5.27.2011

What's On Your Summer Reading List?

There are plenty of summer reading lists for students, but what about the teachers? What is on YOUR summer reading list? Join the link party blog hop and post your summer list, or just peruse the lists to get ideas for yours. Either way, it's one way to spread literacy and talk about books!

These are the current books I have waiting for me to read. Of course, I am sure it will change over the course of the summer, with some being dropped, some being read, and news ones added. Feel free to comment if you have read any of these (no spoilers, though, please!) or have suggestions for other books.

1. The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

(From Amazon.com) "First-time author Whitney boldly addresses date rape, vigilantism, and academic politics in an intense and timely novel... Besides showing skill in executing suspense and drama, Whitney masterfully evokes the complexity of her protagonist's emotions, particularly her intense longing to feel 'normal' again." Publishers Weekly (Starred review)









2. Matched by Ally Condie
(From Amazon.com) Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2010: For Cassia, nothing is left to chance--not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the "burden" of choice. When Cassia's best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable--rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her. As author Ally Condie’s unique dystopian Society takes chilling measures to maintain the status quo, Matched reminds readers that freedom of choice is precious, and not without sacrifice.--Seira Wilson





3. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (inspired by an idea by Siobhan Dowd)
(From Amazon.com) This is an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss. The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, "A Monster Calls" is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.



4. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

(From Amazon.com) "Gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller...The issues raised could not be more provocative--the santuary of life, the meaning of being human--while the delivery could hardly be more engrossing or better aimed to teens."--Publishers Weekly, starred review











5. Feed by M.T. Anderson

(From Amazon.com)

Amazon.com Review

This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society where empty-headed kids are driven by fashion and shopping and the avid pursuit of silly entertainment--even on trips to Mars and the moon--and by constant customized murmurs in their brains of encouragement to buy, buy, buy. Anderson gives us this world through the voice of a boy who, like everyone around him, is almost completely inarticulate, whose vocabulary, in a dead-on parody of the worst teenspeak, depends heavily on three words: "like," "thing," and the second most common English obscenity....
Although there is a danger that at first teens may see the idea of brain-computers as cool, ultimately they will recognize this as a fascinating novel that says something important about their world. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


6. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

(From Amazon.com)

Product Description

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.







7. Paper Towns by John Green

(From Amazon.com) Green...delivers once again with this satisfying, crowd-pleasing look at a complex, smart boy and the way he loves. Genuine--and genuinely funny--dialogue...mystery...and delightful secondary characters. A winning combination. --Kirkus Reviews










8. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen


(From Amazon.com) "For pure story, this colorful, headlong tale of a Depression-era circus simply can't be beat. Heroes, villains, romance, a wild-animal stampede! Big fun from page 1."—Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly: "Best & Worst 2007" (Entertainment Weekly ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.








9. (Finish) Willow by Julia Hoban

(From Amazon.com) Willow's acknowledgment of the cause of her grief--that she'll never be anyone's daughter again--is a sharp insight, and Hoban's appropriately complex portrayal of cutting makes this a good choice on a crucial subject. --Kirkus Reviews











10. For pure smutty pleasure/entertainment I may read a novel by Janet Evanovich, as well. Sometimes you just gotta have fun, right?
















11. ??? Open for suggestions! Please post any you have below.


And please join this BLOG HOP! It's the first one I've hosted. :)


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