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Entering Grade 8 SUMMER READING LIST 2021 |
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Featured Canadian Authors: Tanya Boteju, Marty Chan, Kenneth Oppel, Kit Pearson, Deborah Ellis, Janet Lunn, David E. Robertson, Gary Paulsen, Iain Lawrence, Susin Nielson, William Bell, Stacey Matson or Gordon Korman. |
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This place : 150 years retold
by Katherena Vermette
A graphic novel anthology depicts the last one hundred fifty years of Canadian history as seen through the eyes of the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the land before the Europeans arrived
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Strangers
by David A. Robertson
Returning home to Wounded Sky First Nation, Cole Harper finds the community in chaos as a series of murders and a mysterious illness ravage the town. Read the rest of The Reckoner series.
Reading Level: HL630L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Murder mystery, ghosts, humour, magic, love.
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The Ghost Collector
by Allison Mills
In a debut inspired by Cree tradition, a girl from a family that can see ghosts decides to hoard the ghosts that approach her for help when her own mother passes away suddenly.
Reading Level: approx. 650L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Courage, respect
Themes: Grief and loss, paranormal, acceptance, family.
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The Peacemaker: Thanadelthur
by David Robertson
Cole learns the story of the remarkable woman known as Thanadelthur--peacemaker between the Cree and the Dene and interpreter for the governor of Fort York.
Reading Level: approx. 520L
Pillar: Courage, Respect
Themes: Graphic novel, Canadian history
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Goodbye Buffalo Bay
by Oskiniko Larry Loyie
Follows the author's last year in a residential school and his subsequent teenage years traveling back home in order to reconnect with his community amongst the traditional First Nations. Check out the first book As Long as the River Flows.
Reading Level: 660L
Pillar: Courage, Respect
Themes: Residential schools, friendships, self-discovery, resilience.
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Every Hidden Thing
by Kenneth Oppel
In the late nineteenth century, Rachel Cartland and Samuel Bolt meet right before their paleontologist fathers get into a fistfight over a newly discovered dinosaur fossil. Locked in a vicious battle of one-upmanship, the professors, along with Rachel and Samuel, separately follow the same lead to a dig site in the Badlands. Their star-crossed romance isn’t the only trouble: the teams are unearthing fossils in Sioux territory, which is risky enough, but Rachel and her father also desecrate a Sioux burial ground, rightfully igniting the ire of the tribe.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Courage, Respect
Themes: Fast-paced, adventure, dinosaur fossils, paleontology, families, romance.
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The Enigma Game
by Elizabeth Wein
Working to support herself after the deaths of her parents, a teen in World War II Scotland crosses paths with a Royal Air Force volunteer and a squadron flight leader when she discovers an Enigma machine capable of translating German code.
Reading Level: 820L
Pillar: Courage, Service
Themes: Codebreakers, WWII, mystery
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Mary, Bloody Mary
by Carolyn Meyer
Mary Tudor, who would reign briefly as Queen of England during the mid sixteenth century, tells the story of her troubled childhood as daughter of King Henry VIII. Read more of the Young Royals Series.
Reading Level: 830L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Tudor period, Mary I, rulers, Renaissance.
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Vango: Between Sky and Earth
by Timothée de Fombelle
Becoming a fugitive when he is wrongly accused of murder, an aspiring young priest embarks on a transcontinental journey by train, boat, and airship in search of answers about his shrouded past. Read more of the Vango series
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, treasure hunting, murder investigation.
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Wolf Blood
by by N.M. Browne
Escaping from a rival tribe after a fever kills her only friend, a Celtic warrior girl disguises herself as a beggar and forges an unlikely alliance with a young soldier who is hiding the truth about his werewolf nature from the Romans.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Werewolves, celts, roman soldiers.
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Arthur, High King of Britain
by Michael Morpurgo
Arthur himself tells the tales to a 12-year-old boy, who awakes in Arthur's cave after attempting to walk the seabed to the Eastern Isles . As the boy recovers, he learns how Arthur became king , hears the legend of Excalibur and the adventures of the knights, and finds out about the end of Camelot.
Reading Level: 760L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Arthurian legends, magic swords, rulers, Merlin, knights.
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The Beekeeper's Apprentice
by Laurie R. King
A chance meeting with a Sussex beekeeper turns into a pivotal, personal transformation when fifteen-year-old Mary Russell discovers that the beekeeper is the reclusive, retired detective Sherlock Holmes, who soon takes on the role of mentor and teacher.
Reading Level: 1010L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Mystery, women detectives, private investigators, suspense.
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Fight For Freedom
by Simon Scarrow
After Marcus Cornelius Primus's father is murdered and his mother kidnapped and enslaved, Marcus is forced to fight as a gladiator, enduring brutal training while he secretly plots to avenge his father's death and rescue his mother. Read more of the Gladiator series.
Reading Level: 850L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Slavery, revenge, gladiators.
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Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Swashbuckling pirates, brawls, canons, tropical islands and of course, treasure, are at the heart of this epic adventure story. It is the villainy of that most ambiguous rogue Long John Silver that sets the tempo of this tale of treachery, greed, and daring.
Reading Level: 760L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Mystery, orphans, pirates, good vs evil, treasure.
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The Skin I'm In
by Sharon G Flake
Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like.
Reading Level: 670L, SORA audiobook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: African American, coming-of-age, self-acceptance.
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Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till.
Reading Level: HL360L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: African American history and culture, civil rights, social justice, ghosts.
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In the Key of Nira Ghani
by Natasha Deen
Nira wants to become a musician, but her Guyanese parents want her to focus on becoming a scientist or doctor, a situation that causes her trouble just as she tries to navigate relationships with friends, enemies, and a crush.
Reading Level: approx. 700L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Guyanese-Canadian culture, family dynamics, music, romance.
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Yara's Spring
by Jamal Saeed
Growing up in East Aleppo, Yara's childhood has long been shadowed by the coming revolution. But when the Arab Spring finally arrives at Yara's doorstep, it is worse than even her Nana imagined: sudden, violent, and deadly. When rescuers dig Yara out from under the rubble that was once her family's home, she emerges to a changed world. With danger around every corner, Yara is pushed to her limits as she discovers how far she'll go for her loved ones--and for a chance for freedom.
Reading Level: 620L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Syrian war, family ties, refugee experience.
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The Poet X
by Elizabeth Acevedo
When Xiomara Batista, who pours all her frustrations and passion into poetry, is invited to join the school slam poetry club, she struggles with her mother's expectations and her need to be heard.
Reading Level: HL800L, SORA e-book and audiobook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Slam poetry, romance, independence
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I Am Still Alive
by Kate Alice Marshall
Stranded in the woods after her cabin burns down and her father is killed, a disabled girl and her dog fervently prepare for the coming winter while plotting revenge on the person who murdered her father.
Reading Level: 690L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Resilience, wilderness survival, revenge, family relationships.
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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
by Becky Albertalli
When an email falls into the wrong hands, sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly gay Simon is blackmailed into playing wingman for a classmate or risk having his sexual identity revealed and the privacy of the boy he's been emailing compromised.
Reading Level: HL640L, SORA e-book and audiobook
Pillar: Courage, Respect
Themes: Romance, LGBTQ, coming-of-age, high school.
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Rose Under Fire
by Elizabeth Wein
When young American pilot Rose Justice is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp, she finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners.
Reading Level: 950L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Historical fiction, air pilots, prisoners of war, WW II, diaries, resilience.
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Orbiting Jupiter
by Gary D Schmidt
Jack, 12, tells the gripping story of Joseph, 14, who joins his family as a foster child. Damaged in prison, Joseph wants nothing more than to find his baby daughter, Jupiter, whom he has never seen. When Joseph has begun to believe he'll have a future, he is confronted by demons from his past that force a tragic sacrifice.
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Emotionally intense, foster children, friendship, emotional problems.
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The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise
by Matthew Crow
Life threatening cancer brings Francis and Amber together, but when Francis's recovery takes a different path from Amber's, he has no idea how to live--or how to let go.
Reading Level: 880L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Humour, friendship, illness, mortality, high school.
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Drama
by Raina Telgemeier
Designing sets for her middle school's play, Callie tries to overcome limited carpentry skills, low ticket sales and squabbling crew members only to find her efforts further complicated by the arrival of two cute brothers.
Reading Level: 320L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Middle schools, theater, interpersonal relations, graphic novels.
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Soar
by Joan Bauer
Moving to Hillcrest, Ohio, when his adoptive father accepts a temporary job, twelve-year-old Jeremiah, a heart transplant recipient, has sixty days to find a baseball team to coach.
Reading Level: 510L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Baseball teams, adoption, transplantation of organs, fathers and sons.
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Marco Impossible
by Hannah Moskowitz
When thirteen-year-old Marco falls hopelessly in love with an adorable exchange student who is playing the bass in the prom band, Marco and his best friend, Stephen, plot to break into the prom and get Marco onstage so that he can declare his affections.
Reading Level: 660L
Pillar: Courage, Respect
Themes: Mystery, middle school prom, LGBTQ.
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Lily and Dunkin
by Donna Gephart
In a poignant tale by an award-winning author, a transgender girl and a boy struggling with bipolar disorder forge a friendship based on their respective experiences as outsiders trying to fit in.
Reading Level: 680L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: transgender people, mental illness, middle schools, friendship.
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Optimists Die First
by Susin Nielsen
When Petula de Wilde, who is anything but wild, meets Jacob in their school's dorky art therapy program, his friendship (and something more) helps her overcome intense fears since her sister died. And he has a secret of his own.
Reading Level: 580L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Humour, emotional problems, loss, romance.
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All American Boys
by Jason Reynolds
When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.
Reading Level: 770L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Realistic fiction, race relations, prejudice, police, violence.
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Rocket Man
by Jan Coates
Feeling invisible as the middle child, Bob gets the chance to shine when he is asked to plan a basketball game to support cancer research, but his father, who suffers from cancer, may not be able to make the game when he lands in a wheelchair after a fall.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Basketball team, bullying, fathers and sons, cancer research.
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Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens
by Tanya Boteju
Struggling with her mother's sudden departure and a hopeless crush on a straight friend, a socially awkward teen is haphazardly enmeshed in the drag scene on the other side of her insular community, where she navigates questions of identity and self-acceptance.
Reading Level: 880L, SORA e-book and audiobook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Friendships, self-acceptance, romance, LGPTQ.
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The Flip Side
by Shawn Johnson
An elite teenaged gymnast with Olympic dreams finds it hard to train when a irresistible guy comes along and threatens to throw her whole world off balance.
Reading Level: 610L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Gymnastics, romance, female athletes, secrets, identity.
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Scythe
by Neal Shusterman
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't. Read the rest of this exciting series.
Reading Level: 830L SORA ebook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Science fiction, utopian world, ethical dilemmas, politics, survival.
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Rebel: a Legend Novel
by Marie Lu
As Day and Eden struggle with who they've become since their time in the Republic, a new danger creeps into the distance between them, and Eden finds himself drawn into Ross City's dark side, where his legendary brother may not be able to save him.
Reading Level: HL760L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science Fiction, adventure, rival brothers, romance.
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Tomorrow, When the War Began
by John Marsden
Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive. Read more of the Tomorrow series.
Reading Level: 850L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Invasions, urban and wilderness survival, decisions.
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Inhuman
by Kat Falls
Beyond the wall lies the Feral Zone, breached only by the "fetches" who are paid to bring back items that were left behind when the wall went up--but when Delaney's father crosses into the Zone, she is forced to follow him and bring him back. Read others in the Fetch series.
Reading Level: 700L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Mutations, survival, family relationships, trust.
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The Legend
by Marie Lu
In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy. Read more of the Legend series.
Reading Level: 710L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Science fiction, fast-paced dystopian novel, plague, revenge, resistance fighters.
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Gunslinger Girl
by Lyndsay Ely
In a post-Second Civil War lawless West, seventeen-year-old Serendipity "Pity" Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She's been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great....Pity's struggle against the dark and twisted underbelly of a corrupt city will haunt you long after the final bullet is shot.
Reading Level: 760L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Strong female protagonist, wild west, fighting corruption.
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The Rule of Thre3
by Eric Walters
A teen's suburban neighborhood bands together for its own survival in a world stricken by a catastrophic blackout. Read more of the Rule of Thre3 Series.
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Post-apocalypse, survival, neighbourhoods.
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The Martian
by Andy Weir
Stranded on Mars by a dust storm that compromised his space suit and forced his crew to leave him behind, astronaut Mark Watney struggles to survive in spite of minimal supplies and environmental challenges that test his ingenuity.
Reading Level: 680L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science fiction, survival, astronauts, resourcefulness, space, science.
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Leviathan
by Scott Westerfeld
Read more of the Leviathan series.
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.
Reading Level: 790L, SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: action-adventure, steampunk, technology, conspiracies, battles.
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A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.
Reading Level: 1150L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, sorcerers, dragons, destiny.
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Star Daughter
by Shveta Thakrar
When her human father is injured by a starfire flare, half-star Sheetal embarks on a quest to a celestial court of shining wonders and dark shadows inspired by Hindu mythology to track down her star mother and participate in a competition to determine the sky’s next ruling house.
Reading Level: approx. 840L
Pillar: Service, courage
Themes: Fantasy, romance, magic, mythology.
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Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
Six dangerous outcasts must learn to work together after they are offered an impossible heist that can save the world from destruction.
Reading Level: HL790L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Adventure, world-building, fantasy, criminal heists.
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Raybearer
by Jordan Ifueko
Raised in isolation by a mysterious mother known only as The Lady, lonely Tarisai is dispatched to become a member of the Crown Prince’s trusted council, whose members forge deep bonds with each other, before her mother directs her to commit an assassination.
Reading Level: approx. 670L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, romance, self-reliance, LGBTQ.
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A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J Maas
Dragged off to a treacherous magical land as retribution for killing a wolf, huntress Feyre learns that her captor, Tamlin, is one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
Reading Level: 880L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: deception, romance, magical creatures.
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Red Queen
by Victoria Aveyard
This is a world divided by blood - red or silver. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. Read others in the Red Queen series.
Reading Level: 740L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Fantasy, allegiances, royalty, military resistance, romance, betrayal.
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Mark of the Thief
by Jennifer A Nielsen
Read others in the Mark of the Thief series.
Forced to enter a sealed cavern that reputedly holds the lost treasures of Caesar, slave Nic discovers an amulet imbued with divine power and finds himself at the center of a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and spark a war.
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: magic, ancient Rome, mines, slaves, freedom, rebellions.
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Throne of Glass
by Sarah J. Maas
Read more of the Throne of Glass series.
After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Reading Level: 760L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: world-building, romance, assassins, teenage prisoners, competition.
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Hero
by Perry Moore
Thom Creed, son of a disowned superhero, finds that he, too, has special powers and is asked to join the very League that rejected his father, and it is there that Thom finds other misfits whom he can finally trust.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Superheroes, LGBTQ, positive role models, heroes and heroines, fathers and sons.
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Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king. Read more of the Graceling Realm series
Reading Level: 730L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, Magic, assassins, strong female lead, murder, moral decisions.
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The Outcasts
by John Flanagan
Hal, who does not fit into Skandian society, ends up in a brotherband, a group of boys learning the skills that they need to become warriors, with other outcasts, and they compete with other brotherbands in a series of challenges. Read more of the Brotherband Chronicles.
Reading Level: 780L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, treasure hunting, murder investigation.
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The Novice
by Taran Matharu
When Fletcher, a blacksmith's apprentice, learns he can summon demons, he travels with his demon to an academy for adepts where he is to train as a Battlemage in the Empire's war against the orcs, but he discovers that all is not as it seems. Read more of the Summoner Series.
Reading Level: 890L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, orphans, demonology, elves, school stories.
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A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill, but an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.
Reading Level: 730L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Paranormal, melancholy, nightmares, loss, diverse families.
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The Lie Tree
by Frances Hardinge
In this creepy suspense novel, fourteen-year-old Faith investigates the mysterious death of her father, who was involved in a scandal, and discovers a tree that feeds upon lies and gives those who eat its fruit visions of truth on an island off the south coast of Victorian England.
Reading Level: 860L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, murder, magic, archaeology, scandal.
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A Spy in the House
by Y. S. Lee
Young orphan and thief ,Mary Quinn, is trained to be part of an all-female investigative unit called The Agency and, at age seventeen, she infiltrates a rich merchant's home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. Read more of The Agency series.
Reading Level: 680L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Mystery, orphans, London, smuggling, detective stories, strong female protagonist, romance.
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The Uninvited
by Tim Wynne-Jones
After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father's remote Canadian cottage, only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.
Reading Level: 630L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Mystery, stalkers, rural life.
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Saving Lucas Biggs
by Marisa De los Santos
When thirteen-year-old Margaret's father is sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit, she knows the only way to save him is to use the forbidden family power of time travel.
Reading Level: 930L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Time travel, corruption, mining, mystery.
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Jump Cut
by Ted Staunton
Spencer, an aspiring filmmaker, is less than impressed by his late grandfather's request that he travel to Buffalo to get a kiss from an aging movie star, but Gloria Lorraine isn't at all what he expected and the trip turns out to be anything but boring. Read any of the Sevens Series.
Reading Level: 630L SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: action-adventure, quests, criminals, mafia, motorcycle gangs.
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The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim
by Shane Peacock
Haunted by night terrors since infancy, Edgar Brim becomes determined to confront his demons when he finds his father's journal, leading him to an eccentric society that believes monsters from famous works of literature are real.
Reading Level: 890L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Suspense, murder mystery, secret societies, monsters.
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The Apothecary
by Maile Meloy
Meeting fearless Benjamin Burrows when she moves to London in 1952, 14-year-old Janie Scott helps Benjamin on a quest to rescue his kidnapped father while protecting a sacred apothecary tome from dangerous Russian spies. Read others in the Apothecary series.
Reading Level: 740L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science, mystery, alchemy, spies, cold war, adventure.
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Hidden Figures
by Margot Lee Shetterly
An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to the space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes, in a best-selling account that inspired the film.
Reading Level: 1120L, SORA audiobook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Space program, women in mathematics.
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Fly Like a Girl : One Woman's Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and On the Home Front
by Mary Jennings Hegar
Complemented by exclusive photos, a young readers edition of the story about decorated Air National Guard Major Mary Jennings Hegar describes the acts of courage that helped her convince the government to allow women to serve openly on the front lines.
Reading Level: approx. 730L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Afghanistan war, fighter pilots, women in the forces, equality, autobiography.
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Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
by Maya van Wagenen
Documents a high school student's year-long attempt to change her social status from that of a misfit to a member of the "in" crowd by following advice in a 1950s popularity guide, an experiment that triggered embarrassment, humour and unexpected surprises.
Reading Level: 730L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Hysterical memoir, self-confidence, grace, kindness.
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The Radium Girls: the Dark Story of America's Shining Women
by Kate Moore
Recounts the struggles of hundreds of women who were exposed to radium while working factory jobs during World War I, describing how they were mislead by their employers and became embroiled in a battle for workers' rights.
Reading Level: 980L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty, Service
Themes: Non-fiction, women in science, nuclear medicine, mystery, rights.
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Unbroken: An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive
by Laura Hillenbrand
This captivating young adult edition of the award-winning #1 New York Times best-seller tells the story of Louis Zamperini's breathtaking survival odyssey and the courage, cunning and fortitude he found to endure and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.
Reading Level: 850L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Biography, prisoners of war, WW II, air force.
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Lion: A Long Way from Home
by Saroo Brierley
Describes how the author was accidentally separated from his family and home in India as a child, how he survived as an orphan in Kolkata, his adoption by an Australian family, and his search for his biological family as an adult.
Reading Level: 1090L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Autobiography, identity, international adoption.
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
by Roald Dahl
Ever wonder how Roald Dahl got his inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Find out in this wonderful laugh-out-loud autobiography. Humorous anecdotes from the author's childhood describe summer vacations in Norway and life in an English boarding school.
Reading Level: 1020L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Autobiography, growing up, inspiration for his writing, humour.
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