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Western Reserve Academy
Summer Reading Program 2013
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Western Reserve Academy adheres to a longstanding policy of admitting students of any race, color, creed, religion, national and ethnic origin subject to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, or disability in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan program or other school-administered programs.
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Western Reserve Academy Summer Reading 2013 Most members of the WRA community find pleasure in reading. For those of us tied to the academic calendar, summers and holidays give us what we need most – time. With that in mind, we offer students this list of recommended books for summer reading. This list is intended for student LEISURE reading. We hope the variety piques student interest and provides the opportunity to expand horizons, satisfy curiosity and/or offer an enjoyable escape. Titles include: classics to recently published titles, relatively easy to challenging reading levels, and a variety of genres covering diverse subjects. Also included is a list of recommended websites to locate further suggestions for award-winning books and titles of interest. This list is updated annually by members of the John D. Ong Library staff. Titles are recommended by members of the WRA community or by respected review sources, including the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. A few titles have frank passages that mirror some aspects of life explicitly. Therefore, we urge parents to explore the titles your teenagers choose and discuss the book as well as the choice with them. All the books on this list should be available in libraries and/or in bookstores. Enjoy your summer and your free time, and try to spend some of it reading! Your feedback about any title on this list is welcome – and we also welcome your recommendations for titles to add in the future. The John D. Ong Library Staff
PLEASE NOTE: This list should not be confused with the English Department’s Required Reading summer program. Please go to Summer Reading and click on Required Reading for that information.
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Table of Contents
Summer Reading for Ninth/Tenth Graders......................................................1 Fiction .............................................................................................................1 Non-fiction ......................................................................................................8 Biographies/Memoirs ..................................................................................16 Summer Reading for Eleventh/Twelfth Graders ...........................................17 Fiction ...........................................................................................................17 Non-fiction ....................................................................................................25 Biographies/Memoirs ..................................................................................34 Graphic Novels/Collections ..............................................................................35 Collections: Short Stories, Essays and more...................................................36 Something for Everyone: Informational Titles for Teenagers ......................36 Poetry, Anyone? .................................................................................................38 Looking for a Good Book? Some Websites to Help You ...............................40 Title Index ..........................................................................................................42 Author Index......................................................................................................47
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Summer Reading for Ninth/Tenth Graders Fiction: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain, 1884) The story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious.* Age of Miracles (The) (Karen Thompson Walker, 2012) On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakens to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray.* Beauty Queens (Libba Bray, 2011) Teen beauty queens. A “Lost”-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to e-mail. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.* Before I Fall (Lauren Oliver, 2010) What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?* Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Sepetys, 2011) Lina is just like any other fifteenyear-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they’ve known.* Between the Lines (Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, 2012) Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving… And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince….*
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Big Girl Small (Rachel DeWoskin, 2011) Judy Lohden is your above-average sixteen-year-old—sarcastic and vulnerable, talented and uncertain, full of big dreams for a big future. With a singing voice that can shake an auditorium, she should be the star of Darcy Academy, the local performing arts high school. So why is a girl this promising hiding out in a seedy motel room on the edge of town?* Bitterblue (Kristin Cashore, 2011) Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on.* This is the third book in the series, following Graceling (2008) and Fire (2009). Code Name Verity (Elizabeth Wein, 2012) Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.* Conqueror: A Novel of Kublai Khan (Conn Iggulden, 2011) With the death of Genghis Khan, Iggulden continues the Khan family story in this historical novel. The preceding books in this series includes Genghis: Birth of an Empire (2007), Genghis: Lords of the Bow (2008), Genghis: Bones of the Hills (2009), and Khan: Empire of Silver (2010). Count of Monte Cristo (The) (Alexandre Dumas, 1844) Falsely accused during the final days of Napoleon’s reign, Edmond Dantès is imprisoned in the bleak Chateau d’If. After a hair-raising escape, he launches an elaborate plot to extract a bitter revenge against those who betrayed him.*
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Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (The) (Mark Haddon, 2004) Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.* Dance with Dragons (A) (George R. R. Martin, 2011) In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction.* The fifth novel in the A Song of Fire and Ice series including A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1999), A Storm of Swords (2000), and A Feast for Crows (2005). Detective/Crime/Mystery Writers: Try any book by the following mystery writers: Donna Andrews (featuring blacksmith Meg Langslow in a humorous series); Nancy Atherton (featuring amateur sleuth Lori Shepard with help from her ghostly Aunt Dimity); Stephanie Barron (featuring 19th century author Jane Austen as an amateur sleuth); Heather Blake (featuring “Wishcrafter” –a witch who can grant wishes—Darcy Merriweather) C. J. Box (featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett); Joanna Fluke (featuring bakery owner and amateur sleuth Hannah Swensen); Kathryn Miller Haines (set during World War II, featuring actress and amateur sleuth Rosie Winter) Laurie R. King (featuring Mary Russell, former protégé to Sherlock Holmes); Edward Marston (look for the Domesday series set in medieval England featuring commissioner Ralph Delchard); Alexander McCall Smith (featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe, owner of Botswana’s #1 Ladies Detective Agency); Elizabeth Peters (featuring Edwardian Egyptologist Amanda Peabody); Ellis Peters (mysteries of the medieval monk, Brother Cadfael); Spencer Quinn (featuring down-on-his- luck private investigator Bernie and his faithful canine companion—and series narrator, Chet); Kathy Reichs (Virals series featuring teen sleuth Tory Brennan) Les Roberts (featuring Cleveland private detective Milan Jacovich); Clea Simon (featuring Boston journalist Theda Krakow and her feline friend, Musetta). Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886) Idealistic young scientist Henry Jekyll struggles to unlock the secrets of the soul. Testing chemicals in his lab, he drinks a mixture he hopes will isolate—and eliminate—human evil. Instead it unleashes the dark forces within him, transforming him into the hideous and murderous Mr. Hyde.*
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Drowned Cities (The) (Paolo Bacigalupi, 2012) In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man—a bioengineered war beast named Tool—who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses.* Edge of Dark Water (Joe R. Lansdale, 2012) May Lynn was once a pretty girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star. Now she’s dead, her body dredged up from the Sabine River. Sue Ellen, May Lynn’s strong-willed teenage friend, sets out to dig up May Lynn’s body, burn it to ash, and take those ashes to Hollywood to spread around. If May Lynn can’t become a star, then at least her ashes will end up in the land of her dreams.* Every Day (David Levithan, 2012) A love story about A, a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.* Fault in Our Stars (The) (John Green, 2012) Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.* Fear: A Gone Novel (Michael Grant, 2012) It’s been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Despite the hunger and the lies, even despite the plague, the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive.* Fifth title in the series featuring: Gone (2008), Hunger (2009), Lies (2010), Plague (2011) and, coming in 2013, Light. Final Four (The) (Paul Volponi, 2012) Four players with one thing in common: the will to win. March Madness is in full swing, and there are only four teams left in the NCAA basketball championship… and it’s there that the fates of Malcolm, Roko, Crispin, and M.J. intertwine.* Grave Mercy (Robin LaFevers, 2012) Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny.* First book in a new trilogy: His Fair Assassin.
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Heart is a Lonely Hunter (The) (Carson McCullers, 1940) At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer’s mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly…finds solace in her music.* HHhH (Lauren Binet, 2012) The most dangerous man in Hitler’s cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the “Butcher of Prague.” He was feared by all and loathed by most. With his cold Aryan features and implacable cruelty, Heydrich seemed indestructible—until two men, a Slovak and a Czech recruited by the British secret service, killed him in broad daylight on a bustling street in Prague, and thus changed the course of History.* In Zanesville (Jo Ann Beard, 2011) The beguiling fourteen-year-old narrator is a late bloomer…. Luckily, she has a best friend, a similarly undiscovered girl with whom she shares the everyday adventures of a 1970s American girlhood, incidents through which a world is revealed, and character is forged.* Inheritance (Christopher Paolini, 2011) Not so very long ago, Eragon— Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider—was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?* The fourth and final book in the Inheritance Cycle, following Eragon (2003) and Eldest (2005), and Brisingr (2008).
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Inheritance of Loss (The) (Kirin Desai, 2006) When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai’s new-sprung romance with her handsome tutor, their lives descend into chaos.* Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1954) The classic study of human nature which depicts the degeneration of a group of schoolboys marooned on a desert island.* Never Fall Down (Patricia McCormick, 2012) When soldiers arrive at his hometown in Cambodia, Arn is just a kid, dancing to rock ‘n’ roll, hustling for spare change, and selling ice cream with his brother. But after the soldiers march the entire population into the countryside, his life is changed forever. Arn is separated from his family and assigned to a labor camp.* Orchards (Holly Thompson, 2011) After a classmate commits suicide, Kana Goldberg—a half-Japanese, half-Jewish American—wonders who is responsible. She and her cliquey friends said some thoughtless things to the girl. Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior, her parents pack her off to her mother’s ancestral home in Japan for the summer. There Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family’s mikan orange groves.* Paper Covers Rock (Jenny Hubbard, 2011) At the beginning of his junior year at a boys’ boarding school, 16-year-old Alex is devastated when he fails to save a drowning friend. When questioned, Alex and his friend Glenn, who was also at the river, begin weaving their web of lies.*
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Queen of Water (The) (Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango, 2011) Born in an Andean village in Ecuador, Virginia lives with her large family in a small, earthen-walled dwelling. In her village of indígenas, it is not uncommon to work in the fields all day, even as a child, or to be called a longa tonta—stupid Indian— by members of the ruling class of mestizos, or Spanish descendants. When sevenyear-old Virginia is taken from her village to be a servant to a mestizo couple, she has no idea what the future holds.* This novel is based on a true story. Reached (Ally Condie, 2012) The emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose.* Look for the first two books in the series as well: Matched (2010) and Crossed (2011). Ready Player One (Ernest Cline, 2011) It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world.* Ruin (Orson Scott Card, 2012) When Rigg and his friends crossed the Wall between the only world they knew and a world they could not imagine, he hoped he was leading them to safety. But the dangers in this new wallfold are more difficult to see.* Second installation in the Pathfinder series (Pathfinder, 2010). Seraphina (Rachel Hartman, 2012) Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd... Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides….* Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (The) (Jennifer E. Smith, 2012) Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father’s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s sitting in her row.*
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Swamplandia! (Karen Russell, 2011) Thirteen-year-old Ava Bigtree has lived her entire life at Swamplandia!, her family’s island home and gator-wrestling theme park in the Florida Everglades. But when illness fells Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, the family is plunged into chaos; her father withdraws, her sister falls in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, defects to a rival park called The World of Darkness.* Texas Gothic (Rosemary Clement-Moore, 2011) Amy Goodnight’s family is far from normal. She comes from a line of witches, but tries her best to stay far outside the family business. Her summer gig ranch-sitting for her aunt with her wacky but beautiful sister. Only the Goodnight Ranch is even less normal than it normally is. Bodies are being discovered, a ghost is on the prowl, and everywhere she turns, the hot neighbor cowboy is in her face.* Various Positions (Martha Schabas, 2011) Trapped between the hormone-driven world of her friends and the discontent of her dysfunctional family, fourteen-yearold Georgia is only completely at ease when she’s dancing. When she is accepted into Canada’s preeminent ballet school, Georgia thinks it is the perfect escape.* Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Maria Semple, 2012) Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette disappears.* Non-fiction: Americans in Paris: Life and Death under Nazi Occupation (Charles Glass, 2010) Before the Second World War began, approximately thirty thousand Americans lived in Paris, and when war broke out in 1939, almost five thousand remained. As citizens of a neutral nation, the Americans in Paris believed they had little to fear. They were wrong.* Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Aron Ralston, 2005) Hiking into the remote Utah canyon lands, Aron Ralston felt perfectly at home in the beauty of the natural world. Then, at 2:41 P.M., eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, an eight-hundred-pound boulder tumbled loose, pinning Aron’s right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.*
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Big Thirst (The): The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water (Charles Fishman, 2011) Water is the most vital substance in our lives but also more amazing and mysterious than we appreciate. As Charles Fishman brings vibrantly to life in this surprising and mind-changing narrative, water runs our world in a host of awe-inspiring ways, yet we take it completely for granted. But the era of easy water is over.* Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth (James M. Tabor, 2010) As late as 2000, the earth’s deepest cave—the supercave—remained undiscovered. This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it….* Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Steve Sheinkin, 2012) This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world’s most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.* Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine and the Lawless Years of Prohibition (Karen Blumenthal, 2011) Filled with period art and photographs, anecdotes, and portraits of unique characters from the era, this fascinating book looks at the rise and fall of the disastrous social experiment known as Prohibition.*
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Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948May 1949 (Richard Reeves, 2010) In the early hours of June 26, 1948, phones began ringing across America, waking up the airmen of World War II—pilots, navigators, and mechanics—who were finally beginning normal lives with new houses, new jobs, new wives, and new babies... The president, Harry S. Truman, was recalling them to active duty to try to save the desperate people of the western sectors of Berlin, the enemy capital many of them had bombed to rubble only three years before.* Dear Zari: The Secret Lives of the Women of Afghanistan (Zarghuna Kargar, 2012) Moving, enlightening, and heartbreaking, Dear Zari gives voice to the secret lives of Afghan women.* Eating Animals (Jonathan Safran Foer, 2009) Traveling to the darkest corners of our dining habits, Foer raises the unspoken question behind every fish we eat, every chicken we fry, and every burger we grill.* Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West (Blaine Harden, 2012) Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk and through the lens of Shin’s life unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state.* Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates (Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw, 2010) Rubalcaba and Robertshaw recount the unearthing of four hominins—Turkana Boy, Lapedo Child, Kennewick Man, and Iceman. Each discovery leads not only to deductions that scientists made in laboratories, but also to controversial debates over the scientists’ differences of opinion over how, or even if, the pieces fit together.*
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Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets (Peter Laufer, 2010) Laufer exposes the network of hunters, traders, breeders, and customers who constitute this nefarious business—which, estimated at $10 to $20 billion annually, competes with illegal drug and weapons trafficking in the money it earns criminals.* Grand Design (The) (Steven Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, 2010) Hawking and Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.* History of Horror (A) (Wheeler Winston Dixon, 2010) Ever since horror leapt from popular fiction to the silver screen in the late 1890s, viewers have experienced fear and pleasure in exquisite combination. A History of Horror, with rare stills from classic films, is the only book to offer a comprehensive survey of this ever-popular film genre.* History of the World in 100 Objects (A) (Neil MacGregor, 2011) The history of humanity is a history of invention and innovation, as we have continually created new items to use, to admire, or to leave our mark on the world. In this original and thought-provoking book, Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, has selected one hundred man-made artifacts, each of which gives us an intimate glimpse of an unexpected turning point in human civilization.* How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous (Georgia Bragg and Kevin O’Malley, 2011) Over the course of history men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess–especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost.* Immortal Game (The): A History of Chess (David Shenk, 2007) Chess is the most enduring and universal game in history. Here, Shenk chronicles its intriguing saga, from ancient Persia to medieval Europe to the dens of Benjamin Franklin and Norman Schwarzkopf.* Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever (Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, 2011) A riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln….*
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Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal (Conor Grennan, 2011) In search of adventure, 29-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal.* New Kids (The): Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens (Brooke Hauser, 2011) Some walked across deserts and mountains to get here. Others flew in on planes. One arrived after escaping in a suitcase. And some won’t say how they got here. These are “the new kids”: new to America and all the routines and rituals of an American high school, from lonely first days to prom.* One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season (Chris Ballard, 2012) In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to become the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands.* Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (Mary Roach, 2010) As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.* Pests: A Guide to the World’s Most Maligned, Yet Misunderstood Creatures (Ross Piper, 2011) An overview of the animals that have the greatest impact on our lives, from the creatures that eat our crops through the ones that invade our homes and those that transmit diseases.* Photojojo!: Insanely Great Photo Projects and DIY Ideas (Amit Gupta and Kelly Jensen, 2009) A photo, an idea, and simple crafting skills are all you need to transform your pictures into useful, fun, giftable art.* Planet of Viruses (A) (Carl Zimmer, 2011) This fascinating book explores the hidden world of viruses—a world that we all inhabit.*
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Plastic: A Toxic Love Story (Susan Freinkel, 2011) Plastic built the modern world. Where would we be without bike helmets, baggies, toothbrushes, and pacemakers? But a century into our love affair with plastic, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship.* Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Jane McGonigal, 2011) Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the power of games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness.* Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things (Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, 2010) Pollution is not only an abstract, distant problem seen in belching smokestacks and contaminated waterways; it’s also personal. Some of the most dangerous pollutants come from commonplace items in our homes and workplaces—shampoos and toothpastes, carpets and children’s toys. To prove this point, leading environmentalists Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie conducted their own research by ingesting and inhaling a host of things that are part of our everyday lives.* Small Furry Prayer (A): Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life (Steve Kotler, 2010) While dog rescue is one of the largest underground movements in America, it is also one of the least understood. This insider look at the cult and culture of dog rescue begins with Kotler’s personal experience working with an ever-peculiar pack of dogs and becomes a much deeper investigation into exactly what it means to devote one’s life to the furry and the four-legged.*
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Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes (Maria Goodavage, 2012) Goodavage … tells heartwarming stories of modern soldier dogs and the amazing bonds that develop between them and their handlers. Beyond tales of training, operations, retirement, and adoption into the families of fallen soldiers, Goodavage talks to leading dog-cognition experts about why dogs like nothing more than to be on a mission with a handler they trust….* Spark of Life (The): Electricity in the Human Body (Frances Ashcroft, 2012) A lively exploration of the surprising role that electricity plays in our bodies.* Sports and their Fans: The History, Economics and Culture of the Relationship between Spectator and Sport (Kevin G. Quinn, 2009) Though Americans spend more than $25 billion on sports and sporting events, this book argues that the influence of sports on our lives is even more profound than this huge figure would seem to suggest.* Story of Stuff (The): How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—And a Vision for Change (Annie Leonard, 2010) Leonard tracks the life of the Stuff we use every day—where our cotton Tshirts, laptop computers, and aluminum cans come from, how they are produced, distributed, and consumed, and where they go when we throw them out.*
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Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System (Raj Patel, 2008) How can starving people also be obese? Why does everything have soy in it? How do petrochemicals and biofuels control the price of food? It’s a perverse fact of modern life: There are more starving people in the world than ever before (800 million) while there are also more people overweight (1 billion). To find out how we got to this point and what we can do about it, Raj Patel launched a comprehensive investigation into the global food network.* Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science (Marc Aronson and Maria Budhos, 2010) When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered that they each had sugar in their family history, they were inspired to trace the globe-spanning story of the sweet substance and to seek out the voices of those who led bitter sugar lives.* Super Species: The Creatures That Will Dominate the Planet (Garry Hamilton, 2010) Super species are the phenomenally successful invasive life-forms that are dominating ecosystems. These animals, plants and microbes have spread far from their native habitats, most often as a result of human activities. Author Garry Hamilton profiles the 20 super species that are having the greatest impact in our world today.* Tales of an African Vet (Roy Aronson, 2010) In his more than twenty-five years as an African vet, Dr. Roy Aronson has seen and done some remarkable things. Tales of an African Vet brings together Dr. Aronson’s adventures in a rare behindthe-scenes look at those who treat wild animals in their natural habitat.* Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears (Brian Hicks, 2011) Toward the Setting Sun chronicles one of the most significant but least explored periods in American history, recounting the little known story of the first white man to champion the voiceless Native American cause.* Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us (Rachelle Bergstein, 2012) What is it about a pair of shoes that so enchants women of all ages, demographics, political affiliations, and style tribes? Part social history, part fashion record, part pop-culture celebration, Women from the Ankle Down seeks to answer that question as it unfolds the story of shoes in the twentieth century.*
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World’s Creepiest Places (The) (Bob Curran and Ian Daniels, 2011) There are some places in the world where humans quite simply should not go. Not just haunted places, but sites where ancient forces still hold sway. We can recognize such locations by the responses they evoke within us—that feeling we call “the creeps.” But just where are these places, and why do they terrify us?* Biographies/Memoirs: Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust (Doreen Rappaport, 2012) Through twenty-one meticulously researched accounts —some chronicled in book form for the first time—Doreen Rappaport illuminates the defiance of tens of thousands of Jews across eleven Nazi-occupied countries during World War II.* Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story (Daphne Sheldrick, 2012) Daphne Sheldrick, whose family arrived in Africa from Scotland in the 1820s, is the first person ever to have successfully hand-reared newborn elephants. Her deep empathy and understanding, her years of observing Kenya’s rich variety of wildlife, and her pioneering work in perfecting the right husbandry and milk formula have saved countless elephants, rhinos, and other baby animals from certain death.* Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Alan Eisenstock, 2012) Raiders! is the incredible true story of Eric Zala [age 12] and Chris Strompolos [age 11], how they realized their impossible dream of remaking Raiders of the Lost Ark, and how their friendship survived all challenges, from the building of a six-foot round fiberglass boulder to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.* Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different (Karen Blumenthal, 2012) From the start, his path was never predictable. Steve Jobs was given up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college after one semester, and at the age of twenty, created Apple in his parents’ garage with his friend Steve Wozniack.* Warrior’s Heart (The): Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage (Eric Greitens, 2012) Readers will share in Eric’s evolution from average kid to globetraveling humanitarian to warrior, training and serving with the most elite military outfit in the world: the Navy SEALs.*
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Summer Reading for Eleventh/Twelfth Graders Fiction: 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami, 2011) The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” * 2312 (Kim Stanley Robinson, 2012) The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity’s only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.* American Boy (Larry Watson, 2011) Matthew Garth’s story [begins in] the fall of 1962, when the shooting of a young woman on Thanksgiving Day sets off a chain of unsettling events in Willow Falls, Minnesota.* American Gods: A Novel (Neil Gaiman, 2001) Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.*
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Art of Fielding (The) (Chad Harbach, 2011) At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.* Book of Jonas (The) (Stephen Dau, 2012) Jonas is fifteen when his family is killed during an errant U.S. military operation in an unnamed Muslim country. With the help of an international relief organization, he is sent to America, where he struggles to assimilate-foster family, school, a first love. Eventually, he tells a court-mandated counselor and therapist about a U.S. soldier, Christopher Henderson, responsible for saving his life on the tragic night in question.* Caleb’s Crossing (Geraldine Brooks, 2011) In 1665, a young man from Martha’s Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.* Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866) Much more than just a tale of homicide, Crime and Punishment is a stunning philosophical novel about the nature of guilt and redemption. An impoverished ex-student, Raskolnikov, kills an old pawnbroker and her sister. But money alone is not his motive—and eventually Raskolnikov is compelled to face the forces both inside and out that have led him to murder.*
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Days of Blood & Starlight (Laini Taylor, 2012) Student and monster’s apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.* Second in a planned trilogy following Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011). Detective/Crime/Mystery Writers: Try any book by the following mystery writers: Nevada Barr (featuring National Park Ranger Amanda Pigeon; novels are set in various U.S. National Parks); Grace Carroll (featuring fashionista Rita Jewel in the Accessories Mystery series); Agatha Christie (featuring detective Hercule Poirot); Lindsey Davis (featuring “informer” Marcus Didius Falco in ancient Rome); Janet Evanovich (featuring bail bondswoman Stephanie Plum in an outrageously funny series set in the “Burg” in New Jersey); Dick Francis (featuring a variety of sleuths and locations); Sue Grafton (featuring female sleuth Kinsey Millhone); Charlaine Harris (featuring a variety of sleuths and locations, including the Southern Vampire Mystery series); P.D. James (featuring Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh); Lisa Lutz (featuring P.I. Izzy Spellman who works in her family’s detective agency in this humorous series): Henning Mankell (featuring Swedish police detective Kurt Wallender in detailed police procedurals); Robert B. Parker (featuring hard-boiled Boston detective Spenser); Thomas Perry (featuring Native American Jane Whitefield, a guide who helps people disappear); Will Thomas (featuring “enquiry agent” Cyrus Barker and his young assistant Thomas Llewelyn in Victorian England). Diviners (The) (Libba Bray, 2012) Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City…. When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer—if he doesn’t catch her first.* Elegance of the Hedgehog (The) (Muriel Barbery, 2008) Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building, home to members of the great and the good. Over the years she has maintained her carefully constructed persona as someone reliable but totally uncultivated, in keeping, she feels, with society’s expectations of what a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Renee…*
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Fallen Angel (The) (Daniel Silva, 2012) After narrowly surviving his last operation, Gabriel Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, has taken refuge behind the walls of the Vatican, where he is restoring one of Caravaggio’s greatest masterpieces. But early one morning he is summoned to St. Peter’s Basilica by Monsignor Luigi Donati, the all-powerful private secretary to His Holiness Pope Paul VII. The body of a beautiful woman lies beneath Michelangelo’s magnificent dome.* If you love spy thrillers, check out this series. Flight Behavior (Barbara Kingsolver, 2012) Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man.* Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin, 1953) Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy’s discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935.* Gods of Heavenly Punishment (The) (Jennifer Cody Epstein, 2013) Fifteenyear-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins.* Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott, 1819) Wilfred of Ivanhoe returns from the Crusades to face the disapproval of his father, who disinherits him for his political allegiances and his love for the Lady Rowena.* Kingdom of Strangers (A) (Zoë Ferraris, 2012) A secret grave is unearthed in the desert revealing the bodies of 19 women and the shocking truth that a serial killer has been operating undetected in Jeddah for more than a decade.* Land More Kind than Home (A) (Wiley Cash, 2012) One Sunday, nine-year-old Jess Hall watches in horror as his autistic brother is smothered during a healing service in the mountains of North Carolina. The unimaginable violence that follows must be untangled by a local sheriff with his own tragic past.*
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Lover’s Dictionary (The) (David Levithan, 2011) How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary.* Micro (Michael Crichton and Richard Preston, 2011) In a locked Honolulu office building, three men are found dead with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye…. Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulsepounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.* Midwife’s Tale (The): A Mystery (Sam Thomas, 2012) It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.* Mockingbirds (The) (Daisy Whitney, 2010) Some schools have honor codes. Others have handbooks. Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds….*
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Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan, 2012) The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone— and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests.* Once upon a River (Bonnie Jo Campbell, 2011) After the violent death of her father, in which she is complicit, [16-year-old] Margo takes to the Stark River in her boat, with only a few supplies and a biography of Annie Oakley, in search of her vanished mother.* Pandemonium (Lauren Oliver, 2012) Lauren Oliver sets Lena on a dangerous course that hurtles through the unregulated Wilds and into the heart of a growing resistance movement.* Second book in the Delirium series. People of Forever are not Afraid (The) (Shani Boianjiu, 2012) Yael, Avishag, and Lea grow up together in a tiny, dusty Israeli village, attending a high school made up of caravan classrooms, passing notes to each other to alleviate the universal boredom of teenage life.* Pure (Julia Baggott, 2012) Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before…. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.* First book in The Pure Trilogy.
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Red and the Black (The) (Stendahl, 1830) A brilliant portrait of one of the most ruthlessly charming heroes in literature, The Red and the Black chronicles the rise and fall of Julian Sorel. Born into the peasantry, Sorel connives his way into the highest Parisian aristocratic circles. But his powers of seduction lead to his downfall when he commits a crime of passion.* Robopocalypse (Daniel H. Wilson, 2011) When the Robot War ignites—at a moment known later as Zero Hour—humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united.* Round House (The) (Louise Erdrich, 2012) One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe.* Rules of Civility (The): A Novel (Amor Towles, 2011) On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society.* Salvage the Bones (Jesmyn Ward, 2011) A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch’s father is growing concerned…. As the twelve days that make up the novel’s framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family—motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce—pulls itself up to face another day.* Sandcastle Girls (The) (Chris Bohjalian, 2012) Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura’s grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family’s history that reveals love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.* Snow Child (The) (Eowyn Ivey, 2012) Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart—he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone—but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.* 23
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Talk-Funny Girl (The) (Roland Merullo, 2011) In one of the poorest parts of rural New Hampshire, teenage girls have been disappearing, snatched from back country roads, never to be seen alive again. For seventeen-year-old Marjorie Richards, the fear raised by these abductions is the backdrop to what she lives with in her own home, every day. Marjorie has been raised by parents so intentionally isolated from normal society that they have developed their own dialect, a kind of mountain hybrid of English that displays both their ignorance of and disdain for the wider world. Marjorie is tormented by her classmates, who call her “The Talk-funny girl….”* Tell the Wolves I’m Home (Carol Rifka Brunt, 2012) 1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss….But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.* Tragedy Paper (The) (Elizabeth LaBan, 2013) It follows the story of Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed.* White Devil (The) (Justin Evans, 2011) The Harrow School is home to privileged adolescents known as much for their distinctive dress and traditions as for their arrogance and schoolboy cruelty. Seventeen-year-old American Andrew Taylor is enrolled in the esteemed British institution by his father, who hopes that the school’s discipline will put some distance between his son and his troubled past in the States. But trouble—and danger—seem to follow Andrew.* Wingshooters (Nina Revoyr, 2011) Michelle LeBeau, the child of a white American father and a Japanese mother, lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin—a small town that had been entirely white before her arrival. Rejected and bullied, Michelle spends her time reading, avoiding fights, and roaming the countryside with her dog Brett. She idolizes her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, an expert hunter and former minor league baseball player who is one of the town’s most respected men. Charlie strongly disapproves of his son’s marriage to Michelle’s mother but dotes on his only grandchild.*
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Winter of Our Discontent (The) (John Steinbeck, 1962) Ethan Allen Hawley ‌ works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With the decline in their status, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards.* Non-fiction: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Charles C. Mann, 2011) More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.* 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day (Dorian Lynsky, 2011) This expansive survey examines how music has engaged with racial unrest, nuclear paranoia, apartheid, war, poverty, and oppression, offering hope, stirring anger, inciting action, and producing songs that continue to resonate years down the line, sometimes at great cost to the musicians involved.* Abolition of Man (The) (C.S. Lewis, 1943) C. S. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society.*
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American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks (Seymour Morris, Jr., 2010) This spirited reexamination of American history delves into our past to expose hundreds of startling facts that never made it into the textbooks, and highlights how little-known people and events played surprisingly influential roles in the great American story.* American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It) (Jonathan Bloom, 2010) The topic couldn’t be timelier: As more people are going hungry while simultaneously more people are morbidly obese, American Wasteland sheds light on the history, culture, and mindset of waste while exploring the parallel eco-friendly and sustainable-food movements. As the era of unprecedented prosperity comes to an end, it’s time to reexamine our culture of excess.* Apollo’s Angels (Jennifer Homans, 2010) Ballet has been shaped by the Renaissance and Classicism, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, Bolshevism, Modernism, and the Cold War. Apollo’s Angels is a groundbreaking work—the first cultural history of ballet ever written, lavishly illustrated and beautifully told.* At Home: A Short History of Private Life (Bill Bryson, 2010) With his signature wit, charm, and seemingly limitless knowledge, Bill Bryson takes us on a room-by-room tour through his own house, using each room as a jumping off point into the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted.*
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Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail (Jennifer Pharr Davis, 2011) After graduating from college, Jennifer isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life. She is drawn to the Appalachian Trail, a 2175-mile footpath that stretches from Georgia to Maine. Though her friends and family think she’s crazy, she sets out alone to hike the trail, hoping it will give her time to think about what she wants to do next.* Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity (Katherine Boo, 2012) A bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.* Big Screen (The): The Story of the Movies (David Thomson, 2012) The Big Screen tells the enthralling story of the movies: their rise and spread, their remarkable influence over us, and the technology that made the screen—smaller now, but ever more ubiquitous—as important as the images it carries.* Buck Stops Here (The): The 28 Toughest Presidential Decisions and How They Changed History (Thomas J. Craughwell and Edwin Kiester, Jr., 2010) [This] fascinating survey of twenty-eight crucial presidential decisions opens a door into the White House’s corridors of power, giving readers an insider’s view of how and why these decisions were made, while providing a yardstick with which we might, perhaps, gauge the success of current and future presidents.* Central Park Five (The): A Chronicle of a City Wilding (Sarah Burns, 2011) A riveting, in-depth account of one of New York City’s most notorious crimes.* Crusoe: Daniel Defoe, Robert Knox, and the Creation of a Myth (Katherine Frank, 2012) It is the biography of a book and its hero: the story of Defoe, the man who wrote Robinson Crusoe, and of Robert Knox, the man who was Crusoe.* Destiny of the Republic (The): A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President (Candice Millard, 2011) James A. Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.* 27
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Disappearing Spoon (The): And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (Sean Kean, 2010) The Periodic Table is one of man’s crowning scientific achievements. But it’s also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession.* Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (Ben McIntyre, 2012) On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and suffered an astonishingly low rate of casualties. D-Day was a stunning military accomplishment, but it was also a masterpiece of trickery.* Eating Aliens: One Man’s Adventures Hunting Invasive Animal Species (Jack Landers, 2012) North America is under attack by a wide range of invasive animals. Black spiny-tailed iguanas in Florida, Asian carp in Missouri and Virginia, nutria in Louisiana, European green crabs in Connecticut, and other alien species throughout the United States are devouring our native plants and animals, pushing many to the brink of extinction. Jackson Landers has a unique solution to the problem: Eat them! * Fortress Europe: Dispatches from a Gated Continent (Matthew Cart, 2012) Fortress Europe tells the story of how the world’s most affluent region—and history’s greatest experiment with globalization—has become an immigration war zone, where tens of thousands have died in a human rights crisis that has gone largely unnoticed by the U.S. media.* Fraternity (Diane Brady, 2012) On April 4, 1968, the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., shocked the nation. Later that month, the Reverend John Brooks, a professor of theology at the College of the Holy Cross who shared Dr. King’s dream of an integrated society, drove up and down the East Coast searching for African American high school students to recruit to the school, young men he felt had the potential to succeed if given an opportunity.* Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (The): Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School (Alexandra Robbins, 2011) In a smart, entertaining, reassuring book that reads like fiction, Alexandra Robbins manages to cross Gossip Girl with Freaks and Geeks and explain the fascinating psychology and science behind popularity and outcasthood. She reveals that the things that set students apart in high school are the things that help them stand out later in life.*
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Higher Call (A): An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the WarTorn Skies of World War II (Adam Makos and Larry Alexander, 2012) Four days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a 21-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.* Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, 2012) [O’Reilly] recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.* Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War (Tony Horwitz, 2011) Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. Now, Midnight Rising portrays Brown’s uprising in vivid color, revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict.*
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Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them (Donovan Hohn, 2011) When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn’s accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories.* Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service (Michael BarZohar and Nissim Mishal, 2012) The Mossad is widely recognized today as the best intelligence service in the world. It is also the most enigmatic, shrouded in secrecy. Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service unveils the defining and most dangerous operations that have shaped Israel and the world at large from the agency’s more than sixty-year history….* Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Tracy Kidder, 2003) In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”*
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No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden (Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer, 2012) For the first time anywhere, the first-person account of the planning and execution of the Bin Laden raid from a Navy Seal who confronted the terrorist mastermind and witnessed his final moments.* On the Run in Siberia (Rane Willerslev, 2012) The Siberian taiga: a massive forest region of roughly 4.5 million square miles, stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Bering Sea, breathtakingly beautiful and the coldest inhabited region in the world…. Since the fall of Communism, a corrupt regional corporation has monopolized the fur trade, forcing the Yukaghir hunters into impoverished servitude. Enter Rane Willerslev, a young Danish anthropologist who ventures into this frozen land on an idealistic mission to organize a fair-trade fur cooperative with the hunters. From the outset, things go terribly wrong.* Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste (Herbert Gans, rev. ed., 1999) Gans holds that the choices of typical Ivy League graduates, not to mention Ph.D.’s in literature, are… very different from those of high school graduates, as are the movie houses, television channels, museums, and other cultural institutions they frequent.* Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus (Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, 2012) In this fascinating exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years in the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies.* Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout (Lauren Redniss, 2011) In 1891, 24-year-old Marie Sklodowska moved from Warsaw to Paris, where she found work in the laboratory of Pierre Curie, a scientist engaged in research on heat and magnetism. They fell in love.* Secret Gift (A): How One Man’s Kindness—and a Trove of Letters—Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression (Ted Gup, 2010) An inspiring account of America at its worst—and Americans at their best—woven from the stories of Depression-era families who were helped by gifts from the author’s generous and secretive grandfather.* Gup is an alumnus of WRA, Class of 1968.
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Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (David Quemmen, 2012) The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse…. In Spillover Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?* Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubne, 2009) Super Freakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything ….* Follow-up to the popular Freakonomics (2005). This is How: Proven to Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More, for Young and Old Alike (Augusten Burroughs, 2012) If you’re fat and fail every diet, if you’re thin but can’t get thin enough, if you lose your job, if your child dies, if you are diagnosed with cancer, if you always end up with exactly the wrong kind of person, if you always end up alone, if you can’t get over the past, if your parents are insane and ruining your life, if you really and truly wish you were dead, if you feel like it’s your destiny to be a star, if you believe life has a grudge against you… If you have ever wondered, How am I supposed to survive this? This is How.* Undead (The): Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating-Heart Cadavers—How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death (Dick Teresi, 2012) What is death, and how do people in the medical profession determine it? In this fascinating examination of the increasingly blurred line between life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, science journalist Dick Teresi introduces us to the coma specialists, organ transplant surgeons, ICU doctors, and many others who are faced with this issue daily.* War (Sebastian Junger, 2010) This on-the-ground account follows a single platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Through the experiences of these young men at war, he shows what it means to fight, to serve, and to face down mortal danger on a daily basis.*
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What Einstein Told his Cook (Robert Wolke, 2008) Why is red meat red? How do they decaffeinate coffee? Do you wish you understood the science of food but don’t want to plow through dry, technical books?… Robert L. Wolke provides reliable and witty explanations for your most burning food questions, while debunking misconceptions and helping you interpret confusing advertising and labeling. * World Until Yesterday (The): What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? (Jared Diamond, 2012) Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence.* Look also for Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel (1999) and Collapse (2005). You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness (Julie Klam, 2010) Julie Klam was thirty, single, and working as a part-time clerk in an insurance company, wondering if she would ever meet the man she could spend the rest of her life with. And then it happened. She met the irresistible Otto, her first in a long line of Boston terriers, and fell instantly in love.*
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Biographies/Memoirs: Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (Steven Talty, 2012) Agent Garbo tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits with the best minds of the Third Reich —and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germany’s most valued agent—or double agent: it took four tries before the British believed he was really on the Allies’ side.* Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind (Loung Ung, 2005) After enduring years of hunger, deprivation, and devastating loss at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, ten-year-old Loung Ung became the “lucky child,” the sibling chosen to accompany her eldest brother to America while her one surviving sister and two brothers remained behind.* The sequel to her memoir, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. Time to Betray (A): The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran (Reza Kahlil, 2010) A true story as exhilarating as a great spy thriller… A Time to Betray reveals what no other previous CIA operative’s memoir possibly could: the inner workings of the notorious Revolutionary Guards of Iran, as witnessed by an Iranian man inside their ranks who spied for the American government.*
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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Laura Hillenbrand, 2010) On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.* Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (Cheryl Strayed, 2012) A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.*
Graphic Novels Eye of the World (The): The Graphic Novel (Robert Jordan and Chuck Dixon, 2011) Chuck Dixon has now completed three volumes depicting Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy tale featuring Rand al’Thor and his friends Matrim and Perrin. Graphic Canon (The): Volumes 1 & 2 (Russ Kick [ed.], 2012) These volumes offer some of the world’s greatest literature in graphic novel form. Volume 1: From the epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons and Volume 2: From “Kubla Khan” to the Brontë sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray. Kite Runner: The Graphic Novel (Khaled Hosseini, 2011) Through Khaled Hosseini’s brilliant writing, a previously unknown part of the world was brought to vivid life for readers. Now, in this beautifully illustrated graphic novel adaptation, Hosseini brings his compelling story to a new generation of readers.* Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey (GB Tran, 2011) A superb new graphic memoir in which an inspired artist/storyteller reveals the road that brought his family to where they are today….a visually stunning portrait of survival, escape, and reinvention—and of the gift of the American immigrants’ dream, passed on to their children.* Zahra’s Paradise (Amir, 2011) Set in the aftermath of Iran’s fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra’s Paradise is the fictional story of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has vanished into an extrajudicial twilight zone.*
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Collections: Short Stories, Essays and more… Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories (Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones [eds.], 2011) Today’s top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators—in a collection at turns moving and self-effacing, but always deeply personal.* Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version (Philip Pullman, 2012) Now Philip Pullman, one of the most accomplished authors of our time, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm.* Humor Me: An Anthology of Funny Contemporary Writing (Plus Some Great Old Stuff Too) (Ian Frazier [ed.], 2010) Featuring more than fifty pieces of the greatest comic writing of our time…and also includes a handful of older comic masterpieces.* Ian Frazier is an alumnus of WRA. In the Shadow of Greatness: Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and Service from America’s Longest War (U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2002, Joshua Welle (ed.), 2012) These midshipmen were soon to graduate from the Naval Academy into a nation at war, the first officers to do so since Vietnam. The men and women of the Class of 2002 lost their youth to a decade of deployments and their innocence on battlefields in distant places. Each story provides a glimpse into the lives of modern day Navy or Marine Corps officers who were faced with unique challenges and sacrifices.* Editor Joshua Welle is an alumnus of WRA, Class of 1998. Spooky Campfire Tales: Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Supernatural Lore (S. E. Schlosser, 2007) Unfold a camp chair, huddle close to the fire, and get ready for thirty creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences from times past.*
Something for Everyone: Informational Titles for Teenagers Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids (Ken Jennings, 2012) Jennings separates myth from fact to debunk a wide variety of parental edicts: no swimming after meals, sit up straight, don’t talk to strangers, and so on.*
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Element (The): How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica, 2009) The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels. With a wry sense of humor, Ken Robinson looks at the conditions that enable us to find ourselves in the Element and those that stifle that possibility.* I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy (Lori Andrews, 2012) Social networks, the defining cultural movement of our time, offer many freedoms. But as we work and shop and date over the Web, we are opening ourselves up to intrusive privacy violations by employers, the police, and aggressive data collection companies that sell our information to any and all takers. Through groundbreaking research, Andrews reveals how routinely colleges reject applicants due to personal information searches, robbers use vacation postings to target homes for break-ins, and lawyers scour our social media for information to use against us in court.* Music Instinct (The): How Music Works and Why We Can’t Do Without It (Philip Ball, 2010) Deftly weaving together the latest findings in brain science with history, mathematics, and philosophy, The Music Instinct not only deepens our appreciation of the music we love, but shows that we would not be ourselves without it.* Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain, 2012) In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so.*
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Poetry, Anyone? Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (The) (Ilya Kaminsky and Susan Harris [eds.], 2010) Here, alongside renowned masters, are internationally celebrated poets who have rarely, if ever, been translated into English.* I Feel a Little Jumpy around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Collected in Pairs (Naomi Shihab Nye and Paul B. Janeczko [eds.], 1996) In this award-winning anthology, the editors grouped almost 200 [contemporary] poems into pairs to demonstrate the different ways in which male and female poets see the same topics. How women see men, how boys see girls, and how we all see the world—often in very different ways, but surprisingly, wonderfully, sometimes very much the same.* Newspaper Blackout (Austin Kleon, 2010) Poet and cartoonist Austin Kleon has discovered a new way to read between the lines. Armed with a daily newspaper and a permanent marker, he constructs through deconstruction—eliminating the words he doesn’t need to create a new art form: Newspaper Blackout poetry.* Poetry Home Repair Manual (The): Practical Advice for Beginning Poets (Ted Kooser, 2005) Here are tools and insights, the instructions (and warnings against instructions) that poets—aspiring or practicing—can use to hone their craft, perhaps into art.*
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Teen Angst: A Celebration of Really Bad Poetry (Sarah Bynoe (ed.), 2005) All of the poets featured in this collection are now adults, living happy, angst-free lives. However, for this special book, they are willing to reveal excerpts from their old tattered notebooks or leather bound journals. Along with the poems, each poet has included a short introduction, giving background information for each work.* *These annotations have been reproduced from the product descriptions on Amazon.com. This listing is for educational purposes only.
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Looking for a Good Book? Some Web Sites to Help You… Below are some web sites that offer recommended books in a number of categories. While by no means all-inclusive, we hope to give you some useful suggestions of where to start looking… AllReaders.com (http://allreaders.com) Look for books by plot, theme, character or setting. Book reviews are also available. Bookwire: Book Awards (http://www.bookwire.com/) This web site offers links to a wide variety of book by genre. Bestsellers, new releases, and links to book reviews are also included Edgar Awards (http://www.mysterywriters.org) Click on “Awards & Programs” to find the nominees and winners of the annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards given by the Mystery Writers of America for writing achievement in the mystery field. Harvey Awards (http://harveyawards.org) Click on “Awards” to find the nominees and winners of the annual Harvey Awards that recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. The Harvey Awards are the only industry award both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Horror Writers Association (http://www.horror.org) Click on “Bram Stoker Awards” to locate those titles honored by the Horror Writers Association for achievement in horror writing. Hugo Awards (http://www.thehugoawards.org) Fan-voted awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Check out the home page for the current winners for this award. Click on “History” for past winners.
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National Book Awards (http://www.nationalbook.org/index.html) Click on “Awards/Winners and Finalists” to find the winners of the annual awards presented by the National Book Foundation for literary achievement in four categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young people’s literature. National Book Critics Circle Awards (http://www.bookcritics.org) Click on “Awards” to find current and past winners of the year’s best books in six categories: fiction, general non-fiction, criticism, poetry, biography and autobiography. Overbooked: Resources for Readers (http://www.overbooked.org) Specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable non-fiction. This web site is a non-profit volunteer project undertaken by librarian, Ann Chambers Theis. Pulitzer Prizes (http://www.pulitzer.org) Select any year to view the annual awards for distinguished writing by The Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Western Writers of America (http://www.westernwriters.org) Click on “Awards” to access titles that have received the Spur Awards for distinguished writing about the American West established by the Western Writers of America.
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Title Index 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, 25 1Q84, 17 2312, 17 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day, 25 Abolition of Man (The), 25 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1 Age of Miracles (The), 1 Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day, 34 American Boy, 17 American Gods: A Novel, 17 American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks, 26 American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), 26 Americans in Paris: Life and Death under Nazi Occupation, 8 Apollo’s Angels, 26 Art of Fielding (The), 18 At Home: A Short History of Private Life, 26 Beauty Queens, 1 Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids , 36 Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail, 27 Before I Fall, 1
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, 27 Between a Rock and a Hard Place, 8 Between Shades of Gray, 1 Between the Lines, 1 Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust, 16 Big Girl Small, 2 Big Screen (The): The Story of the Movies, 27 Big Thirst (The): The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, 9 Bitterblue, 2 Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth, 9 Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, 9 Book of Jonas (The), 18 Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, 9 Buck Stops Here (The): The 28 Toughest Presidential Decisions and How They Changed the World, 27 Caleb’s Crossing, 18 Central Park Five (The): A Chronicle of a City Wilding, 27 Code Name Verity, 2 Conqueror: A Novel of Kublai Khan, 2 Count of Monte Cristo (The), 2 Crime and Punishment, 18
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Crusoe: Daniel Defoe, Robert Knox, and the Creation of a Myth, 27 Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (The), 3 Dance with Dragons (A), 3 Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949, 10 Days of Blood & Starlight, 19 Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories, 36 Dear Zari: The Secret Lives of the Women of Afghanistan, 10 Destiny of a Republic (The): A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, 27 Disappearing Spoon (The): And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, 28 Diviners (The), 19 Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, 28 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 3 Drowned Cities (The), 4 Eating Aliens: One Man’s Adventures Hunting Invasive Animal Species, 28 Eating Animals, 10 Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (The), 38 Edge of Dark Water, 4 Elegance of the Hedgehog (The), 19 Element (The): How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, 37 Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West, 10
Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates, 10 Every Day, 4 Eye of the World (The): The Graphic Novel, 35 Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version, 36 Fallen Angel (The), 20 Fault in Our Stars (The), 4 Fear: A Gone Novel, 4 Final Four (The) , 4 Flight Behavior, 20 Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets, 11 Fortress Europe: Dispatches from a Gated Continent, 28 Fraternity, 28 Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (The): Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School, 28 Go Tell It on the Mountain, 20 Gods of Heavenly Punishment (The), 20 Grand Design (The), 11 Graphic Canon (The): Volumes 1 & 2, 35 Grave Mercy, 4 Heart is a Lonely Hunter (The), 5 HHhH, 5 Higher Call (A): An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II, 29 History of Horror (A), 11 History of the World in 100 Objects (A), 11 43
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Micro, 21 Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War, 29 Midwife’s Tale (The): A Mystery, 21 Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them, 30 Mockingbirds (The), 21 Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service, 30 Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, 30 Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, 22 Music Instinct (The): How Music Works and Why We Can’t Do Without It, 37 Never Fall Down, 6 New Kids (The): Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, 12 Newspaper Blackout, 38 No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, 31 On the Run in Siberia, 31 Once upon a River, 22 One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season, 12 Orchards, 6 Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, 12
How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous, 11 Humor Me: An Anthology of Funny Contemporary Writing (Plus Some Great Old Stuff Too), 36 I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Collected in Pairs, 38 I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy, 37 Immortal Game (The): A History of Chess, 11 In the Shadow of Greatness: Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and Service from America’s Longest War, 36 In Zanesville, 5 Inheritance, 5 Inheritance of Loss (The), 6 Ivanhoe, 20 Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot, 29 Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, 11 Kingdom of Strangers (A), 20 Kite Runner: The Graphic Novel, 35 Land More Kind than Home (A), 20 Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, 12 Lord of the Flies, 6 Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story, 16 Lover’s Dictionary (The), 21 Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind, 34
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Pandemonium, 22 Paper Covers Rock, 6 Pathfinder, 7 People of Forever are not Afraid (The), 22 Pests: A Guide to the World’s Most Maligned, Yet Misunderstood Creatures, 12 Photojojo!: Insanely Great Photo Projects and DIY Ideas, 12 Planet of Viruses (A), 12 Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, 13 Poetry Home Repair Manual (The): Practical Advice for Beginning Poets, 38 Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste, 31 Pure, 22 Queen of Water (The), 7 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, 37 Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus, 31 Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout, 31 Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, 16 Reached, 7 Ready Player One, 7 Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, 13 Red and the Black (The), 23 Robopocalypse, 23 Round House (The), 23 Ruin, 7 Rules of Civility (The): A Novel, 23 Salvage the Bones, 23
Sandcastle Girls (The), 23 Secret Gift (A): How One Man’s Kindness—and a Trove of Letters—Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression, 31 Seraphina, 7 Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things, 13 Small Furry Prayer (A): Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life, 13 Snow Child (The), 23 Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes, 14 Spark of Life (The): Electricity in the Human Body, 14 Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, 32 Spooky Campfire Tales: Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Supernatural Lore, 36 Sports and their Fans: The History, Economics and Culture of the Relationship between Spectator and Sport, 14 Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (The), 7 Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different, 16 Story of Stuff (The): How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—and a Vision for Change, 14 Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, 15
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Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, 15 Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, 32 Super Species: The Creatures That Will Dominate the Planet, 15 Swamplandia!, 8 Tales of an African Vet, 15 Talk-Funny Girl (The), 24 Teen Angst: A Celebration of Really Bad Poetry, 39 Tell the Wolves I’m Home, 24 Texas Gothic, 8 This is How: Proven to Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More, for Young and Old Alike, 32 Time to Betray (A): The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran, 34 Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears, 15 Tragedy Paper (The), 24 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, 35 Undead (The): Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating-Heart Cadavers—How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death, 32 Various Positions, 8
Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey, 35 War, 32 Warrior’s Heart (The): Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage, 16 What Einstein Told his Cook, 33 Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, 8 White Devil (The), 24 Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, 35 Wingshooters, 24 Winter of Our Discontent (The), 25 Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us, 15 World Until Yesterday (The): What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies, 33 World’s Creepiest Places (The), 16 You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness, 33 Zahra’s Paradise, 35
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Author Index Alexander, Larry, 29 Amir, 35 Andrews, Donna, 3 Andrews, Lori, 37 Aronica, Lou, 37 Aronson, Marc, 15 Aronson, Roy, 15 Ashcroft, Frances, 14 Atherton, Nancy, 3 Bacigalupi, Paolo, 4 Baggott, Julia, 22 Baldwin, James, 20 Ball, Philip, 37 Ballard, Chris, 12 Barbery, Muriel, 19 Barr, Nevada, 19 Barron, Stephanie, 3 Bar-Zohar, Michael, 30 Beard, Jo Ann, 5 Bergstein, Rachelle, 15 Binet, Lauren, 5 Blake, Heather, 3 Bloom, Jonathan, 26 Blumenthal, Karen, 9, 16 Bohjalian, Chris, 23 Boianjiu, Shani, 22 Boo, Katherine, 27 Box, C. J., 3 Brady, Diane, 28 Bragg, Georgia, 11 Bray, Libba, 1, 19 Brooks, Geraldine, 18 Brunt, Carol Rifka, 24 Bryson, Bill, 26 Budhos, Maria, 15
Burns, Sarah, 27 Burroughs, Augusten, 32 Bynoe, Sarah, 39 Cain, Susan, 37 Campbell, Bonnie Jo, 22 Card, Orson Scott, 7 Carroll, Grace, 19 Cart, Matthew, 28 Cash, Wiley, 20 Cashore, Kristin, 2 Christie, Agatha, 19 Clement-Moore, Rosemary, 8 Cline, Ernest, 7 Condie, Ally, 7 Craughwell Thomas J., 27 Crichton, Michael, 21 Curran, Bob, 16 Daniels, Ian, 16 Dau, Stephen, 18 Davis, Jennifer Pharr, 27 Davis, Lindsey, 19 Desai, Kirin, 6 DeWoskin, Rachel, 2 Diamond, Jared, 33 Dixon, Chuck, 35 Dixon, Wheeler Winston, 11 Dostoevsky, Fyodor, 18 Dubne, Stephen J., 32 Dugard, Martin, 11, 29 Dumas, Alexandre, 2
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Eisenstock, Alan, 16 Epstein, Jennifer Cody, 20 Erdrich, Louise, 23 Evanovich, Janet, 19 Evans, Justin, 24 Farinango, Maria Virginia, 7 Ferraris, ZoĂŤ, 20 Fishman, Charles, 9 Fluke, Joanna, 3 Foer, Jonathan Safran, 10 Francis, Dick, 19 Frank, Katherine, 27 Frazier, Ian, 36 Freinkel, Susan, 13 Gaiman, Neil, 17 Gans, Herbert, 31 Glass, Charles, 8 Golding, William, 6 Goodavage, Maria, 14 Grafton, Sue, 19 Grant, Michael, 4 Green, John, 4 Greitens, Eric, 16 Grennan, Conor, 12 Gup, Ted, 31 Gupta, Amit, 12 Haddon, Mark, 3 Haines, Kathryn Miller, 3 Hall, Megan Kelley, 36 Hamilton, Garry, 15 Harbach, Chad, 18 Harden, Blaine, 10
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Harris, Charlaine, 19 Harris, Susan, 38 Hartman, Rachel, 7 Hauser, Brook, 12 Hawking, Steven, 11 Hicks, Brian, 15 Hillenbrand, Laura, 35 Hohn, Donovan, 30 Homans, Jennifer, 26 Horwitz, Tony, 29 Hosseini, Khaled, 35 Hubbard, Jenny, 6 Iggulden, Conn, 2 Ivey, Eowyn, 23 James, P. D., 19 Janeczko, Paul B., 38 Jennings, Ken, 36 Jensen, Kelly, 12 Jones, Carrie, 36 Jordan, Robert, 35 Junger, Sebastian, 32 Kahlil, Reza, 34 Kaminsky, Ilya, 38 Kargar, Zarghuna, 10 Kean, Sean, 28 Kick, Russ, 35 Kidder, Tracy, 30 Kiester, Jr., Edwin, 27 King, Laurie R., 3 Kingsolver, Barbara, 20 Klam, Julie, 33 Kleon, Austin, 38 Kooser, Ted, 38 Kotler, Steve, 13 LaBan, Elizabeth, 24 LaFevers, Robin, 4 Landers, Jack, 28 Lansdale, Joe R., 4
Laufer, Peter, 11 Leonard, Annie, 14 Levithan, David, 4, 21 Levitt, Steven D., 32 Lewis, C. S., 25 Lourie, Bruce, 13 Lutz, Lisa, 19 Lynsky, Dorian, 25 MacGregor, Neil, 11 Makos, Adam, 29 Mankell, Henning, 19 Mann, Charles C., 25 Marston, Edward, 3 Martin, George, R. R., 3 Maurer, Kevin, 31 McCall Smith, Alexander, 3 McCormick, Patricia, 6 McCullers, Carson, 5 McGonigal, Jane, 13 McIntyre, Ben, 28 Merullo, Roland, 24 Millard, Candice, 27 Mishal, Nissim, 30 Mlodinow, Leonard, 11 Morris, Jr., Seymour, 26 Murakami, Haruki, 17 Murphy, Monica, 31 Nye, Naomi Shihab, 38 O’Malley, Kevin, 11 O’Reilly, Bill, 11, 29 Oliver, Lauren, 1, 22 Owen, Mark, 31 Paolini, Christopher, 5 Parker, Robert B., 19 Patel, Raj, 15 Perry, Thomas, 19 48
Peters, Elizabeth, 3 Peters, Ellis, 3 Picoult, Jodi, 1 Piper, Ross, 12 Preston, Richard, 21 Pullman, Philip, 36 Quemmen, David, 32 Quinn, Kevin G., 14 Quinn, Spencer, 3 Ralston, Aron, 8 Rappaport, Doreen, 16 Redniss, Lauren, 31 Reeves, Richard, 10 Reichs, Kathy, 3 Resau, Laura, 7 Revoyr, Nina, 24 Roach, Mary, 12 Robbins, Alexandra, 28 Roberts, Les, 3 Robertshaw, Peter, 10 Robinson, Ken, 37 Robinson, Kim Stanley, 17 Rubalcaba, Jill, 10 Russell, Karen, 8 Schabas, Martha, 8 Schlosser, S. E., 36 Scott, Sir Walter, 20 Semple, Maria, 8 Sepetys, Ruta, 1 Sheinkin, Steve, 9 Sheldrick, Daphne, 16 Shenk, David, 11 Silva, Daniel, 20 Simon, Clea, 3 Sloan, Robin, 22 Smith, Jennifer E., 7 Smith, Rick, 13
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Steinbeck, John, 25 Stendahl, 23 Stevenson, Robert Louis, 3 Strayed, Cheryl, 35 Tabor, James M., 9 Talty, Steven, 34 Taylor, Laini, 19 Teresi, Dick, 32 Thomas, Sam, 21 Thomas, Will, 19 Thompson, Holly, 6 Thomson, David, 27 Towles, Amor, 23 Tran, GB, 35 Twain, Mark, 1 U.S. Naval Class of 2002, 36 Ung, Loung, 34 Van Leer, Samantha, 1 Volponi, Paul, 4 Walker Karen Thompson, 1 Ward, Jesmyn, 23 Wasik, Bill, 31 Watson, Larry, 17 Wein, Elizabeth, 2 Welle, Joshua, 36 Whitney, Daisy, 21 Willerslev, Rane, 31 Wilson, Daniel H., 23 Wolke, Robert, 33 Zimmer, Carl, 12
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