Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, A   Dana Reinhardt 240pgs

Olive skinned and dark eyed, Simone looks nothing like her fair-haired family. She is, nonetheless, the beloved daughter of her adoptive parents and enjoys a close and supportive relationship with her younger brother. It therefore comes as a terrible intrusion in Simone's comfortable life when, after 16 years, her birth mother asks to meet her. Simone finds that Rivka, a 33-year-old self-exiled Hasidic Jew ,  is dying of cancer. .

Buddha Boy  Kathe Koja  117pgs

The kids at school call Jinsen "Buddha Boy"—he wears oversize tie-dyed dragon T- shirts, shaves his head, and always seems to be smiling. He’s clearly a freak. Then Justin is paired with him for a class project. As he gets to know Jinsen and his incredible artistic talent, Justin questions his own beliefs. But being friends with Buddha Boy isn’t simple, especially when Justin realizes that he’s going to have to take sides. What matters more: the high school social order or getting to know someone extraordinary?

Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin From Scientist to Diplomat Joan Dash 256 pgs

Benjamin Franklin's evolved from scientist to diplomat before and during the Revolutionary War, and he invented bifocals, made his famous kite experiment with electricity, and  his "sentry-box" experiment (an early version of the lightning rod). Though science interested him most, Franklin gravitated more towards politics, first in Britain and then as the person most responsible for France's support of the American Revolution.

Dear Miss Breed Jane Oppenheim 288 pgs

In the panic that followed Pearl Harbor, U.S. West Coast Japanese-Americans were forcible sent to Japanese Relocation camps. Clara Breed, a San Diego children's librarian, kept in touch with several of her evacuated young "regulars" and became an advocate for their release. Excerpts from letters, passages from the 1981 reparation hearings and lines from the author's own interviews with survivors punctuate the text. It not only creates a scathing picture of the living conditions those children and their families were forced to endure, but also bears eloquent witness to their deeply rooted patriotism and unshakable determination to make the best of things.

Define Normal Julie Anne Peters 208pgs

When Antonia is assigned to Jazz as a peer counselor, she figures there is no way she can help this tattooed, pierced, incorrigible girl. They are complete opposites. Antonia is a straight-A student whose parents are divorced and she is struggling to keep what's left of her family together as her mother battles depression. Jazz's family is wealthy and seemingly perfect. Through 15 hours of peer counseling, they go from wary classmates to friends who support and help one another. Both girls deal with their losses by finding new ways to look at their problems and to resume life as "normally" as possible.

For Teens Only: Quotes, Notes, and Advice You Can Use Carol Weston 256pgs

Sage advice, complete with 573 relevant and inspiring quotes, is the main focus of this interesting and upbeat self-help book. Topics include mind, body, friends, relationships, school, family, and work.

Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt 256pgs

Freakonomics anayzes incentives and how people get what they want. Many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. Applying rules of economics, Levitt examines motivations in some everyday situations, some life or death situations, takes some looks at the darker sides of life, and at some freakish situations.

For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Also, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage.

Great and Terrible Beauty, A  Libba Bray 432pgs

After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a boarding school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.

Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered Gary Paulsen 168pgs

In this comedy, a city cousin comes to stay on the farm with his cousin. He has never seen anything like the Larson homestead, nor has he witnessed anyone like second cousin Harris, prankster extraordinaire. Initiation to country life includes a swift kick in the head by Vivian the cow, run-ins with an angry rooster and the Larson's spirited pet lynx, as well as assorted dares and humiliations conducted by nine-year-old Harris.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince J.K. Rowling 672pgs

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses. And yet . . . As with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. And with Dumbledore's guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort -- and thus finds what may be his only vulnerability.

The Hot Zone Richard Preston 448pgs
The dramatic and chilling story of an Ebola virus outbreak in a suburban Washington, D.C. laboratory, with descriptions of frightening historical epidemics of rare and lethal viruses. More hair-raising than anything Hollywood could think of, because it's all true.

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life Lance Armstrong 304pgs

People around the world have found inspiration in the story of Lance Armstrong--a world-class athlete nearly struck down by cancer, only to recover and win the Tour de France, the multiday bicycle race famous for its grueling intensity. Armstrong is a thoroughgoing Texan jock, and the changes brought to his life by his illness are startling and powerful, but he's just not interested in wearing a hero suit.  It's Not About the Bike is the perfect title for this book about life, death, illness, family, setbacks, and triumphs, but not especially about the bike.

Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 400pgs

Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant grow up together in Afghanistan in the early 1970s. The boys are inseparable, spending idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors-- until an unspeakable event changes their relationship forever.
Then the Soviets invade Afganistan, and later the Taliban take over. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty, and finds himself called to return to Afghanistan.

Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis190pgs

Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.

Love Always, Petra: A Story of Courage and the Discovery of Life's Hidden Gifts 208pgs Petra Nemcova and Jane Scovell

On a perfect sun-kissed morning in a beachfront resort in Thailand, Petra Nemcova was packing, getting ready to leave her bungalow, when she heard screams. Suddenly, people were running in all directions as thunderous noises split the air. In the next instant, she was fighting for her life. Like thousands of other people caught up in the tsunami of 2004, Petra and the love of her life, photographer Simon Atlee, had no warning, no chance to say good-bye.

For eight terrifying hours, in excruciating pain from a shattered pelvis, Petra found refuge in the branches of a palm tree. The sun beat down on her mercilessly as she drifted in and out of consciousness. The world around her was in chaos. Now, in this stirring and poignant memoir, a courageous young woman tells her moving, unforgettable story.

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home Nando Parrado 304pgs

In October 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes. Not immediately rescued, the survivors turned to cannibalism to survive and after 72 days were saved. Rugby team member Nando Parrado, has written a beautiful story of friendship, tragedy and perseverance. High in the Andes, with a fractured skull, having lost his mother and sister in the crash, struggling to stay alive, his guide becomes his beloved father: "each [stride] brought me closer to my father... each step I took was a step stolen back from death."

My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 432pgs

Thirteen-year-old Anna Fitzgerald walks into the office of lawyer Campbell Alexander and announces she wants to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. Anna was conceived after her older sister, Kate, developed a rare form of leukemia at the age of two, and has donated bone marrow and blood to her sister. Now she has been asked to donate a kidney, and she intends to refuse. Campbell is a jaded young man who nevertheless decides to take her case pro bono. Anna’s parents are shocked when they learn of her lawsuit, and her mother, a former civil defense attorney, decides to represent them. Anna refuses to budge on her position despite the fact that she clearly loves her sister and longs for her family’s happiness. As the gripping court case builds, the story takes a shocking turn.

Petey Ben Mikaelsen 256pgs

This story is told in two parts. The first partl relates Petey's background: in 1922, at the age of two, his distraught parents commit him to the state's insane asylum, unaware that their son is actually suffering from severe cerebral palsy. Petey avoids withdrawal and depression despite the horrific conditions in his new "home" and, over the course of 60 years, a string of caretakers befriends but then leaves him.
The point of view in part two shifts from Petey to Trevor, an eighth-grader suffering from both lack of friends and lack of parental attention after a series of moves. Trevor finds the answer to his needs in an unlikely friendship with the 70-year-old Petey, who has moved to a nursing home.

Please Stop Laughing At Me Jodee Blanco 276pgs

Jodee Blanco was once a troubled child, tormented by her school mates. In this moving account, Blanco describes how she was first victimized in a Roman Catholic grammar school because she defended some deaf children when they were picked on by hearing students. She gave the names of the ringleaders of this cruel activity to one of the nuns, and was subsequently ostracized by former friends for being a tattletale.
In high school, she was physically abused by students who also objected to her "goody two shoes" attitude. Blanco does feel, however, that those painful early years gave her the strength to become a successful adult.

Prom Laurie Halse Anderson 224pgs

Ashley understands that the senior prom at her Philadelphia school is a big deal to her close friends even though she thinks it's "stupid." So imagine her shock at finding herself the most likely candidate to save the prom after a troubled math teacher makes off with the funds. Ashley's as ambivalent about her gorgeous but undependable boyfriend as she is about her college prospects; her part-time job serving pizza in a rat costume is far from fulfilling; and her family, which she calls "'no-extra-money-for-nuthin'-poor," mortifies her. Ashley tells her story in a gum-snapping, tell-it-like-it-is voice that combines humor with honest questions about her future.

Tale of Despereaux, The Kate DiCamillo 272pgs

A charming children's fairy tale of unlikely heroes whose destinies entwine to bring about a joyful resolution. Despereaux, a charming mouse whose is French, declares him to be "such the disappointment" at his birth and the rest of his family seems to agree that he is very odd. He falls deeply in love with the human Princess Pea. Roscuro is a rat with an uncharacteristic love of light and soup, which leads him into trouble. And Miggery Sow is a peasant girl so dim that she believes she can become a princess.

Truth About Forever, The Sarah Dessen 384 pgs

Seventeen year old Macy Queen says she's coping with her dad's death two years ago, when nothing could be further from the truth. Really, she is drowning in grief while hiding behind her good grades and being good. She feels lost when her boyfriend heads to "Brain Camp" for the summer, and she finds herself a job with the quirky Wish Catering crew, and meets Wes, whose chaotic lifestyle is in direct opposition to her own. As the two share their stories over the summer, Macy realizes she can no longer keep her feelings on ice. Though it feels like her future ended with her dad's death, Macy learns that forever is all about beginnings.

Wreath for Emmett Till, A Marilyn Nelson 48pges

This memorial to the black teen lynched for whistling at a white woman is writtenas formal poetry. With 15 poems in the cycle, the last line of one being the first line of the next, and each of the first lines makes up the entirety of the 15th. This chosen formality brings distance and reflection to readers, but also calls attention to the horrifically ugly events. The language is highly figurative in one sonnet, cruelly graphic in the next. The illustrations echo the representative nature of the poetry, using images from nature and taking advantage of the emotional quality of color.