READ TO GROW

High School Booktalks
Summer 2011

The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen
When high school sophomore Mason finds a beautiful but catatonic girl in the nursing home where his mother works, the discovery leads him to revelations about a series of disturbing human experiments that have a connection to his own life. (YA/Bodeen, S.A. • Science Fiction)

Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Sixteen-year-old Gemma, a British city-dweller, is abducted while on vacation with her parents and taken to the Australian outback, where she soon realizes that escape attempts are futile, and in time she learns that her captor is not as despicable as she first believed. (YA/Christopher, Lucy • Realistic Fiction)

Matched by Ally Condie
All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn't be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky's face show up on her match disk as well? (YA/Condie, Ally • Fantasy/Dystopia)

Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan
High school juniors and best friends Finn and Chloe hatch a daring plot to fake Chloe's disappearance from their rural New Jersey town in order to have something compelling to put on their college applications, but unforeseen events complicate matters.(YA/Corrigan, Eireann • Realistic fiction)

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford
Awkward freshman Will Carter endures many painful moments during his first year of high school before realizing that nothing good comes easily, focus is everything, and the payoff is usually incredible.(YA/Crawford, Brent • Realistic Fiction/Humor • 2012 Abraham Lincoln Book Award nominee)

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Calla and Ren have been raised knowing it is their destiny to marry and rule over their shape-shifting wolf pack, but when a human boy arrives and vies for Calla's heart, she is faced with a decision that could change her whole world.(YA/Cremer, Andrea • Supernatural)

Maze Runner by James Dasher
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape. (YA/Dasher, James • Science Fiction • 2012 Abraham Lincoln Book Award nominee)

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Ever since geneticists made a mistake, all women die at age 20 and all men at age 25. Along with two other women, Rhine is sold to a wealthy man as a replacement for his dying wife. Locked away in his mansion, Rhine must decide whether to accept the life of luxury she's been provided or whether to risk everything to escape back to a world of freedom and her twin brother. (YA/DeStefano, Lauren • Dystopia)

Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story. (YA/Donnelly, Jennifer • Historical Fiction/Mystery)

After by Amy Efaw
In complete denial that she is pregnant, straight-A student and star athlete Devon Davenport leaves her baby in the trash to die, and after the baby is discovered, Devon is accused of attempted murder. (YA/ Efaw, Amy • Realistic Fiction)

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King
When her best friend, whom she secretly loves, betrays her and then dies under mysterious circumstances, high school senior Vera Dietz struggles with secrets that could help clear his name. ( Y/A King, A. S. • Realistic Fiction)

Stray Dog by Kathe Koja
Rachel, a teenager with a healthy dose of both aptitude and attitude, begins to feel at home volunteering at an animal shelter. (YA/ Koja, Kathe • Realistic Fiction)

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter. (YA/ Maberry, Jonathan • Horror)

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
When Delilah, her mother, and her aunt spend the summer in Vermont settling Delilah's estranged grandmother's estate, long held family secrets are painfully brought to light and Delilah finally learns some difficult truths about her family's past. (YA/ Ockler, Sarah • Realistic Fiction)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver
The government requires that all teenagers be cured of love, a.k.a. deliria, to keep society safe. But 95 days before her treatment, Lena Haloway falls for a boy--and must face the truth about her own feelings and the world in which she lives.(YA/Oliver, Lauren • Dystopia))

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story by Adam Rex
After being bitten by a vampire, not only is fifteen-year-old Doug doomed eternally to be fat, but now he must also save himself from the desperate host of a public-access-cable vampire-hunting television show that is on the verge of cancellation. (YA/Rex, Adam • Supernatural/Humor)

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford
Upon learning on Christmas Day that their rich and imperious grandmother may soon die and disown the family unless the one who offended her will deeply confess, each of the three Sullivan sisters sets down her offenses on paper.(YA/ Standiford, Natalie • Realistic Fiction)

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
Inexplicable events start to occur when sixteen-year-old twins Tennyson and Brontë befriend a troubled and misunderstood outcast, aptly nicknamed Bruiser, and his little brother, Cody. (YA/Shusterman, Neal • Realistic Fiction)

Peak by Roland Smith
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest. (YA/Smith, Roland • Survival • 2012 Rebecca Caudill nominee)

Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
In a world where water has become a precious resource, Vera and her brother befriend a boy who seems to have unlimited access to water and who suspiciously disappears, prompting a dangerous search challenged by pirates, a paramilitary group, and corporations. (YA/Stracher, Cameron • Science Fiction/Dystopia)

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts. (YA/Westerfeld, Scott • Steampunk • 2012 Rebecca Caudill nominee)

Empty by Suzanne Weyn
When, just ten years in the future, oil supplies run out and global warming leads to devastating storms, senior high school classmates Tom, Niki, Gwen, Hector, and Brock realize that the world as they know it is ending and lead the way to a more environmentally-friendly society. (YA/Weyn, Suzanne • Science Fiction/Dystopia)

READ, LOVED AND RECOMMENDED BY THE BOOK DIVAS

Mary Adamowski
Head of Youth Services

Nancy Heuser
Teen Librarian

Diane Norris-Kuczynski
Assistant Head of Youth Services