Social Issues – Page 3

Night

Posted on September 15, 2013 by webmaster

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Night
by Ellie Wiesel

Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel’s memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man.e, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
590L	High School	109	Historical Fiction	1960	0553272535

My Sister’s Keeper

Posted on September 15, 2013 by webmaster

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My Sister’s Keeper
by Jodi Picoult

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now.

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Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
840L	High School	423	Realistic Fiction	2004	0743454529

Son of the Mob

Posted on September 15, 2013 by webmaster

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Son of the Mob
by Gordon Korman

Vince Luca, 17, has a problem. His wealthy family runs the, uh, vending machine business in New York, and Vince is determined not to be part of it. Especially after a hot date is ruined when he finds that his older brother Tommy has conducted some business with Jimmy the Rat and hidden the messy and temporarily unconscious body in the trunk of Vince’s car.

His dad, the King of the Mob, is reasonable, sensible, lots of fun, gives great presents to his kids–and his name strikes the hearts of other mobsters to stone.

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Although Vince keeps a low profile at school, his family connection brings him unwanted advantages, like the birthday Porsche that gets him arrested on stolen vehicle charges, or the football game in which he makes touchdown after touchdown because word has gotten around and nobody is willing to tackle him. Even private conversations at home have to be carried on in the basement because the FBI has bugged the house and an agent is always listening.

Vince’s life is inextricably tangled up with the family business, no matter how hard he tries to stay out of it. How can he show them he’s serious? Then he meets Kendra, and when she innocently reveals that her father’s an FBI agent–that FBI agent–it’s a match made in heaven. He thinks.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
690L	Middle School	262	Thriller/Suspense	2002	0786807695

Nickel and Dimed

Posted on September 14, 2013 by webmaster

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Nickel and Dimed: or Not Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich

Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the “lowliest” occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.

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Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity — a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
1340L	High School	221	Realistic Ficton	2001	0805063897

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Fade to Black

Posted on September 12, 2013 by webmaster

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Fade To Black
by Alex Finn

HIV-positive Alejandro Crusan, a Florida high-school junior, is the target of bullying at his school. After being attacked in his car by a baseball bat-wielding teenager, Alex is hospitalized to recover from his injuries. Clinton Cole, prejudiced and afraid of catching AIDS, hates Alex and is responsible for tormenting him on several previous occasions. Now he claims he’s innocent. However, Daria, a teen with Downs syndrome, saw Clinton at the scene of the attack; she also witnessed one of the earlier assaults. The teens alternate telling their stories and sharing their secrets, as Alex struggles with the truth about the attack and about the origin of his HIV-positive status.

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Daria’s narration unfolds in free verse, a form that effectively shows both her halting, repetitive speech and the disparity between her inner thoughts and her ability to communicate them.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
590L	High School	208	Realistic Fiction	2006	00060568429

Romeo & Juliet

Posted on September 10, 2013 by webmaster

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Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare

This magnificent, timeless drama is the world’s most famous tale of “star-crossed lovers.” The young, unshakable love of Juliet and Romeo defies the feud that divides their families–the Capulets and Montagues–as their desperate need to be together, their secret meetings, and finally their concealed marriage drive them toward tragedy.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
1260L	High School	336	Drama	2004	0743477111

Drive By

Posted on September 10, 2013 by webmaster

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Drive By
by Lynne Ewing

“Jimmy always told me there were only two kinds of gang-bangers: Those who were dead and those who were going to die. Joining a gang doesn’t make sense to Jimmy…”

Jimmy is dead now — gunned down in front of his little sister, Mina, and his brother, Tito. And Tito is left wondering: Was Jimmy in a gang after all? Ice Breaker Joe and Lamar think so. They say Jimmy was skimming their drug money, and if the missing cash isn’t returned, Tito may have to pay — with his life. Some people go to the crossroads, but Tito’s crossroads laid themselves down in front of him. His brother Jimmy sprawled on the sidewalk at his feet. Shot in a drive by.

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Now a gang claims that Jimmy was their Ace Man. They say Tito must take his place and resolve some unfinished business. They give him a gun. “You need protection. It’s not safe on the street.” What path will Tito choose at the crossroads? He knows one leads to safety and one to death . . . but which is which?

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
560L	High School	85	Realistic Fiction	1996	0064406490

To Kill a Mockingbird

Posted on April 16, 2013 by webmaster

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

This book takes place in small-town Depression-era Maycomb, Alabama. The story centers on the trial of Tom Robinson, a black worker who is falsely accused of rape by a young white woman. The small Southern town is bitterly divided over the racially fueled charges.

We see this ugly scenario play out through the eyes of a child. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is the young daughter of Atticus, the civil rights lawyer who takes up Tom’s defense. She is spunky and bright and believes in the basic goodness of everyone, although the trial causes her to reexamine her beliefs. By the end of the novel, Scout learns about the evils of racism and the courage of one man (her father), who stands up for what he believes is right in the face of widespread public contempt.

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Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
870L	Young Adult	288	Drama	1960	0446310786

Nothing but the Truth

Posted on March 8, 2013 by webmaster

Nothing but the Truth
by Avi

Ninth-grader Philip Malloy was suspended from school for humming along to the Star-Spangled Banner in his homeroom, causing what his teacher, Margaret Narwin, called “a disturbance.” This small incident soon ignited a firestorm of debate on that national stage.

Was he standing up for his patriotic ideals, only to be squelched by the school system? Was Ms. Narwin simply trying to be a good teacher? Or could it all be just a misunderstanding? What is the truth here?

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
NA	Middle School	192	Drama	1991	0531059596

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