Alice Walker

• Once: Poems
  This first volume of poetry established Walker as a poet of unusual sensitivity and power. All of the poems in this collection were written either in East Africa, where Walker spent the summer of 1965, or during her senior year at Sarah Lawrence College. “Brief slashing poems-young and in the sun” (Muriel Rukeyser).
  
  
• The Color Purple

  Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister’s letters from her read more …
  
  

  Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister’s letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

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Brian Jacques

• Redwall Series

Chinua Achebe

• Girls at War and Other Stories
  

  Twelve stories by the internationally renowned novelist which
  recreate with energy and authenticity the major social and
  political issues that confront contemporary Africans on a daily
  basis.

  
  
  

• Home and Exile

  Chinua Achebe is Africa’s most prominent writer, the author of Things Fall Apart, the best known–and best selling–novel ever to come out of Africa. His fiction and poetry burn with a passionate commitment to political justice, bringing to life not only Africa’s troubled encounters with Europe but also the dark side of contemporary African political life. Now, in Home and Exile, Achebe reveals read more …
  
  

  Chinua Achebe is Africa’s most prominent writer, the author of Things Fall Apart, the best known–and best selling–novel ever to come out of Africa. His fiction and poetry burn with a passionate commitment to political justice, bringing to life not only Africa’s troubled encounters with Europe but also the dark side of contemporary African political life. Now, in Home and Exile, Achebe reveals the man behind his powerful work.Here is an extended exploration of the European impact on African culture, viewed through the most vivid experience available to the author–his own life. It is an extended snapshot of a major writer’s childhood, illuminating his roots as an artist. Achebe discusses his English education and the relationship between colonial writers and the European literary tradition. He argues that if colonial writers try to imitate and, indeed, go one better than the Empire, they run the danger of undervaluing their homeland and their own people. Achebe contends that to redress the inequities of global oppression, writers must focus on where they come from, insisting that their value systems are as legitimate as any other. Stories are a real source of power in the world, he concludes, and to imitate the literature of another culture is to give that power away.Home and Exile is a moving account of an exceptional life. Achebe reveals the inner workings of the human conscience through the predicament of Africa and his own intellectual life. It is a story of the triumph of mind, told in the words of one of this century’s most gifted writers.

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• Things Fall Apart

  Recreates African tribal life before Christianity and shows how
  the coming of the white man led to the breaking up of the old
  ways.

  
  
  

C.S. Lewis

• Chronicles of Narnia

  To commemorate the 50th anniversary of”The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, all seven titles of “The Chronicles of Narnia” are packaged in this deluxe hardcover edition, featuring the original, color illustrations by award-winning illustrator Pauline Baynes.

  
  
  

George Orwell

• 1984

  “Nineteen Eighty-Four” revealed George Orwell as one of the twentieth century’s greatest mythmakers. While the totalitarian system that provoked him into writing it has since passed into oblivion, his harrowing cautionary tale of a man trapped in a political nightmare has had the opposite fate: its relevance and power to disturb our complacency seem to grow decade by decade. In Winston Smith’s read more …
  
  

  “Nineteen Eighty-Four” revealed George Orwell as one of the twentieth century’s greatest mythmakers. While the totalitarian system that provoked him into writing it has since passed into oblivion, his harrowing cautionary tale of a man trapped in a political nightmare has had the opposite fate: its relevance and power to disturb our complacency seem to grow decade by decade. In Winston Smith’s desperate struggle to free himself from an all-encompassing, malevolent state, Orwell zeroed in on tendencies apparent in every modern society, and made vivid the universal predicament of the individual.

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• Animal Farm

  “Animal Farm” is the most famous by far of all twentieth-century political allegories. Its account of a group of barnyard animals who revolt against their vicious human master, only to submit to a tyranny erected by their own kind, can fairly be said to have become a universal drama. Orwell is one of the very few modern satirists comparable to Jonathan Swift in power, artistry, and moral autho read more …
  
  

  “Animal Farm” is the most famous by far of all twentieth-century political allegories. Its account of a group of barnyard animals who revolt against their vicious human master, only to submit to a tyranny erected by their own kind, can fairly be said to have become a universal drama. Orwell is one of the very few modern satirists comparable to Jonathan Swift in power, artistry, and moral authority; in animal farm his spare prose and the logic of his dark comedy brilliantly highlight his stark message. Taking as his starting point the betrayed promise of the Russian Revolution, Orwell lays out a vision that, in its bitter wisdom, gives us the clearest understanding we possess of the possible consequences of our social and political acts.

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J.K. Rowling

• Harry Potter Series

Lemony Snicket

• A Series of Unfortunate Events

  
  
  

Meg Cabot

• Princess Diary series

Mildred D. Taylor

• Let the Circle be Unbroken
  Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need to survive.
  
  
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
  Facing a year of night riders and burnings, Cassie and her family continue their struggle to keep their land and hold onto what rightfully belongs to them, despite the difficult battles they must continue to endure.
  
  

Phillip Pullman

• His Dark Materials Series

Sarah Dessen

• Just Listen

  This multi-layered tale tells the story of a year in the life of a family coming to terms with the imperfections beneath its perfect faade. Viking Children’s Books

  
  
  

• This Lullaby

  This “Publishers Weekly” Best Book of the Year from the acclaimed author of “Dreamland” is a captivating novel about a tough-as-nails girl and the unexpectedly charming boy who’s determined to soften her up.

  
  
  

• Truth About Forever

  Marcy is looking forward to a boring summer: She has a dull job at the library, will log many hours studying for the SATs, and will grieve silently over her father’s death. Everything changes when she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew and starts really living life. Speak

  
  
  

Scott Westerfeld

• Midnighter’s Series
• Peeps

  Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that’s fast becoming his trademark, Westerfield’s new novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror–the vampire.

  
  
  

• Uglies Trilogy

Stephanie Meyer

• New Moon

  I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES… For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them read more …
  
  

  I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES… For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning. . . . Legions of readers entranced by the New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural spin. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

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• Twilight

  In this exquisite fantasy, Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward must control the blood lust she arouses in him because–he’s a vampire. This deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful novel captures the struggle between defying instincts and satisfying desires.

  
  
  

Walter Dean Myers

• Monster

  Winner of the Printz Award Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award National Book Award Finalist Steve Harmon’s black. He’s in jail, maybe forever. He’s on trial for murder. And he’s sixteen years old. Steve: “Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call i read more …
  
  

  Winner of the Printz Award Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award National Book Award Finalist Steve Harmon’s black. He’s in jail, maybe forever. He’s on trial for murder. And he’s sixteen years old. Steve: “Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady prosecutor called me . . . MONSTER.

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• Shooter

  Cameron: “Deep inside, you know that whoever gets up in your face gets there because he knows you are nothing, and he knows that you know it too.” Carla: “What I’m trying to do is to get by — not even get over, just get by.” Leonard: “I have bought a gaw-juss weapon. It lies beneath my bed like a secret lover, quiet, powerful, waiting to work my magic.” Statement of Fact: 17-year-old white ma read more …
  
  

  Cameron: “Deep inside, you know that whoever gets up in your face gets there because he knows you are nothing, and he knows that you know it too.” Carla: “What I’m trying to do is to get by — not even get over, just get by.” Leonard: “I have bought a gaw-juss weapon. It lies beneath my bed like a secret lover, quiet, powerful, waiting to work my magic.” Statement of Fact: 17-year-old white male found dead in the aftermath of a shooting incident at Madison High School in Harrison County. Conclusion: Death by self-inflicted wound.

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• Slam!

  Greg “Slam” Harris can do it all on the basketball court. He
  knows he’s got what it takes to go all the way to the top. Slam’s
  grades aren’t so hot, though, and when his teachers jam his
  troubles in his face, he blows up.

  
  
  

• Street Love

  A “New York Times” bestselling author delivers an evocative, edgy tale of star-crossed urban love, set to a Shakespearean Harlem beat.

  
  
  

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