The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Oh my gosh - just fantastic! The story takes place in a sort of alternative universe, in a country called Panem; and the main character is a girl who has to volunteer for this event called The Hunger Games, a death-math between twenty-four kids, 2 Promeach of the twelve Districts that make up Panem. The story involves love, action, fighting, cliffhangers, super-special-awesome plot twists, and everything else that makes up an AMAZING book! 100% recommended; it's very well written and sooo good.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

This book was very entertaining and surprisingly accurate! It gave a great window into the lives of ordinary Russians during World War II. It allows for some very quick reading, while learning quite a bit about that time period. The reader gets to "meet" Red Army soldiers, Wehrmacht troopers, Russian partisans, and even blood-thirsty cannibals! What fun!

~ student submission

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Pretties by Scott Westerfield

Pretties is a futuristic book about transforming from being an ugly to being a pretty. Tally disagrees with all the surgery that people have to through to become a pretty. Tally decides to run away... but the specials catch her and make her become a pretty. Tally does multiple things to try and become ugly again that sometimes involve a great journey.

Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Lenkatesh

This book is written by a sociology professor. He discusses his time in the early 90's while he was a grad student at the University of Chicago.Sudhir befriends a gang leader in the projects while giving him a questionnaire. The book provides a great look into the impoverished American society. Read it!

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

The main thing about this book was bringing a sense of adventure into everyday life. This book was a series of men climbing Mount Everest and expose themselves to the fury of nature.

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

Milkweed is about a nameless orphan growing up in Nazi occupied Warsaw. His life is a tumultuous and chaotic, but he seems to love it with a child's unwavering love.
This was a great book! Misha's life really strikes you especially when he sees everything from a child's view. And, this idea that being nothing is better than anything, really almost hurts.