Literature Circles
Novel Choices
English 2
The Bean Trees
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Barbara Kingsolver
Fiction
Lexile- 900
Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky
with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when
she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she
meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in
Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a
three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must
somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity
for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship,
abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising
resources in apparently empty places.
• Average Customer Review on Amazon: 4 out of 5 stars
Hole in My Life
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Jack Gantos
Nonfiction
Lexile- 846
In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring young
writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and
a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he
recklessly agreed to help sail a boat loaded with hashish
from the Virgin Islands to New York City. But federal
agents were waiting. Gantos was caught and, for his part
in the conspiracy, sentenced to serve up to six years in
prison.
• Average Customer Review on Amazon: 4½ out of 5 stars
The House on Mango Street
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Sandra Cisneros
Fiction
Lexile- 870
A series of vignettes, rather than a structured novel, House on
Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros's semi-autobiographical account of
growing up Chicana in a poor area of Chicago. Esperanza Cordero, at
age eleven, has already discovered that being able to communicate
in English is a key to worldly success, and she has begun recording
stories of her neighborhood, friends, and everyday life, hoping one
day to become a writer. Recreating one year of her life, she vividly
depicts the children's fierce loyalties to each other, their alienation
from mainstream society, and their goals in life, sadly limited by the
culture and its low expectations for girls and women.
• Average Customer Review on Amazon: 3½ out of 5 stars
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Runner
Carl Deuker
Fiction
Lexile- 670
When his alcoholic Gulf War veteran father is fired from the first steady job he
has held in years, Chance Taylor is understandably glum. He has no idea where
they'll get the money to pay the moorage fees for the run-down sailboat they
call home. Since his parents' divorce, Chance has tried to keep a low profile in
school, and his only pleasure is running by himself along the Seattle
waterfront. When a marina office employee offers to pay him $250 a week to
pick up occasional packages at a tree along his running route, Chance is
deeply suspicious of what they may contain but desperate enough to accept
this opportunity to pay the bills. As this new job gradually becomes more
dangerous and more clearly illegal, Chance's father is able to rise above his
personal problems to help extricate his son. In a gripping climax complete
with SWAT teams swarming throughout the marina as Coast Guard patrol
boats close in on terrorists, Chance is afforded a final glimpse of the heroic
man his father once was.
• Average Customer Review on Amazon: 4½ out of 5 stars
Tuesdays with Morrie
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Mitch Albom
Nonfiction
Lexile- 830
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient
and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you
see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make
your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his
college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track
of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world
seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger
questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you
once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He
rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was
dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to
back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class”: lessons
in how to live.
Average Customer Review on Amazon: 4½ out of 5 stars
Adrift
•Steven Callahan
•Nonfiction
•Lexile- 990
•Before The Perfect Storm, before In the
Heart of the Sea, Steven Callahan’s dramatic
tale of survival at sea was on the New York
Times bestseller list for more than thirty-six
weeks. In some ways the model for the new
wave of adventure books, Adrift is an
undeniable seafaring classic, a riveting
firsthand account by the only man known to
have survived more than a month alone at
sea, fighting for his life in an inflatable raft
after his small sloop capsized only six days
out. “Utterly absorbing” (Newsweek), Adrift
is a must-have for any adventure library.
Into the Wild
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Author: Jon Krakauer
Nonfiction
Lexile- 1270
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family
hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness
north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson
McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity,
abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all
the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself.
Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a
moose hunter....
• Average Customer Review on Amazon: 4 out of 5 stars