2010 -2011

1. 2010 -2011

2. I am a beast.A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster. You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever ruined unless I can break the spell. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

3. ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. When the animals take over the farm, they think it is the start of a better life. Their dreams are of a world where all animals are equal and all property is shared. But soon the pigs take control and one of them, Napoleon, becomes the leader of all the animals. One by one the principles of the revolution are abandoned, until the animals have even less freedom than before.

4. On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, where the teachers have fled with most everyone else, only one white man chooses to stay behind: the eccentric Mr. Watts, object of much curiosity and scorn, who sweeps out the ruined schoolhouse and begins to read to the children each day from Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations. As artillery echoes in the mountains, thirteen-year-old Matilda and her peers are riveted by the adventures of a young orphan named Pip in a city called London, a city whose contours soon become more real than their own blighted landscape. As Mr. Watts says, "A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe." Soon the rest of the villagers come, initially threatened, but finally inspired to share tales of their own that bring alive the rich mythology of their past. In a ravaged place where even children are forced to live by their wits and daily survival is the only objective, imagination can be a dangerous thing.

5. Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the tape, Hannah explains that there are #13 reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. #12 #1 #8 #10 #6 #4 #9 #2 #5 #11 #3 #7 #13

6. Fed up with his parents' boring old religion, agnostic-going-on-atheist Jason Bock invents a new god: the town's water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail-farming best friend, Shin, cute-as-a-button Magda Price, and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the new faith even more exciting…and dangerous. When the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely dangerous to terrifying and deadly. Jason soon realizes that inventing a religion is a lot easier than controlling it, but control it he must, before his creation destroys both his friends and himself.

7. Who is Jenna Fox? Jenna has been told that that is HER name. She has just awakened from a coma and is recovering from a terrible accident. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? Are the memories really hers?

8. Scott Hudson chronicles the ups and downs of his eventful freshman year in high school… -as he joins the newspaper, -works as a stage manager for the spring play, -learns a lot from his outstanding English teacher, -tries to help a student who attempts suicide, -is beaten up because of a girl, -and goes to the spring dance. Along the way, he discovers that his mother is pregnant and he writes a series of insightful letters to his soon-to-be sibling. By the end, Scott has outgrown his freshman insecurities, realizing that he has carved a place for himself in the high-school world.

9. Friendship Loyalty Loyalty . . . Now Sarah Byrnes -- the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known -- sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she's hiding, before its dark currents pull them both under. Secrets Sarah and Eric have been friends for years. When they were children, his fat and her terrible scars made them both outcasts. Years later, though swimming slimmed Eric, she stayed his closest friend. . . Secrets Friendship

10. Nerdy, fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. During his first day at high school, Arnold discovers that his geometry textbook is so old that his mother used it in school. In anger, he throws the book at his teacher and is suspended. Recognizing Arnold’s potential, his teacher suggests that Arnold transfer to a school off the reservation. There Arnold attempts to bridge Indian and white cultures, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. While at home, he faces the controversy of leaving the reservation and his own culture. The tension reaches a peak when Arnold returns to his former school for a basketball game as the star player on his new school’s team.

11. LaVaughn is a fourteen-year-old girl living with her mother in public housing with great aspirations of attending college; she would be the first person in her family to earn her college degree. However, knowing that her hardworking mother's income will not be enough to facilitate her college career, LaVaughn assumes a job as a babysitter for two young children. Their mother, Jolly, was formerly homeless and orphaned and she has no understanding of the responsibilities that come with being a mother. LaVaughn attempts to help Jolly, nearly sacrificing her own aspirations of leaving poverty. inspirational

12. When Hanna Heath, a manuscript conservator, first touches the centuries-old Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, she feels a “strange and powerful sensation”, something “between brushing a live wire and stroking the back of a newborn baby’s head.” The manuscript is small, the binding soiled and scuffed, but its lavish illuminations - miniature scenes “as interpreted in the Midrash,” created “at a time when most Jews considered figurative art a violation of the commandments” - are stunning. It’s the spring of 1996 in Sarajevo, and Hanna has been called in to examine the book before it’s put on display.

13. Learn about Charles Darwin’s life from the time of the his family’s return to England in 1836 until the publication of On the Origin of Species. It explains how Darwin systemized his theory and how he came across works by other researchers. The second half of this book is a chapter-by-chapter adaptation of his first book with editorial notes with updates or corrections.

14. Thriller 15-year-old Evie grows up quickly when she discovers her adored parents are not the people she thought they were. While on vacation in Palm Beach in 1947, Evie’s parents get involved in a shady business deal another couple on holiday. Meanwhile, Evie begins a flirtation with Peter, a handsome ex-GI who served with Joe and is staying at their hotel. Evie soon learns that Peter’s presence is no coincidence and that he threatens to uncover a terrible secret that Joe has kept since the war. Then Bev, Joe and Peter go boating, but only two of them return. Evie must sort through secrets, lies, and her own grief to find the truth.

15. She possesses an uncanny gift — Maerad is a slave in a desperate and unforgiving settlement, taken there as a child when her family is destroyed in war. She doesn't yet know she has inherited a powerful gift, one that marks her as a member of the noble School of Pellinor and enables her to see the world as no other can. It is only when she is discovered by Cadvan, one of the great Bards of Lirigon, that her true identity and extraordinary destiny unfold. Now, she and her mysterious teacher must embark on a treacherous, uncertain journey through a time and place where the forces of darkness wield an otherworldly terror.

16. espionage war betrayal When her grandfather dies, Tamar inherits a box containing a series of clues and coded messages. Out of the past, another Tamar emerges, a man involved in the terrifying world of resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Holland half a century before. His story is one of passionate love, jealousy, and tragedy set against the daily fear and casual horror of the Second World War -- and unraveling it is about to transform Tamar’s life forever.

17. secrets mystery Frankie Landau-Banks attends a prestigious boarding school that has been an all-male institution, but is now coeducational. Its infamous secret society, however, remains a boys-only club. The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, to which Frankie’s father belonged, is still on campus and Frankie’s new boyfriend, the sought-after Matthew Livingston, is a part of it … And he won’t even tell her. It’s only through her own intelligence and curiosity that she figures it out, despite giving Matthew numerous opportunities to tell her. And Frankie’s not the least bit happy with any of it--her boyfriend keeping secrets, or the society not allowing girls…and Frankie, being Frankie, isn’t going to stand for that. determination