Hopkins Summer Reading 2021
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Hopkins guide to Summer Reading 2021
A Greeting from the Committee Contents
Welcome to the 2021 Guidelines 2
A Word About Content 2
Summer Reading Guide! Required Books 4
List for Grades Seven and Eight
In this publication, you will find reading recommendations General Fiction 5
that range across genre, identity, era and region, put Historical Fiction 9
together by your peers, your teachers, and your librarians. Nonfiction 10
If you are looking for Victorian romance, modernist poetry, Plays + Poetry 12
cultural critique, or hard sci-fi, you are in the right place. Mystery 13
If you are hankering for a play or a novella or a graphic Science Fiction + Fantasy 14
novel, welcome. If you do not know what you are looking
for yet, that’s even better. List for Grades Nine through Twelve
General Fiction 19
The Summer Reading Committee has been working all Historical Fiction 33
year to bring you an intuitive, streamlined publication that Nonfiction 39
will introduce you to new authors, new ideas and new Philosophy 51
texts. We have trimmed and edited, opened up space on Plays + Poetry 53
our metaphorical shelf, and added new titles that we feel Autobiographies + Memoirs 60
appeal to the adventurous, modern and diverse interests Mystery 65
of Hopkins School. Science Fiction + Fantasy 68
Short Stories + Essays 73
On the inside cover, you’ll find a bookmark. Think of this as
a summer companion designed to keep your place in your
current read, as well as help you discover other titles of
interest. It has suggestions which will inspire you to explore
the Guide more broadly, and it will travel with you into your
new school year as a reminder of the books you’ve enjoyed
over the break.
We are so excited to share the Guide with you. We know
you will find great things to read this summer, and we
are looking forward to the fall, when we can come together
again and discuss all the places we travelled from the
comfort of our reading chairs.
Happy Reading!
Sincerely,
the summer reading committee
Students Maisie Bilston ‘22, Alima Conde ‘25,
Andrew Cotaj ‘22, Leela DeSilva ‘22, Aaron Gruen ‘21,
Ava Hamblett ‘22, Ramey Harper-Mangels ‘21,
Amelie Khiar ‘22, Finnbar Kiely ‘22, Abigail Kruger ‘23,
Alexandra Mathews ‘22, Caroline McCarthy ‘22,
Sebastian Merce ‘22, Kainda Nzinga ‘25, Isabel Pizarro ‘24,
Eesha Rao ‘22, Prairie Resch ‘21, Lucy Reymond ‘26,
Christopher Ruano ‘22, Sofia Schaffer ‘23, Lauren Sklarz ‘22,
Nati Tesfaye ‘22, Cora Turk-Thomas ‘26, Kaelin Vasseur ‘25
Faculty Advisers Catherine Casanova, Brad Czepiel,
Leah Fry, Gabriela Gerstenfeld, Alexandra Kelly,
Jennifer Nicolelli, Thom PetersGuidelines solely for academic purposes. Any use of the word out-
side of these parameters will be treated as Very Serious
Your years at Hopkins and the years that follow are your best Misconduct as outlined in the Hopkins Student Handbook
for reading; for becoming a good reader; for becoming a habit- and, therefore, subject to disciplinary consequences which
ual reader; for reading both to enjoy and to learn from books. may include expulsion.
The Summer Reading Guide should start, not finish, your quest
for intellectually engaging and pleasurable reading. There are texts in the Guide that include usage of the “n-word.”
Regardless of an author’s identity or purpose for using the
Each grade is assigned one required book for English class. word, reading the word has the potential to cause harm. We
Since the required book will be discussed during opening encourage parents and guardians to engage in conversations
English classes in September, it should be read toward the end with their children about their reading choices and to even
of the summer. As usual, students will be expected to write read along with them. Researching a title before engaging with
on the required book, and to either write on or discuss the the text may be appropriate for some readers. If a parent or
other three texts they choose when they return in the fall. In student needs additional support in regards to encountering
addition, many History courses have a required reading book. specifically triggering content, please contact Head of the
Be sure to check out the list to see if your History course is one Summer Reading Guide Committee Jenny Nicolelli, English
of them. Department Chair Joe Addison, and Director of Equity and
Community Becky Harper.
A Word About Content Please adhere to the following requirements:
Titles in the Hopkins Summer Reading Guide do not include ~~ Students must read the required books for their grades
explicit content warnings. However, there are books in the and three other previously unread books from the appro-
Guide that feature emotionally and intellectually challenging priate lists. Required reading for History courses does not
content, such as: ableism, abuse, alcoholism, drugs, eating dis- count toward these three additional titles.
orders, homophobia, racism, sexual violence, suicide, violence,
and xenophobia. Additionally, the Hopkins School policy on ~~ The list represents authors and offers short descriptions of
the “n-word” is as follows: specific works to entice students. Students may read any
book by an author on the appropriate list, except in the
Hopkins School represents a diversity of lived experiences, case of the required books.
backgrounds, and identities. In order to maintain a sup-
~~ Students entering grades 7–8 may read authors from the
portive, affirming, and safe environment for all and respond
list for students entering grades 7–8, as well as authors
to the necessity for anti-racist practices, we, as the Hopkins
Community ban the use of the “n-word” (used here as a
from the list for students entering grades 9–12. Students
stand-in for the racial slur) among our community members entering grades 9–12 will only receive credit for authors on
and on our campus, including online and on social media. the latter list.
The history and legacy of this racial epithet continue to Use these additional criteria to help guide your selections:
communicate hate, incite violence, and cause harm in our
~~ Many History courses have a required book. Consult the
world. Hopkins bans its use, in all contexts in which the
list below to see if you need to read a required book for
word might be spoken or written, whether in a classroom
setting or otherwise, including the listening to and singing the History course you are signed up to take next year.
along to music; in conversation, whether academic or Reading for History courses is additional to the four
socially; and otherwise, on and beyond Hopkins’ campus. books required for English classes.
~~ Students taking Atlantic Communities II or Atlantic
However, to avoid overlooking or erasing the word’s
Communities III in Hopkins Summer School are not
prevalence in history and culture, Hopkins still allows for
teaching texts and materials that contain the “n-word.”
required to do the summer reading normally required for
Hopkins demands its community members approach the those courses.
appearance of this word in classroom contexts with critical ~~ For advanced Classics or Modern Language students, a
care and serious consideration. challenge would be to read a book in its original language,
rather than an English translation.
To be clear, as a school, we ban any use of the word from
members of our Hopkins Community. We restrict the
appearance of the “n-word” to reading and listening, and
2 37–8
Required Books List for Grades Seven and Eight
Students entering grades 7–8 may read authors from this
required reading for english and from the list for students entering grades 9–12. general
fiction
GRADE 7
A Crack in the Sea by H.M. Bouwman general fiction
GRADE 8 Alexie, Sherman
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s
GRADE 9 Literature. A decision to leave the Spokane Indian Reservation
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline to attend the local white high school alters Junior’s life in many
ways. His experience is both hilarious and heartbreaking.
G R A D E 10
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri Barrie, James M.
Peter Pan
G R A D E 11 Peter Pan and Wendy fly to Neverland—but fall into the
On Writing by Stephen King clutches of the infamous Captain Hook.
Cameron, Bruce
G R A D E 12
A Dog’s Purpose
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
This touching book chronicles a dog’s journey through
several lives via reincarnation, and how he looks for his purpose
through each life.
required reading for history
Cisneros, Sandra
AT L A N T I C C O M M U N I T I E S I I The House on Mango Street
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton This poignant album of memories follows a Mexican-American
girl who, in the midst of poverty, struggles for education and
AT L A N T I C C O M M U N I T I E S I I I self-esteem in the Hispanic section of Chicago.
Hiroshima by John Hersey
Dickens, Charles
AP® EUROPEAN HISTORY David Copperfield
The Great Mortality by John Kelly The story of David Copperfield’s growth from an innocent,
naive, and easily exploited child to a prudent, commanding,
AP® US HISTORY and loving adult.
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
Enzensberger, Hans Magnus
PHILOSOPHY The Number Devil
Choose one text from the Philosophy section of the Guide. In a series of dreams, Enzensberger brings together the surreal
logic of Alice in Wonderland and the existential geometry of
Flatland with the kind of math everyone would love, if only
they had a number devil to teach it to them.
Gardner, Sally
Maggot Moon
Set during the 1950s in an alternate timeline where England is
under a totalitarian regime, Maggot Moon starts off as a novel
that seems to follow a dyslexic boy’s struggle in school—until it
slowly reveals its darker, overarching themes.
Greene, John
Looking For Alaska
Focused on high school juniors at a Georgia boarding school,
Greene’s novel is for today what Catcher in the Rye and
A Separate Peace were for their times. An honest chronicle of
how convoluted and confusing growing up has become.
4 57–8 7–8
Haddon, Mark Oliver, Lauren
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Before I Fall
general This book is the touching story of Christopher John Francis A compelling, emotional, and beautiful novel about what it general
fiction Boone, a boy with autism who has a unique perception of means to live and die. Mia dies in a tragic accident, yet has the fiction
his world. When a neighbor’s dog is murdered in the middle unique opportunity to relive her death and change the past.
of the night, it leads to an interesting, and at times hilarious, What if you could get a second chance at life?
series of events.
Palacio, R.J.
Juster, Norton Wonder
The Phantom Tollbooth August Pullman is a boy who has been homeschooled for his
Milo, restless and discontented, travels to the Lands Beyond entire life due to facial disfigurement. Wonder tells the story of
with the aid of a mysterious tollbooth. August’s difficult, but successful, first year in school.
Kincaid, Jamaica Paterson, Katherine
Annie John Jacob Have I Loved
The story of a charming, sensitive and talented young girl is A nostalgic and beautifully-written story that follows Louise
rendered in prose as lushly beautiful as the Caribbean setting in Bradshaw as she grows up during World War II on a small
which she grows up. Chesapeake island. Throughout her childhood, she struggles to
find her own identity while living in the shadow of her popular,
King, A.S. talented twin sister. As Louise reaches adulthood, however, the
Ask the Passengers previously unchanging world around her evolves into one in
Astrid Jones is a high school senior who, at age 10, moved from which she thrives.
the Upper Westside of Manhattan to Unity Falls, Pennsylvania,
where she becomes frustrated with her life and the hypocrisy of Power, Rory
small-town society. Wilder Girls
Quarantined on a remote island school, Hetty and her friends
Lockhart, E. are the victims of a vicious disease called the Tox. Hetty follows
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks the rule and stays within the confines of the school’s fence,
Lockhart’s book is a delightful exposé of private schools, waiting for the outside world to provide a cure, that is, until
privileged social castes, and the weird relationships between Byatt goes missing.
best friends and their respective romantic partners.
Reilly, Matthew
London, Jack Ice Station
Call of the Wild A team of U.S. divers vanish under the Antarctic ice shelf
Set in Alaska in the late 1800s, this novel chronicles the after making an unexpected discovery. The Marines sent to the
adventures of Buck, a powerful tide-water dog, and his abusive station are soon plunged into a desperate fight for survival.
owners. Man and brute rage contend in harsh surroundings.
Rosoff, Meg
Lundin, Britta How I Live Now
Ship It A spirited and candid story of war, love, hunger, and the
When Claire’s favorite TV show, Demon Heart, goes on tour absence of adult supervision, told by an outspoken teenage girl
to the Idaho Comic-Con, she has the opportunity to ask about living with her English cousins.
her ship, Smoke Heart. When her hopes are viciously crushed
by Forest, the actor who plays Smokey, Claire is invited to Ryan, Pat Muñoz
go on tour with the Demon Heart cast and crew. Can she Becoming Naomi Leon
convince the steadfast director to make SmokeHeart canon? Naomi discovers her heritage and her identity when her absent
And what’s the deal with Tess, the amazing fanartist she keeps mother reappears.
running into?
Saenz, Benjamin Alire
Merrill, Jean Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets
The Pushcart War of the Universe
The pushcart peddlers organize to keep the trucks from Set in El Paso, Texas in 1987, the novel follows two
replacing them in an uproarious battle in the streets of Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza and
New York. Dante Quintana, their friendship, and their struggles with
racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships.
Montgomery, Lucy
Anne Of Green Gables
A story of an imaginative orphan and her life on a farm with an
old-fashioned woman and her brother.
6 77–8 7–8
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de historical fiction
The Little Prince
general The beautiful and philosophical story of a pilot stranded in the Buck, Pearl S.
fiction Sahara desert and the young Prince he meets there. The Good Earth
The moving story of a poor peasant-farmer, Wang Lung and
Smith, Betty
his selfless wife, O-Lan who live during the reign of the last historical
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
emperor. Through hard work and sacrifice, Wang manages to fiction
A heartwarming story of the struggles and adjustments of a acquire property and prosperity only to find that his sons don’t
poor Irish-American family, told by a particularly loving and share his veneration for the land.
astute daughter, Francie Nolan.
Cooper, Susan
Smith, Dodie King of Shadows
I Capture the Castle Nat Field is a twelve-year-old orphaned actor who travels with
A teenage girl who lives in a castle finds refuge from her his theater group to England’s new Globe Theatre. Little does
peculiar life by writing faithfully in her diary. Reminiscent of he know that he will wake one morning in Elizabethan En-
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. gland and work as William Shakespeare’s apprentice.
Spinelli, Jerry Crane, Stephen
Stargirl The Red Badge of Courage
Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at his high school: The cost of war is uppermost in this psychological story of a
don’t stand out. New student Stargirl does not follow this sensitive boy who slowly moves from timidity to great courage
rule. Somewhere between her arrival and when she starts to be through the course of the American Civil War.
shunned for her individuality, Leo realizes he is in love with her.
Elliot, Laura
Spyri, Johanna Under a War-Torn Sky
Heidi When Hank, a fifteen-year-old American pilot, is shot down
Orphaned Heidi lives with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps, behind enemy lines in France during World War II, he seeks
where she brings wealthy invalid Klara. the help of the French Resistance.
Stevenson, Noelle Kelly, Jacqueline
Nimona The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are Calpurnia Tate is a young girl from Texas at the turn of the
about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to 20th century who is facing adulthood reluctantly. Soon she
the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies discovers an interest in natural sciences which is nurtured by
at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’t the her intimidating grandfather while being encouraged to be
heroes everyone thinks they are. Nemeses! Dragons! Science! lady-like by her mother.
Symbolism!
Pratchett, Terry
Stevenson, Robert L. Dodger
Treasure Island Although he is now seventeen, Dodger is still a street urchin
A classic pirate tale with gore, rum and treasure enough for who lives in nineteenth-century London where he meets mad
everyone. Come aboard! barber Sweeney Todd, famous writer Charles Dickens, and even
Taylor, Mildred D. the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli. Pratchett blends
Let the Circle Be Unbroken history and fantasy with adventure and mystery.
Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during Schmidt, Gary D.
the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, The Wednesday Wars
but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need The story of a boy growing up in 1967 who is led into maturity
to survive. by his strict teacher, Ms. Baker, and his overbearing father.
Traven, B. Selznick, Brian
Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Three misfits search for gold in the wilds of Mexico as they face The story of a Parisian orphan, clock keeper and thief, who
the horrors of their own greed. lives within the walls of a busy Paris train station. His world
interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl, and a bitter old man.
8 97–8 7–8
Sepetys, Ruta Dahl, Roald
Between Shades of Gray Boy: Tales of Childhood
Lina Vilkas, along with her family, is abducted from her home The famous author of children’s stories writes of his own
in Lithuania by Soviet Officers. She must struggle to stay alive childhood, including tales of the prankster at an English
and protect her family through her perilous journey through boarding school and then as a taster in a chocolate factory.
historical concentration camps.
fiction
Hickam, Homer
Trease, Geoffrey October Sky
Cue for Treason Hickam’s memoir retells the story of an unlikely group of boys
non non
When Peter Brownrigg accidentally joins a troupe of actors led who prove that the sky really is the limit. Originally published fiction
fiction
by William Shakespeare, he is plunged into a world of mystery as Rocket Boys.
and suspense as he attempts to discover the truth about a plot
to kill the Queen of England. Herriot, James p l ay s +
All Creatures Great and Small p o e t ry
Weil, Silvie The enchanting memoir of a Scottish veterinarian and his
My Guardian Angel work in the Yorkshire countryside, where his encounters with
Elvina, granddaughter of the great rabbi Rashi, must decide if humans are just as fascinating as his encounters with animals.
she will save the life of a young, wounded Crusader.
Lord, Walter
Wein, Elizabeth A Night to Remember
Code Name Verity A fabulous historical account of the glamorous Titanic, doomed
After a spy plane crashes in Nazi Germany, one of the teen to sink on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
spies survives and has to choose between putting her mission in (There’s a sequel: The Night Lives On.)
jeopardy and being brutally killed.
Maxwell, Gavin
Wouk, Herman A Ring of Bright Water
The Caine Mutiny This delightful and enlightening book discovers the wild
Conflict aboard the destroyer-minesweeper U.S.S. Caine animals that roam the coast of Scotland, centering on the otters
during World War II reaches its climax during a typhoon as who live there.
Captain Queeg apparently goes mad.
Red Shirt, Delphine
Yolen, Jane Bead on an Anthill
The Devil’s Arithmetic Growing up without books on the Pine Ridge Reservation in
While celebrating a Passover seder in 1988, twelve-year-old Nebraska, Delphine Red Shirt depends on the teaching of her
Hannah finds herself transported to Poland in 1942. A haunting friends and family.
story of the Holocaust, this book forces the reader to confront
the atrocities of genocide. Small, David
Stitches
Zusak, Markus When he was fourteen years old, David Small underwent what
The Book Thief should have been a minor operation. Instead, Small woke up
Death narrates this unforgetable story of Liesel Meminger, to discover a vocal cord had been removed and he was virtually
a foster girl living outside of Munich during World War II mute, but he was not told he had cancer. Alongside the story
in Germany. On her way to her foster family, she steals her first of his dysfunctional and oppresive family, Small illustrates his
book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, even though she cannot yet horrific experiences and hopeful triumph.
read. With the help of her foster father, Liesel learns to read
and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing Thompson, Craig
raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. Blankets
Set amidst the beautiful, isolated depiction of a wintery
midwestern landscape, Thompson’s graphic memoir explores
nonfiction love and growing up in a fundamentalist Christian community.
Yousafzai, Malala
Bitton-Jackson, Livia I Am Malala
I Have Lived a Thousand Years: When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl
Growing Up in the Holocaust spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought
Thirteen-year-old Elli Friedmann’s memoir recalls her struggle for her right to an education. On Tuesday October 9, 2012,
to survive in Nazi-occupied Hungary. she almost paid the ultimate price.
10 117–8 7–8
p l ay s + poetry mystery
Alexander, Kwame Bradley, Alan
The Crossover The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
This story-in-verse follows two Black twin brothers who share (Flavia de Luce Series)
a love for basketball but find themselves drifting apart as they Flavia de Luce is a typical 11-year-old except for the fact that
head into their junior high school year. she is an amateur chemist who specializes in poison. In this
novel she uses her knowledge of crime to single-handedly solve
Eliot, T.S.
murders. This is the first book of the series.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
Light verse about a variety of felines from perhaps the twentieth Christie, Agatha
century’s greatest poet. This is the book upon which Cats the Murder on the Orient Express
p l ay s +
musical is based. Trapped on the train with the murderer in a blizzard, Hercule
p o e t ry
Poirot tries to solve the murder of Mr. Ratchett en route to
Gibson, William
England on the Orient Express.
The Miracle Worker m y s t e ry
An inspiring story of the young teacher Annie Sullivan, who Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan
brings the power of language to a deaf and mute child named The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Helen Keller. These stories feature the master plotting of England’s prize
mystery solver and his faithful sidekick, Watson.
Kaufman, George & Moss Hart
You Can’t Take It with You Hammet, Dashiell
Blissfully untainted by work, competition, or greed, a wonder- The Thin Man
ful, wacky family proves that life can be measured by enthusias- Nick Charles, one of fiction’s funniest detectives, makes his
tic endeavor rather than productivity. debut in this novel. (He is not, by the way, the thin man.)
Nash, Ogden Keene, Carolyn
Candy is Dandy: The Best of Ogden Nash Nancy Drew
One of America’s funniest poets: his nonsensical rhymes and Sixty-four books in all, this classic series transports readers to
puns make him enjoyable and interesting. A light, entertaining 1940s America, where eighteen-year-old Nancy Drew makes a
read. name for herself as a brilliant detective, challenging the gender
roles of the time. The series is just as empowering as the myster-
Nelson, Marilyn
ies are fascinating.
Carver: A Life in Poems
Nelson’s collection of poems offers readers a compelling, lyrical Milford, Kate
account of the life of the revered African-American botanist Greenglass House
and inventor. Greenglass house, a smuggler’s inn, is experiencing the arrival
of unexpected guests—each with a connection to the house.
Williams, Tennessee Objects go missing. The inkeeper’s son Milo and the cook’s
The Glass Menagerie daughter Meddy investigate.
A classic of modern drama about three confused family
members living in their own world of illusions. Raskin, Ellen
The Westing Game
Woodson, Jacqueline A wily “whodunnit” that features a motley cast of characters,
Brown Girl Dreaming all united by Samuel Westing’s puzzle prowess. A gripping read.
A story in verse, Woodson recounts her childhood experience
growing up in South Carolina and New York during the Civil Zusak, Markus
Rights Movement. I am the Messenger
When underage taxi driver Ed Kennedy becomes the recipient
of mysterious playing cards, he is thrust into missions,
sometimes quirky, other times deadly, but always revealing.
The question remains: who is sending the cards?
12 137–8 7–8
science fiction + fa n ta s y Bray, Libba
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Adams, Douglas When her mother dies mysteriously, Gemma Doyle is forced to
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy move to England to attend boarding school. While there, she
These are the very funny voyages of Arthur Dent as he travels in discovers a portal into a secret world and the covert society of
search of Zaphod Beeblebrox, ex-head honcho of the universe sorceresses that control it.
and the only person, it seems, who can save it from destruction.
Card, Orson Scott
Adams, Richard Ender’s Game Series
Watership Down A fast-moving and exciting work from one of the great names
A magical and suspenseful story of adventure, heroism, and in science fiction about a boy in training to lead Earth in an
friendship. A group of rabbits abandon their dying community electronic war against an alien threat.
and set off to establish a new life.
Carroll, Lewis
Alexander, Lloyd Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
The Chronicles of Prydain Series Two delightful tales about Alice’s adventures in the mad,
This series begins with the story of Taran, the Assistant Pig magical worlds, down the rabbit hole and through the looking
Keeper; Princess Eilonwy, the 370-year-old Dalben; and Lord glass, where words don’t mean what they say and things aren’t
sci-fi + Gwydion as they battle the dreaded Lord of Annuvin and his what they seem. sci-fi +
fa n ta s y host of undead. fa n ta s y
Charbonneau, Joelle
al-Shaykh, Hanan The Testing
One Thousand and One Nights In this dystopian novel, gifted teenagers are put through
A collection of Western and South Asian stories and folktales dangerous trials and tests to see if they are fit to become leaders
about ruler Shahryar and his wife, Scheherazade, all with of society.
different frames. These include the well-known “Aladdin’s
Clare, Cassandra
Wonderful Lamp,” “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” and
City of Bones
“The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.”
Clary Fray, a fifteen-year-old girl, is dragged into the world of
Bacigalupi, Paolo the supernatural after witnessing a murder in a local night club.
Ship Breaker
Colfer, Eoin
A post-apocalyptic story set on the Gulf Coast and at a
Artemis Fowl
fictional place called Orleans that divided the land into water-
A troubled adolescent genius abducts a fairy, leading to a
ways and different levels of destruction caused by greed
confrontation between multiple magical races.
and mismanagement.
Cooper, Susan
Barron, T.A.
The Dark is Rising
The Lost Years of Merlin
Will Stanton lives a normal life, until he discovers that he is the
T.A. Barron writes the story of Merlin’s childhood. A new look
Sign-Seeker. Last hope of the Old Ones, he is destined to guard
at a side of Merlin rarely seen.
the Signs of Light and battle the evil forces of the Dark.
Bracken, Alexandra
Croggon, Alison
The Darkest Minds
The Naming (The Pellinor Series)
After a plague inexplicably wipes out the child population of
Maerad, a slave in a harsh world, has a secret power that gives
America, only 2% are left—with strange mutations. They are
her the ability to destroy or save the world. She embarks on a
placed in concentration camps. To survive, Ruby must carve a
journey to combat an otherworldly power.
space for herself in a crumbling dystopian America.
Divakaruni, Chitra B.
Bradbury, Ray
The Conch Bearer
The Martian Chronicles
This is the story of two children who are entrusted with a magic
This loose collection of quirky stories discussing the human
conch shell and must embark on a mystical and dangerous
discovery of Martian civilization provides complex and satiric
journey to deliver the conch back to its rightful home.
social criticism in the form of science fiction.
DuPrau, Jeanne
The City of Ember
Two teens must race to find a way to save their community, an
underground city slowly decaying and running out of supplies
and electricity.
14 157–8 7–8
Flanagan, John Lowry, Lois
Ranger’s Apprentice The Giver
Flanagan’s series traces the growth of a ranger in a world that Lowry reels readers into a fictional society that, at first, appears
roughly parallels Eurasia and Africa. The set of friends and utopic. The series, four books in all, tells the captivating tale of
mentors stretch across many classes and bring to light the value interconnected and intriguing characters who, like most of the
of deep friendships and humor. quartet’s readers, are coming of age and questioning the world
around them.
Funke, Cornelia
The Thief Lord Maas, Sarah J.
In the magical underworld of Venice, Italy, runaway orphans Throne of Glass
Prosper and Bo fall under the protection of a mysterious Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan’s assassin, has been kept slave in
thirteen-year-old who calls himself the Thief Lord, who leads a the mines for a year, until she is released to serve as the Crown
group of criminal street children. Prince’s champion in the competition that will decide her
freedom. The first in an eight book series.
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere McMann, Lisa
Richard Mayhew, through one act of kindness, is exiled from The Unwanteds (Series)
London Above and must navigate the dark and dangerous In Quill, creativity is forbidden, and the artistic teenagers are
sci-fi + London Below. sentenced to death. However, on the day of their executions, sci-fi +
fa n ta s y the “Unwanted” teenagers discover a whole new world of fa n ta s y
Goldman, William magic...
The Princess Bride
The beautiful Buttercup and the dashing farm boy Wesley Meloy, Colin
face pirates, swordfights, giants and temporary resurrection. Wildwood
A comedic, action-packed fairy-tale. Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her brother is
abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable
Jacques, Brian Wilderness. So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her
Redwall friend, Curtis, deep into an impenetrable world. There, they
Redwall Abbey, tranquil home to a community of peace-loving uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval, and
mice, is threatened by Cluny the Scourge, a savage bilge rat find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of
warlord, and his battle-hardened horde. But the Redwall mice this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.
and their loyal woodland friends won’t give up, combining their
courage and strength to try and drive off the horde. Messenger, Shannon
Keeper of the Lost Cities
Jones, Diana Wynne Sophie Foster is not exactly a normal girl. She’s a twelve year
Howl’s Moving Castle old high school senior, has a photographic memory, and, oh
Sophie, a girl turned into an old lady by a jealous witch, must yeah, she’s a telepath. When she finds out she’s an elf, she
leave home in search of a cure. Eventually, Sophie enters the moves to the Lost Cities where many peculiar things occur after
moving castle of the Wizard Howl, where she finds a way to her arrival. The first in a nine book series.
break her curse, if she can just help Howl first.
Meyer, Marissa
LeGuin, Ursula K. The Lunar Chronicles
A Wizard of Earthsea Set in a future where humanity inhabits both the earth and
A boy’s rise from a fishing village on a remote island to the the moon, this series follows the journey of cyborg mechanic
Wizards’ School of Roke and his concurrent flight from an evil Cinder and the many shocking secrets she uncovers about her
shadow he has accidentally loosed upon the world. past, and connection to the Lunar people.
Lewis, C.S. Moers, Walter
The Chronicles of Narnia Series The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear
In the introductory volume of The Chronicles of Narnia, Bluebear explores the world of Zamonia, encountering all
entitled The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, four children sorts of extraordinary creatures, from the Minipirates to giant
find a magical doorway into the land of Narnia, where the evil Bollogs. This witty epic will keep you giggling throughout.
White Witch fights the noble lion Aslan.
Pearson, Mary E.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Jenna Fox wakes up from a coma remembering nothing. She
is told she was in a car accident and has recently recovered,
but nothing is as appears in this exploration of bioethics and
coming of age.
16 177–8 9–12
Pfeffer, Susan Beth List for Grades Nine through Twelve
Life as We Knew It
After an asteroid moves the moon’s orbit significantly, tsunamis
and other natural disasters run rampant. The narrator provides general fiction
insight into private lives as schools are shut down, food supplies
are depleted, and society crumbles. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Americanah
Pierce, Tamora
Adichie explores race and immigration in America through
Alanna: The First Adventure
the eyes of Ifemelu, a young Nigerian immigrant in the
The daughter of a noble lord, Alanna of Trebond, disguises
21st century. The book features locations in and around
herself as her twin brother and travels to the Palace to become
Connecticut.
a knight, befriending both the Crown Prince and the King of
Thieves while keeping her true identity a secret. Adiga, Aravind
The White Tiger
Pratchett, Terry
In this inventive, epistolary novel, Balram Halwai tells his life
Nation
story as a servant, philosopher, murderer, and entrepreneur,
Nation is the adventure of all adventures—like the television
taking the reader deep into the hidden underbelly of India.
show Lost, except set several hundred years earlier. The setting
sci-fi + resembles a South Pacific island that has suffered a tsunami; Alam, Rumaan
fa n ta s y Mau is on his solo-initiation trip at sea when the wave strikes. Leave the World Behind
Pratchett, Terry and Neil Gaiman A privileged, white family escapes the oppressive summer heat
of New York City, booking an idyllic, rural rental home on
Good Omens general
Long Island. Their reprieve is interrupted when a panicked fiction
This finely-tuned parody, loosely based on the Book of
black couple arrives in the middle of the night, claiming to be
Revelation, follows the eleven-year-old Antichrist and a cast of
the home’s owners and that a cataclysm is befalling the world
various other worldly and otherworldly beings through the last
outside. What follows is a slow, unfurling dread as the two fam-
days of humankind.
ilies warily circle each other, confronting race, class, and how
Pullman, Phillip crisis can further exacerbate humanity’s tenuous bonds.
His Dark Materials Trilogy
Alderman, Naomi
In his controversial, Milton-inspired trilogy, Philip Pullman
Disobedience
weaves a thrilling and intricate tale that examines the true
A young woman who has broken away from her Orthodox
nature of religion and fate.
Jewish community in London returns when her father dies.
She has created a new life for herself in New York, and now she
must resolve a number of old issues.
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid’s Tale
A trenchant dystopian novel set in what used to be New
England, this novel follows the story of Offred, a handmaiden
who must navigate life in a totalitarian state where women are
considered property.
Austen, Jane
Sense and Sensibility
Austen explores nineteenth-century English culture through her
brilliantly crafted protagonists, the Dashwood sisters, as they
face their new, unfortunate circumstances after moving from
their luxurious home to a country cottage.
Baldwin, James
Go Tell it on the Mountain
With heavy allusions to the Bible, this semi-autobiographical
classic tells the story of a young boy in a predominantly black
church in Harlem in 1935.
18 199–12 9–12
Barbery, Muriel Danielewski, Mark
The Elegance of the Hedgehog House of Leaves
Renee is short, fat, and works as a concierge; she’s also a secret A young family moves into a house that is larger inside than
autodidact. Paloma is a twelve-year-old suicidal genius whose out. Soon enough the two little children wander off and their
wit is unappreciated by her drug-addicted mother and sister. voices begin to tell a terrifying story in this brilliant novel,
The two misunderstood outcasts search for truth in their distinguished by its multiplicity of voices and narratives.
lonely lives.
DeLillo, Don
Barolini, Helen End Zone
Umbertina The language of end zones—the terminology of football and
Departing from typical migration tales that focus on men, nuclear war become interchangeable—and later distorted as
Umbertina’s determination, ingenuity, and business sense one collegiate year concludes. With humor and concern, Don
propel the family into financial success and security as she DeLillo links football and war in this original and thought-
strives for the American Dream. Umbertina has a gritty agency provoking novel.
that she then passes on to her daughters and granddaughters,
as this novel crosses the ocean multiple times on a voyage that di Donato, Pietro
reckons with identity and place. Christ in Concrete
With its impressionistic style and lyric proletarianism,
Block, Francesca Lia Christ in Concrete (1939) is a seminal work of Italian American
Echo literature. It focuses on the harsh economic realities and
This novella follows the struggles and life of Echo, a young tenement living that one family experiences through the eyes
artist who must overcome her inner demons and the unseen of a twelve-year-old boy who must support his family after his
general general
fiction
evils of Los Angeles to find herself and love, but has trouble father’s untimely death. fiction
distinguishing between fantasy and reality.
Diaz, Junot
Bronte, Charlotte The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Jane Eyre Oscar is a sweet ghetto nerd who dreams of becoming the
A romance, dark thriller, and portrait of an independent, Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But a
strong woman as relevant today as it was when published in curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following
1847, Jane Eyre is often regarded as a “must-read” for every them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA,
Hopkins student. may make it impossible for him to ever get what he wants.
Calvino, Italo Donoghue, Emma
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Room
A complex and convoluted search for the conclusion of a story, The entire world of a 5-year-old boy is the 11-by-11-foot room in
resulting only in the beginnings of more than ten narratives, which his mother is being held against her will.
each with its own style, characters, and tone.
Doxiadis, Apostolos
Camus, Albert (t. Matthew Ward) Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture
The Stranger A young boy, intrigued by his uncle’s studies in mathematics,
Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into discovers his uncle’s obsession with the mathematical
a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explores what hypothesis, Goldbach’s Conjecture.
he termed “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.”
Dreiser, Theodore
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand An American Tragedy
Journey to the End of the Night A portrait of America’s corrupt value system and its effects on
A darkly hilarious jaunt from the battlefields of the Great War the ambitious and romantic Clyde Griffiths.
to French West Africa and to America and then back to France,
following the epic misadventures of the casually nihilistic DuMaurier, Daphne
antihero Bardamu. Rebecca
A young bride uncovers the secrets of her husband’s first wife,
Conrad, Joseph Rebecca, and his mansion, Manderley. A thrilling tale of
The Secret Agent romance and suspense.
Set in London, the novel is the story of an attack, and its
consequences, on the Greenwich Observatory, masterminded
by a Russian spy.
20 219–12 9–12
Egan, Jennifer Fitzgerald, F. Scott
A Visit from the Goon Squad This Side of Paradise
A careful arrangement of dovetailing stories that feature A classic of the Lost Generation, this novel explores the lives
appearances and reappearances of interconnecting characters. of young people growing up in the shadow of WWI. It follows
Music pulses on every page as Egan’s characters determine if the life of Armory Blaine, a lackadaisical Princeton professor,
“time’s a goon.” and speaks to the avarice and striving of post-war America.
Eliot, George Forster, E.M.
Middlemarch A Passage to India
In the town of Middlemarch, a brilliant and naive woman One of the very best portrayals of what happens when cultures
marries a man old enough to be her father, an ambitious doctor clash. In this case, tensions and discoveries occur in British
arrives, and an old miser lies on his deathbed. George Eliot India in the 1920s.
(Mary Ann Evans’ pen name) studies all the foibles and
revelations of human life. Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Ellison, Ralph Just released from prison and lost in society, Shadow is
Invisible Man employed in a battle of Gods for the soul of America, a battle
This novel explores race, ideology, and the intermixing of the New and the Old.
of both in the early twentieth century. The narrator, feeling
marginalized by society, tells the reader the story of the Gardner, John
injustices he has faced being a black man in the South. Grendel
The epic Beowulf is turned upside down in this version,
general Englander, Nathan narrated by the villainous (or perhaps misunderstood) monster general
fiction
The Ministry of Special Cases of the original. fiction
The long-awaited first novel by Englander tells the story of
Kaddish, a Jew in junta-led Argentina whose son is one of the Godden, Rumer
‘disappeared.’ A moving, dramatic, Kafkaesque story with rich Black Narcissus
characters and a chilling ending. Five nuns, engaged in missionary work high in the Himalayas,
succumb to the sensuality and mystery of their surroundings.
Erdrich, Louise
Plague of Doves Greenwell, Garth
The white town of Pluto, North Dakota and the nearby Ojibwe What Belongs to You
reservation share a troubled history that is gradually revealed In Sofia, a teacher from the American South meets Mitko,
through generational narration. a beautiful young man. Mitko is a sex worker, and he and
the teacher begin a complicated, messy, and heartbreaking
Eugenides, Jeffrey relationship. This lyrical, erotic novel grapples with love, queer
The Marriage Plot identities, and desire.
Madeleine Hanna is an English major with plenty of choices
to make. The pressing matter at hand? Her love life. Harkaway, Nick
There’s Mitchell, the friend who thinks she is his soulmate, Tigerman
and Leonard, the brilliant but brooding man she loves. Sergeant Lester Ferris of the British Army is hoping to retire
but is drawn into the world of shady business on the island of
Farah, Nuruddin Mancreau and befriends a young street kid in the process.
Links
Links tells the challenging and gripping story of Jeebleh, a man Hemingway, Ernest
returning to his hometown of Mogadiscio, Somalia, for the For Whom the Bell Tolls
first time in twenty years. Diverted from his pilgrimage to visit Set during the Spanish Civil War, a story of danger, love,
his mother’s grave, he is asked to investigate the abduction of a and the quest for meaning, told through the eyes of an
young girl and beomes entangled in the violent politics of a city American volunteer.
decimated by American intervention.
Hesse, Hermann
Faulkner, William Siddhartha
As I Lay Dying The story of a young Indian boy named Siddhartha whose
The matriarch of a penniless family lies dying in her bed at spiritual quest occurs during the time of Buddha.
home, prompting the homecoming of family from across the
Hugo, Victor
nation. This leads to fascinating conflicts, culminating in a long
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
journey to bury her body in a town far away.
The doomed love story of Quasimodo, the hunchback of
Notre Dame, and the gypsy Esmeralda.
22 239–12 9–12
Iweala, Uzodinma Kushner, Rachel
Beasts of No Nation The Mars Room
The superb debut novel by an American-Nigerian novelist Romy Hall is serving two life sentences in a woman’s prison
concerns a young boy who endures the horrors of war in an for a crime she committed while working at The Mars Room,
unnamed West African nation. a San Francisco strip club. Part crime odyssey, part sociological
study of life behind bars.
James, Henry
Portrait of a Lady Lagerkvist, Par
The story of an intelligent, attractive American young woman Barabbas
who, in rejecting the men, both good and evil, who pursue her, A powerful novel by a Nobel Prize winner about “the
finds there are “other things a girl can do besides marry.” acquitted,” Barabbas, whose life was exchanged for Jesus’s.
Johnson, Adam Lederer, William J. and E. Burdick
The Orphan Master’s Son The Ugly American
An orphan in North Korea works with a state-run service to A forceful indictment of the United States’ tactless and
kidnap Japanese citizens. This Pulitzer prize-winning novel ineffectual conduct of foreign policy in Southeast Asia.
masterfully explores humanity and corruption.
Lee, Min Jin
Jones, Stephen Graham Free Food for Millionaires
The Only Good Indians As Casey navigates Manhattan, we see her life and the lives of
Part revenge tale, part exploration of cultural identity, and those around her: her sheltered mother and scarred father who
completely horrifying, Jones’ tale explores the Amerian Indian are first generation Korean immigrants, her friend Ella who’s
general experience through four friends hellbent on escaping their always been the good Korean girl, Ella’s ambitious Korean general
fiction fiction
shared sin against tradition and heritage. husband and his Caucasian mistress, Casey’s white fiancé, and
then her Korean boyfriend, all culminating in a portrait of New
Kazantzakis, Nikos York City and its world of haves and have-nots.
Zorba the Greek
With clean, beautiful prose and trenchant characterization, Lindsay, Joan
Kazantzakis tells the story of a young would-be intellectual Picnic at Hanging Rock
and an older, all-embracing wanderer who fall into an unlikely At a boarding school for girls everything seems well-mannered,
companionship. until that image is shattered by the disappearance of four
students from a school picnic, a mystery that winds through
Kesey, Ken the lives of many and questions privilege.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Alternating between dark humor and psychological torment, Luiselli, Valeria
this novel is set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital, where The Story of my Teeth
the narrator, “Chief ” Bromden, observes the increasingly erratic While auctioning off old teeth that he claims belong to Plato,
exploits of Randall Patrick Murphy, a patient who lied his Virginia Woolf, Borges, and others, Gustavo (Highway) Sán-
way into the hospital, and the sadistic Nurse Ratched. chez Sánchez’s life turns upside down as he falls into a magical
whirlwind of personal and global history.
Koestler, Arthur
Thieves in the Night McBride, Laura
A powerful book detailing the struggles of a group of ambitious We Are Called to Rise
Jews as they attempt to establish a commune in the Palestine of Seemingly unrelated stories about a family of immigrants,
the 1940s. Based on Koestler’s own experiences. a failing marriage, and a social worker are connected in an
unexpected way.
Kostova, Elizabeth
The Historian McCann, Colum
A truly terrifying novel, The Historian focuses on one woman’s Apeirogon
dire struggle to understand the mysteries of Vlad the Impaler. A provocative and deeply empathic story about two remarkable
(and actual) people caught up in the Israeli/Palestinian
Kundera, Milan conflict. It’s fiction, but, then again, it feels like journalism.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being McCann inhabits these people’s hearts and minds with
In the midst of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, imaginative brilliance.
a young physician is torn between two women: his wife and a
free-spirited sensualist.
24 259–12 9–12
McCullers, Carson Murakami, Haruki
A Member of the Wedding The Wild Sheep Chase
A sensitive portrayal of adolescent Frankie Adams who is bored A young advertising executive receives a postcard from a friend,
by her little cousin, rejected by the “in-crowd,” neglected by and casually appropriates the image for an insurance company’s
her father, and yearns to belong to her newlywed brother and advertisement. What he doesn’t realize is that included in
his wife. the pastoral scene is a mutant sheep, which has captured the
attention of a man in black who offers a menacing ultimatum:
Malamud, Bernard find the sheep or face dire consequences. Thus begins a surreal
The Fixer and elaborate quest: a truly wild sheep chase.
This story of the pain and suffering of innocent Yakov Bok, a
Jew in Russia, follows him as he is falsely accused of murdering Ng, Celeste
a Christian boy. Based on a true case, this story is very moving. Little Fires Everywhere
Beginning at the end, Isabelle Richardson burns down her
Mann, Thomas family home. Ng invites readers to enter the town of Shaker
Death in Venice Heights, a planned community where everything was always
This short novel follows the fatal obsession of the aging writer designed to happen as expected. That is, until Mia Warren and
Gustav von Aschenbach with a young Polish boy, Tadzio, her daughter Pearl enter the lives of the Richardsons.
whom Aschenbach encounters on vacation in Venice.
Nomen, Non
Márquez, Gabriel García The Unwords
One Hundred Years of Solitude A nameless but brutally honest narrator takes us on a
The history of the Buendia family over five generations, thought-provoking and philosophical journey through the
general through civil wars, tragic deaths, and 1,789 consecutive days fallacies of our language and social and moral decay using
general
fiction fiction
of rain. Magical realism at its best. pictures and verse.
Mistry, Rohinton Obreht, Tea
A Fine Balance The Tiger’s Wife
The story of five individuals living in India who must follow its Natalia, a doctor in the Balkans, has been shaped by two
repressive caste system and navigate the corrupt government. things: war and her grandfather. But when her grandfather dies
Mitchell, David after lying about his destination, Natalia realizes that he had
been hiding secrets from everyone.
Cloud Atlas
Six nested stories through time tell the tale of what appears to Orwell, George
be a single soul. Each story contains crucial elements of the 1984
previous story, leaving the reader convinced that each main In a dystopian society where Big Brother watches everything
character is the reincarnated version of the previous. and the population behaves like mindless robots, Winston and
Momaday, N. Scott Julia attempt to break away from their controlling world.
House Made of Dawn Otsuka, Julie
A Pulitzer Prize winner, this novel tells the story of a young The Buddha in the Attic
Native American caught between the lands of his childhood Depicting the extraordinary lives of Japanese “picture brides”
and the cities of industrial America. who come to the US at the turn of the century, this novel
Moore, Christopher tells of the collective experience of a group of idealistic young
women and touches on the themes of assimilation, racism and
Lamb: The Gospel of Christ According to Biff
the American Dream.
Jesus’s pal Biff works to fill in the blanks of Jesus’s life left
by the Bible. A comedic look into what was left out. Palahniuk, Chuck
Invisible Monsters
Morrison, Toni
After successful, young model Shannon McFarland is disfigured
Beloved
in a mysterious accident on the highway, she embarks on a
Inspired by true events, this lyrical novel follows Sethe—
cross-country journey with the charismatic Brandy Alexander,
a woman who has escaped slavery—as she and her family
who urges her to change her life.
grapple with the terrible, haunting choice she was forced to
make years earlier.
26 279–12 9–12
Pasternak, Boris Russel, Karen
Dr. Zhivago Swamplandia!
Set against the Russian Revolution and its aftermath: the Set in the Florida everglades, this novel tells the story of
ruthless Kamarovsky, the beautiful Lara, the faithful Tonia, Ava Bigtree, an alligator wrestler who goes on an adventure
and a gifted young doctor and poet named Zhivago struggle to reunite her family after the death of her mother.
to survive.
Russo, Richard
Pessl, Marisha Empire Falls
Special Topics in Calamity Physics 2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner for fiction. A subtle drama about
Widely acclaimed, this dazzling novel chronicles the the plight of a working class father and daughter in a decaying
adventures, at turns rollicking and deadly, of the brilliant and Northeast mill town.
beautiful sixteen-year-old Blue Van Meer.
Salinger, J.D.
Potok, Chaim Catcher in the Rye
My Name Is Asher Lev The classic tale of teen angst, true love and phonies, Salinger’s
Born into an Orthodox Jewish family, Asher Lev is confronted novel introduces us to one of the most irritating and endearing
by his intense feelings for the creative arts and the disapproving voices in literature: Holden Caulfield.
elders who try to discourage his interest.
Shchlink, Bernhard
Powers, Kevin The Reader
The Yellow Birds Michael Berg was fifteen when he had a passionate but brief
The novel opens in 2004 as two young soldiers prepare for war affair with a beautiful older woman, Hanna Schmitz. Years
general in Iraq—a freshly imagined bildungsroman about a soldier’s later, Michael meets Hanna again—when she is on trial for her general
fiction fiction
coming of age. Twenty-one-year-old Bartle promises one crimes at Auschwitz.
frightened mother that he will look after her eighteen-year-old
Shamsie, Kamila
son. An Iraq War veteran, Powers tells a “true war story” with
Home Fire
the spare, precise language of a poet.
Sophocles’s “Antigone” is retold through the love, resentment,
Pynchon, Thomas fear, and loyalty of three British Muslim siblings. Orphaned
The Crying of Lot 49 adults left to grapple with the legacy of their jihadist father,
Funny, ironic, erotic, and bizarre, this short but dense novel is sisters Isma and Aneeka react differently and powerfully to their
the best introduction to Pynchon’s work. brother’s decision to join ISIS.
Robinson, Marilynne Sinclair, Upton
Housekeeping The Jungle
Sent to live with their grandmother, sisters Ruthie and Lucille A muckraking novel which exposed the deplorable conditions
find themselves set up in a more stable environment than of Chicago’s stockyards at the turn of the century. This exposé
they are used to. The narrator, Ruthie, observes her constantly led to government regulations in the industry that still stand
changing world with an unclouded and keen eye. today.
Roth, Philip Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr
American Pastoral In The First Circle
A tour de force that takes on the Vietnam War, the Jewish- Gulag inmates staff a Soviet technical institute, and these
American experience, glove-making, baseball, and domestic scientists are favored over the other prisoners. One inmate
terrorism. American Pastoral follows the life of Seymour reports this injustice, and the narrative follows the hunt for
“Swede” Levov, whose promising and beautiful life eventually the exposer.
crumbles into a nightmare.
Stegner, Wallace
Rushdie, Salman Angle of Repose
Midnight’s Children Stegner wrote this Pulitizer Prize-winning novel weaving
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, together the stories of several generations of a family who
1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by experienced the grandeur, challenges and joys of settling in
fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru the American West where the geography itself played a role in
himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences shaping its people.
of this coincidence. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic
powers linking him with India’s 1,000 other “midnight’s
children,” all born in that initial hour and endowed with
magical gifts.
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