High School Reads!

by Morgan Matson Lexile:  970 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Sloane and Emily have been best friends for 2 years and Emily is looking forward to a full summer of adventures.  But then Sloane and her family disappeared - here one day and gone the next.  Sloane left behind nothing other than a list of 13 things that she thinks Emily should do.  So Emily spends her summer working through Sloane's list and in the process meets some new friends.  Even though she has made new friends, Emily still finds herself reaching for her phone to text or call Sloane about what she has done.  Her hope is that if she completes the list she will find some clue about where Sloane has gone.

by Elena and Clare B. Dunkle Lexile:  640 Genre:  Memoir Elena wants to be thin.  When she looks in the mirror, she doesn't see thin, she sees fat.  The voices she hears in her head tell her not to eat.  She works out all the time, avoids mealtimes with her family, and pushes herself to be perfect and everything she does.  But her body can only take this pressure for so long.  Her parents are worried about her and take her to doctor after doctor to try to get her some help.  But Elena is the only one who can truly make herself healthy and she must commit to the work. This is a true story cowritten by Elena and her mother about Elena's struggle with an eating disorder.

by David and Perri Klass Lexile:  980 Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Sports Football is everything in Kendall, New Jersey and when you're the quarterback, the community spotlight is constantly on your every move.  Jerry Downing is that quarterback and is about to complete his senior season.  His football team is expected to go all the way to state, if he has his best friend, Danny, can keep the team on a winning path.  As a senior, Jerry also gets involved with blogging for the school newspaper.  He joins Carla, another senior reporter, in covering all the news - both on and off the field - of the football season.  Jerry takes a hard hit during one game and is forced to sit out due to a possible concussion.  This turn of events prompts Carla to begin to do some research in the area of head injuries in sports.  What begins as an innocent story, will have serious consequences for Carla and the other students at Kendall High School.

by K.L. Going Lexile:  700 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Troy Billings is the fat kid.  Ever since his mother died he has eaten and eaten and eaten.  He now weighs 300 pounds and wishes he could disappear.  He is contemplating suicide, when out of the blue this skinny little kid shows up and talks him out of it.  And suddenly this kid is offering him an opportunity to play in his band as a drummer.  Troy hasn't played the drums since 7th grade and now Curt MacCrae, a school legend, wants him to be in his band?  Troy's life is about to take an unexpected twist that will open a whole new way to look at his life.

by Kekla Magoon Lexile:  560 Genre:  Realistic Fiction 16 year old Tariq, who is black, is dead, shot twice by Jack, who is white.  Several eyewitness accounts differ on how things went down.  Did Tariq have a gun?  Did Jack act in self defense?  Did Jack read the situation incorrectly?  Day after day, the stories grow and change...but one thing that won't change is that Tariq isn't coming back.  For those who knew him, this has left a gaping hole in their lives and in their plans for the future. This story is told from multiple perspectives of people who were present at the shooting and from those who knew Tariq the best.

by Maggie Stiefvater Lexile: 740 Genre: Fantasy As a young child, Grace was taken from her backyard and attacked by wolves, but was then saved by one of them. Ever since she has felt a connection to the wolf with the yellow eyes who she sees in the woods quite often. Imagine her surprise one day when she realizes he's actually a boy named Sam. Well, at least part of the time...Sam confides his secret life to her as they realize how much they want to be together. But time is running out!

by April Henry Lexile:  690 Genre:  Realistic Fiction She doesn't know who she is or where she is or what has happened to her family.  All she knows is that she is going to have to stay one step ahead of the men who want to kill her.  She doesn't know who to trust or where to turn...only that she must keep moving.

by Alan Lawrence Sitomer Lexile:  800 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Sonia has a goal:  she wants to be the first in her family to graduate from high school.  But things keep getting in the way.  First, her mother, who is pregnant with twins, can no longer help around the house so Sonia is forced to miss school to clean the house and cook for her family while her lazy uncle and four brothers lunge around and make a bigger mess.  Sonia is frustrated because she doesn't have enough enough time for her homework and is falling behind her classmates.  And now her mother has decided that she needs to spend the summer with her grandmother in Mexico so that she can learn to better appreciate her heritage.  Sonia has a hard time understanding how that will help her have the future she wants, but for know she has to obey her mother's wishes.

by Ellen Hopkins Lexile:  ??? Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse Fallout wraps up Kristina's story that began in Crank and continued in Glass .  Fallout is told by the three eldest of Kristina's children, none of whom have lived with their mother.  Hunter has been raised by his grandparents, Summer has bounced between foster homes and her father, and Autumn has been secretly raised by an aunt and grandfather and never knew that she had brothers and a sister. The three of them struggle with their abandonment in different ways and all are on a path that could mirror their mother's if they let it happen.  Or is their hope for a better life for Hunter, Autumn, and Summer?

by Ellen Hopkins Lexile:  600 Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse Glass continues the story of Kristina, first introduced to readers in the book, Crank .  Kristina has struggled to escape the clutches of meth, or the monster, as she calls it.  She is living with her parents and doing her best to raise her baby, Hunter.  But the monster is calling...One night she lies to her parents about going to a college fair so that she can meet up with her old friend and supplier, Rachel. Rachel is happy to get Kristina back in the party scene and soon Kristina is addicted once again.  Her mom refuses to let Kristina bring drugs into Hunter's life so she is forced out of her home until she can get clean.  Will Kristina be able to get her life back from the monster once and for all?

by Derf Backderf Lexile:  ??? Genre:  Nonfiction/Graphic Novel Derf Backderf went to school with a boy named Jeffrey Dahmer.  In junior and senior high school, Jeff was the weird kid that no one really understood.  He had friends, at least for awhile, until his behavior began to get more and more bizarre.  After high school, he disappeared and Derf and his friends had no idea what had become of him until they heard on the news that he'd been arrested as the serial killer that had been haunting the city of Milwaukee for many years.  This is the story of Dahmer's childhood based on the recollections of Derf and his friends.

by Gail Giles Lexile:  570 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Quincy and Biddy are both recent high school graduates, but they are not quite independent enough to live on their own.  Quincy has lived in a variety of foster homes and Biddy has lived with her elderly grandma.  Both of these living experiences have shaped who the girls are.  They could not be more different, but they are united in the common goal of wanting to be valued and loved in the real world.  They will have to put aside their differences and learn to trust each other if their new lives are going to be a success.

by Marvelyn Brown with Courtney E. Martin Lexile:  950 Genre:  Memoir/Autobiography Marvelyn Brown got the devastating news at the age of 19 that she was HIV positive.  She was a new high school grad, an athlete with plans, and now she felt as if her life was ending.  Marvelyn realizes that she has two choices:  give up and let the disease kill her or fight back by educating herself and others about how to live with HIV.  Marvelyn chose to fight and this book details her struggle to spread the word to all about the realities of life with HIV.

by Laurie Halse Anderson Lexile:  580 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Kate Malone has a dream:  she is going to graduate from high school and attend MIT.  She is so sure that MIT is the right school for her, that she hasn't applied to any other safety schools.  Kate waits and waits for the acceptance letter to arrive. Her boyfriend is in at Harvard.  Her best friend is in at Brown.  But when Kate's letter arrives, it isn't the thick information packet she expects.  Instead it is a thin envelope, with a rejection notice.  In the meantime, Kate's home has been invaded by Teri and Mikey, a teenager and a toddler who are member's of Kate's father's church.  Their home was destroyed in a fire and they have nowhere else to live at the moment.  Kate will have to set her own troubles aside and step up to help this family in need.

by Carl Deuker Lexile:  710 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Mick Johnson is destined to be an all star high school football standout.  His father is a former NFL player with high hopes for his son so Mick is feeling pressure to achieve both on and off the field. Mick is anxious to get stronger, run faster, and score more points as a running back for the team.  His current workouts don't seem to be getting him the results he wants.  When his dad introduces him to a trainer at the new gym in town, the trainer introduces him to another option:  gym candy.  Mick will have to decide which path he will take to achieve the goals he has set for himself.

by April Henry Lexile:  680 Genre:  Mystery Kayla asked Gabie to switch work shifts with her.  Drew took the pizza order and Kayla made the delivery.  And now Kayla is missing and Drew and Gabie feel responsible.  The police are trying to solve the mystery, but when they focus on a suspect and declare that Kayla is most likely dead, Gabie can't let it rest.  Somehow she is sure that Kayla is alive.  She and Drew seem to be the only ones who can figure this mystery out.

by Michael Grant Lexile:  620 Genre:  Science Fiction Growing up in Perdido Beach, CA, Sam Temple has led a pretty normal life.  Until, one day in the middle of class, his teacher disappears.  Poof!  There one second, gone the next.  The class is stunned, but things get really strange when they realize that everyone in the entire city over the age of 15 has disappeared as well. Sam and others are left to figure out the mystery.  Where has everyone gone?

by Chris Cleave Lexile: ??? Genre:  Contemporary Fiction This is the story of two women living two separate lives that are taking place on two separate continents.  When their paths converge through a tragedy, neither one will ever be the same.  It seemed like it would be a one time encounter, that they wouldn't possibly see each other ever again. But now two years later, they have come face to face and both have a story to tell.

by Tess Sharpe Lexile:  ??? Genre:  Realistic Fiction Sophie Winters has escaped near death twice.  The first was a near-fatal car accident which left her addicted to pain medication. The second was when her best friend was murdered.  Sophie had recently completed a rehab program and swears that she is sober, but when the police find drugs in her jacket pocket, her parents think she has relapsed and send her away to a locked treatment facility. Now Sophie is back home and she is determined to figure out who murdered her best friend Mina. Her family and friends want her to leave it alone, but Sophie can't and as she gets closer and closer to the truth, her life may be in danger for a third time.

by Derf Beckderf Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Informational/Graphic Novel Lexile:  ??? Derf Backderf spent a year working as a garbage collector.  This book is based on the experiences he had when he was a member of the village sanitation crew.  He also includes startling statistics and facts on the history of trash collection and the current state of reality when it comes to how much waste humans create.  If you want to learn more about the what happens to trash after you throw it away, this is the book for you!

by Gail Giles Lexile: 590 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Nobody likes Simon Glass.  He's fat and clumsy and has been a target of bullies for years.  But this changes when Rob, the new kid, decides that his goal for the year is to make Simon popular.  Coop, Bob, Young and the others go along with this because at first it seems as though Rob is actually trying to be nice to Simon.  But as the year go on, Coop and the others learn that Rob is hiding secrets from his past.  As Simon begins to stand up for himself, he is no longer as willing to let Rob orchestrate his grand plan.  How long will others stand back and watch before they too are willing to confront Rob on his motivations for changing Simon?