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High Interest Books

Picoult, Jodi. My Sister’s Keeper. Conceived to provide a bone marrow match for her leukemia stricken sister, teenage Kate begins to question her moral obligations in light of countless medical procedures and decides to fight for the right to make decisions about her own body.

 

Pinsky, Robert, editor. Americans’ Favorite Poems: The Favorite Poem Project Anthology. These two hundred poems were selected from the personal letters of thousands of Americans who responded to Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky's invitation to send him a favorite poem, and include comments from those who chose them.

 

Rinaldi, Ann. The Last Silk Dress. Set during the Civil War, this historical novel blends fact with creative imagination in a seamless saga of a young girl’s contribution to the Confederate cause. Follow Susan’s journey from her mother’s “Yankee brat” to self-made Confederate Loyalist, in which the means certainly justify the end!

 

Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers. You can learn how human cadavers have been used throughout history, benefiting every aspect of human existence.

 

Rosaforte, Tim. Tiger Woods: The Making of a Champion. This is the riveting biography of the young golf champion who has won an unprecedented three U.S. Amateur titles and has been able to withstand the pressure as a professional by winning two titles in just seven matches.

 

Santiago, Esmeralda. When I was Puerto Rican. This memoir of a Latina's childhood in two worlds, a Puerto Rican village and New York City, is touchingly told. Sequel: Almost a Woman.

 

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. In this graphic novel the author shares the story of her life in Tehran, Iran, where she lived from ages six to fourteen while the country came under control of the Islamic regime.

Sequel: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.

 

Sheth, Kashmira. Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet. Growing up with her family in Mumbai, India, Jeets disagrees with much of her mother’s traditional advice about how to live her life.

 

Stolarz, Lauri F. Blue is for Nightmares It started with weird e-mails and freaky phone calls. Now someone's leaving Drea white lilies - the same death lilies that have been showing up in Stacy's dreams. Everybody thinks it's just a twisted game until another girl at school is brutally murdered.

 

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Twisted. Arrested and sentenced to community service, Tyler Miller enters senior year in top physical shape. His new physique catches the eye of class vixen Bethany Milbury. Tyler’s transformation has a downside too. Twisted is a great read for growing boys.

 

Soto, Gary. The Afterlife. Chuy, a senior at East Fresno High School, lives on as a ghost after his brutal murder in the restroom of a club where he had gone to dance.

 

Sparks, Nicholas. A Walk to Remember. An adolescent romance grows between an unlikely couple who are paired together during a Christmas play. As each deals with taunting from their peers, they grow not only as a couple but as people.

 

Spurlock, Morgan. Don’t Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. The author examines fast food and its impact in schools, hospitals, and homes. His research also is in the movie Supersize Me about one month of eating only at MacDonald’s.

 

Westerfield, Scott. Uglies. Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license – for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent “ugly” into a stunningly attractive “pretty” and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. Is her world really all that it is made out to be?

 

Wittlinger, Ellen. Hard Love. Having encountered each other through their self-written, confessional “zines,'' John and Marisol develop a friendship that takes a turn when John reveals his true feelings.

 

Walls, Jeanette. The Glass Castle. A successful writer spots her mother digging through trash on a New York City street, sparking painful and affectionate memories of an unusual childhood.

 

Nicholson, William. Seeker. Seeker, an intelligent and precocious teen anxious to prove himself, falls into a harrowing adventure to save his world from a destructive secret weapon in the first book of this trilogy.

 

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist - books.

 

Bagdasarian, Adam. Forgotten Fire. Based on a true story, a teenage boy’s life of security and comfort in Turkey is suddenly transformed into terror and a fight for survival when the leaders of his country begin a wave of genocide against Armenians.

 

Bissinger, H.G. Friday Night Lights: a Town, a Team and a Dream. In Odessa, Texas, high school football is more than a recreational interest, it is the whole town’s passion.

 

Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods; Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. Bryson share his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail with a childhood friend. The two encounter eccentric characters, a blizzard, getting lost, and rude yuppies along the way.

 

Buck, Pearl. The Good Earth. Chinese peasant Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan rise from poverty to riches in China before the advent of Communism.

 

Carlson, Lori. Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poemson Being Young and Latino in the U.S. A variety of Latino poets, both familiar names and new voices, illuminate the difficulty of straddling cultures, languages, and identities, while celebrating food, family, love, and triumph.

 

Craft, Elizabeth and Sarah Fain. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up. When one of four best friends lies and says that she will pursue her dream of writing a novel rather than start college, two others join in, while the fourth goes to college, joins her hero’s ski team and tries to fall in love. Along the way, the four girls realize that complicated dreams never really turn out like you imagine.

 

Courtney, Bryce. The Power of One. In this international favorite, Peekay, a white British boy in South Africa during World War, survives an abusive boarding school and goes on to succeed in life and the boxing ring, with help from a chicken, a boxer, a pianist, black African prisoners, and many others. (Also edited edition)

 

Covey, Sean. The Seven Habits of the Highly Effective Teen. Every teenager will be provided with a fool-proof step by step guide to successful navigation of tough issues and life altering decisions. This book promises to surpass your expectations as it entertains and informs you with every turn of the page.

 

Davis, Sampson. The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise And Fulfill A Dream. Three young men make a pact to leave behind the street life of Newark, New Jersey.

 

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life as We Knew It. Miranda is a normal teenager. But everything changes when an asteroid hits the moon. Herfamily’s survival is chronicled in a series of journal entries.

 

Williams, Lori Aurelia. Broken China. After her daughter dies, China Cameron arranges for a costly funeral for her daughter. How she manages to repay the debt makes a riveting story.

 

Flake, Sharon. Who Am I Without Him? A Short Story Collection About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives. This is a collection of twelve short stories about teenage girls struggling with issues of self-worth.

 

Frost, Helen. Keesha’s House. Keesha finds shelter away from a troubled home in an inner-city neighborhood and encourages other teens to do likewise. The poetic monologues tell the stories of Stephie who is pregnant, Harris who is gay and Carmen who fights addiction.

 

Deuker, Carl. Gym Dandy. A hard-hitting story of an athlete who succumbs to using “gym candy” and how it affects his relationships with friends and family.

 

Ganz, Nicholas. Graffiti World: Street Art from Five Continents. With more than 2,000 illustrations by over 150 artists from all over the world and interviews with many of them, this book is the most comprehensive survey of graffiti art ever published.

 

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. When Christopher, whose autism causes him to feel very little emotion and who needs strictly enforced rules and patterns to make himself feel safe, discovers his neighbor’s dead poodle, he decides to find the killer.

 

Horowitz, Anthony. Ark Angel.. The sniper’s bullet nearly killed him. But Alex Rider managed to survive, just in time for more trouble to come his way. In true James Bond style, Alex battles environmentalists bent on saving the ecosystem even if it means destroying a part of the Earth and killing millions. Can Alex stop them?

 

Jacobson, Sid and Ernie Colon. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. This graphic adaptation of the 9/11 Commission's official report on the terrorist attacks puts at every American's fingertips the most defining event of the century. The text faithfully captures the report's investigative thoroughness, while the stunning artwork powerfully conveys the facts.

 

Draper, Sharon M. November Blues. In the moving sequel to The Battle of Jericho, high school junior November must deal not only with the death of her boyfriend Josh but also with an unplanned pregnancy.

 

Johnston, Jeff. Fragments. Ever since the accident, Chase feels shattered. He can't remember that night, and everyone's treating him like a broken freak. He just wants things to go back to normal. So when he starts getting flashes of memory, he's relieved. He's sure once he remembers everything, he can put the crash behind him and start over.

 

Cabot, Meg. Jinx. Jean, aka Jinx, has bad luck. To avoid a stalker, she moves from Iowa to stay with her rich aunt’s family in a New York City townhouse where her back luck continues.

 

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations.

 

Taylor Lisle, Janet. The Crying Rocks. Joelle has always wondered about her life before her adoption, and she makes some discoveries as she researches an Indian tribe.

 

McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. Writer James McBride is one of the two voices (the other is that of his white Jewish mother) telling about interracial experiences and racial identity in the black community of Harlem.

 

Shan, Darren. Lord Loss. A teen must outwit not only the mental health professionals to cure his delusion, but also the demonic forces only he can see. This is the first book in the Demonata series.

 

Ortiz Cofer, Judith. The Meaning of Consuelo. Consuelo, a young Puerto Rican girl, struggles to survive her own family’s destruction. Her younger sister’s schizophrenia and the demise of her parent’s marriage plague her while she comes of age.

 

Patterson, James. Maximum Ride: Angel Experiment. In the first installment in the

Maximum Ride series, 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.

 

Partridge, Edith. John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth: A Biography. Partridge presents the life of the British musician, from his childhood in London to his rock-n-roll career writing and performing music with the Beatles, revealing how he struggled to come to terms with fame, marriage, and his artistic mind.

 

Classics

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms This is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse.

 

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers  A gripping saga of love, murder, greed, failure, and triumph, O Pioneers! portrays the hardships of prairie life.

 

Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers  This is the tale of young D’Artagnan and his musketeer comrades, Porthos, Athos and Aramis. Together they fight to foil the schemes of the brilliant, dangerous Cardinal Richelieu, who pretends to support the king while plotting to advance his own power.

 

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights  Heathcliff and Cathy believe they’re destined to love each other forever, but when cruelty and snobbery emerge, their emotions literally consume them.

 

If you like the classics…

Savage, Edgar. Firmin  In the basement of a bookstore, Firmin is born in a shredded copy Finnegans Wake, nurtured on a diet of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Jane Eyre (which tastes a lot like lettuce). While his siblings gnaw these books, he ventures out of his home. It’s a lot to ask of a rat, especially when his home is on the verge of annihilation.

 

Amanda, Grange. Mr. Darcy’s Diary  Mr. Darcy's Diary presents the story of the unlikely courtship of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy from his point of view.

 

Fiction

Downham, Jenny. Before I Die  Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.

 

Zenatti, Valerie. Bottle in the Gaza Sea Teen Tal Levine witnesses a bombing in Tel Aviv, yet she wants Israel and Palestine to live in peace. She puts her hopes into a letter, places the letter into a bottle which is tossed into the Gaza Sea. A young man in Gaza finds the bottle, and eventually they participate in a friendship that opens their eyes.

 

Voorhees, Coert. The Brothers Torres  Steve is a popular senior who always gets what he wants while his brother, Frankie, is very different. Frankie has reservations about Steve's crusade to win the respect of the local cholos and starts to think that his brother is taking respect too far. He may have to choose between respecting his brother and  himself.

 

Cisneros, Sandra. Caramelo Through the eyes of young Celaya, the Reyes family saga twists and turns over three generations of truths, half-truths, and outright lies. Celaya gathers and retells the stories that reinforce her family's, and subsequently her own, identity as they travel between the U.S.-Mexican border and within the United States.

 

Wroblewski, David. Edgar Sawtelle  Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar lives on his family's farm where they raise and train dogs. When tragedy strikes, he is forced to flee to the wilderness, with only three pups. He comes of age in the wild, and must face the choice of leaving forever or revealing the terrible truth behind what has happened.

 

Korman, Gordon. The Juvie Three  The leader of a halfway house, Healy, is accidentally knocked unconscious while trying to break up a fight. Terrified, the boys drop him off at a hospital and run away. When he wakes up with no memories, the guys hatch a crazy scheme to continue on as if the group leader never left.

 

Cleave, Chris. Little Bee WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. And it's what happens afterward that is most important.

 

Green, John. Paper Towns  When Margo beckons Quentin in the middle of the night-dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge-he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. Day breaks and she has vanished. She has now become a mystery. But there are clues for Q.

 

Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist  A perspective on love, prejudice, and the war on terror that has never been seen in North American literature.

 

Tsukiyama, Gail. The Samurai’s Garden  Stephen is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu who is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world. Stephen learns to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way.

 

Tamaki, Mariko. Skim In the 90s, enter "Skim," a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth. When her classmate is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning. Skim falls in love after a secret meetings with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. Teen life is explored in this masterful graphic novel.

 

Zarr, Sara. Story of a Girl  When she is caught in the backseat of a car with her older brother's best friend - Deanna Lambert's teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of "school slut," she longs to escape a life defined by her past.

 

Meyers, Walter Dean. Sunrise Over Fallujah  Operation Iraqi Freedom, that's the code name. But the young men and women in the military's Civil Affairs Battalion have a simpler name for it: WAR. The whole unit of other young men and women are dropped in Iraq, where they are supposed to help stabilize Iraq and interact with the Iraqi people.

 

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Twisted  Since Tyler got busted for graffiti on the school and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out. He attracts the attention of Bethany, who is his father's boss's daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy and his secret crush. Events have him questioning school, family, and the world.

 

Appelt, Kathi. Underneath  A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this feline he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. He urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens where it will be safe. One kitten's moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning.

 

Historical Fiction

Anderson, M.T. Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Vol. I: The Pox Party  Set during the American Revolution, Octavian is raised as a pampered African prince by a society of philosophers who view him as an experiment. Realizing that his freedom is an illusion, he sets off on a journey to find freedom. This book challenges everything you have ever learned about the Revolutionary War.

 

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. The Boy Who Dared  When 16-year-old Helmuth listens to the news on an illegal short-wave radio, he discovers Germany is lying to the people. But when he tries to expose the truth, he's tried for treason and sentenced to death. He goes from a naive child caught up in the patriotism of the times, to a young man who thinks for himself.

 

Brooks, Geraldine. Year of Wonders  In 1665, northern England remains untouched by the plague. Then, a small community has a bolt of cloth and don’t know the damp fabric carries the deadly plague. They resort to sorcery, herb lore, murderous witch hunting and elect to isolate themselves in a quarantine that may only deepen the tragedy.

 

Non-Fiction

Tammet, Daniel. Born on a Blue Day This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome. His ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible memorization and mental calculation.

 

Bin Laden, Carmen. Inside the Kingdom  The sister-in-law of Osama Bin Laden who fled her marriage in 1988 describes living in the gilded cage of a wealthy Saudi Arabian family.

 

Kuklin, Susan. No Choirboy 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. (mature content)

 

Gladwell, Malcolm. The Outliers An intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and successful. What makes high-achievers different?

 

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Pearson, Mary. Adoration of Jenna Fox  Sometime in the near future, Jenna Fox, 17, awakens from an 18-month-long coma following a devastating accident, her memory nearly blank. Jenna can recite passages from Thoreau yet can't remember having any friends. As memories return, Jenna starts picking at the explanation her parents have spun until it unravels.

 

Flinn, Alex. Beastly  I am a beast. I am a monster. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

 

King, Stephen. Duma Key  After a terrible accident, Edgar starts anew on a remote island and becomes consumed with making art. His artwork has the power to destroy life and to cure ailments, but soon the menace that haunts Duma Key begins to assert itself and torment those dear to him.

 

Cashore, Kristin. Graceling Romantic medieval fantasy from a debut author

 

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family . .

 

Meyer, Stephanie. The Host  Melanie refuses to fade away. Earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts. Most humans have succumbed.

 

Mystery/Action

Flynn, Vince. Act of Treason  CIA operative Mitch Rapp follows a trail of contract killers leading directly to the heart of our nation's capital.

 

Ferguson, Alane. Circle of Blood  Cameryn works as the assistant to her father, the county coroner. When her long lost mother picks up a mysterious young hitchhiker, she senses that the girl is running from something. but before she can find out more, the girl is found dead-with a gun in her hand. Is it suicide? Or something even more sinister?

 

Brown, Dan. Deception Point When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory – a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election.

 

Fields, Terri. My Father’s Son  What if your father wasn’t who you thought he was? Kevin has to face the worst imaginable possibility: that his father may be the man responsible for a series of vicious killings. How much does he really know about his father?

 

Picoult, Jodi. Tenth Circle  Suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family and herself seems to be a lie. Could the boyfriend who once made her so happy have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make her father, who has a secret, venture to hell and back to protect his daughter.

 

Blundell, Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied  While on vacation in 1947, Evie begins a flirtation with a handsome ex-GI, Peter, who served with her dad during the war. His presence is not a coincidence and threatens to uncover a terrible secret. When Peter and her parents go boating, but only two return, she must sort through secrets, lies, and grief to find the truth.

 

Sports

Lewis, Michael. The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game He is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, or his birthday. And he has no serious experience playing organized football. Lewis shows a trend in football from the pros to the high school game, where it collides with the life of a single young man.

 

Mackel, Kathy. Boost  Thirteen-year-old Savvy is six two and full of raw basketball talent, but she gets pushed around on the court. Her older sister, is a freshman on varsity cheerleading, but she's not light enough to be a flier. When steroids are found in Savvy's bag, accusations are flying and nobody knows who is telling the truth.

 

De La Pena, Matt. Mexican White Boy  Danny’s tall and skinny. Even though he’s not built, he has a 95 mph fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. At his private school, they don’t expect much from him. Before they find out he can’t speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair, they’ve got him pegged.

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