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2015 HISD "Name That Book" High School Book List
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"The Name That Book contest, coordinated by the HISD Department of Library Services, serves to acquaint HISD students with classic literature as well as contemporary award-winning books, representing a variety of genres. The district-wide competition is held in the spring. “It is wonderful to have a place at school to exchange ideas and discuss incredible books with other students. The books on the Name That Book list really provide something for everyone. They are thought-provoking and challenging, and I have fallen in love with some great books I probably wouldn’t have read if it hadn’t been for Name That Book. I have also made friends that I probably wouldn’t have made if not for Name That Book!” -senior student, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and a member of 2009 1st place high school team."
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100 sideways miles
by Andrew Smith
Perceiving his world through a sense of space rather than time, Finn Easton struggles with paranoia and heartbreak while embarking on a road trip to a prospective college, where his zany friend and he become unlikely heroes. By the award-winning author of Winger.
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Anthem
by Ayn Rand
He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: he had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone.
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Between shades of gray
by Ruta Sepetys
In 1941, Lina and her family are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers
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Beyond magenta : transgender teens speak out
by Susan Kuklin
Draws on six first-person interviews to share compassionate insights into the teen transgender experience, tracing each individual's emotional and physical journey as it was shaped by family dynamics, living situations and the transition each teen made during the personal journey toward acknowledgement of gender preference.
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Chasing shadows
by Swati Avasthi
Acting out superhero fantasies on the streets and rooftops of Chicago, best friends Corey, Holly and Savitri are shattered by a murderous act of violence that leaves two of them disillusioned and unable to move on, in a tale complemented by comic-style art sections.
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Cruel beauty
by Rosamund Hodge
A tale inspired by Beauty and the Beast finds Nyx, a girl betrothed since birth to the evil ruler of her kingdom, training to kill her intended and resenting the father whose foolish bargain sealed her fate, a situation that transforms when she discovers that the man she must marry is a charming being with a compelling secret. A debut novel. 75,000 first printing.
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Death, Dickinson, and the demented life of Frenchie Garcia
by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Struggling to come to terms with the suicide of her crush, Andy Cooper, Frenchie, whose friends do not know she was the last person to see Andy alive, obsessively retraces each step of their tumultuous final encounter and looks to the poetry of Emily Dickinson for guidance. By the author of The Downside of Being Charlie. Original.
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Free to fall
by Lauren Miller
A romantic tale set in a near-future world run by personal electronic devices finds 16-year-old Rory Vaughn consulting her decision-making app to gain entry into an elite boarding school where she discovers sinister activities and falls for a handsome hacker who makes his own choices. By the author of Parallel. Simultaneous eBook. 30,000 first printing.
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Girls like us
by Gail Giles
Graduating from their school's special education program, aggressive Quincy and shy Biddy are placed together in their first independent apartment and gradually discover unexpected things they share in common in the face of past challenges and a harrowing trauma. By the author of Shattering Glass.
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I'll give you the sun
by Jandy Nelson
A story of first love and family loss follows the estrangement between daredevil Jude and her loner twin brother, Noah, as a result of a mysterious event that is brought to light by a beautiful, broken boy and a new mentor.
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Imaginary girls
by Nova Ren Suma
Two years after sixteen-year-old Chloe discovered classmate London's dead body floating in a Hudson Valley reservoir, she returns home to be with her devoted older sister Ruby, a town favorite, and finds that London is alive and well, and that Ruby may somehow have brought her back to life and persuaded everyone that nothing is amiss
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Love letters to the dead : a novel
by Ava Dellaira
A troubled teen writes poignant letters to influential celebrities who died young, confronting in the process her own efforts to fit in, navigate her splintering family and come to terms with a past trauma. A first novel.
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One hundred years of solitude : Library Edition
by Gabriel García Márquez
The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America
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Proxy
by Alex London
Born into one of the City's wealthiest families and paired with a Proxy named Syd, who endures punishments for Knox's misdeeds, Knox discovers that he has more in common with Syd than either of them previously understood when his father's manipulations prompt a cross-country chase that forces the boys to save each other.
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Sex and violence : a novel
by Carrie Mesrobian
Sex has always come without consequences for Evan. Until the night when all the consequences land at once, leaving him scarred inside and out.
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She is not invisible
by Marcus Sedgwick
Taught to recognize patterns in seemingly random events and numbers, blind Laureth Peak and her 7-year-old brother, Benjamin, become tangled in a mystery involving their father's disappearance that requires all of Laureth's skill to enable their survival. By the award-winning author of Revolver.
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The impossible knife of memory
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hayley Kincaid and her father move back to their hometown to try a "normal" life, but the horrors he saw in the war threaten to destroy their lives.
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The prince of Venice Beach
by Blake Nelson
Living in a treehouse and on the streets of Venice Beach, California, teen runaway Cali Callahan spends his days surfing with friends, playing basketball and pursuing a crush before a private investigator hires him to find a missing girl. By the author of Recovery Road.
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The Scar Boys : a novel
by Len Vlahos
Written as a college admission essay, 18-year-old Harry Jones recounts a childhood defined by the hideous scars he hid behind, and how forming a band brought self-confidence, friendship and his first kiss. A debut author.
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The Scorpio Races
by Maggie Stiefvater
The best-selling author of Shiver follows the experiences of a pair of youths who are swept up by a fantastical horse race across a treacherous cliff that makes them feel supremely alive and threatens dire consequences.
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The shadow hero
by Gene Luen Yang
In the comics boom of the 1940s, a legend was born: the Green Turtle. He solved crimes and fought injustice just like the other comics characters. But this mysterious masked crusader was hiding something more than your run-of-the-mill secret identity: the Green Turtle was the first Asian American super hero. The comic had a short run before lapsing into obscurity, but Gene Luen Yang has revived this character in Shadow Hero, a new graphic novel that creates an origin story for the Green Turtle
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The strange and beautiful sorrows of Ava Lavender : Library Edition
by Leslye J. Walton
Generations of the Roux family have learned this lesson the hard way. Foolish love appears to be the family birthright, in fact, which casts an ominous fate for its most recent progeny: twins Ava and Henry Lavender. Henry is mute for much of his young life, and Ava -- in all other ways a normal girl -- is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year-old Ava delves into her family's past and ventures into the wider world, ill prepared for what she might discover and naive to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the summer solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and both Ava's quest and her family's saga build to a dark and heartbreaking crescendo
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The truth about Alice
by Jennifer Mathieu
Four teens reveal their personal secrets and motivations while sharing their perspectives on a classmate who has been cruelly reviled for sexual indiscretions that many believe caused a popular quarterback's fatal car accident. A first novel.
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The vigilante poets of Selwyn Academy
by Kate Hattemer
Writing a vigilante poem to protest the filming of a reality television show at their elite but corrupt arts academy, a group of friends struggles to remain loyal to their cause and each other when one of their number becomes a contestant on the show.
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This side of salvation
by Jeri Smith-Ready
After his older brother is killed, David turns to anger and his parents to religion, but just as David's life is beginning to make sense again his parents press him and his sister to join them in cutting worldly ties to prepare for the Rush, when the faithful will be whisked off to heaven
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To all the boys I've loved before
by Jenny Han
Keeping private love letters written to five secret crushes she has had, Lara Jean Song finds her personal life going from imaginary to out of control when the letters are unexpectedly mailed. By the best-selling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series.
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Torn away
by Jennifer Brown
In the aftermath of a tornado that has devastated her hometown of Elizabeth, Missouri, sixteen-year-old Jersey Cameron struggles to overcome her grief as she is sent to live with her only surviving relatives
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We were liars
by E. Lockhart
A modern, sophisticated suspense tale by the National Book Award finalist author of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks follows the revolutionary activities of four friends who turn against each other in the wake of trauma, differing political views and a devastating secret.
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When I was the greatest
by Jason Reynolds
Avoiding the violence that has given his neighborhood a bad name, urban youth Ali spends busy days attending school, boxing and helping his family while looking out for a troublesome friend and a Tourette's-afflicted brother only to be brutally targeted in the aftermath of a misunderstanding. A first novel.
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Yes please
by Amy Poehler
A first-person account by the Golden Globe-winning actress best known for her work on Parks and Recreation and Saturday Night Live includes coverage of such topics as her relationships with caregivers and her friendship with Tina Fey. 500,000 first printing.
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