DIVERSE LITERATURE
TITLE
AUTHOR
QTY.
LEXILE
OR
GRADE
RANGE
A Short History of Nearly
Everything
Bill Bryson
5
1190L
A wrinkle in Time
Madeleine
L'Engle
35
740L
Animals in Translation: Using
the Mysteries of Autism to
Decode Animal Behavior
Temple Grandin, 5
Catherine
Johnson
1130L
Bee Season
Myla Goldberg
1050L
5
DESCRIPTION
Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization,
Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all
to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the
world's most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists,
anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices,
laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books,
pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful
minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest,
and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely
clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as
only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or
entertaining.
In this story, Meg Murry, her extraordinary little brother Charles
Wallace, and schoolmate Calvin O'Keefe make the acquaintance of
eccentric Mrs. Whatsit and friends (who turn out to be extraterrestrial
beings). Together they journey through a wrinkle in time, a tesseract, to
rescue the Murry's' missing father from an evil presence (likened by
some interpreters to a black hole), and a sinister brain called IT.
Temple's professional training as an animal scientist and her history as a
person with autism have given her a perspective like that of no other
expert in the field. Standing at the intersection of autism and animals,
she offers unparalleled observations and groundbreaking ideas about
both.
Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects never
to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his
study of Jewish mysticism: her bother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's
spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam.
But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick
succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In
this altered reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes
upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his
displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. When
Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is Eliza who must
order the chaos.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline
Woodson
35
990L
Bud Not Buddy
Christopher Paul 35
Curtis
950L
Crazy Loco
David Rice
56
830L
Dreams from My Father: A
story of Race and Inheritance
Barack Obama
5
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway
home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow
up as an African American in the 1960's and 1970's, living with the
remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights
movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and
emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she
searches for her place in the world. Woodson's eloquent poetry also
reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the
fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories
inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted
writer she was to become.
Old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things
going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things. 2. He's the
author of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a funner Life and
Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. Hiss momma never told him who
his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway
and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!Bud's
got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides
to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not
hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway Himself.
Meet Loco, a dog with a passion for firecrackers. And Pedro, an altar boy
forced to learn a hard lesson from two of the toughest, oldest men ever
to serve the Lord. Jordan and Todd are two boys from California who
don't know what they're in for when they push their Texas cousins a
little too far. A collection of nine stories about Mexican American kids
growing up in the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas.
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black
African father and a white American mother searches for a workable
meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where
Barack Obama learns that his father--a figure he knows more as a myth
than as a man---has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death
inspires an emotional odyssey--- first to a small town in Kansas, from
which he retraces the migration of his mother's family to Hawaii, and
then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts
the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided
inheritance.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Echo
Pam Munoz
Ryan
35
680L
Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters
and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a
prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later, Friedrich in
Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn
become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives.
All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a
brother, holding a family together. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible
thread of destiny, their suspenseful solo stories converge in an
orchestral crescendo. Richly imagined and masterfully crafted, Echo
pushes the boundaries of genre, form, and storytelling innovation to
create a wholly original novel that will resound in your heart long after
the last note has been struck.
Full Cicada Moon
Marilyn Hilton
35
790L
Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men
Who Changed America
Andrea Pinkney,
Brian Pinkney
5
Happy in Our Skin
Fran
Manushkim
35
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black
African father and a white American mother searches for a workable
meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where
Barack Obama learns that his father--a figure he knows more as a myth
than as a man---has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death
inspires an emotional odyssey--- first to a small town in Kansas, from
which he retraces the migration of his mother's family to Hawaii, and
then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts
the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided
inheritance.
Hand in Hand presents the stories of ten men from different eras in
American history, organized chronologically to provide a scope from
slavery to the modern day. The stories are accessible, fully-drawn
narratives offering the subjects' childhood influences, the time and place
in which they lived, their accomplishments and motivations, and the
legacies they left for future generations as links in the "freedom chain."
Is there anything more splendid than a baby's skin? For families of all
stripes comes a sweet celebration of what makes us unique - and what
holds us together. Look at you! You look so cute in your brand-new
birthday suit. Just savor these bouquets of babies- cocoa-brown
cinnamon, peaches and cream. As they grow, their clever skin does too,
enjoying hugs and tickles, protecting them inside and out, and making
them one of a kind.
540L
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Harvesting Hope: The Story
of Cesar Chavez
Kathleen Krull
5
AD800L
A biography of Cesar Chavez, from age ten when he and his family lived
happily on their Arizona ranch, to age thirty-eight when he led a peaceful
protest against California migrant workers' miserable working
conditions.
Hidden Figures
Margot Lee
Shetterly
35
1120L
I Am Malala
Malala
Yousafzai
35
830L
In Cold Blood: A True
Account of a Multiple Murder
and its Consequences
Truman Capote
5
1040L
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the
moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human
computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate
the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. This
book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson,
Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African-American women
who lived through the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and
the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the
face of NASA and the country.
I Am Malala. This is my story. Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old
when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime.
They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls
couldn't go to school. Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan
transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she
believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9,
2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank
while riding the bus on her way home from school. No one expected her
to survive.
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four
members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a
shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent
motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote
reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture,
trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing
suspense and astonishing empathy.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
In the footsteps of Crazy
Horse
Joseph Marshall
III
35
620L
Jimmy McClean is a Lakota boy—though you wouldn’t guess it by his
name: his father is part white and part Lakota, and his mother is Lakota.
When he embarks on a journey with his grandfather, Nyles High Eagle,
he learns more and more about his Lakota heritage—in particular, the
story of Crazy Horse, one of the most important figures in Lakota and
American history. Drawing references and inspiration from the oral
stories of the Lakota tradition, celebrated author Joseph Marshall III
juxtaposes the contemporary story of Jimmy with an insider’s
perspective on the life of Tasunke Witko, better known as Crazy Horse (c.
1840–1877). The book follows the heroic deeds of the Lakota leader who
took up arms against the US federal government to fight against
encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people,
including leading a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Jesse
Gary Soto
57
900L
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice
and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson 35
A moving portrait of two sweet, ambitious Mexican American brothers
who hope junior college will help them escape their heritage of tedious
physical labor. Their struggles are humorous, true to life, and deeply
affecting.
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice
Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate
and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and
children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system.
One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who
was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t
commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political
machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his
understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an
unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of
age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an
inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
1130L
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely
Through a Never-Ending War
Deborah Ellis
5
800L
Since its publication in 2000, hundreds of thousands of children all over
the world have read and loved The Breadwinner. By reading the story of
eleven-year-old Parvana and her struggles living under the terror of the
Taliban, young readers came to know the plight of children in
Afghanistan. But what has happened to Afghanistan's children since the
fall of the Taliban in 2001? In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find
out and she interviewed children who spoke about their lives now.
After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on
the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteenyear-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, and orangutan--and a
450 pound royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most
extraordinary and beloved works of fiction in recent years.
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
5
830L
Listen Slowly
Thanhha Lai
35
890L
A California girl born and raised, Mai can’t wait to spend her vacation at
the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother,
who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband
during the Vietnam War. Mai’s parents think this trip will be a great
opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her
culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot,
smelly, and the last place she wants to be. Besides barely speaking the
language, she doesn’t know the geography, the local customs, or even
her distant relatives. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance
between her two completely different worlds.
Mama's Nightingale: A Story
of Immigration and
separation
Edwidge
Danticat
35
NC890L
Martin's Big Words: The life
of Martin Luther King Jr.
Doreen
Rappaport
37
AD410L
After Saya's mother is sent to an immigration detention center, Saya
finds comfort in listening to her mother's warm greeting on their
answering machine. To ease the distance between them while she’s in
jail, Mama begins sending Saya bedtime stories inspired by Haitian
folklore on cassette tape. Moved by her mother's tales and her father's
attempts to reunite their family, Saya writes a story of her own—one
that just might bring her mother home for good. With stirring
illustrations, this tender tale shows the human side of immigration and
imprisonment—and shows how every child has the power to make a
difference.
This picture-book biography is an excellent and accessible introduction
for young readers to learn about one of the world's most influential
leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Doreen Rappaport weaves the
immortal words of Dr, King into a captivating narrative to tell the story of
his life.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
My Own True Name
Pat Mora
51
GR 9 & UP
In this anthology, Pat Mora has gathered the best of her poems with
young-adult readers in mind, and has added to them several new poems
published here for the first time. Using the cactus plant as her guiding
metaphor for our existence, she presents more than sixty lyrics grouped
variously into Blooms, Thorns, and Roots.
Out of the Dust
Karen Hesse
30
NP
Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm
Gladwell
5
1080L
This gripping story, written in sparse first-person, free-verse poems, is
the compelling tale of Billie Jo's struggle to survive during the dust bowl
years of the Depression. With stoic courage, she learns to cope with the
loss of her mother and her grieving father's slow deterioration. There is
hope at the end when Billie Jo's badly burned hands are healed, and she
is able to play her beloved piano again. The 1998 Newbery Medal
winner.
What makes the best, the brightest, the most famous, and the most
successful excel? The answer to the question, Malcolm Gladwell insists,
resides in the culture, family, and upbringing of these high achievers. To
demonstrate his point, he delves into the backgrounds of soccer players,
mathematicians, software billionaires, and even John, Paul, George, and
Ringo.
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
Mildred D.
Taylor
35
920L
Romiette and Julio
Sharon M.
Draper
44
610L
With the land to hold them together, nothing can tear the Logans apart.
Why is the land so important to Cassie's family? It takes the events of
one turbulent year—the year of the night riders and the burnings, the
year a white girl humiliates Cassie in public simply because she is black—
to show Cassie that having a place of their own is the Logan family's
lifeblood. It is the land that gives the Logan's their courage and pride, for
no matter how others may degrade them, the Logan's possess
something no one can take away.
When Romiette Cappelle meets Julio Montague, she feels as though she
has met the soul mate who can rescue her from her recurring nightmare
about fire and water. But like the Shakespearean characters whose
names echo theirs, Romiette and Julio discover that not everyone
approves of their budding romance. In their case, it is because Romiette
is African-American and Julio is Hispanic, and the Devil dogs, a dangerous
local gang, violently oppose their interracial relationship.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Sentries
Gary Paulson
35
1030L
Sweet Fifteen
Diane Gonzales
Bertrand
53
GR 8 & UP
Tangerine
Edward Bloor
54
680L
Tears of a Tiger
Sharon M.
Draper
64
700L
Nuclear disaster and human vulnerability interweave in the lives of four
young people, an Ojibway Indian, an illegal Mexican migrant worker, a
rock musician, and a sheep rancher's daughter with the lives of three
veterans of past wars. They are four different people with four separate
lives: Sue, a young woman distanced from her native roots; David, a
traveler in search of a dream; Laura, a student seeking her parents'
understanding; and Peter, a rock star struggling to create the perfect
sound.
One looming fate threatens them all. And everything they love may
be taken away in one fleeting second....
Rita Navarro wants to help Stefanie Bonillo, who obviously needs a
friend, but since she is only the young woman's seamstress, she feels she
can't do much. Stefanie's quinceanera (coming-out party) is fast
approaching, and the teen is grieving over the death of her father. Rita's
opportunity to help comes when Stefanie spends a week with her Uncle
Brian over the winter holidays. Rita offers her a job in her shop; soon
their friendship blossoms, and Brian becomes interested in Rita.
Though legally blind, Paul Fisher can see what others cannot. He can see
that his parents' constant praise of his brother, Erik, the football star, is
to cover up something that is terribly wrong. But no one listens to Paul--until his family moves to Tangerine. In this Florida town, weird is normal:
Lightning strikes at the same time every day, a sinkhole swallows a local
school, and Paul the geek finds himself adopted into the toughest group
around: the soccer team at his middle school.
When Gerald was a child he was fascinated by fire. But fire is dangerous
and powerful, and tragedy strikes. His substance-addicted mother is
taken from him. Then he loses the loving generosity of a favorite aunt. A
brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life
miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half-sister,
Angel, whom he struggles to protect from her father, Jordan Sparks, who
abuses her, and from their mother, who's irresponsible behavior forces
Gerald to work hard to keep the family together.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
The Absolutely True Diary of
a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie,
Ellen Forney
35
600L
The Autobiography of
Malcolm X
Malcom X, Ossie
Davis, Alex
Haley
36
1120L
The Curious Incident of the
dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
35
1180L
The Day They Came to Arrest
the Book
Nat Hentoff
5
890L
The Dream on Blanca's Wall
Jane Medina
53
GR 4-6
Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up
on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into
his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an
all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school
mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written. The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on their authors own
experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's
art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American
boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was
destined to live.
If there was any one man who articulated the anger, the struggle, and
the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X.
His AUTOBIOGRAPHY is now an established classic of modern America, a
book that expresses like none other the crucial truth about our times.
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and
their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to
animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand
to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of
Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a
neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and
widely heralded novels in recent years.
Who would have believed that The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn could
cause the worst crisis in the history of George Mason High School?
Certainly not Barney Roth, editor of the school paper. But when a small
but vocal group of students and parents decide that the book is racist,
sexist, and immoral--and should be removed from reading lists and the
school library--- Barney takes matters into his own hands. When the
Huck Finn issue comes up for a hearing, Barney decides to print his story
about previous censorship efforts at school. He's sure that investigative
reporting and publicity can help the cause. But is he too late to turn the
tide of censorship?
Sixth-grader Blanca dreams of becoming a teacher. But even at such a
young age, she knows obstacles block her way: Her family is poor, her
Mexican-born parents speak little English, and her underachieving
brother and friends make fun of her academic endeavors. Yet the
encouragement of her classroom teacher and a portrait of herself
standing in front of a chalkboard that she drew in second grade inspire
her to reach higher.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien
5
1000L
The House of the Scorpion
Nancy Farmer
49
660L
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
54
870L
The Immortal Life of
Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
35
1140L
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life,
rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment
is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive
on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have
launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the
Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins
their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will
encounter both magic ring and a frightening creature know as Gollum.
Matt is a clone of El Patron, a powerful drug lord of the land of Opium,
which is located between the United States and Mexico. For six years, he
has lived in a tiny cottage in the poppy fields with Celia, a kind and
deeply religious servant woman who is charged with his care and safety.
He knows little about his existence until he is discovered by a group of
children playing in the fields and wonders why he isn't like them. Though
Matt has been spared the fate of most clones, who have their
intelligence destroyed at birth, the evil inhabitants of El Patron's empire
consider him a "beast" and "eejit." When El Patron dies at the age of
146, fourteen-year-old Matt escapes Opium with the help of Celia and
Tam Lin, his devoted bodyguard who wants to right his own wrongs.
After a near misadventure in his escape. Matt makes his way back home
and begins to rid the country of its evils.
The remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero. Told in a series of vignettes sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous - it is the story of a
young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and
what she will become.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was
a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge
in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for
developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and
more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she
remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance.
This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the
collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and
faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the
mother she never knew.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
35
930L
In 1949 four Chinese women - drawn together by the shadow of their
past- begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks,
eat dim sum, and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck
Club. Nearly forty years later, one of the members has died, and her
daughter has come to take her place, only to learn of her mother's
lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true. The
revelation of this secret unleashes and urgent need among the women
to reach back and remember... In this extraordinary first work of fiction,
Amy Tan writes about what is lost - over the years, between generations,
among friends - and what is saved.
As twelve-year-old Marlee starts middle school in 1958 Little Rock, it
feels like her whole world is falling apart. Until she meets Liz, the new
girl at school. Liz is everything Marlee wishes she could be: she's brave,
brash and always knows the right thing to say. But when Liz leaves
school without even a good-bye, the rumor is that Liz was caught passing
for white. Marlee decides that doesn't matter. She just wants her friend
back. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz are even willing to take on
segregation and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their
families.
The Lion's of Little Rock
Kristin Levine
35
630L
The Natural
Bernard
Malamud, Kevin
Baker
5
1060L
The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also
the first --- and some would say still the best --- novel ever written about
baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals,
of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material -- the story of a
superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball
era -- and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and
altogether believable, that runs through all his best work.
The Pact 13:
Sampson Davis,
George Jenkins,
Rameck Hunt
35
940L
Chosen by Essence to be among the forty most influential African
Americans, the three doctors grew up in the streets of Newark, facing
city life’s temptations, pitfalls, even jail. But one day these three young
men made a pact. They promised each other they would all become
doctors, and stick it out together through the long, difficult journey to
attaining that dream. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt
are not only friends to this day—they are all doctors. This is a story about
joining forces and beating the odds. A story about changing your life, and
the lives of those you love most... together.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
The Remembering Stone
Barbara
Timberlake
Russell
51
GR 1-4
The Sun is Also a Star
Nicola Yoon
35
HL650L
Tiger Eyes
Judy Blume
5
GR 7 AND
UP
True Grit
Charles Portis
5
800L
This evocative picture book with its striking, bold art celebrates the
importance of hope, dreams, and cultural roots -- and will have special
resonance for all those who find themselves at the crossroads of two
cultures.
Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not
destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind
of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls
in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being
deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story. Daniel:
I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’
high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I
forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate
has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us. The
Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single
moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
After Davey's father is killed in a hold-up, she and her mother and
younger brother visit relatives in New Mexico. Here Davey is befriended
by a young man who helps her find the strength to carry on and conquer
her fears.
True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age
when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father
down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and
$150 in cash money. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood.
With the one -eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S.
Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory.
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Wonder
R.J.Palacio
35
790L
Weedflower
Cynthia
Kadohata
35
750L
Auggie Pullman was born with severe facial deformities-no outer ears,
eyes in the wrong place, his skin "melted"-and he's learned to steel
himself against the horrified reactions he produces in strangers. Now,
after years of homeschooling, his parents have enrolled him in fifth
grade. In short chapters told from various first-person perspectives,
debut author Palacio sketches his challenging but triumphant year.
Though he has some expectedly horrible experiences at school, Auggie
has lucked out with the adults in his life-his parents love him
unconditionally, and his principal and teachers value kindness over all
other qualities. While one bully manages, temporarily, to turn most of
Auggie's classmates against him (Auggie likens this to becoming the
human equivalent of "the Cheese Touch," a clever Diary of a Wimpy Kid
reference), good wins out. Few first novels pack more of a punch: it's a
rare story with the power to open eyes-and hearts-to what it's like to be
singled out for a difference you can't control, when all you want is to be
just another face in the crowd.
Twelve-year-old Sumiko feels her life has been made up of two parts:
before Pearl Harbor and after it. The good part and the bad part. Raised
on a flower farm in California, Sumiko is used to being the only Japanese
girl in her class. Even when the other kids tease her, she always has had
her flowers and family to go home to. That all changes after the horrific
events of Pearl Harbor. Other Americans start to suspect that all
Japanese people are spies for the emperor, even if, like Sumiko, they
were born in the United States! As suspicions grow, Sumiko and her
family find themselves being shipped to an internment camp in one of
the hottest deserts in the United States. The vivid color of her previous
life is gone forever, and now dust storms regularly choke the sky and
seep into every crack of the military barrack that is her new "home."
DIVERSE LITERATURE
Zebra Forest
Adina Rishe
Gewirtz
35
750L
When eleven-year-old Annie first started lying to her social worker, she
had been taught by an expert: Gran. "If you’re going to do something,
make sure you do it with excellence," Gran would say. That was when
Gran was feeling talkative, and not brooding for days in her room — like
she did after telling Annie and her little brother, Rew, the one thing they
know about their father: that he was killed in a fight with an angry man
who was sent away. Annie tells stories, too, as she and Rew laze under
the birches and oaks of Zebra Forest — stories about their father the
pirate, or pilot, or secret agent. But then something shocking happens to
unravel all their stories: a rattling at the back door, an escapee from the
prison holding them hostage in their own home, four lives that will never
be the same. Driven by suspense and psychological intrigue, Zebra Forest
deftly portrays an unfolding standoff of truth against family secrets —
and offers an affecting look at two resourceful, imaginative kids as they
react and adapt to the hand they’ve been dealt.