Lit Circle Books
If you are considering taking AP English or English
through Running Start, challenge yourself with one of
the titles marked with an asterisk *.
Sorta Like a Rockstar
Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her
mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber,
her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby
Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out
in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus
her mom drives). Still, Amber, the selfproclaimed princess of hope and girl of
unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the
bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens
Amber's optimism--and her way of life, can
Amber continue to be the rock star of hope?
With an oddball cast of characters, and a
heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel
unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of
laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope. The
world is Amber's stage, and Amber is,
well...she's sorta like a rock star. True? True.
1984 *
It's 1984 in London, a city in the new
überstate of Oceania, which contains what
was once England, Western Europe and
North America. Our hero, Winston Smith
works in the Ministry of Truth altering
documents that contradict current
government statements and opinions.
Winston begins to remember the past that
he has worked so hard to destroy, and
turns against The Party. Even Winston's
quiet, practically undetectable form of
anarchism is dangerous in a world filled
with thought police and the omnipresent
two-way telescreen. He fears his inevitable
capture and punishment, but feels no
compulsion to change his ways.
Lord of the Flies
William Golding's classic tale about a group
of English schoolboys who are planewrecked on a deserted island is just as
chilling and relevant today as when it was
first published in 1954. At first, the
stranded boys cooperate, attempting to
gather food, make shelters, and maintain
signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are
Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy,
Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing.
Although Ralph tries to impose order and
delegate responsibility, there are many in
their number who would rather swim, play,
or hunt. The situation deteriorates as the
trappings of civilization continue to fall
away. Golding's gripping novel explores the
boundary between human reason and
animal instinct, all on the brutal playing
field of adolescent competition. --Jennifer
Hubert
Matched
Cassia has always trusted the Society to
make the right choices for her: what to
read, what to watch, what to believe.
So when Xander's face appears onscreen at her Matching ceremony,
Cassia knows with complete certainty
that he is her ideal mate... until she
sees Ky Markham's face flash for an
instant before the screen fades to
black.
The Fault in Our Stars
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel
was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle
shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is posteverything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and
post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a
long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered
to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay
with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid
support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and
shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with
Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a longneeded journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how
sickness and health, life and death, will define her and
the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
A Long Way Gone *
• This is how wars are fought now: by children,
hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s.
Children have become soldiers of choice. In
the more than fifty conflicts going on
worldwide, it is estimated that there are
some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah
used to be one of them.
• What is war like through the eyes of a child
soldier? How does one become a killer? How
does one stop? Child soldiers have been
profiled by journalists, and novelists have
struggled to imagine their lives. But until
now, there has not been a first-person
account from someone who came through
this hell and survived (Amazon.com).
Ship Breaker
A gritty, high-stakes adventure set in a
futuristic world where oil is scarce, but loyalty
is scarcer.
In America's Gulf Coast region, grounded oil
tankers are being broken down for parts by
crews of young people. Nailer, a teenage boy,
works the light crew, scavenging for copper
wiring just to make quota-and hopefully live to
see another day. But when, by luck or by
chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship
beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer
faces the most important decision of his life:
Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its
lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who
could lead him to a better life....
In this powerful novel, Paolo Bacigalupi
delivers a thrilling, fast-paced adventure set in
a vivid and raw, uncertain future.
In Cold Blood *
• 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.In Cold Blood is a work that
transcends its moment, yielding poignant
insights into the nature of American violence.
The Wedding
In her first novel in forty-seven years, Dorothy West, the
last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, offers
an intimate glimpse into African American middle
class. Set on bucolic Martha's Vineyard in the 1950s, The
Wedding tells the story of life in the Oval, a proud, insular
community made up of the best and brightest of the East
Coast's black bourgeoisie. Within this inner circle of
"blue-vein society," we witness the prominent Coles
family gather for the wedding of the loveliest daughter,
Shelby, who could have chosen from "a whole area of
eligible men of the right colors and the right professions."
Instead, she has fallen in love with and is about to be
married to Meade Wyler, a white jazz musician from New
York. A shock wave breaks over the Oval as its longtime
members grapple with the changing face of its
community.
With elegant, luminous prose, Dorothy West crowns
her literary career by illustrating one family's struggle to
break the shackles of race and class. (amazon.com)
The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn *
Referring to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, H. L.
Mencken noted that his discovery of this classic
American novel was "the most stupendous event of my
whole life"; Ernest Hemingway declared that "all
modern American literature stems from this one book,"
while T. S. Eliot called Huck "one of the permanent
symbolic figures of fiction, not unworthy to take a place
with Ulysses, Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Hamlet."
The novel's preeminence derives from its wonderfully
imaginative re-creation of boyhood adventures along
the mighty Mississippi River, its inspired
characterization, the author's remarkable ear for
dialogue, and the book's understated development of
serious underlying themes: "natural" man versus
"civilized" society, the evils of slavery, the innate value
and dignity of human beings, the stultifying effects of
convention, and other topics. But most of
all, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful story
― filled with high adventure and unforgettable
characters (including the great river itself) ― that no
one who has read it will ever forget.
Balzac and the Little Chinese *
Seamstress
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is
an enchanting tale that captures the magic
of reading and the wonder of romantic
awakening. An immediate international
bestseller, it tells the story of two hapless
city boys exiled to a remote mountain village
for re-education during China’s infamous
Cultural Revolution. There the two friends
meet the daughter of the local tailor and
discover a hidden stash of Western classics
in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the
seamstress and secretly devour these
banned works, the two friends find transit
from their grim surroundings to worlds they
never imagined.
Of Mice and Men
A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy
during the Great Depression
They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and
quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of
tremendous size, has the mind of a young child.
Yet they have formed a "family," clinging
together in the face of loneliness and
alienation.
Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields,
they hustle work when they can, living a handto-mouth existence. For George and Lennie
have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack
they can call their own. When they land jobs on
a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of
their dream seems to be within their grasp. But
even George cannot guard Lennie from the
provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict
the consequences of Lennie's unswerving
obedience to the things George taught him.
Boy’s Life
Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for
eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson—a place
where monsters swim the river deep and
friends are forever. Then, one cold spring
morning, Cory and his father witness a car
plunge into a lake—and a desperate rescue
attempt brings his father face-to-face with a
terrible vision of death that will haunt him
forever: a murdered man, naked and beaten,
handcuffed to the steering wheel, a copper
wire knotted around his neck.
As Cory struggles to understand his father’s
pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the
forces of good and evil that are manifested in
Zephyr. From an ancient, mystical woman
who can hear the dead and bewitch the
living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory
must confront the secrets that hide in the
shadows of his hometown—for his father’s
sanity and his own life hang in the balance.