Niles West High School
2017 Summer Reading List
url.d219.org/summerbooks2017
Humor
Realistic
Fantasy
Mystery
Sports
Romance
Science Fiction
Historical
Memoir
Classic
AP Lit
(Required)
AP Lan: GAW
(Required)
Realistic
Exit, Pursued by Bear by E. K. Johnston (Realistic)
At cheerleading camp, Hermione is drugged and raped, but she is not sure who did it.
Afterwards she deals with the rumors, the reaction of her classmates, the rejection of
her boyfriend, and the need to remember.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Realistic/African American)
Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil by a police
officer. Khalil was unarmed. His death becomes a national headline and protesters
take to the streets. Star is the only person who knows what happened that night.
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley (Realistic/LGTBQ)
Agoraphobic Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to
change that--and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results.
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner (Realistic)
The son of a Pentecostal preacher faces personal demons as he and his two outcast
friends try to make it through their senior year of high school in rural Tennessee
without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self.
When We Collided by Emery Lord (Realistic)
Can seventeen-year-old Jonah save his family restaurant from ruin, his mother from
her sadness, and his danger-seeking girlfriend Vivi from herself?
Humor
Dan vs. Nature by Don Calame (Humor/Realistic)
Dan is a teen graphic novel artist whose mother sends him on a survivalist camping
trip to bond with his soon-to-be-stepdad, a haphazard journey marked by pranks, his
germaphobe best friend, an attractive girl and the loss of their guide.
Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin (Humor/Science Fiction)
In a world where everyone knows the day they will die, a teenage boy is determined
to outlive his upcoming expiration date.
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand (Humor/Fantasy/Historical)
At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a
conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems
aren't for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.
Fantasy
Caraval by Stephanie Garber (Fantasy)
Two sisters, Scarlett and Tella, leave their cruel father to attend Caraval--a faraway
once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show. Along the way
Tella is kidnapped and Scarlett is aided by a mysterious sailor.
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (Fantasy)
Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her
brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at a military academy
in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim they can save her brother.
Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima (Fantasy)
Thrown together by chance and united by hatred of the king, Ash, a gifted healer, and
Jenna, a girl abandoned at birth, find themselves on the run from the King's Guard.
The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh (Fantasy)
In this reimagining of The Arabian Nights, Shahrzad plans to avenge the death of her
dearest friend by volunteering to marry the murderous boy-king of Khorasan but
discovers not all is as it seems within the palace.
Mystery
Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes (Mystery/Detective)
Max sells forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, with the help of
his friend Preston and his girlfriend, Parvati. When Preston wants his own cover story
to visit a girl he met online, Max give him one. Preston never comes home.
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (Mystery/Fantasy/Historical)
On an island off the south coast of Victorian England, Faith investigates the mysterious
death of her father, who was involved in a scandal, and discovers a tree that feeds
upon lies and gives those who eat its fruit visions of truth.
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (Mystery/Detective)
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson descendants, Charlotte and Jamie, students at a
Connecticut boarding school, team up to solve a murder mystery.
Zero Day by Jan Gangsei (Mystery/Thriller)
Eight years after being kidnapped Addie Webster, now sixteen, resurfaces under
mysterious circumstances, significantly changed. The government needs to know if
she is a threat to her father's presidency or the nation.
Sports
QB 1 by Mike Lupica (Sports/Football)
Jake Cullen, fourteen, lives in the shadows of his father and older brother until he
becomes the starting quarterback for the high school football team and finally has his
chance to shine.
Pick-Up Game by Various Authors (Sports/Football/Short Stories)
A series of short stories by various authors that provides different perspectives on a
game of streetball played one steamy July day at the West 4th Street court in New
York City known as The Cage.
Tumbling by Caela Carter (Sports/Gymnastics)
After sacrificing their childhoods, Grace, Leigh, Camille, Wilhelmina, and Monica are
competing in the two days of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, after which their
lives will change forever.
Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
by Steve Sheinkin (Sports/Football/Native American/Nonfiction)
The true story of how Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner created the legendary Carlisle
Indians football team, "the team that invented football."
Science Fiction
The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid (Science Fiction/Dystopian)
Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager and the galaxy's most deadly weapon,
who masquerades as Sidonia, a senator's daughter, and becomes a hostage of the
galactic court.
The Rig by Joe Ducie (Science Fiction/Dystopian)
Fifteen-year-old Will has made a career of breaking out from high-security prisons. His
talents have landed him at the Rig, a specialist juvenile holding facility in the middle of
the Arctic Ocean. No one can escape from the Rig.
Replica: Lyra, Gemma by Lauren Oliver (Science Fiction/Dystopian)
Two novels which can be read separately or in alternating chapters. In Lyra, two
experimental subjects escape from the Haven Institute, where human replicas are
created and observed; in Gemma, a teenager discovers her father's connection to the
Haven Institute and travels there, meeting the escaped replicas.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman (Science Fiction)
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. The only way to die is to be
randomly killed (gleaned) by professional reapers (scythes). Citra and Rowan are
chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants.
Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer (Science Fiction/Graphic Novel)
When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers' leader. She
is soon working with a handsome royal guard who forces her to question everything.
Romance
The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash (Romance/Humor)
Graham Posner is in love with his best friend, Roxana. When he learns that the creator
of their favorite comic is making a rare appearance at this year's New York Comic Con,
he’s inspired to come up with the perfect plan to tell Roxy how he feels about her.
P.S. I Like You by Kasie West (Romance)
In Chemistry one day, Lily picks up her pencil and scribbles a line from a favorite song
on the desk. The next day someone has written back to her on the desk! Soon Lily and
the mystery student are exchanging notes. When she finds out who, the guy is the
LAST person Lily could have ever imagined.
The Sun is Also a Star by Nocola Yoon (Romance/Jamaican American/Korean
American)
Natasha is a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Daniel has
always been the good son living up to his parents' high expectations. Never the poet.
Or the dreamer. But when he see Natasha, he forgets all that.
You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan (Romance, LGBTQ)
Mark and Kate sit next to each other in school but are barely acquainted until they
meet at a San Francisco club during Pride Week and connect over their forbidden
loves.
Historical
The Borden Murders by Sarah Miller (Historical/Crime/Nonfiction)
“Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she
had done, she gave her father forty-one.” The true story of a brutal crime and subsequent trial.
Dive! World War II Stories by Deborah Hopkinson (Historical/WWII/
Nonfiction)
The incredible story of U.S. submarine warfare during World War II. With the Pacific
battleship fleet decimated after Pearl Harbor, it was up to submarines to stop the
Japanese invasion across the Pacific.
March by John Lewis (Historical/African American/Graphic Novel/Nonfiction)
Presents in graphic novel format events from the life of Georgia congressman John
Lewis, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez (Historical/African American/Mexican
American)
Loosely based on a school explosion that took place in New London, Texas, in 1937,
this is the story of two teenagers: Naomi, who is Mexican, and Wash, who is black,
and their dealings with race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people.
Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune by Pamela S. Turner
(Historical/Biography/War/Nonfiction)
This is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. His daring feats and
impossible bravery earned him immortality.
Memoir
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (Memoir/Humor/African American)
Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show
began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white father and a black
mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison.
Dare to Disappoint by Ozge Samanci (Memoir/Turkey/Graphic Novel)
As a child in Turkey in the 80s and 90s, Ozge dared to overcome both her family and
her country's expectations to find happiness by being an artist.
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero (Memoir/Latina
American)
The actress Diane Guerrero recalls the day her parents were detained and deported
when she was 14, and how she was able to remain, finish her education, and build a
successful acting career.
Muslim Girl by Amani Al-Khataqhtbeh (Memoir/Muslim American)
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh is the founder of MuslimGirl.com. This is the account of her
journey through adolescence as a Muslim girl, from the Islamophobia she's faced on a
daily basis, to the website (MuslimGirl.com) she launched that became a cultural
phenomenon, to the political climate in the Trump administration.