Names, names, names…The names are the first things to go, after the breath has gone, and the beating of the heart. We keep our memories longer than our names.” -Neil Gaiman, Coraline Synopsis: Coraline loves to explore, but when she enters a tiny door in her house and finds a home that is nearly identical to…
I’m sorry sir. I don’t understand exactly. Maybe I’m not smart enough. I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him.’ I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.” -Lois Lowry, The Giver Synopsis: Jonas lives in a futuristic society where Sameness prevails and choices and…
George knew that Mom was trying to help. But George didn’t have a normal problem. She wasn’t scared of snakes. She hadn’t failed a math test. She was a girl, and no one knew it. -Alex Gino, George Synopsis: George is a girl. Her body might fool people into thinking otherwise, but she knows she’s a girl.…
Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, or so we are told, as if this means we’re all so different it is nigh impossible to reach each other. The way we talk about gender makes it easy to forget Mars and Venus are part of the same solar system, divided by only one…
Adversity is like a strong wind. I don’t mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be.” -Arthur…
When I was in kindergarten, my teacher had a poster that was supposed to teach you about feelings. The feelings were all simple ones, like ‘happy,’ and ‘sad.’ They didn’t tell you about feelings that got mixed together like a smoothie.” -Victoria Jamieson, Roller Girl Synopsis: Best friends Astrid and Nicole have always done everything together,…
What it is: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a story of a boy who travels from his own planet around the world, seeing all the wonderful and terrible things that exist and comparing what it means to be a child vs. an adult. It’s half magical realism, half universal truths. What I liked…
What it is: The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye is a fairytale filled with princesses, animal friends, spells, and whimsy. It tells the story of Amy, whose gift from her fairy godmother is to be ordinary, instead of extremely beautiful or charming or graceful like her sisters. When no prince wants to marry her, she runs away…
What it is: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a dystopia/sci-fi novel set in the 2040s. The world has become a complete wasteland due to human overconsumption, and people stay sane by escaping to the virtual reality world of the OASIS, created by a man named James Halliday who releases a quest after his death…
What it is: Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan is set in India, where 13-year-old Koly must prepare for her arranged marriage. Her husband turns out to be quite sickly, and soon after the wedding leaves her a widow. According to Indian culture, she doesn’t have a future without him. Koly has to learn to survive–and…
Victim to Charm 