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2X2 | Caldecott | Coretta Scott King | Michael Printz | Newbery | Pura Belpré | Tayshas | Texas Bluebonnet  | Texas Lone Star | Tomás Rivera

2007-2008 Tayshas High School Reading List

A High School Reading List from the Tayshas Program, a reading incentive program designed for young adults in Texas, grades 9-12, who are encouraged to read books from a selected reading list prepared by the Tayshas Committee.

The Tayshas Reading List takes its name from the Caddo Indian word meaning "friends or allies". Written texas, texios, tejas, teyas, or tayshas.

2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09

The Loch
Steve Alten
Fic Alt

When his estranged father Angus is put on trial for murdering his business partner, marine biologist Zach Wallace returns to the Scotland he left as a boy to help prove that �something� in Loch Ness was the real cause of the man�s death.

subjects: Loch Ness Monster, Sea Monsters, Scotland


Dear Zoe: A Novel
Philip Beard
Fic Bea

Fifteen-year-old Tess De Nunzio attempts to work through her guilt and grief over the death of her three-year-old sister Zoe by writing letters to the child who was struck and killed by a car on September 11, 2001, while Tess was supposed to be watching her.

subjects: Teenage Girls, Sisters-Death, Fathers and Daughters, Grief


The Killer’s Tears
Anne-Laure Bondoux
Y Fic Bon

A young boy, Paolo, and the man who murdered his parents, Angel, gradually become like father and son as they live and work together on the remote Chilean farm where Paolo was born.

subjects: Fathers and Sons, Metamorphosis, Interpersonal Relations, Robbers and Outlaws


Desert Crossing
Elise Broach
Y M Bro

A summer trip across the New Mexico desert turns nightmarish for fourteen-year-old Lucy, her older brother Jamie, and his best friend Kit, as they become involved in the suspicious death of a young girl.

subjects: Interpersonal Relations, Brothers and Sisters, Mystery and Detective Stories, New Mexico


The Road of the Dead
Kevin Brooks
Y Fic Bro

Two brothers, sons of an incarcerated gypsy, leave London for an isolated and desolate village, in search of the brutal killer of their sister.

subjects: Murder, Brothers, Romanies, England


The Closers: A Novel
Michael Connelly
M Con

Detective Harry Bosch discovers new DNA evidence that may help him solve the case of a teenaged girl who was murdered almost two decades ago.

subjects: Harry Bosch (Fictitious Character, Police-California-Los Angeles, Teenage Girls-Crimes Against, Los Angeles (Calif.)


Crackback
John Coy
Y Fic Coy

Miles barely recalls when football was fun after being sidelined by a new coach, constantly criticized by his father, and pressured by his best friend to take performance-enhancing drugs.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

subjects: Football, Fathers and Sons, Coaching (Athletics), Steroids, Drug Abuse, Schools


Blue Bloods
Melissa De La Cruz
Y Fic Del

Schuyler, Van Alen and her friends Oliver and Dylan are spurned by the popular clique led by Mimi Force and her twin brother. None of the teens realize they are vampires who will develop blue veins, crave raw meat, and have strange nightmares upon turning fifteen.

subjects: Vampires, Wealth, Secrets, New York (N.Y.)


Just Listen
Sarah Dessen
Y Fic Des

Isolated from friends who believe the worst of her because she won’t be truthful with them, sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

subjects: Self-Actualization (Psychology), Interpersonal Relations, Models (Persons), Teenage Girls, Best Friends, Family Problems, High Schools


Copper Sun
Sharon Draper
Y Fic Dra

Two fifteen-year-old girls, one a black slave and the other a white indentured servant, escape the cruelties of their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Mose, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

subjects: Slavery, Indentured Servants, African Americans, South Carolina-History-Colonial Period-Ca.-1600-1775, Florida-History-Spanish Colony-1565-1763


The Christopher Killer
Alane Ferguson
Y M Fer

On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.

subjects: Coroners, Forensic Sciences, Fathers and Daughters, Mystery and Dective Stories


Bang!
Sharon Flake
Y Fic Fla

After his younger brother is shot, Mann and his best friend Kee-lee are abandoned by Mann’s father, so the boys will learn to survive and become men.

subjects: Identity, Coming of Age, Family Problems, African Americans


Tallulah Falls
Christine Fletcher
Y Fic Fle

Having run away from her Oregon home to meet a troubled friend in Florida, high school senior Tallulah finds herself stranded in Tennessee and taken in by the employees of a veterinary clinic.

subjects: Self-Perception, Runaways, Veterinary Hospitals, Manic-Depressive Illness, Mental Illness


Crunch Time
Mariah Fredericks
Y Fic Fre

Four students who have formed a weekly study group to prep for the SAT, sustain each other through the emotional highs and lows of their junior year, only to find themselves under suspicion when the high school counselor learns that someone cheated on test day.

subjects: Friendship, Interpersonal Relations, SAT (Educational Test), High Schools


Stay With Me
Garret Freymann-Weyr
Y Fic Fre

When her much older sister kills herself, sixteen-year-old Leila goes looking for a reason, and instead discovers a great love, her family�s history, and her own place in it.

subjects: Sisters, Suicide, Interpersonal Relations, New York (N.Y.)


What Are You Afraid Of? Stories About Phobias<
Don Gallo
Y SS Wha

Ten short stories by well-known young adult authors feature teenagers with phobias, including fear of clowns, fear of cats, and fear of gaining weight.

subjects: Fear, Phobias, Teenagers, Short Stories


Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth & John Wilkes Booth
James Cross Giblin
J 920 Gi

History has recorded John Wilkes Booth as the most notorious of assassins. This book takes a look at his brother, famed actor Edwin Booth, and how Lincoln’s assassination affected his career and the lives of the Booth family.

subjects: Assassins-United States, Actors-United States, Brothers-United States


What Happened to Cass McBride?
Gail Giles
Y Fic Gil

Kyle Kirby takes cruel and unusual revenge on the girl he believes to be responsible for his younger brother’s suicide.

subjects: Revenge, Suicide, Crime, Family Problems


An Abundance of Katherines
John Green
Y Fic Gre

After being dumped by his 19th girlfriend, all of which have been named Katherine, Colin and his best friend Hassan take off on a road trip which leads them to Gutshot, Tennessee, a job at a factory which produces tampon strings and the beginnings of a mathematical theorem which explains why Colin keeps getting dumped.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

subjects: Interpersonal Relations, Self-Perception, Mathematics


Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World�s Worst Dog
John Grogan
636.7527092 GR

The author presents the tender story of his family’s love for Marley, their golden retriever, and recalls how he grew from a mischievous puppy into a nearly impossible adult that no amount of obedience-school training could correct.

subjects: Labrador Retriever-Florida


Siberia
Ann Halam
Y Fic Hal

Sent to prison camp in Siberia, Rosita returns as a hardened teenager to an empty house, pursued by her enemies on a long journey, carrying the living treasure that she knows is the hope of the world.

subjects: Endangered Species, Survival, Political Prisoners, Science Fiction


Rash
Pete Hautman
Y Scf Hau

In a future society that has decided it would “rather be safe than free,” sixteen-year-old Bo’s anger management problems land him in a tundra jail where he survives with the help of his running skills and an artificial intelligence program named Bork.

subjects: Self-Control, Individuality, Football, Artificial Intelligence, Science Fiction


Shock Point
April Henry
Y Fic Hen

Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng is determined to expose her stepfather after learning that he is giving a dangerous experimental drug to his teenaged psychiatric patients, but he sends her to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico in order to keep her quiet.

subjects: Juvenile Delinquents-Rehabilitation, Camps, Psychological Abuse, Psychiatrists-Malpractice, Stepfathers, Family Problems


Burned
Ellen Hopkins
Y Fic Hop

Pattyn, raised in a religious yet abusive family, has questions about God, a woman’s role, sex, and love. After being suspended from school and sent to live with an aunt she doesn’t know, Pattyn finds love, only to end up in a living hell.

subjects: Family Problems, Mormons, Alcoholism, Identity, Sex, Aunts, Novels in Verse, Nevada


Becoming Chloe
Katherine Ryan Hyde
Y Fic Hyd

Jordy and Chloe, two homeless teens, meet while living on the streets of New York City and decide to take a cross-country journey to find the beauty in life.

subjects: Homeless Persons, Voyages and Travels


If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where�s My Prince?
Melissa Kantor
Y Fic Kan

High school sophomore Lucy Norton sees her life turned upside down when her father remarries and moves her to Long Island where she finds herself trapped in a Cinderella story with a wicked stepmother, two evil stepsisters, and a dashing prince.

subjects: Teenage Girls, Stepfamilies, High Schools, New York (N.Y.)


Monkey Town
Ronald Kidd
Y Fic Kid

When her father hatches a plan to bring publicity to their small Tennessee town by arresting a local high school teacher for teaching evolution, the resulting 1925 Scopes trial prompts fifteenyear-old Frances to rethink many of her beliefs about religion and truth, as well as her relationship with her father.

subjects: Evolution-Study and Teaching-Law and Legislation-Tennessee, Fathers and Daughters, Publicity, Tennessee-History-20th Century


Born to Rock
Gordon Korman
Y Fic Kor

High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his biological father is a punk rock legend.

subjects: Identity, Fathers and Sons, Punk Rock Music, Bands (Music)


Strong at the Heart: How It Feels to Heal From Sexual Abuse
Carolyn Lehman
J 362.764 Le

Survivors of sexual abuse describe their abuse, their emotions, and their healing process.

subjects: Sexual Abuse Victims-United States-Case Studies, Child Sexual Abuse-United States-Case Studies


Love, Cajun Style
Diane Les Becquets
Y Fic Les

A trio of high school girls cope with the tensions of sexuality in their small Louisiana town.

subjects: Aunts, Family Life, Friendship, Louisiana


Inexcusable
Chris Lynch
Y Fic Lyn

High school senior and star football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night. When he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things go terribly wrong.

subjects: Rape, High Schools, Family Life, Alcohol, Football


Rx
Tracy Lynn
Y Fic Lyn

Thyme Gilcrest is an honors student, popular, and on Student Council. Thyme Gilcrest is also a drug dealer.

subjects: Medication Abuse, Drugs, Drug Dealers, High School Students


Dough Boy
Peter Marino
Y Fic Mar

Overweight Tristan, who lives happily with his divorced mother and her boyfriend Frank, suddenly finds that he must deal with intensified criticism about his weight when Frank’s popular, nutrition-obsessed daughter moves in.

subjects: Weight Control, Family Problems, Divorce, Teasing, Bullies, Friendship, High Schools


Sold
Patricia McCormick
Y Fic Mac

NaÏve Lakshmi, raised in a poor mountain village in Nepal, thinks she’ll be working as a maid when her stepfather trades her for 800 rupees, only to learn she’s been sold into prostitution with a cruel madam.

subjects: Teenage Girls-India, Family Problems, Friendship, Child Prostitution-India, India


On the Head of a Pin
Mary Beth Miller
Y Fic Mil

Helen, Michael, Josh, Andy, and Victor’s lives are torn apart after a fatal shooting at a party. The killers have to live with their consequences, including their own guilty conscience, which ultimately rips apart friendships, loyalty, and self-preservation.

subjects: Violence


Dairy Queen
Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Y Fic Mur

After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school’s rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to try out for football herself, not anticipating the reaction from family and friends.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

subjects: Football, Farm Life


Enrique’s Journey.
Sonia Nazario
305.2308968 Na

Enrique, a Honduran boy, braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States.

subjects: Hondurans-United States-Social Conditions, Immigrant Children-United States-Social Conditions, Illegal Aliens-United States-Social Conditions, Honduras-Emigration and Immigration


Seeker
William Nicholson
Y Fic Nic

This first novel in the Noble Warrior sequence begins when sixteen-year-old Seeker’s older brother is publicly humiliated and, with no explanation, exiled from the Nomana, a revered order of warrior monks.

subjects: Self-realization, Conduct of Life, Faith, Fantasy


Life As We Knew It
Susan Beth Pfeffer
Y Fic Pfe

Through journal entries, sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family’s struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

subjects: Natural Disasters, Family Life, Diaries, Science Fiction


Dead Connection
Charlie Price
Y Fic Pri

A clairvoyant teenager who communes with the dead in the town cemetery hears the voice of a missing cheerleader and tries to convince adults that he knows what happened to her.

subjects: Murder, Spirits, Cemeteries


A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life
Dana Reinhardt
Y Fic Rei

Sixteen-year-old atheist Simone Turner-Bloom’s life changes in unexpected ways when her parents convince her to contact her biological mother, an agnostic from a Jewish family who is losing her battle with cancer.

subjects: Family Life-Massachusetts, Birthmothers, High Schools, Jews-United States, Adoption, Terminally Ill


The Truth-Teller’s Tale
Sharon Shinn
Y Fic Shi

Twins Eleda, who can tell only the truth, and Adele, who cannot reveal others’ secrets, are tested by the arrival of handsome, mysterious dance instructors. Their complementary gifts prove useful as they stumble through adolescence.

subjects: Twins, Mistaken Identity, Honesty, Secrets, Courtship, Fantasy


Club Dread
Walter Sorrells
Y M Sor

When sixteen-year-old Chass witnesses the murder of a pop star, her hopes of settling down with her mother in San Francisco seem to disappear.

subjects: Witnesses, Murder, Mothers and Daughters, Mystery and Dective Stories


Under the Persimmon Tree
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Y Fic Sta

Najmah, a young Afghan girl, finds herself alone when her father and brother are taken by the Taliban and her mother and infant brother are killed in an air raid. She meets an American-Muslim teacher in Pakistan who is waiting for her doctor husband to return from the war-torn area.

subjects: Afghan War-2001, Refugees, Afghanistan-History-2001, Peshawar (Pakistan)-History-20th Century


A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl
Tanya Lee Stone
Y Fic Sto

Scribbled notes in the back of a copy of Judy Blume�s Forever start a chain reaction of understanding and sisterhood for three girls who all fall for the same sexy high school senior who uses each of them for one thing only.

subjects: Adolescence, Man-Woman Relationships, High Schools, Sex, Erotic Stories


Headlock
Joyce Sweeney
Y Fic Swe

Endangering his health, his high class rank, and his pizza delivery job, high school senior Kyle secretly enters a rigorous training program for pro wrestlers and earns a chance at his first professional match.

subjects: Wrestling, Grandmothers, Mothers and Sons


Red Sea
Diane Tullson
Y Fic Tul

During an around-the-world voyage, Libby�s boat is attacked by pirates who kill her stepfather. Fourteen-year-old Libby must then fend for both herself and her grievously injured mother.

subjects: Voyages and Travels, Boats and Boating, Survival, Mothers and Daughters, Pirates-Red Sea, Sailing


Trigger
Susan Vaught
Y Fic Vau

Jersey Hatch can�t remember why his best friend won�t speak to him. He can�t remember the right words to have a real conversation. And he can�t remember why he tried to shoot himself.

subjects: Brain-Wounds and Injuries, Brain Damage-Patients-Rehabilitation, Gunshot Wounds, Suicide


Rooftop
Paul Volponi
Y Fic Vol

Still reeling from seeing police shoot his unarmed cousin to death on the roof of a New York City housing project, seventeen-year-old Clay is dragged into the whirlwind of political manipulation that follows.

Death, Race Relations, African Americans, Drug Abuse, Rehabilitation, Family Life-New York (N.Y.)


Learning the Game
Kevin Waltman
Y Fic Wal

When he and his high school basketball teammates steal from a fraternity house in their small town, Nate contends with this guilt, his loyalty to his friends, and his desire to help his older brother who comes under suspicion for the crime.

Conduct of Life, Stealing, Brothers, Interpersonal Relations, Basketball, Indiana


Full Service
Will Weaver
Y Fic Wea

In the summer of 1965, Paul Sutton, a Minnesota farm boy, takes a job at a gas station in town, where his strict religious upbringing is challenged by new people and experiences.

Coming of Age, Service Stations, Farm Life-Minnesota, Teenage Boys, Minnesota-History-20th Century


The Rules of Survival
Nancy Werlin
Y Fic Wer

Seventeen-year-old Matt records his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

Child Abuse, Brothers and Sisters, Emotional Problems of Children


Peeps
Scott Westerfeld
Y Fic Wes

Cal, bitten by a peep but immune to its vampire-like effects, belongs to the Night Watch, a secret organization that tracks peeps in order to prevent their harmful effects on society. When forces from far underground surface, catching peeps becomes the least of Cal�s problems.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild selection

Vampires, Parasites


Poison
Chris Wooding
Y Fic Woo

When Poison leaves her marsh home to retrieve the infant sister who was snatched by the fairies, she survives encounters with the inhabitants of various Realms and confronts a surprising destiny.

Sisters, Fairies, Storytelling, Fantasy


The Book Thief
Marcus Zusak
Y Fic Zus

Liesel and her foster parents scratch out a meager existence in World War II Germany. When she encounters something she can�t resist, books, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with neighbors and with the Jewish man taking refuge in her basement.

Books and Reading, Storytelling, Death, Jews-Germany-History-1933-1945, World War-1939-1945-Jews-Rescue


Titles on TAYSHAS 2006-2007 list not held by the Austin Public Library as of 2/9/06:

Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill you-Dorian Cirrone
The Minister's Daughter-
Julie Hearn
Left Unsaid: A Novel in Poems-Stephanie hemphill
The Hippie House-Katherine Holubitsky
Stained-Jennifer Jacobson
13 Little Blue Envelopes-Maureen Johnson
The Convicts-Iain Lawrence
White Girl-Sylvia Olsen
America Through the Lens: Photographers Who Changed the Nation-Martin W. Sandler
Secrets of a Civil War Submarine-Sally Walker
Juice-Eric Walters

List updated May 2006— Patti Cook

For more information about Tayshas High School Reading List visit Tayshas Web page.

Return to the Austin Public Library's Reading Lists & Awards page.


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