Reading Program: Youth Books
Cry of the Giraffe
FOR YOUTH
by Judie Oron
Labeled outcasts by their Ethiopian neighbors because they are Jews, 13-year-old Wuditu and her family make the difficult trek on foot to Sudan in the hope of being transported to Yerusalem and its promise of a better life. Instead they are herded into a refugee camp and Wuditu is separated from her family and forced back to the border. Her only hope is to be reunited with her family in Yerusalem.
e-reader version available
$12.95
Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations
FOR YOUTH
by Alex & Brett Harris
A growing movement of young people is rebelling against the low expectation of today's culture by choosing to "do hard things" for the glory of God. Do Hard Things is the Harris twins' message giving readers a glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential.
e-reader version available
Fatty Legs: A True Story
FOR YOUTH
by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
When Margaret, a young Inuit girl, travelled from her home in the High Arctic to Aklavik, she was mesmerized by this "outsider's" world, and she knew the key to the greatest of the outsiders' mysteries – reading – could be found there. She begged her father to let her go to the outsiders' school and there encountered a disapproving nun bent on tormenting her.
Free? Stories About Human Rights
FOR YOUTH
by David Almond, et al
This collection of short fiction by 14 prominent writers from around the world dramatizes the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights with contemporary personal stories about young people who are victims, perpetrators and activists.
Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace
FOR YOUTH
by Anne Jackson
What is one thing you feel you can't say in church? After Anne Jackson posted this question on her blog, hundreds of people from around the world responded. With raw honesty and humor, she explores if faith and real life can coexist, whether any secret is too shameful to confess and most of all, if it's really possible (and okay) to be human in church today.
e-reader version available
thinandbeautiful.com
FOR YOUTH
by Liane Shaw
While 17-year-old Maddie has always felt a hole in her life, she now thinks she has found a way to fill it with her quest to mold her body into her ideal, thinnest shape. When she comes across the world of "thinspiration" websites, where young people encourage each other in their mission to lose weight, she quickly becomes addicted. Finally she has found a place where she is understood and where she can belong. Or has she?
2012: Branded
FOR YOUTH
by Eric Walters
Ian’s school is in an uproar about the new school uniforms, but he wants nothing to do with the issue. He’s busy pursuing a newfound passion for social justice. Why should he worry about uniforms when there are kids in the world who would give anything to be able to go to school? But things change when he discovers the two issues may be related.
2012: Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Wetlands
FOR YOUTH
by Cathryn Berger Kaye and Philippe Cousteau
Pollution, oil spills, climate change, overfishing—these are just some of the threats to our planet’s water system, resulting in a lack of clean drinking water for millions of people and the devastation of plant and animal life. Teens around the globe are taking action to address these crises.
e-reader version available
$14.99
2012: Lacey and the African Grandmothers
FOR YOUTH
by Sue Farrell Holler
What difference can a young Blackfoot girl from North America make in the lives of grandmothers in Africa? A lot, as Lacey discovers. Her decision to help will bring about amazing changes in her life and her community.
$14.95
2012: Sold
FOR YOUTH
by Patricia McCormick
Though desperately poor, 13-yearold Lakshmi’s life in a small village in Nepal is full of simple pleasures. But then a monsoon washes away the family’s crops, and Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must take a job to support her family. Thinking she has a job as a maid in the city, she is glad to help. But then she learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
e-reader version available
$8.99
2012: Thunder Over Kandahar
FOR YOUTH
by Sharon E. McKay
Best friends Tamanna and Yasmine cannot believe their good fortune when a school is set up in their Afghan village; however, their dreams for the future are shattered when the Taliban burn down the school and threaten the teacher and students with death. Their future in jeopardy, the girls realize they must flee.
$12.95
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Bonus Books list
Download the 2013 Reading Program book list
