The following books are the options you may read for your project. Each book is broken down into its genre (the type of book) and lexile (level of difficulty). You MUST choose one of the books below; projects completed on books that are not listed will not be accepted.
2012 Book List
***Make sure to check and see if there are any book trailers links below the summaries!***
Nonfiction
- The Devil’s Highway, Luis Alberto Urrea ***Honors Recommended***
Chronicles the true story of twenty-six men who attempted to cross the Mexican border into the southern Arizona desert known as the Devil’s Highway, describing how the men struggled to survive the desert’s harsh conditions and why only twelve survived the journey. LEXILE: 1100
- Columbine, Dave Cullen ***Honors Recommended***
Annotation: When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; we think of Cassie Bernall, the girl we thought professed her faith before she was shot; and we think of the boy pulling himself out of a school window — the whole world was watching him. In this revelatory book, Dave Cullen has delivered a profile of teenage killers that goes to the heart of psychopathology. He lays bare the callous brutality of mastermind Eric Harris, and the quavering, suicidal Dylan Klebold, who went to prom three days earlier and obsessed about love in his journal. The result is an astonishing account of two good students with lots of friends, who came to stockpile a basement cache of weapons, to record their raging hatred, and to manipulate every adult who got in their way. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of police files, FBI psychologists, and the boy’s tapes and diaries, he gives the first complete account of the Columbine tragedy. LEXILE: ?
To view the Columbine book trailer, click the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdQd27Z24m8
Fiction
- The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells ***Honors Recommended***
Science Fiction. Classic. Annotation: An amateur inventor or scientist living in London is never named; he is identified simply as The Time Traveler. Having demonstrated to friends using a miniature model that time is a fourth dimension, and that a suitable apparatus can move back and forth in this fourth dimension, he builds a full-scale model capable of carrying himself. He uses it to travel hundreds of thousands of years into the future, where he discovers the childlike Eloi and the hideous underground Morlocks. LEXILE: 1070
- The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor ***Honors Recommended***
Fantasy. Annotation: The Myth: Alice was an ordinary girl who stepped through the looking glass and entered a fairy-tale world invented by Lewis Carroll in his famous storybook. The Truth: Wonderland is real. Alyss Heart is the heir to the throne, until her murderous aunt Redd steals the crown and kills Alyss’ parents. To escape Redd, Alyss and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must flee to our world through the Pool of Tears. But in the pool Alyss and Hatter are separated. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Yet he gets the story all wrong. Hatter Madigan knows the truth only too well, and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts. LEXILE: 1010
- Copper Sun, Sharon Draper
Historical Fiction. Annotation: Two fifteen-year-old girls–one a slave and the other an indentured servant–escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves. LEXILE: 820
- Pride of Baghdad, Brian K. Vaughn
Historical Fiction. Graphic Novel. Annotation: In 2003, a group of lions escaped the Baghdad zoo during a U.S. bombing raid. That story serves as inspiration to a new graphical novel about struggle, sacrifice and freedom. Pride of Baghdad tells the story of Zill, Noor, Safa, and Ali, a family of lions who escape from the Baghdad Zoo amid the American military’s campaign to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. LEXILE: N/A
- The Call of the Wild, Jack London
Classic. Annotation: Half St. Bernard, half Sheppard, Buck learns many hard lessons as a sled dog as he is thrown into a life-and-death struggle on the frozen Arctic wilderness: the lesson of the leash, of the cold, of near-starvation and cruelty. The greatest lesson he learns is from his last owner, John Thornton: the power of love and loyalty. Yet even at the side of the human he loves, Buck feels an urge to answer his wolf ancestors as they howl to him. LEXILE: 780
- Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
Magical Realism. Annotation: For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf–her wolf–is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human–or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever. LEXILE: 740
- Black and White, Paul Volponi
Marcus and Eddie are best friends who found the strength to break through the racial barrier. Marcus is black; Eddie is white. Stars of their school basketball team, they are true leaders who look past the stereotypes and come out on top. They are inseparable, watching each other’s backs, both on and off the basketball court. But one night–and one wrong decision–will change their lives forever. Will their mistake cost them their friendship . . . and their future? LEXILE: 710
- Girl, Stolen, April Henry
Young Adult. Annotation: Sixteen-year-old Cheyenne Wilder is asleep in the back of her mom’s car when it’s stolen from the pharmacy parking lot. Cheyenne is not only sick with pneumonia—she’s also blind. Griffin, the teenager who was stealing packages out of parked cars, hadn’t meant to kidnap her; he just impulsively stole the car with her in it. But once Griffin’s dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of Nike, everything changes—now there’s a reason to keep her. Will Cheyenne be able to survive this harrowing ordeal and escape? And if so, at what price? LEXILE: 700
- Gone, Michael Grant
Science Fiction. Annotation: In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Everyone except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to get help. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day. It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen and war is imminent. The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, gone is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way. LEXILE: 550
- The Compound, S.A. Bodeen
Young Adult. Annotation: Eli, the teenage son of a billionaire, has spent the last six years with his family in their massive underground compound, believing that a nuclear war has destroyed the outside world. With food supplies running low, Eli becomes both frightened and suspicious of his father, who seems to be hiding something. LEXILE: 570
To view The Compound book trailer, click the link below.
