|
READ
FOR A LIFETIME
2006-2007
Booklist
A
Bend in the Road
Nicholas Sparks
384pgs
Miles
Ryan, deputy sheriff of New Bern, North Carolina, had married
his high-school sweetheart, Missy, and was living a charmed life
when tragedy struck. In 1986, Missy was killed by a car on an
isolated road while she was out jogging, and the driver was
never found. Two years later, Miles is still haunted by the lack
of closure and only recently has shown signs of overcoming his
grief. The only bright spot in his life is his seven-year-old
son, Jonah, who is now having trouble in school. Then Miles
meets Jonah’s teacher, Sarah Andrews, and is drawn to her. A
newcomer to town, she has moved to be near her family and to
escape from a disastrous divorce. The two broken souls recognize
each other’s fragility as they work together to help Jonah.
They embark on a serious relationship, which is sorely tested
after Miles receives a tip about Missy’s accident. In his
determination to find the culprit, he throws his training out
the door in his crazed his pursuit for justice. Anyone who
disagrees with him or his methods is perceived as the enemy,
including his boss and friend, and Sarah, who tries to be the
voice of reason.
A
Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life
Dana Reinhardt
240pgs
Olive
skinned and dark eyed, Simone looks nothing like her fair-haired
family. She is, nonetheless, the beloved daughter of her
adoptive parents and enjoys a close and supportive relationship
with her younger brother. It therefore comes as a terrible
intrusion in Simone's comfortable life when, after 16 years, her
birth mother asks to meet her. After some resistance, Simone
makes contact with Rivka, a 33-year-old self-exiled Hasidic Jew
who is dying of ovarian cancer. Despite a fairly transparent
setup, once Simone and Rivka are brought together, their shared
story is developed with skill, attention to detail, and
poignancy. Both Simone and Rivka are strong, complicated
characters who benefit greatly from each other: Simone is gifted
with her heritage and history and thus a richer identity, and
Rivka is able to leave the world having known her daughter.
A Great and
Terrible Beauty Libba
Bray
432pgs
On
her 16th birthday, Gemma Doyle fights with her mother. She wants
to leave India where her family is living, runs off when her
mother refuses to send her to London to school, has a dreadful
vision and witnesses her mother's death. Two months later, Gemma
is enrolled in London's Spence School, still troubled by
visions, and unable to share her grief and guilt over her loss.
She gradually learns to control her vision and enter the
"realms" where magical powers can make anything happen
and where her mother waits to instruct her. Gradually she and
her new friends learn about the Order, an ancient group of women
who maintained the realms and regulated their power, and how two
students unleashed an evil creature from the realms by killing a
Gypsy girl. Gemma uncovers her mother's connection to those
events and learns what she now must do.
A Wreath for
Emmett Till Marilyn
Nelson
48pges
This
memorial to the lynched teen is in the Homeric tradition of
poet-as-historian. It is a heroic crown of sonnets in Petrarchan
rhyme scheme and, as such, is quite formal not only in form but
in language. There are 15 poems in the cycle, the last line of
one being the first line of the next, and each of the first
lines makes up the entirety of the 15th. This chosen formality
brings distance and reflection to readers, but also calls
attention to the horrifically ugly events. The language is
highly figurative in one sonnet, cruelly graphic in the next.
The illustrations echo the representative nature of the poetry,
using images from nature and taking advantage of the emotional
quality of color.
Al
Capone Does My Shirts
Gennifer Choldenko
240 pgs
Twelve-year-old
Moose moves to Alcatraz in 1935, so his father can work as a
prison guard and his younger, autistic sister, Natalie, can
attend a special school in San Francisco. It is a time when the
federal prison is home to notorious criminals like gangster Al
Capone. Depressed about having to leave his friends and winning
baseball team behind, Moose finds little to be happy about on
Alcatraz. He never sees his dad, who is always working; and
Natalie's condition-- her tantrums and constant needs--demand
all his mother's attention. Things look up for Moose when he
befriends the irresistible Piper, the warden's daughter, who has
a knack for getting Moose into embarrassing but harmless
trouble. Helped by Piper, Moose eventually comes to terms with
his new situation.
Buddha Boy
Kathe Koja
117pgs
The
kids at school call Jinsen "Buddha Boy"—he wears
oversize tie-dyed dragon T- shirts, shaves his head, and always
seems to be smiling. He’s clearly a freak. Then Justin is
paired with him for a class project. As he gets to know Jinsen
and his incredible artistic talent, Justin questions his own
beliefs. But being friends with Buddha Boy isn’t simple,
especially when Justin realizes that he’s going to have to
take sides. What matters more: the high school social order or
getting to know someone extraordinary?
Dear
Miss Breed
Jane Oppenheim
288 pgs
In
the panic that followed Pearl Harbor, U.S. West Coast
Japanese-Americans were forcible sent to Japanese Relocation
camps. This
is the story of Clara Breed, a San Diego children's librarian
who kept in touch with several of her evacuated young
"regulars" and became an advocate for their release.
The text is supported by frequent excerpts from letters,
passages from the 1981 reparation hearings and lines from the
author's own interviews with survivor.
It not only creates a scathing picture of the living
conditions those children and their families were forced to
endure, but also bears eloquent witness to their deeply rooted
patriotism and unshakable determination to make the best of
things, come what may.
Dangerous
Engine: Benjamin
Franklin From Scientist to Diplomat
Joan Dash
256 pgs
This
biography explores Benjamin Franklin's evolution from scientist
to diplomat before and during the Revolutionary War, including
his invention of the bifocals, to his famous kite experiment
with electricity, to his "sentry-box" experiment (an
early version of the lightning rod), which he described in a
letter to the Royal Society and made him famous throughout
Europe. Though science interested him most, Franklin gravitated more
towards politics, first in Britain and then as the person most
responsible for France's support of the American Revolution.
Define
Normal
Julie Anne Peters 208pgs
When
Antonia is assigned to Jazz as a peer counselor, she figures
there is no way she can help this tattooed, pierced,
incorrigible girl. They are complete opposites. Antonia is a
straight-A student whose parents are divorced and she is
struggling to keep what's left of her family together as her
mother battles depression. Jazz's family is wealthy and
seemingly perfect. As they continue through the 15 hours of peer
counseling, it becomes clear that both girls have issues they
need to work through. They go from wary classmates to friends
who support and help one another. As Antonia's mother is
hospitalized for her depression, Jazz battles her own mother's
need to control by quitting the one thing she loves most-playing
classical piano. Both girls deal with their losses by finding
new ways to look at their problems and to resume life as
"normally" as possible.
For
Teens Only: Quotes, Notes, and Advice You Can Use
Carol Weston
256pgs
Sage
advice, complete with 573 relevant and inspiring quotes, is the
main focus of this interesting and upbeat self-help book. Topics
include mind, body, friends, relationships, school, family, and
work, all presented in an understanding and straightforward
manner. Teens seeking encouragement and a pathway to a happy and
successful life will find much to consider.
Freakanomics
Steven D. Levitt
256pgs
Economics
is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The
annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much
publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or
physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that
economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with
finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds as he
argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need
to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even
more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing
connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent
crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further,
to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some
people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Also, by
analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing
gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like
McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores
of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a
section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues
that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a
backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun.
Harris and Me: A
Summer Remembered
Gary Paulsen
168pgs
Paulsen
choreographs an antic jig of down-on-the-farm frolics in this
warm comedy set a few years after WW II. The 11-year-old
narrator (who has spent a good portion of his life being shipped
off to various relatives) has never seen anything like the
Larson homestead, where he is sent to spend the summer; nor has
he witnessed anyone like second cousin Harris, prankster
extraordinaire. Initiation to country life includes a swift kick
in the head by Vivian the cow, run-ins with an angry rooster and
the Larson's spirited pet lynx, as well as assorted dares and
humiliations conducted by nine-year-old Harris, who eventually
becomes a cherished friend. Days are filled with a mixture of
tough work and rough play and sometime during the course of his
visit the city boy--parented by a couple of "puke
drunks"--learns the real meaning of "home." On
the Larson farm, readers will experience hearts as large as
farmers' appetites, humor as broad as the country landscape and
adventures as wild as boyhood imaginations.
Harry
Potter and the Half Blood Prince
J.K. Rowling
672pgs
The
war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have
been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long
stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already
suffered losses. And yet . . . As with all wars, life goes on.
Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight
and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in
Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. And with
Dumbledore's guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of
the boy who became Lord Voldemort -- and thus finds what may be
his only vulnerability.
It's Not About
the Bike: My Journey Back to Life Lance Armstrong
304pgs
People
around the world have found inspiration in the story of Lance
Armstrong--a world-class athlete nearly struck down by cancer,
only to recover and win the Tour de France, the multi day
bicycle race famous for its grueling intensity. Armstrong is a
thoroughgoing Texan jock, and the changes brought to his life by
his illness are startling and powerful, but he's just not
interested in wearing a hero suit. While his vocabulary is a bit
on the he-man side, his actions will melt the most hard-bitten
souls: a cancer foundation and benefit bike ride, his
astonishing commitment to training that got him past countless
hurdles, loyalty to the people and corporations that never gave
up on him. There's serious medical detail here, which may not be
for the faint of heart; from chemo to surgical procedures to his
wife's in vitro fertilization, you won't be spared a single
x-ray, IV drip, or unfortunate side effect. Athletes and coaches
everywhere will benefit from the same extraordinary detail
provided about his training sessions--every aching tendon, every
rainy afternoon, and every small triumph during his long
recovery is here in living color. It's Not About the Bike is the
perfect title for this book about life, death, illness, family,
setbacks, and triumphs, but not especially about the bike.
Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini 400pgs
The
Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a
wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's
father's servant. As children in the relatively stable
Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They
spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical
places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes
the nature of their relationship forever.
Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir
remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty.
Eventually, Amir marries, moves to California and becomes
a successful novelist. Still troubled by a childhood incident in
which he betrayed the trust of his best friend Hassan, who
receives a brutal beating from some local bullies. Amir soon
learns that the Taliban have murdered Hassan and his wife,
raising questions about the fate of his son, Sohrab. Spurred on
by childhood guilt, Amir makes the difficult journey to Kabul,
only to learn the boy has been enslaved by a former childhood
bully who has become a prominent Taliban official.
On
a perfect sun-kissed morning in a beachfront resort in Thailand,
Petra Nemcova was packing, getting ready to leave her bungalow,
when she heard screams. Suddenly, people were running in all
directions as thunderous, noises split the air. In the next
instant, she was fighting for her life.
Like thousands of other people caught up in the tsunami
of 2004, Petra and the love of her life, photographer Simon
Atlee, had no warning, no chance to say good-bye. For eight
terrifying hours, in excruciating pain from a shattered pelvis,
Petra found refuge in the branches of a palm tree. The sun beat
down on her mercilessly as she drifted in and out of
consciousness. The world around her was in chaos. Now, in this
stirring and poignant memoir, a courageous young woman tells her
moving, unforgettable story.
Love Always, Petra is more than a first-person account of
a terrible tragedy; it is the story of a working-class girl who
went from a communist-controlled childhood in Czechoslovakia to
the cover of Sports Illustrated; it is the story of a woman and
a man falling in love amid the glittering world of high fashion.
Most of all, it is a story that forcefully illustrates the power
of nature to not only change our lives but teach us to treasure
the gifts of love and life.
Nando
Parrado
In
October 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team crashed
in the Andes. Not immediately rescued, the survivors turned to
cannibalism to survive and after 72 days were saved. Rugby team
member Nando Parrado, has written a beautiful story of
friendship, tragedy and perseverance. High in the Andes, with a
fractured skull, eating the flesh of his teammates and friends,
Parrado calmly ponders the cruelties of fate, the power of the
natural world and the possibility of continued existence.
"I would live from moment to moment and from breath to
breath, until I had used up all the life I had." Parrado,
who for the past 10 years has been giving inspirational talks
based on his experiences, lost his mother and sister in the
crash. Struggling to stay alive, his guide becomes his beloved
father: "each [stride] brought me closer to my father...
each step I took was a step stolen back from death."
My
Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult
432pgs
Thirteen-year-old
Anna Fitzgerald walks into the office of lawyer Campbell
Alexander and announces she wants to sue her parents for the
rights to her own body. Anna was conceived after her older
sister, Kate, developed a rare form of leukemia at the age of
two, and has donated bone marrow and blood to her sister. Now
she has been asked to donate a kidney, and she intends to
refuse. Campbell is a jaded young man who nevertheless decides
to take her case pro bono. Anna’s parents are shocked when
they learn of her lawsuit, and her mother, a former civil
defense attorney, decides to represent them. Anna refuses to
budge on her position despite the fact that she clearly loves
her sister and longs for her family’s happiness. As the
gripping court case builds, the story takes a shocking turn.
Petey
Ben Mikaelsen
256pgs
This
story is actually told in two parts.
Part one of the novel relates Petey's background: in
1922, at the age of two, his distraught parents commit him to
the state's insane asylum, unaware that their son is actually
suffering from severe cerebral palsy. Petey avoids withdrawal
and depression despite the horrific conditions in his new
"home" and, over the course of 60 years, a string of
caretakers befriends but then leaves him. The point of view in
part two shifts from Petey to Trevor, an eighth-grader suffering
from both lack of friends and lack of parental attention after a
series of moves. Trevor finds the answer to his needs in an
unlikely friendship with the 70-year-old Petey, who has moved to
a nursing home.
Please
Stop Laughing At Me
Jodee Blanco
276pgs
Jodee
Blanco was once a troubled child, tormented by her school mates.
In this moving account, Blanco describes how she was first
victimized in a Roman Catholic grammar school because she
defended some deaf children when they were picked on by hearing
students. She gave the names of the ringleaders of this cruel
activity to one of the nuns, and was subsequently ostracized by
former friends for being a tattletale. After Blanco transferred
to another school, she continued a pattern of reporting bad
behavior to authority figures and became a true outsider.
According to the author, her parents were sympathetic, but they
made things worse by forcing her to see a therapist. He
prescribed medication that made her sleepy and told her that
"kids will be kids." In high school, she was
physically abused by students who also objected to her
"goody two shoes" attitude. During her teen years,
Blanco's emotional problems were compounded by a physical
problem that caused her breasts to grow at different rates
(later corrected by surgery). Blanco does feel, however, that
those painful early years gave her the strength to become a
successful adult.
Prom Laurie
Halse Anderson
224pgs
Ashley
understands that the senior prom at her Philadelphia school is a
big deal to her close friends even though she thinks it's
"stupid." So imagine her shock at finding herself the
most likely candidate to save the prom after a troubled math
teacher makes off with the funds. Ashley's as ambivalent about her gorgeous but undependable
boyfriend as she is about her college prospects; her part-time
job serving pizza in a rat costume is far from fulfilling; and
her family, which she calls "'no-extra-money-for-nuthin'-poor,"
mortifies her (her pregnant mother's belly "screams to the
world" that her parents have sex), even as they offer love
and support. In clipped chapters (some just a sentence long),
Ashley tells her story in an authentic, sympathetic voice that
combines gum-snapping, tell-it-like-it-is humor with honest
questions about her future.
The
Hot Zone
Richard Preston
448pgs
The
dramatic and chilling story of an Ebola virus outbreak in a suburban
Washington, D.C. laboratory, with descriptions of frightening
historical epidemics of rare and lethal viruses. More
hair-raising than anything Hollywood could think of, because
it's all true.
The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis
190pgs
Four
English school children find their way through the back of a
wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the
golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the
land with eternal winter.
The
Tale of Despereaux
Kate DiCamillo
272pgs
A
charming story of unlikely heroes whose destinies entwine to
bring about a joyful resolution. Foremost is Despereaux, a
diminutive mouse who, as depicted in Ering's pencil drawings, is
one of the most endearing of his ilk ever to appear in
children's books. His mother, who is French, declares him to be
"such the disappointment" at his birth and the rest of
his family seems to agree that he is very odd: his ears are too
big and his eyes open far too soon and they all expect him to
die quickly. Of course, he doesn't. Then there is the human
Princess Pea, with whom Despereaux falls deeply (one might say
desperately) in love. She appreciates him despite her father's
prejudice against rodents. Next is Roscuro, a rat with an
uncharacteristic love of light and soup. Both these
predilections get him into trouble. And finally, there is
Miggery Sow, a peasant girl so dim that she believes she can
become a princess. This
expanded fairy tale is entertaining, heartening, and, above all,
great fun.
The
Truth About Forever
Sarah Dessen
384 pgs
When
asked how she is coping with her father's death, invariably
seventeen year old Macy Queen's answer is "fine," when
nothing could be further from the truth. In actuality, she is
drowning in grief while maintaining a flawless façade of good
grades and unblemished behavior. Though she feels lost when her
boyfriend heads to "Brain Camp" for the summer, she
finds herself a job with the quirky Wish Catering crew, and
meets "sa-woon"- worthy Wes, whose chaotic lifestyle
is in direct opposition to her own. As the two share their
stories over the summer, Macy realizes she can no longer keep
her feelings on ice. Though it feels like her future ended with
her dad's death, Macy's learns that forever is all about
beginnings.
|
