Here's the annotated list of books that are offered for our Summer Reading Program 2012. Most titles have a hotlink to Powell's Books, Multnomah County Library, and Amazon Kindle. If reviews are available from NoveList, a link has been
created to it. If you are viewing this from home, NoveList
will require a user name (oregon) and a password (oregon). Please read reviews carefully so that you may be confident that ALL THREE of your choices are books that you would like to read!
The Adoration of Jenna Fox Mary E. Pearson MATURE In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence. (Novelist) (Multnomah County)
Airman Eoin Colfer In the 1890s on an island off the Irish coast, Conor Broekhart is falsely imprisoned and passes the solitary months by scratching designs of flying machines into the walls, including one for a glider with which he dreams of escape. (Novelist) (Multnomah County)
Alanna Tamora Pierce Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, a learning many hard lessons along her path to high adventure. (Novelist) (Multnomah County)
Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her. (Novelist) (Multnomah County)
Book of a Thousand Days Shannon Hale Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.(Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm Nancy Farmer In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic mine, while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card MATURE A tale of the child-hero Ender Wiggin, who must fight a desperate battle against a deadly alien race if mankind is to survive. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Heart of a Shepherd (Hardback only; paperback available 7/13/10) Rosanne Parry Ignatius "Brother" Alderman, nearly twelve, promises to help his grandparents keep the family's Oregon ranch the same while his brothers are away and his father is deployed to Iraq, but as he comes to accept the inevitability of change, he also sees the man he is meant to be. (NoveList) (Multnomah County Library)
His Majesty's Dragon Naomi Novik (originally published for adults) After capturing a French frigate and seizing its precious cargo, Captain Will Laurence of the HMS "Reliant" befriends the dragon Temeraire and uses his new friend to help defend his country from other airborne dragon forces. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Little Women Louisa May Alcott Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway Santiago is a Cuban fisherman who encounters a giant marlin in the Gulf Stream and the battle for his catch becomes one of survival against a band of marauding sharks.(Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
The Real Benedict Arnold Jim Murphy NO LONGER AVAILABLE Brilliant military strategist Benedict Arnold, although maligned and branded 'traitor,' was a man for whom honor meant a great deal. (Multnomah County Library)
The Red Pyramid (Hardback only) Rick Riordan Brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane unites his children, Sadie and Carter, for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, hoping to set things right for his family after the death of the children's mother--instead, he awakens the gods of Egypt and unleashes the worst of them, the god Set, who banishes Julius to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Ruby In the Smoke Philip Pullman NO LONGER AVAILABLE In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby. (Novelist) (Multnomah County)
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and The Endurance Jennifer Armstrong In August 1914, Ernest Shackleton and 27 men sailed from England in an attempt to become the first team of explorers to cross Antarctica from one side to the other. Five months later and still 100 miles from land, their ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice. The expedition survived another five months camping on ice floes, followed by a perilous journey through stormy seas to remote and unvisited Elephant Island. In a dramatic climax to this amazing survival story, Shackleton and five others navigated 800 miles of treacherous open ocean in a 20-foot boat to fetch a rescue ship. (Multnomah County Library)
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas NO LONGER AVAILABLE A young Gascon nobleman, d'Artagnan, sets off for Paris in hopes of joining the Musketeers. He proves himself fighting with them and earns a place in their ranks. With d'Artagnan the three preserve the honor of the king and thwart the schemes of Cardinal Richelieu. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Trickster's Choice Tamora Pierce NO LONGER AVAILABLE Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy. (Novelist) (Multnomah County LIBRARY))
True North Kathryn Lasky Because of the strong influence which her grandfather, an abolitionist, has in her life, fourteen-year-old Lucy assists a fugitive slave girl in her escape. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Westing Game Ellen Raskin NO LONGER AVAILABLE The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
When You Reach Me (Hardback only) Rebecca Stead As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
Where the Red Fern Grows
Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters.(NoveList) (Multnomah County Library)
White House Roland Smith In this follow-up to "Book One: Independence Hall," Q and Angela continue their quest to uncover the truth behind the supposed death of Angela's real mother, a former Secret Service agent, while trying to differentiate the "good guys" from the "bad guys."(NoveList) (Multnomah County Library)
A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. (Novelist) (Multnomah County Library)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Airman
Alanna
The Alchemyst
Anne of Green Gables
The Beekeeper's Apprentice
Book of a Thousand Days
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
Ender's Game
Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp
Heart of a Shepherd (Hardback only; paperback available 7/13/10)
His Majesty's Dragon
The Lightning Thief
Little Women
The Old Man and the Sea
The Real Benedict Arnold
The Red Pyramid (Hardback only)
Ruby In the Smoke
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and The Endurance
The Three Musketeers
Trickster's Choice
True North
Waiting For Normal
Westing Game
When You Reach Me (Hardback only)
Where the Red Fern Grows
White House
A Wrinkle in Time
Zen and the Art of Faking It
