Town High School Summer Reading List
Click on a title to check the catalog or reserve a book.
Where to find the books
YA RL: Teen Room, Summer Reading List
YA FIC, FAN, SF: Teen Room, Hardcover
YA PBK: Teen Room, Paperback
YA PBK FAN: Teen Room, Fantasy paperbacks
YA PBK SF: Teen Room, Science Fiction paperbacks
j: Children’s Room, Hardcover,
jPBK: Children’s Room, Paperback
FIC: Ground floor, Fiction hardcovers
SF: Ground floor, Science fiction hardcovers,
PBK: First floor, paperbacks in Reference Room
McCain, John. Faith of My Fathers
Look for under: YA RL MCC, BIOG MCCAIN John 1999
Obama, Barack. Dreams From My Father
Look for under: YA RL OBA, BIOG OBAMA Barack 2007
Against All Odds: True Stories
Rodriguez, Luis. Always Running: la Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.
Rodriguez documents his youth as an L.A. gang member so his teenaged son, Ramiro, might think twice about joining a gang.
Look for under: YA RL ROD, YA PBK FIC ROD
Gruwell, Erin. The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them
After reading about the Holocaust, Anne Frank, and Zlata's Diary, students were inspired to keep life-changing diaries that revealed the violence, homelessness, racism, illness, and abuse around them and to begin to work for change.
Look for under: YA-PBK NF FRE
Walls, Jeanette. The Glass Castle
The Walls children learned to take care of themselves while their brilliant, unpredictable, and alcoholic parents chose homelessness.
Look for under: BIOG WALLS Jeannette 2005, PBK NF WAL
Scdoris, Rachel. No End in Sight: My Life as a Blind Iditarod Racer
Twenty-year-old Scdoris, left legally blind by a rare eye disorder, recounts her journey to Alaska's famous Iditarod sled dog race.
Look for in the Network
Against All Odds: Fiction
Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying
This book tells the story of a young African-American man sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, and a teacher who tries to impart to him his learning and pride before the execution.
Look for under: YA RL GAI, YA-PBK FIC GAI
Hegi, Ursula. Stones from the River
Through the unblinking eyes of Trudi, we witness the growing impact of Nazism on ordinary folk of a German town as they are thrust onto a larger moral stage and are forced to make choices about prejudice and exclusion, secrets that will forever mark their lives.
Look for under: FIC Hegi, Ursula
Eggers, Dave. What is the What
Fictionalized memoir of real-life hero Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee from the Sudanese civil war-the bloodbath of the 1980’s.
Look for under: FIC Eggers, Dave
Contemporary Issues
Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Through case studies, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point discusses the first two seconds of looking—the decisive glance that knows in an instant. He imparts his own evident pleasure in delving into a wide range of fields and seeking the underlying truths.
Look for under: YA RL GLA, 153.4 Gladwell 2005
Holbrook, Kate. Global Values 101: a Short Course
Student interviews with Howard Zinn, Lani Guinier, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Katha Pollitt, Robert Reich, and others touch on such subjects as gender, race, inequality and affluence, courage, free speech, and social responsibility.
Look for in the Network
Quart, Alissa. Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
Examines the role of malls, marketing, logos, cinema, video games, and media on the buying practices of teens.
Look for under: 658.8 Quart 2003
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
Traces the history of the fast food industry and discusses how it arose in postwar America.
Look for under: YA RL SCH, YA-PBK NF SCH, 394.1 Schlosser 2001
Sports Stories: Fiction and Nonfiction
Bissinger, H. G.. Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream
Chronicles a football season in Odessa, Texas, exploring the role of high school sports in America, uniting and destroying communities.
Look for under: YA RL BIS
Blais, Madeleine. In These Girls Hope is a Muscle
Follows the Amherst Massachusetts Lady Warriors basketball team during the season which lead up to their state championship.
Look for under: YA RL BLA, YA 796.323 B57i
D’Orso, Michael. Eagle Blue: A Team, a Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska
A riveting basketball team story and an exploration of the collision of cultures in Alaska, one of the planet’s few remaining frontiers.
Look for under: 796.323 D’Orso 2006
Frey, Darcy. The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams
A story of dreams and cynicism, the often naive hopes of youth played out against the realities of SATs, the NCAA, and the brutal world of college athletic sports recruitment.
Look for under: YA RL FRE, 796.323 F89L
Lewis, Michael. Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
Tells the story of University of Mississippi football player Michael Oher, who was raised by a crack addicted mother and adopted at the age of sixteen by a wealthy family. It explores the rising importance and salary of the offensive left tackle in the game of football.
Look for under: 796.332 Lewis 2006, PBK NF LEW
Littman, Jonathan. The Beautiful Game
Littman describes a soccer season that changed everything for the girls.
Look for under: YA RL LIT, YA 796.334 L73b
Historical Fiction
Allende, Isabel. Ines of My Soul
This well-researched work of historical fiction recounts the astonishing life of Inés Surez, a daring Spanish conquistadora who toiled to build the South American nation of Chile. Tells of the difficulty of subduing the ingenious and fierce Mapuche people.
Look for under: FIC Allende, Isabel
Brooks, Geraldine. The Year of Wonders
A young widow narrates tells of a remote 17th-century English village whose inhabitants vow to stay away after the Bubonic Plague hits.
Look for under: FIC Brooks, Geraldine, PBK FIC BRO
Chevalier, Tracy. Girl with a Pearl Earring
The subject of a famous Vermeer painting has her own story to tell, of the tensions of working in the artist’s house and learning secrets.
Look for under: YA RL CHE, FIC Chevalier, Tracy, PBK FIC CHE
Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars
After returning from internment to get back his land in Washington state, Kabuo Miyomoto is arrested and tried for murder.
Look for under: YA RL GUT, FIC Guterson, David, PBK FIC Guterson, David
Hoffman, Alice. Incantation **
During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family's true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed by Estrella's best friend the consequences are tragic.
Look for under: YA-PBK FIC HOF
Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
The true dark underside of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, where evil and murder mixed with optimism, invention and wonder.
Look for under: YA RL LAR, 364.152 Larson 2003, PBK NF LAR
Lester, Julius. Day of Tears: a Novel in Dialogue
Looks at slavery in the United States in a way that depicts the human casualties of the institution. Whether it was the broken families and friendships that were destroyed or the moral and spiritual consequences for slave owners and sellers, all are examined here.
Look for under: YA RL LES, YA FIC Lester, Julius
Myers, Walter Dean . Fallen Angels **
Five young men came to the Vietnam War for different reasons. Now they share a single dream – getting out alive.
Look for under: YA RL MYE, YA PBK FIC MYE
Saylor, Steven. A Murder on the Appian Way
A mystery set in Rome in 52 B.C.E. in which the body of Publius Clodius will be carried through the streets of Rome to his funeral, where Cicero and Marc Antony will speak and Gordianus the Finder must locate the murderer.
Look for under: YA RL SAY, MYS Saylor, Steven, PBK MYS SAY
Scott, Kimberly. On the Bus: A Novel of Families Trapped by Forced Busing
Story of two families, one black and one white, living in Boston at a time of outward racial tensions and hatred
Look for under: YA RL SCO
Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels
This fictional account of four days in July,1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg discusses tactics and battle plans of the North and the South
Look for under: YA RL SHA, FIC SHAARA Michael, PBK FIC SHA
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina
In nineteenth-century Russia, the wife of an important government official loses her family and social status when she chooses the love of Count Vronsky over a passionless marriage.
Look for under: YA RL TOL, FIC Tolstoy, Leo, PBK FIC TOL
Mystery and Adventure
Read, Piers. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
Discusses the ordeal of the Brazilian soccer team, survivors of an airplane crash in 1972, as they spend months in the Andes wilderness and eventually resort to cannibalism.
Look for under: YA RL REA
Christie, Agatha. And Then There Were None
10 strangers are lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once they arrive, he accuses each person of murder. Secrets are shared – until they begin to die.
Look for under: YA-PBK MYS CHR, MYS Christie, Agatha, PBK MYS Christie, Agatha
London, Jack. The Call of the Wild
The classic adventure tale of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch Shepherd, that was kidnapped and shipped off to Alaska to work on the Klondike Gold Rush. Buck the dog quickly learns how to survive in the wild and also learns the call of the wolf.
Look for under: YA RL LON, FIC London, Jack, J-PBK LON
James, P.D. Devices and Desires
Scotland Yard's Adam Dalgliesh leaves London to vacation in Norfolk and becomes involved in the hunt for the person responsible for a series of murders of young women, murders which mysteriously continue after the suspect's capture.
Look for under: MYS James, P. D., PBK MYS JAM
King, Stephen. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The reader will feel 9-year-old Trisha’s fear when, out hiking with her mom and brother, she loses her way in the Maine woods.
Look for under: FIC King, Stephen
Walters, Eric. Grind
Philip, obsessed with skateboarding, finds himself pushed to perform more and more dangerous stunts when he begins taping himself and posting the movies on a Website to make money.
Look for in the Network
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Hound of the Baskervilles
Classic mystery in which legendary detective Sherlock Holmes investigates the case of a family cursed by a spectral hound.
Look for under: YA-PBK MYS DOY, MYS Doyle, Arthur, PBK MYS DOY
Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff
Dramatizes the experiences of the 1950s test pilots and "Mercury 7" astronauts, including Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, and Alan Shepard, who built America's manned space program.
Look for under: YA RL WOL, 629.4 Wolfe 1979
Gross, Philip. Turn to Stone
A frightening mystery of villains, murder, mayhem begins when a 16-year-old runaway discovers that statues are street ” immobilists”.
Look for under: YA FIC Gross, Philip
Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Humor, blizzards, strange people and environmental awareness on an Appalachian Trail adventure.
Look for under: YA RL BRY
Out of this World: Fantasy and Science Fiction
Herbert, Frank. Dune
The story of a young prince, Paul Artreides, scion of a star-crossed dynasty, and of his journey from boy to warrior to ruler of a dying planet destined to become a paradise regained.
Look for under: YA RL HER, PBK SF HER, SF Herbert, Frank
Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game
Ender, who is the result of genetic experimentation, may be the military genius Earth needs in its war against an alien enemy.
Look for under: YA RL CAR, YA-PBK SF CAR, PBK SF CAR
Asimov, Isaac. Foundation
As the Galactic Empire declines, psychohistorian Hari Seldon and his band of psychobiologists form the Foundation, which is designed to be the nucleus of an eventual ideal universal ruling corporation.
Look for under: YA RL ASI
Lowry, Lois. The Giver
In a world with no poverty,crime or sickness, where every family is happy, young Jonas is chosen to be the Receiver of Memories.
Look for under: YA FIC Lowry, Lois, YA-PBK FIC LOW, J Lowry, Lois
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go
There’s a dark secret at the Hailsham School, where the students live in ordered, idyllic isolation, ignorant of their planned future.
Look for under: YA RL ISH, FIC Ishiguro, Kazuo, PBK FIC ISH
Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere
A darker and more horrific version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy teaches that no good deed goes unpunished.
Look for under: YA-PBK FAN GAI, PBK FIC GAI
White, T. H.. The Once and Future King
Tells the story of the youth and reign of King Arthur, the establishment of the Round Table, and the search for the Holy Grail.
Look for under: YA RL WHI, YA FIC White, Terrence, FIC White, T. H.
Le Guin, Ursula. The Telling
Quiet humor, references to the dangers of restricting freedoms, and beautifully visualized worlds continue the Hainish cycle story.
Look for under: SF Le Guin, Ursula
Mirrors and Windows: Exploring Cultures
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Junior is the victim of bullies and a dead end life til he leaves the reservation but grapples with questions about community, identity, and tribe. The tragic deaths of his dog, grandmother and older sister would be all but unbearable without the humor and resilience of spirit with which Junior faces the world.
Look for under: YA FIC Alexie, Sherman
Santiago, Esmerelda. Almost a Woman
Esmeralda Santiago discusses what it was like to grow up as a Puerto Rican teenager in New York with an overprotective mother.
Look for under: YA-PBK FIC SAN
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese
A graphic novel tells three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in popular culture.
Look for under: YA GRAPHIC American Born Chinese
Roley, Brian Ascalon. American Son
A divorced mother from the Philippines looks on sadly as her teenage sons are swallowed up by the American dream, the lure of gangs, and the promise of the prosperous life. Told from one son’s viewpoint, the occasionally vicious tug of wills between brothers rings true.
Look for in the Network
Seierstad, Asne. The Bookseller of Kabul
Describes bookseller Sultan's fight to preserve whatever he can of literary life in Kabul during decades of warfare, and provides a brutally honest view of a people living under fundamentalist Islam and incredible reportage of Afghan life after the fall of the Taliban.
Look for under: BIOG KHAN family 2003, PBK NF SEI
Senna, Danzy. Caucasia
Two sisters, one light-skinned like their mother, the other dark like their father, are separated after their parents divorce and go on to lead very different lives while hoping for a reunion with each other.
Look for under: YA RL SEN, FIC Senna, Danzy
McDermott, Alice. Charming Billy
At a Bronx Irish bar folks come together to eulogize a friend- a joker, a tragic figure, a romantic symbol that binds together the members of their small community fractured by grief, shattered by secrets, and sustained by the simple dream of love.
Look for under: YA RL MCD, FIC McDermott, Alice, PBK FIC MCD
Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Four sisters have difficulty adapting to American life after having to flee from the Dominican Republic for political reasons.
Look for under: YA RL ALV, YA-PBK FIC ALV, PBK FIC ALV
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man
Wandering from a Southern college to New York's Harlem, an African-American man reflects upon a series of life-changing events
Look for under: YA RL ELL, FIC Ellison, Ralph
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Love in the Time of Cholera
Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza consummate their passion at the beginning of the 20th century after having waited over 50 years.
Look for under: YA RL GAR, FIC Garcia Marquez, Gabriel, PBK FIC GAR
Golden, William. Memoirs of a Geisha
Nitta Sayuri, a young Japanese woman who was taken from her home at the age of nine and sold into slavery as a geisha, discovers a rare opportunity for freedom when the outbreak of World War II forces an end to the only life she has ever known.
Look for under: YA RL GOL, FIC Golden, Arthur, PBK FIC GOL
Doyle, Roddy. Paddy Clarke Ha-ha-ha
A ten-year-old boy growing up in 1968 Dublin tries to make sense of the triumphs, indignities, warmth, and cruelty of his world.
Look for under: YA RL DOY, FIC Doyle, Roddy
Adichie, Chimanda Angosi. Purple Hibiscus
A seemingly privileged life in Nigeria hides a family reality suffocated by religious fanaticism and impossible expectations on the children. A visit to their aunt opens a world of books, laughter and even love, but all is changed by the upheaval of a military coup.
Look for under: FIC Adichie, Chimamanda, PBK FIC ADI
See, Lisa. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A timeless portrait of an intense female friendship in China at a time of footbinding, arranged marriage, and a secret women’s language.
Look for under: FIC See, Lisa, PBK FIC SEE
Morrison, Toni. Sula
Traces the lives of two African-American heroines from their growing up together in a small Ohio town, to their sharply divergent paths of womanhood, to their ultimate confrontation and reconciliation.
Look for under: YA RL MOR, FIC Morrison, Toni, PBK FIC Morrison, Toni
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns
This searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil covers three decades of jihad, civil war and tyranny through the lives of two smart and resilient women, giving a nuanced portrait of a system where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and sons.
Look for under: FIC Hosseini, Khaled, PBK FIC HOS
Park, Linda Sue. When My Name was Keoko
With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.
Look for under: YA RL PAR, J Park, Linda Sue
Mosher, Richard. Zazoo
Amid secrets revealed and rifts healed, a young Vietnamese orphan raised in rural France by her aging "Grand-Pierre" learns about life
Look for under: YA FIC Mosher, Richard, YA-PBK FIC MOS
Politics
Warren, Robert Penn. All the King's Men
Jack Burden, a young journalist, becomes involved with Willie Stark's quest for power while serving as a Southern governor.
Look for under: YA RL WAR, FIC Warren, Robert, PBK FIC WAR
Galeano, Eduardo. Century of the Wind
A mesmerizing fictionalized history of Latin America with an ironic perspective on the key people and events of the 20th century.
Look for under: YA RL GAL
Perkin, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Shocking political expose from a former chief economist at a strategic consulting firm in Boston.
Look for in the network
Barber, Benjamin. Jihad vs. McWorld
Democracy is suffering from the forces of consumerist capitalism; broken borders between countries have created a global village of information, entertainment, and commerce; religious and tribal fundamentalism is breaking the world into small, intolerant factions.
Look for under: YA-PBK NF BAR
Clinton, Hilary. Living History
Clinton writes of her coming of age during the tumultuous sixties, and about the White House years with Bill Clinton. She includes a clear reflection of her views and opinions on the most current political topics.
Look for under: YA-PBK NF CLI, BIOG CLINTON Hillary 2003, PBK NF CLI
Babb, Valerie. Whiteness Visible: The Meaning of Whiteness in American Literature and Culture
Babb investigates the history, values, rituals, and shared consciousness that created whiteness in the United States. Babb claims we can only understand the full significance of race when we understand how the concept of "whiteness" was created in a cultural context.
Look for under: YA RL BAB
Real Lives/Real People: Biographies, Memoirs and Autobiographies
Wiesel, Elie. All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs
Elie Wiesel recounts his life story, telling of his childhood in the Carpathian mountains, his imprisonment at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and his career as a journalist.
Look for under: YA RL WIE, BIOG WIESEL Elie 1995
Carroll, James. An American Requiem
The author reveals his tumultuous relationship with his father, an Air Force Lt. General who served in Vietnam, following James’ choice to leave the priesthood and campaign against the war.
Look for under: YA RL CAR, BIOG CARROLL James 1996, PBK NF CAR
Myers, Walter Dean. Bad Boy
A favorite writer’s critical and formative Harlem years.
Look for under: YA BIOG MYERS, W 2001
Hentoff, Nat. Boston Boy
Evocative memoir of growing up Jewish in the Boston of the 1930s and '40s
Look for under: YA BIOG HENTOFF Nat 1986, BIOG HENTOFF Nat 1986
Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child
Explores a migrant family's experiences moving through labor camps, facing poverty and impermanence, and discusses how they endure through faith, hope, and back-breaking work.
Look for under: YA RL JIM, J Jimenez, Francisco
McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother
An African-American male tells of his mother, a white woman who refused to admit her true identity.
Look for under: BIOG MCBRIDE-JORDAN Ruth 1996, PBK NF MCB
Suskind, Ron. A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the inner city to the Ivy
Cedric Jennings’ life is not only one of struggle and success in arriving at Brown, but of the reality of his unrealized dream of belonging.
Look for under: YA RL SUS
Crowe, Chris. Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Presents a true account of the murder of fourteen-year-old, Emmett Till, in Mississippi, in 1955.
Look for under: YA 343.1 Till 2003
Karr, Mary. The Liar's Club
Recollections of a painful girlhood in a swampy East Texas refinery town with a volatile, alcoholic and defiantly loving family.
Look for under: BIOG KARR Mary 1995, PBK NF KAR
McCall, Nathan. Makes Me Wanna Holler
Captures the pain, anger, and fierce determination of an African-American journalist and writer who went from being under the power of street violence and crime to an awareness of the power of the written word while in prison.
Look for under: YA RL MCC
Mortensen, Greg. Three Cups of Tea
A real-life Indiana Jones wages a humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard of Afghanistan.
Look for under: 371.82 Mortenson 2005
Nam, Vickie. Yell-Oh Girls
Emerging voices explore culture, identity, and issues of growing up female and Asian-American in today's culture.
Look for under: YA RL YEL
Choices, Ethics and Philosophy
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Brothers Karamazov
Four sons of Fyodor Karamazov, a man of immoral character, must contend with a criminal investigation and with their own inner questions about justice and the existence of God after they are involved in their father’s murder.
Look for under: YA RL DOS, FIC Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Packer, Ann. Dive from Clausen's Pier
A riveting novel that examines one woman’s struggles with loyalty, betrayal and love.
Look for under: YA RL PAC, FIC Packer, Ann, PBK FIC Packer, Ann
Cooney, Caroline. Driver's Ed
A young mother dies as a result of a prank by three teenagers.
Look for under: YA RL COO, YA FIC Cooney, Caroline
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi
Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.
Look for under: YA-PBK FIC MAR, FIC Martel, Yann, PBK FIC MAR
Cormier, Robert. Tunes for Bears to Dance To
Conveys the devastating effects of evil, whether as huge and incomprehensible as the Holocaust, or as small and personal as another human being.
Look for under: YA RL COR, J Cormier, Robert
Coming of Age: Literature about Adolescents
Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy
In this humorous, hopeful story about life in a town gloriously accepting of differences, the author only occasionally verges on magic realism in his first novel in which same sex preference is not a problem.
Look for under: YA RL LEV, YA FIC Levithan, David
Block, Francesca Lia. The Hanged Man
17-year-old Laura becomes an addict and is driven towards empty mirages of “love” as a result of painful childhood experiences.
Look for under: YA FIC Block, Francesca, YA-PBK FIC BLO
Green, John. Looking for Alaska
Tired of his boring existence, 16-year-old Miles “Pudge” Halter heads off to seek his Great Perhaps at an Alabama boarding school, where new-found freedom, guilty pleasures and an enigmatic girl named Alaska hurl him into life.
Look for under: YA RL GRE, YA FIC Green, John
Conroy, Pat. Lords of Discipline
The turbulent world of four young men-friends, cadets, and blood brothers and their days of hazing, pride, betrayal and humanity.
Look for under: YA-PBK FIC CON, FIC Conroy, Pat
Freymann-Weyr, Garrett. My Heartbeat
Ellen learns about love, family and society’s “unwritten rules” in this sophisticated novel set in Manhattan. With great sensitivity the author handles issues of whom one loves and complexities more far-reaching than sexual concerns.
Look for under: YA RL FRE, YA FIC Weyr, Garret
Chbosky, Stephen. Perks of Being a Wallflower
We learn about high school freshman Charlie’s friendships, family relationships and experimentation with drugs and sexuality through letters to someone of undisclosed name, age and gender.
Look for under: YA-PBK FIC CHB, PBK FIC CHB
Thomas, Rob. Rats Saw God
A few months before graduation, Steve’s guidance counselor intervenes, arranging for Steve to complete a failing English credit by composing a 100 page story about his sophomore and junior years of high school.
Look for under: YA RL THO, YA FIC Thomas, Rob, YA-PBK FIC THO
Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone
A troubled fourteen-year-old boy who, upon leaving an abusive home life, lives on the edge of society, struggling to find himself.
Look for under: YA RL BAN, FIC Banks, Russell
Lamb, Wally. She's Come Undone
A series of tragedies, including the death of her baby brother, her parent's divorce, her mother's nervous breakdown, and her own rape at the age of thirteen, leaves Dolores Price wounded mentally and physically, but she finds the strength to give herself one more chance at life.
Look for under: FIC Lamb, Wally, YA-PBK FIC LAM
Hornby, Nick. Slam
An accidental pregnancy forces a sudden reevaluation of his life and plans for a young skateboarder.
Look for under: YA FIC Hornby, Nick
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak
Why has high school freshman Melinda been ostracized by her friends, and why she has chosen not to speak out loud?
Look for under: YA RL AND, YA FIC Anderson, Laurie, YA-PBK FIC AND