Reading List
Below are a list of excellent reads for middle school students and high school students. These are all books that I have read or had my current students read, they were also apart of a stunning team that helped me pick out a list of books that would be appropriate for any middle schooler.
The Test
This Test by Peggy Kern is about a high school girl from California who finds herself pregnant. She tries very hard to ignore the changes in her body and the looks that her fellow classmates are giving her. Liselle is not confronted with the issue of who she is going to tell and what she is going to do about the baby and the baby daddy!
The Bully
The Bully by Paul Langan is a very emotional and heart-wrenching story about a freshmen boy named Darrell Mercer who has just moved from Philadelphia to California. Before his first day at Bluford High School he has already met a bully that is out to ruin his life and make his freshmen year the worst of his life.
The Gun
The Gun by Paul Langan is the sequal to The Bully. In this story Darrell has managed to get back at his bully Tyray Hobbs. Tyray has managed to become the most humiliated student at Blurford High and finds the need and urge to get back at Darrell for making him the least feared student. With no one to go to and a troubled family life, Tyray finds that a gun is the only way to solve his problem with Darrell.
Seventeenth Summer
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly is about a young girl named Angie Marrow. Angie finds her first love, Jack Duluth but he is the exact opposite of her and that is what Jack falls in love with Angie for, her innocence. Angie is spending her last summer at home before she goes off to a major university and Jack is having to return to his hometown in Oklahoma.
Boy Meets Boy
Boy meets boy by David Levithan takes place in a Utopia. This utopia happens to be the most accepting place for gays, lesbians or whatever could be classified as making a person different. Our main character Paul is confused if he should still have feelings for his ex-boyfriend and fellow high schooler, Kyle. He then soon meets a new boyfriend who is even better than Kyle. Soon Paul finds himself with an amazing new boyfriend and lingering feelings for his ex-boyfriend. He has no one to talk to about his situation because his best friend Joni has just entered her first real relationship, but it also happens to be controlling and she is not allowed to associate with Paul anymore! **Parental Approval Needed**
The Diary of Teenage Girl
The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phobe Gloeckner is a fantastical, graphic novel. Half of this novel is composed as "traditional" literature and the other half is a seemingly graphic novel. Our main character explores the world of drugs, sexuality and alcoholism...did I forget to tell you that her lover happens to be her mother's boyfriend and is in his 30's! **Parental Approval Needed**
Emma
Emma by Jane Austen is a true girly-girl book. In this text you will dance through the excitement of Emma Woodhouse finding a true love, if she ever will! Everything around her is changing because she is forcing her best friends to take action in all the wrong and impolite manners.
Plot Overview courtesy of Sparknotes.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/emma/summary.html
Plot Overview courtesy of Sparknotes.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/emma/summary.html
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is a story about Holden Caulfield and his mysterious trip to New York City.
Plot Overview courtesy of http://www.sparknotes.com/
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/summary.html
Plot Overview courtesy of http://www.sparknotes.com/
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/summary.html
The Great Gatsby
Plot Overview courtesy of http://www.sparknotes.com/
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/summary.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/summary.html
