Fiction titles
Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
This sequel to Chains (S & S, 2008) opens with Curzon, an enslaved teen who
was freed from prison by Isabel, recalling his escape and anticipating the
future. After an argument with Isabel about where they should go next, the
15-year-old battles the British at Saratoga and winters in Valley Forge with
the Patriots. He reveals many details of the conditions endured by the
soldiers during the winter of 1777-1778, including the limited food supply,
lack of adequate shelter, and tattered clothing. When Curzon and Isabel meet
again, they have both been captured and must devise a plan of escape once
again. While the Patriots are fighting for the freedom of a country, these
young people must fight for their personal freedom. This sequel can be read
alone but readers will benefit from reading the first book, which develops
the characters and reveals events leading up to the winter at Valley Forge.
An appendix clarifies historical facts and real-life characters. A list of
colloquial terms used throughout the novel is appended.
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card
Card's latest work of speculative fiction twists together tropes of fantasy
and science fiction into something fine indeed. Rigg and his father are
trappers by trade, but Rigg has been instructed throughout his 13 years in
languages, sciences, history, and politics. The teen is therefore somewhat
mentally prepared for the quest that his father thrusts upon him with his
dying breath–to go to the capital city and find his sister. Both Rigg and
his friend, Umbo, have a special ability that aids them–Rigg can see the
paths of all living things, regardless of intervening obstructions or even
time, and Umbo can seemingly change the movement of time itself. Needless to
say, the two meet various friends and foes and can't always tell which is
which as they journey onward. Juxtaposed with this main story is an entirely
different narrative, told in a page or two at the beginning of each chapter.
This is the tale of Ram Odin, human pilot of a colony ship from Earth,
traveling to a new world with the use of space-folding technology. The
combination of science fiction and fantasy as well as a surprising
revelation at the end harken back to genre classics like Robert Silverberg's
Lord Valentine's Castle (HarperCollins, 1980) and Roger Zelazny's Nine
Princes in Amber (Doubleday, 1970). This novel should appeal to Card's
legion of fans as well as anyone who enjoys speculative fiction with
characters who rely on quick thinking rather than violence or tales of
mind-bending time-travel conundrums.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Dashner (the 13th Reality series) offers up a dark and gripping tale of
survival set in a world where teenagers fight for their lives on a daily
basis. It starts when Thomas, a teenage amnesiac, wakes up in the Glade, a
fragile oasis in the middle of an enormous maze. Here, a group of teenage
boys eke out a hazardous existence, exploring the Maze by day and retreating
to the Glade at night. No one knows how they got there; no one has ever
found a way out (“Old life's over, new life's begun. Learn the rules quick,”
the group's leader tells Thomas). Bizarre technological monsters called
Grievers patrol the Maze's corridors, almost certain death for any who
encounter them. Thomas struggles to regain his memories, but the arrival of
a young woman with an ominous message changes the rules of the game. With a
fast-paced narrative steadily answering the myriad questions that arise and
an ever-increasing air of tension, Dashner's suspenseful adventure will keep
readers guessing until the very end, which paves the way for the inevitable
continuation.
A Study in Scarlet: A Sherlock Holmes Graphic
Novel by Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Edginton
After the success of their other Illustrated Classics editions, Ian Edginton
and I.N.J. Culbard have once again teamed up. This time, they’ve created a
visually compelling graphic novel adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
masterpiece A Study in Scarlet—which introduced the world to the immortal
detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler, Dr. Watson. The
superb writing and beautiful art takes Conan Doyle’s supernatural tale to
new heights.
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Donnelly (A Northern Light) melds contemporary teen drama with
well-researched historical fiction and a dollop of time travel for a hefty
read that mostly succeeds. Andi Alpers is popping antidepressants and
flunking out of her Brooklyn prep school, grieving over her younger
brother's death. She finds solace only when playing guitar. When the school
notifies her mostly absent scientist father that she's flirting with
expulsion, he takes Andi to Paris for Christmas break, where he's testing
DNA to see if a preserved heart really belonged to the doomed son of Louis
XVI and Marie Antoinette. Andi is ordered to work on her senior thesis about
a (fictional) French composer. Bunking at the home of a renowned historian,
Andi finds a diary that relates the last days of Alexandrine, companion to
(you guessed it) the doomed prince. The story then alternates between Andi's
suicidal urges and Alexandrine's efforts to save the prince. Donnelly's
story goes on too long, but packs in worthy stuff. Musicians, especially,
will appreciate the thread about the debt rock owes to the classics.
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Fisher (the Oracle Prophesies series) scores a resounding success in this
beautifully imagined science fantasy set in a far future where, many years
earlier, civilization was artificially frozen at late-medieval levels in
order to save the world from dangerous technologies. Simultaneously, all of
the world's malcontents and madmen were sealed into an unimaginably vast,
sentient prison named Incarceron, where a dedicated group of social
engineers intended to create utopia. Claudia, the brilliant daughter of the
cold-blooded warden of Incarceron, has been raised from birth to marry and
eventually control Caspar, the simpleminded heir to the throne. Finn, a
young man without a past, is a prisoner in Incarceron, which has become a
hideous dystopia, an “abyss that swallows dreams.” When Claudia and Finn
each gain possession of a high-tech “key” to the prison, they exchange
messages, and Finn asks Claudia to help him attempt an escape. While he
negotiates the hideous maze of the prison, Claudia makes her way through the
equally deadly labyrinth of political intrigue. Complex and inventive, with
numerous and rewarding mysteries, this tale is certain to please.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green
In alternating chapters, the authors track two teens, both named Will
Grayson, who accidentally meet halfway through the novel, perhaps changing
the trajectory of both of their lives. One Will is vintage Green: a smart
nerd whose rules to live by include “don't care too much,” with a
scene-stealing sidekick—Tiny Cooper, a large, flamboyantly gay classmate
intent on staging an autobiographical musical. The other will (lowercase
throughout) is angry and depressed; the one bright spot in his existence is
an online friendship with “Isaac.” When will agrees to meet Isaac one night
in Chicago, readers know nothing good will happen—and they will be wrong. A
well-orchestrated big reveal takes the story in a new direction, one that
gives (lowercase) will greater dimension. The ending is laudable but highly
implausible. The journey to it is full of comic bits, mostly provided by the
irrepressible Tiny, who needs his own novel. Frank sexual language—a shot at
a bar “tastes like Satan's fire cock”—pushes this one to high school, where
its message of embracing love in all its forms ought to find a receptive
audience.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Grossman's novel is a postadolescent Harry Potter, following apprentices in
the art of magic through their time as students at an upstate New York
college to their postcollegiate Manhattan misdeeds, with jaded ennui
tempering the magical aura. Mark Bramhall, a smooth baritone with a supple
speaking voice, reads carefully, with a slight air of heaviness and sorrow.
He pauses frequently and freights the silences with a tenderness well
befitting a coming-of-age novel.
Jane by April Lindner
Jane Moore's parents die in a tragic accident, and she is left with only two
unfeeling, absentee siblings to call family. Poor and alone, Jane quits
college, interviews to become a full-time nanny, and--because of her
unassuming personality and total lack of celebrity awareness--quickly lands
a job caring for the daughter of an aging, world-famous rock star who's
about to make his comeback. Lindner, a poet, makes her YA debut with this
update of the gothic classic Jane Eyre. Well-written and faithful to the
original, Lindner's story imbues Jane with the requisite innocence,
stubbornness, and darkness of Brontë's protagonist. Perhaps not
surprisingly, this modern, Sarah Lawrence–educated version of Jane feels
rather morose by today's standards, buttoned up in her manners and social
attitudes, though she also shows a good dose of sexual liberation.
Additionally, this new Jane can be frustrating in her moralizing, and it is
far easier to find the age difference between 19-year-old Jane and her
employer, Nico Rathburn--Lindner's answer to Mr. Rochester--off-putting in
contemporary context. A fresh and addictive adaptation, regardless.
Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
In this suspenseful psychological thriller, 18-year-old Matt Duffy, a
private with memory problems following a traumatic brain injury, receives
the Purple Heart in Iraq and gradually unravels the contradictory events
that led to the honor. McCormick (Sold) sharply draws the culture of the
Green Zone hospital, the camaraderie of the enlisted men and (via phone
calls and letters) the gulf between life at home versus on the front.
Friendship, bravado and juvenile antics counteract the soldiers' guilt,
paranoia and unease around Iraqis (“ 'Enemy' was the official term.
'Insurgents' was okay, too. Everybody called them hajis, though”). Strong
characters heighten the drama, especially likable Matt, but also the
sympathetic hospital psychiatrist who balances complicated allegiances and
legal obligations, and flinty Charlene, the sole female member of Matt's
squad. As Matt remembers more and more, tension builds and he becomes
confused about interpretations of the truth (and when to reveal them) within
the chain of command. McCormick raises moral questions without judgment and
will have readers examining not only this conflict but the nature of heroism
and war.
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
At Dublin's Seabrook College, Skippy survives the daily indignities common
to a boarder's life in an elite boys school. Still, something's wrong. Why
does he want to quit the swim team? Why are his grades slipping? And who's
the dark-haired St. Brigid's girl Skippy is always trying to spy on with his
roommate's telescope? Seabrook is the world in miniature, and its gates
threaten to burst from the hugger-mugger of cruelty, scandal, and
materialism teeming within. It takes Skippy's tragic death and a sequence of
events both hilarious and horrifying to recover the consolations provided by
sympathy and friendship. Whether these will be enough to redeem Seabrook
remains anyone's guess, though Murray suggests that a fleeting sense of
grace may be all we can hope for and more than we deserve. VERDICT Murray's
second novel (after An Evening of Long Goodbyes) is almost flawless, a gift
for fans of character and plot. In addition to his masterly use of James
Joyce and Robert Graves throughout, Murray has created a social realism that
holds its own with that of Dickens. Skippy Dies deserves to be widely read
and loved.
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
Ben is less than thrilled that his 13th birthday includes moving across
Canada and getting a new "half brother"--a baby chimpanzee named Zan that
Ben's father, a behavioral psychologist, will be raising like a human to
determine if chimps can learn sign language. Gradually, Ben comes around,
learning more about Zan and chimps, but he still struggles with his social
life in his new school, his parents' high expectations, and Zan's role in
their lives--is he family or just an "animal test subject?" Eventually he
becomes Zan's greatest advocate when the project--and Zan's life--are
threatened. While Ben and his family initially anthropomorphize Zan, Oppel
doesn't, and as Zan gets older and stronger, the characters (and readers)
are able to see an honest portrait of chimpanzee behavior, from the very
best to the most brutal. Set in 1973, Zan's story echoes that of real
chimpanzee studies of the era, though Oppel (the Airborn series) avoids dry
factual recitations, or proselytizing when animal activism is introduced.
Oppel's story is filled with compassion and has no easy answers.
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
In this exciting steampunk adventure, Carnegie Medal–winner Reeve takes
readers to a far future that looks back at our era with a darkly humorous
sensibility (how's “Blog off,” for an expletive?), while laying tantalizing
groundwork for his Hungry City Chronicles quartet. Fever Crumb, a
14-year-old orphan, is the only girl ever accepted into the Order of
Engineers and has been raised in seclusion by obsessively logical scientists
in an enormous head, part of an unfinished statue of London's deposed ruler,
the hated mutant “Scriven,” Auric Godshawk. But Fever's thoroughly rational
nature is thrown into flux when she's sent into the bustling, violent city
on her first job, working for an eccentric archeologist who may have
discovered Godshawk's secret cache of scientific inventions. As invaders
near the city's outer perimeter, the streets of London erupt in mob
violence, and Fever finds herself proclaimed a mutant and pursued by an
implacable enemy. Beautifully written, grippingly paced, and filled with
eccentric characters and bizarre inventions (such as foldable assassins made
of paper), this is a novel guaranteed to please Reeve's fans—and very likely
broaden their ranks.
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Through the pained yet resilient narration of 15-year-old Lina, a gifted
artist, this taut first novel tells the story of Lithuanians deported and
sent to Siberian work camps by Stalin during WWII. From the start, Sepetys
makes extensive use of foreshadowing to foster a palpable sense of danger,
as soldiers wrench Lina's family from their home. The narrative skillfully
conveys the deprivation and brutality of conditions, especially the cramped
train ride, unrelenting hunger, fears about family members' safety,
impossible choices, punishing weather, and constant threats facing Lina, her
mother, and her younger brother. Flashbacks, triggered like blasts of memory
by words and events, reveal Lina's life before and lay groundwork for the
coming removal. Lina's romance with fellow captive Andrius builds slowly and
believably, balancing some of the horror. A harrowing page-turner, made all
the more so for its basis in historical fact, the novel illuminates the
persecution suffered by Stalin's victims (20 million were killed), while
presenting memorable characters who retain their will to survive even after
more than a decade in exile.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
(or the sequel
Linger)
Stiefvater leaves the faeries of Lament and Ballad for a lyrical tale of
alienated werewolves and first love. For years, Grace has been fascinated by
the yellow-eyed wolf that saved her from its pack when she was a child. Sam,
bitten by a wolf as a boy, is that wolf. Long obsessed with each other at a
distance, they finally meet after a wolf hunt (inspired by the apparent
death of a local teen) sends a wounded and temporarily human Sam into
Grace's arms. Their young love is facilitated by Grace's hands-off parents
(“Once upon a time, I would've leaped at the rare opportunity of curling up
with Mom on the couch. But now, it sort of felt like too little, too late,”
Grace muses), but threatened by two linked crises: the fact that Sam will
soon lose the ability to become human and the instability of a new
lycanthrope. Stiefvater skillfully increases the tension throughout; her
take on werewolves is interesting and original while her characters are
refreshingly willing to use their brains to deal with the challenges they
face.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
If you've ever wondered what your dog is thinking, Stein's third novel
offers an answer. Enzo is a lab terrier mix plucked from a farm outside
Seattle to ride shotgun with race car driver Denny Swift as he pursues
success on the track and off. Denny meets and marries Eve, has a daughter,
Zoë, and risks his savings and his life to make it on the professional
racing circuit. Enzo, frustrated by his inability to speak and his lack of
opposable thumbs, watches Denny's old racing videos, coins koanlike
aphorisms that apply to both driving and life, and hopes for the day when
his life as a dog will be over and he can be reborn a man. When Denny hits
an extended rough patch, Enzo remains his most steadfast if silent
supporter. Enzo is a reliable companion and a likable enough narrator,
though the string of Denny's bad luck stories strains believability. Much
like Denny, however, Stein is able to salvage some dignity from the
over-the-top drama.
Marcelo in the Real World by Francico Stork
Artfully crafted characters form the heart of Stork's (The Way of the
Jaguar) judicious novel. Marcelo Sandoval, a 17-year-old with an Asperger's-like
condition, has arranged a job caring for ponies at his special school's
therapeutic-riding stables. But he is forced to exit his comfort zone when
his high-powered father steers Marcelo to work in his law firm's mailroom
(in return, Marcelo can decide whether to stay in special ed, as he prefers,
or be mainstreamed for his senior year). Narrating with characteristically
flat inflections and frequently forgetting to use the first person, Marcelo
manifests his anomalies: he harbors an obsession with religion (he regularly
meets with a plainspoken female rabbi, though he's not Jewish); hears
"internal" music; and sleeps in a tree house. Readers enter his private
world as he navigates the unfamiliar realm of menial tasks and office
politics with the ingenuity of a child, his voice never straying from
authenticity even as the summer strips away some of his differences. Stork
introduces ethical dilemmas, the possibility of love, and other "real world"
conflicts, all the while preserving the integrity of his characterizations
and intensifying the novel's psychological and emotional stakes. Not to be
missed.
Num8ers by Rachel Ward
Fifteen-year-old Jem Marsh has always had an unwelcome gift: when she looks
into a person’s eyes, she sees the date of their death. A foster-home child
since her drug-addicted mother’s overdose, Jem’s knowledge and experience
isolate her from her peers. She surprises herself by building a relationship
with another misfit, the tall, geeky Spider. Their interracial romance (Jem
is white, Spider is black) leads to a day trip to London, which ends
disastrously when Jem realizes that all the tourists at the London Eye
Ferris wheel have the same death date: that day. Ward’s first novel is a
fast-paced thriller with deep philosophical roots and tremendous empathy for
those who don’t fit the mold, not to mention a jaw-dropping ending that
stands alone beautifully while whetting readers’ appetites for the sequel.
Clear, straightforward prose is the perfect voice for prickly Jem, and
Ward’s complex, intriguing characterizations challenge the reader to look
beyond appearances. The British setting and tone will intrigue, not deter,
U.S. readers. A fascinating premise, creatively explored.
Set to Sea by Drew Weing
*Starred Review* Who knew that the big galoot who can’t pay his tab and gets
kicked out of a tavern is a poet at heart, gazing longingly into library
windows on dark, abandoned streets? Certainly not the scurvy seadogs who
kidnap him and send him to sea as a replacement for their lost crew, where
he learns that the waters are possessed of a much different poetry than he
ever suspected. With elegant simplicity, this comic-book fable unfurls the
tale of a life cast on an unexpected course and the melancholy wisdom
accrued upon the waves. First-time graphic-novelist Weing has produced a
beautiful gem here, with minimal dialogue, one jolting battle scene, and
each small page owned by a single panel filled with art whose figures have a
comfortable roundness dredged up from the cartoon landscapes of our
childhood unconscious, even as the intensely crosshatched shadings suggest
the darkness that sometimes traces the edges of our lives. A loving and very
sophisticated homage to E. C. Segar’s Popeye, it would make a fine tonal
companion for Scott Morse’s Southpaw (2003) or S. A. Harkham’s Poor Sailor
(2005). Weing’s debut is playful, atmospheric, dark, wistful, and wise.
Countdown by Deborah Wiles
*Starred Review* More than a few books have been written about growing up in
the early 1960s, but Wiles takes her story, the first in the Sixties
Trilogy, to an impressive new level by adding snippets of songs and speeches
and contemporaneous black-and-white photographs to the mix. Drawing on her
own experiences during this turbulent time, Wiles’ stand-in is 11-year-old
Franny Chapman. Living near Andrews Air Force Base, close to Washington,
D.C., Franny and her classmates are used to air-raid drills, where they
practice how to “duck and cover.” Worries about a nuclear disaster become
concrete when President Kennedy announces Russian missiles are in Cuba, and
the tension ratchets up for 13 days in October 1962. But, at the same time,
life goes on, and while rumors of war swirl, Franny must also deal with
family issues, including a shell-shocked uncle who embarrasses her, an older
sister with secrets, and a best friend who has eyes for someone else.
Dealing with fear is one of the book’s themes, and the dramatic ending takes
this issue on in both macro and micro terms. Wiles skillfully keeps many
balls in the air, giving readers a story that appeals across the decades as
well as offering enticing paths into the history. Many readers will find
this on their own, but adults who read bits and pieces aloud will hook kids.
Theyll eagerly await the next installments.
The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni
Sebastian Prendergast, the teenage narrator of Bognanni's funny and unique
debut, lives in Iowa's first geodesic dome with his grandmother, a devout
follower of futurist philosopher Buckminster R. Fuller. But when Nana has a
stroke, Sebastian is thrown together with Janice and teenage Jared Whitcomb,
who were touring the home when Nana was stricken. Soon, Sebastian and Jared
form an unlikely bond via the great teenage tradition of punk rock, starting
their own band despite the objections of everyone around them and
Sebastian's lack of musical ability (holding a guitar for the first time,
Jared says, Strum, and Sebastian asks, What do you mean?). And while Jared
succeeds to some degree in socializing Sebastian—teaching him about music,
smoking, and curse words—Sebastian ends up getting more than he bargained
for when the two get caught up in Whitcomb family drama.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
On the surface a fairly conventional Gothic romance (poor orphan governess
is hired by rich, brooding Byronic hero-type), Jane Eyre hardly seems the
stuff from which revolutions are made. But the story is very much about the
nature of human freedom and equality, and if Jane was seen as something of a
renegade in nineteenth-century England, it is because her story is that of a
woman who struggles for self-definition and determination in a society that
too often denies her that right. But self-determination does not mean
untrammeled freedom for men or women. Rochester, that thorny masculine beast
whom Jane eventually falls for, is a man who sets his own laws and
manipulates the lives of those around him; before he can enter into a
marriage of equals with Jane he must undergo a spiritual transformation.
Should the lesson sound dry, it's not. Jane Eyre is full of drama: fires,
storms, attempted murder, and a mad wife conveniently stashed away in the
attic.
Everything I Was by Corinne Demas
After 13-year-old Irene's father loses his high-paying job, her family
leaves their penthouse apartment and elegant life to spend the summer on
Irene's grandfather's upstate New York farm. Appalled at first by what feels
like a lifestyle descent, Irene gradually allows herself to appreciate new
freedom--riding her bike wherever she wishes, smelling fresh dirt as she
helps her grandfather pot plants, and finding new friends. Demas anchors
this quiet, hopeful book in today's headlines of job loss and the
surprisingly vital safety nets that support families.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals. Their
worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of
lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black
mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances
and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a
date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never
found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit.
The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship
with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town. More than twenty years have
passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise
above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and
Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry
is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are
forced to confront the past they've buried and ignored for decades.
The Radleys by Matt Haig
This witty vampire novel from British author Haig (The Possession of Mr.
Cave) provides what jaded fans of the Twilight series need, not True Blood
exactly, but some fresh blood in the form of a true blue family. Dr. Peter
Radley and his wife, Helen, have fled wild London for the village of
Bishopthorpe, where they live an outwardly ordinary life. The Radleys, who
follow the rules of The Abstainer's Handbook (e.g., "Be proud to act like a
normal human being"), haven't told their 15-year-old vegan daughter, Clara,
and 17-year-old son, Rowan, who's troubled by nightmares, that they're
really vampires. One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking
act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of
shadows and lies. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a
practicing vampire, arrives, he winds up throwing the whole house into
temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets.
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Though the plot may sound mundane - a Chinese girl and her mother immigrate
to this country and succeed despite formidable odds - this coming-of-age
tale is anything but. Whether Ah-Kim (or Kimberly, as she's called) is doing
piecework on the factory floor with her mother, or suffering through a cold
New York winter in a condemned, roach-infested apartment, or getting that
acceptance letter from Yale, her story seems fresh and new.
Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann
It's August of 1974, a summer "hot and serious and full of death and
betrayal," and
Watergate and the Vietnam War make the world feel precarious. A stunned hush
pauses the cacophonous universe of New York City as a man on a cable walks
(repeatedly) between the World Trade Center towers. This extraordinary,
real-life feat by French funambulist Philippe Petit becomes the touchstone
for stories that briefly submerge you in ten varied and intense lives--a
street priest, heroin-addicted hookers, mothers mourning sons lost in war,
young artists, a Park Avenue judge.
Beauty by Robin McKinley
This much-loved retelling of the classic French tale Beauty and the Beast
elicits the
familiar magical charm, but is more believable and complex than the
traditional story. In this version, Beauty is not as beautiful as her older
sisters, who are both lovely and kind. Here, in fact, Beauty has no
confidence in her appearance but takes pride in her own intelligence, her
love of learning and books, and her talent in riding. She is the most
competent of the three sisters, which proves essential when they are forced
to retire to the country because of their father's financial ruin. The plot
follows that of the renowned legend: Beauty selflessly agrees to inhabit the
Beast's castle to spare her father's life. Beauty's gradual acceptance of
the Beast and the couple's deepening trust and affection are amplified in
novel form.
The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To by
D.C. Pierson
Like any right-thinking teenager who has grown up on Star Wars and comic
books, Darren knows that if there’s anything unique about you, men in suits
and dark glasses will show up and take you away. This knowledge takes on a
new immediacy when Darren discovers that his new best bud, Eric, has a
strange, well, superpower: he literally never sleeps and never has to! The
good news about this is that it gives Eric lots of time to think about
TimeBlaze, the multiplatform sci-fi epic he and Darren are creating. The bad
news is that what they imagine starts to become real, including, yes, a man
in a suit and dark glasses! In his first novel Pierson, a member of the
sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, has written a witty coming-of-age novel
with some engaging twists (anything is possible, remember). And in Darren
and Eric, he has created two engaging and memorable co-conspirators and
co-protagonists.
The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner
While Nick Gardner’s family is falling apart, his best friend, Scooter, is
dying from a freak disease. The Scoot’s final wish is that Nick and their
quirky classmate, Jaycee Amato, deliver a prized first-edition copy of Of
Mice and Men to the Scoot’s father. There’s just one problem: the Scoot’s
father walked out years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. So, guided by
Steinbeck’s life lessons, and with only the vaguest of plans, Nick and
Jaycee set off to find him. Characters you’ll want to become friends with
and a narrative voice that sparkles with wit make this a truly original
story.
The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt
Levi Katznelson's older brother, Boaz, is home after three years as a
Marine. He has
been changed by the experience, which emerges bit by bit through his
behaviors but not through his words. That's because he rarely speaks. He is
home, in his room, and doesn't come out often. The radio is on static. He
won't ride in cars. He won't see his ex-girlfriend. Levi can hear him
screaming at night. The book isn't just about a traumatized soldier; it's
about how everyone he knows and cares about is impacted by his changes. When
Boaz finally leaves the house and tells the family that there's something
that he must do, Levi follows him, not knowing his destination. During the
several days that the brothers walk, he tries to reconnect to the brother he
loved and possibly to save him from his internal torment. Reinhardt creates
fully realized characters with terrifically precise and perfect
details and dialogue that brings each moment alive to engage readers'
senses. Reading this book is like having a deep conversation with a friend
on a long walk.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago of the future, society is divided into
five factions,
each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the
honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the
peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year,
all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the
rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her
family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a
choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace
Based on the true story of a lady pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou
Gehrig in
exhibition play, this debut novel from nonfiction author Wallace (Grand Old
Game) is a
diverting sports tale. In 1923, 18-year-old New Yorker Ruby Lee Thomas is
forced to raise her two small nieces, Amanda and Allie, after the 1918
Spanish influenza devastates her family. Blessed (or cursed) with elongated
arms that make for blazing fastballs, the southpaw is hired by the
Fantasyland Circus Sideshow as Diamond Ruby. The Jewish pitcher draws the
violent attention of the Klan, but also the admiration of Babe Ruth (a
pitcher early in his career), who teaches her a few new throws, and boxing
champion Jack Dempsey. The Brooklyn Typhoons eventually sign Ruby to pitch,
where her amazing feats stir trouble with a charismatic gangster angling to
fix her games; subsequent clashes and close calls with Prohibition-era
hoodlums generate as much drama as her distinctive baseball prowess. Sharply
sketched, convincing historical characters like Ruth and Dempsey add to the
considerable appeal of Wallace's gritty but fun period baseball tale.
Feed by M.T. Anderson
In this chilling novel, Anderson (Burger Wuss; Thirsty) imagines a society
dominated by the feed a next-generation Internet/television hybrid that is
directly hardwired into the brain. Teen narrator Titus never questions his
world, in which parents select their babies' attributes in the
conceptionarium, corporations dominate the information stream, and kids
learn to employ the feed more efficiently in School. But everything changes
when he and his pals travel to the moon for spring break. There Titus meets
home-schooled Violet, who thinks for herself, searches out news and asserts
that "Everything we've grown up with the stories on the feed, the games, all
of that it's all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to."
Genesis by Bernard Beckett
Amazon Best of the month April 2009
If robots began to self-evolve, learning to feel and create as we do, what
traits would set humans apart--and help us survive?
The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
Pub’s Wkly starred review. Bodeen turns out a high-wire act of a first
novel, a thriller that exerts an ever-tighter grip on readers. Eli, the
15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six
years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has
built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows—and killed
his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in
time. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe
again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a
solution—provided they jettison all morals and ethics.
The Last Exit To Normal by Michael Harmon
It's true: After 17-year-old Ben’s father announces he’s gay and the family
splits apart, Ben does everything he can to tick him off: skip school, smoke
pot, skateboard nonstop, get arrested. But he never thinks he’ll end up
yanked out of his city life and plunked down into a small Montana town with
his dad and Edward, the Boyfriend. As if it’s not bad enough living in a
hick town with spiked hair, a skateboard habit, and two dads, he soon
realizes something’s not quite right with Billy, the boy next door. He’s
hiding a secret about his family, and Ben is determined to uncover it and
set things right. In an authentic, unaffected, and mordantly funny voice,
Michael Harmon tells the compelling story of an uprooted and uncomfortable
teenaged guy trying to fix the lives around him—while figuring out his own.
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Printz award SLJ starred review Bklist starred review. When a giant wave
destroys his village, Mau is the only one left. Daphne—a traveler from the
other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Separated by
language and customs, the two are united by catastrophe. Slowly, they are
joined by other refugees. And as they struggle to protect the small band,
Mau and Daphne defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover
a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down.
10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America by
Steven M. Gillon
This book pinpoints pivotal days that transformed our nation. Based on the
History Channel series. A panel of leading historians was challenged to come
up with some less well-known but historically significant events that
triggered change in America. Together, the days they chose tell a story
about the great democratic ideals upon which our country was built.
Nonfiction titles
Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel
*Starred Review* In an introduction to this long-overdue portrait of “the
first queen of rock,” Sam Andrew, Janis Joplin’s former bandmate and best
friend, says, “There was electricity in the air when Janis was around. . . .
She was vulnerable, powerful, super wide open, talented, and interesting in
a kind of terrifying way.” Building from Andrew’s full-hearted and
contradictory description, Angel presents a nuanced account of the
groundbreaking musician’s life, beginning with her challenging adolescence
in Port Arthur, Texas. After giving up on fitting in, she sang along to the
blues on long drives with equally rebellious teen friends and learned that
she had a powerful voice. Tracking back to Joplin’s childhood, Angel then
moves on to the singer’s early years of studying and music-making before she
finally grabbed attention with Andrews’ band Big Brother and the Holding
Company. Angel writes with both a reporter’s forthright, detached tone and a
fan’s full-hearted enthusiasm, and she includes numerous revealing quotes
from friends and family members, all sourced in the appended notes and
bibliography. Without sensationalizing, she also discusses Joplin’s
sex-drugs-and-rock-’n’-roll lifestyle, which ended with the singer’s
alcohol-and-heroin-induced death at the age of 27. A groovy page design,
patterned in shades of purple and acid green; a lively annotated time line;
and unforgettable archival images will pull even more attention to this
captivating view of a musician rarely spotlighted in books for youth.
The Dark Game: True Spy Stories by Paul B. Janeczko
Since the Revolutionary War, espionage has created fascinating scenarios
involving some quite unlikely participants. From Benedict Arnold and Mata
Hari to the lesser-known Elizabeth Van Lew and Juan Pujol, Janeczko delves
into their stories with delicious detail, drawing readers into a world of
intrigue and danger. Did you ever wonder why invisible ink works? How a code
breaker deciphers a message? Or whether dentistry could affect a secret
agent's success? The answers to these questions and more can be found here.
Each chapter covers a historical era and chronicles the maturation of
spying, while primary-source photographs are interspersed throughout,
lending an authentic feel to each section. A complete bibliography and
source notes appear at the end. Janeczko manages to stay true to history
while still keeping a lively tone.
Born to Run: a hidden tribe, superathletes, and
the greatest race the world has never seen by Christopher McDougall
An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot
hurt? Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara
Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or
injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured
runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the
process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked
valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers
of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a
climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners
against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your
mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were
born to run.
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by
G. Neri
In 1994, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago's South Side, a 14-year-old
girl named Shavon Dean was killed by a stray bullet during a gang shooting.
Her killer, Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, was 11 years old. Neri recounts Yummy's
three days on the run from police (and, eventually, his own gang) through
the eyes of Roger, a fictional classmate of Yummy's. Roger grapples with the
unanswerable questions behind Yummy's situation, with the whys and hows of a
failed system, a crime-riddled neighborhood, and a neglected community. How
could a smiling boy, who carried a teddy bear and got his nickname from his
love of sweets, also be an arsonist, an extortionist, a murderer? Yet as
Roger mulls reasons, from absentee parenting to the allure of gang
membership, our picture of Yummy only becomes more obscure. Neri's
straightforward, unadorned prose is the perfect complement to DuBurke's
stark black-and-white inks; great slabs of shadow and masterfully rendered
faces breathe real, tragic life into the players. Like Roger, in the end
readers are left with troubling questions and, perhaps, one powerful answer:
that they can choose to do everything in their power to ensure that no one
shares Yummy's terrible fate.
Ghosts of War: the True Story of a 19-year-old
GI by Ryan Smithson
In this raw and powerful memoir, veteran Smithson recounts his time as an
army engineer in Iraq. As a student in suburban Albany, he joins the army
after 9/11. While in Iraq, he's shot at and faces mortar attack, but he
spends more time on responsibilities like methodical cleanups of roadside
bomb craters-work that's as vital, if not as sexy, as actual combat.
Smithson's interactions with Iraqi children and families, as much as with
his fellow soldiers, drive the story. Military biography clichés-from the
indoctrination of boot camp ("they break us down, build us up, break us down
again, and then build us back up") to resentment of officers among the
enlisted-abound because they're no doubt true. But the real meat of the book
is in Smithson's dealings with American noncombatants, from the little boy
who sends care packages to the pilot who insists on upgrading him to first
class and his wife and parents. Smithson avoids writing either prowar
propaganda or an antimilitary polemic, providing instead a fascinating,
often humorous-and occasionally devastating-account of the motivations and
life of a contemporary soldier.
Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers Build the City
by David Weitzman
This is an account of the Mohawk ironworkers who "toiled at the edge of the
possible" in the construction of bridges and skyscrapers. It opens with a
chapter on the cultural history of Southern New England's "People of the
Flint." After decimation by European diseases in the 1600s, the Mohawks
regrouped along the border of New York and Canada, where the men worked as
boatmen transporting furs to trading posts. In 1886, construction began on
the Victoria Bridge, with Mohawks supplying the timber and stone. With the
construction of additional bridges, they made the shift from unskilled
laborers to skilled ironworkers. As the steel industry expanded in the early
1900s, Mohawks were poised to be an invaluable workforce in the construction
of taller and bigger bridges and buildings. Inevitably, there were some
disasters, namely the Quebec Bridge collapse in 1907 that killed scores of
men. Weitzman's depiction of this event is both moving and evenhanded.
Mohawk ironworkers began branching out to construction sites in Chicago,
Detroit, Philadelphia, and especially New York City, where they participated
in the construction of the Empire State Building and other skyscrapers.
Weitzman displays an obvious respect for his subject, and he deftly handles
the more technical details of ironworking. Abundant archival photos and
primary-source quotes lend realism and drama to the text. This winning blend
of architectural history, anthropology, and American Indian achievement
compares favorably to series such as "Building History" (Lucent). It will be
especially useful for report writers.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt
description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in
Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early
sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind
the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and
self-deprecation.
Bret Favre: The Tribute by Sports Illustrated
The product of SI's unparalleled NFL access and insight, Brett Favre: The
Tribute include 16 of SI's finest Favre stories, plus brilliant pictures
from the recognized leader in sports photography—stunning action shots,
intimate portraits and candid off-the-field moments--that illuminate this
incomparable athlete. Brett Favre: The Tribute stands as an enduring
testimonial to an American icon, a man who, more than any other of our time,
played his game the way it should be played.
The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost
World of the Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure
Obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House books about an 1880s
pioneer family, McClure attempts to recapture her childhood vision of "Laura
World." Her wacky quest includes hand-grinding wheat for bread, buying an
authentic churn, and traveling to sites where the Ingalls family attempted
to wrest a living from the prairie. Readers don't need to be Wilder fans to
enjoy this funny and thoughtful guide to a romanticized version of the
American expansion west.
Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness,
Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard by Liz Murray
From runaway to Harvard student, Murray tells an engaging, powerfully
motivational story about turning her life around after growing up the
neglected child of drug addicts. Murray writes that drugs were the "wrecking
ball" that destroyed her family. By age 15, with the help of her best friend
Sam and an elusive hustler, Carlos, she took permanently to the streets,
relying on friends, sadly, for shelter. With the death of her mother, her
runaway world came to an end, and she began her step-by-step plan to attend
an alternative high school, which eventually led to a New York Times
scholarship and acceptance to Harvard. In this incredible story of true
grit, Murray went from feeling like "the world was filled with people who
were repulsed by me" to learning to receive the bountiful generosity of
strangers who truly cared.
Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate by
Mark Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer writes about the inspiration he derived from debating and
watching others do it. This smart, funny memoir not only reveals a strange,
compelling subculture, it also offers a broader discussion of the splendor
and power of language and of the social and developmental hazards of being a
gifted child. Finally, it looks with hope at our present age, in which
oratory is once again an important force in American culture.
Recommendations From Students
Graceling by Kristen Cashore
Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her
late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting
beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling a being with special
talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa's Grace is considered more
useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in
the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king,
Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens
who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of
power. Katsa wrestles with questions of freedom, truth, and knowing when to
rely on a friend for help. This is no small task for an angry girl who had
eschewed friendships (with the exception of one cousin that she trusts) for
her more ready skills of self-reliance, hunting, and fighting. Katsa also
comes to know the real power of her Grace and the nature of Graces in
general: they are not always what they appear to be.
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Annabel Greene seemingly had everything: cool friends, close family, good
grades, and a part-time modeling career in town. But it all came crashing
down, and Annabel has spent the summer in shaky, self-imposed exile. She
finds herself dreading the new school term and facing, well, everyone again.
Annabel finds comfort in an unlikely friendship with the school's most
notorious loner. Owen has his own issues with anger, but has learned to
control it and helps her realize the dangers of holding in her emotions.
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
His name is Troy, but to the world--and in his internal dialogues--he is the
Fat Kid. Really Fat. Almost 300 pounds of sweating, unhappy insecurity. Then
out of a moment of despair comes magic. As Troy considers whether to
splatter himself on a subway track, Curt MacCrae, a charismatic punk
rocker/homeless kid/dropout, comes along and stops him. For the price of a
meal, Curt befriends Troy, and he sees something under all those layers: a
potential musician, a friend, and someone with the ability to see through
life's bull. First-time novelist Going has put together an amazing
assortment of characters. Troy is the ultimate fat kid, the kind whose every
move, every thought is predicated on what it is like to wear a coat of
blubber. Curt, as thin as Troy is fat, is a combination of Kurt Cobain,
Ratso Rizzo, and a fairy godfather. He sprinkles Troy with the dirt and
grime of punk rock and brings out the prince hiding inside the weight (to
the book's credit, Troy doesn't get any thinner). Equally well drawn are the
lesser characters, including Troy's father, a former Marine with an innate
sense of what kids need.
The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
As he did so memorably for baseball in Moneyball, Lewis takes a statistical
X-ray of the hidden substructure of football, outlining the invisible doings
of unsung players that determine the outcome more than the showy exploits of
point scorers. In his sketch of the gridiron arms race, first came the
modern, meticulously choreographed passing offense, then the ferocious
defensive pass rusher whose bone-crunching quarterback sacks demolished the
best-laid passing game, and finally the rise of the left tackle—the
offensive lineman tasked with protecting the quarterback from the pass
rusher—whose presence is felt only through the game-deciding absence of said
sacks. A rare creature combining 300 pounds of bulk with "the body control
of a ballerina," the anonymous left tackle, Lewis notes, is now often a
team's highest-paid player. Lewis fleshes this out with the colorful saga of
left tackle prodigy Michael Oher. An intermittently homeless Memphis ghetto
kid taken in by a rich white family and a Christian high school, Oher's
preternatural size and agility soon has every college coach in the country
courting him.
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
The story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in
Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys
and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not
merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and
tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the
obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing
ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds
itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines
are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience
will change them forever.
Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be
a young man at war; it that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a
powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice.
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by
Louise Rennison
She has a precocious 3-year-old sister who tends to leave wet nappies at the
foot of her bed, an insane cat who is prone to leg-shredding "Call of the
Wild" episodes, and embarrassing parents who make her want to escape to
Stonehenge and dance with the Druids. No wonder 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson
laments, "Honestly, what is the point?" A Bridget Jones for the younger set,
Georgia records the momentous events of her life--and they are all
momentous--in her diary, which serves as a truly hilarious account of what
it means to be a modern girl on the cusp of womanhood. No matter that her
particular story takes place in England, the account of her experiences
rings true across the ocean (and besides, "Georgia's Glossary" swiftly
eradicates any language barriers).
Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
Not even death can keep two brothers from meeting to play ball: it sounds
like a sentimental TV movie, doesn't it? Actually, Sherwood's second novel
(after The Man Who Ate the 747) is warmhearted, exploring the bonds between
the living and the dead and the lengths to which we'll go for love. A secret
jaunt to a Sox game ends in tragedy when Charlie St. Cloud, who isn't old
enough for a driver's license, crashes the car he pinched from a neighbor.
The hearts of Charlie and his younger brother, Sam, stop, but miraculously,
Charlie is resuscitated. Thirteen years later, Charlie is 28 and working as
the caretaker for the Marblehead cemetery where Sam is buried; he's also
spending every evening playing catch with the ghost of 12-year-old Sam,
who's putting off going to heaven for the game. Charlie's world gets shaken
up, though, by feisty, beautiful Tess Carroll, a sailor who had plans to be
one of the first women to circumnavigate the globe solo.
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down
when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to
Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and
alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother
decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in
Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher,
is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art
that will become the centerpiece of a local church. The tale that unfolds is
an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between
parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel
can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
If you've ever wondered what your dog is thinking, Stein's third novel
offers an answer. Enzo is a lab terrier mix plucked from a farm outside
Seattle to ride shotgun with race car driver Denny Swift as he pursues
success on the track and off. Denny meets and marries Eve, has a daughter,
Zoë, and risks his savings and his life to make it on the professional
racing circuit. Enzo, frustrated by his inability to speak and his lack of
opposable thumbs, watches Denny's old racing videos, coins koanlike
aphorisms that apply to both driving and life, and hopes for the day when
his life as a dog will be over and he can be reborn a man. When Denny hits
an extended rough patch, Enzo remains his most steadfast if silent
supporter. Enzo is a reliable companion and a likable enough narrator,
though the string of Denny's bad luck stories strains believability. Much
like Denny, however, Stein is able to salvage some dignity from the
over-the-top drama.
So B. It by Sarah Weeks
One day in her apartment in Reno, Bernadette heard a pitiful sound in the
hallway. She opened the door a crack and saw a young woman standing there in
her raincoat, her bare legs spattered with dried mud, holding a crying baby
wrapped in a blanket. The baby was Heidi, and they had come from the
almost-empty apartment next door for help. Heidi's Mama can't tend her
week-old child because she has, as Heidi later says, "a bum brain," so
Bernadette steps in and cares for them both tenderly. Mama says her name is
"So Be It," but with her twenty-three-word vocabulary, this is all the
information she can give Bernadette. Twelve years later this strange but
loving household is still together. Heidi does the shopping because
Bernadette has "angora phobia," and pays for it with money she wins at the
laundromat; Bernadette teaches her at the kitchen table while Mama is
happily occupied with her coloring books, and the rent and utilities are
always mysteriously paid. But Heidi wonders who she is, where she and Mama
came from, why they were alone, and most of all, she wants to know the
meaning of Mama's word "soof." When she finds some old photos in a cupboard,
she knows where to go to find out, and as she sets out on a long
cross-country bus journey, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into
surprising places.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from
the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a
foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued
mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their
hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has
not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it to lull her to
sleep when she’s roused by regular nightmares about her younger brother’s
death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel
collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy
Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole
library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster
parents.
Recommended Authors
• Laurie Halse Anderson
• Chris Crutcher
• Sarah Dessen
• John Green
• Todd Strasser
• Scott Westerfeld
Download a printable version of the recommended 9-12 summer reading list (PDF)