Bryan Station High School
English 9 2016 Summer Reading Assignment
DUE: August 22, 2016
Materials You Will Need:
 1 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Book (KBA) (use QR code) of your choice approved by your parent or guardian
 1 Notebook or binder with lined paper for your Reading Log
 Materials to make a collage. The collage should be larger than 8 ½ x 11.
What to do Part 1:
1.
2.
3.
Obtain and read a KBA book (use QR Code) from BSHS’s Library, any Lexington Public Library, or a bookstore.
Complete 6 Entries in a Reading Log
Create a collage based on a theme from your chosen book.
How to do a Reading Log: You will create a reading log with 6 entries. You should select passages from the beginning, from the
middle, and from the end of the book. Discuss a different topic in each entry.
Each entry MUST include all 7 of the parts below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Book Title
Author
Date you read
The page you started reading on
The page you finished reading on
The number of minutes you read that day
1 Paragraph making a connection between the book and one of your own memories, beliefs, emotions or a current
issue (see below). Your paragraph must contain the 6 Parts of a Paragraph (Topic Sentence, Clarifying,
Placement, Quote and MLA Citation, Interpretation, Concluding Sentence.
Connections: (your reading log must contain all 4 connection types below):
Memory: any personal experience that you are reminded of while reading your book:
These starters may help you begin your thoughts, but you don’t have to use them! “This reminds
me of…”, “I remember when I too…”, “My mom (grandpa, dad, etc.) once told me…”, This is related to
____ because…”
Belief: any ideas that you agree or disagree with in your book: “I used to think…”, “I
realized…”, “I used to think…”, “I agree/disagree with __________’s decision to…”
Emotion: any feeling that strikes you from the book: I understand how ___ is feeling because…”,
“I’m surprised…”, “I can’t understand…”, “It upsets me that…”
Current Issue: any current news item or social issue: “This reminds me of…”, “I
heard/read/saw…”, “This sounds like…”, “This is related to ___because…”
Your Reading Log entry paragraph MUST contain the following 6 parts:
1) Topic Sentence – What are you going to prove in your paragraph? Make your statement (this is your topic
sentence).
2) Clarifying – Clarifying makes your topic sentence very clear and leads into your paragraph.
3) Placement – What is happening in the story when the quote you have chosen to use appears?
4) Quote and MLA Citation: The quote is PROOF for your topic sentence. Write out the quote, be sure to copy it
exactly and put it in quotation marks if it is 3 lines or shorter “Quote.” Be sure you pick a good quote for your
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topic – one that will definitely prove your topic sentence. Make sure to provide the MLA parenthetical citation
AFTER the quote.
For a short quote: “He had no affection for Gray Beaver” (London 100).
(London 100)  MLA Parenthetical Citation
**Note that the punctuation comes after the citation and not directly inside the quotation marks. MLA
parenthetical citation in a story consists of the Author’s last name and page number(s) of where the quote was
found. For multiple pages your citation would hyphenate the page numbers: (London 100-101).
For a quote of 4 lines or longer (a Long Quote):
Long Quote
When you cite a long quotation (four lines or
more) set it off from the text by indenting the
entire quote and omitting the quotation marks.
Generally, a colon (:) introduces a long
quotation. Your parenthetical citation should
come after the closing punctuation mark.
Indent entire quote 1 tab (5 spaces) and
shrink to 10 point font -
Even though One Ear knows he should obey Bill and Henry,
he takes off after the She-wolf: (12 point Font)
Too late, One Ear learned his mistake. Before they saw the
cause, the two men saw him turn and start to run back toward
them. Then, approaching at right angles to the trail and cutting off
his retreat, they saw a dozen wolves, lean and gray, bounding
The entire paragraph is double
spaced.
across the snow. On the instant, the she-wolf’s coyness and
playfulness disappeared. (London 19) ( 10 point Font and
indented)
The She-wolf is much more adept at surviving the harsh
conditions of the Wild. ( after the quote, go back to the regular
margin (no longer indented) and go back to 12 point Font)
5) Interpretation: This is your “smart talk.” What does this quote mean, and how does this quote illustrate or prove
your topic sentence? (3 sentence minimum for the interpretation)
6) Concluding Sentence: Concludes your paragraph with a closing statement that reiterates (restates) your topic
sentence and neatly wraps up your paragraph – this should tie in with your topic sentence.
How to start the 6 Part Paragraph:
Part 1) Write your topic sentence – the point you will prove. In this case the Belief we will prove:
The She-wolf has a strong will to survive. ( Topic Sentence)
In order to prove our opinion is true, we must logically present evidence from the text. This evidence will
be situations and/or conversations taken in the form of direct quotes from the story that prove your topic
sentence.
Part 2) Clarify
Before we put our quote into our paragraph, we must clarify our topic sentence. Clarifying makes
your topic sentence very clear and leads into your paragraph:
She does whatever she sees as necessary in order for her and her wolf pack to survive. ( Clarifying)
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Part 3) Placement
Placement is when you explain what was going on in the story where you pulled the quote:
Bill and Henry finally realized why the dogs are leaving the safety of their fire when Henry sees the Shewolf tempting One Ear. ( Placement)
Part 4) QUOTE and MLA PARENTHETICAL CITATION:
Find evidence to support your topic sentence. This is a direct quote from the story:
The quote I chose to illustrate that the She-wolf has a strong will to survive is:
“ ‘It’s a she-wolf,’ Henry whispered back, ‘an’ that accounts for Fatty an’ Frog. She’s the decoy for the
pack. She draws out the dog an’ then all the rest pitches in an’ eats ‘m up’” (London 11).
When you introduce your evidence in your paragraph, don’t forget that you must also explain what was
going on in the book and/or where in the book your quote came from. This is called PLACEMENT, which
is Step 3 above.
Part 5) Now you must put all the information together and explain it to your reader. The
explanation is called Interpretation:
The She-wolf has a strong will to survive. (Topic sentence is underlined) She does whatever she sees as
necessary in order for her and her wolf pack to survive. (Clarifying is italicized) {Bill and Henry finally realize why the
dogs are leaving the safety of their fire when Henry sees the She-wolf tempting One Ear. After Bill says that One Ear
does not seem scared of a nearby wolf, Henry whispers:} (Placement is in brackets {Placement}) “’It’s a she-wolf, […]
an’ that accounts for Fatty an’ Frog. She’s the decoy for the pack. She draws out the dog an’ then all the rest pitches in
an’ eats ‘m up’” (London 11). (Quote is in “quotation marks” followed by the parenthetical citation: (London 11).
(YOU MUST CITE YOUR SOURCE IN MLA FORMAT: MY CITATION IS (London 11). Even though the She-wolf is
part dog herself, she understands that the only way for her and her wolf pack to survive is to take advantage of
Bill and Henry’s dogs by luring them away from the safety of the men to where she and the wolf pack can take
them down and eat them. This goes against her earlier upbringing of being raised with dogs and fed by the
Indians who kept her safe; however, she has no other options if they are to survive because of the famine.
(interpretation is in bold type).
Part 6) Concluding Sentence(s)
Concludes your paragraph with a closing statement that reiterates (restates) your topic sentence
and neatly wraps up your paragraph – this should tie in with your topic sentence.
The She-wolf will survive even if it means going against her upbringing. Her will to survive is
stronger than any of her previous connections.
COMPLETED PARAGRAPH:
paragraph:
Note there are numbers and brackets to show you each of the 6 parts of the
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1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Topic Sentence
Clarify
Placement
Quote and MLA Parenthetical Citation
Interpretation
Concluding Sentence
1[The She-wolf has a strong will to survive.] 2[She does whatever she sees as necessary in order for her and her
wolf pack to survive.] 3[Bill and Henry finally realize why the dogs are leaving the safety of their fire when Henry sees the
She-wolf tempting One Ear. After Bill says that One Ear does not seem scared of a nearby wolf, Henry whispers: ]
4[“’It’s a she-wolf, […] an’ that accounts for Fatty an’ Frog. She’s the decoy for the pack. She draws out the dog an’ then
all the rest pitches in an’ eats ‘m up’” (London 11). ] 5[Even though the She-wolf is part dog herself, she understands that
the only way for her and her wolf pack to survive is to take advantage of Bill and Henry’s dogs by luring them away from
the safety of the men to where she and the wolf pack can take them down and eat them. This goes against her earlier
upbringing of being raised with dogs and fed by the Indians who kept her safe; however, she has no other options if they
are to survive because of the famine. ] 6 [The She-wolf will survive even if it means going against her upbringing. Her
will to survive is stronger than any of her previous connections.]
Each Reading Log Entry will look like this:
Title: White Fang
Author: Jack London
Date Read: July 8, 2016
Starting Page: 1
Ending Page 15
Minutes Read: 45
Book Connection Type: Belief
The She-wolf has a strong will to survive. She does whatever she sees as necessary in order for her and her wolf pack to
survive. Bill and Henry finally realize why the dogs are leaving the safety of their fire when Henry sees the She-wolf tempting One
Ear. After Bill says that One Ear does not seem scared of a nearby wolf, Henry whispers: “‘It’s a she-wolf, […] an’ that accounts for
Fatty an’ Frog. She’s the decoy for the pack. She draws out the dog an’ then all the rest pitches in an’ eats ‘m up’” (London 11).
Even though the She-wolf is part dog herself, she understands that the only way for her and her wolf pack to survive is to take
advantage of Bill and Henry’s dogs by luring them away from the safety of the men to where she and the wolf pack can take them
down and eat them. This goes against her earlier upbringing of being raised with dogs and fed by the Indians who kept her safe;
however, she has no other options if they are to survive because of the famine. The She-wolf will survive even if it means going
against her upbringing. Her will to survive is stronger than any of her previous connections.
Color-coded Key:
Topic Sentence
Clarifying
Placement
Quote and MLA Citation
Interpretation
Concluding Sentence(s)
***You must highlight or underline each of the 6 Parts of the Paragraph in a different color and create a color-coded key which
identifies the color and part of the paragraph for each Reading Log Entry.
What to do Part 2:
Create a collage that visually demonstrates a major theme in your novel. Theme is a universal message or unifying element throughout
a piece of literature. Example: love conquers all, regret, pride, love is worth fighting for, hard work leads to success, change, or
people often realize their greatest strengths when faced with a difficult task
Your collage must contain the following:



Book Title, Author, and your name clearly displayed on the front of your collage.
4 cited quotes or cited short passages from your novel that demonstrate a theme. (You may type the passages if you wish).
Other representations of the theme covering the rest of the collage space (use photographs, original artwork, magazine, and/or
newspaper images – no clipart).
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KY Bluegrass Award Master List Books 2011-2017
All American Boys / Jason Reynolds.
A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book/Atheneum Books for Young Readers,
2015; ISBN: 978-1-48146-333-1. When sixteen-year-old
Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn
witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who
happens to be the older brother of his best friend.
Need / Joelle Charbonneau.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015; ISBN: 978-0-544-41669-7.
In this exploration of the dark side of social media, and
government control and manipulation, the teenagers in a small
town are drawn deeper and deeper into a social networking site
that promises to grant their every need--regardless of the
consequences.
All the Bright Places / Jennifer Niven.
Alfred A. Knopf, 2015; ISBN: 978-0-385-75589-4.
Told in alternating voices, when Theodore Finch and Violet
Markey meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, both
teetering on the edge, it's the beginning of an unlikely
relationship, a journey to discover the "natural wonders" of the
state of Indiana, and two teens' desperate desire to heal and
save one another.
None of the Above / I.W. Gregorio.
Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015;
ISBN: 978-0-06-233531-9.
Homecoming queen Kristin Lattimer has a hard enough time
dealing with her body, but her visit to the doctor reveals a
difficult truth, Kristin is intersex, which means that though she
looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention
boy "parts" and after her diagnosis is leaked to the whole
school, her identity is thrown into question.
Jackaby / William Ritter.
Algonquin, 2014; ISBN: 978-1-61620-353-5.
Newly arrived in 1892 New England, Abigail Rook becomes
assistant to R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained
with the ability to see supernatural beings, and she helps him
delve into a case of serial murder which, Jackaby is convinced,
is due to a nonhuman creature.
Not After Everything / Michelle Levy.
Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2015;
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4158-4.
After his mom kills herself, Tyler shuts out the world--until
falling in love with Jordyn helps him find his way toward a
hopeful future.
Mosquitoland / David Arnold.
Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), 2015; ISBN: 9780-451-47077-5.
When she learns that her mother is sick in Ohio, Mim confronts
her demons on a thousand-mile odyssey from Mississippi that
redefines her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be
sane.
Red Queen / Victoria Aveyard.
HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015;
ISBN: 978-0-06-231063-7.
In a world divided by blood--those with common, Red blood
serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman
abilities--seventeen-year-old Mare, a Red, discovers she has an
ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king
forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths
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her to one of his own sons. But Mare risks everything and uses
her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red
rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction.
The whole town did. But today Cate got out. And now she's
coming back.
Faking Normal / Courtney Stevens.
Harper Teen, 2014.
Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the
summer by her backyard pool. Instead, she hides in her closet,
counts the slats in the air vent, and compulsively scratches the
back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the
inside does.
Rig (The) / Joe Ducie.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015; ISBN: 978-0-544-50311-3.
Fifteen-year-old Will Drake has made a career of breaking out
from high-security prisons. His talents have landed him at the
Rig, a specialist juvenile holding facility in the middle of the
Arctic Ocean. No one can escape from the Rig. No one except
for Drake.
The Geography of You and Me / Jennifer Smith.
Poppy, Little Brown and Company, 2014.
Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy and seventeen-year-old
Owen meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York
City blackout. Soon after, the two teens leave the city, but as
they travel farther away from each other geographically, they
stay connected emotionally.
Salt to the Sea / Ruta Sepetys.
Philomel Books, 2016; ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1.
Told in alternating points of view, this masterful work of
historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the
sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff-- the greatest maritime disaster
in history. As World War II draws to a close, refugees try to
escape the war's final dangers, only to find themselves aboard a
ship with a target on its hull.
I’ll Meet You There / Heather Demetrios.
Henry Holt and Company, 2015.
If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View
girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on
her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. When nineteenyear-old Josh Mitchell has his leg blown off in Afghanistan, he
returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What
brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise--a
quirky motel off California's dusty Highway 99.
Above : A Novel / Isla Morley.
First Gallery Books, 2014.
Blythe Hallowell is sixteen when she is abducted by a
survivalist and locked away in an aban¬doned missile silo in
Eudora, Kansas. She focuses frantically on finding a way out
until the harrowing truth of her new existence settles in.
Complicit / Stephanie Kuehn.
St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014.
Two years ago, fifteen-year-old Jamie Henry breathed a sigh of
relief when a judge sentenced his older sister to juvenile
detention for burning down their neighbor's fancy horse barn.
Inhuman / Kat Falls.
Scholastic Press; 2013.
In the wake of a devastating biological disaster, the United
States east of the Mississippi has been abandoned. Now called
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the Feral Zone, a reference to the virus that turned millions of
people into bloodthirsty savages, the entire area is off-limits.
Lane McEvoy can't imagine why anyone would risk it. But
when Lane learns that someone close to her has crossed into
the Feral Zone she has little choice but to follow.
years since the first-string quarterback is the son of the corrupt
head coach.
The Winner’s Curse / Marie Rutkoski.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
As a general's daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an
extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the
clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision
that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can't
help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray
their people . . . but to be loyal to their country, they must
betray each other.
The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors
Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi / Neal Bascomb.
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013.
In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head
of operations for the Nazis' Final Solution, walked into the
mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years
later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in
Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the
century's most important trials -- one that cemented the
Holocaust in the public imagination.
The 5th Wave / Rick Yancy.
Putnam Juvenile, 2013; ISBN: 978-0399162411
Aliens sent waves of destructive forces to eradicate the
humans. Cassie Sullivan, a survivor of the invasion, must
rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy
who may be one of them.
The Scar Boys / Len Vlahos.
Egmont, USA, 2014
In attempting to describe himself in his college application
essay, Harbinger (Harry) Jones goes way beyond the 250-word
limit and gives a full account of his life. The first defining
moment: the day the neighborhood goons tied him to a tree
during a lightning storm. The second defining moment: the day
in 8th grade when Johnny rescued him from the bullies and
suggested that they form a band.
The Beginning of Everything / Robyn Schneider.
Katherine Tegan Books, 2013; ISBN: 978-0062217134
The way Ezra Faulkner sees it, everyone gets one great
tragedy, after which life should roll on predictably. Star athlete
and prom king, his life is irreparably transformed by a tragic
accident and the arrival of eccentric new girl Cassidy Thorpe.
The Walk On / John Feinstein.
Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
After moving to a new town his freshman year, Alex Myers is
happy to win a spot on the varsity football team as a
quarterback but must deal with the idea of not playing for two
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea / April Genevieve
Tucholke.
Dial, 2013; ISBN: 978-0803738898
Violet is in love with River, a mysterious seventeen-year-old
stranger renting the guest house behind the rotting seaside
mansion where Violet lives. When eerie, grim events begin to
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happen, Violet recalls her grandmother's frequent warnings
about the devil and wonders if River is evil.
Sawyer LaGrande's unexplained disappearance rocked Serena
Montero's world; it had been love at first sight, and then he ran
away and left her pregnant. Now he's back in town and ready to
pick up where they left off. Serena, however, has a steady
boyfriend and is now the mother of a two-year-old. Will she
make the same mistake twice?
I am the Weapon previously titled Boy Nobody / Allen Zadoff.
Little Brown, 2013; ISBN: 978-0316199681
Boy Nobody is a coldly dispassionate teenage assassin working
for a mysterious organization called the Program. When it
assigns him his next mission—to assassinate the mayor of New
York—it seems at first like business as usual. But then he
meets Sam, the mayor’s beautiful daughter.
The Rithmatist / Brandon Sanderson.
Tor Teen, 2013; ISBN: 978-0765320322
Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and Rithmatists
are humanity’s only defense. Joel longs to be a Rithmatist with
the magical power to bring the two-dimensional Chalklings to
life. But he is 16, and Rithmatists are chosen at age 8. Surely
he has missed his chance, or has he?
If You Find Me / Emily Murdoch.
St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013; ISBN: 978-1250021526
Carey’s little sister, Jenessa, has not spoken since the white
starry night and now depends on Carey for her very survival.
All they have is each other as their mentally ill mother comes
and goes with greater frequency until that one fateful day she
disappears for good. Two strangers arrive and suddenly the
girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and
perplexing new world where they must face the truth of why
their mother abducted them and kept them hidden for ten years.
Thousand Words / Jennifer Brown.
Little Brown, 2013; ISBN: 978-0316209724
Ashleigh feels madly in love with her boyfriend, Kaleb, even
though he has barely paid attention to herall summer. To make
sure Kaleb remembers her when he leaves for college,
Ashleigh snaps a photo of herself posing naked and sends it to
him. That gets his attention. However, they soon break up and
Kaleb sends the photo to a friend, who shares it with the world.
Ashleigh is arrested for distributing child pornography and
Kaleb, at 18, may go to prison.
The Impossible Knife of Memory / Laurie Halse Anderson.
Viking Juvenile, 2014; ISBN: 978-0670012091
For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy,
have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he
struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his
return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew
up so Hayley can attend high school.
The Tragedy Paper / Elizabeth Laban.
Knopf Books, 2013; ISBN: 978-0375870408
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.
How to Love / Katie Cotugno.
Balzer & Bray, 2013; ISBN: 978-0062216359
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Final Four / Paul Volponi.
Viking, 2012.
Four players at the Final Four of the NCAA basketball
tournament struggle with the pressures of tournament play and
the expectations of society at large.
Beneath a Meth Moon / Jacqueline Woodson.
Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012.
Laurel Daneau, having lost her mother, grandmother, and home
in Hurricane Katrina, thinks things are going well with her new
life as a cheerleader and the girlfriend of basketball start TBoom, but after T-Boom introduces her to meth and she finds
the drug helps her deal with her past, she must rely on the help
of an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee to overcome
the addiction.
I Hunt Killers / Barry Lyga.
Little, Brown, 2012.
Seventeen-year-old Jazz learned all about being a serial killer
from his notorious "Dear Old Dad." Believing he can fight his
own urges and right some of his father's wrongs, Jazz helps the
police catch the town's newest murderer, "The Impressionist,"
but, in doing so, he discovers he may have more in common
with his father than he thought.
Code Name Verity / Elizabeth Wein.
Hyperion Books, 2012.
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied
France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war,
espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to
survive while keeping secret all that she can.
Just One Day / Gayle Forman.
Dutton Books, 2013.
Sparks fly when American good girl Allyson encounters laidback Dutch actor Willem, so she follows him on a whirlwind
trip to Paris, upending her life in just one day and prompting a
year of self-discovery and the search for true love.
Diviners / Libba Bray.
Little, Brown. 2012.
Seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled
from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a
rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle,
curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition,
and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation.
October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard / Leslea
Newman.
Candlewick, 2012.
Relates, from various points of view, events from the night of
October 6, 1998, when twenty-one-year-old Matthew Shepard,
a gay college student, was lured out of a Wyoming bar,
savagely beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die.
Every Day /David Levithan.
Knopf, 2012.
Every morning A wakes in a different person's body, in a
different person's life, learning over the years to never get too
attached, until he wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in
love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.
Pregnancy Project / Gaby Rodriguez.
Simon & Schuster, 2012.
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Gaby Rodriguez, whose mother and older sister both became
pregnant as teenagers, explains what she learned from faking a
pregnancy as a high school senior in order to find out how
people would treat her.
Little, Brown. 2011.
Seventeen-year-old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a
Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous,
frightening monsters--the chimaerae who form the only family
she has ever known.
Pushing the Limits / Katie McGarry.
Harlequin Teen, 2012.
Rendered a subject of gossip after a traumatic night that left her
with terrible scars on her arms, Echo is dumped by her
boyfriend and bonds with bad-boy Noah, whose tough attitude
hides an understanding nature and difficult secrets.
Divergent /Veronica Roth.
Katherine Tegen Books. 2011.
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must
choose among five predetermined factions to define her
identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult
when she discovers that she is an anomaly, and that the society
she lives in is not perfect after all.
Between Shades of Gray /Ruta Sepetys.
Philomel Books. 2011.
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are
pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to
Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp
while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and
the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on
Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a
historical note.
DJ Rising /Love Maia.
Little, Brown. 2012.
Sixteen-year-old Marley Diego-Dylan's career as "DJ Ice" is
skyrocketing, but his mother's heroin addiction keeps dragging
him back to earth.
The Fault in Our Stars /John Green.
Dutton Books, 2012.
Sixteen year old Hazel, who has cancer, meets Augustus at a
kids-with-cancer support group and as they fall in love they
both wonder how they will be remembered.
Boy21/Matthew Quick.
Little, Brown. 2012.
Finley, an unnaturally quiet boy who is the only white player
on his high school's varsity basketball team, lives in a dismal
Pennsylvania town that is ruled by the Irish mob, and when his
coach asks him to mentor a troubled African American student
who has transferred there from an elite private school in
California, he finds that they have a lot in common in spite of
their apparent differences.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children /Ransom Riggs.
Quirk Books, 2011.
Sixteen-year-old Jacob, having traveled to a remote island after
a family tragedy, discovers an abandoned orphanage, and, after
some investigating, he learns the children who lived there may
have been dangerous and quarantined and may also still be
alive.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone /Laini Taylor.
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Walker, 2010.
When her unstable mother dies unexpectedly, sixteen-year-old
Lucy must take control and find a way to keep the long-held
secret of her mother's compulsive hoarding from being
revealed to friends, neighbors, and especially the media.
The Name of the Star /Maureen Johnson.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011.
Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London
boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the
Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual
investigation.
Hold Me Closer Necromancer/Lish McBride.
Henry Holt, 2010.
Sam LaCroix, a Seattle fast-food worker and college dropout,
discovers that he is a necromancer, part of a world of
harbingers, werewolves, satyrs, and one particular necromancer
who sees Sam as a threat to his lucrative business of raising the
dead.
Recovery Road/Blake Nelson.
Scholastic Press, 2011.
Seventeen-year-old Maddie meets Stewart in a rehabilitation
facility for drug and alcohol abuse, and they begin a
relationship, which they try to maintain after they both finish
treatment.
Incarceron/Catherine Fisher.
Dial Books, 2010.
To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia,
the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison
with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner
escape.
What Can(t) Wait /Ashley Hope Perez.
Carolrhoda Books, 2011.
Marooned in a broken-down Houston neighborhood--and in a
Mexican immigrant family where making ends meet matters
much more than making it to college--smart, talented Marissa
seeks comfort elsewhere when her home life becomes
unbearable.
Leverage/Joshua Cohen.
Dutton Books, 2011.
High school sophomore Danny excels at gymnastics but is
bullied, like the rest of the gymnasts, by members of the
football team, until an emotionally and physically scarred new
student joins the football team and forms an unlikely friendship
with Danny.
Anna and the French Kiss/Stephanie Perkins.
Dutton Books, 2010.
When Anna's romance-novelist father sends her to an elite
American boarding school in Paris for her senior year of high
school, she reluctantly goes, and meets an amazing boy who
becomes her best friend, in spite of the fact that they both want
something more.
Room: A Novel/Emma Donoghue.
Little Brown, 2010.
Five-year-old Jack has spent his life living in an eleven-byeleven foot space his mother calls Room and while Jack uses
Dirty Little Secrets/C. J. Omololu.
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his imagination to create wondrous fantasies to entertain
himself, his mother dreads the day her son begins to question
why they must remain in Room and tries to find a way to
escape.
Because I am Furniture/By Thalia Chaltas.
Viking, 2009.
The youngest of three siblings, fourteen-year-old Anke feels
both relieved and neglected that her father abuses her brother
and sister but ignores her, but when she catches him with one
of her friends, she finally becomes angry enough to take action.
Ship Breaker/Paolo Bacigalupi.
Little Brown, 2010.
In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring
from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a
beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to
decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the
girl.
Funny How Things Change/By Melissa Wyatt.
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2009.
Remy, a talented, seventeen-year-old auto mechanic, questions
his decision to join his girlfriend when she starts college in
Pennsylvania, after a visiting artist helps him realize what his
family home in a dying West Virginia mountain town means to
him.
Sorta Like a Rock Star/Matthew Quick.
Little Brown, 2010.
Amber Appleton, living in a school bus with her mom, refuses
to give in to despair and continues visiting the elderly at a
nursing home, teaching English to Korean women, and caring
for a Vietnam veteran and his dog, but a fatal tragedy may
prove to be one burden too many for the seventeen-year-old
girl.
Hate List/By Jennifer Brown.
Little, Brown and Company, 2009.
Sixteen-year-old Valerie, whose boyfriend Nick committed a
school shooting at the end of their junior year, struggles to cope
with integrating herself back into high school life, unsure
herself whether she was a hero or a villain.
Split/Swati Avasthi.
Knopf, 2010.
A teenage boy thrown out of his house by his abusive father
goes to live with his older brother, who ran away from home
years earlier under similar circumstances.
If I Grow Up/By Todd Strasser.
Simon & Schuster, 2009.
Growing up in the inner-city projects, DeShawn is reluctantly
forced into the gang world by circumstances beyond his
control.
You/Charles Benoit.
HarperTeen, 2010.
Fifteen-year-old Kyle discovers the shattering ramifications of
the decisions he makes, and does not make, about school, the
girl he likes, and his future.
If I Stay/By Gayle Forman.
Speak, 2009.
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed
her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a
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gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her
family in death.
Little Brother/By Cory Doctorow.
Tor, 2008.
Interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security
in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco,
California, seventeen-year-old Marcus is released into what is
now a police state, and decides to use his expertise in computer
hacking to set things right.
In the Path of Falling Objects /By Andrew Smith.
Feiwel and Friends, 2009.
In 1970, after their older brother is shipped off to Vietnam,
sixteen-year-old Jonah and his younger brother Simon leave
home to find their father, who is being released from an
Arizona prison, but soon find themselves hitching a ride with a
violent killer.
Liar/By Justine Larbalestier.
Bloomsbury, 2009.
Compulsive liar Micah promises to tell the truth after revealing
that her boyfriend has been murdered.
King of the Screwups/By K.L. Going.
Harcourt-Houghton, 2009.
Liam Geller is one of the most popular boys in school but can't
seem to do anything right in the eyes of his father; so he goes
to live with his homosexual, rocker uncle who helps him to
understand that there is much more to him than his father will
ever see.
Maze Runner/By James Dashner.
Delacorte, 2009.
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the
middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the
community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
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