Sophomore Book Talk_Mrs. Girgus_ Feb. 2013

Sophomore Book TalkSpring 2013

Mrs.Bernet

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents--unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers--that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

Gone by Michael Grant

Nobodyby Jennifer Barnes

There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them

All You Never Wantedby: Adele Griffin

A dark and disturbing story of sibling rivalry.

Both protagonists have their own issues - one is a pathological liar while the other is literally wasting away to nothing because of her anxiety - yet those issues pale in comparison to the underlying jealousy motivating every action.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy By: Douglas Adams

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

The Madman’s Daughterby Megan Shepherd

In America Singer’s world, a bride is chosen for the

prince through an elaborate televised

competition.

In the second book of the Selection series, America is one of only six girls left

in the running. But is it Prince Maxon—and life as the queen—she wants? Or is it Aspen, her first

love?

The EliteBy: Kiera Cass

The Vincent BoysAbbi Glines

Ashton is getting tired of being good, of impressing her parents and playing ideal girlfriend to Sawyer Vincent. Sawyer is perfect, a regular Prince Charming, but when he leaves town for the summer, it’s his cousin Beau who catches Ashton’s eye. Beau is the sexiest guy she’s ever seen, and even though he’s dangerous, Ashton is drawn to him.

Beau loves his cousin like a brother, so the last thing he wants to do is make a move on Sawyer’s girl. Ashton is off-limits, absolutely. That’s why he does his best to keep his distance, even though he’s been in love with her forever. When Ashton wants to rekindle their childhood friendship in Sawyer’s absence, Beau knows he should say no.

Ashton and Beau don’t want to hurt Sawyer. But the more they try to stay away from each other, the more intense their urges become. It’s getting way too hard to resist....

What’s Hidden Beneath the Water?

Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies’ maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can’t help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada.

Cinders & SapphiresLeila Rasheed

It’s prom night—and Perry just wants to stick to his own plan and finally play a much-anticipated gig with his band in the Big Apple. But when his mother makes him take Gobija Zaksauskas—their quiet, geeky Lithuanian exchange student—to the prom, he never expects that his ordinary high school guy life will soon turn on its head. Perry finds that Gobi is on a mission, and Perry has no other choice but to go along for a reckless ride through Manhattan’s concrete grid with a trained assassin in Dad’s red Jag.

Infused with capers, car chases, heists, hits, henchmen, and even a bear fight, this story mixes romance, comedy, and tragedy in a true teen coming-of-age adventure—and it’s not over until it’s “au revoir.”

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick

Joe Schreiber

Etiquette & EspionageBy Gail Carriger

By Jonathan Safran Foer

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Pushing Limitsby: Katie McGarry

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Mrs. BernetNovember

2012

Sophomore: Fall Reads

Will Grayson, Will GraysonBy: John Green & David Levithan

When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.

Suite ScarlettBy: Maureen Johnson

Scarlett is the third of four children in the Martin family. The Martins live in and manage a shabby hotel in NYC that dates back to the 1920s. When Scarlett turns 15, she is put in charge of one of the hotel's 27 rooms- the Empire Suite. Into this room moves Mrs. Amberson, a failed 1970s starlet who has returned to New York to write her memoirs. Soon, Scarlett is taking dictation, running around town with Mrs. Amberson, and getting caught up in her Auntie Mame-meets-Bianca Jagger adventures

Forbidden By: Tabitha Suzuma

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. The stress of their lives has brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love, and as the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine.

The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent.

The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Rebecca Skloot

Zombies vs. Unicorns

Libba Bray Holly Black Meg Cabott

Casandra Clare Carrie Ryan

Maureen Johnson Scott

Westerfeld

I Love You, Beth CooperBy: Larry Doyle

Denis Cooverman wanted to say something really important in his high school graduation speech. So, in front of his 512 classmates and their 3,000 relatives, he announced: "I love you, Beth Cooper." It would have been such a sweet, romantic moment. Except that Beth, the head cheerleader, has only the vaguest idea who Denis is. And Denis, the captain of the debate team, is so far out of her league he is barely even the same species. And then there's Kevin, Beth's remarkably large boyfriend, who's in town on furlough from the United States Army. Complications ensue.

The Lost City of ZBy: David Grann

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century": what happened to British explorer Percy Fawcett. In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization.For centuries Europeans believed the world's largest jungle concealed the glittering El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humankind. But Fawcett had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions, he embarked with his 21-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilization--which he dubbed "Z"--existed. Then he and his expedition vanished. Fawcett's fate--and the clues he left behind--became an obsession for hundreds who followed him. As Grann delved deeper into Fawcett's mystery, and the greater mystery of the Amazon, he found himself irresistibly drawn into the "green hell."

RoomBy: Emma Donoghue

Water For ElephantsBy: Sara Gruen

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.

The Girl With the Pearl EaringBy: Tracy Chevalier

The life of sixteen-year-old Griet is transformed forever when she goes to work as a maid in the home of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, and catches the

eye of the famous artist.

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If I StayBy: Gayle Forman

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make--and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

TrappedBy: Michael Northrop

Seven high school students are stranded at their New England high school during a week-long blizzard that shuts down the power and heat, freezes the pipes, and leaves them wondering if they will survive…Not everyone does.

CongoBy: Michael Crichton

Cleopatra’s DaughterBy: Michelle Moran

The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony's revengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome; only two-- the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander-- survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian's sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian's family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.

Burn For BurnBy: Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Payback is paradise in this start to a trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes--and three girls secretly plotting revenge:

- KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

- LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she's going to put a stop to it.

- MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who's responsible has yet to get what's coming to him.

None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible. With an unlikely alliance in place, there will be no more "I wish I'd said…" or "If I could go back and do things differently..." These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.

Big girls don’t cry… They get even!

AshfallBy: Mike Mullin

Did you know that there is a “super volcano” sleeping under Yellowstone National Park?

The Yellowstone Caldera is set to erupt once every 600,000 years. We are now 30,000 years overdue for an eruption.

Fall Books 2012

PrincessBy: Jean SassonA Saudi Arabian princess tells of her life, from her

turbulent childhood to her arranged marriage, revealing the true role

designated to women by men in her country.

The first book in a trilogy, Princess is an

unfiltered look into the lives of Saudi Arabia’s

Princesses.

Sarah’s Key

By: Tatiana De RosnayParis, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is

brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but

not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking

that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked

to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of

long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to

retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and

beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Movie Trailer

A Walk In The WoodsBy: Bill Bryson

This hilarious book chronicles two out-of-shape and ill-prepared middle-aged men’s attempt at hiking the Appalachian Trail.

For Bryson, a writer with comic genius, their hike provided endless opportunities to test his own powers of ineptitude, and to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. (from Ingram)

Les MisérablesBy Victor Hugo

Sensational, dramatic, packed with rich excitement and filled with the sweep and violence of human passions, Les Misérables is one of the greatest adventures stories ever told. It is a novel peopled by colorful characters from the nineteenth-century Parisian underworld; the street children, the prostitutes and the criminals. (From the book jacket)

Movie Trailer

THE GREAT GATSBY

BY F.SCOTT FITZGERALD

Self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby epitomizes the decadence of the 1920s Jazz Age in this tale of mobility and decline, told with detached curiosity by his neighbor and confidant Nick Carraway.

This will be required reading in ENG IV but read it for fun now, see the movie, and then dissect this American classic novel next year.

Movie Trailer

ChopsticksBy Jessica Anthony and Corral Rodrigo

Glory is a world famous pianist who has gone missing. The story begins after the news coverage of her disappearance. Glory had a happy childhood, until her mother died. Then she becomes absorbed in playing the piano—driven by her father.  Her days are extraordinarily busy with practice hours and tutoring. Her schedule makes time for an outside hour and one free hour per day.

When a boy moves in next door, things start to change for Glory. She and Frank find happiness together and a way to escape the unhappiness of their worlds

A mixed media

novel

Fortier bobs and weaves between Shakespearean tragedy and popular romance for a high-flying debut in which American Julie Jacobs travels to Siena in search of her Italian heritage-and possibly an inheritance-only to discover she is descended from 14th-century Giulietta Tomei, whose love for Romeo defied their feuding families and inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

This is a “sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied – for better or worse- to literatures greatest star-crossed lovers.”

JulietBy: Anne Fortier

Birthmarked & Prized By: Caragh O'Brien

VariantBy: Robinson Wells

• At Maxfield Academy there are no adults

• The students do everything from the teaching to preparing meals to security

• There is also no escape

AfterBy Amy Efaw

Graphic and at times horrifying, this realistic book examines

clinical denial in a young girl. Overall, After is an emotionally wrenching story that will keep readers' attention through its

surprising conclusion.

In 1972, a 16-year-old American living in Amsterdam finds a mysterious book in her diplomat father's library. The book is ancient, blank except for a sinister woodcut of a dragon and the word "Drakulya," but it's the letters tucked inside, dated 1930 and addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," that really pique her curiosity. Her widowed father, Paul, reluctantly provides pieces of a chilling story; it seems this ominous little book has a way of forcing itself on its owners, with terrifying results.

By: Elizabeth Kostova

The Historian