2009 Summer Reading Requirement
Bassick * Central * Harding
Ask Me No Questions, by Marina Budhos. 159 pages. RL: Struggling Reader. Fiction. What is it like to be an illegal alien in New York now? In a moving first-person, present-tense narrative, Nadira, 14, relates how her family left Bangladesh, came to the U. S. on a tourist visa, and stayed long after the visa expired (”Everyone does it. You buy a fake social security number for a few hundred dollars and then you can work.”). Their illegal status is discovered, however, following 9/11, when immigration regulations are tightened. When the family hurriedly seeks asylum in Canada, they are turned back, and Nadira’s father, Abba, is detained because his passport is no longer valid. The secrets are dramatic (”Go to school. Never let anyone know. Never.”), and so are the family dynamics, especially Nadira’s furious envy of her gifted older sister, Aisha. But Aisha breaks down, and Nadira must take over the struggle to get Abba out of detention and prevent the family’s deportation.
Christopher Killer: Forensic Mystery 1, by Alaine Ferguson. 288 pages. RL 9-10. Fiction.
When aspiring forensic pathologist Cameryn Mahoney convinces her father, the county coroner of Silverton, CO, to hire her as his assistant, she has no idea that one of the first deaths she will investigate will be that of her friend, Rachel Geller. Rachel is the fourth victim of a serial killer who strangles his victims and leaves a St. Christopher medal on their bodies. The teen must put aside her emotional response to the murder in order to evaluate the information clinically. In her relentless pursuit of the truth, Cameryn puts herself in danger of becoming the fifth victim of the Christopher Killer…
Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson. 320 pages. RL 9-10. Historical Fiction.
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.
Dreams From My Father, by Barak Obama. 480 pages. RL 10+.Nonfiction.
Years before becoming the 44th President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother—a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego… A searching meditation on the meaning of identity in America, Dreams from My Father might be the most revealing portrait we have of a major American leader—a man who is playing the most prominent role in healing a fractious and fragmented nation.
Heat, by Mike Lupica. 220 pages. RL : Struggling Reader. Fiction.
Michael Arroyo has a pitching arm that throws serious heat. But his firepower is nothing compared to the heat Michael faces in his day-to-day life. Newly orphaned after his father led the family’s escape from Cuba, Michael’s only family is his seventeen-year-old brother, Carlos. If Social Services hears of their situation, they will be separated in the foster-care system—or worse, sent back to Cuba. Together, the boys carry on alone. But then someone wonders how a twelve-year-old boy could possibly throw with as much power as Michael Arroyo. With no way to prove his age, no birth certificate, and no parent to fight for his cause, Michael’s secret world is blown wide open, and he discovers that family can come form the most unexpected sources.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. 544 pages. RL: Struggling Reader. Fiction. Graphic novel.
Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But, when his world suddenly interlocks—like the gears of the clocks he keeps—with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life and his most precious secret are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.
Firestorm: The Caretaker Trilogy Book 1, by David Klass. 304 pages. RL 9-10. Science Fiction. Klass enters exciting and provocative new territory with this sci-fi thriller. Seventeen-year-old Jack Danielson’s life has always been normal–except that his parents have encouraged him to blend in and not try too hard. But then he learns that he is different, that he has special powers and abilities, and that he is from the future and has been sent back to save the planet. Strangers kill his adoptive parents and come after him, and the teens only hope to survive is to trust in Gisco, a huge dog who speaks to him telepathically, and Eko, a ninja babe whose loyalties are ambiguous.
Necessary Noise: Stories About our Families as They Really Are, ed. By Michael Cart. 256 pages. RL 9-10. Short story.
These short stories by recognized young adult authors are compelling examples of contemporary literature dealing with all types of family issues. The subject material varies from Walter Dean Myers’s powerful description of a father visiting his son on death row to Lois Lowry’s tale of a snowbound family reacting to a visit from their college-freshman daughter and her rude, unkempt boyfriend. All of the selections deal with contemporary situations and how these characters attempt to deal with whatever “family” means in their particular experience. Some of the families are fractured idealistically, some physically; yet all must find ways of coping.
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult. 488 pages. RL 10+. Fiction.
Popular and prolific Picoult (My Sister’s Keeper, and The Tenth Circle , 2006) now tackles the troubling topic of a school shooting. Picoult considers the tragedy–in 19 quick minutes, 10 are dead and 19 are wounded–from several different perspectives, including that of the shooter, a troubled boy named Peter, who was mercilessly picked on at school. The small town of Sterling is rocked by the carnage. Alex Cormier is the superior court judge planning to hear the case, but her daughter, Josie, Peter’s only friend during childhood but now a member of the in crowd, was in the midst of the melee. Peter spared Josie, but killed her boyfriend.
The Pact,by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt. 272 pages. RL 9-10. Nonfiction.
As teenagers from a rough part of Newark, New Jersey, Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt, and George Jenkins had nothing special going for them except loving mothers (one of whom was a drug user) and above-average intelligence. Their first stroke of luck was testing into University High, one of Newark’s three magnet high schools, and their second was finding each other. They were busy staying out of trouble (most of the time), and discovering the usual ways to skip class and do as little schoolwork as possible, when a recruitment presentation on Seton Hall University reignited George’s childhood dream of becoming a dentist. The college was offering a tempting assistance package for minorities in its Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Plus Program. George convinced his two friends to go to college with him. They would help each other through. None of them would be allowed to drop out and be reabsorbed by the Newark streets.
Saint Iggy, by K. L. Going. 257 pages. RL 9-10. Fiction.
Iggy Corso, 16, doesn’t do drugs, even though he was born addicted to crack. He lives in a city housing project, in an apartment filled with furniture that his stoned and drunken father collects from the street. Iggy’s mother is an addict who has been AWOL for a month. The cool thing about the teen is that, despite his parents and his environment, he doesn’t feel sorry for himself. A freshman who has failed two grades and been suspended eight times, he takes things for what they are, until he gets suspended again, pending a hearing. His principal says to him, You’ve had a lot to overcome…but….We can all…do something that contributes…. After listening to this, Iggy realizes that his only chance for the future is to get back into school. The principals statement haunts him throughout the book. He enlists help from his so-called mentor/friend, Mo (who was suspended from pre-law school after being caught smoking pot), but his association with this disaffected youth from a wealthy family creates a whole new set of problems.
Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal, by Mal Peet. 424 pages. RL 10+. Fiction.
It was her taciturn but beloved grandfather, William Hyde, who gave Tamar her strange name. But in 1995, when she was 15, he committed suicide, leaving her to wonder if she knew him at all. Later, when she opens the box of War II memorabilia that he left her, she’s struck by the need to find out what it means, who he really was, and where she fits in. Tension mounts incrementally in an intricate wrapping of wartime drama and secrecy, in which Tamar finds her namesake and herself. Forming the backbone of the novel are intense, sometimes brutal events in a small Dutch town in Nazi-occupied Holland and the relationship between the girl’s namesake, a member of the Dutch Resistance; Dart, a code operator assigned to help him; and Marijke, the love of his life.
SUPPLEMENTAL TITLES THAT MAY BE READ BY ENTERING 9TH GRADE STUDENTS FROM 2006 -2008 READING LISTS:
An Island Like You. Stories of the Barrio. Cofer, Judith Ortiz
The Beckoners. Mac, Carrie.
Blackbird House. Hoffman, Alice.
The Body of Christopher Creed. Plum-Ucci, Carol.
The Book Thief. Zusak, Markus.
Chinese Cinderella. Mah, Adeline Yen.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. Haddon, Mark
Copper Sun. Draper, Sharon.
Ender’s Game. Card, Orson Scott.
In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle. Blais, Madeline.
Just Listen. Dessen, Sarah.
Keeper. Peet, Mal.
The Lightening Thief. Riordan, Rick.
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. Ilibagiza, Immaculee.
Malcom X: By Any Means Necessary. Myers, Walter Dean.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Edward, Kim.
Nothing to Lose. Flinn, Alex.
Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood. Satrapi, Marjane.
Parrot In The Oven: Mi Vida. Martinex, Victor.
The Rules of Survival. Werlin, Nancy.
Separate But Not Equal. Haskins, Jim.
Silent to the Bone. Konigsburg, E. L.
So B. It. Weeks, Sarah.
Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson, Greg and David Oliver Relin.
True Believer. Wolff, Virginia Euwer.
Twisted. Anderson, Laurie Halse.
Water For Elephants. Gruen, Sara.
You Don’t Know Me. Klaff, David.
Teen health and wellness
Teen health and wellness Self-help database for Teens
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Good Books For YA’s
- Changing Bodies Changing Lives 3rd Ed. by Ruth Bell et al
- I Was a Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block
- Burning Up by Caroline B. Cooney
- Dirty Laundry: Stories About Family Secrets Edited by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
- Broken Chords by Barbara Snow Gilbert
- The Other Shepards by Adele Griffin
- What Are My Rights? 95 Questions and Answers About Teens and the Lawby Thomas A. Jacobs, J.D.
- Bare Hands by Bart Moeyaert
