Department Book Recommendations SOCIAL STUDIES: Fiction

-Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie --The story of a family’s struggle through the Biafran War in Nigeria -The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini -- The story of the friendship between an Afghan boy and a servant’s son set during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban -Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian-- A young man’s fight for survival during the Armenian genocide in Turkey during WWI. -When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi-- A family’s flight from the Taliban in Afghanistan to Europe where they become separated. -The Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols --a fanciful tale of a conflict over water rights between small farmers and large owners set in New Mexico. -Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton—a orphaned girl’s struggle to survive in sub-Saharan Africa during the AIDS epidemic. -Flygirl by Sherri Smith--an African-American teenager “passes” as white to participate as a WASP flyer during WWII in Louisiana. -Copper Sun by Sharon Draper--brutal story of capture, transport and life of slaves in the 1700s. -In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez--a fictionalized account of the murder of three sisters in the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo dictatorship. -Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys--story of a 15 year old Lithuanian girl who is sent to Siberia with her family during WWII. -Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch--two sisters move from Ireland to New York in the early 1900’s where they work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. -Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout--six adolescent boys escape from a summer camp and head to a buffalo hunt organized by rich men; the boys plan to free the buffalo, -Endangered by Eliot Schrefer--Sophie visits her mother at a bonobo sanctuary in the Congo, which becomes involved in an armed conflict; Sophie flees to the jungle with a baby bonobo. -Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs--a teenage boy fights for his life as he makes the dangerous journey from Mexico to the U.S. -The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy-- A short novella which forces the reader to contemplate the inevitability of death, and how to live a good, meaningful life. Even if you don't end up agreeing with Tolstoy, its definitely worth the read. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway-- This novel deals with expatriate artists living in Paris after WWI who go to see the bull fights in Spain. Despite the dated sexism and antisemitism that appears in this book, it is a truly great read which deals with the question of how to live authentically. -Lord of the Flies by William Golding -The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) by J.R.R Tolkien - The Catcher in the Rye by J,D Salinger -Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh-- At the heart of this vibrant saga Is a vast ship, the Ibis. Her destiny is tumultuous voyage across the Indian ocean shortly before the outbreak of the Opium Wars in China. In a time of colonial upheaval fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners on board a ship the Ibis. -All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque—considered one of the greatest war novels of all time- the German experience during WW1 -The Red Tent by Diamant, Anita Description: Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoil’s of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. -The Help by Kathryn Stockett -Things fall Apart by Chinua Achebe -Siddhartha by Herman Hesse -- Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell -- The oldest story of the world!

Non-Fiction

-The Good Soldiers by David Finkel--This is an honest story of what happened to a battalion of US infantry soldiers on a deployment to Iraq. 2007-08. -Zeitoun by Dave Eggers – description: Syrian American living in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. Riding a canoe Zeitoun saved people and animals in the flooded neighborhoods nearby. During this whole situation Zeitoun was arrested and accused of terrorist activities while the city was barely above water. -Born a Crime by Trevor Noah--Trevor Noah’s autobiography of growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa -The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston--an engaging read on the search for the origins of various strains of Ebola -And the Band Played On by Randy Stilts--a history of the early years of the AIDS virus in the U.S. amid homophobia and the Reagan presidency -The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kwamkwaba -Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel--history of the role that the banana has in the world, including the development of the Panama Canal and concerns over a lack of crop diversity -Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo--a story of survival following 4 residents in the slums of Mumbai, India -Clara’s War: One Girls’ Story of Survival by Clara Kramer--a Polish Jewish girl, her family and two other families hide in a basement during WWII. -The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna Grande--both of Grande’s parents moved to the U.S. leaving her and her siblings in Mexico with their grandmother; her father later takes them to the U.S. where they struggle to adjust -Enrique’s Journey: the Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with his Mother by Sonia Nazario--Enrique leaves Honduras to find his mom in the U.S. -Persepolis, v.1 & 2 by Marjane Satrapi--Satrapi’s experience growing up during the Iranian Revolution and beyond, -A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah--first hand account of Beah’s experiences of abduction and life as a boy soldier -Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town by Warren St. John--story of a soccer team comprised of resettled refugees in small town Georgia -Death Clouds on Mt Baldy: Tucson’s Lost Tragedy by Cathy Hufault--search for 6 missing Boy Scouts in the Santa Rita Mountains -Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High School by Melba Pattillo Beals -Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi--seven women secretly gather to read and discuss forbidden texts in Tehran, Iran -A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson--Bryson’s --multi-year stage hike along the Appalachian Trail -The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of A Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg--girls have very few rights, so some girls are presented and raised as boys until after puberty when they are expected to assume traditional female roles -Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi. Description: A definitive history of racist ideas in America. -Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen -Fast Food Nation- by Eric Scholosser -The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Gareth Stedman Jones. -An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire by Arundati Roy. Biography

-Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali--autobiographical story of growing up in unstable countries with a strict Muslim family, being rejected by that family and flight to the Netherlands where she became involved in politics -I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai -The Autobiography of Malcolm X--autobiography -The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Economics:

-Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis--the development of the Oakland A’s as a team focused on recruiting using statistics that had usually been undervalued in baseball with a lower budget than other teams -Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt--controversial look at the relationship between high stakes testing and cheating, the economics of drug dealing, crime and abortion legalization, etc. -Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich--the impact of the 1996 welfare reform act on the working poor – -The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan- -Pollan examines the complicated politics of agriculture and our food choices (http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Food/Michael_Pollan-The_Omnivores_Dilemma.pdf

CULTURALLY RELEVANT (CR)

-La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City 3rd ed. Edition by Lydia R. Otero -Drink Cultura:Chicanismo by Jose Antonio Burciaga-- This book is about the Chicano experience of living within, between and sometimes outside of two cultures--the damnation and salvation, and the celebration of it all -Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs-autobiography -A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines -Let Their Spirits Dance by Stella Pope Duarte -Narrative of Sojourner Truth -Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass -Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor MArtinez -Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire -A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn -A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by -The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac -Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA By Luis J. Rodriquez -The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child By Francisco Jimenez -Zoot Suit and Other Plays by Luis Valdez -Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly -The House on Mango Street by -Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan -I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Poetry) by Maya Angelou -Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd -Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez -Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea -Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer -So Far from God by -Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain -The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea -Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor -Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston -A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry -The Color Purple by Alice Walker -Desert Blood: the Juarez Murders by Alicia Gaspar De Alba -The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas -Mexican Whiteboy by Matt del la Pena ENGLISH

-Bless Me, Ultima by -Children of Virtue and Vengeance by -Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography by Tomi Adeyemi Mark Mathabane-- The True Story of a Black -The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Suzanne Collins -Monster by Walter Dean Myers--- his -Legacy and the Queen by Annie book tells the story of a sixteen-year-old boy on trial for murder. The story is told through the boy's journal Matthew and a screenplay of his imprisonment and trial. It's a -Other Words for Home by Jasmine quick and easy read, but it is a haunting depiction of a Warga young man trying to convince himself of his own humanity while almost every individual and institution -With the Fire on High by Elizabeth denies it. Acevedo -Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges--This -Le Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D short story collection has some difficult language, but if you can get past it you'll enjoy tale after tale meant to Jackson twist your understanding of the world, humanity, and -Educated: A Memoir by Tara the basic principles of existence. Westover -Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood -P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han --Nothing like a tale of a lone human survivor Always and Forever, Lara Jean by reflecting on how his friend brought about a global pandemic to comfort you in these hard times. Jenny Han -The Count of Monte Cristo by -Shadowshaper (Series) by Daniel Jose Alexandre Dumas--This is another book that Older people find super impressive, this time because it's 200 -I Got This: To Gold and Beyond by years old and over a thousand pages long. But it's a thousand pages of solid action as the main character Laurie Hernandez dedicates his life to getting revenge on the people who -Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion ruined it. by Simone Biles -Power by -- When sixteen- -Unbroken: A World War II Story of year-old Omishto, a member of the Taiga Tribe, witnesses her Aunt Ama kill a panther-an animal Survival, Resilience, and Redemption considered to be a sacred ancestor of the Taiga people- by Laura Hillenbrand she is suddenly torn between her loyalties to her Westernized mother, who wants her to reject the ways -Sunny by Jason Reynolds of the tribe, and to Ama and her traditional people, for -Patina by Jason Reynolds whom the killing of the panther takes on grave -Ghost by Jason Reynolds importance” -The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak-- -Lu by Jason Reynolds While subjected to the horrors of World War II -Dread Nation by Justina Ireland Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books -Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her -Becoming by Michelle Obama adoptive parents. -The Wizenard Series: Training Camp by Wesley King -March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, -Ceremony by and Nate Powell -- A graphic novel (comic -The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- book) “March is a vivid first-hand account of John time Indian by Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled -Flight by Sherman Alexie since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in -The Wave by Todd Strasser Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and -The Fifth Wave Series by Rick lows of the broader civil rights movement.” -Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison – Yancey -And Then There Were None by -Sold by Patricia McCormick Agatha Christie --The story follows 10 strangers -Gabi: A Girl in Pieces by Isabel who receive an unusual invitation to a solitary mansion Quintero based remotely off Britain's Devon Coast. -The Curious Incident of the Dog in -They Both Die at the End by Adam the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Silvera -The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret -To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Atwood Jenny Han -There, There by Tommy Orange Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson -Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin -Howl's Moving Castle by Diana -Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Wynne Jones -Jane Slayer by Sherri Browning Erwin -The Ten Thousand Doors of January -Wonder Woman: Warbringer by by Alix E. Harrow Leigh Bardugo -Binti by Nnedi Okorafor -Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta, -Wicked Fox by Kat Cho Cori McCarthy -The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater -The Princess Saves Herself in This -Divergent Series -Veronica Roth One by Amanda Lovelace (trilogy). -Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova -A Yellow Raft in Blue Water - -The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Michael Dorris Azad -The Bluest Eye - -Tithe by Holy Black -Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi -The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holy Adeyemi Black

-The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern -Brave New World by Aldous Huxley -The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

SCIENCE Non-fiction

- The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee-- distills the infinitely complex fabric of our identity into a narrative that is as comprehensible as it is gripping. - Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande-- offers a sobering glimpse of the inevitable processes that shape the lives of ourselves and our loved ones. Through research and experiences gained during his career as a surgeon, he investigates the influence of medicine on longevity and explores our society’s conceptions of mortality, end-of-life care, and death. -The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot -- This book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman whose cell line has enabled many of the most important discoveries of the 21st century. In this journey through her incredible life, Skloot explores the impact HeLa cells have had on modern medicine while illustrating the disturbing reality of becoming the basis of nationwide medical experimentation without one’s knowledge or consent. - A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking-- This essential book on cosmology explains complex concepts such as space, time, and black holes to the layman from a scientific point of view. Published in 1988, this is one of the best science books of all time. It has since sold ten million copies and been revised to represent advances in technology made in the past two decades. Through it, readers will be able to understand and appreciate the complexity of the universe -Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuvol Noah Harar -In this lengthy exposition on the entirety of human history, Harari investigates how our species—Homo Sapiens—has been able to come together, form religious beliefs, establish human rights, and create the systems that continue to bind us today. As he draws on a host of academic fields including economics, biology, and anthropology, Harari explores how human life has evolved since the days of our ancestors and challenges us to consider how it will change in the centuries to come. - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari- In this book, Yuval Noah Harari analyses 70,000 years of human history to make predictions on our future…and the results are bleak. Compelling, insightful, and contentious, it considers topics essential for the future: if it is acceptable for humans to subjugate animals, which are considered intellectually inferior to us, is it not acceptable for us to be subjugated by intellectually superior artificial intelligence? This thought-provoking book will equip you with the mindset you need to make rational decisions in a potentially dystopian future. -The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism by Barry Sanders, and Mike Davis -This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Noami Klei -Moreta: Dragon Lady of Pern by Anne McCaffrey -Origin of Species by Charles Darwin -Silent Spring by Rachel Carson -Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke -Ring World by David Niven - Uglies by Scott Westerfield -Life as We Know It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

ARTS -Autobiographies/biographies of entertainers LANGUAGE -La Isla Baja el Mar by -Mal de amores (Spanish) by Angeles Mastretta -Diez Mujeres (Spanish) by Marcela Serrano -Ensayo Sobre La Ceguera by Jose Saramago -Romantic trilogy by Raquel G Estruch: Bésame Mucho, Bésame ahora, y Bésame Siempre -La ridicula idea de no volver a verte by Rosa Montero La Mlinche by Laura Esquivel -El Hada de las Cadena (dark fantasy) by Fransisca Solar

PE/HEALTH

-The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant -The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown -Freak the Might by Rodman Philbric

CTE -An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System by Matt Richtel -Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind By Al Ries & Jack Trout -- Advertising gurus explain how to brand products and services and place them in the market and in the subconscious of the consumer. -Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson -Bright From the Start, by Dr. Jill Stamm -Test Your IQ by Alfred W. Munzert -Chicken Soup for the Soul, Vol.1& 6 -What to Expect series

THECOUNSELING DEPARTMENT

-I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez -All The Light We Cannot see by Anthony Doerr -Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain -Lands of Lost Borders: A journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris -The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell -Still Life by Louise Penny -The Birth Order Book: Why you are the way you are by Kevin Leman -The Power of your other hand: A course in channeling the Inner wisdom of the right brain by Lucia Capacchione -Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates -The King’s Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conrad -Learning through Serving by Christine Marie Cress, Peter John Collier, and Vicki Lynn Reitenaue -The Spark Inside: A Special Book for Youth by Ami Chen Mills-Naim -The 4 Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz