After her sister is chosen to compete in the annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her place. In these games two teenagers, from each of the twelve districts of Panem, enter the games where they fight to the death until there is one survivor, who becomes the victor.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written by Harper Lee that explores themes of racism, prejudice, and the loss of innocence in a small Southern town during the 1930s. The story is narrated by Scout Finch, who is a young girl who observes the world around her with a keen eye and an open heart.
The Other Americans is a novel that features Nora Guerroui, whose father was killed in a hit and run “accident”. However, there may be more to Driss’s death then there seems at first glance. As new evidence arises, more conflict does as well. Following his death, a band of characters reflect on how they knew Nora’s father, Driss, and how his death impacted their collective lives, whether that is finding new courage or discovering hidden secrets.
“Spontaneous”, by Aaron Starmer, is an equally humorous and heartbreaking look at the unique experience of growing up in the modern age. When students start spontaneously exploding all around her, senior Mara Carlyle has to come to terms with her own mortality and make every moment count.
Intricate and intriguing, E. Lockhart’s “We Were Liars” provides both a captivating mystery and a bittersweet portrayal of young love. The Sinclairs are an extremely wealthy family that spends each summer on their private island, Beechwood. The readers are introduced to their charmed yet secretive lives through Cadence Sinclair, a teenager who suffers from amnesia and chronic migraines after a tragic accident that occurred on Beechwood when she was fifteen.
With an interesting premise that falls disappointingly flat, Katharine McGee’s “American Royals” portrays a fun, if shallow, alternate universe where the United States has a royal family.
Return to Beechwood with E. Lockhart’s “Family of Liars”, a prequel set in the 1980s to the modern “We Were Liars”. Focusing this time on Cadence’s aunt Carrie as a teenager, the book follows her during her seventeenth summer.
Malinda Lo’s “A Scatter of Light” is a coming of age novel that sadly falls flat in comparison to its semi-companion piece: “Last Night at the Telegraph Club”. This novel centers Aria Tang West, a teenager sent to live with her grandmother in California as punishment for a scandal that she caused during her last week of senior year.
Tess Sharpe’s “The Girls I’ve Been” is a fast-paced, thrilling story of survival.
Rae Carson’s “Any Sign of Life” is a survival story with a heartfelt edge.
The novel centers Paige Miller, a skilled teenage basketball player, who becomes extremely sick and passes out. When she wakes up days later, everyone is dead. She’s somehow avoided the arrival of the apocalypse, but now everyone she loves is gone.
