District 99 South Campus

Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Does My Head Look Big in This?
Amal is a thoroughly modern Australian teen. She is also a practicing Muslim, and it becomes important to her spiritual life that she begins to wear the hijab - head scarf - as a demonstration of her personal Islamic faith. For the most part, this novel is the lighthearted story of how Amal continues to be faithful, to laugh and shop with friends, to gain the acceptance of her non-Muslim peers, and to compete academically. In addition, the novel offers insights into the conflicts that young Muslim women face in resolving faith with personal goals and contemporary life experiences.

Hornby, Nick
Slam
Sixteen-year-old Sam loves Tony Hawk and skateboarding, and he's read Tony Hawk's biography so many times that Tony "talks" to him. In addition to being an avid skateboarder, Sam is also a teenage boy with a girlfriend. Skateboarding gives him one kind of adventure, and his girlfriend provides other adventures and risks. Soon he finds himself in a situation similar to his mother's, becoming a parent as a teenager.

Kidd, Sue Monk
The Secret Life of Bees
Lily Owen is not a typical teenager. Growing up on a Georgia peach farm with a neglectful father, she dreams of simpler times before her mother died. According to her family, when Lily was a child she accidentally shot and killed her mother. All that Lily has left to remember her mother is a strange photograph with the words “Tiburon, South Carolina.” Set in the racially divided 1960s South, Lily’s journey begins when Rosaleen, her beloved nanny, is arrested for insulting a group of white men. Lily helps Rosaleen escape and flees with her to the only place she can think to go: Tiburon, South Carolina. There, her search for the truth about her mother and herself turns into an adventure peppered with larger-than-life characters, hilarity, and heartache. Readers will be buzzing about this unforgettable book!

Kurson, Robert
Shadow Divers
In deep water, the world is hidden in shadows. John Chatterton and Richie Kohler discover a World War II German U-boat in an impossible location off the coast of New Jersey and spend six years trying to solve its mystery. In their efforts to fill the missing pages of history, they sacrifice the lives of close friends as well as their marriages. They are enemies when they begin their quest, but their shared discoveries create a strong bond of friendship, forged in the sense of wonder and the risk of danger.

Maynard, Joyce
The Usual Rules
On a Tuesday morning in Brooklyn, Wendy heads to school with typical teenage worries on her mind: her looks, a fight with her mother, and plans with her best friend. She does not anticipate that her life will change forever that morning when a plane crashes into the World Trade Center, the place where her mother works. Wendy is forced to deal with difficult questions and overwhelming emotions as she watches the rest of her family fall apart after her mother’s death. Wendy moves to California with her father and discovers important lessons about family, loss, and forgiveness.

McCammon, Robert
Boy’s Life
This novel takes you to Zephyr, Alabama, the small-town home of eleven- year-old Cory Mackenson. You will ride with Cory on his enchanted bicycle as he whirls through an intricate maze of magic, adventure, and mystery, growing older and wiser with every twist and turn. Hang on for the suspense.

Nix, Garth
Sabriel
As a young girl, Sabriel, daughter of Abhorsen, was sent far away from her father for her own protection. As an adult, she receives word that her father is no longer among the living. With this message comes the realization that she must go on a dangerous journey to save her father, and this journey will take her back to the Old Kingdom, a world with which she is unfamiliar, yet it will teach her more about herself than she ever knew.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Life As We Knew It
When the news starts reporting that a meteor is on a collision course with the moon, Miranda barely takes notice. She is wrapped up in the typical concerns of a sophomore: friends, romance, family, and getting her driver's license. But after the meteor hits, her old life is a thing of the past. The collision pushes the moon off its axis and causes worldwide disasters that forever alter life as we know it. As her family tries to survive in their post-apocalyptic small town, Miranda chronicles their hardships in her journal. Her family-as well as humanity-is faced with not only survival, but also with the challenge of carrying hope into a new kind of future.

Plum-ucci, Carol
The Body of Christopher Creed
Torey Adams thinks he has a great life…until he becomes obsessed with the disappearance of Christopher Creed. The star football player and good student is dating the most beautiful cheerleader, writing songs for his band, and hanging with his very good friends. Once he is named in Creed's farewell note, the mystery surrounding his disappearance haunts Torey, causing him to relive the way he and his friends treated Chris and to re-examine his values. Torey's search for Christopher Creed is also a search for meaning and purpose in his own life.

Volponi, Paul
Black and White
What happens when otherwise good kids and best friends choose an illegal path to easy cash? In alternating voices, two talented high school basketball stars, one white and one black, tell the story of their decision to commit a crime and the consequences that follow. Each shares the struggle with his conscience, the challenge to their friendship, and the effect on their once promising futures.