Summer Reading 2009 – Thank you for all your hard work Ms. Nancy!
For an abbreviated printable pamphlet, click here.
Summer is a fabulous opportunity to dabble, explore, visit old worlds and travel into new ones — all while sprawled on a couch or sitting under a tree (book in hand). To guide you down the path of summer reading, the Eckstein Library offers the following list of recommended titles.
Be open to all formats! Information and ideas can come in a brilliant variety of packages.
Choose “just right” books! You are your own best expert on the definition of a great read. Decide for yourself what sounds appealing: fantastical, realistic, sad, humorous, deadly serious or light-hearted.
Read these titles along with your family and friends (and discuss the ideas, if folks are willing). (Parents, join the crowd! You’ll be amazed at how gripping, satisfying and memorable young adult literature can be.)
The Guys’ Bookshelf
Acceleration by Graham McNamee (Winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award)
Toronto teen hunts serial killer — a thriller!
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (Printz Honor Book)
Airship, winged creatures, pirates — swashbuckling capers!
Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden. (Alex Award)
Brilliant adventures of soon-to-be Mongol Emperor.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Boring life traded for the “Great Perhaps.”
[Pair with Green's equally outstanding novel, An Abundance of Katherines.]
Payback by Paul Langan
Bully humiliated; will he seek revenge?
[Pair with prequel, The Bully, also by Langan.]
Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers. (New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen Age, 2009)
Young soldier confronts truth about war.
[Audio CD has stellar reviews.]
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Unwanted teens “unwound,” body parts recycled.
Powerful Girls
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson (2009 Newbery Honor)
World seen through rap, friend’s eyes.
Esperanza Rising/Esperanza Renace by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Pura Belpre Award)
Mexican life uprooted; American possibilities planted.
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith ( CCBC Book of the Week)
African-American girl “passes” to become WWII pilot.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (NBA Finalist, Printz Honor)
Feisty girl challenges all-male secret society.
[Pair with Jellicoe Road]
Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
Resilient young waitress tackles life’s pitfalls.
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Abandoned teen sent to rich relatives.
The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Wisconsin farm girl — high-school football player.
[Pair with Murdock's prequel, Dairy Queen.]
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words (Great Graphic Novels)
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yan (National Book Award, Printz Honor)
Humorous, interconnected tales of race & friendship.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Stranger in a strange land — wordless story.
Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa
Manga masterpiece from Hiroshima bomb survivor.
Beowulf adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds
Anglo-Saxon legend, epic battles, extraordinary art.
Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History and
Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
by Art Spiegelman
Mice, cats, pigs chillingly depict Holocaust.
Pitch Black: Don’t Be Skerd by Youme Landowne and Anthony Horton
Artist paints life of subway-tunnel dweller.
(YALSA Top Ten Graphic Novels)
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale; illustrated by Nathan Hale
Spirited heroine, evil witch: LOADS of fun.
Pain and Triumph ~ Challenges of Being a Teen
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue by Julius Lester (Coretta Scott King Award)
Sorrow, devastation at historic slave auction.
Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn
Two young friends face Nazi onslaught.
[Pair with: Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi by David Chotjewitz]
La Linea by Ann Jaramillo
Mexican siblings on treacherous journey to California.
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (Printz Award Winner 2009)
Girl masterminds Australian boarding-school wars.
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Shy, smart kid survives freshman year.
A Step from Heaven by An Na
Family and culture: Korean, American or both?
[Pair with Children of the River by Linda Crew.]
Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi
Danger and courage in Japanese-occupied Korea.
[For a controversial mirror-view of this story, pair with So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins.]
What If …? Other-Worldly Realities
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Accident, amnesia — what is identity, anyway?
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce (Morris Award Winner)
Spirited English girl confronts 18th-century Rumpelstiltskin.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman/illustrations by Dave McKean (2009 Newbery Winner)
Orphaned boy raised by cemetery creatures.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Post-apocalyptic North America — spellbinding page-turner.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Meteor hits moon, Earthlings in crisis.
Me, the Missing and the Dead by Jenny Valentine (Morris Award Finalist)
Cremated soul — key to dad’s disappearance?
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Teens become sole survivors of tsunami.
Great Picture Books (Yes, Picture Books! You’re Never Too Old …)
Passage to Freedom: the Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki
Diplomat defies orders, issues life-saving visas.
[Pair with: One More Border: The True Story of One Family's Escape from War-Torn Europe by William Kaplan with Shelley Tanaka; illus. by Stephen Taylor.]
The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence.
African-Americans stream North, WWI era.
Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting.
Orphans sent West to new homes.
[Pair with Rodzina by Karen Cushman.]
Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam by Walter Dean Myers (illus. Ann Grifalconi)
Face to face with deadly threat.
[Pair with Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers.]
Focus On: Laurie Halse Anderson
Winner of this year’s Margaret Edwards Award for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. The following titles all showcase Ms. Anderson’s extraordinary talent as a writer.
Fever 1793
Resourceful teen, freed slaves, horrific epidemic.
[Pair with An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy]
Speak – Will assaulted girl reclaim her voice?
Catalyst – Academic super-star finally confronts mom’s death.
And if you’re really hooked, also consider: Wintergirls – A fight to the death — against food.
Internet Resources
Seattle Public Library Reader’s Corner: Readings Lists for Teens
King County Public Library System Staff Picks for Teens
New York Public Library “Stuff for the Teen Age”