Related Reading List
The following titles were selected by Ally Dowds, Youth Technology Librarian at the Central Boston Public
Library, to offer additional support for the “Nature vs. Nurture: Origins of Teen Violence and Suicide” series.
GSC program hosts are encouraged to recommend these titles for additional thematic exploration, plan
supplemental programs using the list, or seek local funding to expand the series to include discussion of one or
more additional titles.
The Sin-Eater's Confession by Ilsa J. Bick
Carolrhoda Books, 2014
People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff.
Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy.
I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I
knew he had dreams—even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them.
Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how
bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds
like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands.
What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet?
Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010
Five months ago, Valerie Leftman’s boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop
him, Valerie inadvertently saves the life of a classmate, but is implicated in the shootings because of the list
she helped create. A list of people and things they hated. The list her boyfriend used to pick his targets.
Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her
senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with
her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took
place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Speak, 2010
In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only
recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as
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her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story
about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008
Sometimes you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same.
Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who
have attempted the ultimate act – suicide.
Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade.
Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills.
And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle
with his parents, his life, himself.
In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. They grabbed the blade, the bottle,
the gun – and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they
can find their way to a better life— but only if they're strong and can fight the demons that brought them here
in the first place.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Harvill Secker, 1959
An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of
adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to World War II.
Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a
harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual.
Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like
the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Harper Collins, 1999
This New York Times bestselling novel and National Book Award nominee from acclaimed author Walter Dean
Myers tells the story of Steve Harmon, a teenage boy in juvenile detention and on trial. Presented as a
screenplay of Steve's own imagination, and peppered with journal entries, the book shows how one single
decision can change our whole lives.
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Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy Duburke
Lee & Low Books, 2010
Eleven-year-old Roger is trying to make sense of his classmate Robert "Yummy" Sandifer's death, but first he
has to make sense of Yummy's life. Yummy could be as tough as a pit bull sometimes. Other times he was as
sweet as the sugary treats he loved to eat. Was Yummy some sort of monster, or just another kid?
As Roger searches for the truth, he finds more and more questions. How did Yummy end up in so much
trouble? Did he really kill someone? And why do all the answers seem to lead back to a gang—the same gang
Roger's older brother belongs to?
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty is a compelling dramatization based on events that occurred in
Chicago in 1994. This gritty exploration of youth gang life will force readers to question their own
understandings of good and bad, right and wrong.
By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters
Disney Hyperion, 2011
After a lifetime of being bullied, Daelyn is broken beyond repair. She has tried to kill herself before, and is
determined to get it right this time. Though her parents think they can protect her, she finds a Web site for
"completers" that seems made just for her. She blogs on its forums, purging her harrowing history. At her
private Catholic school, the only person who interacts with her is a boy named Santana. No matter how poorly
she treats him, he just won't leave her alone. And it's too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life . . .
isn't it?
In this harrowing, compelling novel, Julie Anne Peters shines a light on what might make a teenager want to
kill herself, as well as how she might start to bring herself back from the edge. A discussion guide and resource
list prepared by "bullycide" expert C. J. Bott are included in the back matter.
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Atria Books, 2007
Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and The Tenth Circle, pens her most riveting book yet,
with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy.
Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the day its complacency is
shattered by a school shooting. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the
state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened before her very own eyes--or can she? As the
trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show--destroying the
closest of friendships and families. Nineteen Minutes asks what it means to be different in our society, who
has the right to judge someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they seem to be.
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Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2014
In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them
properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them
and I'm sorry I couldn't be more than I was--that I couldn't stick around--and that what's going to happen
today isn't their fault.
Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with
his grandfather's P-38 pistol. Maybe one day he'll believe that being different is okay, important even. But not
today.
The Program by Suzanne Young
Simon Pulse, 2014
In this “gripping tale for lovers of dystopian romance” (Kirkus Reviews), true feelings are forbidden, teen
suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.
Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst
could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one
child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through
The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.
Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried
as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe
and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the
promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker.
Depression is setting in.
And The Program is coming for them.
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