Sepetys, R.  (2011).  Between Shades of Gray.  New York, NY:  Philomel Books. 344p. ISBN 10:  0- 399-25412-9

Summary:  In this captivating historical fiction novel, fifteen-year-old Lina Vilkas is taken along with her family from their home in Lithuania by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police.  It is 1941 and Stalin is removing any people believed to be anti-Soviet and deporting them to refugee camps and prisons where millions are tortured, starved, and forced to live in conditions not even fit for animals.  Along with her mother and brother, Lina struggles to stay alive with little more than hatred for the Soviets and hope that she will see her father alive again.   A gifted artist, Lina risks her life as she documents their experiences and vows that the suffering of millions will not go unknown and their sacrifices will live on.

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Bray, L.   (2011). Beauty Queens. New York, NY:  Scholastic Press. 396p. ISBN 10: 0-439-89597-9.

Summary:  Fifty Teen Dream contestants are on their way to a beautiful island paradise when their plane goes down leaving them deserted and in disbelief.  Assuming they will be rescued quickly, they take all necessary measures to be ready and beautiful when the cameras arrive.  However, as days and then weeks pass, their priorities change as the girls settle in to their new life on the island.  Once they find there are more people on the island than just themselves, they quickly realize that they must rely on their wits and their creativity if they want to make it off the island alive.

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Billingsley, F.  (2011).  Chime.  New York, NY:  Dial Books.  361p.  ISBN 10:  0-8037-3552-9

Summary:  Because seventeen-year-old Briony Larkin has the Second Sight and can see spirits, she has been convinced by her stepmother that she is a witch and cannot tell a soul, not even her own father, or she will be hanged by the people in her village.  She believes that her powers have caused her twin sister’s brain damage as well as the death of her stepmother.  She tells herself that because she is a witch, she is not capable of feeling or caring about another person until handsomely perfect Eldric comes into her life and helps open her eyes to the truth about the secrets the spirit world holds.  This knowledge completely changes all she has believed about the Old Ones, her stepmother, and her fate as a witch.

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Handler, D.  (2011).  Why We Broke Up.  New York, NY:  Little, Brown and Company.  354p. ISBN-10: 0316-12725-6.

Summary:  When Minerva (Min), the artsy, plain girl gains the attention of Ed Slaterton, the popular, handsome co-captain of the basketball team, she cannot believe her amazing luck!  While she feels she does not hold a candle to the many girls who have dated Ed, he convinces her that he loves her because she is different.  She becomes consumed with their relationship and even puts her own friends on hold because she is so sure of his love…until it all comes crashing down around her.  This novel is the letter that Min writes to Ed as she sifts through the box of treasures and memories she’s stored up during their relationship.

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Myers, W.D.  (1999).  Monster.  New York, NY:  Harper Collins Publishers.  281p. ISBN-10: 0-06-028077-8           

Summary: Sixteen-year-old
Steve Harmon has been accused of being an accomplice in a drugstore murder and is sitting in jail awaiting trial.  He begins to question whether or not he is the monster that the prosecutor has accused him of being and wants nothing more than to prove he is not that person.  He keeps notes of his experience in jail and in court in the form of a movie script.

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Anderson, L.H.  (1999).  Speak.  New York, NY:  Farrar Straus Giroux.  198p.  ISBN 10:  0-374-37152-0.

Summary:  At a high school party the summer before her freshman year, Melinda Sordino is raped by a popular senior boy.  She calls to tell the police but chickens out, and as a result, the party is busted and some of her peers are arrested.  Melinda spends her entire freshman year holding in her terrible secret and enduring the vicious stares and hateful attacks from students who are angry that she was stupid enough to ruin their fun.  She becomes an outcast and is welcome nowhere.  When her former best friend begins dating the very person who attacked her, Melinda struggles to find her voice to speak out, and in the meantime begins her own healing process.    

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Myers, W.D.  (1988).  Fallen Angels.  New York: NY.  Scholastic Inc.  309p.  ISBN-10:  0-54500576-8.

Summary:  Fresh out of high school and with no other options, seventeen-year-old Richie Perry enlists to fight in the Vietnam War leaving his mother and brother back home in Harlem.  Perry is quickly thrown into a world full of devastation, fear, and death.  While experiencing the harsh destruction of war, he forms an intense bond of brotherhood with his squad members as they struggle to live with the constant threat of the unseen enemy and the possibility of never making it out alive.  


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