Summer Reading

Class of 2023

Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie; an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson. Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live. Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world. AR BL 5.5 Fiction

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. Summary from Request. AR BL 4.3 Fiction.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder. – Summary from Request. AR BL 4.1 Fiction

Dessen, Sarah. The Moon and More. "During her last summer at home before leaving for college, Emaline begins a whirlwind romance with Theo, an assistant documentary filmmaker who is in town to make a movie.” Provided by publisher. AR BL 4.6 Fiction

Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both. Summary from Request. AR BL 5.1 Fiction

Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. Kristina Georgia Snow disappears and Bree takes her place and Bree does drugs, gets pregnant, and is defiant and is fighting for her life as Kristina. –Provided by the publisher. AR BL 4.3 Fiction

Jal, Emmanuel. War Child: A Child Soldier’s Story. Emmanuel Jal was a seven year old Sudanese boy, living in a small village with his parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings. But as Sudan's civil war moved closer, Jal's family moved again and again, seeking peace. Then, on one terrible day, Jal was separated from his mother, and later learned she had been killed. AR BL 5.5 Nonfiction

King, Stephen. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. A portable radio helps a girl survive after she is lost in the woods of New England. During her nine-day ordeal, Trisha McFarland fights thirst, wasps and the terrors of the night, all the while keeping up her spirits by listening to music and baseball games. Summary from Request. AR BL 6.4 Fiction

Logan, Ben. The Land Remembers. A story of a farm and the people who make this a way of life. AR BL 5.4 Nonfiction

Lupica, Mike. True Legend. Fifteen-year-old Drew "True" Robinson loves being the best point-guard prospect in high school basketball, but learns the consequences of fame through a former player, as well as through the man who expects to be his manager when True reaches the NBA. AR BL 5.2 Fiction

Lu, Marie. The Young Elites. Adelina Amouteru survived the blood fever, a deadly illness that killed many, but left others with strange markings and supernatural powers. Cast out by her family, Adelina joins the secret society of the Young Elites and discovers her own dangerous abilities. Provided by publisher. AR 5.3 Fiction

Maas, Sarah. Throne of Glass. After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Provided by the publisher. AR BL 5.7 Fiction

Nelson, Jandy. I’ll Give You the Sun. A story of first love and family loss follows the estrangement between daredevil Jude and her loner twin brother, Noah, as a result of a mysterious event that is brought to light by a beautiful, broken boy and a new mentor. Provided by the publisher. AR BL 4.9 Fiction

Rucka, Greg. Star Wars Before the Awakening. Reveals the origins of a doubtful storm trooper for the First Order called FN-2187, a young scavenger on the desert planet of Jakku who calls herself Rey, and a hotshot Republic pilot named Poe Dameron, before they become involved in the major conflicts disrupting the galaxy. Summary from Request. AR BL 6.8 Fiction

Sherwood, Ben. The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. Charlie St. Cloud's life has been haunted by the ghost of his younger brother, who was killed in a car wreck that Charlie managed to survive, and when a beautiful young woman enters Charlie's life, he must choose between the past and the possibility of the future. Provided by the publisher. AR BL 5.1 Fiction

Wasserman, Robin. Hacking Harvard. When three brilliant nerds--Max Kim, Eric Roth, and Isaac "The Professor" Schwarzbaum--bet $20,000 that they can get anyone into Harvard, they take on the Ivy League in their quest for popularity, money, and the love of a beauty queen valedictorian. Provided by the publisher. AR BL 5.3 Fiction