Nashua School District
Media Specialists Printable List (PDF)
SUMMER READING SUGGESTIONS 2011
Grades 9-12
The following is a list of suggested quality titles for summer reading. Feel free to read anything else that interests you!
Albom, Mitch*. The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
A bitter eighty-three-year-old war veteran who believes his life is meaningless dies while trying to save a little girl's life and finds himself in heaven, where five people from his past--some loved ones, some strangers--explain what his years on Earth really meant, and whether or not he succeeded in saving the child.
Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker.
In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.
Brashares, Ann*. 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows.
Ama, Jo, and Polly, three close friends from Bethesda, Maryland, are looking forward to high school, but wonder if their relationship will survive the challenges that each girl faces over the summer break.
Cashore, Kristin*. Fire.
In a kingdom called the Dells, Fire is the last human-shaped monster, with unimaginable beauty and the ability to control the minds of those around her, but even with these gifts she cannot escape the strife that overcomes her world.
Curtis, Christopher Paul*. Bucking the Sarge.
Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.
Dashner, James*. The Maze Runner.
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
Ellis, Deborah*. Children of War : Voices of Iraqi Refugees.
Twenty Iraqi children discuss how the War on Terror has affected their lives.
Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron.
To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.
Gilman, David. The Devil’s Breath.
After fifteen-year-old Max Gordon's environmentalist father goes missing while working in Namibia, Max finds he has become the target of a would-be assassin at his school in England, and decides he must find his father in Africa before they both are killed.
Hoffman, Alice. Green Witch.
A year after her world was nearly destroyed, sixteen-year-old Green has become the one villagers turn to for aid, especially to record their stories, but Green will need the help of other women who, like herself, are believed to be witches if she is to find her best friend and her one true love.
Lubar, David*. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie.
While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.
McNeal, Laura*. Dark Water.
Living in a cottage on her uncle's southern California avocado ranch since her parent's messy divorce, fifteen-year-old Pearl Dewitt meets and falls in love with an illegal migrant worker, and is trapped with him when wildfires approach his makeshift forest home.
Mulligan, Andy. Trash.
A group of fourteen-year-old boys, who make a living picking garbage from the outskirts of a large city, finds something special and mysterious that brings terrifying consequences.
Parker, Robert B. The Boxer and the Spy.
Fifteen-year-old Terry, an aspiring boxer, uncovers the mystery behind the unexpected death of a classmate.
Patterson, James. The Angel Experiment (and others in the Maximum Ride series).
After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the "birdkids," who are the result of genetic experimentation, take off in pursuit and find themselves struggling to understand their own origins and purpose.
Pausch, Randy. The Last Lecture.
Computer science professor Randy Pausch, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, discusses how to overcome obstacles in one's life and achieve one's dreams.
Pearson, Mary. The Adoration of Jenna Fox.
In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.
Pratchett, Terry. The Wee Free Men (and books in the Discworld series).
Tiffany, a young witch-to-be in the land of Discworld, teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue toughs, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland.
Sedgwick, Marcus*. Revolver.
Fourteen-year-old Sig is stranded at a remote cabin in the Arctic wilderness with his father, who died just hours earlier after falling through the ice, when a terrifying man arrives, claiming Sig's father owes him a share of a horde of stolen gold and that he will kill Sig if he does not get his money.
Shulman, Polly. The Grimm Legacy.
New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.
Shusterman, Neal*. Unwind.
Three teens embark upon a cross-country journey in order to escape from a society that salvages body parts from children ages 13-18.
Stevenson, Robert Louis*. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll, a kindly scientist, takes on his stunted evil self, Mr. Hyde by night.
Stiefvater, Maggie*. Shiver.
In all the years she has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house, Grace has been particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been watching her with increasing intensity.
Tan, Shaun*. Tales from Outer Suburbia.
Contains fifteen illustrated short stories, some humorous and some haunting, set in the Australian suburbs.
Weinstein, Bruce. Is it Still Cheating if I Don’t Get Caught?
Uses real-life examples and five basic moral principles to encourage teens to make the right choices in various situations related to friends, family, school, and relationships.
Westerfeld, Scott*. Leviathan.
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.
* Other books by these authors are also recommended.
Note: All annotations taken from Follett Titlewave listings.
