HS Summer Reading 09 - Realistic Fiction

HS Summer Reading 09 - Realistic Fiction


Jacket	Title/Author	Annotation	Grade Level*
	Catalyst by Laurie Hulse Anderson	Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death.	9-12
	Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher	High school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing seven cassette tapes recorded by his crush, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide, and spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.	10-12
	Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins	Participating in a special after-school counseling class with other troubled students, including a sensitive gay classmate, helps Susan, an overweight tenth grader, develop a better sense of herself.	9-12
	True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooks	A confused seventeen-year-old girl, a single mother and her young son, two elderly women, and a sad and lonely man, with their own individual tragedies to bear, come together in a small Manitoba town and find a way to a better future.	9-12
	Fortunes of Indigo Skye by Deb Caletti	Eighteen-year-old Indigo is looking forward to becoming a full-time waitress after high school graduation, but her life is turned upside down by a large check given to her by a customer who appreciates that she cares enough to scold him about smoking.	10-12
	Derby Girl by Shauna Cross	Sixteen-year-old rebel Bliss Cavendar, miserable living in a small Texas town with her beauty pageant-obsessed mother, secretly joins a roller derby team under the name "Babe Ruthless," and her life gets better, although infinitely more confusing.	9-12
	The Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper	A high school junior and his cousin suffer the ramifications of joining what seems to be a "reputable" school club.	9-12
	Breaking Up by Aimee Freidman	Four best friends begin to experience some changes in their lives that challenge their relationship as they go into their junior year of high school.	9-12
	Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going	Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band.	9-12
	Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern	Anna Bloom, confined to a mental hospital by her parents who do not know how to deal with her depression and panic attacks, writes letters to her best friend Tracy sharing the funny details of her life and the people she is getting to know at Lakeland.	9-12
	Last Exit to Normal by Michael Harmon	Yanked out of his city life and plunked down in a small Montana town with his newly outed father and his father's boyfriend, seventeen-year-old Ben, angry and resentful about the changed circumstances of his life, begins to notice something is not quite right with the little boy next door and determines to figure out what is going on.	10-12
	Slam by Nick Hornby	At the age of fifteen, Sam Jones's girlfriend gets pregnant and Sam's life of skateboarding and daydreaming about Tony Hawk changes drastically.	11-12
	Would You by Marthe Jocelyn	Nat's summer of work and hanging out with friends is suddenly changed when her sister, Claire, is hit by a car and ends up in a coma.	9-12
	The First Part Last by Angela Johnson	Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.	10-12
	Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson	Fifteen-year-old Scarlett Marvin is stuck in New York City for the summer working at her quirky family's historic hotel, but her brother's attractive new friend and a seasonal guest who offers her an intriguing and challenging writing project improve her outlook.	9-12
	My Life as a Rhombus by Varian Johnson	When the classmate she is tutoring in trigonometry admits she is pregnant, high school junior Rhonda must finally come to terms with the abortion her father insisted she undergo three years earlier and examine how it has changed her life.	11-12
	The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart	Frankie Landau-Banks attempts to take over a secret, all-male society at her exclusive prep school, and her antics with the group soon draw some unlikely attention and have unexpected consequences that could change her life forever.	9-12
	Zipped by Laura and Tom McNeal	At the end of their sophomore year in high school, the lives of four teenagers are woven together as they start a tough new job, face family problems, deal with changing friendships, and find love.	9-12
	Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers	Robin Perry, from Harlem, is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion, and his time there profoundly changes him.	9-12
	Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa	Violet Paz, a Chicago high school student, reluctantly prepares for her upcoming "quince," a Spanish nickname for the celebration of an Hispanic girl's fifteenth birthday.	9-12
	Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha	Fourteen-year-old Jaiden has been raised by NECorp. since his parents were killed when he was a baby, so when he discovers that the corporation has been lying about producing illegal levels of mercury emissions, he and his two friends decide to try to do something about it.	9-12
	Slumming by Kristen Randle	In their senior year of high school, three best friends, Nikki, Alicia, and Sam, attempt an "experiment" in which they each befriend a classmate they think needs attention and try to improve that person's life.	9-12
	How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt	Seventeen-year-old Harper Evans hopes to escape the effects of her father's divorce on her family and friendships by volunteering her summer to build a house in a small Tennessee town devastated by a tornado.	9-12
	Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott	Eighteen-year-old Dani grows weary of her life as a thief when she and her mother move to a town where Dani feels like she can put down roots.	10-12
	The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It by Lisa Shanahan	Fourteen-year-old Gemma Stone struggles to understand her shifting emotions as her older sister plans her wedding, she overcomes her nerves and tries out for the school play, and she gets to know one of the most notorious boys in her class.	9-12
	Pool Boy by Michael Simmons	When his father is arrested for insider trading and his family loses all their money, Brett Gerson takes a job as an assistant to a 70-something pool cleaner in his former wealthy California neighborhood and learns some valuable life lessons.	9-12
	Inside Out by Terry Trueman	A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage.	9-12
	Big Fat Manifesto Susan Vaught	High school senior Jamie Carcaterra tries to win a scholarship by sharing her experiences as a fat girl in today's appearance-obsessed high school culture, but as she opens her life up to the criticism of her classmates and the media, she begins to wonder if she is being truly honest with herself.	9-12
	The Brothers Torres by Coert Voohrees	Sophomore Frankie finally finds the courage to ask his long-term friend, Julianne, to the Homecoming dance, which ultimately leads to a face-off between a tough senior whose family owns most of their small, New Mexico town, and Frankie's soccer-star older brother and his gang-member friends.	11-12
	Claws: A Novel by Will Weaver	Jed and Laura, two popular Minnesota high school students, find their seemingly perfect lives suddenly in chaos when they discover that each has a parent who is having an affair with the other.	9-12
	Sweethearts by Sara Zarr	Jennifer Harris, years after being the tormented outsider on the playground, has reinvented herself into Jenna Vaughn, a popular girl with what seems to be the perfect life, but when a childhood friend re-enters her life, she is forced to confront the most traumatic event of her past and question who she really is.	9-12
*Grade level suggestions are based on professional review sources. Some books contain mature themes. Please discuss reading selections as a family.

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