High School Reads!

by Justin Reynolds Genre:  Science Fiction Jamal's best friend, Q, died in a drowning accident, moments after the two of them had a big fight.  Jamal has ignored Q for the last two years while he was dealing with the loss of his parents.  Jamal was so busy blaming Q for their deaths, that he couldn't even reach out to Q when his own father died.  Now Q is gone and Jamal will never get to tell him how sorry he is.  Or will he?  At the hospital, Jamal and Q's mom are offered the opportunity to reanimate Q for a small window of time so that they can have a proper goodbye.  It is a highly experimental procedure with no guarantees on how much time they would get with Q.  Is it worth the risk of having to say goodbye again?

by Justin A. Reynolds Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Science Fiction When Jack meets Kate for the first time, he has no idea that his life is about to change forever.  All he knows is that he has met an amazing girl who he doesn't want to spend a moment without.  Jack's best friends are Jillian and Franny and the three of them have spent high school as an inseparable trio.  Kate seems to fit in with his group, their senior year is wrapping up with prom and graduation on the horizon.  But when Jack learns that Kate is sick, he knows that he must find a way to save her.  Knowing Kate for 4 months just isn't going to be enough.

by Adam Slivera Lexile:  870 Genre:  Science Fiction Rufus and Mateo live in a world where people fear one thing:  the call from Death-Cast that tells you that you have 24 hours or less to live.  Rufus and Mateo get the call on the same day and find each other through the Last Friend App.  They decide to be last friends and spend their End Day living life to the fullest.  Neither of them is ready to die, but neither of them has a choice.  The only choice they have left is how to choose to spend their last day.

by Aditi Khorana Lexile:  790 Genre:  Science Fiction Tara is about to begin her junior year at Brierly Prep School without her best friend Meg.  Tara is predicting that it will be a miserable year for her, but just as the year begins, everything changes.  NASA reports a startling discovery of possible life on another planet and some people are ready to change everything in their lives.  Tara's mother is one of those people as she prepares to move away from her family to California.  If that wasn't a big enough change, Tara is having to navigate new friendships after she attempts to rescue Halle's dog.  Suddenly Halle wants to be her friend and is offering her a chance to hang out with her popular group.  Tara's no longer sure who she can trust.  And then there is Nick who she has secretly always admired from afar.  When did life get so complicated?

by Rick Yancey Lexile:  670 Genre:  Science Fiction, Dystopia Who is the real enemy?  Is it the others? Or is it us?  They want the Earth.  Or do they? They came to destroy.  Or did they come to save?  For those who are left, there are no easy answers and no clear path that will save them.  Cassie, Ringer, Zombie, and Nugget are all who are left. It will be up to them to figure out the truth if they are able to save themselves or saves what makes them all human.

by John Marsden Lexile:  850 Genre:  Dystopia, Science Fiction Ellie and her friends have finally persuaded her parents to let them go camping alone.  They have a great time out in the Australian wilderness until they return and find that everyone is gone.  The electricity is off, the phones don't work, and there is no sign of life anywhere.  But then strange aircraft and helicopters are flying overhead.  After some investigating, they find out that the world as they know it has ended.  Their country has been invaded and their friends and family are all being held hostage.  They have two choices:  return to the wilderness and try to survive on their own or stay and try to figure out where everyone went.

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 Rick Yancey Lexile: ??? Genre:  Science Fiction/Dystopian Cassie has lived through the destruction that eliminated most of the world's population.  She and a few of the survivors have a decision to make.  Do they find a location to curl up in and try to survive the winter, or do they venture out to find other groups of survivors?  The group has mixed feelings on what they should do.  Cassie wants to wait it out in hopes that Evan will find them.  Ben thinks that there is little to no chance that he survived the destruction of Camp Haven and wants to move.  The one thing that is certain is that their lives as humans will never be the same.

by Scott Westerfeld Lexile:  790 Genre:  Science Fiction Aya Fuse wants to be famous.  In order for this to happen, she needs to find a big story and she needs to find it fast.  She connects with the Sly Girls, a clique who spends their time doing secret things that would get them into a lot of trouble if people found out about it.  Aya convinces the Sly Girls that she is one of them while secretly filming their activities.  Aya has no idea how her life will change when she gives this story to the world. 

by Scott Westerfield Lexile:  770 Genre:  Science Fiction Tally can't wait until her 16th birthday.  On that day her life is going to change forever.  In Tally's world, everyone is "ugly" until their 16th birthday when each person undergoes a high-tech operation that turns them into a "pretty."  Tally's best friend has had her birthday, and now Tally is counting down the days until her own transformation.  Then, Tally meets Shay.  Shay asks questions about things that Tally has never thought about, including some about the "perfect world" where all the "pretties" live.  Could Tally's friend be right?

by Scott Westerfeld Lexile:  860 Genre:  Science Fiction Tally Youngblood has finally become pretty and thinks that her life is going to be perfect.  The only thing she didn't expect was that when people in her community are changed from ugly to pretty, their minds are changed too.  Tally doesn't feel perfect and has a sense that something is wrong.  When a mysterious visitor crashes her first party as a pretty, she knows that something is going on.  Does she want to move forward in her life as a pretty or try to find out what secrets are being kept?

by Scott Westerfeld Lexile:  880 Genre:  Science Fiction First Tally was an Ugly.  Then she became a Pretty.  And now she is a Special - a super ramped up fighting machine who's main purpose is to help impose order.  That means keeping the Uglies down and the Pretties stupid.  Tally can't help but feel that something is wrong...there is a part of her that remembers how her life was before she was turned into a Special.  Will she listen for the truth or be pulled along with the rest of the Specials?

by Lois Lowry Lexile:  760 Genre:  Science Fiction Jonas lives in a perfect world where everything is carefully controlled. He is about to turn twelve which means that he will be entering adulthood and will be given an assigned role in the Community. The Elders plan very carefully for the Ceremony of the Twelves as each role given must be an exact fit.  Jonas is nervous...he is not sure that he’s ready to become an adult and isn’t sure exactly what role in the Community he wants.  When his moment at the ceremony comes, he is skipped.  No one knows what that means, until the very end when Jonas learns that he has been selected for the most important role in the Community.  Ready or not, Jonas’ life is about to change forever.

by Will Hobbs Genre:  Science Fiction Lexile:  700 Brady Steele is getting ready for bed one night when a meteorite bursts through the roof of his house and lands in his bed.  Unbeknownst to him, it is from Mars and is filled with extraterrestrial bacteria.  While he's sleeping, he unknowingly ingests some of the bacteria.  Suddenly be notices that his basketball skills have improved and he can bike faster than ever before, but there are some other, odd side effects.  Is the meteorite a blessing or a curse?

by Rick Yancey Lexile:  690 Genre:  Science Fiction Cassie and Sam are living happily with their parents.  And then the world ends and 7 billion people are dead.  Cassie thinks it is quite possible that she is the last human being on Earth.  She has survived the first four waves...but has no idea what the 5th wave will be and when it will happen.  All she knows is that she made a promise to her little brother that she would come and get him just as soon as she could.  Is Sam still alive?  And if so, can she find him before the 5th wave comes?

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 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 Kimberly Derting Lexile:  ??? Genre:  Science Fiction Kyra has lost 5 years of her life.  And now she has lost her dad and her boyfriend and doesn't know if she will ever see them again.  She teams up with other Returned to try to find them, but it looks as though the Daylighters may have gotten to them first.  The more that Kyra learns about herself and the others who are helping her survive, the more she realizes that her life will never again be the same.