Reading

Workshop Book Options

Lexile Codes

HL: High-Low Often fiction, HL books are useful when matching

GN: Graphic Novel
Typical Reader Measures, by Grade
older (grade 7 and beyond) struggling or reluctant
readers with text at both an appropriate difficulty
level and an appropriate developmental level.
The GN code indicates that the book is a graphic
novel or comic book.
6th Grade : 690L to 1020L
7th Grade: 780L to 1090L
8th Grade: 820L to 1140L
9th Grade: 880L to 1170L

General YA FIction

Skinny (Donna Cooner) - 670L

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrrQ0y87d3Y
Summary: This novel kickstarted a national conversation on weight, beauty, and
transformation. In it, we meet Ever, a fifteen-year-old girl who weighs over 300 pounds and is
haunted by a voice in her head she calls "Skinny." Skinny tells Ever she is ugly. Fat. Unlovable.
And Ever believes her. When Ever makes the controversial choice to have gastric bypass
surgery, she does start losing weight and gains the interest of boys...but Skinny is still there,
louder than before. Ever will need to confront that voice before she can truly find, and accept,
her own.
LeftOvers (Laura Wiess) - 880L
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ixg6q6tRi0
Summary: Blair and Ardith are best friends who have committed an unforgivable act in the
name of love and justice. But in order to understand what could drive two young women to
such extreme measures, first you'll have to understand why. You'll have to listen as they
describe parents who are alternately absent and smothering, classmates who mock and shun
anyone different, and young men who are allowed to hurt and dominate without consequence.
You will have to learn what it's like to be a teenage girl who locks her bedroom door at night,
who has been written off by the adults around her as damaged goods. A girl who has no one to
trust except the one person she's forbidden to see. You'll have to understand what it's really like
to be forgotten and abandoned in America today.
The Skin Im In (Sharon Flake) - 670L
Book Trailor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y99es4R3fJU
Summary: Maleeka suffers every day from the taunts of the other kids in her class. If they're not
getting at her about her homemade clothes or her good grades, it's about her dark, black skin. When a
new teacher, whose face is blotched with a startling white patch, starts at their school, Maleeka can see
there is bound to be trouble for her too. But the new teacher's attitude surprises Maleeka. Miss Saunders
loves the skin she's in. Can Maleeka learn to do the same?
Graphic Novels

American Born Chinese (Gene Luen Yang) - GN530L

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCZqt5WSOM
Summary:A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinesetells the
story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his
family only to discover that he's the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful
Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification
of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny's life with his yearly visits.
Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable.
American Born Chineseis an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.
Perseplois (Marjane Satrapi) - GN380L, Ages 14-17
Book Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJTDUaAcUDM
Summary:A New York Times Notable Book A Time Magazine "Best Comix of the Year" A San
Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is
Marjane Satrapi's memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-
white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years
that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating
effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-
granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined
with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the
bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane's child's-eye view of dethroned
emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the
history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly
political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human
cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of
absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in
love.
Friends with Boys (Faith Erin Hicks) - GN390L, Ages 11-13
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShYcbrkwR2Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYxm2Z82e4
Summary: A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist! Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with
herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older
brothers, it's time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high
school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed
Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friendone who isn't one of her
brothers.
Awkward (Svetlana Chmakov) - GN280L, Ages 10-17
Book Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhsMaiwOV-4
Summary: Cardinal rule #1 for surviving school: Don't get noticed by the mean kids.
Cardinal rule #2 for surviving school: Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.
On her first day at her new school, Penelope--Peppi--Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when
she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she's already broken the first rule, and the mean
kids start calling her the "nerder girlfriend." How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime
and running away!
Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can't help
feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two,
but to make matters worse, he's a member of her own club's archrivals--the science club! And when the
two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!
Tomboy (Liz Prince) - HL460L, Ages 14-17
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlo79mCAIwo
Summary: Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, dressing in pink tutus or playing Pretty Pretty
princess like the other girls in her neighborhood. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys either, as she
quickly learned when her Little League baseball coach exiled her to the outfield instead of letting her
take the pitcher's mound. Liz was somewhere in the middle, and Tomboy is the story of her struggle to
find the place where she belonged.
Tomboy is a graphic novel about refusing gender boundaries, yet unwittingly embracing gender
stereotypes at the same time, and realizing later in life that you can be just as much of a girl in jeans and
a T-shirt as you can in a pink tutu. A memoir told anecdotally, Tomboy follows author and zine artist Liz
Prince through her early childhood into adulthood and explores her ever-evolving struggles and wishes
regarding what it means to "be a girl."
Historical Fiction

The Caged Graves (Dianne K. Salerni) - 840L, Ages 14-17

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPfn6eT_rPk
Summary:The year is 1867, and seventeen-year-old Verity Boone is excited to return from Worcester,
Massachusetts, to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, the hometown she left when she was just a baby. Now she
will finally meet the fianc she knows only through letters! Soon, however, she discovers two strangely
caged graves . . . and learns that one of them is her own mothers. Verity swears shell get to the bottom
of why her mother was buried in unhallowed ground in this suspenseful teen mystery that swirls with
rumors of witchcraft, buried gold from the days of the War of Independence, and even more shocking
family secrets.
Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson) - 580L, Ages 10-15
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoSAMiKzBzA
Summary:During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her
widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the
family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out. Disease sweeps
the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish
mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness
is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.
Paper Hearts (Meg Wiviott) - 600L, Ages 11-13
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9DSpsl44Po
Summary: An act of defiance. A statement of hope. A crime punishable by death.
Making a birthday card in Auschwitz was all of those things. But that is what Zlatka did, in 1944, for
her best friend, Fania. She stole and bartered for paper and scissors, secretly creating an origami heart.
Then she passed it to every girl at the work tables to sign with their hopes and wishes for happiness, for
love, and most of allfor freedom.
Fania knew what that heart meant, for herself and all the other girls. And she kept it hidden, through the
bitter days in the camp and through the death marches. She kept it always.
This novel is based on the true story of Fania and Zlatka, the story of the bond that helped them both to
hope for the best in the face of the worst. Their heart is one of the few objects created in Auschwitz, and
can be seen today in the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) - 840L
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbdLAsr-jvI
Summary:Lily Owens has shaped her life around one devastating, blurred, memory-the afternoon her
mother was killed, when Lily was four. Since then, her only real companion on the peach farm of her
harsh, unyielding father has been a fierce-hearted black woman, Rosaleen, her "stand-in mother." When
Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racits in town, Lily knows it is time to spring them both free. She
and Rosaleen take off for a town called Tiburon, South Carolina, a name she found on the back of a
picture amid the few possessions left by her mother. They are taken in by three black, bee-keeping
sisters. Lily enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey, and of the Black Madonna who
presides over this household of strong, wise women-a place where ultimately she can find the single
thing her heart longs for most.
Paper Boy (Vince Vawter) - 940L
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H_WxXIIQao
Summary: Little Man throws the meanest fastball in town. But talking is a whole different ball game.
He can barely say a word without stutteringnot even his own name. So when he takes over his best
friends paper route for the month of July, hes not exactly looking forward to interacting with the
customers. But its the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief, who stirs up real trouble in Little
Mans life.
Science Fiction

Unwind (Neal Shusterman) - HL740L, Ages 12+

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IOwAYUt63w
Summary: In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight
the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a
troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has
been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept
together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey,
knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be
harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone
mad, eighteen seems far, far away. In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal
Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what
it truly means to be alive.
The House of the Scorpion (Nancy Farmer) - 660L, Ages 11+
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXNvkHVpAxQ
Summary: His DNA came from El Patrn, lord of a country called Opium--a strip of poppy fields lying
between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a
petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from
embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster--except for El Patrn. El
Patrn loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself.
As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including
El Patrn's power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is
the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacrn Estate is no guarantee of freedom,
because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn't even suspect.
The Eye of Minds (James Danshner) - 790L, Ages 12+
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdY4PlLJd7o
Summary: The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and the more hacking skills you have,
the more fun it is. Why bother following the rules when its so easy to break them? But some rules were
made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And one gamer has been doing
exactly that, with murderous results.
The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker. And theyve been watching Michael.
If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid, to the back alleys and corners
of the system human eyes have never seenand its possible that the line between game and reality will
be blurred forever.

Classics

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) - HL230L, Ages 11+

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxCHTYMJ_h4
Summary: The novel's preeminence derives from its wonderfully imaginative re-creation of boyhood
adventures along the Mississippi River, its inspired characterization, the author's remarkable ear for
dialogue, and the book's understated development of serious underlying themes: "natural" man versus
"civilized" society, the evils of slavery, the innate value and dignity of human beings, and other topics.
Most of all, Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful story, filled with high adventure and unforgettable
characters.
The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier) - 820L
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbYjgcbTYQQ
Summary: Jerry Renault, a freshman at Trinity High School, has a confrontation with the school gang,
The Vigils. The Vigils, headed by Archie Costello, specialize in making assignments that other students
have to complete. These assignments vary, depending on the person, and intend to inflict as much
psychological injury as possible. Early in the book, Jerry's friend known as The Goober gets an
assignment from The Vigils. He sneaks into one of the classrooms at night and unscrews desks, chairs
and hinges, leaving the screws in by just a thread. The next day when students come to class, everything
collapses and falls apart. The Goober suffers some serious emotional repercussions from carrying out
the assignment and is never quite the same afterward. Jerry gets called to carry out an assignment and
he is to refuse selling chocolates at the annual school chocolate sale.
 The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) - 720L
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIKACfvlD2Q
Summary: This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary,
Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives.
We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to
live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world
of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky
Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.
Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful
novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

Book Summaries from amazon.com ; Lexile Levels from lexile.com