Classroom+Libraries


 * Lindenwold High School ~ Classroom Library List 2011-2012 **

**The Rationale Behind our Classroom Library Project -** media type="custom" key="11030880"

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Tookie maintained his innocence and began to work in earnest to prevent others from following his path. Whether he was creating nationwide peace protocols, discouraging adolescents from joining gangs, or writing books, Tookie worked tirelessly for the rest of his life to end gang violence. Even after his death, his legacy continues, supported by such individuals as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Snoop Dogg, Jesse Jackson, and many more. ||
 * Book Title || Lexile || Summary ||
 * A Child Called “It” || 850 || Dave Pelzer shares his unforgettable story of the many abuses he suffered at the hands of his alcoholic mother and the averted eyes of his neglectful father. Someone with no one to turn to, his dreams barely kept him alive. Through each of his struggles, readers will find themselves enduring his pain, comforting his loneliness and fighting for his will to survive. ||
 * A Lesson Before Dying || 750 || From the author of //A Gathering of Old Men// and //The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman// comes a deep and compassionate novel. A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting. ||
 * A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier || 920 || In 1993, when the author was twelve, rebel forces attacked his home town, in Sierra Leone, and he was separated from his parents. For months, he straggled through the war-torn countryside, starving and terrified, until he was taken under the wing of a Shakespeare-spouting lieutenant in the government army. Soon, he was being fed amphetamines and trained to shoot an AK-47 (“Ignore the safety pin, they said, it will only slow you down”). Beah’s memoir documents his transformation from a child into a hardened, brutally efficient soldier who high-fived his fellow-recruits after they slaughtered their enemies—often boys their own age—and who “felt no pity for anyone.” His honesty is exacting, and a testament to the ability of children “to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” ||
 * An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming || 1070 || Former Vice President Al Gore's //New York Times// #1 bestselling book is a daring call to action, exposing the shocking reality of how humankind has aided in the destruction of our planet and the future we face if we do not take action to stop global warming. Now, Viking has adapted this book for the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront this climate crisis head-on. ||
 * Avalon High || 800 || Avalon High, Ellie's new school, is pretty much what she'd expected. There's Lance, the hunky footballer; Jennifer, the cute cheerleader; Marco, the troublemaker. And then there's Will - the most gorgeous guy Ellie's ever met. She can hardly believe he likes HER. When Will says he thinks he's met Ellie before, things start getting a little weird. A feeling that grows as Ellie discovers the strange bonds that entwine Will, Lance, Jen, Marco - and herself. As darkness turns to danger, can Ellie stop the horrific chain of events that is about the engulf them all... ||
 * Blue Rage, Black Redemption || Unk. || When his L.A. neighborhood was threatened by gangbangers, Stanley Tookie Williams and a friend formed the Crips, but what began as protection became worse than the original gangs. From deadly street fights with their rivals to drive-by shootings and stealing cars, the Crips' influence — and Tookie's reputation — began to spread across L.A. Soon he was regularly under police surveillance, and, as a result, was arrested often, though always released because the charges did not stick. But in 1981, Tookie was convicted of murdering four people and was sent to death row at San Quentin in Marin County, California.
 * Drive || Unk. || From Daniel H. Pink, the author of the groundbreaking bestseller //A Whole New Mind//, comes his next big idea book: a paradigm- changing examination of what truly motivates us and how to harness that knowledge to find greater satisfaction in our lives and our work. ||
 * Enter Three Witches || 900 || Lady Mary is a ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth whose life is forever changed when her father, Lord Cawdor, betrays the Scottish king -- and is hanged as a traitor. In an instant, Mary has lost both her father and future. Now she's trapped in a castle with a power-hungry couple who will do anything to get what they want -- and are willing to crush anyone in their way. Including Mary. As the murderous events of Shakespeare's play unfold around her, Mary must struggle to survive -- and do what she can to prevent more deaths. But can a lone girl save lives when a legion of Scottish lords cannot? ||
 * Stick and Whittle || 880 || Stick is a Civil War veteran, down on his luck and searching for his long lost sweetheart. Whittle is an orphan on the lam, looking to repay the world a favor he claims to owe. When the two meet up out West, they become partners on a high-stakes adventure that includes a kidnapping, travel by tornado, and a dramatic rescue mission. ||
 * 16 ½ on the Block || 880 || The one and only Latina Smith is back on the block, and she's come a long way from her freshman year at Cass High School. Where Latina once played back-up in a four member clique, she's not only joined an entirely new crew, but she's made her way to the forefront of the new clique that has taken Cass High School by storm.

Latina and her girls, Asia and Gena think they're untouchable. They have it all: the looks, the brains, the boys and thanks to Asia being spoiled rotten, they even roll in the most expensive ride at school. They're living a life envied by most of the teenage girls around them.

What those other girls don't know is that outside of school, Latina's life is anything but easy. Her mother's drug addiction is tearing their family apart, and Latina wants nothing more than to get out of Detroit's projects. When she gets caught in a web of haters, thieves, and schemes, her life takes a turn for the worse, and now no one would ever want to trade places with her. She has twenty-four hours to save her own life. Will she prevail, or will she fail? || Ride shotgun with Summer as she is forced to hit the streets, grow up fast, and learn hard lessons about survival, loyalty, and young love. With $50,000 over her head, who can she trust? ||
 * 16 on the Block || 880 || A girl’s 16th birthday is supposed to be sweet, but For Summer Flynt, it was the day that changed her life forever. Young, fly, and beautiful, Summer is under the wing of her older sister Trish, but when Trish steals something that doesn’t belong to her, she gets involved in a lifestyle that she can’t handle. The price to pay is her own life. Frightened and alone, Summer soon finds out that she is expected to pay back her sister’s debt. With the entire neighborhood gunning for her, she is a sheep amongst wolves and only 16 on the block.
 * A Corner of the Universe || 750 || Hattie Owen had been anticipating a summer as comfortably uneventful as all the others ("I just want things all safe and familiar," she admits), helping her mother run their boarding house, painting alongside her artist father and reading "piles" of books. Then Uncle Adam (whom Hattie never knew existed) makes a surprise entrance, turning everything upside-down. Hattie's mother says that Uncle Adam has "mental problems." Hattie's grandparents act embarrassed whenever he is around, and her peers laugh at him. Hattie finds adventure and tragedy as well as enlightenment as she "lifts the corners of [her] universe" in order to better understand Adam. ||
 * A Thousand Splendid Suns || 830 || // A Thousand Splendid Suns // is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years — from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding — that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives — the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness — are inextricable from the history playing out around them. ||
 * After the Holocaust || 1130 || Striking cover art and abundant photographs will help attract readers to this grim work. Greenfeld (The Hidden Children) contends that little attention has been paid to the vast difficulties facing young Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. To fill that stated void, he focuses on eight adults, mostly from Eastern Europe but all currently living in the U.S., who relate their postwar experiences in their own words. Their stories prove gripping and the author effectively demonstrates the complexity of postwar conditions. ||
 * Aries Rising || 610 || Logan McRae wants three things during her sophomore year–a fellowship to study writing in Monterey for the summer; for Nathan, the hottest senior around, to notice her; and a butt like Geneva's, the super popular editor of the school newspaper. Then she finds the book Fearless Astrology hidden among her father's possessions and the question isn't whether she's going to get them, but when. Using the advice in the magical book, Logan sees changes happening not only in those around her, like her grumpy English teacher turned semi-happy, but also in herself. She becomes super confident and apparently more alluring since Nathan is starting to show interest in her. Unfortunately, a group of anonymous pranksters on campus, The Gears, is causing trouble and has also noticed her. Will Logan figure out who The Gears are before it's too late? Will the book help her get what she wants or is it all in her imagination? ||
 * Battle of Jericho || 700 || What would you be willing to do to gain acceptance by the most popular group of kids at school? Would you do what you know is right, or would you do the things that would make you popular? Jericho Prescott, a junior at Frederick Douglass High School, is offered the opportunity to pledge the most popular club at the school--the Warriors of Distinction. On the surface the club seems to be wonderful--it's been around for almost fifty years and is highly respected by the community. The club even conducts a toy drive at the holiday season to help needy children. But under the surface, the club has many undisclosed activities, known only to those who go through the secret initiation rituals. ||
 * Before We Were Free || 890 || What would life be like for a teen living under a dictatorship? Afraid to go to school or to talk freely? Knowing that, at the least suspicion, the secret police could invade your house, even search and destroy your private treasures? Or worse, that your father or uncles or brothers could be suddenly taken away to be jailed or tortured or killed? Such experiences have been all too common in the many Latin American dictatorships of the last 50 years. Author Julia Alvarez (//[|How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents]//) and her family escaped from the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic when she was 10, but in //Before We Were Free// she imagines, through the stories of her cousins and friends, how it was for those who stayed behind. ||
 * Boost || 600 || As with //Mad Cat// (HarperCollins, 2005), Mackel has turned a tough subject in the world of teen competitive sports into a highly readable blend of intense action, interfamily relationships, and intrigue. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the controversy surrounding steroid use, and with an appreciation for a talented voice in young adult literature.— ||
 * Brian’s Hunt || 1180 || In //Brian’s Hunt//, the 16-year-old returns to the remote woods and lakes of Canada, where he encounters a mysteriously injured dog. His experiences two years earlier, after surviving a plane crash and months alone with only a hatchet to protect and provide for himself (//[|Hatchet]//, //[|Brian’s Winter]//, etc.), have prepared him well to survive now. But can anything prime him for the horror that awaits him on an island campsite where he intends to meet his Cree friends? ||
 * Brother in Arms || 760 || Martin Luna, a new student at Bluford High, is at the center of this story. Haunted by the tragic death of his little brother, Martin seeks one thing: revenge. But his mother wants more for her only remaining child. Will Martin listen to her, or will he allow anger to control him? ||
 * Catching Fire || 820 || Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. As the sequel to the 2008 bestseller The Hunger Games, it continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and the fictional, futuristic nation of Panem. Due to the events of the previous novel, a rebellion against the ruling Capitol has begun, and Katniss and fellow tribute Peeta are forced to return to the arena in a special edition of the The Hunger Games. . ||
 * Chains || 780 || As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom. ||
 * Copper Sun || 810 || This action-packed, multifaceted, character-rich story describes the shocking realities of the slave trade and plantation life while portraying the perseverance, resourcefulness, and triumph of the human spirit. Amari is a 15-year-old Ashanti girl who is happily anticipating her marriage to Besa. Then, slavers arrive in her village, slaughter her family, and shatter her world. Shackled, frightened, and despondent, she is led to the Cape Coast where she is branded and forced onto a boat of death for the infamous Middle Passage to the Carolinas. ||
 * Coraline || 740 || Insatiably curious Coraline is an explorer dedicated to discovering everything she can about the area around her family's new home. When she comes upon a door in their flat that seems to go nowhere, enters an alternate world that at first is full of interesting things and delicious foods–everything that she has longed for. However, the dangerous creature there–called the other mother– intends to keep her forever. The pacing never lags, and Coraline's transformation into a girl who understands that having everything you want is the least interesting thing of all is natural. ||
 * Cover Up || 640 || The Super Bowl. America’s biggest sports spectacle. More than 95 million fans will be watching, but Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson know that //what// they’ll be watching is a lie. They know that the entire offensive line of the California Dreams have failed their doping tests and that the Dreams’ owner is trying to cover up the test results. These two teens are sitting on the biggest sports scandal of the decade. What they don’t know—yet—is how to prove it. ||
 * Crank || Unk. || Ellen Hopkins's semi-autobiographical verse novel, //Crank//, reads like a //[|Go Ask Alice]// for the 21st century. In it, she chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. ||
 * Dark Secrets 2 || 750 || In //No Time to Die//, the drama is deadly. Jenny is going undercover for the summer at the theater camp where her sister, Liza, was murdered just a year earlier. Though Jenny is still grieving the loss of her sister and feels completely out of place on stage, she is determined to discover why Liza was murdered—and more importantly, who killed her. Soon she thinks she hears Liza speaking to her, and suspects someone may be following her. The drama is even more twisted than she thought…. ||
 * Dating Hamlet: Ophelia’s Story || 860 || It isn’t easy dating a prince, especially when that prince is Hamlet. It could easily drive a young girl to madness, or so it would seem.

Since the death of his father, Ophelia’s beloved Hamlet has descended into a deep depression. To make matters worse, the Danish court is filled with lies and deceit. Was Hamlet’s father murdered by King Claudius? Is Polonius truly the father of Laertes? Who can be trusted as a friend? And who is to be feared as an enemy? It is up to clever Ophelia, with the help of her friends, to find a way to save her prince and herself. Only then can she finally reveal the truth about what really happened in the famed castle at Elsinore. || While these eighth graders may be as tough as their problems, they also are much more complex: sensitive, funny, enthusiastic, and real. Draper adeptly paints a convincing portrayal of how young people think, act, feel, and interact with one another. || Follow Halina's gripping story, along with other incredible, true-life accounts of children in the Holocaust.These survivors put up secret resistance, used false identities, and deceived the Nazis. Through the remarkable kindness of others and their own inner strength, these children found a way to make it through the horrors of the war. These enduring stories will captivate you and remind you of the power of hope. ||
 * Dawn of the Dreadfuls || N/A || Dawn of the Dreadfuls (2010) is a parody novel by Steve Hockensmith. It is a prequel to the 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, focusing on "the early life and training of Elizabeth Bennet, heroine of the earlier Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as she strove to become a gifted zombie hunter, with some mishaps in her early romantic encounters also included. ||
 * Digital Fortress || 870 || In most thrillers, "hardware" consists of big guns, airplanes, military vehicles, and weapons that make things explode. Dan Brown has written a thriller for those of us who like our hardware with disc drives and who rate our heroes by big brainpower rather than big firepower. It's an Internet user's spy novel where the good guys and bad guys struggle over secrets somewhat more intellectual than just where the secret formula is hidden--they have to gain understanding of what the secret formula actually is. ||
 * Double Dutch || 760 || Delia loves Double Dutch jump roping; she's good enough at it to participate in the world championships being held in her home city of Cincinnati. But Delia has an embarrassing secret that may jeopardize her place on the team: she can't read. She copes in school by relying on her memory, renting videos, doing projects that don't require writing, and behaving well enough not to be noticed. Her friend Randy has a secret, too. His father has been gone for weeks. Has he deserted his son just like Randy's mother deserted them? When the fearsome Tolliver twins, Tabu and Titan, arrive in the eighth grade, the threat of violence puts everyone on edge. The three interwoven stories heat up like the weather…
 * Eaters of the Dead || 1090 || The year is A.D. 922. A refined Arab courtier, representative of the powerful Caliph of Baghdad, encounters a party of Viking warriors who are journeying to the barbaric North. He is appalled by their Viking customs—the wanton sexuality of their pale, angular women, their disregard for cleanliness . . . their cold-blooded human sacrifices. But it is not until they reach the depths of the Northland that the courtier learns the horrifying and inescapable truth: He has been enlisted by these savage, inscrutable warriors to help combat a terror that plagues them—a monstrosity that emerges under cover of night to slaughter the Vikings and devour their flesh . . . ||
 * Ella Enchanted || 670 || In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her. At birth, Ella of Frell was given the gift of obedience by a fairy. Ella soon realizes that this gift is little better than a curse, for how can she truly be herself if at any time anyone can order her to hop on one foot, or cut off her hand, or betray her kingdom--and she'll have to obey? Ella's quest to break the curse and discover who she really is, is both funny and poignant. ||
 * Escape: Children of the Holocaust || 940 || By her ninth birthday, Halina Litman understood what her Jewish faith meant to the German occupiers of her town: death. Would she be able to escape?
 * Fast-Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal || 1240 || Journalist Schlosser argues that the fast food industry has triggered the growth of malls in America's landscape, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. He discusses facts about food production and preparation, the ingredients and taste-enhancers in the food, the chains' efforts to reel in young, susceptible consumers, and other unsettling facts. ||
 * Firehorse || 840 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">In 1872, 15-year-old Rachel leaves Illinois and her beloved pony for Boston, where her father has taken a newspaper job. The city is beset with fires, and there are rumors that they are the work of an arsonist. When Rachel accompanies her older brother to the local fire station, she meets The Governor's Girl, a fire-station horse that has been severely burned. She hears the fire captain and veterinarian discussing putting the horse down and saves her, finding new independence and adventure along the way. ||
 * Flipped || 720 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce's baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten. Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird--after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun? Then, in eighth grade, everything changes… ||
 * Forged by Fire || 780 || When Gerald was a child he was fascinated by fire. But fire is dangerous and powerful, and tragedy strikes. His substance-addicted mother is taken from him. Then he loses the loving generosity of a favorite aunt. A brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half sister, Angel, whom he struggles to protect from her father, Jordan Sparks, who abuses her, and from their mother, whose irresponsible behavior forces Gerald to work hard to keep the family together. ||
 * Forgotten Fire || 1050 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">Brutally vivid, Adam Bagdasarian's //Forgotten Fire// is based on the experiences of his great-uncle during the Armenian Holocaust. The absolutely relentless series of vile events is almost unbearable, but the quiet elegance of Bagdasarian's writing makes this a novel of truth and beauty. Parental guidance is strongly suggested for younger readers of this extraordinary, heartbreaking account. ||
 * Gertrude & Claudius || Unk. || John Updikes's nineteenth novel tells the story of Claudius and Gertrude, King and Queen of Denmark, before the action of Shakespeare's //Hamlet// begins. ||
 * Get Real: What Kind of World are you Buying? || 890 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">Rockliff outlines how mass consumerism is harming our planet, and specifically how teens can use their purchasing power to enact change. ||
 * Glitter: A Baby Drama || Unk. || Asia Smith walks through her life with a silver spoon in her mouth, thanks to her father, who spares no expense when it comes to his baby girl. But when he dies tragically, her extravagant lifestyle is brought down a notch. She struggles to adjust to her new life with Auntie Joy. ||
 * Gold dust || 690 || ** If I ran things,. nobody would have names. **

** //We would just have batting averages.// ** When star rookies Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, the Gold Dust Twins, join the Red Sox in 1975, Richard dreams of following in their footsteps. Napoleon Charlie Ellis arrives in Boston from the island of Dominica with a firm handshake, a love of cricket and classical music, and no one to call a friend. He needs help. Richard plans to help Napoleon and make him his partner. The two of them will go on to baseball greatness together, the next Gold Dust Twins. Except what if Napoleon has dreams of his own? || Charles J. Shields is the author of the //New York Times// bestseller //Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee//, which he has adapted here for younger readers. What emerges in this riveting portrait is the story of an unconventional, high-spirited woman who drew on her love of writing and her Southern home to create a book that continues to speak to new generations of readers. Anyone who has enjoyed //To Kill a Mockingbird// will appreciate this glimpse into the life of its fascinating author ||
 * Grendel || 920 || The first and most terrifying monster in English literature, from the great early epic BEOWULF, tells his side of the story. ||
 * Guardian || Unk. || In a time and place without moral conscience, fourteen-year-old Ansel knows what is right and what is true. But it is dangerous to choose honesty, and so he chooses silence. Now an innocent man is dead, and Ansel feels the burden of his decision. He must also bear the pain of losing a friend, his family, and the love of a lifetime. ||
 * Heir Apparent || 820 || While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself. ||
 * Here Lies Arthur || 890 || Gwynna is just a girl who is forced to run when her village is attacked and burns to the ground. To her horror, she is discovered in the wood. But it is Myrddin the bard who has found her, a traveler and spinner of tales. He agrees to protect Gwynna if she will agree to be bound in service to him. Gwynna is frightened but intrigued-and says yes-for this Myrddin serves the young, rough, and powerful Arthur. In the course of their travels, Myrddin transforms Gwynna into the mysterious Lady of the Lake, a boy warrior, and a spy. It is part of a plot to transform Arthur from the leader of a ragtag war band into King Arthur, the greatest hero of all time. ||
 * Hill Hawk Hattie || 860 || Hattie's life is difficult with her mother dead and her hard-drinking father curt and demanding. The 11-year-old has had to quit school in order to do the cooking and other chores. Her father makes her dress like a boy, and she reacts to him by being sullen and ornery. ||
 * Hole in My Life || 840 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">The author relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college. ||
 * Hope Was Here || 710 || When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the. ||
 * I am Legend || 760 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">From out of the night came the living dead with one purpose: destroy Robert Neville, the last man on earth. A mysterious plague has swept the planet leaving in its wake this one survivor. But there is still life of a sort--vampires, the strength less half-dead who press on Neville from every side. ||
 * I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee || 1120 || // To Kill a Mockingbird // is one of the most widely read novels in American literature. It’s also a perennial favorite in highschool English classrooms across the nation. Yet onetime author Harper Lee is a mysterious figure who leads a very private life in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, refusing to give interviews or talk about the novel that made her a household name. Lee’s life is as rich as her fiction, from her girlhood as a rebellious tomboy to her days at the University of Alabama and early years as a struggling writer in New York City.
 * Ice Drift || 890 || In 1863, two young Inuits, fourteen-year-old Alika and his younger brother Sulu, must fend for themselves during the six months they are stranded on an ice floe drifting south from Ellesmere Island towards the Greenland Strait. ||
 * If I Stay || 730 || With no memory of the car accident itself, 17-year-old Mia must come to terms with never really knowing what happened one horrific winter's day that changed her life forever. ||
 * Inkheart || 780 || Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. ||
 * Into Thin Air || 1320 || The author describes his spring 1996 trek to Mt. Everest, a disastrous expedition that claimed the lives of eight climbers, and explains why he survived. ||
 * It Ain’t All for Nothing || 830 || A young black boy must decide whether to go along with his father, who is a thief, or reject his father's way of life and risk losing him. ||
 * It’s Your World, If You Don’t Like It, Change It || 1070 || A how-to reference guide to becoming politically active for teens includes youth activists resources, contact lists for local and national governments, information on the upcoming presidential election, various success stories, and more. ||
 * Johnny Bunko || 420 || There's never been a career guide like THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO: THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU'LL EVER NEED. Told in manga — the Japanese comic book format that's an international sensation — it's the fully illustrated story of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job.

Johnny Bunko is new to the Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early months as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to rethink his approach. Step by step he builds a career, illustrating as he does the six core lessons of finding, keeping, and flourishing in satisfying work. A groundbreaking guide to surviving and flourishing in any career, THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO is smart, engaging and insightful, and offers practical advice for anyone looking for a life of rewarding work. || This is a searing, unforgettable read, and one that could change the way we think about crime and punishment. ||
 * Julie & Romeo: A Novel || Unk. || Meet the Cacciamanis and the Rosemans, rival florists and bitter enemies for as long as either family can remember (although no one can recall precisely why) until one fateful day when divorced Julie Roseman and widowed Romeo Cacciamani meet by chance at a small business seminar in the Boston Sheraton. More than flowers bloom as a result and when their respective families--horrified--find out about the budding romance, all hell breaks loose. ||
 * Just Another Hero || 660 || In Just Another Hero, a follow-up to Sharon Draper's Battle of Jericho and November Blues, a distraught student with an AK 47 holds a class hostage. ||
 * Keeper of the Doves || 590 || Amen McBee, the youngest of the four McBee sisters, is fascinated by the mysterious man who lives in their woods and tames doves to eat from his hand--a man Papa says is harmless, but when the family pet dies, Amen has her doubts. ||
 * Lady Macbeth: A Novel || Unk. || Historical romance novelist King leaps into deeper historical waters with this captivating take on Lady Macbeth, who tells her side of the story with a forceful, uncompromising daring. ||
 * Laika || GN* || Blending fact and fiction, the amazing story of an abandoned puppy from Moscow who grew to be a Russian space program pioneer as Earth's first space traveler is presented in comic-style illustrations. Original. ||
 * Love, Stargirl || 560 || Still moping months after being dumped by her Arizona boyfriend Leo, fifteen-year-old Stargirl, a home-schooled free spirit, writes "the world's longest letter" to Leo, describing her new life in Pennsylvania. ||
 * Lucky: A Memoir || 750 || An acclaimed journalist shares the gripping story of her rape when she was a college freshman, achieving justice in the courtroom, and triumphing in the face of violence. ||
 * Maximum Ride 1, 2, 3 || GN* || Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it’s like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the “Flock” — Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel — are just like ordinary kids — only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time — ||
 * Mists of Avalon || 1120 || Here, for the first time in two decades, is Marion Zimmer Bradley's brilliant reworking of the Arthurian epic. ||
 * Mockingjay || 800 || Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year. ||
 * My Jim || Unk. || Written in the great literary tradition of novels of American slavery, //My Jim// is told in the incantatory voice of Sadie Watson, an ex-slave who schools her granddaughter with lessons of love she learned in bondage. To help her granddaughter confront the decisions she needs to make, Sadie mines her memory for the tale of the unquenchable love of her life, Jim. Sadie’s Jim was an ambitious young slave and seer who, when faced with the prospect of being sold, escaped down the Mississippi with a white boy named Huck. Sadie is suddenly left alone. Worried about her children, convinced her husband is dead, reviled as a witch, and punished for Jim’s escape, Sadie’s will and her love for Jim, even in absentia, animate her life and see her through. ||
 * Narnia || 940 || Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of //Narnia// and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion. ||
 * Never Trust a Dead Man || 880 || Wrongly convicted of murder and punished by being sealed in the tomb with the dead man, 17-year-old Selwyn enlists the help of a witch and the resurrected victim to find the true killer. ||
 * Nineteen Minutes || 890 || Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families. ||
 * No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row || 690 || // No Choirboy // takes readers inside America’s prisons, and allows inmates sentenced to death as teenagers to speak for themselves. In their own voices—raw and uncensored—they talk about their lives in prison, and share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up there. Susan Kuklin also gets inside the system, exploring capital punishment itself and the intricacies and inequities of criminal justice in the United States.
 * Our Choice: How We Can Solve The Climate Crisis || Unk. || // Our Choice // gathers in one place all of the most effective solutions that are available now and that, together, will solve this crisis. It is meant to depoliticize the issue as much as possible and inspire readers to take action—not only on an individual basis but as participants in the political processes by which every country, and the world as a whole, makes the choice that now confronts us. ||
 * Out of the Dust || Unk. || When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heart-wrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring.

Written in free verse, this award-winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental--and emotional--turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength. ||
 * Pay It Forward: A Novel || 630 || // Pay It Forward // is a wondrous and moving story about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better--and to put that plan into action. ||
 * Peace, Locomotion || 860 || Twelve-year-old Lonnie is finally feeling at home with his foster family. But because he's living apart from his little sister, Lili, he decides it's his job to be the “rememberer”—and write down everything that happens while they're growing up. Lonnie's musings are bittersweet; he's happy that he and Lili have new families, but though his new family brings him joy, it also brings new worries. With a foster brother in the army, concepts like Peace have new meaning for Lonnie. ||
 * Peak || 760 || Peak is an exciting novel and a stimulating story. The author keeps you on edge as Peak tries to summit the mountain. Smith has a way of getting her point across with ­excitement and suspense. If you like books full of action and drama, I implore you to read this one. ||
 * Pemba’s Song || 730 || PpPemba knows she's not crazy. But who is that looking out at her through her mirror's eye? And why is the apparition calling her "friend"? Her real friends are back home in Brooklyn, not in the old colonial house in Colchester, Connecticut, where none of this would have happened if Daddy were still alive. But now all Pemba has is Mom and that strange old man, Abraham. Maybe he's the crazy one. As a mystery unfolds, many truths are revealed -- about honesty, freedom, redemption, and friendship. ||
 * Pillars of the Earth || Unk || The Pillars of the Earth sweeps through four decades of 12th Century England drawing the listener into the raw, flamboyant middle ages. It is a shining saga of good and evil, treachery and intrigue, violence and beauty. Not-so-noble knights, righteous heroes, valiant heroines and both virtuous and immoral men of God highlight this story. They manipulate, and are in turn manipulated by, the political turmoil and unrest between the reigns of Henry I and Henry II. ||
 * Pride and Prejudice and Zombies || Unk || So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton — and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers — and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to listen to. ||
 * Prince of Persia || 1110 || When a young prince is framed for the death of his beloved father and the king of Persia, he must prove his innocence with the reluctant help of a conquered princess and a magic dagger that can reverse time. The junior novel is a retelling of the film and will include an eight-page full-color photo insert with pictures from the film. ||
 * Prophecy of the Sisters || 850 || Lia and Alice buried their father on a rainy day in the fall of 1890. His death was sudden, and strange happenings are keeping the twins from resuming their wealthy, well-educated lives. Lia begins to dream of flying and Alice, while reserved, does not appear to mourn her father. Lia's boyfriend, James, uncovers an ancient tome that cryptically tells of two sisters, one the Gate and one the Guardian. One has the power to return Satan to Earth, the other the responsibility to keep her sister in check. As Lia investigates the prophecy, a fortuitous trip to a fortune-teller, Sonia, unlocks new doors. ||
 * Resistance Book I || GN* || Paul and Marie's bucolic French country town is almost untouched by the ravages of WWII, but the siblings still live in the shadow of war. Their father is a Prisoner of War, kept hostage by the Germans. When their friend Henri's parents disappear and Henri goes into hiding because of his Jewish ancestry, Paul and Marie realize they must take a stand. But how can they convince the French Resistance that even children can help in their fight against injustice? ||
 * Romiette & Julio || 610 || Romiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harrassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating. ||
 * Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead || Unk || Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" is the fabulously inventive tale of "Hamlet" as told from the worm's-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare's play. In Tom Stoppard's best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of "Waiting for Godot" resound, where reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end. ||
 * Safe Haven || Unk. || When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family. ||
 * Sarah Bishop || 760 || The tale of a girl's strength and courage during the American Revolution, written by the Newbery Medal-winning author of Island of the Blue Dolphins. "Readers will especially relish Sarah's fierce independence."--School Library Journal. ||
 * Shadow Life || 1000 || A look into the life of Anne Frank and her family during a tumultuous time. ||
 * Shakespeare: The World as Stage || Unk || William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself. ||
 * Sister Sister || Unk. || Mirror, mirror on the wall

Which is the twin you love most of all?

Is it popular Mya because she's an outgoing star?

Or is it shy Tara because she's jealous from afar?

"Everything that glitters ain't always gold"

Find out who's really sinister as the story unfolds. Babygirl Daniels brings readers another dramatic tale of young teen girls struggling to find themselves in the heart of Detroit. ||
 * Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie || 560 || From the author of Dunk comes this sparkling new novel that covers a year in the life of high school freshmen Scott Hudson, who is sideswiped by the unexpected news that his mother is about to have another baby. In a hilarious and touching journal addressed to the unborn intruder, Scott bares his soul as he copes with the trials and tribulations of a life that is changing faster than he wants it to. ||
 * Sold || 820 || Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.

He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. || Here is a powerful and important first novel — an unusual exploration of the connections between racism and anti-Semitism. ||
 * Speed of Light || Unk. || For eleven-year-old Audrey Ina, it's a conundrum: How could her life get so complicated so quickly? She feels like she's traveling at the speed of light.
 * Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens || 900 || Public relations guru Terrie Williams, author of //[|The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today's Fast-Paced Business World]//, has decided to try her hand at advising teens, and the result reads like a hip-hop version of //[|Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul]//. In //Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens//, Williams breaks down what she believes are common negative adolescent attitudes ("It's all about money,", "How I talk is my business," etc.) and then goes on to challenge the reader to reassess those attitudes and turn them around. ||
 * Stones into Schools || 910 || Mortenson’s best-seller, Three Cups of Tea (2009), introduced his commitment to peace through education and became a book-club phenomenon. He now continues the story of how the Central Asia Institute (CAI) built schools in northern Afghanistan. Descriptions of the harsh geography and more than one near-death experience impress readers as new faces join Mortenson’s loyal “Dirty Dozen” as they carefully plot a course of school-building through the Badakshan province and Wakhan corridor. ||
 * Sunrise Over Fallujah || 780 || Robin "Birdy" Perry, a new army recruit from Harlem, isn't quite sure why he joined the army, but he's sure where he's headed: Iraq. Birdy and the others in the Civilian Affairs Battalion are supposed to help secure and stabilize the country and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. Officially, the code name for their maneuvers is Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the young men and women in the CA unit have a simpler name for it: ||
 * The Audacity of Hope || Unk || In The Audacity of Hope, President Obama called for a different brand of politics–a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces–from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media–that can stifle even thebest-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment. ||
 * The Back Door of Midnight || 750 || When Anna O'Neill Kirkpatrick receives an invitation from her great-uncle Will asking her to visit him and her great-aunt Iris as soon as possible, she goes willingly. She had lived with them as a child after her mother was killed in a robbery, but was then put in foster care and later adopted by her loving foster mother. When she arrives, she finds that her uncle was killed in a fire, that the perpetrator has not been caught, and that her aunt is either senile or crazy. Anna sets out on her own to investigate the murder and discovers her family history in the process. She soon learns that some family secrets are to die for. ||
 * The Boy Who Dared || 760 || Bartoletti has taken one episode from her Newbery Honor Book, HITLER YOUTH, and fleshed it out into thought-provoking novel. When 16-year-old Helmuth Hubner listens to the BBC news on an illegal short-wave radio, he quickly discovers Germany is lying to the people. But when he tries to expose the truth with leaflets, he's tried for treason. Sentenced to death and waiting in a jail cell, Helmuth's story emerges in a series of flashbacks that show his growth from a naive child caught up in the patriotism of the times, to a sensitive and mature young man who thinks for himself. ||
 * The Clique || GN* || Claire Lyons is the new girl at Octavian Country Day School, an exclusive private school in Westchester County, New York. But Claire is totally unprepared for the social (and fashion) demands of her new classmates. To make matters worse, Claire's family is living in the guesthouse of one Massie Block, the queen supreme of her new school! And Massie couldn't be less thrilled with the new squatter on her family's estate. Does Claire have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the "it" girl in her school? ||
 * The Code: The 5 Secrets of Teen Success || Unk. || Motivational speaker Asgedom puts one of his speeches to paper, urging readers to develop their own code of behavior based on what they want from life and what they want to project to the world. He leads by example, and teens will be inspired by his personal story. ||
 * The Dead || Unk. || THE DEAD begins one year //before// the action in THE ENEMY, just after the Disaster. A terrible disease has struck everyone over the age of sixteen, leaving them either dead or a decomposing, flesh-eating creature. The action starts in a boarding school just outside London where all the teachers have turned into zombies. A few kids survive and travel by bus into the city. The bus driver, an adult named Greg, seems to be unaffected by the disease. Then he begins to show the dreaded signs: outer blisters and inner madness. The kids escape Greg and end up at the Imperial War Museum. A huge fire in South London drives them all to the river, and eventually over the river to the Tower of London. It is there they will meet up with the kids in THE ENEMY in Book 3. ||
 * The Enemy || Unk. || In this dystopian thriller set in London, everyone over 16 is dead or diseased, and youngsters are in constant danger of being eaten by boil-infested grown-ups who roam the streets like zombies looking for children to kill. Led by teens Arran and Maxie and armed with makeshift weapons, a group of kids sets out from the uncertain safety of an abandoned supermarket to travel to Buckingham Palace, where a young messenger promises that food, medicine, and a haven are available. Along the way, Arran is killed. One youngster selfishly decides to stay behind with a secret stash of food and is there to tell Small Sam, who had been abducted and feared dead, where the others (including his sister) have headed. Sam's quest to find Ella parallels the story of the large group with similar run-ins with marauding adults and mistrustful children who scavenge about the city. The bleak setting is filled with decay, danger, and puss-oozing parents who have turned into butchers. On arriving at Buckingham Palace, Maxie decides that David, the teen leader there, is too tyrannical, and she must regain control of her brood and convince them to leave for a new location. The last chapter squelches any real hope for the future and will leave readers somewhat haunted and chilled about the doomsday scenario. ||
 * The entertainer and the Dybbuk || 610 || Traveling into territory more commonly associated with Isaac Bashevis Singer, Newbery Medalist Fleischman (//The Whipping Boy//) draws attention to the especially cruel treatment of Jewish children during the Holocaust. The "Great Freddie" is a decorated GI, an orphan who has stayed in Europe and, by 1948, has found a toehold as a ventriloquist. And then Avrom Amos Poliakov shows up-rather, takes over. Avrom Amos is a dybbuk, a wandering soul or ghost, and, by demonstrating how he might speak for Freddie's wooden dummy, Avrom Amos convinces Freddie to let him lodge within Freddie. The dybbuk makes good on his promise, and Freddie's act becomes the toast of Paris. But Avrom Amos has his own agenda, as Freddie knows. He wants to track down the infamous SS colonel who not only killed him but also tortured children, including his sister, and before long, the dybbuk co-opts Freddie's act and his interviews to spread the word about the SS colonel. The dybbuk's voice will shock some readers; he speaks in embittered, Yiddish-inflected English that drives home his point. Here is Avrom Amos giving Freddie a history lesson: "You didn't hear [that Hitler] told his Nazi //meshuggeners,// those lunatics, 'Soldiers of Germany, have some fun and go murder a million and a half Jewish kids? All ages! Babies, fine. Girls with ribbons in their hair, why not?' " Fleischman inserts horrific factual details of Nazi brutality, and yet his message about bearing witness may be submerged beneath the sensational story line. ||
 * The Game of Sunken Places || 670 || Thirteen-year-old Gregory Buchanan's Uncle Max is very strange, as Gregory is quick to tell his friend Brian Thatz whom he enlists to join him in Vermont. Uncle Max, or Maximilian Grendle, and Gregory's cousin Prudence live in the "kind of world where there's organ music that gets louder when he eats refined sugar." Well, not exactly, but that's a typical Gregory-style comment. ||
 * The Host || 640 || Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. || Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, //The Lovely Bones//, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. || Abandoning a career as a young steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, Sam took a bumpy stagecoach to the Far West. In the gold and silver fields, he expected to get rich quick. Instead, he got poor fast, digging in the wrong places. His Stint as a sagebrush newspaperman led to a duel with pistols. Had he not survived, the world would never have heard of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn—or red-headed Mark Twain. Samuel Clemens adopted his pen name in a hotel room in San Francisco and promptly made a jumping frog (and himself) famous. His celebrated novels followed at a leisurely place; his quips at jet speed. "Don't let schooling interfere with your education," he wrote. || The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal. Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally, including the Amish and the Hasidim. He discovers ancient Biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the 21st-century brain. ||
 * The Juvie Three || 730 || Terence, Gecko, and Arjay made serious mistakes and wound up doing time in juvenile-detention facilities. Empathetic adult Douglas Healy, a former juvenile offender himself, has secured a grant to operate an experimental halfway house in New York City designed to provide second chances to boys deemed as deserving. The teens accept his offer to become his first reformees, willing to trade their bleak incarceration for a small taste of freedom, even though the bargain entails maintaining academic excellence, therapy, and community service. Though Gecko and Arjay enter into the deal in good faith, Terence seems bound for recidivism ||
 * The King’s Shadow || 940 || Evyn, son of a Welsh serf, dreams of becoming a traveling storyteller, but a horrible tragedy leaves him a mute orphan. Though his uncle sells him into slavery, Evyn is eventually freed and serves as squire to the valiant Harold Godwinson, who becomes Britain's last Saxon king. Evyn thus takes part in the Battle of Hastings. Based loosely on The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. "Everything is woven into one unbroken whole; Alder spins a good story."-Kirkus Reviews ||
 * The Last Knight || 910 || To say it was a dark and stormy night would be a gross understatement. It was colder than a witch's kiss, wetter than a spring swamp, and blacker than a tax collector's heart. A sane man would have been curled up in front of a fire, with a cup of mulled wine and a good boo—, ah, a willing wench. But not me. I was out in it. I'm squire to a hero. ||
 * The Lovely Bones || 890 || On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey.
 * The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise to Fulfill a Dream || 940 || We often hear about the dangers of male friendships in which peer pressure prevails over common sense. But for the authors, it was a powerful antidote to the pitfalls of street life in Newark, New Jersey. They made a vow to be there for one another, to encourage each other every step of the way, until they overcame the odds and became doctors. In The Pact, they share the story of their struggle to keep the pledge they made -- a pledge that ultimately led to success they could barely imagine. ||
 * The Perks of Being a Wallflower || 720 || This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. ||
 * The Power of Myth || Unk || Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers offer a brilliant combination of wisdom and wit in conversations that range from modern marriage to virgin births, from saviors to heroes in the Power of Myth--a great summing up of Campbell's works. ||
 * The Red Tent || 1010 || Skillfully interweaving biblical tales with characters of her own invention, the author re-creates the life of Dinah providing an illuminating portrait of a courageous woman and the life she might have lived. A newview of the panorama of life in biblical times emerges from the female perspective, and the red tent itself becomes a symbol of womanly strength, love, and wisdom. ||
 * The Road || 670 || A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other. ||
 * The Skin I’’m In || 670 || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like. ||
 * The Third Witch || 700 || For her first novel, high school teacher Reisert gives herself a tough assignment: rewriting Macbeth from the perspective of one of the three witches. ||
 * The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference || Unk || Defining that precise moment when a trend becomes a trend, Malcolm Gladwell probes the surface of everyday occurrences to reveal some surprising dynamics behind explosive social changes. He examines the power of word-of-mouth and explores how very small changes can directly affect popularity. Perceptive and imaginative, //The Tipping Point// is a groundbreaking book destined to overturn conventional thinking in business, sociological, and policy-making arenas. ||
 * The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life, of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West || Unk || "MARK TWAIN WAS BORN fully grown, with a cheap cigar clamped between his teeth." So begins Sid Fleischman's ramble-scramble biography of the great American author and wit, who started life in a Missouri village as a barefoot boy named Samuel Clemens.
 * The Witches of Worm || 850 || A lonely girl, Jessica, finds a blind, almost hairless cat that she calls Worm. Worm seems to have a terrible hold on her, making her do mean things, but Jessica feels she has no one who can help her break free of the cat. PW found this Newbery Honor Book "acutely perceptive and compelling." ||
 * The Year of Living Biblically: One man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible || Unk || Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also, to obey the hundreds of less-publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers. To grow his beard. To stone adulterers.
 * This Land was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie || 1020 || Before Springsteen and before Dylan, there was Woody Guthrie. With "This Machine Kills Fascists," scrawled across his guitar in big black letters, Woody Guthrie brilliantly captured in song the experience of twentieth-century America. Whether he sang about union organizers, migrant workers, or war, Woody took his inspiration from the plights of the people around him as well as from his own tragic childhood.

From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Guthrie wrote the words to more than three thousand songs-including "This Land is Your Land," a song many call America's unofficial national anthem. With a remarkable ability to turn any experience into a song almost instantaneously, Woody Guthrie spoke out for people of all colors and races, setting an example for generations of musicians to come. But Woody didn't have the chance to find everything he was looking for. He was ravaged by Huntington's disease, just like his mother, and died in a mental institution at the age of fifty-five. || Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of your mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? // Tuesdays With Morrie // is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift to the world. || Tenth Grade || 780 || Vladimir Tod wants be popular like his friend Henry and cool and carefree like Henry's cousin Joss. He would so enjoy putting bullies Tom and Bill, who have been tormenting him for years, in their place. And, of course, he longs to tell Meredith about his feelings for her. All of this should really be a piece a cake for him. He is, after all, the only vampire "living" in Bathory, and he possesses extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, luck does not seem to run his way. || Eleventh Grade || 780 || Eleventh grade at Bathory High is draining Vladimir Tod. Joss, a professional vampire slayer and Vlad's former friend, has moved back to town. The powerful vampire Dorian has an overwhelming desire to drink Vlad's blood. And his arch enemy, D'Ablo, has brought Vlad's Uncle Otis to trial for crimes against vampires. So much for dating. When the tables turn on Vlad, he has just enough time to return to Bathory for his final good-byes. . . || There is no greater sin than kissing your best friend's boyfriend. So when Emma breaks that golden rule, she knows she's messed up big-time...especially since she lives in the smallest town ever, where everyone knows everything about everyone else...and especially since she maybe kinda wants to do it again. Now her best friend isn't speaking to her, her best guy friend is making things totally weird, and Emma is running full speed toward certain social disaster. This is so not the way senior year was supposed to go. || Garen Thomas takes us through the life of Barack Obama, from his struggle to fit in with his classmates, and concern about not knowing his biological father, through his term as an Illinois senator, and the long campaign for president, to his historic victory. ||
 * Thoreau at Walden || Unk || "I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship, but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely." So said Henry David Thoreau in 1845 when he began his famous experiment in living on Walden Pond. In this graphic masterpiece, John Porcellino uses only the words of Thoreau himself to tell the story of those two years off the beaten track. The pared-down text focuses on Thoreau's most profound ideas, and Porcellino's fresh, simple pictures bring the philosopher's sojourn at Walden to cinematic life. For readers who know //Walden// intimately, this graphic treatment will provide a vivid new interpretation of Thoreau's story. For those who have never read (or never completed!) the original, it presents a contemporary look at a few brave words to live by. ||
 * Three Little Words || 810 || “I felt as worthless as the junk in my trash bag . . . once again, I was the one being tossed out and thrown away.” Taken from her mother when she was scarcely four years old, Rhodes-Courter spent the next nine years in foster care with “more than a dozen so-called mothers.” “Some were kind,” she acknowledges, “a few were quirky and one . . . was as wicked as a fairy-tale witch.” She names names in this memoir, which is also a searing indictment of an often sadly deficient system of childcare. //.// ||
 * Tip Off || Unk. || It's not the worst mistake in sports history, but it's among the most famous-with the second pick in the 1984 NBA draft, the Portland Trailblazers selected Sam Bowie instead of several future stars, including Michael Jordan. In this tremendously readable book, Bondy tells the full story of that draft, which most experts consider the best ever. ||
 * Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson || 830 || Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher. Someone older who understood you when you were young and searching, who helped you see the world as a more profound place, and gave you advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.
 * Vladimir Todd:
 * Vladimir Todd:
 * Vladimir Todd: Ninth Grade || 780 || Vladimir Tod wants be popular like his friend Henry and cool and carefree like Henry's cousin Joss. He would so enjoy putting bullies Tom and Bill, who have been tormenting him for years, in their place. And, of course, he longs to tell Meredith about his feelings for her. All of this should really be a piece a cake for him. He is, after all, the only vampire "living" in Bathory, and he possesses extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, luck does not seem to run his way. ||
 * Vladimir Todd: Twelfth Grade Kills || 780 || As a teenage vampire, Vlad has spent the last four years trying to handle the pressures of school while sidestepping a slayer out for his blood. Now he's a senior, and in this final, action-packed book in the series, Vlad must confront the secrets of the past, unravel the mystery of who he really is, make decisions about his future, and face his greatest enemy. It's a senior year that totally bites. ||
 * Waiting for Normal || Unk || Addie is waiting for normal. But Addie's mom has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta or an empty pantry, jubilation or gloom, her way or no way. All or nothing never adds up to normal. All or nothing can't bring you all to home, which is exactly where Addie longs to be, with her half sisters, every day. In spite of life's twists and turns, Addie remains optimistic. Someday, maybe, she'll find normal. Leslie Connor has created an inspiring novel about one girl's giant spirit. Waiting for normal is a heartwarming gem. ||
 * War Is...Soldiers, Survivors, and Storytellers Talk About War || Unk || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: center;">Grade 9 Up—Aronson and Campbell have collected an outstanding array of essays, interviews, blog posts, articles, song lyrics, short stories, and letters from people directly involved in war. The book is broken into sections called "Deciding About War," "Experiencing War," and "The Aftermath of War." ||
 * Wee Free Men || 680 || Nine-year-old Tiffany Aching needs magic--fast! Her sticky little brother Wentworth has been spirited away by the evil Queen of faerie, and it’s up to her to get him back safely. Having already decided to grow up to be a witch, now all Tiffany has to do is find her power. But she quickly learns that it’s not all black cats and broomsticks. According to her witchy mentor Miss Tick, "Witches don’t use magic unless they really have to...We do other things. A witch pays attention to everything that’s going on...A witch uses her head...A witch always has a piece of string!" Luckily, besides her trusty string, Tiffany’s also got the Nac Mac Feegles, or the Wee Free Men on her side. ||
 * What Color is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers || Unk || // What Color Is Your Parachute? // has been the bestselling job-hunting book in the world for more than three decades, in good times and bad, and it continues to be a fixture on best-seller lists, from //New York Times// to //BusinessWeek//. It has sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages around the world. //Parachute// is streamlined this year to help those struggling in these hard economic times acquire the job-search tools they need faster and more efficiently. Its life-saving information is, as always, updated and relevant to today’s job marke ||
 * What I Saw and How I Lied || 620 || In 1947, 15-year-old Evie, her mother, Bev, and her stepfather, Joe, leave Brooklyn for a vacation in Palm Beach, FL, during the off season. There they meet Arlene and Tom Grayson, who lavish attention on the family and convince Joe to go into the hotel business with them. When Peter, an army acquaintance of Joe's, appears, Evie is smitten by his charm and attention. Her budding interest in romance, while protectively discouraged by her parents, is actually encouraged by Arlene, who helps Evie develop a sense of style. Evie enjoys her outings with Peter and interprets her mother's insinuating presence as protective, when in reality Bev is having an affair with the younger man. ||
 * What Would Emma Do? || Unk || Thou Shalt Not Kiss Thy Best Friend's Boyfriend...again...
 * Where She Went || 830 || In the three years since the tragic accident Mia barely survived in //If I Stay//, she and high school ex-boyfriend Adam have lived separate lives on opposite coasts. But then Adam, now the dissatisfied front man of popular LA-based band Collateral Damage, stops over in New York City for one night before kicking off the European leg of his tour. It happens to be the same evening that Mia, now well on her way to becoming a renowned cellist, is performing at Carnegie Hall. Adam buys a ticket, planning to slip in and out, but Mia spots him and for the first time in years they’re face-to-face with each other and their shared past. ||
 * Where The Heart Is || Unk || With a warm and utterly honest voice right out of Steinbeck's Oklahoma and Fannie Flagg's green tomato South, Billie Letts has spun an irresistible story that won the Walker Percy Award and goes on to win every reader's heart. ||
 * Wisdom for a Young CEO || Unk. || At the tender age of 12, author Barry decided that what he wanted most in life was to become the CEO of a major corporation. Unsure of where to begin (join the all the school clubs? raise his G.P.A.?), he wrote letters seeking advice from the CEOs of more than 150 major corporations. Most of them sent him personal letters back in response. Now, at the ripe age of 17, he shares their wisdom in this compelling collection of letters and quotes from chief executives at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Viacom, Dow, Kraft and Southwest Airlines. ||
 * Witch Child || Unk || Enter the world of young Mary Newbury, a world where simply being different can cost a person her life. Hidden until now in the pages of her diary, Mary’s startling story begins in 1659, the year her beloved grandmother is hanged in the public square as a witch. Mary narrowly escapes a similar fate, only to face intolerance and new danger among the Puritans in the New World. How long can she hide her true identity? Will she ever find a place where her healing powers will not be feared? ||
 * World religions: The Great Faiths Explored and Explained || Unk || Taking a refreshing new approach to understanding different faiths, World Religions looks at the beliefs and practices of many different religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Islam. ||
 * Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama || Unk || Born in the U.S.A., the son of an African father and an American mother, a boy who spent his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii, Barack Obama is truly a citizen of the world. In kindergarten, he wrote an essay titled, “I Want to Become President,” and now, with his fierce optimism, exuberant sense of purpose and determination, and above all, his belief that change can happen, Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, has made that dream come true.

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