Balliett - Chasing Vermeer
Da Vinci Code for kids.
Funke - Inkheart
A fantastical story about a father who can bring the characters of a story
come to life just be reading it. This has both good and bad consequences.
Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Story of an autistic boy who tries to find out who killed the
neighbor’s
dog. Fascinating insight into how an autistic mind views the world.
Hoffman - A Stir of Bones
A supernatural tale about a haunted house. An abused girl finds the fate of
a ghost boy is connected to the bones that she finds.
Johnson - First Part Last
Story of teen fatherhood. Very touching.
Le
Couteur et al. - Napoleon’s Buttons
Examples of how chemistry has affected history.
Martell - Life of Pi
A bizarre fable that starts slowly but then you get into it.
A zookeeper’s
son get shipwrecked with a menagerie of animals including a tiger named Richard
Parker that ultimately eats the rest of the animals. Who will survive?
McNamee - Acceleration
A boy working at a lost and found gets into a situation following a man that
he thinks could be dangerous.
Potok - I Am the Clay
Korean refugees during the Korean War.
Simmons - Pool Boy
A rich boy’s family loses everything and he has to get
a job. He finds a mentor/father-figure in the owner of the
pool cleaning company he works for.
Schwarz - Paradox of Choice
An economic and philosophical look at how we are paralyzed
in today’s
society by having too many choices.
