Salem Community High School Media Center Abe / RFL

Abraham Lincoln Award List 2009-2010 *2009-10 Abe List with Youtube Book Introductions* Previous years: Abraham Lincoln HS Book Award list 2008-2009 Abraham Lincoln HS Book Award list 2007-2008 Abraham Lincoln HS Book Award list 2006-2007
	An Abundance of Katherines by John Green Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.
	Aftershock by Kelly Easton Witnessing his parents' death in a car crash in Idaho, seventeen-year-old Adam's mind is sent spinning as he begins to walk his way back home to Rhode Island in an attempt to deal with the tragedy he knows will forever alter the only life he has ever known.
	Avalon High by Meg Cabot Having moved to Annapolis, Maryland with her medievalist parents, high school junior Ellie enrolls at Avalon High School, where several students may or may not be reincarnations of King Arthur and his court. Also Graphic novel: Avalon High: Coronation
	The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
	The Christopher Killer: A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger. Sequels: The Angel of Death and Circle of Blood
	City of Bones by Cassandra Clare Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster. Sequels: City of Ashes and City of Glass
	Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah Year Eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style.
	The Good Guy by Dean Koontz Chatting with a nervous stranger sitting at a local bar, Timothy Carrier soon realizes that he has been mistaken for a killer-for-hire and has been given an envelope full of cash and a contract on a pretty young woman whose photograph and address accompany the money.
	Gym Candy by Carl Deuker Groomed by his father to be a star player, football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick Johnson, who works hard for a spot on the varsity team his freshman year, then tries to hold onto his edge by using steroids, despite the consequences to his health and social life.
	The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding In a world similar to Victorian London, Thaniel, a seventeen-year-old hunter of deadly, demonic creatures called the wych-kin, takes in an lost, possessed girl, and becomes embroiled in a plot to unleash evil on the world.
	I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from "normal teenage life" until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission. Sequels: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy and Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover
	Inexcusable by Chris Lynch High school senior and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong.
	Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles In alternating chapters, seventeen-year-olds Caleb and Maggie relate the difficulties of readjusting to school, and changing relationships with family, friends, and one another, a year after a drunk driving accident sent her to the hospital with a crippling leg injury and him to prison.
	Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Sequel: The Dead and the Gone
	A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah In a heart-wrenching, candid autobiography, a human rights activist offers a firsthand account of war from the perspective of a former child soldier, detailing the violent civil war that wracked his native Sierra Leone and the government forces that transformed a gentle young boy into a killer as a member of the army.
	Look Me in the Eye: My Life With Asperger’s by John Elder Robison In an entertaining and inspirational memoir of living with Asperger's Syndrome, the author describes life growing up different in an unusual family, his unusual talents, his struggle to live a "normal" life, his diagnosis at the age of forty with Asperger's, and the dramatic changes that have occurred since that diagnosis.
	The Luxe by Anna Godbersen In Manhattan in 1899, five teens of different social classes lead dangerously scandalous lives, despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others. Sequels: Rumors and Envy
	Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult The people of Sterling, New Hampshire, are forever changed after a shooting at the high school leaves ten people dead, and the judge presiding over the trial tries to remain unbiased, even though her daughter witnessed the events and was friends with the assailant.
	Pride of Baghdad by Brian Vaughan A pride of lions escapes from the Baghdad Zoo during the Iraq War and question the meaning of freedom. Graphic novel format.
	Rooftop by Paul Volponi Still reeling from seeing police shoot his unarmed cousin to death on the roof of a New York City housing project, seventeen-year-old Clay is dragged into the whirlwind of political manipulation that follows.
	Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.
	Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr Seventeen-year-old Aislinn, who has the rare ability to see faeries, is drawn against her will into a centuries-old battle between the Summer King and the Winter Queen, and the survival of her life, her love, and summer all hang in the balance. Sequels: Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity

	READ FOR A LIFETIME 2009-2010 Booklist from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White Previous years: Read for a Lifetime 2005-2006 Read for a Lifetime 2006-07 Read for a Lifetime 2007-2008
	Briar Rose by Jane Yolen 224 pgs Rebecca loved listening to her grandmother, Gemma, tell the fairy tale Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty). Now, as Gemma lies on her deathbed, a grown-up Rebecca asks her to tell the story one last time, it becomes twined with the dark history of the Holocaust.
	Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson 320 pgs After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City during the Revolutionary War, Isabel, a teenage slave, is approached by rebels, who promise her freedom if she uses the invisibility her slave status brings to spy.
	The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson 208 pgs Jess’s life expands when he and Leslie, a newcomer in his class create a secret kingdom in the woods named Terabithia. They find solace in the sanctuary of Terabithia until a tragic accident separates them forever.
	Coraline by Neil Gaiman 192 pgs Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.
	Dairy Queen by Katherine Murdock 288 pgs After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself. Sequel: The Off Season
	Deadline by Chris Crutcher 336 pgs Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, 18-year-old Ben Wolf elects to forgo treatment and keep his illness secret from family and friends in an attempt to have a "normal" senior year. He connects with his crush, frustrates his biased U.S. Government teacher, and tries out for football, before he begins to realize the consequences of keeping his condition hidden.
	Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart 352 pgs Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.
	The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 320 pgs After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
	Hoops of Steel by John Foley 240 pgs Passionate about basketball, troubled teenager Jackson O'Connell chronicles the ways the game colors the events of his senior year in high school, as he deals with the breakup of his family, being ostracized at school, and having second-string status on his varsity team.
	How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt 240 pgs Seventeen-year-old Harper Evans hopes to escape the effects of her father's divorce on her family and friendships by signing up as a summer volunteer to build houses for tornado victims in Tennessee. The middle of the country sounds better to Harper than her own home, which feels empty since her stepmother and stepsiblings moved out. Harper slowly reveals the events in L.A. that led to heartbreak and then the healing work, friendships, and romance she finds in Tennessee.
	The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 384 pgs Sixteen-year-old Katniss poaches food for her widowed mother and little sister from the forest outside the legal perimeter of District 12, the poorest of the dozen districts constituting Panem. The rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another. Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. District 12’s second “tribute” is Peeta, the baker’s son, who has been in love with Katniss since he was five. Although Katniss may be skilled with a bow and arrow, she has much to learn about personal sentiments.
	I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields 256 pgs Author Harper Lee is a mysterious figure who leads a very private life in her hometown in Alabama, refusing to give interviews or talk about her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee’s life is as rich as her fiction, from her girlhood as a rebellious tomboy to her University of Alabama days and early years as a struggling writer in New York City. This is a riveting portrait of an unconventional, high-spirited woman who drew on her love of writing and her Southern home to create a book that continues to speak to new generations of readers.
	Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta 432 pgs Taylor Markham isn’t just one of the new student leaders of her boarding school, she’s also the heir to the Underground Community, one of three battling school factions in her small Australian community (the others being the Cadets and the Townies). For a generation, these three camps have fought “the territory wars,” a deadly serious negotiation of land and property rife with surprise attacks, diplomatic immunities, and physical violence. Only this year, it’s complicated: Taylor might just have a thing for Cadet leader Jonah, and Jonah might just be the key to unlocking the secret identity of Taylor’s mother, who abandoned her when she was 11.
	The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch 224 pgs When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give a lecture to impart what he learned in life, he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment. It was about living.
	The Life of Pi by Yann Martel 420 pgs The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in India. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, and a fervent love of stories. His father packs up the family and their zoo on an enormous freighter to Canada. Shipwrecked, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a hyena, a orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal Tiger, drifting for 227 days through shark infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination.
	The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R Tolkien In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elvensmiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, still it remained lost to him . . . Follow this quest of large-hearted, hairy-footed hobbits through Middle-earth, complete with its own geography, history, languages, and legends.
	Marley and Me by John Grogan 320 pgs Marley was a sweet, affectionate puppy that grew into a lovably naughty, hyperactive dog. The story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Can humans discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog?
	The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards 432 pgs On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees that she has Down's syndrome. To protect Norah, his wife, he asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself.
	Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles 368 pgs When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect.
	Playing for Pizza by John Grisham 320 pgs Cut from the Cleveland Browns after the worst performance in the history of the NFL, Rick Dockery, desperate to play football, is hired by the Panthers of Parma, in the Italian National Football League as quarterback of the inept but full-of-heart Parma Panthers. He finds himself confronted by the confusing diversity of Italian culture, language,and romance. Then, the underdog Panthers challenge the powerhouse Bergamo Lions for a shot at the Italian Superbowl.
	The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur 176 pgs This collection of poetry was written by the rapper between 1989 and 1991, before he became famous. The poems are passionate, sometimes angry, and often compelling.
	Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet 432 pgs In England in 1995, fifteen-year-old Tamar, grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather, opens the box of War II memorabilia that he left her and slowly begins to uncover the secrets of his life in the Dutch resistance during the intense, sometimes brutal events of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the relationship between her grandfather and the girl Tamar is named for, and the climactic events that forever cast a shadow on his life and that of his family.
	Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 256 pgs This American classic is about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, who journeys from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance, a Black woman who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard. .This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in Black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates boldly and brilliantly African- American culture and heritage.
	Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher 320 pgs When Clay Jenson plays the cassette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death, as he goes to the locations she wants him to visit.
	Tough Boy Sonatas by Curtis Crisler 88 pages This collection of 38 poems, for the mature reader, offers a view of the boys who run within the confines of the industrial town of Gary, IN. Their lives, unknown to the "groggy commuters" who flash by on the train, are harsh and difficult, bold and passionate. These poems are muscular and vivid, fierce with the sound and force of language.

Teen reading challenge

Sign up in the Media Center by Oct 20, 2009 .
Read four or more of the books on either suggested reading list to:
• Enjoy new books
• Four books on Read for a Lifetime earn a signed certificate from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White
• Vote for your favorite Abraham Lincoln Award book with high school students statewide, if you read at least four books on the Abraham Lincoln Award list by Feb 28.
• Writing college applications? Read four or more books and include the reading program in your activities.

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Last modified 17 AUG 2009

Salem Community High School Media Center

READ FOR A LIFETIME 2009-2010 Booklist