplates romance with a local boy, and expands her horizons through her pursuit of photography." Suggested gr 6-9 in Booklist, 7 and up in SLJ; starred review in Kirkus.
Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain, by Jan Cheripko (2006)
- Danny's father died in the woods. Eight years later, Danny (not quite 18 years old) has dropped out of college and spends most of his time taking pictures of those same woods, which are also under constant threat from federal, state, and county authorities. Not everything is at it seems. Grades 10 and up.
The Spirit Catchers: An Encounter with Georgia O'Keefe, by Kathleen Kudlinski (2004) –
(straight from Novelist) - "During the Great Depression, fifteen-year-old Parker finds himself homeless and traveling across New Mexico's desert, when a shepherd leads him to the artist
Georgia O'Keeffe who teaches him photography and gives him a new perspective on life." Check this one out first -- could be too curriculum-focus for fun (it's apparently part of an "art
historical-fiction series"). Suggested grades 6-9.
Gray Horses, by Hope Larson (2006). (Sounds like a graphic novel? I'm
pasting an excerpt from the starred PW review, which describes it best.
Listed for adults but could work for teens.)
"Larsen's second book is a delight. ... it follows Noemie, a recent arrival in Paris... . As she wanders around her new home, she has vivid dreams of a fantasy past and present. She also...has a distant courtship with a photography student who stealthily captures her on film and sometimes leaves the results for her to find as visual love letters. ... Larson renders all of this in black and yellow, expertly spotting her colors to create the kind of swirling, beautiful spaces one imagines when exploring both a city and a dream. Page and chapter numbers are cleverly delineated by rolls of film. ... Gray Horses is a fine evocation of being young and searching in the big city -— recommended for the romantics among us.
(Publishers Weekly, vol 253, issue 6, p49)
