Giver

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The Giver
by Lois Lowrey

In the ‘ideal’ world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children’s adolescent, sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community’s Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are ‘released’ –to great celebration– at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also ‘released’, but with no fanfare.

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Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment: the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society’s collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world.


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660L Middle School 192 Science Fiction 2002 00440237688

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Blizzard

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The Blizzard
by John Nez

Melanie Hondel is the all-American high school student. She is popular, pretty, and attracts the attention of more than a few boys. One of them is Chet, who Melanie thinks is handsome enough, but whose determined self-reliance she has always found a bit strange and hardly romantic. When Melanie refuses the advances of a classmate, Tommy, and is beaten by him, she flees into a blizzard, where she falls through the ice. Her cries for help are heard by Chet, who is able to save her.

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They find refuge in an isolated cabin, where they shed their icy clothing and huddle together for warmth…in a bed. Rescuers arrive the next day, followed closely by Melanie’s father, and there is confusion and anger. Mr. Hondel insists that Chet be arrested and refuses to accept his daughter’s explanation, thereby leaving everyone convinced that Chet is dangerous.


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NA High School 188 Drama 2010 0984568069

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Cromwell Dixon’s Sky Cycle

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Cromwell Dixon’s Fly Cycle
by John Nez

In 1907, a 14-year-old boy named Cromwell Dixon took to the sky in a flying bicycle that he designed and built with the help of his mother.

Despite disappointment (an early prototype caught fire) and mistakes (a too-heavy vehicle), the teen persevered. He eventually made a glorious showing in his flying bicycle, soaring above the highest buildings in his hometown of Columbus, OH. Later that year, Dixon entered his Sky-Cycle in the St. Louis Airship Carnival, taking home a prize.


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780 Elementary School 32 Adventure 2009 0399250417

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Sock n Boots

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Sock ‘N Boots Share
by D.K. Smith

Sock ‘n Boots Share begins with a question…why should you share? Sock and Boots set off with two packed lunches to have a day of play at the park. After hours of summer fun in the sun, the hungry pair return to look for their lunch boxes on the picnic table where they left them. Surprise! Sock’s lunch has been finished off by birds, so only Boots’ lunch is left in his lunch box. In response to Socks’ tears, Boots says cheerfully, “

Don’t worry … I have a bunch, we can both share my lunch.”

Sharing makes both friends happy.


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NA Elementary School 32 Moral Lesson 2010 0557526140

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Girl Who Could Fly

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The Girl Who Could Fly
by Victoria Forester

Somewhere in the U.S., in a small farming community called Lowland County, a girl named Piper McCloud is born to a simple, God-fearing farmer and his wife. Piper has a special talent: she can fly.

When her talent for flying is discovered, a charismatic director of a special school takes Piper under her wing. She arrives at an amazing place with multiple floors and discovers a lot of other kids with extraordinary powers, too – as well as a nefarious plot to remove their special talents by altering their DNA.


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830 Middle School 352 Science Fiction 2010 0312602383

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If I Stay

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If I Stay
by Gayle Foreman

The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family. Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents’ corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics. As she ponders her state (Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live. Via Mia’s thoughts and flashbacks explores her life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam.

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Mia’s singular perspective also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: Please don’t die. If you die, there’s going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school, prays Mia’s friend Kim. I know you’d hate that kind of thing.


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830 High School 272 Drama 2010 014241543

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Accidental Adventures of India McAllister

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The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister
by Charlotte Agell

India McAllister hopes that fourth grade brings her plenty of fun and adventures in her small town in Maine. She camps out and looks for UFOs with her friend Colby, tries to catch her father’s new bird that gets loose in the house, and takes walks into the woods with her dog. India is also navigating a number of personal issues, including her parents’ divorce, confusing feelings for her father’s implied boyfriend, embarrassment over a plaster breast that hangs in the living room as a reminder that her mother survived breast cancer, and the fact that she was adopted from China.


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690 Middle School 160 Adventure 2010 0805089020

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Nineteen Minutes

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Nineteen Minutes
by Jodi Picoult

These are the words that seventeen-year-old Peter Houghton says when he is found after a school shooting spree huddling with a gun in his hand by Detective Patrick Ducharme. An outcast who had been bullied since kindergarten, Peter kills ten, including a teacher, and injures many more.

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At first glance, it looks like a straightforward act of revenge, but things are revealed to be more complex. One of his victims is Matt Royston, the boyfriend of his former childhood friend, Josie Cormier, and others are members of the in-crowd, but others have seemingly no relation. In the days before the trial, and in the days leading up to the shooting, we are given the backstory, told mostly from Josie’s, Peter’s, and their mothers’ viewpoint. We learn of the incessant teasing this boy received, adults’ unsuccessful attempts to help him fit in, and of the stormy relationship between Josie and Matt.

During the trial, we hear from the victims who survived and the devastation the crime has wrought on their lives. In the end, the reader may still be undecided whether Peter is primarily a victim, perpetrator, loyal friend, or all three, but that is the point.


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890L Young Adult 460 Thriller/Suspense 2007 0743496736

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Heading Home

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Heading Home
by Renee Riva

Heading Home is book three in the ‘Saving Sailor trilogy.’

When A.J. returns home to Indian Island, her dog Sailor, and childhood friend Danny, she surprises everyone with her plans . . . but Danny has something else in mind.

For eight years, A.J. Degulio has been itching to get back to her beloved Indian Island. It’s home. But a lot has changed: Sailor moves slower, Danny has grown into a man… and A.J. has a promise to keep… but it doesn’t include Danny. When Danny discovers the truth, he’s shocked and hurt. But he won’t stand in the way of what she really wants.

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What’s a girl to do? She wants to keep her promise and Danny. But Danny has plans of his own. Can they work it out? It will take compromise and laughter before Danny and A.J. figure out that home is more than a place on the map. It’s a place in the heart.


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690 Young Adult 272 Romance 2010 1434767760

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Priceless

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Priceless-A Novel on the Edge of the World
by Tom Davis

Photojournalist Stuart Daniels has found purpose in life. After suffering the fallout of a tragic assignment, Daniels rediscovered his faith while helping a young African orphan. Now his photo work carries a greater mission: To educate people about social injustice happening around the world.

Daniels next assignment carries him back overseas and into the heart of Russia. Once there, Daniels is persuaded by an old friend to help save two girls from a desperate situation. Soon he becomes a key player in a dangerous campaign to rescue helpless women trapped in the sex-slave trade.

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What Daniels encounters during his journey will shake his faith, test his courage, and even threaten his life. Yet as Daniels gets deeper and the stakes get higher, he will discover that hope can be found in the darkest of places.


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690 Young Adult 304 Adventure 2010 158919103X

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