Novice
Out of the Dust
§ Karen Hesse
1998 Newbery Medal winner. Billie Jo is an only child, her mother is pregnant, her family is poor, and the crops
won’t grow. It’s the Depression and dust covers and fills everything. Billie Jo finds joy and solace in her piano
playing, but even that fails when unthinkable tragedy strikes her family. Out of the Dust is written as a poetic
journal and vividly brings the Dustbowl years to life.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
§ Mildred D. Taylor
1977 Newbery Medal winner. In 1933 Mississippi, racist “night men” terrorize the Logans and their neighbors
with acts of violence against black families. Young Cassie Logan must learn how to respond to the prejudice
and injustice she experiences as she comes to realize the importance of the land to her family.
Maniac Magee
§ Jerry Spinelli
1991 Newbery Medal winner. A modern tall tale about a homeless boy whose legendary feats bring together a
town divided by racial distrust and misunderstanding. Jeffrey “Maniac” Magee touches the lives of people on
both the West and East Ends of Two Mills, Pennsylvania, as he searches for a place to call home.
Island of the Blue Dolphin
§ Scott O’Dell
1961 Newbery Medal winner. When disaster strikes, Karana’s people leave their island home to begin a new
life across the sea. But Karana is left behind and must learn to survive many years alone while keeping alive the
hope of an eventual rescue. Based on a true story.
Johnny Tremain
§ Esther Forbes
1944 Newbery Medal winner. When an injury prevents Johnny Tremain from continuing his duties as an
apprentice silversmith, he finds work as a courier for a secret network of revolutionaries, and finds himself
caught up in the struggle for American independence.
A Wrinkle in Time
§ Madeleine L’Engle
1963 Newbery Medal winner. On a dark and stormy night, Meg Murry and her family are visited by a stranger
who surprises them by announcing that “there is such a thing as a tesseract.” Two years earlier, Meg’s father
had disappeared while conducting experiments with a tesseract, a method of traveling through the fifth
dimension. Now Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin must journey across time and space
to find Meg’s father.
The Cay
§ Theodore Taylor
Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curagao. War has always been a game to him,
and he's eager to glimpse it firsthand--until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on
is torpedoed. When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea.
To Kill a Mockingbird
§ Harper Lee
Harper Lee's affecting story of a black man on trial for rape in the south in the 1930s is one of the most poignant
works on the destructive effects of racism in the canon of Western literature.
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Little Women
§ Louisa May Alcott
It is no surprise that Little Women, the adored classic of four sisters and their enduring devotion to and
protection of one another, was loosely based on Lousia May Alcott's own life. Alcott drew from her own
personality to create a unique protagonist: Jo, willful, headstrong, and undoubtedly the backbone of the March
family, is a heroine unlike any seen before. Follow the sisters from innocent adolescence to sage adulthood,
with all the joy and sorrow of life in between, and fall in love with them and this endearing story. Praised by
Madeleine Stern as "a book on the American home, and hence universal in its appeal," Little Women has been
an avidly read, and reread, tale for generations.
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
§ Eloise Jarvis McGraw
A compelling story of adventure, romance and intrigue, set in ancient Egypt. Mara is a proud and beautiful
slave girl who yearns for freedom. In order to gain it, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy
for two arch enemies – each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
§ John Boyne
Through the lens of an eight year old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II, a forbidden
friendship between Bruno, the son of a Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish boy held captive in a
concentration camp is born. Through the two are separated physically by a barbed wire fence, their lives
become inescapably intertwined.
The Outsiders
§ S. E. Hinton
According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for social)
has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the
other hand, lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's proud of it, even
willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night.
God King
§ Joanne Williamson
It is 701 B.C-- rule of the Kushite dynasty in ancient Egypt. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son,
succeeds unexpectedly to the throne of Kush and Egypt--a "divine" rulership. It's not long, however, before a
treacherous plot turns his life upside down.
Tuesdays with Morrie
§ Mitch Albom
Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting
gift with the world. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Their rekindled
relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live.
Going Solo,
Boy
§ Roald Dahl
As a young man working in East Africa for the Shell Company, Roald Dahl recounts his adventures living in
the jungle and later flying a fighter plane in World War II. (action-packed autobiography, rec. by Mr.
Watkins)
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Uglies,
Pretties,
Specials (dystopia fiction),
Leviathan (steam punk)
§ Scott Westerfeld
Reader
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
§ Mark Twain
Tom Sawyer is the orphaned rascal who loves adventure and dislikes rules. Superstitious and devious, Tom
gets plenty of trouble on his own, but throw in a real-life murderer, buried treasure, and getting lost in a cave
during a Sunday school picnic, and you’ve got real adventure.
The Bronze Bow
§ Elizabeth George Speare
1962 Newbery Medal winner. Angry and vengeful at the death of his parents, Daniel bar Jamin joins an outlaw
Zealot band pledging to do all he can to rid the land of the hated Romans. But Daniel’s life is forever changed
after an encounter with a wandering teacher named Jesus.
The Broken Blade
§ William Durbin
In 1800, 13-year-old Pierre La Page never imagined he'd be leaving Montreal to paddle 2,400 miles. It was
something older men, like his father, did. But when Pierre's father has an accident, Pierre quits school to
become a voyageur for the North West Company, so his family can survive the winter. It's hard for Pierre as the
youngest in the brigade. From the treacherous waters and cruel teasing to his aching and bloodied hands, Pierre
is miserable. Still he has no choice but to endure the trip to Grand Portage and back.
The Iron Peacock
§ Mary Stetson Clarke
Joanna Sprague's life is upended when her father dies on the voyage that was to take them to a new life in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Poor and alone, 16-year-old Joanna must summon uncommon courage to survive
life as a bond servant in a strange new world. An unforgettable, captivating story.
In Search of Honor
§ Donnalynn Hess
Young Jacques Chenier, caught up in the anarchy and terror of the French Revolution, finds himself living a
precarious existence as one calamity succeeds another. His biggest fight, however, is to free himself from the
prison of his own bitterness.
The Moonstone
§ Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins' classic is considered the very first English detective novel. Given a large diamond on her 18th
birthday, it sets off a string of bad luck for Rachel Verrinder. Stolen that very night, suspicion falls on a number
of people-until a gifted amateur discovers what the local constables could not.
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Pygmalion (a.k.a. My Fair Lady)
§ George Bernard Shaw
Professor Henry Higgins thinks he can turn Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower seller, into a duchess by teaching her how
to speak and look a certain way.
Hittite Warrior
§ Joanne Williamson
Judea has always been the crossroads and battlefield of contending nations. It is no less so in this biblical time
of the Judges. Uriah Tarhund's Hittite home is destroyed by invading Greeks. His dying father tells him to go
south to seek a Canaanite named Sisera. "He will help you. For my sake. . . ."
Animal Farm
§ George Orwell
Animal Farm is the most famous by far of all twentieth-century political allegories. Its account of a group of
barnyard animals who revolt against their vicious human master, only to submit to a tyranny erected by their
own kind, can fairly be said to have become a universal drama. (political satire/animal story)
Ender’s Game
§ Orson Scott Card
Once again, the Earth is under attack. An alien species is poised for a final assault. The survival of
humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens. But who? Ender Wiggin is a
brilliant, ruthless, cunning, a tactical and strategic master, and a child. Recruited for military training
by the world government, Ender's childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battle School.
Rifles for Watie
§ Harold Keith
The story of Jeff Bussey, a farm boy living in 1861, who joins the Union army and ends up behine enemy lines.
Attolia series (begins with The Thief)
§ Megan Whelan Turner
Mrs. Watkins’s favorites!
Nothing to Fear
(historical fiction, depression era)
§ Jackie Koller
When his father moves away to find work and his mother becomes ill, Danny struggles to help his family during
the Great Depression.
Christy
(fiction/biography)
§ Catherine Marshall
An adaptation of the 1967 novel chronicling the experiences of a young woman after she arrives in a small
mountain town in Tennessee in 1912 to teach school.
Jackaroo
§ Cynthia Voight
When hard times among the People revive the old stories of the hero Jackaroo, an innkeeper's daughter follows
her own quest to unlock the secret reality behind the legend.
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Mark of the Horse Lord
Frontier Wolf
Shining Company
§ Rosemary Sutcliffe
Great historical fiction set during the Roman-Celtic conflicts in Britain.
Do Hard Things
(nonfiction, challenge for Christian teens)
§ Alex & Brett Harris
Two Christian teenage writers challenge their peers to create a brighter future, combating the idea of adolescence as
a vacation from responsibility and providing humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of reallife "rebelutionaries" in action.
Radical
§ David Platt
David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our
cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and
obey what you have heard. (Christian challenge – recommended by Mike Retzlaff)
Diary of Anne Frank
§ Anne Frank
Diary of a young girl relating her personal experiences in hiding during the Holocaust.
*Not the newly edited version!
The Jungle Book
Captains Courageous
§ Rudyard Kipling
Valley Forge
Gettysburg
§ Newt Gingrich
Killing Lincoln
Killing Kennedy
etc. (fiction-style history)
§ Bill O’Reilly
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Advanced
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
§ C.S.Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet begins the Space Trilogy with the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom, who is
abducted by aliens and taken by spaceship to another planet. (Sci Fi trilogy)
Sherlock Holmes
§ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
any novel or short story collection
The Scarlett Pimpernel
§ Baroness Orczy
During the French Revolution, a masked hero known as the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues would-be victims of the
guillotine, chased by government agent Paul Chauvelin. (historic fiction, French Revolution)
Wuthering Heights
§ Emily Bronte
This is the story of the savage, tormented foundling Heathcliff, who falls wildly in love with
Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of his benefactor, and the violence and misery that result from their
thwarted longing for each other.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
§ Harriet Beecher Stowe
Classic story of slavery in America, and a source of great controversy during the civil war era. (historical
fiction, slavery)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
§ Dee Brown
The systematic destruction of the American Indians, told in the words of those who were there.
The Hobbit
Fellowship of the Ring
Two Towers
Return of the King
§ J.R.R.Tolkien
Father Brown Collections
(any) (detective stories)
§ G. K. Chesterton
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Treasure Island
Kidnapped
§ R.L.Stevenson
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The Three Musketeers
The Count of Monte Cristo
§ Alexander Dumas
Jane Eyre
§ Charlotte Bronte
Narrative on the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
(autobio)
§ F. Douglass
How Should We Then Live
He Is Here, and He Is Not Silent
(Christian philosophy – challenging but worth it!)
§ Francis Schaeffer
§ Charles Dickens (any)
§ Jane Austen (any)
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