2010 Second Quarter Reading List

1) McCormick, Patricia. Sold. New York: Hyperion, 2006.


This book is about a young girl who lives in Nepal. Her step-father, who is addicted to gambling, sends her off to be a prostitute in the city. The worst part is that Lakshmi is only 13, too young to understand what's happening. She thinks she is going to be a maid so she can send money home to her family. When she realizes what they want her to do, Lakshmi wants no part of it. But after being starved for a while, she knows she must do what "Auntie" tells her. (272 pages)

2) Golden, Arthur. Memoirs of a Geisha: a Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.


This book is about 9 year old Chiyo, and her transformation from child to woman. She and her sister are sold into slavery by their father after their mother died. She becomes good friends with the Chairman, who uses a well known geisha to turn Chiyo into the beautiful geisha Sayuri. (512 pages)

3)Giles, Gail. Shattering Glass. Brookfield, Ct.: Roaring Brook, 2002.


Simon Glass is a regular nerd. Rob and his "posse" normally picks on him. Then Rob, the leader of the pack, decides that they are going to give Glass a makeover to make him popular. As the story goes on, and Glass begins to grow more popular than him, Rob knows he has to put a stop to it. You'll never guess what he does. (215 pages)

4)Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. New York: Viking, 2009.


Lia and Cassie had been friends forever, and over time, they both developed an eating disorder. Although they aren't friends anymore at age 18, Cassie calls Lia more than 30 times on the night of her death. This guilt, mixed with her constant calorie watching/eating disorder, sends Lia on a downward spiral. (288 pages)

5)Oliver, Lauren. Before I Fall. New York: Harper, 2010.


Sam Kingston is popular, pretty, and has a hottie boyfriend. She knows on the inside that her whole life is just a mold, fake. But why should she care? She's cool. One night, coming home from a party with a car full of friends, there is a terrible accident. Sam thinks she is dead, until she wakes up and starts going through the exact same day she did before. The same car wreck happens, so she "dies" again. But she still wakes up and lives the same day again. As the book goes on, Sam, realizing she can do whatever she wants, smokes marijuana for the first time and seducing her hot teacher. But finally, she realizes that this is happening to her for a reason. And she must figure out why. (480 pages)

6)McMann, Lisa. Fade. New York: Simon Pulse, 2009.


In this book, Janie Hannagan and her boyfriend Cabe use Janie's dream-catching ability to try and catch a sexual predator in their school. When kids in her classes fall asleep, Janie tries to see if they are dreaming of any useful information. It's in this book where Janie has to make the decision of helping the town, or saving her own health before it's too late. (272 pages)