Books that you are NOT required to read, but you may enjoy!! 

One of the best stress busters is sitting down with a good book, venturing into the unknown. None of the books listed here are required.  They are good, fun reads, recommended by librarians, friends and other students. They will make you laugh, cry, think …and, most important of all, they will allow you to escape.

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (Alexie) Trying to make something of himself, Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, leaves the rez to attend a white school, becoming an oddity in his new school and an outcast at home.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing : Traitor to the Nation (Anderson) An incredible story of slavery in Boston during the American Revolution. Be prepared to be grossed out; but then, come to think of it, slavery is gross.

Black and White (Volponi) Two basketball buddies who get in trouble with the law for pulling stickups, but whose lives take different turns because one is white and one is black .

The Book Thief (Zusak) Death, the narrator, relates the story of nine- year-old Liesel Meminger whose passion for books buffers her through a life lived in Nazi Germany.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Lockhart )  Probably a chick book because it’s all about girl power, but if guys want to look at things from a girl’s point of view, well read on…

Finding Lubchenko (Simmons) Computer nerd Evan Macalister must use his skills to clear his father of murder.

Finding Nouf (Ferraris)  A compelling murder mystery set in the Saudi port of Jeddah.

47 (Mosley) Magical realism with a touch of Sci-Fi in an intense, personal slave narrative .

Girls of Riyadh: a novel (Alsanea) A close look at dating issues in Saudi Arabia, presented in the stories of four upper-class girlfriends.

The Graveyard Book (Gaiman ) Murder, mayhem and a child raised by the long-dead residents of a graveyard.

The Haunting of Hill House (Jackson) Simply the all-time, quintessential tale of horror.

High Fidelity (Hornby) A funny novel about pop music and finding love .

I am the Messenger (Zusak )  Ed is a 19 year-old loser whose life is mysteriously taken over by anonymously-delivered playing cards. What is the meaning of all this?

Inside Out (Trueman) A short, dark, but gripping story about a schizophrenic teenager.

Kampung Boy (Lat )  A graphic novel depicting life in a Malaysian village .

Left to Tell (Ilibagiza) A searing memoir of a Rwandan woman who had to hide from rebel attacks in a small bathroom for ninety-one days

Little Bee (Cleave) A terrorist act in Africa leads to an expose of British immigration policies.

The Lost Years of Merlin (Barron) First in a trilogy about the young wizard Merlin. Fast-moving, fantastic fiction.

The Lovely Bones (Sebold ) Viewed from heaven, this is a haunting and heartbreaking look back at a brutal rape.

Mismatch : a novel (Namioka) Problems erupt when a Japanese-American teenaged boy starts dating a Chinese-American girl.

Mountains beyond Mountains: the Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world ( Kidder) A specialist in non-infectious diseases, Paul Farmer has worked tirelessly to redress the medical inequalities facing the world’s poor, among other things building a hospital and health center in Haiti.

The Other Side of Truth (Naidoo) Sade and her younger brother find themselves abandoned in London after being smuggled out of Nigeria following their mother’s murder.

Parable of the Sower (Butler) A futuristic look at the world in distress in 2025, and the story of Lauren Olamina, a young black woman who suffers from hyperempathy, while seeking a better life.

Peak (Smith) Mount Everest and mountaineering provide the background for this coming-of-age-story.

The Radioactive Boy Scout: the True Story of a Boy and his Backyard Nuclear Reactor (Silverstein) A history of nuclear science told through the fixation of one particular boy.

Rucker Park Setup (Volponi) Basketball, murder and revenge.  Need I say more?

The Sparrow (Russell) When extraterrestrial life is discovered on the planet Rakhat, contact leads to a tragic misunderstanding.

The Shakespeare Stealer (Blackwood )  Shenanigans erupt at the Globe theater where fourteen-year-old Widge is faced with ethical dilemmas when he is hired to steal the text of the new play, Hamlet.

Stuck in Neutral (Trueman )  Shawn is a fourteen-year-old with cerebral palsy who cannot communicate with the world.  Is his Dad trying to kill him to release him?

The Supernaturalist (Coifer) A science fiction tale in which parasites feed on the living…or are they really removing pain?

Tangerine (Bloor ) A legally blind boy, Paul, learns the ugly truth about his football hero brother.

Ticket to Ride : Inside the Beatles’ 1964 and 1965 tours… (Kane) An inside look at the Beatles by broadcast journalist Larry Kane, from his unique perspective.

Touching Spirit Bear (Michaelsen ) Banished to a remote Alaskan island…violent, defiant Cole Matthews must learn to manage his anger.

Violet Eyes (Viquia )  Princesses and a prince.  Can Violet win the hand of her true love?

Water for Elephants: a novel (Gruen)  Everything you ever wanted to know about the circus, as well as a rip-roaring yarn about one Jacob Jankowski.

The Whiskey Rebels (Liss )  An historical thriller revolving around the exploits of George Washington’s spy, Ethan Saunders, who is suspected of treason during the Whisky Rebellion.

A World Without Ice (Pollack) What happens when the earth’s ice cap melts away?  Here is an accessible non-fiction explanation.

Zeitoun (Eggers) A work of narrative fiction depicting a man caught up in governmental bureaucracy after Hurricane Katrina.