Ms. L's Challenge Books

•  "The Fellowship of the Ring" The Rings of Power were made by the Elven-smiths, but Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, imbued with all his power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. Many, many years later, Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring (his finding of the ring is another book called "The Hobbit") to his care. Frodo must leave his peaceful home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth.

• "The Two Towers" and "Return of the King" follow Frodo and his companions on a fantasy filled trip to destroy a great evil before it destroys everyone and everything. 

• High fantasy

• No specific cultural connections

• A deep sea adventure tale by the father of science fiction.  Three men take off on an epic journey with the mysterious Captain Nemo aboard his submarine, the Nautilus. On their journey, they find the lost city of Atlantis, the South Pole, and the corals of the Red Sea battling humans and monsters alike. This is a classic novel about the limitless possibilities of science and the darkest places in the minds of  human beings.

• Classic science fiction

• No specific cultural connections

• Guy Montag is a Fireman. But not the kind we know. His job is to destroy the dangerous and illegal books he finds along with the houses in which he finds them (ALL books are considered dangerous and are illegal). Montag never questions his work, his life, his wife, Mildred, who spends all of her days with her TV “family.” But when a young neighbor, Clarisse, talks to him about a time when people weren’t always afraid and books whose ideas make far more sense of the world than the mindless television the people are fed,  Montag begins to question everything he has ever known and believed in. 

• Dystopian fiction (a sub-genre of science fiction

• No specific cultural connections

• From the author: This is the story of my childhood, in verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, I always felt halfway home in each place. In these poems, I share what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and my growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. It also reflects the joy of finding my voice through writing stories, despite the fact that I struggled with reading as a child. My love of stories inspired and stayed with me, creating the first sparks of the writer I was to become. 

• Poetry, non-fiction

• Afrian American cultural connections

• “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Winston Smith does what The Party tells him, rewriting history for the Ministry of Truth. But, as Winston continues to write lies, a hatred grows within him. Winston hates The Party, who only wants power for themselves and who arrest, not just criminals, but those who even think differently than The Party Allows (Thoughtcriminals). As Winston begins thinking for himself, he knows that Big Brother is always watching and wonders if life could ever be any different.

• Dystopian fiction (sub-genre of sceience fiction)

• No specific cultural connections

•  Buck is a stolen, spoiled pet from California. He is  stolen to be a sled dog in the Alaskan wilderness. There he suffers  the brutallity of nature and the evil in the hearts of men.  Can Buck listen to his long dormant instincts and turn his back on people and the comforts of civilization? Can a pet survive in the wild?

• Wilderness adventure and animal atory

• No specific cultural connections

• Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a man and defend the village, keep everyone safe. But Mama tells him not yet — he’s still her quiet moonfaced boy. The soldiers laugh at the villagers, and before they move on, a neighbor is found dangling from a tree, a sign on his neck: Communist. Mama tells Carlos to run and hide, then try to find her. . . . Numb and alone, he must join a band of guerillas as they trek to the top of the mountain where Carlos’s abuela lives. Will he be in time, and brave enough, to warn them about the soldiers? What will he do then? A novel in verse inspired by actual events during Guatemala’s civil war, Caminar is the moving story of a boy who loses nearly everything before discovering who he really is. 

• Poetry, historical fiction 

• Latinx and Guatemalan cultural connections

• As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.  

• Historical fiction

• African and African American cultural connections

• Tthis is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read. 

• Realistic Fiction

• Personal connections: being different, being an outsider

• Adoption, mixed families, people of color cultural connections

• Idealistic young scientist Henry Jekyll struggles to unlock the secrets of the soul. Testing chemicals in his lab, he drinks a mixture he hopes will isolate—and eliminate—human evil. Instead it unleashes the dark forces within him, transforming him into the hideous and murderous Mr. Hyde. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dramatically brings to life a science-fiction case study of the nature of good and evil and the duality that can exist within one person. 

• Science fiction

• No specific cultural connections

• "With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.

Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family. 

• • Sports fiction and poetry

  • African American and sports cultural connections

• In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders.

 The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is.

• • Science fiction

  • No sepcific cultural connections 

• Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about the young student of science Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but thinking and feeling creature in a unorthodox scientific experiment. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818, as women were not taken very serioiusly as writers.  The scientific and occult ideas in the story weere  themes of conversation among her companions, particularly her future husband, Percy Shelley. One dreary and rainy day, Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and John Polidori decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story, and Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein."

• Gothic Fiction, Horror, and Science Fiction of the time (1816).

• One of the first female horror writers. 

• First published in 1845, the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is the memoir of former slave turned abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. Considered as one of the most famous of all the slave narratives ever written, the story recounts Douglass’s life from early childhood growing up in Maryland as a slave to his eventual escape to the North. Douglass tells of his life with various owners depicting the cruelty that he himself endured and was witness to. Douglass begins to learn to read and write when his master’s wife, Mrs. Sophia Auld, begins teaching him the alphabet and some small words. His instruction quickly comes to an end though when Mr. Auld disapproves. Douglass, however, realizing the importance of literacy, takes it upon himself to learn to read and write. This decision would serve him well as he would eventually use it to document the civil injustices of slavery in 19th century America and to craft his impassioned oratories against it. The work of Frederick Douglass would be an early and inspirational voice in the abolitionist movement, one which would give hope to the cause and which would ultimately help to bring about an end to that brutally unjust chapter of American history known as slavery. 

• Narrative non-fiction

• African and African American cultural connections

• First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own. 

• Horror

• No specific cultural connections

• Ms. L's second favorite book in the ! "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"

• Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together, this dynamic pair began a journey through space aided by a galaxyful of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan), Zaphod’s girlfriend, whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; and Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he’s bought over the years. To find the answeer to life and everything,  stick your thumb to the stars! 

• Comic science fiction

• No specific cultural connectins

• Caroline Murphy is a Hurricane Child. Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and twelve-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She's hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won't stop following her, and -- worst of all -- Caroline's mother left home one day and never came back.But when a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline's luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline's first and only friend -- and the person for whom Caroline has begun to develop a crush. Now, Caroline must find the strength to confront her feelings for Kalinda, brave the spirit stalking her through the islands, and face the reason her mother abandoned her. Together, Caroline and Kalinda must set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother -- before Caroline loses her forever. 

• Relaistic Fiction

• Virgin Islands and LGBTQ+ cultural connections

• A young boy desperately tries to unlock his past yet feels he must hide those memories if he is to remain alive. A genre bending novel of mystery and suspense. Will the truth really set him free?

• Mystery, Realistic Fiction

• No specific cultural connections

• One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter.One moment that changes both of their lives forever.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight

• Narrative non-fiction

• LGBTQ+  and African American cultural connections

•  German professor Otto Lidenbrock  believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the centre of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull, encountering many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards, before eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy, at the Stromboli volcano.From a scientific point of view, this story has not aged quite as well as other Verne stories, since most of his ideas about what the interior of the Earth contains have since been disproved, but it still manages to captivate audiences when regarded as a classic fantasy novel. 

• Classic science fiction

• No specific cultural connections

• The classic story of the Headless Horseman and a "love" triangle. Are the stories of ghosts and spirits in Sleepy Hollow true or just legends? Perhaps on dark evening, Ichibod Crane will discover the truth.

• Gothic horror

• No specific cultural connections

• One the top 5 list of most distrubing books Ms. L has ever read.

• At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Lord of the Flies is perhaps America's most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.” 

• Realistic fiction (allagorical)

• No specific cultural connections

• He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Filthy son of Abraham.

He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who steals food for himself, and the other orphans. He's a boy who believes in bread, and mothers, and angels.

He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi, with tall, shiny jackboots of his own-until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind.

And when the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, he's a boy who realizes it's safest of all to be nobody.

Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli takes us to one of the most devastating settings imaginable-Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II-and tells a tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival through the bright eyes of a young Holocaust orphan .

• Historical Fiction

• Jewish and Polish cultural connections

• One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime. 

• Historical fiction

• This is a book for everyone to read and connect to

• Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live. 

• Realistic Fiction

• Native American cultural connections

• Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect. 

• Historical Fiction

• African American cultural connections

• Anikwa and James, twelve years old in 1812, spend their days fishing, trapping, and exploring together in the forests of the Indiana Territory. To Anikwa and his family, members of the Miami tribe, this land has been home for centuries. As traders, James's family has ties to the Miami community as well as to the American soldiers in the fort. Now tensions are rising―the British and American armies prepare to meet at Fort Wayne for a crucial battle, and Native Americans from surrounding tribes gather in Kekionga to protect their homeland. After trading stops and precious commodities, like salt, are withheld, the fort comes under siege, and war ravages the land. James and Anikwa, like everyone around them, must decide where their deepest loyalties lie. Can their families―and their friendship―survive?  

• Historical Fiction

• Native American cultural connections

• They say his clothes blend into the background, no matter where he stands. They say a lot of things about the Schwa, but one thing’s for sure: no one ever noticed him. Except me. My name is Antsy Bonano, and I was the one who realized the Schwa was “functionally invisible” and used him to make some big bucks. But I was also the one who caused him more grief than a friend should. So if you all just shut up and listen, I’ll tell you everything there is to know about the Schwa, from how he got his name, to what really happened with his mom. I’ll spill everything. Unless, of course, “the Schwa Effect” wipes him out of my brain before I’m done…. 

• Realistic fiction with a side of fantasy

• Brooklyn cultural connections (language)

• Venture back in time to Victorian London to join literature's greatest detective team — the brilliant Sherlock Holmes and his devoted assistant, Dr. Watson — as they investigate strange and complex cases. 

• Detective fiction and mystery

• Victorian and Edwardian era cultural connections

• It's the first real summer since the accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. Cedar and what’s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They’re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar.  

• Realistic fiction with a touch of mystery

• Asian-American cultural connections

• A story of perspective and truth. It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story--that she died proclaiming her faith. 

But it's not true. I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did--and didn't--happen that day. Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . . 

• Realistic fiction

• LGBTQ+ cultural connections 

• School is hard enough, but when you're misfits on a mission, you're really put to the test. Zander and his crew are underdogs at DaVinci Academy, one of the best Gifted and Talented schools in Harlem. But even these kids who are known as losers can win by speaking up. When they start their own school newspaper, stuff happens. Big stuff. Loud stuff. Stuff nobody expects. Mr. Culpepper, the Assistant Principal and Chief Executioner, is ready to get rid of Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi, until they prove that their writing packs enough power to keep the peace and show what it means to stand up for a cause. 

• Realistic Fiction

• Multi-racial cultural connections

• During a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant bickering between her older brother and her recently divorced mother. But when she wanders off by herself, she becomes lost in a wilderness maze full of peril and terror. As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fears. For solace she tunes her headphones to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty performances of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when the reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her—the protector from an enemy who may or may not be imagined…one who is watching her, waiting for her in the dense, dark woods… 

• Horror (psychological horror)

• No specific cultural connections....Unless you're a Red Sox fan like Ms. L

• Ms. L's favorite book of all time

• Has been a challenge book for 15 years; only four students have ever taken up the challenge and finished it

• Set in England's Downs, a once perfect  rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special rabbits on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society. 

• Yes, there are movies. No, they aren't as good, and the current remake does not stay true to the book. 

• Adventure and animal story

• No specific cultural connections

• Based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s, Behar’s novel is a story about strength and resilience when faced with adversity. Ruthie Mizrahi and her family emigrate from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when Ruthie starts to feel settled, a car accident leaves her in a body cast. Ruthie faces a long physical recovery that affects her mentally and emotionally. 

• Realistic and historical fiction

• Latinx and Jewish cultural connections

• Set during a Miami summer, Arturo spends his time playing basketball, sipping mango smoothies, keeping cool under banyan trees, and working a few shifts as a dishwasher at Abuela’s restaurant. But this summer also includes Carmen, a cute girl who moves into Arturo’s apartment complex, the poetry of José Martí, and a shady land developer. 

• Realistic fiction

• Latinx (Cuban, specifically) cultural connections

• 12-year-old Sumiko’s family lives on a flower farm in Southern California. When Pearl Harbor is attacked, the Japanese-American family’s lives are turned upside down. Some family members are taken to a prison camp, others sent to the Arizona desert. Missing her old life and struggling with despair, Sumiko develops a tender relationship with a Mohave boy. It's a sensitive look on a difficult piece of American history. 

• Historical Fiction

• Japanese,  Japanese American, and Native American cultural connections

• Escape from Syria is a fictionalized account that calls on real-life circumstances and true tales of refugee families. The story spans six years in the lives of Walid, his wife Dalia, and their two children, Amina and Youssef.  When the family home in Aleppo is destroyed by a government-led bomb strike, Walid has no choice but to take his wife and children and flee their war-torn and much loved homeland. They struggle to survive in the wretched refugee camps of Lebanon, and when Youssef becomes ill, his father is forced to take great personal risk to save his family. Walid's daughter, the young Amina, a whip-smart grade-A student, tells the story. As she witnesses firsthand the harsh realities that her family must endure if they are to survive -- swindling smugglers, treacherous ocean crossings, and jihadist militias -- she is forced to grow up very quickly in order to help her parents and brother. 

• Graphic Novel and Realistic Fiction

• Muslim and refugee cultural connection