Books to Read Grades 9-12 (Part 1)
Discover the best books to read for grades 9-12 (Part 1)! Explore must-read novels, classics, and modern literature perfect for high school students. Boost your reading list today!
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Kit's Wilderness
by David Almond
The Printz Awardâwinning classic gets a new look. Written in haunting, lyrical prose, Kitâs Wilderness examines the bonds of family from one generation to the next, and explores how meaning and beauty can be revealed from the depths of darkness. The Watson family moves to Stoneygate, an old coal-mining town, to care for Kitâs recently widowed grandfather. When Kit meets John Askew, another boy whose family has both worked and died in the mines, Askew invites Kit to join him in playing a game called Death. As Kitâs grandfather tells him stories of the mineâs past and the history of the Watson family, Askew takes Kit into the mines, where the boys look to find the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors. A Michael L. Printz Award Winner An ALA Notable Book A Publishers Weekly Best Book
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Before We Were Free
by Julia Alvarez
In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.
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Ashes of Roses
by Mary Jane Auch
Once at Ellis Island, seventeen-year-old Rose Nolan quickly realized that America was very different from what she had expected and so had to quickly adjust to the reality of hard work in the factory to keep food on the table for her and her young sister. Reprint.
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The Killer's Tears
by Anne-Laure Bondoux
A young boy, Paolo, and the man who murdered his parents, Angel, gradually become like father and son as they live and work together on the remote Chilean farm where Paolo was born.
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The Boy In the Striped Pajamas (Movie Tie-in Edition)
by John Boyne
Berlin 1942 When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.
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Ball Don't Lie
by Matt de la Peña
Newbery Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Matt de la Peña's Ball Don't Lie "is a must-read." [The Bulletin] Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. Heâs a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesnât seem to belong. But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesnât have to be the person everyone else expects him to be. Matt de la Peña's breakout urban masterpiece, Ball Donât Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it. â
"[An] inspiring story. Sticky is a true original, and de la Peña has skillfully brought him to life." --School Library Journal, Starred "Riveting.... Teens will be strongly affected by the unforgettable...basketball action; and the questions about race, love, self-worth, and what it means to build a life without advantages." --Booklist "Stunningly realistic." --VOYA "Gritty and mesmerizing." --Kirkus Reviews "I have never before seen blacktop ball depicted so well. In this novel, you will find its flash, its power, and its elegance without chains. This is powerful stuff." --Antawn Jamison, forward for the Los Angeles Clippers "Truly authentic in its examination of both the game I love and the invariable missteps toward manhood. You cannot fail to be moved by the eloquence and truth of this story." --Rick Fox, former forward for the Los Angeles Lakers An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
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Nobody's Princess
by Esther Friesner
Helen of Sparta wants to be more than a princess and a pretty faceâshe wants to be a hero. The traditions of ancient Sparta would have Helen know her place: a beautiful princess, a loyal daughter, a perfect bride. But Helen wants adventure, and she's not looking back. Not one to count on the gods to take care of her, she sets out to see the world and seek her own fate with steely determination. Her rebellious will makes Helen dangerous enemiesâsuch as the self-proclaimed "son of Zeus" Theseusâbut it also gains her true friends, from the famed huntress Atalanta to the young priestess who is the Oracle of Delphi. If she is strong enough, if she is cunning enough, if she is brave enough, Helen will find her destiny . . . but what does destiny have in store for her? In Nobody's Princess, author Esther Friesner deftly weaves together history and myth as she takes a new look at the girl who will become Helen of Troy. The back of the book includes further facts about Helen of Troy and Ancient Greece. Hand to readers who love Tamora Pierce and Leigh Bardugo, particularly if they just finished Wonder Woman: Warbringer and want to know more about Helen of Troy. "A must-read for fans of fantasy and mythology."âVOYA "Along the way, Friesner skillfully exposes larger issues of women's rights, human bondage, and individual destiny. It's a rollicking good story."âBooklist
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The Wreckers
by Iain Lawrence
There was once a village bred by evil. On the barren coast of Cornwall, England, lived a community who prayed for shipwrecks, a community who lured storm-tossed ships to crash upon the sharp rocks of their shore. They fed and clothed themselves with the loot salvaged from the wreckage; dead sailors' tools and trinkets became decorations for their homes. Most never questioned their murderous way of life. Then, upon that pirates' shore crashed the ship The Isle of Skye. And the youngest of its crew members, 14-year-old John Spencer, survived the wreck. But would he escape the wreckers? This is his harrowing tale.
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The Buccaneers
by Iain Lawrence
"Thereâs pirates in the West Indies. Cannibals. They cook you alive," says Mr. Spencer to his son. These words will come to haunt 17-year-old John as he embarks on his first voyage to foreign lands. Carrying cargo destined for Jamaica, John and his crew of the Dragon set off for waters few of them have sailed before. So when they come upon a lifeboat adrift at sea, some are wary of the sailor aboard. Something about his story doesnât quite make sense. Still, John respects the strangerâs awe-inspiring seamanship. With Horn on deck, he feels the Dragon is in the best of hands. But is Horn to be trusted? The answer becomes muddled as the Dragon encounters a very real â and very dangerous â pirate ship. Now John starts to believe his fatherâs warnings, especially after he becomes stranded on an island reputed to have buried treasure. A place teeming with buccaneers!
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Messenger
by Lois Lowry
Messenger is the masterful third novel in the Giver Quartet, which began with the dystopian bestseller The Giver, now a major motion picture. Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. Village once welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must risk everything to make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.
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Hoops
by Walter Dean Myers
Seventeen-year-old Lonnie Jackson sees the city-wide basketball Tournament of Champions as a possible escape from Harlem but fears the pressures that have sidelined his coach, Cal.
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Ties That Bind, Ties That Break
by Lensey Namioka
Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters go through the painful process of having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all the women of good families follow this ancient tradition. But Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, Ailin rebels and refuses to follow this torturous tradition. As a result, however, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. And as she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family is no longer willing to support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with a bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny. Her story is a tribute to all those women whose courage created new options for the generations who came after them.
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A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life
by Dana Reinhardt
You can tell what really makes Simone different just by looking at her: she doesn't resemble anyone in her family. She's adopted. She's always known it, but she's never wanted to know anything about where she came from. She's happy with her family just as it is, thank you. Then one day, Rivka calls, and Simone learns who her mother wasâa 16-year-old, just like Simone. Who is Rivka? What does she want? Why is she calling now, after all these years? The answers lead Simone to deeper feelings of anguish and love than she has ever known and prompt her to question everything she has taken for granted about faith, the afterlife, and what it means to be a daughter.
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How I Live Now
by Meg Rosoff
âEvery war has turning points and every person too.â Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins sheâs never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, itâs a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisyâs uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way. A riveting and astonishing story.
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Under the Blood-red Sun
by Graham Salisbury
Tomikazu Nakaji's biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
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Milkweed
by Jerry Spinelli
A stunning novel of the Holocaust from Newbery Medalist, Jerry Spinelli. And don't miss the author's highly anticipated new novel, Dead Wednesday! He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Filthy son of Abraham. He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who steals food for himself, and the other orphans. He's a boy who believes in bread, and mothers, and angels. He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi, with tall, shiny jackboots of his own-until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind. And when the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, he's a boy who realizes it's safest of all to be nobody. Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli takes us to one of the most devastating settings imaginable-Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II-and tells a tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival through the bright eyes of a young Holocaust orphan.
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Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINEâS 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME âą NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A modern-day classic from Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli, this beloved celebration of individuality is now an original movie on Disney+! And don't miss the author's highly anticipated new novel, Dead Wednesday! Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of âStargirl, Stargirl.â She captures Leo Borlockâ s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first. Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love. Donât miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, as well as The Wardenâs Daughter, a novel about another girl who can't help but stand out. âSpinelli is a poet of the prepubescent. . . . No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion.â âThe New York Times
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The Parallel Universe of Liars
by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
Robinâs neighbor Frankie is like walking sex. Heâs 23, hot, charming, and used to getting what he wants. When Janice, Robinâs stepmom, first meets Frankie, they lock eyes with an almost audible sizzle. Not long after, Robin discovers theyâre having an affair. She is shocked, angry, curious, even jealousâbut not really surprised. Itâs just one more hurtful secret to be kept in this parallel universe of liars. Surrounded by superficiality, infidelity, and lies, Robin, 15 and a self-described âchunk,â has a secret of her ownâshe canât stay away from Frankie, either. But when a new guy ambles into her life, Robin must find a way to escape her own tangle of deception to capture something real.
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