1. The Beast Seventeen-year-old Anthony "Spoon" Witherspoon left his neighborhood in Harlem for a great opportunity at an exclusive prep school. But when Spoon returns home, he is shocked. His beautiful girlfriend, Gabi, once a vibrant young poet, is now a thin, wasted drug addict. Walter Dean Myers, the acclaimed author of many teen favorites, writes a powerful story about the beauty of first love and the reality of drug abuse.

2. Zane and the Hurricane Zane Dupree is a charismatic 12-year-old boy of mixed race visiting a relative in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hits. Unexpectedly separated from all family, Zane and his dog experience the terror of Katrina's wind, rain, and horrific flooding. Facing death, they are rescued by a kind, elderly musician and a scrappy young girl- -both African American. The chaos that ensues as storm water drowns the city and shelter and food vanish, creates a page- turning tale that completely engrosses the reader. Based on the facts of the worst hurricane disaster in U.S. history, Philbrick includes the generosity and courage of those who risked their lives and safety to help others. Here is an unforgettable novel of heroism in the face of truly challenging circumstances.

3. Endangered This unforgettable new novel is set in the Congo during a violent coup. Sophie is initially reluctant to spend her summer visiting her activist mother’s sanctuary for bonobos. However, when revolution breaks out and the sanctuary is attacked, it is Sophie who must rescue the animals. Together, they will hide in the jungle and fight to survive. Eliot Schrefer’s adventure story challenges readers to think about the 8 th grade Language Arts theme of social justice and what it means to be human.

4. Flowers for Algernon. In this classic science fiction novel, Charlie Gordon, a mentally disabled adult, becomes a genius through an experimental operation. The experiment is initially tried on a white mouse named Algernon. The book is written in the form of journal entries kept by Charlie for the experiment. As the book progresses, the language in the journal changes to reflect Charlie’s change in IQ and his sad realization that the world is more complicated that he thought.

5. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates Two boys with the same name live in the same decaying city of Baltimore. One becomes a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other receives a life sentence in prison. Wes Moore writes this powerful memoir about his own life and that of the “other Wes Moore”, including both the fascinating ways their lives parallel each other and the different choices they made.."

6. The Book Thief It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.