Suggested Summer Reading List - Marlboro High School

Compiled by Marie Baker, School Library/Media Specialist

Based on the American Library Association’s “Best Books of 2003”

Fiction

Black, Holly. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2002. Kaye, who has been visited by faeries since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny.

Carter, Stephen L. The Emperor of Ocean Park. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. After the funeral of his powerful father, Talcott Garland is left to carry out the cryptic instructions his father left behind.

+Chen, Da. Wandering Warrior. NY: Delacorte Press, 2003. Luka, destined to become the future emperor of China, is trained in the ways of the kung fu wandering warriors by the wise monk Atami.

Chambers, Aidan. Postcards from No Man’s Land. NY: Dutton Books, 1999. Two stories—one contemporary and the other historical –link a young man with his grandmother’s WWII experiences.

Dessen, Sarah. This Lullaby. NY: Viking, 2002. Raised by a mother who's had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships - until she meets Dexter.

*Flinn, Alex. Breathing Underwater. NY: HarperCollins, 2001. Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Nick resists, then accepts responsibility for his actions.

*Flinn, Alex. Breaking Point. NY: HarperTempest, 2002. Paul enters an exclusive private school and falls under the spell of a charismatic classmate who may be using him.

Freyman-Weyr, Garret. My Heartbeat. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2002. Trying to understand the closeness between her older brother and his best friend, Ellen finds her relationship with each of them changing.

Gowdy, Barbara. The White Bone. NY: Henry Holt & Co., 2000. A thrilling journey into the minds of African elephants as they struggle to survive in a land racked by drought and slaughter.

Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. NY: Dial Books, 2002. Students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts to their formerly clueless classmates.

Hoffman, Mary. Stravaganza: City of Masks. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2003. While sick in bed with cancer, Lucien begins making imagined journeys to a place in a parallel world that resembles Venice, Italy.

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. NY: Viking, 2002. Living on a farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily has built her life around one devastating memory –her mother’s death.

Koertge, Ron. Stoner & Spaz. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002. A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman.

Oates, Joyce Carol. Big Mouth & Ugly Girl. NY: HarperTempest, 2002. When Matt is accused of threatening to blow up his high school, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid.

Patchett, Ann. Bel Canto. NY: Perennial, 2002. Guests at a birthday party in a South American country are taken hostage by a band of desperate revolutionaries.

#Picoult, Jodi. Second Glance. NY: Atria Books, 2003. A ghost hunter is hired to convince residents of a Vermont town that there is nothing spiritual about property about to be developed.

Rottman, S.L. Stetson. NY: Viking, 2002. Stetson meets the sister he never knew he had, and together they try to make sense of their pasts.

Savage, Deborah. Kotuku. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Still having difficulty facing the death of her best friend, Wim must deal with visitors from New Zealand who uncover a dark family secret.

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. NY: Little, Brown and Co., 2002. Fourteen year old Susie Salmon looks down from heaven and tells the story of her life – and death.

Smith, Sherri L. Lucy the Giant. NY: Delacorte, 2002. Lucy, the largest girl in her school, leaves her small Alaska town and her alcoholic father and discovers hardship--and friendship--posing as an adult aboard a commercial fishing boat.

Non-Fiction

Angell, Roger. A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone. NY: Warner Books, 2001. Baseball through the eyes, thoughts and recollections of David Cone.

Blanco, Jodee. Please Stop Laughing at Me. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corp., 2003. A vivid story of the harsh realities and long-term consequences of bullying – for teens and those who love them.

+Chen, Da. Colors of the Mountain. NY: Anchor Books, 2001. Memoirs of a childhood in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution – by a local author.

+Chen, Da. Sounds of the River. NY: Perennial Books, 2002. Chen’s dream of education takes him from Yellowstone to Beijing for college.

Conroy, Pat. My Losing Season. NY: Doubleday, 2002. The author reflects on the place of sports in his life, describing his love of basketball and his journey to best-selling writer.

Fox, Michael J. Lucky Man. NY: Hyperion, 2002. This famous actor tells the story of his life, his career and his campaign to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.

Johnson, Spencer. Who Moved My Cheese - for Teens. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2002. Presents the author's parable about change framed in a story about a group of high school friends.

Junger, Sebastian. Fire. NY: Perennial, 2002. A riveting collection of true life stories featuring extreme events.

Nelson, Pete. Left for Dead. NY: Delacorte, 2002. Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolisat the end of World War II, the navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship's captain.

Sebold, Alice. Lucky. NY: Little, Brown and Co. 1999. The author of The Lovely Bones tells the true story of the brutal rape and beating she sustained as an eighteen-year-old college freshman.

Stacey, Michelle. The Fasting Girl. NY: Penguin Books, 2002. A true Victorian medical mystery that reviews the case of Molly Fancher, who went without food for 10 years.

***

# Jodi Picoult was the MHS visiting author in 2002

+ Da Chen was the MHS visiting author in 2003

* Alex Flinn will be the MHS visiting author on April 21, 2004