Summer Reading 2002
Book List
Reading Levels:
     Easy
     Medium
     Difficult
All Souls: A Family Story from South by Michael Patrick MacDonald  [BIOGRAPHY - Medium Reading Level]
Michael Patrick MacDonald describes how his family survived the daily violence they encountered while living in South Boston.
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid [FICTION - Easy]
Annie John grows from a precocious, fearless 10-year-old living in a Caribbean paradise into a young woman who realizes she must leave Antingua to escape her mother's shadow.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver [FICTION - Medium]
Taylor, a poor Kentuckian, makes her way west with an abandoned baby girl and stops in Tucson. There she finds friends and discovers resources in apparently empty places.
Chocolat by Joanne Harris [FICTION - Medium]
An enchanting novel about a small French town turned upside down by the arrival of a bewitching chocolate confectioner, Vianne Rocher.
Eleven Seconds by Travis Roy [BIOGRAPHY - Medium]
Travis Roy recounts how his life has changed since a freak accident in 1995 in his first Boston University hockey game that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card [SCIENCE FICTION - Medium] Bean must overcome his past and prove to the recruiters at the Battle School that he can help save the planet from an alien invasion. A "parallel" novel to Ender's Game.
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier [HISTORICAL FICTION - Medium]
The changing social climate in England, spurred by the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, is reflected in the lives of Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse, two young girls of different classes who meet and become fast friends while their families are visiting adjoining funeral plots.
Fatal Voyage: A Novel by Kathy Reichs [CRIME FICTION - Medium]  Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is called to the Great Smoky Mountains, scene of the crash of TransSouth Air flight 228 where 88 souls suffered gruesome deaths. As the medical teams work to reassemble and identify bodies, Tempe makes a disturbing discovery - a foot that doesn't belong to any of the victims.  She finds her involvement in the aftermath of the crash becoming increasingly dangerous as she attempts to discover why the plane went down and who is responsible. 
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley [FANTASY / HISTORICAL FICTION - Medium / Difficult].  The story of the fall of Troy, from the point of view of Kassandra, daughter of King Priam. A story of love and betrayal, wars and kings, gods and magic. From the author of The Mists of Avalon.
The Green Berets by Robin Moore [NONFICTION - Medium / Difficult]  Based on actual soldiers and real conflicts.  The book brings to life the spies, battles and moral quandaries the Green Berets encountered daily during the Vietnam War.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (BOOK 2) by J.K. Rowling [FICTION - Easy]  When the Chamber of Secrets is reopened at the Hogswart School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, second-year student Harry Potter finds himself in danger from a dark power that has once more been released on the school.
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman [FICTION (OPRAH BOOK) - Medium].  March Murray returns to her New England hometown with her teenage daughter, supposedly to attend the funeral of her old housekeeper, but in the back of her mind March knows she is headed for a reunion with Hollis, the boy she has loved since childhood.
If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan [FANTASY FICTION] - Easy / Medium].  While neo-Nazi wanna-be Hilary Burke lies in a coma, she slips into the memory of Holocaust survivor Chana Bergman.
Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness by Peter Fromm [NONFICTION - Medium].  After blundering into a 7-month stay alone in a tent in the Selway-Bitterrott Wilderness as a college lark, Fromm gradually comes face to face with the blunt realities of life as a contemporary mountain man.
The Investigators by W.E.B. Griffin [CRIME FICTION - Medium]
A perfectly typed bomb threat makes its way to the Philadelphia Police Dept.--the calling card of a political assassin on the loose. It couln't happen at a worse time, since a rogue cop has brought corruption into the force. The police can't trust their own people as seconds tick away toward an explosion that could rock the nation. Adult themes and language. RECOMMENDED FOR JUNIOR AND SENIORS.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer [NONFICTION - Medium].  Tells the story of Chris McCandless, a twenty-four-year-old who walked into the Alaskan wilderness on an idealistic journey and was found dead of starvation four months later.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer [NONFICTION - Medium]  The author relates his experience of climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship and expense.
Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson [NONFICTION - Medium].  Tells the story of Isaac Cline, a weather scientist in Galveston, Texas in 1900, looking at how Cline dealt with the aftermath of the hurricane that hit on September 8, claiming the lives of thousands of people.
Murder at Fenway Park by Tony Soos [MYSTERY - Medium]
The year is 1912. Roosevelt, Taft and Debs are running for the White House. Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson are battling for baseball's batting crown. And Mickey Rawlings, a young ballplayer fresh from the bush leagues, is about to get a major league education - when he stumbles on a murder in Fenway Park.
A Painted House by John Grisham [FICTION - Medium].  Seven-year-old Arkansas farm boy Luke Chandler loses his innocence over the course of a strenuous cotton harvest in 1952, during which time Luke begins keeping dangerous secrets.
Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez [FICTION - Medium].  Manny relates his coming of age experiences as a member of a poor Mexican American family in which the alcoholic father only adds to everyone's struggle.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving [FICTION - Medium / Difficult].  An eleven-year-old boy, Owen Meany, hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother during a Little League game in 1953.
The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama [HISTORICAL FICTION - Medium].  On the eve of WWII, a young Chinese man is sent to his family's summer home in Japan to recover from tuberculosis. His own adventure becomes entwined with the lives of three people he meets there. RECOMMENDED FOR INCOMING SOPHOMORES.
Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon by Larry Millett [MYSTERY - Medium].  Sherlock Holmes comes to America to solve the most remarkable case of his celebrated career.
Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori [FICTION - Medium]. 
In the years following her mother's suicide, Yuki develops the inner strength to cope with her distant father, her resentful stepmother, and her haunting, painful memories.
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen [NONFICTION - Medium].
Matthiessen traveled to Napal to glimpse the snow leopard, a creature so rare it is considered mythical. The story evolves from an already exquisite book of natural history and travel into a grand, Buddhist-tinged parable of our search for meaning.
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi [FICTION (OPRAH BOOK) - Medium / Difficult].  Trudi Montag, a dwarf living in a small German town through both world wars, learns to find acceptance, because she learns that all humans are different.
TDY by Douglas Valentine [NONFICTION - Easy]. 
The true story of a man from Leominster. TDY is a Vietnam veteran's factual and shocking account of CIA drug smuggling and treachery.
Thief in Time by Tony Hillerman [MYSTERY - Medium]  Navajo Tribal policeman Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee plunge into the past to unearth the truth behind two murders at a sacred Indian ruin.
Timeline by Michael Crichton [FICTION - Medium]
When a group of scientists learns how to travel through time, they enter life in 14th century feudal France and threaten the history of the world.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson [FICTION - Easy].
While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads to a pirate fortune as well as great danger.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith [FICTION - Easy / Medium]. 
Young Francie Nolan experiences the problems of growing up in a Brookly, New York slum.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom [NONFICTION - Easy] 
True story chronicling the lessons learned about the meaning of life from visits between sportwriter Mitch Albom and his former professor Morrie Schwartz who is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease.
The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien [FANTASY FICTION - Medium]
The intrepid hobbit Frodo Baggins moves toward Mordor, Sauron's hellish stronghold, where he must attempt to destroy the dangerous ring that could destroy the world.
When We Were Wolves by Jon Billman [SHORT STORIES - Medium/Difficult]  Tough, straightforward tales set along the rough edges and forgotten towns of the modern American West. These stories are filled with crazy artists, tough-talking schoolteachers and plain old ornery cusses. Billman's writing lets out a lonesome cowboy yowl. Perfect reading for a hot and sticky summer. Adult themes and language. RECOMMENDED FOR JUNIORS AND SENIORS.
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