AHS+Summer+2007

Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on track, but when his old pal X-Ray shows up with a tempting plan to make some easy money scalping concert tickets, Armpit reluctantly goes along. In the Alaskan wilderness, Grandfather Albert attempts to escape one of his own steel-jawed traps; back in their village, Johnny worries about his grandfather’s safety while pondering his own future. The only child of an over-protective mother and a well-meaning father, and in therapy since the age of seven, eighth-grader Calman Pulowitz spends two weeks with his pen pal in Washington State, getting drunk, running away, and learning a lot about himself. Suddenly orphaned during the Depression, a veterinary student jumps on a third-rate circus train and finds romance, danger and a bond with a special elephant. English teen, Jason Taylor, has many adventures as he takes on unforgiving classmates, a wicked stammer, and the Falklands War, emerging as an unforgettable protagonist. Farah Ahmedi, the victim of a land mine when she was just twelve years old, tells about her childhood in Afghanistan, a country trapped in war her entire life, and discusses the challenges she has faced as a result of losing her leg, and in trying to adapt to living in the United States. Presents the author's first hand account of his experiences growing up as a congenital amputee, providing information on how he learned to eat, type, write, and live without hands, ultimately becoming a successful athlete and champion wrestler in Georgia. Presents the memoirs of Valerie Zenatti, who at eighteen, enlisted in the Israeli army, endured harsh conditions and surroundings, and participated in top secret missions for the Israeli Secret Service, and describes her French-Jewish heritage and personal struggles. A young man born of Indian parents in America struggles with issues of identity from his teens to his thirties. Follows nine-year-old Oskar Schell as he encounters a number of interesting characters in his search for information about his father who died in the World Trade Tower and tries to find the lock that fits the mysterious key his father had. Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother. Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister. In early twentieth century Iran, a headstrong girl agrees to marry the suitor who can guess the riddle woven into her wedding carpet. A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man. While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer. After the nineteenth girl named Katherine breaks his heart, Colin and his friend Hassan hit the road. Can a mathematical formula help a former child prodigy find the new love of his life? A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father. While her military parents are stationed in South Korea, high school junior Megan learns a great deal about boys and herself when moves to Massachusetts to live with family friends who have seven sons. Living with his alcoholic father on a broken-down sailboat on Puget Sound has been hard on seventeen-year-old Chance Taylor, but when his love of running leads to a high-paying job, he quickly learns that the money is not worth the risk. After his eccentric girlfriend mysteriously disappears, a young man must unravel the puzzle she left behind in her cryptic, riddle-filled letters and in the obituaries she created for every living person in town. The double life of federal judge Cate Fante is exposed when the defendant in a high-profile lawsuit ends up dead and not only threatens her future on the bench but also her very life when the killer comes after her. After being told that his father was an assassin for a criminal organization, fourteen-year-old Alex goes to Italy to find out more and becomes involved in a plan to kill thousands of English school children. Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught. Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong. Jean has been a willing poster child for cerebral palsy until she attends a camp for teens with disabilities, where a new friend revolutionizes her ideas about living as a “crip” and “norms.” Being nice, never complaining, and avoiding conflict no longer work for high-school-junior Annabel Green. Can she find her own voice and speak up?  The true stories of ten scientists and medical researchers who endured extreme hardship and discomfort in order to test new discoveries and inventions in the fields of medicine and science. The true-life story of Clara Breed, a librarian, whose outreach efforts helped a group of Japanese-American children survive the persecutions of the American government during World War II. This beautifully illustrated collection of linked poems explores the life of Juan, a brutally treated slave who nonetheless sees the world in unique and lyrical ways. The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcohol father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home. Tally's perfect life as a Pretty is disrupted when she receives a letter from herself, written when she was an Ugly, reminding her of the promise she made to take a drug developed to cure the brain lesions that keep the Pretties shallow and happy--and when she takes the pills, she becomes a target of those determined to keep Pretty society carefree. Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen year old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn't like. When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it. The Hrum believe their war against Farsala is nearly over, but Soraya has information that will help stave off defeat, if only she can reach Jiaan and Kavi and their resistance movements, but discord and Time's Wheel conspire keep them apart.. When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human. Eighteen-year-old Corey sees a threat to his dream of winning the basketball championship when he discovers that the new player on his team is a girl-stealing, friend-framing, team-destroying force of evil. In the year 1890, a Tokyo teen uses traditional bushido training to improve his baseball game and comes to understand the samurai values in Japanese culture. A collection of stories about high school students from one end of the social spectrum to the other. A lyrical look at a young dancer’s life. What happens when happily-ever-after begins? Find out with Lady Jain and the new inhabitatns of Briar Rose’s castle. Three seemingly unrelated tales expose an unexpected connection to form a story of self-acceptance and identity.
 * ADVENTURE **
 * Small Steps – Louis Sachar **
 * The Trap – John Smelcer **
 * Palms to the Ground – Amy Stolls **
 * Water For Elephants – Sara Gruen **
 * Black Swan Green – David Mitchell **
 * BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY **
 * The Story of My Life - **** Farah Ahmedi **
 * No Excuses **** : the True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life **** - **** Kyle Maynard **
 * When I Was a Soldier: A Memoir – Valerie Zenatti **
 * FAMILY MATTERS **
 * The Namesake - **** Jhumpa Lahiri. **
 * Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer **
 * The Rules of Survival – Nancy Werlin **
 * HISTORICAL FICTION/MULTICULTURAL FICTION **
 * The Book Thief – Markus Zusak **
 * Al Capone Does My Shirts- **** Gennifer Choldenko **
 * Anahita’s Woven Riddle – Meghan Nuttall Sayres **
 * Bang! – Sharon G. Flake **
 * HUMOR **
 * Sleeping Freshman Never Lie – David Lubar **
 * The Abundance of Katherines – John Green **
 * Once Upon a Marigold – Jean Ferris **
 * Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys – Kate Brian **
 * MYSTERY/THRILLER **
 * Runner – Carl Deuker **
 * As Simple As Snow – Gregory Galloway **
 * Dirty Blonde – Lisa Scottoline **
 * Scorpia – Anthony Horowitz **
 * LIVING TODAY **
 * Black and White – Paul Volponi **
 * Red Kayak – Priscilla Cummings **
 * Accidents of Nature – Harriet McBryde Johnson **
 * Just Listen – Sarah Dessen **
 * NON-FICTION **
 * Guinea Pig Scientists – Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring **
 * Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and the Librarian Who Made a Difference - Joanne Oppenheim **
 * The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano – Margarita Engle **
 * The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls **
 * SCI-FI/FANTASY **
 * Pretties – Scott Westerfeld **
 * Uglies– Scott Westerfeld **
 * Things Not Seen – Andrew Clements **
 * Rise of a Hero – Hilari Bell **
 * Twilight – Stephenie Meyer **
 * SPORTS **
 * Players – Joyce Sweeney **
 * Samarai Shortstop - Alan Gratz **
 * Love, Football & Other Contact Sports – Alden R. Carter **
 * GRAPHIC NOVEL **
 * To Dance- Siena Cherson **
 * Caste Waiting – Linda Medley **
 * American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang **