*Allende, Isabel. City of the Beasts. Fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold is taking the trip of a lifetime. Parting from his family, Alexander joins his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon to document the legendary Yeti of the Amazon known as the Beast.

*Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Four girls from the Dominican Republic plunge from a pampered life of privilege on an island into the big city chaos of New York and rebel against their parents’ old-world discipline.

*Anderson, M. T. Feed. SCIENCE FICTION. Everyone in the population has a chip implanted in their brain so that they are constantly bombarded with advertisements, music, news or whatever—but when your “feed” gets hacked everything changes. In this environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

*Ansay, A. Manette. Vinegar Hill. Set in the 1970s, this is a novel about a woman’s search for self and her need to change her life which can only be done by breaking many of society’s rules.

*Anthony, Piers. A Spell for Chameleon. FANTASY. In the first of the Magic of Xanth series, young Bink is facing expulsion from Xanth because he can’t discover his magical talent.

*Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone. A Wakefield author tells the raw and riveting adventures of a teenage boy who is molested at home, skirts the underworld, and finds horrifying abuse as well as unlikely familial support as he retains his sense of humor and humanity.

*Bates, Judy Fong. Midnight at the Dragon Café. Su-Jen Chou and her parents are the only Chinese family in their small Ontario town in the 1950s. After her handsome half-brother arrives, Su-Jen notices new family tension and its hidden cause. The secrets and the simple, beautiful words make this novel a breathless read.

Bell, Julia. Massive. Because of her mother’s obsession with weight, coupled with the false idea that being thin is the key to success, young Carmen becomes just as obsessed as her mother in having a perfect body. Good companion to Hornbacher’s non-fiction title, Wasted on this list or Tokio’s More Than You Can Chew.

*Benford, Gregory. COSM. SCIENCE FICTION. When a young scientist’s ambitious experiment goes terribly wrong, a sphere that is comprised of never-before-seen components remains from the high-energy explosion, and this new form opens up a mysterious new vista that will shock the world and introduce a new realm of terror. Hard to Find or Buy.

*Benioff, David. City of Thieves. HISTORICAL SUSPENSE. Documenting his grandparents’ experiences during the siege of Leningrad, a young writer learns his grandfather’s story about how a military deserter and he tried to secure pardons by gathering hard-to-find ingredients for a powerful colonel’s daughter’s wedding cake. Some profane and crude language.

*Bergreen, Laurence. Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu. BIOGRAPHY. A portrait of the thirteenth-century explorer, adventurer, and global traveler follows Marco Polo from his youth in Venice to his journey to Asia and role in the court of Kublai Khan, to his return to Europe, and discusses his influence on the history of his era.

*Berry, Steve. The Alexandria Link. SUSPENSE. Want something like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code? Cotton Malone (recently retired from the Department of Justice) has reinvented himself as a seller of rare books in Copenhagen. Trouble, of course, finds him even in Denmark–first in the person of his ex-wife, who bears the news that their son has been kidnapped. The kidnappers want “the Alexandria link,” the key to locating the remains of the vanished library of Alexandria. This is the one thing Malone, who knows the whereabouts of the link, cannot give them. Second in the Cotton Malone series.

*Binchy, Maeve. Evening Class. This tale evokes the lives of eight Dubliners who come together in an “Introduction to Italian” class which culminates in a magical trip to Italy.

*Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. NON-FICTION. New York Chef Tony Bourdain gives away secrets of the trade in his wickedly funny, inspiring memoir/exposé.

*Bragg, Rick. All Over But the Shoutin’. BIOGRAPHY. Bragg’s memoir of a hardscrabble Southern youth pays moving tribute to his indomitable mother and his struggles to forgive his drunken father.

Brooks, Martha. True Confessions of a Heartless Girl. After 17-year-old Noreen arrives in tiny Pembina Lake, a small Manitoba town, the town’s residents find their lives change and reawaken. The author’s spare writing and piercing characterizations are unforgettable.

*Brooks, Max. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. HORROR. An account of the decade-long conflict between humankind and hordes of the predatory undead is told from the perspective of dozens of survivors who describe in their own words the epic human battle for survival.

*Brooks, Terry. Running with the Demon. FANTASY. A steel mill strike serves as the backdrop for a battle between good and evil, as John Ross tries to protect a small town from the man poised to make his nightmares come true.

*Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. NON-FICTION. As Bryson and his friend Katz walk the 2,100 miles from Georgia to Maine, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through.

*Buzzell, Colby. My War: Killing Time in Iraq. MEMOIR. A U.S. Army soldier who served in Iraq as a member of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team recounts his tour of duty in which he engaged in dangerous firefights and kept a blog describing his war experiences. Good companion to LeBleu’s Long Rifle on this list.

*Cather, Willa. Death Comes for the Archbishop. This classic author’s best known novel traces the friendship and adventures of Bishop Jean Latour and vicar Father Joseph Vaillant as they organize the new Roman Catholic diocese of New Mexico.

*Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. As Chopin’s heroine, Edna Pontellier, awakens to her own desires, she begins to question her ideas about marriage, motherhood, society, art, and the nature of love itself in this singular classic.

*Clinton, Cathryn. Stone in My Hand. Eleven-year-old Malaak and her family are touched by the violence in Gaza between Jews and Palestinians when first her father disappears and then her older brother is drawn to the Islamic Jihad.

Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream. A young shepherd boy seeks a hidden treasure and dreams of traveling the world.

*Cohan, Tony. Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico. NON-FICTION. The author accurately and vividly describes the riotous extremes of politics, geography, wealth, smells, and colors that make up today’s Mexico.

*Collins, Billy, ed. 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day. POETRY. A follow-up to Poetry 180 on the Sophomore list, this former Poet Laureate compiles another 180 hospitable, engaging, reader-friendly poems. If poetry is the original travel literature, this anthology contains 180 vehicles ready to carry you away to unexpected places.

*Conaway, James. Vanishing America: In Pursuit of Our Elusive Landscapes. NON-FICTION. A cross-country travelogue of some of America’s most threatened lands and institutions identifies the people, places, and traditions that are being challenged by social and physical changes, in an account that addresses the dilemma of cultural preservation in a country that has become dependent on growth and prosperity.

*Coyle, Harold. God’s Children. SUSPENSE. Assigned to peace-keeping duties in a troubled and violent Eastern European country, two young officers and the soldiers of the 3rd Platoon Company C struggle to keep the peace in a world that is disintegrating around them.

*Crowley, Elaine. Dublin Girl: Growing Up in the 1930s. BIOGRAPHY. Crowley’s memories create a moving portrait of a 1930s Irish family contending with the pain of adversity and loss and how love can overcome both.

Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school’s less popular students.

*Dallas, Sandra. Tallgrass. HISTORICAL. Her life turned upside-down when a Japanese internment camp is opened in their small Colorado town, Rennie witnesses the way her community places suspicion on the newcomers when a young girl is murdered. The author wrote The Persian Pickle Club on the Sophomore List.

*Donovan, Brian. Hard Driving: The Wendell Scott Story: The Odyssey of NASCAR’s First Black Driver. NON-FICTION. This book looks at the life and career of the African-American man who challenged NASCAR’s racial barrier in the 1950s.

*D’Orso, Michael. Eagle Blue: A Team, a Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season. NON-FICTION. This fascinating, sensitive account follows an Alaskan high-school basketball team through its season in a town above the Arctic Circle. The sports narrative is as gripping as the portraits of the teens and their changing community.

*Dunn, Mark. Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable. Ella Minnow Pea lives in Nolloptown, and the letters from the town’s sacred sign have begun to fall. Each time a letter falls, the town law-givers decide it’s a sign from their town-founder and author of the sacred sentence to prohibit the use of that letter by anyone over seven.

*Eddings, David. Pawn of Prophecy. FANTASY. In this book for Tolkien & Terry Brooks lovers, the farm boy, Garion, begins a dangerous quest to recover the magic Orb and prevent the evil Torak from seizing power over the world. First novel in the Belgariad series.

*Eggers, Dave. Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. MEMOIR. At the age of 22, Eggers became both an orphan and a “single mother” when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. Dave is appointed unofficial guardian of his 8-year-old brother, Christopher as they struggle together to stay a family.

*Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. A biographical novel traces the story of Deng, who as a boy was separated from his family when his village in Sudan was attacked, and became one of the estimated 17,000 “lost boys of Sudan” before relocating from a Kenyan refugee camp to Atlanta in 2001.

*Enger, Leif. Peace Like a River. The quiet 1960s midwestern life of the Land family is upended when Davy kills two teenage boys who have come to harm the family. On the morning of his sentencing, Davy escapes from his cell and the Lands set out in search for him. This debut is at once a heroic quest and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world. Those who enjoyed Watson’s Montana 1948 may like this. Also good pairing with Alan Watt’s Diamond Dogs.

*Evans, Karin. Lost Daughters of China: Abandoned Girls, Their Journey to America and the Search for a Missing Past. NON-FICTION. Each month, approximately 350 Chinese infants, almost all of them female, are adopted by Americans. Evans, who adopted daughter Kelly Xiao Yu in 1997, traces China’s one-child policy historically, along the way scrutinizing the nation’s male-centric bias.

*Fifield, Adam. A Blessing Over Ashes: The Remarkable Odyssey of My Unlikely Brother. NON-FICTION. A cross-cultural meeting between middle America and Cambodia, this book is an unusual story that combines classic coming-of-age events with the sad history of a young refugee from the devastated Cambodia of the last decades. Soeuth–the refugee–came to live with the Fifield family at the age of fourteen and Adam–the family’s eldest son–narrates the story.

Flinn, Alexandra. Breathing Underwater. Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend Caitlin and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father. A Stories for a Safer 2010 selection.

*Fredericks, Mariah. Crunch Time. Four students, who have formed a study group to prepare for the SAT exam, sustain each other through the emotional highs and lows of their junior year in high school. This is an intriguing premise with close ties to current headlines by the author of The True Meaning of Cleavage on the Sophomore list.

*Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir. BIOGRAPHY. An exploration of the author’s childhood, this tenderly written memoir covers the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers, as well as the bleaker events of mid-century America.

*Grafton, Sue. “A” is for Alibi. MYSTERY. The shrewd and funny Kinsey Millhone, a California private investigator, is asked to solve the eight-year-old murder of a divorce attorney whose wife was wrongfully convicted of the crime. Good companion to Stabenow’s A Cold Day for Murder.

*Gruen, Sara. Water for Elephants. If you ever wondered what it would be like to run away to the circus, this story will illuminate that possibility for you as well as put you in an aging man’s place as he remembers how he came of age during the Great Depression. Ninety-something-year-old Jacob remembers his time in the circus and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope. Explicit sexual content.

*Halberstam, David. Firehouse. NON-FICTION. A moving testament to the remarkable brotherhood of firemen, from the Pulitzer Prize winner, who takes a look at the brave firefighters who operate out of the Engine 40, Ladder 35 firehouse in his Manhattan neighborhood. How did the terrible — and heroic — events of September 11, 2001, affect those who answered the call for help?

*Halo, Thea. Not Even My Name: From a Death March in Turkey to a New Home in America, a Young Girl’s True Story of Genocide and Survival. BIOGRAPHY. The unforgettable story of Sano Halo’s survival of the death march at age 10 that annihilated her family–as told to her daughter, Thea–and the poignant other-daughter pilgrimage to Turkey in search of Sano’s home seventy years after her exile.

*Harris, Joanne. Coastliners. Returning to her hometown, a tiny French island called Le Devin, Madeleine is saddened to realize that the island’s decline reflects the deterioration of her increasingly withdrawn father. Explicit sexual content.

Hautman, Pete. Mr. Was. FANTASY/MYSTERY. In order to prevent his mother’s murder at the hands of his father, Jack travels back in time fifty-five years through a magic door in his grandfather’s house and grows up from that time on.

*Hawks, Tony. A Piano in the Pyrenees: The Ups and Downs of an Englishman in the French Mountains. NON-FICTION. This delightful memoir begins with Hawks buying a house in the French Pyrenees and soon becomes a massively funny odyssey of complications, misunderstandings, setbacks, and offbeat characters. For Peter Mayle & Frances Mayes fans (Sophomore List).

Herrick, Steven. Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair. Told in lyrical free verse, sixteen-year-old Jack woos beautiful Annabel, and through their relationship, copes with his mother’s death. Followed by 2004’s A Place Like This.

*Hidier, Tanuja Desai. Born Confused. Seventeen-year-old Dimple, whose family is from India, discovers that she is not Indian enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans, as she sees her hypnotically beautiful, manipulative best friend taking possession of both her heritage and the boy she likes.

*Hoffman, Alice. Blue Diary. For those who enjoyed Elizabeth Berg on the Freshmen list, the revelation of a dark secret about a man’s true identity and his past threatens to turn a small Massachusetts town upside down as the truth shatters its peace and tests the bond between family and friends.

*Holley, Michael. Patriot Reign: Bill Belichick, the Coaches, and the Players Who Built a Champion. NON-FICTION. Boston Globe writer Holley provides insights into how Bill Belichick and his coaching cabinet prepare for opponents, evaluate talent, run the draft, and how they design their offensive and defensive schemes

*Hornbacher, Marya. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. NON-FICTION. Based on research and her own battle with anorexia and bulimia, which left her with permanent physical ailments that nearly killed her, Hornbacher’s book explores the mysterious and ruthless realm of self-starvation, which has its grip firmly around the minds and bodies of adolescents all across this country.

*Jordan, Hillary. Mudbound. HISTORICAL FICTION. In 1946, Laura McAllan tries to adjust after moving with her husband and two children to an isolated cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta. Superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism.

*Jordan, Tom. Pre: The Story of America’s Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine. BIOGRAPHY. This book traces the first person to win four NCAA titles in one event from his humble origins in Coos Bay, Oregon, to the tragic, shocking end of the life and career of one of the most influential, accomplished runners of our time.

*Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams or The Bean Trees.
Animal Dreams. Set in the southwest, this novel mixes the themes of culture, love, and death with a woman’s struggle to find herself in life.
The Bean Trees. In the author’s stellar first novel, a young woman running away from home finds herself caring for an abandoned two-year-old Cherokee girl. She and the child, whom she names Turtle, meet a cast of interesting characters on their journey west and in their new home of Tucson, Arizona.

*Larson, Erik. Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History. NON-FICTION. On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city making this one of the worst natural disaster in America’s history.

*Lawson, Mary. Crow Lake. Four children living in northern Ontario struggle to stay together after their parents die in an auto accident in this debut, a compelling study of sibling rivalry and family dynamics in which the land becomes a vivid character. Kate Morrison narrates the tale in flashback mode, starting with the fatal car accident that leaves seven-year-old Kate and her siblings alone.

*LeBleu, Joe. Long Rifle: One Man’s Deadly Sniper Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. NON-FICTION. Witty, passionate, and provocative, Long Rifle is both the first memoir by a U.S. Army sniper from the 9/11 generation and a stirring testament to the core values of American soldiers: integrity, honor, and courage. Also good companion to Buzzell’s My War on this list.

*Lewis, Michael. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. NON-FICTION. Lewis profiles Billy Bean, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, a man whose success proves that it’s still possible to win in the major leagues without having the deepest pockets.

*Linden, Eugene. Parrot’s Lament: And Other Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity. NON-FICTION. Can animals think? Scientists have tried to answer this question for decades. This award-winning writer turns the question on its head and looks at what animals reveal about their intelligence and emotions through their natural reactions to the people and creatures around them.

*Lipsyte, Robert. Raiders Night. After his teammates sexually assault a fellow player, Matt, the co captain of his high school football team, covers up the brutal incident in this shocking portrait of corruption, drugs, and violence in high school sports.

*Longman, Jere. The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World. NON-FICTION. Framed around the final game of the 1999 Women’s World Cup in the Rose Bowl (in which the United States beat China on penalty kicks after two scoreless hours), this book by New York Times sportswriter Longman ventures off the field to discuss such topics as the rise of women’s sports, women’s soccer in Muslim countries, and the athletes’ sex appeal.

*Malloy, Brian. The Year of Ice. This first novel is a memorable story of the emotional complexities of American families and the complications of coming of age. High School senior Kevin Doyle is literally skating on thin ice: A self-described “alpha male,” he is secretly gay and increasingly estranged from his father, who has a secret of his own.

*Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar in a Sieve. A woman in poverty struggles to find happiness in changing India. May want to read with Momaday’s House Made of Dawn or Rana’s The Roller Birds of Rampur.

*Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper’s son Pi Patel sets sail for Canada, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.

*Martin, George R.R. A Game of Thrones. FANTASY. The kingdom of the royal Stark family faces its ultimate challenge in the onset of a generation-long winter, the poisonous plots of the rival Lannisters, the emergence of the Neverborn demons, and the arrival of barbarian hordes. First in the Song of Fire and Ice series, followed by A Clash of Kings.

*Martinez, Ruben. Crossing Over: A Mexican family on the Migrant Trail. NON-FICTION. A journalist traces the journey of a Mexican family who lost three sons in a 1996 border incident as illegal immigrants.

*McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother. BIOGRAPHY. A young African American man describes growing up in an all-black Brooklyn housing project, one of twelve children of a white mother and a black father.

*McCracken, Elizabeth. The Giant’s House: A Romance. An unusual love story by a Somerville author set in 1950, about a little librarian on Cape Cod and the tallest boy in the world.

*McCrumb, Sharyn. She Walks These Hills. MYSTERY. An evocative, haunting mystery about an aging prisoner and a young graduate student whose lives are altered when they are lost in the hills of Appalachia with a 200-year-old ghost.

*Medeiros, Teresa. A Kiss to Remember. ROMANCE. In a fractured-fairy tale twist on the Sleeping Beauty tale, Sterling Harlow sets out to reclaim his estate after his mother dies, and evict his mother’s ward, but on the way there he becomes unconscious and loses his memory, and the ward tries to convince Sterling that they are betrothed. Explicit sexual content.

*Medwed, Mameve. How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life. Abby Randolph discovers that an old chamber pot she bought is a valuable antique that once belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and that she must now deal with a lawsuit for possession of the artifact, the courtship of a reporter suitor, and a man from the past.

*Mnookin, Seth. Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top. NON-FICTION. The soap opera that is the Boston Red Sox is in full bloom in this true tale about how the organization finally attained its first world championship since 1918.

*Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of a young American Indian struggling to reconcile the traditional ways of his people with the demands of the twentieth century. May want to read with Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve or Rana’s The Roller Birds of Rampur.

*Novik, Naomi. His Majesty’s Dragon. FANTASY. When the HMS Reliant captures a French ship and its priceless cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, Captain Will Laurence is swept into an unexpected kinship with an extraordinary creature and joins the elite Aerial Corps as a master of the dragon Temeraire, in which role he must match wits with the powerful dragon-borne forces of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Temeraire series follows with Throne of Jade.

*O’Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood. This first novel by this classic Southern writer centers on Hazel Motes, a discharged serviceman, who abandons his fundamentalist faith to become a preacher of anti-religion in a Tennessee city.

*O’Connor, Ian. The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball. NON-FICTION. A veteran sports reporter chronicles a young Brooklyn basketball star’s harrowing leap to NBA stardom in this raw view of the complex, contradictory world of big-stakes high school basketball. Will appeal to readers who liked Frey’s The Last Shot on the Sophomore list.

*Orenstein, Denise Gosliner. Unseen Companion. HISTORICAL FICTION. In this kaleidoscopic first-person novel that takes place in rural Alaska in 1969, the lives of several teenagers come together while trying to find out what happened to a missing 16-year-old boy.

*Paige, Leroy “Satchel.” Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever: A Great Baseball Player Tells the Hilarious Story Behind the Legend. BIOGRAPHY. Not only was Satchel Paige an amazing athlete, but he was also one of the great American humorists in the tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and Yogi Berra. The most famous black player of his era shines through the pages of this remarkable autobiography.

*Parker, Robert B. Hugger Mugger. MYSTERY. Private investigator Spenser is asked to find out who has been threatening the prize horse of the Three Fillies Stables. The case takes a deadly turn when the attacker claims a human victim. From the same series and author of Early Autumn on the Sophomore list.

Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth: A Photographic Biography. BIOGRAPHY. Partridge cuts through the mythology and misinformation surrounding the life of the legendary singer/songwriter and goes a long way toward revealing the complexities of his personality. HARDCOVER Only (2005).

*Picoult, Jodi. Second Glance. A man’s attempt to sell a piece of land and the resulting Abenaki tribe’s protest that it is a sacred burial ground spurs an investigation by ghost hunter Ross Wakeman, who discovers a long-hidden murder haunting a small Vermont town. Author of Plain Truth on the Sophomore list.

*Rana, Indi. The Roller Birds of Rampur. A novel about a culturally confused Indian teenager, raised in London, who goes back to her grandparents’ farm in Madyha Pradesh to sort out her identity and her future. Also try Markandaya’s or Momaday’s novels on this list.

*Reilly, Matthew. 7 Deadly Wonders. SUSPENSE. A prediction that promises ultimate power to whomever restores the Golden Capstone, an ancient Egyptian structure that protected people from global flooding before it was broken and scattered by Alexander the Great, prompts a brutal competition. Read with Rollins on this list for a great Dan Brown-like book.

*Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. A prequel, of sorts, to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre recounts the childhood experiences and life in the Caribbean of Bertha Rochester before she married Mr. Rochester and went mad.

*Rips, Michael. Pasquale’s Nose: Idle Days in an Italian Town. NON-FICTION. Those readers who enjoyed Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence Sophomore year may enjoy this book. The author brings a sense of humor, history and discovery to this ancient land and tradition-steeped people in his visit to Sutri, Italy.

*Rollins, James. Map of Bones: A Sigma Force Novel. SUSPENSE. Want something like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code? When several people are burned to death during the theft of a religious artifact, Gray Pierce, a new member of the U.S. SIGMA force, pursues a clandestine fraternity of alchemists who would use the artifact to establish a new world order. First in the Sigma Force series. Great companion to Reilly’s 7 Deadly Wonders..

*Rose, Daniel Asa. Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family’s Escape From the Holocaust. NON-FICTION. The author tells two parallel stories: The first describes growing up as an American Jew, while the second recounts his trip to Europe with his two sons, trying to discover what happened to relatives who were caught in the Holocaust fifty years before.

*Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. In this somewhat speculative fiction book, to get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land. This may appeal to those readers who wish to consider how teens in difficult situations make decisions no matter when or what the circumstances.

*Shawver, Brian. The Cuban Prospect. With disarming intensity, humor, and great heart, this is the story of a washed up 34-year-old failed ball player turned minor league scout whose field of dreams has always been baseball. No longer a candidate for baseball greatness himself, Dennis accepts the challenge of smuggling a hot left-handed pitcher out of Cuba in the hope that promoting the greatness of another will somehow confer a small, manageable portion of it on himself.

*Sheff, David. Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction. NON-FICTION. The story of one teenager’s descent into methamphetamine addiction is told from his father’s point of view, describing how a varsity athlete and honor student became addicted to the dangerous drug and its impact on his family. His son Nic’s story is next on this list.

*Sheff, Nic. Tweak: (Growing Up on Methamphetamines) NON-FICTION. The author details his immersion in a world of hardcore drugs, revealing the mental and physical depths of addiction, and the violent relapse one summer in California that forever changed his life, leading him down the road to recovery. Nic’s father’s story about Nic’s addiction is above this on this list.

*Shusterman, Neil. Downsiders. When fourteen-year-old Lindsay meets Talon, who lives in the secret Downsider community that evolved in the subterranean passages of the subway built in New York in 1867, she and her new friend try to bridge the differences between their two cultures.

*Siddons, Anne Rivers. Heartbreak Hotel. A storm breaks across the campus when unexpected events cause Maggie to reject fraternity parties, homecoming queen contests, Elvis Presley records, and the other aspects of Southern college life in the 1950s.

*Smithson, Ryan. Ghosts of War: A True Story of a 19-year-old G.I. (aka : My Tour of Duty) NON-FICTION. This gripping read recounts the author’s experiences as an Army engineer in the Iraq War. Good choice with LeBleu or Buzzell on this list.

*Stabenow, Dana. A Cold Day for Murder. MYSTERY. When a National Park ranger is reported missing and the man sent to find him disappears as well, former investigator Kate Shugak decides to brave the cold wilderness of north Alaska to crack the case. This first in the Kate Shugak series is a good companion to Grafton’s “A” is for Alibi on this list.

*Stegner, Wallace. All the Little Live Things or Crossing to Safety.
All the Little Live Things. A bearded young hippie invades the lives of a retired literary agent and his wife after the death of their wayward son.
Crossing to Safety. In an intimate portrait of two marriages, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Stegner captures the pleasure and pain of lifelong friendship.

*Stirling, S.M. In the Courts of the Crimson Kings. SCIENCE FICTION. American archaeologist Jeremy Wainman journeys to Mars to explore the long-dead cities of the Deep Beyond, joined by Martian mercenary Teyud Zha-Zhalt, who is linked to the mysterious city where the last aging descendant of the Tollamune emperors resides.

*Stroud, Jonathan. Amulet of Samarkand. FANTASY. Nathaniel, a magician’s apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace. First novel of the Bartimaeus trilogy, followed by Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate.

*Thomas, Rob. Rats Saw God. In hopes of graduating, Steve York agrees to complete a one-hundred-page writing assignment which helps him to sort out his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events that changed him from promising student to troubled teen.

Tokio, Marnelle. More Than You Can Chew. Marty Black, a high school senior, finds herself in a psychiatric institution where she is being treated for her eating disorder, and soon recognizes that her need for help is only the first tenuous step on a long road to recovery. Excellent companion to Bell’s Massive on this list or Hornbacher’s non-fiction title, Wasted.

*Tyler, Anne. Back When We Were Grownups or Saint Maybe.
Back When We Were Grownups. At 53, a widow questions her role as the matriarch of a large family and the proprietress of a party-and-catering concern, the Open Arms.
Saint Maybe. Ian Bedloe, stricken with guilt over the death of his older brother, raises three unrelated children, strengthened in this task by a storefront church.

Vaughan, Brian K. Pride of Baghdad. GRAPHIC NOVEL. THIS TITLE IS NOT A CHOICE FOR STUDENTS TAKING AP OR HONORS ENGLISH. Inspired by true events, this book examines life on the streets of war-torn Iraq, raising questions about the meaning of liberation through the experiences of four lions who escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during a bombing raid. Illustrated by Niko Henrichon.

Volponi, Paul. Black and White. Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently when committing a crime together and getting caught.

*Watt, Alan. Diamond Dogs. Like his abusive, demanding father, 17-year-old Neil is an angry bully, who usually takes his temper out on the football field. While driving drunk, he hits and kills someone and hides the body in his trunk. His father, the sheriff, ignores the crime, but eventually both are forced to acknowledge the secret that has been tearing them apart for years. This may appeal to those who read Larry Watson’s Montana 1948 on the Sophomore list, and a good choice with Enger’s Peace Like a River.

*Weisberg, Joseph. 10th Grade. What Jeremy Reskin lacks in grammatical skill, he more than makes up for in self-reflection in this record of the events of his sophomore year, which reveals his fascination with a new girl in town and his changing relationships with his family, and his friends.

*Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. NON-FICTION. In this very accessible book about environmental science the author presents a study of what would happen to Earth if the human presence was removed. Weisberg examines our legacy for the planet, from the objects that would vanish without human intervention to those that would become long-lasting remnants of humankind.

*Whitcomb, Laura. A Certain Slant of Light. After benignly haunting a series of people for 130 years, Helen meets a teenage boy who can see her and together they unlock the mysteries of their pasts.

*White, Jenny. The Sultan’s Seal. HISTORICAL FICTION. In this first novel, when the body of a young Englishwoman washes up on the beaches of nineteenth-century Istanbul, secular magistrate Kamil Pasha finds his dispassionate belief in science and modernity shaken by developments in the case. CSI goes Ottoman Empire—intrigue lurks everywhere. First in a series.

Wild, Margaret. Jinx. Told in a series of short poems, this novel compellingly tells the story of Jen, a self-proclaimed jinx. Here, Wild gently traces the ebb and flow of Jen’s observations and changing moods as she weathers the tragic, unrelated deaths of two consecutive boyfriends.

Williams-Garcia, Rita. Every Time a Rainbow Dies. After seeing a girl raped and becoming obsessed with her, sixteen-year-old Thulani finds motivation to move beyond his interest in his pigeons and his grief over his mother’s death.

*Wilson, F. Paul. Legacies: A Repairman Jack Novel. SUSPENSE. Desperate to rid herself of a house she recently inherited, Alicia Clayton attempts to destroy it, but all the people she employs are suddenly found murdered, when Repairman Jack enters the scene and the mystery of the house begins to unfold. Second in excellent series follows The Tomb.

*Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman. NON-FICTION. This is the story of how the Oxford English Dictionary came to be compiled with the help of an American madman.

*Winspear, Jacqueline. Maisie Dobbs. HISTORICAL MYSTERY. In this debut, private detective Maisie Dobbs must investigate the reappearance of a dead man who turns up at a cooperative farm called the Retreat that caters to men who are recovering their health after World War I. First in a series followed by Birds of a Feather.

*Wittlinger, Ellen. Hard Love. After starting to publish a “zine” in which he writes his secret feelings about his lonely life and his parents’ divorce, sixteen-year-old John meets an unusual girl and begins to develop a healthier personality.

*Wooten, Jim. We Are All the Same: The Story of a Boy’s Courage and a Mother’s Love. NON-FICTION. The extraordinary story of the little South African boy whose bravery and fierce determination to make a difference despite being born with AIDS has made him the human symbol of the world’s fight against the disease, told by the veteran American journalist whose life he changed.

*Yezierska, Anzia. Hungry Hearts. In stories based on the author’s own life, Yezierska portrays the immigrant’s struggle to become a “real” American on New York’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s.

*Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death (the narrator) relates the story of Liesel–a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

*Zusak, Markus. I Am the Messenger. After capturing a bank robber, nineteen-year-old cab driver Ed Kennedy begins receiving mysterious messages that direct him to addresses where people need help

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