Summer Reading List 2014

High School

Biography/Memoir

The Warrior’s Heart By Eric Greitens Eric Greitens shares his life journey from being an average kid to working to make a difference in the world's trouble spots and joining the Navy SEALS to protect the weak, and encourages readers to reflect on the power of choice and acts of courage.

Fiction

The Impossible Knife of Memory By Laurie Halse Anderson Hayley Kincaid and her father move back to their hometown to try a 'normal' life, but the horrors he saw in the war threaten to destroy their lives.

Thirteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher High school student Clay Jensen receives a box in the mail containing seven cassette tapes recorded by his crush, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide, and spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown By Holly Black When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up following a party, she finds herself in the aftermath of a violent vampire attack, and along with her ex-boyfriend and a mysterious vampire boy, the only other survivors, she travels to Coldtown, a quarantined Massachusetts city full of vampires.

The Testing (Book 1) By Joelle Charbonneau Malencia hopes to be chosen for The Testing, a program for the brightest graduates and a great honor for her family. When chosen, her father hints that the honor may be more of a nightmare than a dream come true.

Athletic Shorts By Chris Crutcher These six stories from acclaimed author Chris Crutcher are about athletes but are not simply sports stories. There are tales of love, death, bigotry, heroism, and coming of age.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner Kendra, from Beastly, is back and trying to help Emma in this Cinderella story with a modern day twist. Classic tales of The Little Mermaid, Hansel and Gretel, and The Princess and the Pea all play a part as well.

Breathing Underwater By Alex Flinn Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.

Right Behind You By Gail Giles Foster child, Harrison, who dreams of playing in the NFL, is happy when he is put into a home with loving parents and a foster father who is a football coach, but after becoming the star running back and suffering an injury, a cancer diagnosis threatens to ruin his future.

The Fault in Our Stars By John Green Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at a cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Burning Blue By Paul Griffith Computer hacker, Jay Nazarro, is determined to use his expert skills to solve the mystery of who disfigured stunningly beautiful Nicole Castro at school by splashing acid on her face.

The Fire Horse Girl By Kay Honeyman Jade Moon is born a Fire Horse in the Chinese zodiac, with a defiant, fiery spirit that her family curses. When an opportunity arises to go to America in 1923 to find freedom, she jumps at the chance.

Keeping the Castle By Patrice Kindl Althea Crawley lives in a deteriorating castle with her mother, younger brother, and two stepsisters. Strong-willed, beautiful, and cunning, Miss Crawley must find a wealthy man to marry in order to preserve her family’s home.

The Tragedy Paper By Elizabeth LaBan While preparing for the most dreaded assignment at the prestigious Irving School, the tragedy paper, Duncan gets wrapped up in the tragic tale of Tim Macbeth, a former student who had a clandestine relationship with the wrong girl, and his own ill-fated romance with Daisy.

The Throne of Glass By Sarah Maas After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers eighteen-year-old assassin, Celaena Sardothien, her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Cinder (#1 Lunar Chronicles) By Melissa Marr Cinder, a gifted mechanic and a cyborg with a mysterious past, is blamed by her stepmother for her stepsister's illness while a deadly plague decimates the population of New Beijing, but when Cinder's life gets intertwined with Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle.

Shards & Ashes By Melissa Marr and Kelly Armstrong Powerful, original, dystopian tales from nine bestselling authors offer bleak insight, prophetic visions, and precious glimmers of light among the shards and ashes of a ruined world.

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars By Katherine Marsh In 16th century Europe, Jepp, a teen dwarf, leaves the stability of his mother's inn to become the court dwarf of the Spanish Infanta until an escape attempt goes terribly wrong.

If You Find Me By Emily Murdoch Living in a broken-down camper hidden in a forest, fifteen year-old Carey and her younger sister, Jenessa, just have each other. After their mentally ill mother disappears for good and they are put into foster care, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago and find the reason why Jenessa has not spoken in over a year.

Panic By Lauren Oliver In the poor town of Carp, New York, a group of teens enters a high-stakes game that involves a series of secretive, possibly deadly challenges throughout the summer with the winner receiving more than $50,000--enough money to start a new life.

Eleanor & Park By Rainbow Rowell Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts but brave and desperate enough to try.

Fangirl By Rainbow Rowell Cath and her identical twin, Wren, are inseparable until they enter college when Cath wants her own identity. Wren must find her independence and deal with and unpleasant roommate and an intriguing boy.

Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia By Jenny Sanchez Having secretly been the last person to see her classmate, Andy Cooper, alive before he committed suicide, Frenchie Garcia struggles to understand why this boy she barely knew, although she had had a crush on him for a while, chose to spend his last hours with her. In her confusion and guilt, she turns to an imaginary friend and the poetry of Emily Dickinson for guidance and comfort.

The Running Dream By Wendelin Van Draanen When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb, and her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds By Cat Winters In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.

The 5th Wave By Rick Yancy Cassie, sixteen, prepares herself for the fifth wave of aliens, the final takeover, fearing that she may be all that's left of humanity. She's alone until she meets "very good-looking" Evan Walker, and together they must figure out how to fight back. Yancey vividly portrays Cassie's existential crisis in a broken world: how to live, why to live, and what to care about.

Graphic Novels

Little Fish: A Memoir From a Different Kind of Year By Ramsey Beyer Little Fish shows the challenges of being a young person facing the world on her own for the very first time and the unease—as well as excitement—that comes along with that challenge.

Will and Whit By Laura Lee Gulledge Creative Wilhelmina, "Will," struggles to come to terms with a family tragedy and participates in an arts carnival that forces her to face her fear of the dark when a hurricane causes a blackout.

I, Witness By Nora McClintock After Boone witnesses a murder and then two of his friends are killed, he must decide how badly he wants to know who is committing the murders and why when both the police and the bad guys start chasing him.

Boxers By Gene Luen Yang In 1898 during the Boxer Rebellion, a boy, named Little Bao, recruits an army of Boxers to rid China of foreign missionaries and soldiers who bully and rob Chinese peasants.

Saints By Gene Luen Yang In 1898 during the Boxer Rebellion, a girl, named Vibiana, who is unwanted and unwelcome, turns to Christianity, but she finds herself torn between her nation and her Christian friends who are being murdered by bands of young men.

Non-fiction

Master of Deceit: J Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies By Marc Aronson Author Marc Aronson examines the legacy and the power held by J. Edgar Hoover during his years as the first director of the FBI and describes how his decisions affected the lives of Americans in the twentieth century.

How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous By Georgia Bragg Some of the most famous people came to the most gruesome of deaths. Read all about it, if you have "the guts for gore!"

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi By Neal Bascomb Read Bascomb’s thrilling account of how a group of spies captured the notorious Nazi leader, Adolf Eichmann, and brought him to justice in Israel.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer By James Swanson Author James Swanson recounts the twelve-day pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth, covering the chase through Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. He includes a discussion of Abraham Lincoln as a father, husband, and friend and examines the impact of his death on those close to him.

Classic to Modern

If you liked… (Classic Title)

Then, you’ll love… (Modern Title)

1984 by George Orwell

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

All Quiet on the Western Front

by Erich M. Remarque

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Beauty and the Beast Beastly by Alex Flinn

Beowulf Grendel by John Gardner

Book of Genesis East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Catcher in the Rye By J. D. Salinger

King Dork By Frank Portman

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Cinderella

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

by Gregory Maguire

.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Minister's Daughter by Julie Hearn

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem

by Maryse Conde

The Diary of Anne Frank

by Anne Frank

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin

Emma by Jane Austen

Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Zeena by Elizabeth Cooke

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Truesight By David Stahler, Jr.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

City of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau

Fall of the House of Usher

by Edgar Allan Poe

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Clay by David Almond

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall

Gospel of the Bible

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s

Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Esperanza Rising by Munoz-Ryan

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Jake Reinvented by Gordon Korman

Grendel by John Gardner

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

by Tom Stoppard

Something Rotten by Alan M. Gratz

Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Dating Hamlet: Ophelia's Story

by Lisa Fiedler

Ophelia by Lisa Klein

Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

My Jim by Nancy Rawles

Hunchback of Notre Dame

by Victor Hugo

Hunchback by Randall Wright

Illiad by Homer

Troy by Adele Geras

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Fool by Christopher Moore

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

March by Geraldine Brooks

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Gone by Michael Grant

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner

Third Witch by Rebecca Reisert

Enter Three Witches by Caroline B. Cooney

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken

Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Blue Avenger Cracks the Code

by Norma Howe

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway

Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick

Old Testament

The Garden by Elsie V. Aidinoff

In the Shadow of the Ark by Anne Provoost

Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Othello by William Shakespeare

Othello: A Novel by Julius Lester

Myth of Persephone Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Peter Pan By J. M. Barrie

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry

Portrait of Harper Lee Mockingbird by Charles J. Shields

Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen

Jane by April Lindner

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston

Quarantine by Emmy Laybourne

Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman

Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

Romeo's Ex: The story of Rosaline

by Lisa Fiedler

Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Romiette and Julio by Sharon M. Draper

Julie and Romeo: A Novel by Jeanne Ray

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Anything Shakespeare

Something Wicked by Alan Gratz

Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

In Search of Mockingbird by Loretta Ellsworth

Poetry of William Blake Burning Bright by Tracy Chevelier

Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Wicked by Gregory Maguire