High School Reads!

by Robin Benway Lexile:  700 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Emmy and Ollie were best friends and neighbors from birth through second grade.  And then one day, Ollie disappeared.  His father kidnapped him and despite his mother's best attempts, Oliver was never found.  As a result, Emmy's parents have completely taken over her life.  She is barely allowed to do anything so she has kept her true passion in life:  surfing, a secret from them.  They think that she is going to live at home and attend the local community college, but Emmy has other plans.  She can't wait to graduate and move away so that she can get on with her life.  She has secretly applied to the University of San Diego and plans to tryout for their surfing team.  But then the call comes that Emmy and her family have been waiting for for 10 years.  Oliver has been found and he is coming home.

by Jason Reynolds Lexile:  720 Genre: Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse Will's older brother Shawn is dead.  Shot and killed in the street.  Will knows only 3 rules that have taught him how to respond.  No crying.  No Snitching.  Revenge.  So Will takes his brother's gun and steps onto the elevator.  He is going to find the guy who shot his brother and take revenge.  Little does he know, it is a long way down on this particular day, on this particular elevator.

by Jenny Valentine Lexile:  770 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Iris doesn't remember her father, even though she lived with him until she was 3.  Her mother decided a long time ago that life with Iris' father, Ernest, wasn't for her.  She took off with Iris and all the money that Ernest has set aside for his daughter's future.  But now the money is gone, and Iris isn't the perfect daughter that her mother wishes she would be.  Iris likes to set fires and is fascinated with burning things.  Her mother decides it is time to get in touch with Ernest.  When she does, she learns that Ernest is near death.  Her mother is thrilled as this means that she is that much closer to getting her hands on the remainder of his money and his art collection. Iris has no interest in getting to know her father...until she actually meets him.

by e. lockhart Lexile:  650 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Who is Imogen?  Who is Jule?  Where does one end and the other begin?  As the story unfolds, it seems that Imogen and Jule are two separate people who are best friends, or are they? Or is one of them not who she says she really is?  There are mysterious disappearances, murders, and missing money.  Who is the genuine fraud?

by Robin Benway Lexile:  780 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Joaquin has spent his entire life moving form foster home to foster home and has learned to get pretty good at not relying on anyone but himself.  Grace was adopted as an infant and has grown up as the only child of two adoring parents.  But she recently gave birth to a little girl whom she decided to give up for adoption and now she feels lost.  Maya was adopted as an infant and lives with her sister and her parents who fight all the time.  Joaquin, Grace, and Maya have never met, but they all have one thing in common:  their mother was a woman named Melissa Taylor.  When Grace decides to begin a search to find her birth mother, she also finds her brother and sister which will change the lives of these three teenagers in ways they never expected.

by Erika L. Sanchez Lexile:  730 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Julia is finding it impossible to live in the shadow of her perfect, and now dead, older sister.  Her mother is sad and angry, her father seems to just be going through the motions of living.  Julia wants to finish high school and move on with her life.  But there are so many things that are holding her back.  She wants to figure out who her sister really was and she really does want to get along with her mother, but the two seem to be at odds over everything.  Can Julia figure out a way to be the daughter her mother wants while staying true to what she believes she can become?

by Wendy Mills Lexile:  750 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Erin Bailey wants to be strong and courageous for her mother who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.  But she also wants to just be a regular teenage girl too.  Just when she thinks life is too much, she finds out that her mother's cancer is linked to a genetic mutation which means that Erin could have the same gene.  If she has the cancer gene, her odds of getting breast cancer at a young age are significantly increased.  Erin has the option to get tested to find out whether she has the gene so now she must decide whether or not she wants to know.   While she's sorting through all of this stuff, she decides to take flying lessons because flying was something that her dad loved.  Once she is up in the air,  Erin can forget about everything that is happening down on the ground.