Love That Dog: a Novel by Sharon Creech
If you loved Walk Two Moons or Heartbeat, you will also enjoy this brief novel in free verse about a boy who learns to love poetry. He learns that poetry is not just for girls as he gets introduced to Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams.
You needn’t have read Holes to enjoy and understand this sequel to the prior novel. In this book, the main character named Armpit has a job and is doing well in school. He develops a friendship with his 10-year-old neighbor who has cerebral palsy. This fast-paced story has adventure galore.
You, Maybe: The Profound Asymmetry of Love in High School by Rachel Vail
Do you know anyone who “marches to a different drummer”? Josie, a sophomore in high school, has the courage to be her own person. Her independence is her most obvious characteristic—at least until Carson Gold, a girl magnet, expresses interest in her. From that moment on, Josie falls in love and loses herself. (8th grade & up)
Heat by Mike Lupica
When Michael Arroyo is on the baseball diamond, everything feels right. He's a terrific pitcher who dreams of leading his South Bronx All-Stars to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. It's a dream he shared with his father, one they brought with them as they fled Cuba and wound up living in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. (5th-8th grade)
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
“The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father.” Can she endure the difficulties she will face?
47 by Walter Mosley
“Forty-seven is a young slave boy living under the watchful eye of a brutal slave master. His life seems doomed until he meets a mysterious runaway slave, Tall John. From that fateful moment of meeting, 47’s life is dedicated
to obtaining his freedom.”
Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat
This is a first person narrative about an adolescent who travels from Haiti, her homeland, to Brooklyn where her father lives. Though the violence in Haiti caused nightmares, Celiane learns that new new home will present other challenges. You will laugh and cry with Celiane as she makes her way in her adopted land.
Day of Tears: a Novel in Dialogue by Jullius Lester. "Beginning with his first book, To Be a Slave, Lester has told the history of slavery through personal accounts that deny the dehumanizing message of the perpetrators. Here he draws on historical sources to fictionalize a real event: the biggest slave auction in American history, which took place in Savannah, Georgia, in 1859…The horror of the auction and its aftermath is unforgettable….” The dehumanization of slavery pierces every line of this story of Emma (a slave) and her sale “on this day that the skies weep nonstop on the proceedings below.”
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
Alvarez often writes about her beloved Dominican Republic, and this winner of the Pura Belpre Award is no exception. Set in the 1960s, Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom, but when the secret police repeatedly search her house for “evidence,” she begins to wonder. As conditions under the terrifying dictator become even worse, her family must go into hiding, and Anita must learn to cope with this difficult situation.
Summerland by Michael Chabon
The author wrote this book for his son who loves baseball. It is a fantasy that will enthrall anyone who has ever had a dream to be a hero.
The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Why don’t you join Robert, a boy who hates math, as he encounters a sly, humorous number devil who invades his dreams? Robert can never feel the same way about math again. Adult readers may appreciate this book too.
For Mature Readers:
Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Childhood by Fatima Mernissi
A delightful, humorous memoir of life in Morocco in the 1940s when harems still existed. These harems had many of the characteristics of communal living, though many men still had multiple wives. Mernissi recalls her family adventures with affection and provides detailed portraits of the people in her extended family and the settings in which they lived. Mernissi describes the world of women who still covered their heads and spent most of their time secluded. This is an appropriate choice for Women’s History Month in March, which celebrates the accomplishments of strong women.
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
If you enjoyed reading Cold Mountain with its detailed and sensuous descriptions, you will love this novel as well. It is the story of an orphan who becomes an Indian Chief (called “Indian” in the book), a lawyer, a senator, and a rich landowner. The story begins during Andrew Jackson’s presidency and ends during the Reconstruction. It is a loving look at the South and a harsh look at a government that mistreated and cheated the Native people.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Fuller grew up in Rhodesia during the civil war (1971-79). She describes life with her her siblings and parents, the latter being “free spirits,” even in the face of family tragedy. In a sensitive and non-judgmental tone, the author describes her parents’ racism in a country they love but whose people they disdain. No apologies in this book, even as the reader cringes.
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
Using the same format as The Devil in the White City, the author structures this story around 2 men: Marconi, the inventor of wireless communication, and Hawley Crippin, a murderer. As in his previous book, the two men’s lives are interwoven and find their touchpoint on the waters of the North Atlantic. Larson’s faithful recreation of the time just before World War I when people were hardly aware of their own obsessions.
Mixed: My Life in Black and White by Angela Nissel
Are you in the mood to kick back and laugh till your sides split? “In this candid, funny, and poignant memoir, Angela recounts growing up bi-racial in Philadelphia—moving back and forth between inner-city schools and white prep schools--…” In her search for identity, Nissel demonstrates the complexity of being multiracial.
There is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Africa’s Children by Melissa Fay Greene
This book demonstrates the meaning of the phrase, “saving the world one child at a time.” The setting: Ethiopia. The time: 2004. The issue: the AIDS crisis. This book reinforces the notion that one person really can make a difference.
Three Junes by Julia Glass (Audio book)
Family relationships that evolve over a period of ten years is the subject of this novel.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Audio book)
Late one night, exploring her father’s library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. These two discoveries plunge her into a world of mystery and force her to delve into her father’s secret life and her mother’s strange disappearance.
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules ed. David Sedaris
If you enjoy reading short stories, this is a premier anthology. The fourteen pieces include well-known authors such as Jhumpa Lahiri, Katherine Mansfield, Alice Munro, Flannery O'Connor, and Tobias Wolf. Why this title? Read the introduction by Sedaris and find out.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, by Mark Kurlansky. “Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been spurred by it, national diets have been based on it, economies have depended on it, and the settlement of North America was driven by it. Cod, as it turns out, is the reason Europeans set sail across the Atlantic, and it is the only reason they could.” This is a fascinating and satisfying read. If you have not read Salt by the same author, you might try that, as well. Both books are fascinating history.
The Known World: A Novel by Edward Jones
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and a national bestseller, this is the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave. "Set in Manchester County, Virginia, 20 years before the Civil War began, Edward P. Jones's debut novel is a masterpiece of overlapping plot lines, time shifts, and heartbreaking details of life under slavery. Caldonia Townsend is an educated black slaveowner, the widow of a well-loved young farmer named Henry, whose parents had bought their own freedom, and then freed their son, only to watch him buy himself a slave as soon as he had saved enough money." This is a beautifully written novel with many connections to present-day life.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Acclaimed British author Zadie Smith’s sprawling new novel is set in a college town outside Boston that will seem familiar to Beaver readers. The action takes place over one academic year and explores the tense and often comic relationships between and within two academic families, one Anglo-Caribbean and one of mixed race. Campus politics, academic hubris, cultural identity, generational and class conflicts, political correctness, adultery -- it’s all there. At 464 pages it’s a big book in hardcover but well worth the investment.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Barack Obama, the son of a black African father and a white American mother, has a legacy of dreams and aspirations inspired by his mixed heritage. Now a United States Senator from Illinois, he shares the details of his journey and engages us in his search for his “authentic” self. We are with him all of the way.
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Eric Larson
"Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor." From Amazon.com
Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir with a Forward by Maya Angelou by Dorothy Height
"Dorothy Height marched at major civil rights rallies, sat through tense White House meetings, and witnessed every significant victory in the struggle for racial equality. Yet as the sole woman among powerful, charismatic men, and as someone whose personal ambition was always secondary to her passion for her cause, she has received little mainstream recognition--until now."
From front flap
