District 99 South Campus

Bohjalian, Chris
Midwives
Sibyl Danforth has an unusual job as a midwife, delivering babies for mothers who wish to have their
children at home. She, her husband, and their teenage daughter Connie have a busy but happy life until disaster strikes. On a stormy winter night in 1981, one of her home births ends in terrible tragedy and Sibyl is charged with manslaughter. Her daughter Connie tells the gripping story of her ensuing courtroom drama and the fracturing of her family. As Connie looks back on these events, she struggles with the truth of what really happened that night, and if things can ever be the same again.

Bryson, Bill
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
This memoir of an All-American childhood is laugh-out-loud funny. Bryson's crazy family (his mother burns food instead of cooking it) provides plenty of stories that will make readers laugh. The author pretends to be a superhero called the Thunderbolt Kid, and as he shares his fantasy superhero life, we get a real picture of the 1950s in mid-America.

Durant, Michael
In The Company of Heroes
Mogadishu, Somalia, 1993-Michael Durant lived through the crash of his Blackhawk helicopter, breaking his back and one leg, and then was held captive for ten days. Readers will feel as if they are with Durant in a hot, guarded room, using knowledge gained in the armed forces and "special operations." In addition, Durant will take readers to other battles in other places to help them know what to do to survive. Readers with an interest in survival stories, the military, or recent history will greatly enjoy this book.

Koontz, Dean
Odd Thomas
Odd Thomas is truly odd. At the age of twenty, he lives in a small town and serves as a short-order cook in the local diner. Cooking, however, is not his real talent. Instead, Odd has the uncanny ability to see dead people and foretell future events related to death. One morning, he senses bad spirits connected to one of the townspeople, and he foresees mass murder devastating his small town. Odd must use his natural abilities to help save those he loves from this imminent, approaching doom.

Larson, Erik
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Mayhem at the Fair that Changed America
This amazing true story follows two events that changed America: the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the emergence of America’s first serial killer. Among the real-life characters are Daniel Hudson Burnham and Henry H. Holmes, both geniuses in their own ways. Burnham is the brilliant director of the fair who, against incredible odds, creates one of the world’s most historical and important events. Holmes is an evil mastermind who uses Burnham’s wondrous fair as a backdrop for murder. A charming young doctor, no one suspects that he is the reason so many young women at the fair go missing—women who are, in fact, lured to their deaths at Holmes’ "World’s Fair Hotel." This rich, fascinating history of the fair is interwoven with a tale of horror and intrigue that will keep you glued until the last page.

Lewis, Michael
The Blind Side
Michael Oher has never had a break in his life. As one of 13 children of a drug-addicted mother, he does not even know his real name or his birthday. Though homeless and uneducated, his luck begins to change. He gets a chance to attend a private school, and through this opportunity -meets a family who will adopt him and change his life. At his new school he begins to play football, and he excels at playing left tackle. Michael Lewis tells the story of the left tackle position and its influence on professional football while he shares the story of Michael who becomes one of the leading recruits in the nation.

Martel, Yann
Life of Pi
Fans of "Survivor" and "Lost" will relish this adventure story of a teen lost at sea with a 450-pound tiger named Richard Parker. Who will survive and how? Pi Patel navigates the dangerous waters with his dangerous passenger, learns fishing techniques, meets another castaway, and encounters a strange colony of meerkats. As the adventure progresses, the reader has questions – Is Pi a reliable narrator? How could he travel with a tiger? What other forces are at work? What role does faith play in his life and in his survival?

Sakey, Marcus
The Blade Itself
Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Danny Carter made a living as a petty criminal. After his best friend Evan is sent to prison for a burglary gone bad, Danny decides he's had enough and turns his life around. Seven years later, Evan is released from prison and he goes directly to Danny in hopes of picking up where they left off. Danny has to decide whether to turn his back on his new life to pay back his debt to Evan, or to fight for what he loves. This journey leads him back into dangerous territory as everything he has built for himself is threatened.

Walls, Jeanette
The Glass Castle
"Being homeless is an adventure," says the mother of Jeanette Walls, but for Jeanette, it was just her way of life. Raised by eccentric and nomadic parents, Jeanette and her three siblings learned to fend for themselves. They held their clothes together with safety pins, colored their skin with markers so the holes wouldn't show, and went to school faithfully so that they could have a meal-even if it meant digging through the dumpsters. Despite such hardship, Walls' story manages to be magical and moving. Her artist mother and alcoholic father are more troubled dreamers than monsters, and among her father's many elaborate fantasies is to build the family a glass castle. One by one, Jeanette and her siblings learn that if there is going to be a better place for them, they must create it for themselves.

Zailckas, Koren
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
Koren Zailckas has her first drink at age fourteen, when her friend Natalie steals a bottle from her parents' liquor cabinet. From that moment, she drinks habitually and fanatically, eventually spiraling into alcohol abuse. Her increasingly destructive behavior in high school leads to a stomach pumping at the age of sixteen. In college, her excessive drinking is seemingly condoned and nurtured, and it flourishes into a life of chaos. With her health, future, and self-respect at stake, Koren begins the sobering road to recovery. Zailckas's book is not only a wise and witty cautionary tale, but also a poignant criticism of the American culture that tolerates-and even promotes-drunkenness in its youth.