High School Reads!

by Cassandra Clare Lexile:  750 Genre:  Fantasy The war is over and Clary is back to living in New York, but her life is far from returning to normal. She has decided to train as a Shadowhunter and learn more about the unique power she possess.  Life seems to be settling into a routine with Jace, Simon, and Isabelle and even Clary's mom seems to be happy as wedding plans are in the works for Jocelyn and Luke.  But then Jace starts acting strangely, and Clary can't figure out why.  He says he loves her, but his actions don't live up to his words.

by Chris Crutcher Lexile:  880 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Ben Wolf has just realized a whole new meaning of the word deadline.  His doctor has just told him that his senior year in high school will be his last year.  Ever.  He decides to keep his diagnosis a secret and proceeds to plan out an amazing year filled with all the things he has always wanted to do. This includes trying out for the football team and trying to get the perfect Dallas Suzuki to notice him.  Will Ben really be able to keep this all a secret?

by Laurie Halse Anderson Lexile:  580 Genre:  Historical Fiction Mattie is living in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793.  She is there to help run her family business and things are fine until a fever sweeps through the streets.  People are dying rapidly and Mattie is afraid.  Her grandmother convinces her to escape the city with her grandfather. but she wonders if her life will ever be the same.

by Suzanne Collins Lexile: 800 Genre: Science Fiction The final book of the Hunger Games trilogy is here! Katniss' home in District 12 has been destroyed, so District 13 has become her new home. Now she must decide whether to trust the rebels and become the Mockingjay and fight to over throw the Capitol once and for all. Will Katniss accept this new challenge and fight to the end?

by Suzanne Collins Lexile: 820 Genre: Science Fiction Katniss and Peeta survived the Hunger Games and are now at home in District 12 where they should be living happily ever after.  But they're not...there seems to be feelings of rebellion against the Capitol and Katniss seems to have emerged as the symbol of this rebellion. The Capitol is not pleased and is going to great lengths to make her life miserable. However, she never anticipated just how far they would take things...

by Suzanne Collins Lexile: 810 Genre: Science Fiction The Capitol is a harsh and cruel land who keeps its outlying districts in check by forcing them to send one girl and one boy to participate in the Hunger Games each year. 12 boys and 12 girls fight on national tv until one survivor is left alive. Basically, if your name is called, it's a death sentence. Katniss Everdeen is 16 when her 12 year old sister's name is drawn. Without thinking, she steps forward to take her place, and changes her destiny forever.

by Neil Gaiman Lexile: 820 Genre:  Fantasy Nobody "Bod" Owens is being raised in a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered. His guardian, the mysterious Silas, and his new parents, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, do their best to protect him from the evil man Jack who wishes to destroy him. Bod struggles with whether or not he should leave the safety of the graveyard...

by Cassandra Clarke Lexile:  760 Genre:  Fantasy Clary is called to save her mother's life and in order to do so she must leave familiar New York City and travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters.  Clary is unfamiliar with the ways of this city and is breaking the law even by entering.  Her desire to save her mother and do things for herself, cause her to make decisions that could cost others their lives.  Unbeknownst to Clary, Jace and Simon have also arrived in the City of Glass.  When evil Valentine returns, they realize they will need to work together if they have any hope of winning the war against him to preserve their way of life.

by Michael Northrop Lexile: 750 Genre: Realistic Fiction Nobody knew that it was going to snow for a week, least of all the 7 students who were waiting at school to be picked up by their parents. Once they realize that they're on their own, an adventure begins that will test their patience, friendships, and ultimately become a tale of survival. Without lights, heat, water, and the increasing buildup of snow, these teenagers will have to put their trust in each other and work together in order to survive.

by Ruta Sepetys Lexile: 490 Genre: Historical Fiction 15 year old Lina has a great life: a family who loves her, a chance to attend an art school, and the excitement of looking forward to her first date. But that all changes one night when there is a loud knock at the door. The Soviet police are there and they are given one hour to pack their belongings. They are put in a cattle train car and shipped to Siberia where they all have to fight daily to survive. Lina secretly draws pictures of the people and the events along her journey, hoping that someday they will be used to reunite her family and tell the awful story of what was being done to innocent people.

by Laurie Halse Anderson Genre:  Realistic Fiction Lexile:  680 Nobody used to know Tyler Miller.  He was the kind of kid that no one really noticed.  Until Tyler got busted for defacing the school with graffiti, that is.  Suddenly everyone knows who Tyler is, including the most beautiful girl in the whole school.  Bethany is the girl of Tyler's dreams, who also happens to be the daughter of his father's boss and who also happens to have a twin brother, who has bullied Tyler for many years.  Tyler's life is filled with ups and downs as he tries to navigate his senior year.  Will it end on a high or a low?

by Neal Shusterman Lexile:  740 Genre:  Science Fiction The society that Connor, Risa and Lev are growing up in has changed drastically from the society we know today.  When children reach the age of thirteen, their parents have the option of signing an unwind order, which means their children are sent to harvest camps where their organs are harvested and sold to the highest bidder.  If unwinds can escape and survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can no longer be unwound.  So Connor, Risa, and Lev are on the run...but will they be able to survive?

by Benjamin Alire Saenz Lexile:  380 Genre: Realisitic Fiction Aristotle is a loner.  He says he prefers things that way.  Until he meets Dante.  Everyone is instantly charmed by Dante and he is comfortable in every situation; the complete opposite of Aristotle.  The boys meet one summer and become close friends and begin to change each other's lives.  Neither can predict by just how much their friendship will chance them.

by Elizabeth Wein Lexile:  1020 Genre:  Historical Fiction "Verity" is living a double life.  To her friends she is an adventurous free spirit doing her part to fight in the war against the Germans. But in her other life she is a spy, attempting to learn secrets from the Nazis.  When "Verity" is captured she has to figure out how to stay alive and continue to feed secret information to her friends so that there final mission can be completed.

by Robert Galbraith Lexile:  970 Genre:  Mystery Cormoran Strike is back with his second big case.  Robin, his personal assistant, is becoming more and more interested in detective work and convinces Strike to consider training her in as a partner.  With this case, Cormoran and Robin are asked to find eccentric writer Owen Quine who has disappeared.  His wife claims this isn’t unusual, but this time it has been longer and she has no idea where he has gone.  Shortly before his disappearance, a copy of his next novel is sent to several editors who are horrified by what they read.  Has Quine totally lost his mind or is there someone else lurking in the shadows of his disappearance?

by Jacqueline Woodson Lexile:  640 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Toswiah Green doesn’t know who she is anymore.  Is she Evie Thomas?  Or is she a combination of the two?  When Toswiah’s father, a police officer, witnesses a murder and decides to testify about the truth of what he saw, she and her family must assume new identities and move on to an uncertain future.  Now she is Evie and has to live in a strange new city, make new friends, and watch her father fight the loss of a career that he loved second only to his family.  Toswiah misses her old life and can only hope that her family can figure out who they are in their new life.

by E.R. Frank Lexile:  610 Genre:  Realistic Fiction No one ever sticks around for America.  Abandoned by his mother twice, lost in the system twice which left him without his foster mom and in jail, America has learned not to trust or count on anyone.  Once he is returned to his foster mother, she has aged and is being cared for by her half brother.  At first Browning is cool, and helps America gets settled back into his home, but then things take a bad turn and America learns once again that adults can do horrible things to him when he lets his guard down.  America ends up in a residential treatment facility where he meets Mr. B, his therapist, who begins to help America unwind the years of hurt and pain that have made up his childhood.  America has to learn to trust Mr. B if he is going to survive.

by Pete Hautman Lexile:  730 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Doug Hanson is a loner and is often picked on by other kids in his school.  His only hobby is building and creating a model train town in his basement.  He has one friend, Andy, who is the opposite of Doug.  Andy is popular, plays football and has friends throughout the school.  But something happens that changes both Andy and Doug's life forever, and Doug is left trying to sort out what is real and what isn't.

by Laurie Halse Anderson Lexile: 780 Genre: Historical Fiction Isabel has had a rough life. Born into slavery, she and her sister Ruth are supposed to be freed upon their Mistress's death. However, the will and freedom papers go missing and the girls are sold to the Lockton family and moved to New York City. There they are forced to work day in and day out. Isabel is approached by a local boy about spying on her family to help the patriots in their fight against the British. Isabel is unsure at first if he can be trusted as putting her trust in him could jeopardize her life and that of her younger sister.

by Angela Johnson Lexile:  870 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Scotty has had to learn a tough lesson - that everything can change in an instant.  Her life has been a series of ups and downs - especially when it comes to dealing with her 7 year old brother who has autism.  Scotty is lucky that she has a good relationship with her parents and a tight circle of friends who are going to help her through this tough October.

by Paul Volponi Lexile:  850 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Miles has recently moved to New Orleans to live with a father he hardly knows.  His father's first love is music and Miles isn't sure how long he wants to stick around in second place.  But his relationship with his father changes, when Hurricane Katrina strikes.  He and his father are among the thousands of evacuees who are riding out the storm in the Superdome.  If Miles survives this, he knows his life will have changed forever.

by Angela Johnson Lexile: 790 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Bobby isn't ready to become a father at 16. He's still busy hanging out with his friends and enjoying his teenage years. But when he meets his baby daughter, Feather, and learns that he has to raise her on his own, he is forced to grow up quickly.

by S.A. Bodeen Lexile:  680 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Robie doesn't have an ordinary life.  Growing up on Midway Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean can be quite exciting, but it can also get boring.  Each summer, Robie gets to spend a month with her aunt in Hawaii.  Unexpectedly, her aunt is called out of town, so Robie is left on her own.  Robie decides to head home early and books herself a flight on a supply plane that's heading back to Midway Island.  The problem is that the phones on the island aren't working so nobody so her parents don't know she's on her way home.  Halfway there, the plane encounters a storm so severe that one of the engines stalls.  As the plane plummets to the ocean, Robie wonders if she will ever see her parents again.  Then, suddenly, she's in the middle of the ocean, alive, but in a raft...with nothing...

by Jacqueline Woodson Lexile:  990 Genre:  Memoir/Novel in Verse Jacqueline Woodson shares her story of growing up in the '60s and '70s in both the North and the South.  The story of her childhood emerges through a collection of poems that details the struggles her family faced.  Jacqueline knew from an early age that she wanted to be a writer, but school was difficult for her and not everyone believed she could achieve.  But with the strong support of her family, she can to believe that anything is possible.

by Wes Moore Lexile:  990 Genre:  Memoir Two kids named Wes Moore who grew up in Baltimore.  They both grew up fatherless and had difficult childhoods, but from the end of childhood, their paths diverged.  One Wes Moore ended up to be a Rhodes Scholar, veteran, a White House Fellow, and a business leader.  The other Wes Moore ended up as a convicted murdered and spent is life behind bars.  What was it about these two boys who came from such similar beginnings that caused them to end up so far apart?

by Lucy Christopher Lexile:  570 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Gemma is on her way to Bangkok with her family for summer vacation.  While her plane is waiting to board, she leaves her parents and goes to get a cup of coffee.  The man in line behind her offers to pay and she sits down at a table with him to talk.  That's the last thing she remembers until she wakes up many hours later to find that she has no idea where she is.  As she begins to wake up, she finds out that she has been stolen.

by Mary E. Pearson Lexile:  780 Lia, Rafe and Kaden have reached the kingdom of Venda.  Lia is supposed to be dead, Rafe is a prisoner, and Kaden has to convince the Komizar that Lia is worth more alive than dead.  Each of them harbors a number of secrets that they are keeping from each other and the Komizar.  Lia wants nothing more than to escape the kingdom of Venda and wants Rafe to be by her side.  Each choice she makes have powerful implications for her survival and the survival of her kingdom.