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North Rose-Wolcott High School Library Media Center 11631 Salter-Colvin Road, Wolcott, New York 14590 Phone (315) 594-3100, ext. 4334, Fax (315) 594-6235 Mrs. L'Hommedieu, Library Media Specialist alhommedieu@nrwcs.org |
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Summer Reading Suggestions For Teens from James Patterson's website, list prepared by Judy Freeman from Houston Area Independent Schools Library Network For Teachers and Staff Adamson, Gil. The Outlander. Nineteen-year-old Mary Boulton struggles to survive alone in the wild after fleeing west from the law and hiding from her two revenge seeking brothers-in-law for murdering her adulturous husband. (Fiction) Albom, Mitch. Have a Little Faith: A true story. Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds--two men, two faiths, two communities--that will inspire readers everywhere. (Non-Fiction) Allen, Sarah Addison. Garden Spells. Claire Waverley has used her unique gifts to cast a protective boundary around her home and life, but when her rebellious sister, Sydney, unexpectedly arrives on Claire's doorstep, she finds her life turned upside down as they both struggle to heal the wounds of the past. (Fiction) Amick, Steve. Nothing But a Smile. A hand injury gets illustrator Wink Dutton discharged from the military during World War II, so he returns to Chicago, where he joins his buddy's wife, Sal, in her secret business making pinup photos, leading to a complex romance amid struggles to adjust to postwar America. (Fiction) Bazell, Josh. Beat the Reaper. Dr. Peter Brown, an intern at a Manhattan hospital, finds his past catching up with him when a patient realizes Peter is actually Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwa, a hit man for the mob and has been in the Witness Protection Program for years, leaving Peter scrambling to find a way to protect his patients and himself from the bloodbath that will ensue if Peter's patient reveals his true identity. (Fiction) Blehm, Eric. Last Season. In 1996, after nearly 30 seasons as a park ranger in the Sierra Nevadas, Randy Morgenson set off on a routine patrol and never came back. His body was found in July 2001, almost exactly five years after he disappeared. To this day, the circumstances of his death remain unclear. Blehm explores the many mysteries surrounding Morgenson. Why did the veteran ranger, a man whose knowledge of his territory was virtually encyclopedic, seem suddenly to be disillusioned with his life's work? Was his death an accident, foul play, or suicide? Did his single-minded quest to preserve the wilderness finally seem futile? (Non-Fiction) Boyle, T. C. The Women. Account of the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, as told through the experiences of the four women who loved him. (Nonfiction) Bronson, Po and Ashley Merryman. Nurtureshock: new thinking about children. Contains ten essays that challenge conventional wisdom about raising children; contending that good intentions in child rearing practices are actually backfiring and discussing topics such as praise, emotional well-being, race, lying, and teen rebellion. (Non-Fiction) Browning, Dominique. Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas & Found Happiness. A former editor of "House & Garden" magazine, describes how the sudden loss of her job and the end of a long relationship led her into her pajamas and a new rural home where she eventually found happiness. (Nonfiction/ Memoir) Collins, Gail. When everything changed: the amazing journey of American women from 1860 to the present. Examines the history of women in America from the 1960s and into the early twenty-first century, discussing politics, fashion, popular culture, economics, sex, families, the workforce, and related topics. (Non-Fiction) Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen accidentally becomes a contender in the annual Hunger Games, a grave competition hosted by the Capitol where young boys and girls are pitted against one another in a televised fight to the death. (Young Adult Fiction) Caputo, Philip. Crossers. After losing his wife on September 11, 2001, Gil Castle retreats to his family's isolated Arizona ranch, where he tries to cope with his own grief while learning about the hardships his father and grandfather faced throughout the twentieth century. (Fiction) Castillo, Linda. Sworn to Silence. Kate Burkholder, offered the job of chief of police in Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish community where she grew up, believes she has securely put her past behind her, but the discovery of a body in a snowy field makes her realize she has to confront what happened to her as a child and expose a dark secret that could destroy her and those she loves. (Fiction) Cleave, Chris. Little Bee. The story of Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee, and Sarah, the British widow who fatefully takes her in. A grueling tale burnished with humor and love and comparable to Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, this title will give book club members plenty to mull over. (Fiction) Cornwell, Bernard. Agincourt. After his time as a mercenary archer in France, young Nicholas Hook returns to England, despite the warrant for his arrest, where he is discovered by the King of England--Henry V--who recruits Hook into his army and marches back into France where he becomes the army's--and the King's--only hope. (Historical Fiction) Cullen, Lynn. The Creation of Eve. In the sixteenth century, Sofi Anguissola is invited to the Spanish court to study under master painter Michelangelo and serve as a lady-in-waiting for the young Queen Elisabeth, but as a scandal forces Michelangelo to flee and Sofi is pulled into a love triangle between the King, the Queen, and the King's illegitimate half-brother, Sofi fears her life and her dreams of becoming an artist will be ruined. (Historical Fiction) Dallas, Sandra. Prayers for Sale. In 1936 Middle Swan, Colorado, eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort befriends seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, who recently lost a daughter and whose husband works on a dredge boat, by inviting her into her knitting circle and passing down stories about the small town. (Fiction) Davidson, Andrew. The Gargoyle. A handsome, self-centered writer and producer of pornography, burned over most of his body following an automobile crash, plans to kill himself upon his release from the hospital, but he gradually changes his mind when Marianne Engel, a beautiful sculptress of gargoyles, begins visiting him, regaling him with stories of their seven-hundred-year-old love affair. (Fiction) Delinsky, Barbara. Not My Daughter. High school principal Susan Tate's life takes a sudden detour when her seventeen-year-old daughter finds out she is pregnant and her two best friends announce they are too, leading the people of their Maine coastal village to accuse Susan of being responsible for the actions of the teenagers and making Susan fear the life she has built for her family will be lost. (Fiction) DeRosnay, Tatiana. Sarah's Key. American journalist Julia Jarmond researches the brutal 1942 Nazi roundup in Paris and stumbles upon a connection between her family and one of the victims, which compels Julia to learn more about the girl's life. (Fiction) Dunant, Sarah. Sacred Hearts. In the year 1570, the convent of Santa Caterina is disrupted by the arrival of sixteen-year-old Serafina, the daughter of a noble family who has been forced to attend the convent and begins a complex relationship of trust and betrayal with one of the nuns that will bring about a rebellion among the nuns that is further complicated by the dictates of the Counter-Reformation. (Historical Fiction) Duncan, Elizabeth J. The Cold Light of Mourning. Manicurist Penny Brannigan is pulled into a murder mystery when a local bride is found dead, leaving Penny on a search for a killer that leads right to the victim's intended groom and reveals a shocking secret that will rock the town. (Mystery/ Fiction) Fleischner, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: the remarkable story of the friendship between a first lady and a former slave. Describes the lives of Mary Todd Lincoln and sought-after dressmaker Elizabeth Keckly, a freed slave, and examines the role Elizabeth played in Mary's turbulent life before and after the president's assassination. (Non-Fiction) Ford, Jamie. The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet. Henry Lee, a Chinese-American in Seattle, loses his wife to cancer and recalls his youth, when he and his Japanese-American friend, Keiko, spent time together during WWII--before Keiko and her family were interred at a camp--and deals with generational difficulties between himself and his father and college-age son. (Fiction) Fortschen, William F. One Second After. After an electromagnetic pulse weapon destroys the United States' electrical grid, history professor John Matherson, a retired soldier, attempts to protect his family despite the breakdown of society and prevalence of starvation, disease, and roving gangs of barbarians. (Fiction) Genova, Lisa. Still Alice. Alice Howland, a fifty-year-old cognitive psychology professor at Harvard, starts to experience early-onset Alzheimer's, initially becoming disoriented around town and eventually losing track of rooms in her home before resigning from Harvard and attempting to hold onto the severe change in her life. (Fiction) Goolrick, Robert. A Reliable Wife. Wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt advertises for a reliable wife to make a home for him on his estate in rural Wisconsin in the early twentieth century and although he knows immediately that Catherine Land is not the woman she presented herself to be, he decides to marry her anyway in what becomes a risky arrangement for them both. (Fiction) Gruen, Sara. Water for Elephants. Ninety-year-old Jacob Jankowski finds himself haunted by memories of his past in the circus and the freaks, exotic animals, and other people he encountered as a performer. (Fiction) Gudenkauf, Heather. The Weight of Silence. Seven-year-old Callie, silent since a violent incident in her home three years earlier, is dragged off into the forest by her drunk, irrational father Griff one morning, and when her friend, Petra, disappears from her home at the same time, things begin to look very dark for Griff. (Fiction) Haji, Nafisa. The Writing on my Forehead. Saria, a second generation Muslim-American, decides to pursue a college education after learning family secrets about her grandfather, but the terrorist attacks in 2001 and a family tragedy cause Saria to question her choice to become an international journalist. (Fiction) Hall, Ron. Same Kind of Different as Me. Hollywood art dealer Ron Hall and former Louisiana indentured servant Denver Moore reflect on their lives and the friendship that was established between them thanks to Ron's late wife Deborah's volunteer work at Union Gospel Mission in Fort Worth, Texas. (Nonfiction) Hart, John. The Last Child. Thirteen-year-old Johnny searches the town after his twin sister Alyssa disappears on her way home from the library one day, and Detective Clyde Hunt, lead cop on the case, watches over Johnny and his mother to keep them safe while the boy and his friend continue their hunt. (Mystery/Fiction) Hoffman, Beth. Saving CeeCee. Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt has taken care of her psychotic mother, Camille, for years, but when tragedy strikes, CeeCee is rescued by her great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell, who moves CeeCee to Savannah and introduces her to an exotic, unknown world filled with eccentric women who change CeeCee's life. (Fiction) Jarvis, Cheryl. The necklace : thirteen women and the experiment that transformed their lives. Recounts the true story of a group of women who together purchased an expensive diamond necklace, which they shared, and, in the process, changed their lives and community. (Nonfiction) Jordan, Hillary. Mudbound. The shaky marriage between Henry McAllan and his city-bred wife Laura becomes even more unstable when his brother Jamie returns from World War II in 1946 to help work the family's miserable cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta, along with his comrade-in-arms Ronsel Jackson, the oldest son of local sharecroppers, who soon learns that his heroics in battle mean nothing in the Jim Crow south. (Fiction) Junger, Sebastian. War. A true tale, follows a single platoon over fifteen months at a remote outpost in Afghanistan. Junger's objective was both simple and ambitious: to convey what soldiers experience and what war actually feels like. (Nonfiction/Memoir) Keane, Mary Beth. The Walking People. When three young Irish immigrants arrive in New York in 1963, destiny keeps them interconnected despite a huge, divisive secret. (Fiction) Kim, Eugenia. The Calligrapher’s Daughter. Najin Han, the headstrong daughter of a calligrapher in early twentieth-century Korea, is sent by her mother to become a companion of the young princess to prevent her father from forcing her to marry, but when the king is assassinated, Najin faces countless hardships on her quest for education and love. (Fiction) Kingsolver, Barbara. The Lacuna. Harrison William Shepherd, a man caught between two worlds, Mexico and the United States in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, finds himself pulled into some of the twentieth century's most tumultuous events as he searches for his true identity. (Fiction) Kolpan, Gerald. Etta. Etta Place, having left Philadelphia after her father's suicide, joins with the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, making a name for herself through her shooting and riding skills as well as her relationship with the Sundance Kid and becoming an enemy of the police, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the Black Hand Mafia, and Kid Curry. (Fiction) Kravitz, Lee. Unfinished Business: One Man's Extraordinary Year of Trying to Do the Right Thing. The author provides an account of his experiences after losing his job in his mid-fifties and making a vow to spend a year reconnecting with the people he let slip away while pursuing his workaholic lifestyle, describing ten transformational journeys he took and the personal and spiritual paths that opened to him along the way. (Nonfiction/Memoir) Lamb, Cathy. Henry's Sisters. Sisters Isobel, Cecilia, and Janie Bommarito return to their home to help run the family bakery and take care of their mentally handicapped brother Henry after their mother has open heart surgery, and as they are forced to deal with their mother's abuse and the scorn of the town's residents, the girls learn some surprising truths about love, family, and forgiveness. (Fiction) Lanier, Jaron. You are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto. Examines the cultural and technical problems that are a result of poorly planned digital designs and argues the technological and Internet advances are allowing the wisdom of computers and large groups to become more powerful than individual judgment and intelligence. (Nonfiction) Leitch, Will. Are We Winning?:Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball. New York magazine sports columnist Will Leitch reflects on his love of baseball and how the sport helped him form emotional connections with his father, and recounts their experience traveling to Chicago's Wrigley Field in September 2008 to see the Cubs played their beloved St. Louis Cardinals. (Nonfiction) Lynch, Jim. Border Songs. Freakishly tall Brandon Vanderkool is pushed by his dairy farmer father into joining the Border Patrol and proves to be very adept at catching drug smugglers and illegal aliens trying to cross the ditch between British Columbia and Washington State, but his efforts do not necessarily please local residents who are not averse to turning a blind eye--for a small fee--to the traffic between borders. (Fiction) Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Henry VIII, anxious about the consequences of dying without a male heir, is denied permission to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn, but the power struggle between the Church and the Crown is mediated by astute politician Thomas Cromwell, who manages to get the king what he wants while keeping his eye on the prize of a free England. (Historical Fiction) Maynard, Joyce. Labor Day. In Holton Mills, New Hampshire, the lives of thirteen-year-old Henry and his emotionally fragile mother Adele are changed forever when they open their home to a mysterious bleeding man and find themselves learning to hope again. (Fiction) McClure,Tori Murden. A Pearl in the Storm. In June 1998, Tori McClure began rowing across the Atlantic Ocean solo in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. Within days she lost all communication with shore, but decided to forge ahead – not knowing that 1998 would turn out to be the worst hurricane season on record in the North Atlantic. When she was nearly killed by a series of violent storms, Tori was forced to signal for help and go home in what felt like disgrace. But then her life began to change in unexpected ways. She was hired by Muhammad Ali, who told her that she did not want to be known as the woman who "almost" rowed across the Atlantic. And at thirty-five, Tori fell in love. A Pearl in the Storm is Tori’s thrilling story of high adventure - and of her personal quest to discover that embracing her own humanity was more important than superhuman feats. (Nonfiction/Memoir)McDonald, Heather. You'll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again: One Woman's Painfully Funny Quest to Give It Up. The laugh-out-loud story of an attractive Los Angeles woman who found herself in the predicament of being an unwilling virgin. As an actress, writer, and stand-up comedienne, Heather McDonald passed up ample opportunities to have her V-card revoked by handsome, rich, and sometimes even fabulously famous men, but she could not bring herself to do "it" until well after her friends had been deflowered. (Nonfiction/Memoir) McGovern, Cammie. Neighborhood Watch. Former librarian is exonerated after serving 12 years in prison for a neighbor's murder and returns to her suburban Connecticut neighborhood to find the real killer. (Fiction) Miller, Sue. Lake Shore Limited. Playwright Billy Gertz, having waited on 9/11 for news of her lover Gus, writes "The Lake Shore Limited," a play about a man waiting to hear whether his estranged wife has survived a terrorist bombing on a train that was just pulling into Chicago's Union Station, and finds the work has far-reaching effects, not just on her life, but on those of Gus's sister, the actor in the lead role, and a man who is attracted to Billy. (Fiction) Morton, Kate. The Forgotten Garden. When a little girl is abandoned on a ship going to Australia in 1913 and arrives with only her clothes and a book of fairy tales, she is raised by the dockmaster and his wife as their own; as a young woman, she travels to England where, over time, her own granddaughter eventually assembles the pieces of her life's puzzle. (Fiction) Palfrey, Joan and Urs Gasser. Born Digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. Examines how economy, culture, and family life may change due to the coming of age of a generation of digital natives--individuals who have been exposed to technology their entire lives; and discusses the challenges they face. (Nonfiction) Parkin, Gaile. Baking Cakes in Kigali. Angel runs a cake business in Kigali, Rwanda, and her kitchen serves as an oasis where various people, including a CIA agent's wife, a former boy-soldier, and human rights workers, stop in to relate their stories and secrets. (Fiction) Perry, Michael. Coop --a year of poultry, pigs, and parenting. The author describes his move to a thirty-seven-acre farm in Wisconsin with his pregnant wife and daughter, discussing what the experience taught him about hard work, rural families, parenting, and his childhood. (sequel to Truck: A Love Story) (Nonfiction/Memoir) Picoult, Jodi. House Rules. Emma Hunt's son Jacob, who has Asperger's syndrome and occasionally tries helping the police with his unique forensic analysis abilities, falls under suspicion when a murder occurs in town, reminding Emma of society's--and the legal system's--misunderstanding with regard to the behavioral cues associated with Asperger's. (Fiction) Quinn, Spencer. Dog on it: A Chet and Bernie Mystery. Chet, the canine companion to Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, plays a key role in helping his owner track down a missing high school girl whose disappearance was initially written off as a typical case of a runaway teen. (Fiction) Rabe, David. Girl by the Road at Night: A Novel of Vietnam is a spare and poetic narrative about a young soldier embarking on a tour of duty and the Vietnamese prostitute he meets in that country. (Historical Fiction) Rideau, Wilbert. In the place of justice : a story of punishment and deliverance. Convicted bank robber Wilbert Rideau shares his life story and how, after receiving a life sentence at Louisiana's Angola prison in 1961, he turned his life around by becoming the editor of the prison news magazine, the "Angolite," and published articles on prison violence. (Nonfiction) Shaara, Jeff. No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II (part 3 of a trilogy). A fictionalized account of the final months of World War II that recounts the experiences of the Allied soldiers and military leaders who faced the German army and the atrocities they left in their wake. (Fiction) Severson, Kim. Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life. "New York Times" food writer, describes her life and the challenges she has faced since childhood, revealing what she has learned from eight female cooks, including her mother, along with Marion Cunningham, Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl, Rachael Ray, and Marcella Hazan. (Nonfiction/Memoir) Shriver, Lionel. So Much For That. Shep Knacker, having saved for years to retire to a Tanzanian island where he could live on his nest egg for the rest of his life, is stunned when his wife Glynis announces she has a rare form of cancer and needs his insurance, and while the mounting bills cut deeply into his savings, he is buoyed by rants against the health care system by his friend Jackson who is caring for a sick child. (Fiction) Sides, Hampton. Hellhound on his trail : the stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the international hunt for his assassin. Details how James Earl Ray, an inmate at a maximum- security penitentiary in Missouri, managed his escape in 1967, the aliases he assumed before becoming a follower of George Wallace, and his efforts to stalk and assassinate civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., along with the manhunt that followed. (Nonfiction) Stein, Garth. The Art of Racing in the Rain. Enzo, the dog of professional race car driver Denny Swift, recalls the memories of his life and shares his insight into the human condition that he learned from observing his owner. (Nonfiction) Stockett, Kathryn. The Help. Skeeter returns home to Mississippi from college in 1962 and begins to write stories about the African-American women that are found working in white households, which includes Aibileen, who grieves for the loss of her son while caring for her seventeenth white child, and Minny, Aibileen's sassy friend, the hired cook for a secretive woman who is new to town. (Fiction) Tropper, Jonathan. This is Where I Leave You. Foxman's wife, Jen, has left him for his boss, a Howard Stern-like radio personality, but it is the death of his father and the week of sitting shivah with his enjoyably dysfunctional family that motivates him. (Fiction) Turgeon, Carolyn. Godmother: A Novel. Lillian, a former fairy godmother who cheated Cinderella out of her life with Prince Charming, is cast out from the world of fairies and into the human world; but she has one chance for redemption if she can find a soul mate for Veronica, a young girl she meets one day. (Fiction) Tyler, Anne. Noah's Compass. Sixty-one-year-old fifth-grade teacher Liam Pennywell, having been forced into retirement, is attacked shortly after moving into his new condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore, and embarks on a mission to recover memories which he lost during the incident, which results in an unlikely friendship with a woman half his age. (Fiction) Walls, Jeannette. Half Broke Horses: A True Life Novel. Lily Casey Smith grows up breaking horses with her father and leaves home at fifteen to ride five hundred miles in order to teach in a frontier town before encountering various difficulties, marrying a rancher, and speaking out against prejudice in various parts of the U.S. (Fiction) Zaslow. The girls from Ames: a story of women and a forty-year friendship. Discusses the friendship of eleven childhood friends who grew up together in Ames, Iowa before moving to various states and managing to maintain their connections through college, careers, marriage, motherhood, illness, and divorce. (Nonfiction) Annotations cut and pasted from www.titlewave.com |