Author: Tom Wolfe
Publisher: Picador; 2 edition (March 4, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0312427565
Lexile Measure: 1110L
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
Tom Wolfe’s vividly-written account of the beginnings of the U.S. space program tells the story of the early astronauts and their canonization by an adoring public.  For an excellent book summary in the author’s own voice, see Tom Wolfe’s website, tomwolfe.com.

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: 2013, St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN #:  978-1-250-01259-9
Lexile Measure: HL580L
Classification: Fiction

Summary:
Eleanor and Park tells the story of two high-school misfits, Eleanor and Park, who meet and fall in love in the 80s.  

Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: 1997, Villard
Lexile Measure: 1320L
Classifcation: Non-fiction

Summary:
Into Thin Air is Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction account of a deadly May 10, 1996, trek up Mt. Everest.  Krakauer, an experienced mountain climber working for Outside magazine, was there to describe the trip (and the industry built around getting climbers to the top).  After making a successful ascent and descent, Krakauer fell into an exhausted sleep only to learn, upon awakening, that some of his climbing team, including experienced guides, died on the mountain while others made it down only to face death or crippling injuries.  Into Thin Air describes what happened, questions how experienced hikers made so many fatal mistakes, and discusses, generally, the hunger to summit the world’s highest peak.

Author: Mitch Albom
Publisher: 2002, Broadway
Lexile Measure: 803L
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
In this work of nonfiction, Mitch Albom, the narrator, describes his rekindled relationship with a favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz.  Sixteen years after graduation, Albom saw Morrie on an episode of “Nightline” discussing his failing health due to ALS. They reconnected and had weekly lunches (although Morrie lost his ability to eat) in which Morrie told Albom about his life, his upcoming death, and his attitudes regarding both.  With Morrie’s permission, Albom recorded their conversations, and it is those recordings, along with Albom’s flashbacks to his college and post-college life, that forms the basis of this thoughtful and touching work.

Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: 1997, Anchor
Lexile Measure: 1270L
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
Into the Wild is Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction account of Christopher McCandless' trip into the Alaskan bush and his subsequent and starvation death only miles from civilization. The book originated from an article Krakauer had written entitled, “Death of an Innocent” for the January 1993 issue of Outside magazine.  The book was later turned into a motion picture directed by Sean Penn and released in 2007. 

McCandless was an Emory college graduate from a middle class Virginia suburb.  After graduation, he gave away almost everything he owned, adopted another name, and roamed the southwestern United States before finally embarking on his last quest, and attempt to sustain himself in the Alaskan wild. Pieced together from witness interviews and McCandless’ journal (found with him after death), Krakauer’s book explores not only the mystery of McCandless’ death, but also relationships between fathers and sons, young adult angst and disillusionment, and, always, the call of the wild.

Author: Lorraine Hansberry
Publisher: Vintage; Rep Rei edition (November 29, 2004)
Lexile Measure: Not available
Classification: Fiction

Summary:
A Raisin in the Sun takes place over the course of several weeks in the life of an African-American family, the Youngers.  The Youngers live on Chicago’s south side in the 1950s. The matriarch, Mama, is about to and does receive an insurance check of $10,000 from her deceased husband’s life insurance policy.  Each adult family member has a different idea about how to spend the money.  Mama wants to leave their cramped apartment and buy a house in the suburbs. Her son, Walter Lee, wants to invest the money in a liquor store.  His wife, Ruth (dismayed to discover that she is pregnant), agrees with Mama.  Meanwhile, Mama’s daughter, Beneatha, wants to use the money for medical school tuition.

When the check comes in, Mama entrusts the money to Walter Lee.  He gives it all to a friend to invest, but the friend steals the money.  Despite this setback, the family decides to move to the suburbs (over the protests of the white neighborhood association) taking with them their meager possessions and their hopes for the future. 

Author:  Suzanne Collins
Publisher: 2008, Scholastic
Lexile Measure: 810L
Classification: Fiction

Summary:
The Hunger Games is a best selling novel by Suzanne Collins.  It is the first in a trilogy, and all have been turned into box office hits starring Jennifer Lawrence.  The Hunger Games is about a teenage girl, Katniss Everdeen, whose younger sister is selected by lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death between twenty-four similarly selected teenagers.  The government (the “Capital”) holds the annual games for the stated purpose of reminding people of the danger of rebellion. The true purpose, of course, is the entertainment of the ruling class, who gambles on the games and views the winners as celebrities (think Roman Coliseum here). Katniss, a skilled hunter, volunteers to take her sister’s place.  The book describes her ordeal and hints at its aftermath.

Author: Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Reprint Edition April 1, 2009
Lexile Measure: 600L
Classification: Fiction

Summary:  
This novel, which won a National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, is no stranger to controversy.  The American Library Association lists it as one of the most frequently challenged books in 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010.  Despite the controversy that follows it, educators praise the book for its message and its engaging tone and personable narrator in the character of Arnold (“Junior”), a teenager growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation.

Author: Dave Cullen
Publisher: Twelve; ISBN 9780446546928 edition (March 3, 2010)
Lexile Measure: HL760L
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
In this non-fiction work by reporter Dave Cullen, Cullen discusses the Columbine, Colorado, school shootings by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris from its beginning in Harris’ psychopathic mind through its execution and aftermath.  Bookrags.com provides an excellent summary.  It is entitled Columbine Summary & Study Guide.  To get more information, straight from the author’s mouth, see, davecullen.com.

Author: John Green
Publisher: 2006, Speak
Lexile Measure: 930L
Classification: Fiction

Summary:  
This novel, by perennial teen favorite John Green, tells of Miles Halter’s year at Culver Creek Boarding School, and the relationships he develops and loses with the other students and teachers, including his roommate, “the Colonel,” and Alaska Young, a beautiful, funny, and enigmatic girl who steals his heart before dying in a tragic accident and changing his life forever.