Madison Lit Sets (4+ copies of each title) alpha by author with Lexile levels as of July 9, 2012
Giles, Gail -- Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
Simon Pulse, 2004, c2003., 126p
Fourteen-year-old Sunny is stunned when a total stranger shows up at her house posing as her older
sister Jazz, who supposedly died in a fire months earlier.
550L
Bodeen, S. A. (Stephanie A.) , 1965- -- The Compound
Square Fish, 2009, c2008., 248p
Fifteen-year-old Eli, locked inside a radiation-proof compound built by his father to keep them safe
following a nuclear attack, begins to question his future, as well as his father's grip on sanity as the
family's situation steadily disintegrates over the course of six years.
570L
Smith, Roland, 1951- -- Zach's Lie
Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, 2003, c2001., RL 4.7, 211p
When Jack Osborne is befriended by his school's custodian and a Basque girl, he begins to adjust to
his family's sudden move to Elko, Nevada, after entering the Witness Security Program, but the drug
cartel against which his father will testify is determined to track them down.
580L
Spinelli, Jerry – Stargirl
Knopf ,Distributed by Random House, 2002, c2000., RL 4.1, 186p
In this story about the per s of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love,
an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.
590L
Choldenko, Gennifer, 1957- -- Al Capone Does My Shirts
Puffin Books, 2006, c2004., RL 4, 228p
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were
housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his
autistic sister.
600L
Guest, Judith -- Ordinary People
Penguin Books, 1982., 263p
After spending eight months in a mental institution following a suicide attempt, seventeen-year-old
Conrad returns home and finds that he must rebuild his life.
600L
Hesse, Karen -- Phoenix Rising
Square Fish, 2009, c1994., RL 3.8, 182p
Thirteen-year-old Nyle learns about relationships and death when fifteen-year-old Ezra, who was
exposed to radiation leaked from a nearby nuclear plant, comes to stay at her grandmother's Vermont
farmhouse.
610L
Colfer, Eoin -- Artemis Fowl
Disney/Hyperion Books, 2009, c2001., RL 5.5, 277p
Twelve-year-old evil genius Artemis Fowl tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and
demanding a ransom in gold, but the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly
nasty troll.
620L
Colfer, Eoin -- Half-Moon Investigations
Paperbacks for Children, 2007, c2006., RL 4.8, 290p
Twelve-year-old online detective school graduate Fletcher Moon--who suffers the nickname "Half
Moon" because of his small stature--helps solve crimes for classmates and others in his Irish town, but
things start to go wrong when he is asked to find a reportedly stolen lock of a pop star's hair and
ends up an arson suspect.
620L
Sitomer, Alan Lawrence -- The Downside of Being Up
Putnams, c2011., RL 4.2, 215p
All Bobby Connor wants is to survive middle school, but puberty is making that difficult for him as
his body conspires against him.
620L
Salisbury, Graham -- Eyes of the Emperor
Laurel-Leaf, 2007, c2005., 229p
Following orders from the United States Army, several young Japanese American men train K-9 units
to hunt Asians during World War II.
630L
Hoeye, Michael -- Time Stops for No Mouse
640L
Puffin Books, 2007., RL 5.5, 250p
When Linka Perflinger, a jaunty mouse, brings a watch into his shop to be repaired and then
disappears, Hermux Tantamoq is caught up in a dangerous search for eternal youth as he tries to find
out what happened to her.
Giff, Patricia Reilly -- Pictures of Hollis Woods
Dell Yearling, 2004, c2002., RL 6.4, 166p
A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the
only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.
650L
Jones, Jasmine -- Coach Carter
HarperEntertainment/Amistad, c2004., 143p
Former Richmond High School basketball star Ken Carter returns to his alma mater as their coach and
immediately sets down high standards of accountability that are soon challenged by the players, the
school, and the community.
650L
Farmer, Nancy, 1941- -- The House of the Scorpion
Simon Pulse, 2004, c2002., RL 6.3, 380p
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron,
the one hundred forty-two-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the
United States.
660L
Flake, Sharon -- The Skin I'm In
Jump at the Sun, 2000, c1998., RL 5, 171p
Thirteen-year-old Maleeka Madison, insecure about her very dark skin, rejects the support of a new
teacher, Miss Saunders, whose skin looks blotched because of a rare medical condition--but soon
Maleeka begins to see that Miss Saunders could be a role model, and that she must learn to love
herself and accept love from others.
670L
Horowitz, Anthony, 1955- -- Stormbreaker
Speak, 2006, c2000., RL 5.5, 234p
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to
continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
670L
Henkes, Kevin -- Olive's Ocean
HarperTrophy, 2005, c2003., RL 6.6, 217p
On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains
perspective on the death of a classmate, her relationship with her grandmother, her feelings for an
older boy, and her plans to be a writer.
680L
Pena, Matt de la -- Mexican Whiteboy
Delacorte Press, c2008., 249p
Danny, who is tall and skinny but has a talent for pitching a fastball, cannot seem to fit in at school in
San Diego, where his Mexican and white heritage causes people to judge him before he even speaks.
680L
Korman, Gordon -- Son of the Mob
Hyperion Paperbacks, 2004, c2002., RL 6.9, 262p
Seventeen-year-old Vince's life is constantly complicated by the fact that he is the son of a powerful
Mafia boss, a relationship that threatens to destroy his romance with the daughter of an FBI agent.
690L
Lin, Grace -- The Year of the Dog
Little, Brown, 2007, c2006., RL 4.8, 134p
Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to
apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to
her own life.
690L
Myers, Walter Dean, 1937- -- Shooter
HarperTempest, 2005, c2004., RL 5.3, 223p
Teachers, therapists, law enforcement officials, and others try to piece together the facts in the
aftermath of a tragedy in which Len, a high school senior fed up with being lied, shoots and kills a
football hero and then commits suicide.
690L
Sachar, Louis, 1954- -- Small Steps
Delacorte Press, c2006., RL 4.2, 257p
Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on
track, but when his old pal X-Ray shows up with a tempting plan to make some easy money scalping
690L
concert tickets, Armpit reluctantly goes along.
Werlin, Nancy -- Double Helix
Sleuth/Puffin, 2005, c2003., RL 7.3, 250p
Eighteen-year-old Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a
Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering.
690L
Holt, Kimberly Willis -- When Zachary Beaver Came to Town
Square Fish, 2011, c1999., RL 5, 227p
During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet
the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.
700L
Mull, Brandon, 1974- -- Fablehaven
Aladdin Paperbacks, 2007, c2006., RL 5, 351p
Kendra and Seth find themselves in the midst of a battle between good and evil when they visit their
grandparents' estate and discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures.
700L
Pierce, Tamora – Terrier
Random House, 2007, c2006., 582p
When sixteen-year-old Beka becomes "Puppy" to a pair of "Dogs," as the Provost's Guards are called,
she uses her police training, natural abilities, and a touch of magic to help them solve the case of a
murdered baby in Tortall's Lower City.
700L
Naidoo, Beverley -- The Other Side of Truth
HarperTrophy, 2003., RL 5.8, 252p
Smuggled out of Nigeria after their mother's murder, Sade and her younger brother are abandoned in
London when their uncle fails to meet them at the airport and they are fearful of their new
surroundings and of what may have happened to their journalist father back in Nigeria.
710L
Trueman, Terry -- Inside Out
HarperTempest, 2003., 117p
A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by
two other teens who eventually hold him hostage.
710L
Avi, 1937- -- The Seer of Shadows
Harper, 2009, c2008., RL 6.1, 202p
Photographer Horace Carpetine is commissioned to do a portrait for society matron Mrs. Frederick
Von Macht; however, the photos evoke both the image and the ghost of the Von Macht's dead
daughter, Eleanora, who has returned to seek vengeance on those who killed her.
720L
D'Adamo, Francesco -- Iqbal
Aladdin Paperbacks, 2005, c2003., RL 5.5, 120p
A fictionalized account of the Pakistani child who escaped from bondage in a carpet factory and went
on to help liberate other ch dren like him before being gunned down at the age of thirteen.
730L
Gruen, Sara -- Water for Elephants
Algonquin Books, 2007, c2006., 350p
Ninety-year-old Jacob Jankowski finds himself haunted by memories of his past in the circus and the
freaks, exotic animals, and other people he encountered as a performer.
730L
Ness, Patrick, 1971- -- A Monster Calls
Candlewick Press, 2011., 204p
Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not
the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient, wild
creature that wants him to face truth and loss.
730L
Kerr, M. E -- Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!
HarperTempest, 2007, c1972., RL 5, 215p
Many things change in a teenage boy's life when he meets the overweight girl who answers his
advertisement for the cat he must give away.
740L
Riordan, Rick -- The Lightning Thief
Miramax Books/Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, 2006, c2005., RL 4.9, 377p
Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his
mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is
befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the
740L
Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.
Benway, Robin -- Audrey, Wait!
Razorb l, c2008., 313p
Audrey Cuttler's life is turned upside down when her ex-boyfriend's song about their break up hits
the top of the charts, making Audrey a prime target for the paparazzi, who are documenting her every
move, hoping to catch her messing up, and causing her nothing but misery.
760L
Fleischman, Paul -- Whirligig
Square Fish, 2010, c1998., 133p
While traveling to each corner of the country to build a whirligig in memory of the girl whose death he
caused, sixteen-year-old Brian finds forgiveness and atonement.
760L
Fletcher, Susan, 1951- -- Alphabet of Dreams
Simon Pulse, 2008, c2006., 417p
Exiled from their home country because of their father's plot against King Phraates, fourteen-year-old
Mitra and five-year-old Babak, who are of royal descent, live as beggars until it is discovered that the
boy can tell the future through his dreams, and the magus Melchoir and two other Zoroastrian priests
take the children with them to Bethlehem to witness the coming of a new king.
760L
Paulsen, Gary -- Notes from the Dog
Wendy Lamb Books, c2009., RL 5.1, 133p
When Johanna shows up at the beginning of summer to house-sit next door to Finn, he has no idea of
the profound effect she will have on his life by the time summer vacation is over.
760L
Barry, Dave -- Peter and the Starcatchers
Hyperion Books for Children, 2006, c2004., RL 5.6, 451p
Peter, an orphan boy, and his friend Molly fight off thieves and pirates in order to keep the secret safe
away from the diabolical Black Stache and his evil associate Mister Grin.
770L
Moses, Shelia P – Joseph
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010, c2008., 174p
Fourteen-year-old Joseph tries to avoid trouble and keep in touch with his father, who is serving in
Iraq, as he and his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother move from one homeless shelter to another.
770L
Duncan, Lois, 1934- -- Stranger with My Face
Little, Brown, 2011, c1981., 287p
A seventeen-year-old senses she is being spied on and probably impersonated, but when she discovers
what actually is occurring, it is more unbelievable than she ever imagined.
780L
Mazer, Norma Fox, 1931- -- The Missing Girl
HarperTeen, 2010, c2008., 284p
In Mallory, New York, as five sisters, aged eleven to seventeen, deal with assorted problems, conflicts,
fears, and yearnings, a mysterious middle-aged man watches them, fascinated, deciding which one he
likes the best.
780L
Olson, Gretchen -- Call Me Hope
Little, Brown and Co. Books for Young Readers, 2008, c2007., RL 4.8, 272p
In Oregon, eleven-year-old Hope begins coping with her mother's verbal abuse by devising survival
strategies for herself based on a history unit about the Holocaust, and meanwhile she works toward
buying a pair of purple hiking boots by helping at a second-hand shop.
780L
Johnson, Angela, 1961- -- The First Part Last
Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2010, c2003., 131p
Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored
baby daughter.
790L
Kingsolver, Barbara -- Animal Dreams
HarperPerennial, 1991., 342p
Codi returns to her hometown to confront her past and face her ailing father. What she finds is a town
threatened by an environmental catastrophe and a man who could change her life.
790L
Mackler, Carolyn -- The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Candlewick Press, 2012, c2003., 244p
Feeling like she does not fit in with the other members of her family, who are all thin, brilliant, and
good-looking, fifteen-year-old Virginia tries to deal with her self-image, her first physical relationship,
790L
and her disillusionment with some of the people closest to her.
Greene, Bette, 1934- -- Summer of My German Soldier
CSCW ELS
N
Puffin Books, 1999, c1973., RL 7.4, 230p
When German prisoners of war are brought to her Arkansas town during World War II, twelve-year-old
Patty, a Jewish girl, befriends one of them and must deal with the consequences of that friendship.
800L
Korman, Gordon -- Jake, Reinvented
Hyperion Paperbacks, 2005, c2003., 213p
Rick becomes friends with the popular new boy, Jake Garrett, football player and host of superlative
parties, and in the process discovers the true nature of his schoolmates and uncovers the mystery of
Jake's past.
800L
Vanderpool, Clare -- Moon over Manifest
Yearling, 2011, c2010., RL 5.3, 351p
Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to
stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some
things about his past.
800L
Whelan, Gloria -- Homeless Bird
HarperTrophy, 2001, c2000., RL 4.1, 186p
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a
destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it.
800L
Collins, Suzanne -- The Hunger Games
Scholastic, 2009, c2008., 374p
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen accidentally becomes a contender in the annual Hunger Games, a
grave competition hosted by the Capitol where young boys and girls are pitted against one another in
a televised fight to the death.
810L
Hiaasen, Carl – Scat
Knopf, c2009., RL 5.5, 371p
Nick and Marta are both suspicious when their biology teacher, the feared Mrs. Bunny Starch,
disappears, and try to uncover the truth despite the police and headmaster's insistence that nothing is
wrong.
810L
Soto, Gary -- The Afterlife
Harcourt, 2005, c2003., 161p
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.
810L
McCormick, Patricia, 1956- -- Sold
Hyperion Books, 2008, c2006., 263p
A novel in vignettes, in which Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl from Nepal, is sold into prostitution in
India.
820L
McDonald, Joyce -- Swallowing Stones
Ember, 2012, c1997., 245p
Dual perspectives reveal the aftermath of seventeen-year-old Michael MacKenzie's birthday
celebration during which he discharges an antique Winchester rifle and unknowingly kills the father
of high school classmate Jenna Ward.
820L
Spinelli, Jerry -- Maniac Magee
Little, Brown, c1990., RL 5, 184p
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and
other feats which awe his contemporaries.
820L
Wolff, Virginia Euwer -- True Believer
Simon Pulse, 2002, c2001., RL 6.4, 264p
Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new
friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.
820L
Forman, Gayle -- If I Stay
Speak, 2010, c2009., 259p
While in a coma following an automobile accident that k led her parents and younger brother,
seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her family in
830L
death.
Hosseini, Khaled -- A Thousand Splendid Suns
Riverhead Books, 2008, c2007., 420p
Afghan women Mariam and La a grow close, despite their nearly twenty-year age difference and initial
rivalry, as they suffer at the hands of a common enemy--their abusive, much-older husband, Rasheed.
830L
Jaffe, Michele -- Bad Kitty
HarperTeen, 2007, c2006., 268p
While vacationing with her family in Las Vegas, seventeen-year-old Jasmine stumbles upon a murder
mystery that she attempts to solve with the help of her friends, recently arrived from California.
830L
Kelly, Jacqueline -- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Square Fish/Henry Holt, 2011, c2009., RL 5.3, 340p
In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother,
learns about love from the older three of her six brothers, and studies the natural world with her
grandfather, the latter of which leads to an important discovery.
830L
Martel, Yann -- Life of Pi
Harcourt, 2003, c2001., 326p
Pi Patel, having spent an idyllic childhood in Pondicherry, India, as the son of a zookeeper, sets off
with his family at the age of sixteen to start anew in Canada, but his life takes a marvelous turn when
their ship sinks in the Pacific, leaving him adrift on a raft with a 450-pound Bengal tiger for company.
830L
Priest, Cherie – Boneshaker
Tor, c2009., 416p
Sixteen years after inventor Leviticus Blue was commissioned by Russian prospectors to design a drill
powerful enough to break through Alaska's ice--which destroyed a section of downtown Seattle and
unearthed a toxic gas that turned people into zombies--Blue's teenage son Ezekiel will need his
mother's help to survive when he sneaks under the wall that keeps the undead confined within the
city on a secret quest to rewrite history.
840L
Bauer, Joan, 1951- -- Rules of the Road
Speak, 2005, c1998., 201p
Sixteen-year-old Jenna gets a job driving the elderly owner of a chain of successful shoe stores from
Chicago to Texas to confront the son who is trying to force her to retire, and along the way Jenna
hones her talents as a saleswoman and finds the strength to face her alcoholic father.
850L
Paton, Alan -- Cry, the Beloved Country
Scribner, 2003, c1948., 316p
Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo travels to Johannesburg on an errand for a friend and to visit his son,
Absalom, only to learn Absalom has been accused of murdering white city engineer and social activist
Arthur Jarvis and stands very little chance of receiving mercy.
860L
Weeks, Sarah -- So B. It
HarperTrophy, 2005, c2004., RL 5.2, 245p
After spending her life with her mentally disabled mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old
Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.
860L
Crowe, Chris -- Mississippi Trial, 1955
Speak, 2003., RL 5.5, 231p
In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues
surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African-American from Chicago.
870L
Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963 -- Brave New World
Harper Perennial, 2006, c1932., 259p
A satirical novel about the utopia of the future, a world in which babies are decanted from bottles and
the great Ford is worshipped.
870L
Wooding, Chris, 1977- -- Poison
Scholastic, 2006, c2003., 273p
When Poison leaves her home in the marshes of Gull to retrieve the infant sister who was snatched by
the fairies, she and a group of unusual friends survive encounters with the inhabitants of various
Realms, and Poison herself confronts a surprising destiny.
870L
Jimenez, Francisco, 1943- -- The Circuit
880L
University of New Mexico Press, c1997., RL 5.2, 134p
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.
Rowling, J. K -- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2003, c1997., RL 5.3, 309p
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves
his worth wh e attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
880L
Bradbury, Ray, 1920- -- Fahrenheit 451
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012, c1951., 159p
A book burning official in a future fascist state finds out that books are a vital part of a culture he
never knew, and he decides to pursue reading, until he is betrayed.
890L
Nix, Garth – Abhorsen
Eos, 2004, c2003., RL 6.6, 518p
Lirael, the young Second Assistant Librarian of the Clayr, is abruptly transformed into the Abhorsenin-Waiting--a future guardian of the border between life and death--and immediately finds the fate of
all life in her hands.
890L
Sebold, Alice -- The Lovely Bones
Back Bay Books, 2004, c2002., 328p
Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon, the victim of a sexual assault and murder, looks on from the afterlife
as her family deals with their grief, and waits for her killer to be brought to some type of justice.
890L
Wolff, Virginia Euwer -- Make Lemonade
Holt, 2006, c1993., RL 5.1, 200p
Fourteen-year-old LaVaughn, trying to earn the money for college, takes a job caring for the two
children of Jolly, a single teenage mom, and must find the courage to make the right decision for all
of them after Jolly is fired.
890L
Cooper, Susan, 1935- -- Silver on the Tree
Aladdin Paperbacks, 2000, c1977., RL 6, 274p
In this conclusion of the "Dark Is Rising" sequence, Will Stanton, the Welsh boy Bran, and the Drew
children try to locate the crystal sword that alone can vanquish the strong forces of the Dark.
900L
Crane, Stephen, 1871-1900 -- The Red Badge of Courage
Bantam Books, 1983., 138p
During his service in the Civil War, a young Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of
mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.
900L
Doctorow, Cory -- Little Brother
Tor Teen, c2012.
After being 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, released into what is now a
police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.
900L
Brin, David -- Startide Rising
Bantam, 1983., 462p
The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed on the uncharted water-world of Kithrup with a
secret discovery aboard. Her human and dolphin crew battle to save her.
910L
Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929- -- The Farthest Shore
Simon Pulse, 2001, c1972., RL 6.1, 259p
A young prince joins forces with a master wizard on a journey to discover a cause and remedy for the
loss of magic in Earthsea.
920L
Morrison, Toni -- The Bluest Eye
Vintage International, 2007, c1970., 205p
An eleven-year-old African-American girl in Ohio, in the early 1940s, prays for her eyes to turn blue so
that she will be beautiful.
920L
Park, Linda Sue -- A Single Shard
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, c2001., RL 6.7, 152p
Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge near a potters' village, and
longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.
920L
Tan, Amy -- The Joy Luck Club
Penguin Books, 2006, c1989., 288p
The personal, often painful, histories of four Chinese American women who began meeting in San
Francisco in 1949 to play mah jong are revealed as the daughter of one who has died searches for her
sisters in China to tell them about the mother they never knew.
930L
Wolff, Virginia Euwer -- Bat 6
Scholastic Signature, 1999, c1998., RL 4.8, 230p
In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one 6th grade girls recount the story of an annual
softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface.
930L
Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
HarperTrophy, 2002, c1950., RL 5.7, 206p
Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of
Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land
with eternal winter.
940L
Zindel, Paul -- The Pigman
HarperTrophy, 2005., RL 5.9, 166p
Two high school sophomores from unhappy homes form a close friendship with a lonely old man who
has a terrible secret.
950L
Gordimer, Nadine -- July's People
Penguin Books, 1982, c1981., 159p
When war break out in South Africa, a fugitive white family takes refuge with their black servant, July.
970L
Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929- -- The Left Hand of Darkness
Ace Books, 1969., 304p
An official from an interplanetary federation is called in to arbitrate peace on a planet whose
inhabitants are technically advanced, androgynous, and have telepathic powers.
970L
Thomas, Rob -- Rats Saw God
Simon Pulse, 2007, c1996., RL 7, 202p
In hopes of graduating, Steve York agrees to complete a hundred-page writing assignment which helps
him to sort out his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events that changed him
from promising student to troubled teen.
970L
Dorris, Michael -- A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Picador/Henry Holt and Co., c1987., 372p
A saga of three generations of Indian women, beset by hardship and torn by angry secrets, yet joined
by the indissoluble bonds of kinship.
980L
Hijuelos, Oscar -- Dark Dude
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009, c2008., 439p
In the 1960s, Rico Fuentes, a pale-skinned Cuban American teenager, abandons drug-infested New
York City for the picket fence and apple pie world of Wisconsin, only to discover that he st l feels like
an outsider and that violent and judgmental people can be found even in the wholesome Midwest.
980L
Curtis, Christopher Paul -- Bucking the Sarge
Laurel-Leaf Books, 2006, c2004., RL 5.5, 259p
Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan,
fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For
Men, all the wh e dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.
1000L
Philbrick, W. R. (W. Rodman) -- Freak the Mighty
Scholastic Signature, 2001, c1993., RL 6.3, 169p
At the beginning of eighth grade, Max, who has a learning disability, and his new friend Freak, whose
birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they
make a powerful team.
1000L
Reeve, Philip -- Fever Crumb
Scholastic, 2011, c2009., 325p
Foundling Fever Crumb has been raised as an engineer although females in the future London,
England, are not believed capable of rational thought, but at age fourteen she leaves her sheltered
world and begins to learn startling truths about her past wh e facing danger in the present.
1000L
Schmidt, Gary D -- Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Laurel-Leaf, 2004., RL 5.9, 219p
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he
meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves
that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.
1000L
Staples, Suzanne Fisher -- Under the Persimmon Tree
Square Fish/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008, c2005., 275p
A young Afghan girl, Najmah, befriends an American woman, Nusrat in Peshawar, Pakistan, after
Najmah flees her native Afghanistan during the 2001 war; and together they begin a long journey to
locate their missing loved ones after the war ends.
1010L
Agee, James, 1909-1955 -- A Death in the Family
Penguin Books, 2008, c1985., 310p
The story of a family for the first few days after the accidental death of the thirty-five-year-old
husband and father.
1020L
Esquivel, Laura, 1950- -- Like Water for Chocolate
Anchor Books, 1995., 245p
A combination fairy tale, melodrama, romance, Mexican cookbook, and home remedy handbook, this
is a story of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico.
1030L
Barnes, John, 1957- -- Tales of the Madman Underground
Speak, 2011, c2009., 532p
Karl Shoemaker, starting his senior year in Lightsburg, Ohio, in 1973, vows to break out of the therapy
group he has been forced to attend during school hours and become "normal."
1040L
Clarke, Arthur C. (Arthur Charles), 1917-2008 -- 2001 : A Space Odyssey
ROC, 2000, c1968., 296p
The spacecraft Discovery journeys to the outer edge of the solar system, and two navigators become
uneasy when Hal, the craft's talking computer system, demonstrates unusual behavior.
1060L
Flake, Sharon -- Begging for Change
Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, 2007, c2004., RL 4.2, 248p
Raspberry steals money from a friend in order to get her mother out of a tough situation, and must
now face the consequenes and the fear of going down the same path as her drug-addicted father.
1060L
Guterson, David -- Snow Falling on Cedars
Vintage Books, 1995., 460p
When a newspaper journalist covers the trial of a Japanese American accused of murder, he must
come to terms with his own past.
1080L
Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 -- The Hound of the Baskervilles
Signet Classic, 2001., RL 6.2, 250p
Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate the tale of a hound that haunts the lonely moors around the
Baskervilles' ancestral home.
1090L
Kesey, Ken -- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Signet, 1963, c1962., 272p
The struggle for power between a head nurse and a male patient in a mental institution leads to a
climax of hate, violence, and death.
1110L
Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929- -- A Wizard of Earthsea
Bantam, 1984, c1968., RL 6.6, 183p
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an
apprentice to the master wizard.
1150L
London, Jack, 1876-1916 -- The Call of the Wild
Tor, 1990., RL 6, 114p
Jack London's classic tale tracing Buck's entry into the w d and survival among the wolves.
1170L
Haddon, Mark -- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Vintage Contemporaries, 2004, c2003., 226p
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted,
autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers
secret information about his mother.
1180L
Quinn, Daniel – Ishmael
Bantam/Turner Book, 1995., 263p
Records the philosophical conversations that take place between a man and a gorilla named Ishmael
after the man answers an advertisement for a pupil with a desire to save the world.
Ruff, Matt -- Bad Monkeys
Harper Perennial, 2008, c2007., 230p
Jane Charlotte, arrested for murder, is referred to a psychiatrist who tries to figure out what is really
going on after Jane explains that as a member of a secret group devoted to fighting evil, she is
responsible for getting rid of irredeemable persons--otherwise known as "Bad Monkeys."
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos, 1964- -- The Shadow of the Wind
Penguin, 2005, c2004., 486p
In 1945 Spain, the young son of an antique-book dealer searches for more books by Julian Carax, an
author he has recently discovered, and finds that everything Carax has ever written has been
destroyed--and that his search has put his friends and family in danger.
Trumill, Robert -- The Raft
Naval Institute Press, c1992., 213p
Reprint of a 1942 text which tells the story of three U.S. Naval Airmen who became lost while on
antisubmarine patrol during World War II, and were forced to ditch their plane, leaving them stranded
in the middle of the Pacific on a small inflatable raft where they survived for over a month before
arriving on Puka Puka, 423 miles from their ditching point.
Vizzini, Ned, 1981- -- Be More Chill
Hyperion Paperbacks, 2005, c2004., 287p
Badly in need of self-confidence and a change of image, high school nerd Jeremy Heere swallows a
pill-sized super computer that is supposed to help him get whatever he wants.
Wittlinger, Ellen -- Heart on My Sleeve
Simon Pulse, 2006, c2004., 219p
From the end of high school to the beginning of college, Chloe and Julian deal with major changes in
their families and friendships and explore their feelings for each other through emails, letters, and a
visit.