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Jane Webster,and Sherry Boynton are looking for books.
1.Peggy McNash/English/will take an overflow book. as will Sarah Cohen as will Linda Wyatt and Traci Lerner and Jenny Green
In 1866, tragedy strikes at the exclusive Windfield School. A young student drowns in a mysterious accident involving a small circle of boys. The drowning and its aftermath initiates a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many loves... From the exclusive men's club and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London's upper classes to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world's wealth, Ken Follett conjures up a stunning array of contrasts. This breathtaking novel portrays a family splintered by lust, bound by a shared legacy... men and women swept toward a perilous climax where greed, fed by the shocking truth of a boy's death, must be stopped, or not just one man's dreams, but those of a nation, will die....
2. Leigh Shelor/Grade 12 counselor/ Based on his father's bestselling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Sean Covey applies the same principles to teens, using a vivacious, entertaining style that includes real-life stories of teens who have overcome obstacles to succeed, and step-by-step guides to shifting paradigms, building equity in "relationship bank accounts," creating action plans, and much more. Some of the habits include the following: be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw. Covey's humorous and up-front style is just light enough to be acceptable to wary teenagers, and down-and-dirty enough to really make a difference.
3. Allegiant Paula Nettles will host 1 session of same 20 who read Insurgent with her last year! From amazon.com "Veronica Roth had her work cut out for her, ending a trilogy that had fans rabid for the final book, and she pulled it off like a champ. Allegiant kicks off right where //Insurgent// ended, so if it’s been a while since you read that one you might want to re-read the last couple of chapters to orient yourself. The first surprise in Allegiant is that Roth has switched to using alternating narratives of Tris and Four. At last readers get to see Tris as Four sees her and if, like me, you’ve been dying to get inside his head, you finally get your chance. One of the best things about this trilogy is the messy, passionate, and wholly authentic love story between these two. For Tris and Four, there is no love triangle, there are no sides to take--as in life, it’s only a matter of how their relationship will play out. Allegiant answers a lot of questions and also delivers some jaw-dropping twists--readers will go outside the fence, learn the origin story of the factions, and, of course, see how it all ends in a finale that packs a wallop and confirms Roth as a writer to watch for a long time to come."
4. Margaret Lee/English/Me Talk Pretty One Day/David Sedaris/ A collection of memoirs by American humorist David Sedaris. These essays, ranging in
subject 4matter from growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, to speaking French in Normandy, are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. Non Fiction.
5. Carolyn Haldeman/English/
Sue Monk Kidd. Then Invention of Wings Inspired by the story of historic women, a rich Charleston plantation owner's daughter and a slave girl given to her on her eleventh birthday eventually become a team in a fight for the abolishment of slavery.
6. Dana Reker (grade 10 only) and Jeanne Ann Ratliff, section (2):Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell Info on Eleanor and Park from Amazon...
Bono met his wife in high school, Park says. So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers. I’m not kidding, he says. You should be, she says, we’re 16. What about Romeo and Juliet? Shallow, confused, then dead. I love you, Park says. Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers. I’m not kidding, he says. You should be.
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.
7. Hunter Smith/ History/ Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer Cannot be chosen by anyone in CP English since it was read as a required book in the past. Mr. Smith actually knew Chris McCandless from his days at Emory.
Amazon.com description: "In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild."
8. Fritz Hutchinson/ History; Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent.
From Amazon.com: "A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how 'reaaally big' God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit 'shoots down power' from heaven to help us."
9. Ken Kirschner Math The House of Silk Andrew Horowitz From amazon.com "Once again, THE GAME'S AFOOT... London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap - a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place. Almost unwillingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn ever deeper into an international conspiracy connected to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston, the gaslit streets of London, opium dens and much, much more. And as they dig, they begin to hear the whispered phrase-the House of Silk-a mysterious entity that connects the highest levels of government to the deepest depths of criminality. Holmes begins to fear that he has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society."
10.Rachael Szymanski/ English and Kelsey Emerson/English : Insurgent by Veronica Roth: Dystopian / Young Adult. The second book in the Divergent series, Insurgent continues the story of Tris Pryor as she "must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so." (from Amazon.com).
11. Carrie Carver / Math/ Starting from Here, Lisa Jenn Bigelow
In the two years since 16-year-old Colby’s mother died, Colby’s grades have slipped, and her father’s nonstop work as a trucker leaves her to fend for herself most of the time. When Colby’s girlfriend dumps her for a guy, it’s the last straw; Colby is distraught and defensive, and she further isolates herself by avoiding the gay-straight alliance meetings at school as well as her best friend Van. Things begin to change for the better when she adopts and forms an intense attachment to a three-legged stray dog. Colby befriends a vet and finds a new love interest, but neither of the girls has come out to her parents, and Colby is reluctant to open her heart again. Debut author Bigelow capably captures a teen’s fears of abandonment and judgment, as well as the often wobbly path toward developing a sexual identity, through Colby’s pragmatic perspective. This voice-driven coming-of-age story offers a relatable glimpse at the value of honesty in relationships and of showing one’s authentic self to the world. Ages 14–up.
12. Brian Keith Jackson/History David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell Review from amazon.com by David
Here [Gladwell] examines and challenges our concepts of “advantage” and “disadvantage” in a way that may seem intuitive to some and surprising to others. Beginning with the classic tale of David and Goliath and moving through history with figures such as Lawrence of Arabia and Martin Luther King Jr., Gladwell shows how, time and again, players labeled “underdog” use that status to their advantage and prevail through the elements of cunning and surprise. He also shows how certain academic “advantages,” such as getting into an Ivy League school, have downsides, in that being a “big fish in a small pond” at a less prestigious school can lead to greater confidence and a better chance of success in later life. Gladwell even promotes the idea of a “desirable difficulty,” such as dyslexia, a learning disability that causes much frustration for reading students but, at the same time, may force them to develop better listening and creative problem-solving skills. As usual, Gladwell presents his research in a fresh and easy-to-understand context, and he may have coined the catchphrase of the decade, “Use what you got.” --David Siegfried
13. Chris Freer/Student Life & Principal A chance in the world: An orphan boy, a mysterious past and how he found a place called home by Steve Pemberton
From amazon.com
"Pemberton’s beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey—beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve’s refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow.” —Stedman Graham, Author, Educator
Home is the place where our life stories begin. It is where we are understood, embraced, and accepted. It is a sanctuary of safety and security, a place to which we can always return. Down in the dank basement, amid my moldy, hoarded food and worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home, the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it.
Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life—that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to learn that nothing is as it appears. A Chance in the World is the unbelievably true story of a wounded and broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve’s story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind
15. Baker, Joanne. Paper Towns by John Green. (Realistic Fiction) "One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears." NoveList 16 Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent. From Amazon.com: "A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how 'reaaally big' God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit 'shoots down power' from heaven to help us." Moderator: Fritz Hutchinson, History.
book is PURE, the second book in the trilogy is Fuse.
17 Pure Julianan Baggott Anu Bielfelt tV Studio Richardson 167 We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked: Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
18.
Erica Pendleton/Counseling; The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri; The Namesake is the story of the challenges of the Ganguli family as they assimilate into American life after moving from Calcutta. From Houghton Mifflin books, "Lahiri's critically acclaimed first novel is a finely wrought, deeply moving family drama that illuminates her signature themes: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, [and] the tangled ties between generations." Fiction--coming of age--
19 The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
This book is an excellent thriller that discusses the many aspects of a viral disease outbreak and its implications in this new world where people can travel all over the world in a matter of hours. It also discusses the possible origins of HIV and some other interesting topics including how we were on the verge of a massive outbreak from the presence of a very deadly virus called Ebola in our own country in Reston, VA. It is written for the layperson, but it has the potential to turn the layperson into a well-informed, disease-hunting epidemiologist, or an obsessive reader at the least. David Alvord, Science department teacher, leads this discussion.
20 Stacey Sandifer
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Summary from Amazon: I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.
I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.
21. Tad Sahara The Winner Within by Pat Riley
Summary from Amazon: The Winner Within is his formula for success. It is a book about winning, leadership, mastery, change, and personal growth, based on understanding and controlling the shifting dynamics of a team - any team, whether it is a small company or a giant corporation, a family, a city, or a group of athletes. How does a struggling team form a covenant to work together instead of separately? How does a successful team battle complacency? How does any team overcome the thunderbolts that strike out of the blue? Drawing upon the great teachers and his own experiences in and out of sports, interweaving them with dozens of parallels and stories from business and society, Riley shows how to ride the cycles of team change, balance role players and stars, build solid foundations, break through self-imposed barriers, create change within continuity, and nurture cooperation within competition.
22. Stuart Gulley Boxcars by Jim T. Barfield
In May, 1944, a Jewish teenager's career as a promising concert violinist has been derailed, and he is on the run from the Nazis. With the Gestapo at his heels, he discovers a hidden cave in western France which he establishes as his hideout. There, amidst ancient cave drawings containing possible hidden meanings, and an underground river fed by soothing hot springs, he finds refuge but shallow peace until he joins the French Resistance. At age 17, he is called upon to take part in daring missions against the Germans who are racing to fortify the Atlantic Coast in anticipation of D-Day. At the same time, a Romani teenage prisoner at Auschwitz, who the famously sadistic Dr. Mengele refers to as "that Gypsy waif," escapes from a Nazi medical experiment and attempts to make her way back to France. The two teens are destined to meet under such circumstances that their lives become desperately entangled as they struggle to survive the Holocaust. These young adults of radically different backgrounds are cast together during war to experience their own distinct coming-of-age epiphany as they painfully explore their increasingly complicated and awkward relationship brewing beneath the canopy of dissonant cultures and beliefs.
23. Maggie Berthiaume —The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley
From Amazon.com description: "How Do Other Countries Create “Smarter” Kids? In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they’ve never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy. What is it like to be a child in the world’s new education superpowers? In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embedded in these countries for one year. Kim, fifteen, raises $10,000 so she can move from Oklahoma to Finland; Eric, eighteen, exchanges a high-achieving Minnesota suburb for a booming city in South Korea; and Tom, seventeen, leaves a historic Pennsylvania village for Poland."
24. Kelli Stanyard - Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.
She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.
With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.
25. Jonathan Merrill --Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
From Amazon.com description: Walking Across Egypt, the title of church-going Mattie's favorite hymn, is southern folks, southern setting, southern cooking, and southern humor at their best. Once she's finished watching her soap operas, Mattie Riggsbee, a 78 year old widow, decides to take in Wesley, a small-time juvenile delinquent, and determines to see if her pies and biscuits can make an honest young man of him. They need each other in wildly different ways, as rapidly becomes apparent. The plot gathers speed when Wesley high-tails it to Mattie's house when he escapes from a detention center - and the sheriff comes a-calling.
26 The Hiding Placeby Corrie Ten Boom.From amazon.com: "Corrie ten Boom was a woman admired the world over for her courage, her forgiveness, and her memorable faith. In World War II, she and her family risked their lives to help Jews escape the Nazis, and their reward was a trip to Hitler's concentration camps. But she survived and was released-as a result of a clerical error-and now shares the story of how faith triumphs over evil. For thirty-five years Corrie's dramatic life story, full of timeless virtues, has prepared readers to face their own futures with faith, relying on God's love to overcome, heal, and restore. Now releasing in a thirty-fifth anniversary edition for a new generation of readers, The Hiding Place tells the riveting story of how a middle-aged Dutch watchmaker became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler's death camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century." Moderator: Ben Shivers, World Languages.
27. Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance by Julia Angwin. Discussion led by Mr. Timothy Hipp. From Amazon.com:An inside look at who’s watching you, what they know and why it matters. We are being watched. We see online ads from websites we have visited long after we have moved on to other interests. Our smartphones and cars transmit our location, enabling us to know what’s in the neighborhood but also enabling others to track us. And the federal government, we recently learned, has been conducting a massive data-gathering surveillance operation across the Internet and on our phone lines. In Dragnet Nation, award-winning investigative journalist Julia Angwin reports from the front lines of America’s surveillance economy, offering a revelatory and unsettling look at how the government, private companies, and even criminals use technology to indiscriminately sweep up vast amounts of our personal data. Listen to this NPR interview for more information.
28 Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone. Stephanie Stephens
They became America’s first black paratroopers. Why was their story never told? Sibert Medalist Tanya Lee Stone reveals the history of the Triple Nickles during World War II. World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, the injustice of discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Enlisted black men are segregated from white soldiers and regularly relegated to service duties. At Fort Benning, Georgia, First Sergeant Walter Morris’s men serve as guards at The Parachute School, while the white soldiers prepare to be paratroopers. Morris knows that for his men to be treated like soldiers, they have to train and act like them, but would the military elite and politicians recognize the potential of these men as well as their passion for serving their country? Tanya Lee Stone examines the role of African Americans in the military through the history of the Triple Nickles, America’s first black paratroopers, who fought in a little-known attack on the American West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of Morris, "proved that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability."
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29. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell(Author), Patrick Robinson(Contributor)
Ethan Greenberg
From Amazon: "Four US Navy SEALS departed one clear night in early July 2005 for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their task was to document the activity of an al Qaeda leader rumored to be very close to Bin Laden with a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, only one of those Navy SEALS made it out alive.
This is the story of the only survivor of Operation Redwing, SEAL fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, and the extraordinary firefight that led to the largest loss of life in American Navy SEAL history. His squadmates fought valiantly beside him until he was the only one left alive, blasted by an RPG into a place where his pursuers could not find him. Over the next four days, terribly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell crawled for miles through the mountains and was taken in by sympathetic villagers who risked their lives to keep him safe from surrounding Taliban warriors.
A born and raised Texan, Marcus Luttrell takes us from the rigors of SEAL training, where he and his fellow SEALs discovered what it took to join the most elite of the American special forces, to a fight in the desolate hills of Afghanistan for which they never could have been prepared. His account of his squadmates' heroism and mutual support renders an experience that is both heartrending and life-affirming."
30. Jeannie Hixon. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Realistic Fiction) Over the course of one summer, Frankie Landau-Banks, a somewhat geeky girl with an unassuming nature, has developed into a beauty with a new attitude, and sights set on making changes at her elite boarding school. The teenager also has a new boyfriend, a popular senior who belongs to a long-standing secret society on campus, known mostly for silly pranks and a history of male-only membership. With a witty, sharp, and intelligently scheming mind, Frankie manipulates the Loyal Order to do her bidding with pranks meant to make a political statement about the male-dominated and classist nature of the school. Segments of the story are told through emails and readers will feel that they are a part of the teen's disreputable and humorous history. (From Amazon)
31. Ronda Zents / English / Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie "A powerful, tender story of race and identity by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun. Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland" (amazon.com review).
32 Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight: Kate Baron, a high powered attorney and single-mother, is in the middle of an important meeting when she receives a call from Grace Hall, her teenage daughter's private prep school. According to the school, Amelia, her high-achieving and talented daughter has been caught cheating. However, by the time Kate arrives to the campus, the story has changed: Amelia has jumped to her death. Months later, the grieving Kate receives an anonymous text: "Amelia didn't jump." Now, Kate is determined to discover the truth of her daughter's death. Tirelessly sifting through social networking posts, emails, and texts, Kate reconstructs the months leading up to Amelia's death and uncovers the complexities and cruelties in her daughter's life that she never knew existed. McCreight constructs the story of Amelia and Kate through a mixture of voices and perspectives; blending informal text-speak with the more traditional narratives of both mother and daughter, McCreight has constructed a fast-paced mystery which tackles "the darkness of adolescence, complete with doomed love, bullies, poisonous friendship, and insecurity" (Publisher's Weekly). Moderator: Jenny Green, English.
33. Beyond the Bear by Dan Bigley and Debra McKinney:One beautiful midsummer morning in Alaska, Dan Bigley woke up to a day of promise. A young man in his twenties, he'd just started a relationship with the woman of his dreams, and he had the whole day to fish for salmon, basking in the wild beauty of the Alaskan back country. By the end of the day, he would be taken to the hospital after a grizzly attacked him. The mauling nearly killed him and left him blind and disfigured. Amazon describes the book as a story of "courage, tenacious will, and the power of love to lead the way out of darkness. Dan Bigley’s triumph over tragedy is a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome physical and emotional devastation, to choose not just to live, but to live fully." I read this book because Dan Bigley is the cousin of a good friend of mine, and my friend asked me to read and review the book as a favor. While I began the book out of obligation, I finished it because I simply could not put it down. The book has 5 stars on Amazon, and the Booklist review reads, "A well-written and touching tribute to human resilience" (Booklist). Moderator: Alexis Horder, English.
34. Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his identity as he oscillates between the two.Moderator: Lorri Hewett (for rising 11th and 12th graders only)
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of twentieth-century literature. The novel focuses on the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old war veteran, who, back at home, falls under the spell of street preacher Asa Hawks and his daughter, Lily Sabbath Hawks. Motes sets about preaching his own “word”: a new religion called The Church Without Christ. Of course he runs into conflict with Hawks. The beauty and power of the book come out of O'Connor's brutal depiction of the characters you love to hate who turn up unexpectedly. For those of us who are from the South or who make our home in the South, Flannery O’Connor is an author who helps us understand, as one of her biographers said, “the [marginal] people on the sidelines of southern life in small, out-of-the-way places”—people who encounter God and grace in unusual—sometimes shocking—ways. Moderators Marianne Lescene, Math, and Jeanne Ann Ratliff, English.
All of the above are on the 2014 student wiki. Hunter Smith (History Department): Into Thin Air by John Krakauer (nonfiction)
From the New York Times review (1997): "The particular descent ahead of those on the ''hill'' on May 10, 1996, resulted in the greatest loss of life in the history of mountaineering on Everest. As news spread of the nine deaths (including that of Hall, who spoke to his wife in New Zealand by radiophone as he lay stranded in a snowstorm on the summit ridge), a barrage of questions resounded: What went wrong? Why was the approaching storm ignored? And, most emphatically, why are ''tourists'' with more money than expertise being taken up Everest in the first place? Jon Krakauer was one of the survivors, and in ''Into Thin Air'' he relives the storm and its aftermath, trying to answer those questions. As he sees it, essentially nothing ''went wrong,'' at least in terms of the storm, which struck with little warning. Instead, the root of the problem lies in the famous explanation George Mallory gave when asked why he wanted to climb the mountain, an explanation that still holds true, albeit with a slight amendment. People climb Mount Everest because it -- and the money -- is there."
2014 Books to be Offered by US Faculty and Staff
Click Edit. Add your information at bottom. I will "clean it up" and post it on the student wiki.
Thanks!
Jane Webster,and Sherry Boynton are looking for books.
1.Peggy McNash/English/will take an overflow book. as will Sarah Cohen as will Linda Wyatt and Traci Lerner and Jenny Green
In 1866, tragedy strikes at the exclusive Windfield School. A young student drowns in a mysterious accident involving a small circle of boys. The drowning and its aftermath initiates a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many loves... From the exclusive men's club and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London's upper classes to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world's wealth, Ken Follett conjures up a stunning array of contrasts. This breathtaking novel portrays a family splintered by lust, bound by a shared legacy... men and women swept toward a perilous climax where greed, fed by the shocking truth of a boy's death, must be stopped, or not just one man's dreams, but those of a nation, will die....
2. Leigh Shelor/Grade 12 counselor/ Based on his father's bestselling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Sean Covey applies the same principles to teens, using a vivacious, entertaining style that includes real-life stories of teens who have overcome obstacles to succeed, and step-by-step guides to shifting paradigms, building equity in "relationship bank accounts," creating action plans, and much more. Some of the habits include the following: be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw. Covey's humorous and up-front style is just light enough to be acceptable to wary teenagers, and down-and-dirty enough to really make a difference.
3. Allegiant Paula Nettles will host 1 session of same 20 who read Insurgent with her last year! From amazon.com
"Veronica Roth had her work cut out for her, ending a trilogy that had fans rabid for the final book, and she pulled it off like a champ. Allegiant kicks off right where //Insurgent// ended, so if it’s been a while since you read that one you might want to re-read the last couple of chapters to orient yourself. The first surprise in Allegiant is that Roth has switched to using alternating narratives of Tris and Four. At last readers get to see Tris as Four sees her and if, like me, you’ve been dying to get inside his head, you finally get your chance. One of the best things about this trilogy is the messy, passionate, and wholly authentic love story between these two. For Tris and Four, there is no love triangle, there are no sides to take--as in life, it’s only a matter of how their relationship will play out. Allegiant answers a lot of questions and also delivers some jaw-dropping twists--readers will go outside the fence, learn the origin story of the factions, and, of course, see how it all ends in a finale that packs a wallop and confirms Roth as a writer to watch for a long time to come."
4. Margaret Lee/English/Me Talk Pretty One Day/David Sedaris/ A collection of memoirs by American humorist David Sedaris. These essays, ranging in
subject 4matter from growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, to speaking French in Normandy, are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. Non Fiction.
5. Carolyn Haldeman/English/
Sue Monk Kidd. Then Invention of Wings
Inspired by the story of historic women, a rich Charleston plantation owner's daughter and a slave girl given to her on her eleventh birthday eventually become a team in a fight for the abolishment of slavery.
6. Dana Reker (grade 10 only) and Jeanne Ann Ratliff, section (2): Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell Info on Eleanor and Park from Amazon...
Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.
7. Hunter Smith/ History/ Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer Cannot be chosen by anyone in CP English since it was read as a required book in the past. Mr. Smith actually knew Chris McCandless from his days at Emory.
Amazon.com description: "In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild."
8. Fritz Hutchinson/ History; Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent.
From Amazon.com: "A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how 'reaaally big' God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit 'shoots down power' from heaven to help us."
9.
Ken Kirschner Math The House of Silk Andrew Horowitz From amazon.com
"Once again, THE GAME'S AFOOT... London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap - a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place. Almost unwillingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn ever deeper into an international conspiracy connected to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston, the gaslit streets of London, opium dens and much, much more. And as they dig, they begin to hear the whispered phrase-the House of Silk-a mysterious entity that connects the highest levels of government to the deepest depths of criminality. Holmes begins to fear that he has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society."
10.Rachael Szymanski/ English and Kelsey Emerson/English : Insurgent by Veronica Roth: Dystopian / Young Adult. The second book in the Divergent series, Insurgent continues the story of Tris Pryor as she "must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so." (from Amazon.com).
11. Carrie Carver / Math/ Starting from Here, Lisa Jenn Bigelow
In the two years since 16-year-old Colby’s mother died, Colby’s grades have slipped, and her father’s nonstop work as a trucker leaves her to fend for herself most of the time. When Colby’s girlfriend dumps her for a guy, it’s the last straw; Colby is distraught and defensive, and she further isolates herself by avoiding the gay-straight alliance meetings at school as well as her best friend Van. Things begin to change for the better when she adopts and forms an intense attachment to a three-legged stray dog. Colby befriends a vet and finds a new love interest, but neither of the girls has come out to her parents, and Colby is reluctant to open her heart again. Debut author Bigelow capably captures a teen’s fears of abandonment and judgment, as well as the often wobbly path toward developing a sexual identity, through Colby’s pragmatic perspective. This voice-driven coming-of-age story offers a relatable glimpse at the value of honesty in relationships and of showing one’s authentic self to the world. Ages 14–up.
12. Brian Keith Jackson/History
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell
Review from amazon.com by David
Here [Gladwell] examines and challenges our concepts of “advantage” and “disadvantage” in a way that may seem intuitive to some and surprising to others. Beginning with the classic tale of David and Goliath and moving through history with figures such as Lawrence of Arabia and Martin Luther King Jr., Gladwell shows how, time and again, players labeled “underdog” use that status to their advantage and prevail through the elements of cunning and surprise. He also shows how certain academic “advantages,” such as getting into an Ivy League school, have downsides, in that being a “big fish in a small pond” at a less prestigious school can lead to greater confidence and a better chance of success in later life. Gladwell even promotes the idea of a “desirable difficulty,” such as dyslexia, a learning disability that causes much frustration for reading students but, at the same time, may force them to develop better listening and creative problem-solving skills. As usual, Gladwell presents his research in a fresh and easy-to-understand context, and he may have coined the catchphrase of the decade, “Use what you got.” --David Siegfried
13. Chris Freer/Student Life & Principal A chance in the world: An orphan boy, a mysterious past and how he found a place called home by Steve Pemberton
From amazon.com
"Pemberton’s beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey—beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve’s refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow.” —Stedman Graham, Author, Educator
Home is the place where our life stories begin. It is where we are understood, embraced, and accepted. It is a sanctuary of safety and security, a place to which we can always return. Down in the dank basement, amid my moldy, hoarded food and worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home, the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it.
Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life—that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to learn that nothing is as it appears. A Chance in the World is the unbelievably true story of a wounded and broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve’s story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.
14. Monica Kuhlman/Science
Mazerunner. Dashner, James. 2009
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind
15. Baker, Joanne. Paper Towns by John Green. (Realistic Fiction) "One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears." NoveList
16 Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent. From Amazon.com: "A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how 'reaaally big' God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit 'shoots down power' from heaven to help us." Moderator: Fritz Hutchinson, History.
book is PURE, the second book in the trilogy is Fuse.
17 Pure Julianan Baggott Anu Bielfelt tV Studio Richardson 167
We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost.
And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.
Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked: Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
18.
Erica Pendleton/Counseling; The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri; The Namesake is the story of the challenges of the Ganguli family as they assimilate into American life after moving from Calcutta. From Houghton Mifflin books, "Lahiri's critically acclaimed first novel is a finely wrought, deeply moving family drama that illuminates her signature themes: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, [and] the tangled ties between generations." Fiction--coming of age--
19 The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
This book is an excellent thriller that discusses the many aspects of a viral disease outbreak and its implications in this new world where people can travel all over the world in a matter of hours. It also discusses the possible origins of HIV and some other interesting topics including how we were on the verge of a massive outbreak from the presence of a very deadly virus called Ebola in our own country in Reston, VA. It is written for the layperson, but it has the potential to turn the layperson into a well-informed, disease-hunting epidemiologist, or an obsessive reader at the least. David Alvord, Science department teacher, leads this discussion.
20 Stacey Sandifer
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Summary from Amazon:I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.
I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.
21. Tad Sahara
The Winner Within by Pat Riley
Summary from Amazon:
The Winner Within is his formula for success. It is a book about winning, leadership, mastery, change, and personal growth, based on understanding and controlling the shifting dynamics of a team - any team, whether it is a small company or a giant corporation, a family, a city, or a group of athletes. How does a struggling team form a covenant to work together instead of separately? How does a successful team battle complacency? How does any team overcome the thunderbolts that strike out of the blue? Drawing upon the great teachers and his own experiences in and out of sports, interweaving them with dozens of parallels and stories from business and society, Riley shows how to ride the cycles of team change, balance role players and stars, build solid foundations, break through self-imposed barriers, create change within continuity, and nurture cooperation within competition.
22. Stuart Gulley
Boxcars by
Jim T. Barfield
In May, 1944, a Jewish teenager's career as a promising concert violinist has been derailed, and he is on the run from the Nazis. With the Gestapo at his heels, he discovers a hidden cave in western France which he establishes as his hideout. There, amidst ancient cave drawings containing possible hidden meanings, and an underground river fed by soothing hot springs, he finds refuge but shallow peace until he joins the French Resistance. At age 17, he is called upon to take part in daring missions against the Germans who are racing to fortify the Atlantic Coast in anticipation of D-Day. At the same time, a Romani teenage prisoner at Auschwitz, who the famously sadistic Dr. Mengele refers to as "that Gypsy waif," escapes from a Nazi medical experiment and attempts to make her way back to France. The two teens are destined to meet under such circumstances that their lives become desperately entangled as they struggle to survive the Holocaust. These young adults of radically different backgrounds are cast together during war to experience their own distinct coming-of-age epiphany as they painfully explore their increasingly complicated and awkward relationship brewing beneath the canopy of dissonant cultures and beliefs.
23. Maggie Berthiaume — The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley
From Amazon.com description: "How Do Other Countries Create “Smarter” Kids? In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they’ve never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy. What is it like to be a child in the world’s new education superpowers? In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embedded in these countries for one year. Kim, fifteen, raises $10,000 so she can move from Oklahoma to Finland; Eric, eighteen, exchanges a high-achieving Minnesota suburb for a booming city in South Korea; and Tom, seventeen, leaves a historic Pennsylvania village for Poland."
24. Kelli Stanyard - Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.
She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.
With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.
25. Jonathan Merrill -- Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
From Amazon.com description: Walking Across Egypt, the title of church-going Mattie's favorite hymn, is southern folks, southern setting, southern cooking, and southern humor at their best. Once she's finished watching her soap operas, Mattie Riggsbee, a 78 year old widow, decides to take in Wesley, a small-time juvenile delinquent, and determines to see if her pies and biscuits can make an honest young man of him. They need each other in wildly different ways, as rapidly becomes apparent. The plot gathers speed when Wesley high-tails it to Mattie's house when he escapes from a detention center - and the sheriff comes a-calling.
26 The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. From amazon.com: "Corrie ten Boom was a woman admired the world over for her courage, her forgiveness, and her memorable faith. In World War II, she and her family risked their lives to help Jews escape the Nazis, and their reward was a trip to Hitler's concentration camps. But she survived and was released-as a result of a clerical error-and now shares the story of how faith triumphs over evil. For thirty-five years Corrie's dramatic life story, full of timeless virtues, has prepared readers to face their own futures with faith, relying on God's love to overcome, heal, and restore. Now releasing in a thirty-fifth anniversary edition for a new generation of readers, The Hiding Place tells the riveting story of how a middle-aged Dutch watchmaker became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler's death camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century." Moderator: Ben Shivers, World Languages.
27. Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance by Julia Angwin. Discussion led by Mr. Timothy Hipp. From Amazon.com:An inside look at who’s watching you, what they know and why it matters. We are being watched. We see online ads from websites we have visited long after we have moved on to other interests. Our smartphones and cars transmit our location, enabling us to know what’s in the neighborhood but also enabling others to track us. And the federal government, we recently learned, has been conducting a massive data-gathering surveillance operation across the Internet and on our phone lines. In Dragnet Nation, award-winning investigative journalist Julia Angwin reports from the front lines of America’s surveillance economy, offering a revelatory and unsettling look at how the government, private companies, and even criminals use technology to indiscriminately sweep up vast amounts of our personal data. Listen to this NPR interview for more information.
28 Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone. Stephanie Stephens
They became America’s first black paratroopers. Why was their story never told? Sibert Medalist Tanya Lee Stone reveals the history of the Triple Nickles during World War II. World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, the injustice of discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Enlisted black men are segregated from white soldiers and regularly relegated to service duties. At Fort Benning, Georgia, First Sergeant Walter Morris’s men serve as guards at The Parachute School, while the white soldiers prepare to be paratroopers. Morris knows that for his men to be treated like soldiers, they have to train and act like them, but would the military elite and politicians recognize the potential of these men as well as their passion for serving their country? Tanya Lee Stone examines the role of African Americans in the military through the history of the Triple Nickles, America’s first black paratroopers, who fought in a little-known attack on the American West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of Morris, "proved that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability."
_
29. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
by Marcus Luttrell (Author), Patrick Robinson (Contributor)
Ethan Greenberg
From Amazon:
"Four US Navy SEALS departed one clear night in early July 2005 for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their task was to document the activity of an al Qaeda leader rumored to be very close to Bin Laden with a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, only one of those Navy SEALS made it out alive.
This is the story of the only survivor of Operation Redwing, SEAL fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, and the extraordinary firefight that led to the largest loss of life in American Navy SEAL history. His squadmates fought valiantly beside him until he was the only one left alive, blasted by an RPG into a place where his pursuers could not find him. Over the next four days, terribly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell crawled for miles through the mountains and was taken in by sympathetic villagers who risked their lives to keep him safe from surrounding Taliban warriors.
A born and raised Texan, Marcus Luttrell takes us from the rigors of SEAL training, where he and his fellow SEALs discovered what it took to join the most elite of the American special forces, to a fight in the desolate hills of Afghanistan for which they never could have been prepared. His account of his squadmates' heroism and mutual support renders an experience that is both heartrending and life-affirming."
30. Jeannie Hixon. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Realistic Fiction)
Over the course of one summer, Frankie Landau-Banks, a somewhat geeky girl with an unassuming nature, has developed into a beauty with a new attitude, and sights set on making changes at her elite boarding school. The teenager also has a new boyfriend, a popular senior who belongs to a long-standing secret society on campus, known mostly for silly pranks and a history of male-only membership. With a witty, sharp, and intelligently scheming mind, Frankie manipulates the Loyal Order to do her bidding with pranks meant to make a political statement about the male-dominated and classist nature of the school. Segments of the story are told through emails and readers will feel that they are a part of the teen's disreputable and humorous history. (From Amazon)
31. Ronda Zents / English / Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"A powerful, tender story of race and identity by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun. Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland" (amazon.com review).
32 Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight: Kate Baron, a high powered attorney and single-mother, is in the middle of an important meeting when she receives a call from Grace Hall, her teenage daughter's private prep school. According to the school, Amelia, her high-achieving and talented daughter has been caught cheating. However, by the time Kate arrives to the campus, the story has changed: Amelia has jumped to her death. Months later, the grieving Kate receives an anonymous text: "Amelia didn't jump." Now, Kate is determined to discover the truth of her daughter's death. Tirelessly sifting through social networking posts, emails, and texts, Kate reconstructs the months leading up to Amelia's death and uncovers the complexities and cruelties in her daughter's life that she never knew existed. McCreight constructs the story of Amelia and Kate through a mixture of voices and perspectives; blending informal text-speak with the more traditional narratives of both mother and daughter, McCreight has constructed a fast-paced mystery which tackles "the darkness of adolescence, complete with doomed love, bullies, poisonous friendship, and insecurity" (Publisher's Weekly). Moderator: Jenny Green, English.
33. Beyond the Bear by Dan Bigley and Debra McKinney: One beautiful midsummer morning in Alaska, Dan Bigley woke up to a day of promise. A young man in his twenties, he'd just started a relationship with the woman of his dreams, and he had the whole day to fish for salmon, basking in the wild beauty of the Alaskan back country. By the end of the day, he would be taken to the hospital after a grizzly attacked him. The mauling nearly killed him and left him blind and disfigured. Amazon describes the book as a story of "courage, tenacious will, and the power of love to lead the way out of darkness. Dan Bigley’s triumph over tragedy is a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome physical and emotional devastation, to choose not just to live, but to live fully." I read this book because Dan Bigley is the cousin of a good friend of mine, and my friend asked me to read and review the book as a favor. While I began the book out of obligation, I finished it because I simply could not put it down. The book has 5 stars on Amazon, and the Booklist review reads, "A well-written and touching tribute to human resilience" (Booklist). Moderator: Alexis Horder, English.
34. Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his identity as he oscillates between the two.Moderator: Lorri Hewett (for rising 11th and 12th graders only)
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of twentieth-century literature. The novel focuses on the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old war veteran, who, back at home, falls under the spell of street preacher Asa Hawks and his daughter, Lily Sabbath Hawks. Motes sets about preaching his own “word”: a new religion called The Church Without Christ. Of course he runs into conflict with Hawks. The beauty and power of the book come out of O'Connor's brutal depiction of the characters you love to hate who turn up unexpectedly. For those of us who are from the South or who make our home in the South, Flannery O’Connor is an author who helps us understand, as one of her biographers said, “the [marginal] people on the sidelines of southern life in small, out-of-the-way places”—people who encounter God and grace in unusual—sometimes shocking—ways. Moderators Marianne Lescene, Math, and Jeanne Ann Ratliff, English.
All of the above are on the 2014 student wiki.
Hunter Smith (History Department): Into Thin Air by John Krakauer (nonfiction)
From the New York Times review (1997): "The particular descent ahead of those on the ''hill'' on May 10, 1996, resulted in the greatest loss of life in the history of mountaineering on Everest. As news spread of the nine deaths (including that of Hall, who spoke to his wife in New Zealand by radiophone as he lay stranded in a snowstorm on the summit ridge), a barrage of questions resounded: What went wrong? Why was the approaching storm ignored? And, most emphatically, why are ''tourists'' with more money than expertise being taken up Everest in the first place? Jon Krakauer was one of the survivors, and in ''Into Thin Air'' he relives the storm and its aftermath, trying to answer those questions. As he sees it, essentially nothing ''went wrong,'' at least in terms of the storm, which struck with little warning. Instead, the root of the problem lies in the famous explanation George Mallory gave when asked why he wanted to climb the mountain, an explanation that still holds true, albeit with a slight amendment. People climb Mount Everest because it -- and the money -- is there."