Created By: Rachel Bussan, Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

2013 Summer Reading List

Young Adult

Created by: Rachel Bussan, Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

BR10851, LPV2, DB35730

Title: Watership Down

Author: Richard Adams

Annotation: A fable about a band of rabbits who set out bravely for a new home in the English countryside. They encounter many dangers and adventures along the way, and finally make it to safety after rescuing some does who become their mates. For senior high and older readers. 1972.

DB74167

Title: Enclave

Author: Ann Aguirre

Series: Razorland, Book 1

Annotation: In a post-apocalyptic future, Deuce, a loyal huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the deadly Freaks outside her underground enclave. But when she is partnered with outsider Fade, she begins to see that the ways of the elders may be horrifically wrong. Violence. For senior high and older readers. 2011. First book in the Razorland Trilogy. Followed by "Outpost."

BR17315

Title: Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union During the Civil War

Author: Thomas B. Allen

Annotation: Discusses Harriet Tubman's life (1820-1913), escape from slavery, heroic trips back into slave states to conduct others to freedom, and dangerous role as a spy for the Union during the Civil War. Explains her work in the context of the abolitionist movement. For grades 6-9. 2006.

BR17808

Title: Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie

Author: Holly Black

Annotation: Seventeen-year-old Valerie runs away to New York City, where she meets other kids who live underground. She also encounters troll Ravus, who distributes lifesaving potions to faeries. When Ravus is accused of murder, Val defends him. Some violence and some strong language. For senior high readers. 2005.

LT8305, DB/RC64674

Title: The Book of Lost Things

Author: John Connolly

Annotation: England, 1930s. Young David, sad and angry over his mother's death and father's remarriage, is transported to another realm through a gap in a garden wall. To return home, David undertakes a quest to find a king and the Book of Lost Things, and grows up along the way. Some violence. 2006.

DB71820

Title: Dark Life

Author: Kat Falls

Series: Dark Life, Book 1

Annotation: Fifteen-year-old Ty, who has always lived in an ocean-floor community, meets Gemma, a Topsider or land dweller, who is searching for her missing brother. They foray by submarine into the dark undersea frontier's rough underworld, battle outlaws, and discover secrets that threaten to destroy everything. For grades 6-9. 2010. First book in the Dark Life series. Followed by "Rip Tide."

BR17854

Title: Underground

Author: Jean Ferris

Annotation: 1839. Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Brown is sold as a maid to the owner of Mammoth Cave Hotel in Kentucky. She is attracted to another slave, eighteen-year-old Stephen, who is head tour guide, but can she trust him to help with the Underground Railroad? For junior and senior high readers. 2007.

DB/RC69048

Title: The Night Tourist

Author: Katherine Marsh

Series: Jack Perdu, Book 1

Annotation: A near-fatal accident enables ninth-grade classics student Jack Perdu to see dead people. On a trip to New York City, Jack encounters Euri, a lovely teenage ghost, in Grand Central station. She helps him navigate the underworld -- where Jack hopes to find his deceased mother. For grades 6-9. Edgar Award. 2007. Followed by "The Twilight Prisoner."

BR18828, DB/RC69192

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Series: Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 1

Annotation: Mary seeks knowledge of the world beyond the village's protective fences and the surrounding forest containing the "Unconsecrated" -- an aggressive, formerly dead, flesh-eating people. When outsider Gabrielle enters the village, Mary wonders about the Sisterhood's secrets and plans for escape. Some violence. For senior high and older readers. 2009. First book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Followed by "The Dead-Tossed Waves."

BR11606

Title: The Beasties

Author: William Sleator

Annotation: When Doug's family moves to a logging camp, he and his younger sister Colette encounter the beasties. Colette sympathizes with these underground creatures making war on the loggers. Doug fears the beasties because they mutilate humans to replace parts of their own maimed bodies. Now Colette and Doug are the next likely victims. Violence. For senior high and older readers. 1997.

DB/RC68720

Title: Written In Bone: Buried Lives Of Jamestown And Colonial Maryland

Author: Sally M. Walker

Annotation: Discusses forensic scientists' examination of Chesapeake Bay colonial-era skeletons to determine gender, ethnicity, age, social status, and cause of death. Explains the procedures used to identify a teenaged boy, a ship's captain, a wealthy family, an African slave girl, and an indentured servant. For grades 6-9. 2009.

DB74770

Title: The Book Of Blood And Shadow

Author: Robin Wasserman

Annotation: High school senior Nora Kane enjoys her independent study project translating letters from sixteenth-century Prague -- until her best friend and co-translator is murdered. Nora becomes entangled in a dangerous web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators. Strong language, descriptions of sex, and some violence. For senior high and older readers. 2012.

LT8471, DB/RC61639

Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Series: Tally, Book 1

Annotation: Tally, at age sixteen, is required to undergo a surgical procedure that would turn her into a beauty. But Tally's new friend, Shay, refuses the operation and runs away. The authorities insist that unless Tally finds Shay, she can't become beautiful. For senior high readers. 2005. First book in Tally series. Followed by "Pretties."

BR33, LT8507, DB/RC59016

Title: The Loner

Author: Ester Wier

Annotation: An underfed, uncared-for boy without family, friends, or even a name follows the crops as a migrant worker until a strong old woman takes him in and teaches him to be a sheepherder. For grades 6-9. Newbery Honor. 1963.

DB73550

Title: The Monstrumologist: William James Henry

Author: Rick Yancey

Series: Monstrumologist, Book 1

Annotation: 1888. Twelve-year-old orphan Will Henry, apprentice to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a scientist who studies monsters, secretly records their efforts to destroy a pod of people-eating anthropophagi. Will's journal is discovered after his death at age 131. Some violence. For junior and senior high readers. First Monstrumologist adventure. Followed by "The Curse of the Wendigo." 2009.