Fear
Should we heed our fears, or work to overcome them? Suppress and ignore them, or face them head-on? Do we fight—or should we flight? These books unpack the universal human emotion of fear.
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (2005) is a young adult novel by French author and translator Valérie Zenatti. It was first published in French as Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza. The novel begins when 17-year-old Israeli Tal Levine learns about a bombing at a neighborhood café. She is moved to send a letter in a bottle, which reaches 20-year-old Palestinian Naïm Al-Farjouk. Tal included her email address, and they begin corresponding. Initially... Read A Bottle in the Gaza Sea Summary
After the First Death (1979) by Robert Cormier is a juvenile suspense/horror that examines the fragility of life through a terrorist hijacking of a bus full of children. The book in conjunction with Cormier’s two most famous teen titles, The Chocolate War (1974) and I Am the Cheese (1977), won him the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the Young Adult Services Division of the American Library Association in 1991. Cormier was born in 1925 and... Read After The First Death Summary
A House for Mr. Biswas is a 1961 historical fiction novel by V. S. Naipaul. The story takes a postcolonial perspective of the life of a Hindu Indian man in British-owned and occupied Trinidad. Now regarded as one of Naipaul's most significant novels, A House for Mr. Biswas has won numerous awards and has been adapted as a musical, a radio drama, and a television show. Naipaul is also known for the works The Mimic... Read A House for Mr. Biswas Summary
Allegiant, written by New York Times Bestselling author Veronica Roth, is the third and final novel in the Divergent trilogy. Allegiant was published in 2013 by Harper Collins and is a dystopian novel with a romance element written for a young adult audience. Roth tells the story from the perspective of Tris Prior and Tobias Eaton. Allegiant is the first novel where Roth uses a different narrator, as she wrote both Divergent and Insurgent from... Read Allegiant Summary
Bryn Greenwood’s novel All the Ugly and Wonderful Things (2016) acknowledges and inverts the features of fairy tales and romance novels to depict a relationship that challenges accepted social values and questions the definition of love itself. Sunk in the depravity and degradation of her father’s drug-dealing lifestyle, eight-year-old Wavy finds her only solace in a questionable attachment to Kellen, a 24-year-old man who is also isolated and longing for some scrap of beauty in... Read All the Ugly and Wonderful Things Summary
A Long Way Home is a 2013 memoir by Saroo Brierley, an Indian-born author who was accidentally separated from his biological family at the age of five and adopted by an Australian couple. The memoir traces Saroo’s remarkable journey from India to Australia and back again 25 years later. The book inspired the 2016 film Lion and became a New York Times Best Seller after the film’s release. This guide refers to the 2015 edition published... Read A Long Way Home Summary
Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Among the Impostors is the second book in the Shadow Children series, following Among the Hidden. The titles published after Among the Impostors are Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, Among the Brave, Among the Enemy, and Among the Free. Haddix is also the author of several other books for young adults and has won several awards for her work. They include the Reading Association Children’s Book Award, ALA Best Books for... Read Among the Impostors Summary
A Monster Calls (2011) was written by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Jim Kay, and the original idea for the novel is credited to the late Siobhan Dowd. Ness wrote the novel in Dowd’s memory after she passed away in 2007 from breast cancer. Set in present-day England, A Monster Calls is a young adult fantasy novel that explores topics of terminal illness, grief, death, anger, and the grieving process through the eyes of a child;... Read A Monster Calls Summary
Published in 1939, And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, best-selling novelist of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. With over 100 million copies sold, And Then There Were None is the world’s best-selling crime novel as well as one of the best-selling books of all time. It has had more adaptations than any other work by Agatha Christie, including television programs, films, radio broadcasts, and most... Read And Then There Were None Summary
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (Razorbill, 2015) is the first in the An Ember in the Ashes series, followed by A Torch Against the Night. This young adult fantasy romance novel follows an elite warrior and a peasant girl as they find what it means to be free in a brutal world. An Ember in the Ashes debuted at number two on the young adult New York Times bestsellers list and was... Read An Ember in the Ashes Summary
Anything Is Possible is a 2017 novel by Elizabeth Strout in which each chapter features a character who is separate from but interconnects with the book’s other characters. Each chapter thus serves as both an autonomous short story and a piece of a larger, cohesive narrative and echoes or parallels other chapters.Strout, whose 2008 novel Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, received the prestigious Story Prize for Anything Is Possible. The novel follows... Read Anything Is Possible Summary
A Single Shard (2001) is an award-winning, middle-grade historical novel by Korean American author Linda Sue Park. Park has written multiple children’s books, picture books, and volumes of poetry. Some of her better-known titles include A Long Walk to Water (2010), The Thirty-Nine Clues series in nine volumes (2010), and Prairie Lotus (2020). Much of her historical fiction is based on Korean history.A Single Shard is intended for readers in grades 5 to 7, though... Read A Single Shard Summary
At the Mountains of Madness is a science-fiction novella written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1931 and published in Astounding Stories in 1936. Like much of Lovecraft’s work, it also helped establish the genre of cosmic horror, or what Lovecraft called “weird fiction”: horror that relies on existential anxieties about humanity’s place in the universe to achieve its effects. The story involves a research team discovering an ancient city buried beneath the Antarctic. At the... Read At the Mountains of Madness Summary
Behind the Bedroom Wall is a 1996 Young Adult historical fiction novel by Korean American author Laura E. Williams. The novel won the 1997 Jane Addams’ Children’s Book Award. Williams has written several other novels, including The Mystic Lighthouse series, Up a Creek, The Ghost Stallion, The Executioner’s Daughter, The Can Man, and Unexpected.Set in 1942 Germany, Behind the Bedroom Wall follows a 13-year-old Aryan German girl named Korinna Rehme, who is an active member... Read Behind the Bedroom Wall Summary
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (2010) is a nonfiction book written by Kathryn Schulz, a journalist who has written for publications such as the New York Times Magazine, the Nation, and the Boston Globe. The book explores the nature of error from a psychological, philosophical, and personal point of view, drawing from philosophical thought, psychology studies, and personal anecdotes. Some themes of the book include the fallibility of the human mind, the... Read Being Wrong Summary
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (2015) is a self-help guide by author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert. This New York Times bestseller outlines six elements of creativity: courage, permission, enchantment, persistence, trust, and divinity. Gilbert uses anecdotes from her life and writing career, as well as the work of others, to explain these concepts, and presents her views and philosophical musings about creativity and inspiration. The work explores themes such as The Importance of Play... Read Big Magic Summary
Bird Box is a 2014 post-apocalyptic, dystopian horror novel by Josh Malerman. The story follows a woman’s struggle to protect two children in a world where people are driven to violence by unseen monsters, touching on such themes as paranoia, raising children to deal with an uncertain future, and the dangers of exceptionalism. Bird Box won a Michigan Notable Book Award and was also nominated for the James Herbert Award as well as the Bram... Read Bird Box Summary
Blood Meridian, a 1985 historical fiction novel by Cormac McCarthy, is one of the most celebrated works of modern American literature. The novel was inspired by people and events of the mid-19th century in the borderlands of the United States and Mexico. McCarthy’s works have won many honors including the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. Blood Meridian is often considered his greatest novel. This guide uses an eBook version of the 1992 First Vintage... Read Blood Meridian Summary
“Blue Beard,” by 17th-century French author Charles Perrault, is a short story in the fairy tale genre that relies on symbolism and concision to address themes of Female Agency, Transgressive Knowledge, and Patriarchal Control. First published in Perrault’s 1697 book Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé, avec des Moralités (meaning Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals), “Blue Beard” was found alongside other classic fairy tales that engage with similar themes, such as “Sleeping... Read Bluebeard Summary
Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) by Texas native Attica Locke, published by Little, Brown and Company, is a 2018 Edgar and Anthony award-winning mystery novel. It was also selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Kirkus Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2017. The first in the Highway 59 series follows Texas Ranger Darren Mathews through the backroads of Texas in search of justice and reform... Read Bluebird, Bluebird Summary
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Bridge to Terabithia is a 1977 children’s novel written by Katherine Paterson. Paterson is best-known for her children’s books, two of which earned Newbery Medals: Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved (1981). She was inspire to write Bridge to Terabithia after her son’s best friend was killed by lightning. It has since become a classic, beloved by readers for its exploration of themes like Finding Connection as an Outsider, The Stages of Grief... Read Bridge to Terabithia Summary
James and Deborah Howe’s 1979 children’s novel Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery is the first book in a series of seven. The novel was written by the husband-and-wife duo, but Deborah Howe died before their work was published. Bunnicula has been adapted for the stage and turned into various animated series.Plot SummaryBunnicula follows the Monroe family, which consists of Mr. and Mrs. Monroe, their two sons Pete and Toby, Chester the cat, and Harold... Read Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery Summary
Bystander (2011) is a teen/young adult novel by James Preller that explores middle school bullying and the factors that enable it. Griffin Connelly, a two-faced bully, uses his charisma and good looks to keep members of his school clique in line as he perpetrates acts of cruelty against weaker classmates. No one stands up to Griffin until Eric Hayes, a newcomer, disrupts the status quo—questioning Griffin’s bullying and the silent complicity of the other students.The... Read Bystander Summary
Catch-22 is a 1961 satirical novel by Joseph Heller, whose experiences in the US Air Force during World War II inspired the narrative. The novel is set during World War II and portrays the absurd experiences of a group of Army pilots stationed in Italy. In addition to being hailed as one of the most seminal novels of the 20th century, Catch-22 has become an idiomatic expression for a certain kind of conundrum, a paradoxical... Read Catch-22 Summary
Charlotte’s Web was written by E. B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams, and first published in 1952. It is considered a quintessential American children’s fiction novel and has been adapted into two films (1973, 2006) and a stage musical. Over the years, Charlotte’s Web has been awarded the Newbery Honor Award for children’s books, the George C. Stone Center for Children’s Books Recognition of Merit Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the Massachusetts Children’s... Read Charlotte's Web Summary
Childhood’s End is Arthur C. Clarke’s first successful novel. Set in the future, the novel spans over 130 years from the arrival of the alien race known as Overlords to the completed absorption of the world’s children to the entity known as the Overmind. Clarke was a celebrated science fiction writer, commonly considered one of the “big three” science fiction authors, along with Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. In addition to his writing, Clarke was... Read Childhood's End Summary
“Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket,” a short story by American author Jack Finney, was first published in Collier’s magazine in October 1956. The story subsequently was published in literature anthologies, including the one referenced in this study guide: the Heritage edition of Adventures in Appreciation, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1980.As a novelist and short story writer, Finney is noted for his artistry in creating suspense and heightening tension until the plot resolves... Read Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket Summary
Crossing the Mangrove (1995) by Maryse Condé was originally published in French as Traversée de la Mangrove. It was translated to English by her husband Richard Philcox. Told from multiple perspectives, the novel opens with a mystery—that of Francis Sancher’s murder. As characters gather to speak at Sancher’s wake, they reveal his impact on the village of Rivière au Sel (“Salty River”), as well as why he returned to the village of his ancestors. While... Read Crossing the Mangrove Summary
Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012) is a self-help book that argues people need to embrace vulnerability and live courageously. Rooted in 12 years of ground-breaking research, the book shows that vulnerability is not a weakness but instead it is a measure of courage and the key to a fulfilling life. Daring Greatly is a New York Times best seller and... Read Daring Greatly Summary
Dark Places is a 2009 mystery thriller novel by American author Gillian Flynn. The narrative moves between two time periods, 1985 and 2009, as the protagonist, Libby Day, tries to solve her family’s brutal murder. The novel deals with the consequences of the 1980s Satanic Panic and the fallout from the 1970s Farm Boom for a community in the rural Midwest. Flynn is the author of Gone Girl (2012) and other popular mystery thrillers.Dark Places... Read Dark Places Summary
Daytripper is a graphic novel written and illustrated by comic book artists Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. Originally published in 2010 as a comic book series by Vertigo, the collected series was published as a completed book in 2011. Daytripper won the 2011 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. Bá has also worked on popular comic series such as Umbrella Academy and Casanova. Both Moon and Bá are twins, and they sometimes refer to themselves... Read Daytripper Summary
IntroductionN. H. Kleinbaum’s Dead Poets Society is a 1989 novel based on the motion picture written by Tom Schulman. The novel was released as a companion piece to the wildly popular film—also titled Dead Poets Society and released in 1989— which starred famous actors such as Robin Williams as Mr. Keating, and Ethan Hawke as Todd Anderson. The film scored high with critics, winning the Oscar in 1990 for Best Original Screenplay and receiving nominations... Read Dead Poets Society Summary
Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" was first published in China in 1918, during a period of significant cultural and political upheaval in the country. The Qin dynasty, in power since 1644, had recently collapsed from internal and external pressures in the 1912 Xinhai Revolution, marking a dramatic break from the past. New ideas about government, philosophy, and science prompted many Chinese intellectuals to reflect on long-held traditions and look toward a rebirth of the... Read Diary of a Madman Summary
Introduction Different Seasons (1982) by Stephen King is a collection of four novellas that are tied together by a connection to the four seasons. Three of the four stories (“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, “Apt Pupil”, and “The Body”) have been made into films, and the fourth (“The Breathing Method”) is under consideration for adaptation. This guide refers to the 1983 Signet edition.Content Warning: This book contains references to death by suicide, sexual assault... Read Different Seasons Summary
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a 1968 novel by American science fiction author Philip K. Dick. Set in a future version of San Francisco in the aftermath of a destructive world war, the novel tells the story of Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who makes a living by tracking down and killing human-like androids. Dick was already an established science fiction author by 1968; he won the Hugo Award for The Man in... Read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Summary
Doctor Sleep is a 2013 horror novel by Stephen King. It is a sequel to the events that occurred in King’s popular novel The Shining and features the return of Danny Torrance. Decades after the horrors at the Overlook Hotel, Dan Torrance must now reckon with the renewed threat of the spirits. When the novel begins, the dead woman from the Overlook’s Room 217 has returned and threatens Danny in his bathroom. King uses this... Read Doctor Sleep Summary
In Dreamland, a young adult novel by Sarah Dessen, a teenage girl named Caitlin O’Koren reacts to the disappearance of her sister by breaking away from the path that was set out for her. The novel is broken into three parts that focus on the core of the conflicts in each section. Part I, “Cass,” traces the O’Koren family after Cass, the eldest of two daughters, runs away instead of attending Yale. Part II, entitled... Read Dreamland Summary
Duma Key by Stephen King is a novel in the literary-horror genre, praised for its eerie, spooky atmosphere and suspenseful build-up. Published in 2008, Duma Key is the first novel by King to be set in Florida. The book follows Edgar Freemantle as he moves from Minnesota to the island of Duma (one of the Florida Keys, or small islands) after a life-changing accident. Tormented by phantom-limb pain from his amputation and unable to remember... Read Duma Key Summary
Ellen Foster is a work of adult fiction by US novelist Kaye Gibbons, first published by Algonquin Books in 1987. The novel was Gibbons’s debut, and it won the Sue Kaufman Prize for literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a notable citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. Critics praised the novel for its unsentimental outlook and the wry, distinct voice of its protagonist. Ellen, a young girl living in the American... Read Ellen Foster Summary
Escaping the Giant Wave is a middle-grade disaster thriller by American author Peg Kehret. The story follows 13-year-old Kyle Davidson and his little sister, BeeBee Davidson, as they struggle to survive an earthquake, a fire, and a tsunami. Kyle battles to save BeeBee and himself, and he learns to overcome his own fears. Escaping the Giant Wave is one of six novels centered around natural disasters by Kehret and was published in 2003. Kehret has... Read Escaping the Giant Wave Summary
Everybody, a one-act play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, premiered Off-Broadway in 2017 at the Signature Theatre and was first published in 2018. It is a modern retelling of Everyman, the most well-known and anthologized example of a medieval morality play, which was adapted from a Dutch play by an anonymous 15th century English writer. Morality plays first appeared in the 12th century, evolving from the Catholic Church’s cycle plays and liturgical dramas, which reenacted biblical scenes... Read Everybody Summary
Fablehaven was written by Brandon Mull and first published in 2006. It is the first in a series about an ecological preserve for magical creatures. In the novel, middle-school-aged siblings Kendra and Seth take a trip to their grandparents’ land in rural Connecticut, which they soon realize is hiding magic of all types. The siblings explore the magical world they have discovered while learning how to be both brave and responsible.Fablehaven deals with themes concerning... Read Fablehaven Summary
Fall on Your Knees (1996), first-time novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald’s ambitious multigenerational family saga set in the early decades of the 20th century, moves from the bleak coastal towns of Canada’s Cape Breton Island to the bustling New York City of the Jazz Era. Recalling both the psychological richness of William Faulkner’s family sagas set in Yoknapatawpha County and the dark passions in the Gothic tales of Flannery O’Connor, Fall on Your Knees follows three very... Read Fall on your Knees Summary
Farewell to Manzanar is a memoir published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. It is a nonfiction account that employs first-person narration. Centering on a young girl’s life in the Manzanar Japanese American concentration camp, Farewell to Manzanar is used in school curricula throughout the US and inspired a 1976 film of the same name. The version used for this guide is the 1995 edition from Laurel Leaf Books.Content Warning: This guide discusses the US... Read Farewell to Manzanar Summary
Set in Canada, American author Will Hobbs’s young-adult novel Far North (1996) follows Gabe Rogers, who lives with his grandparents in Austin, Texas. When Gabe tells his father that he wants to live with him in Canada, his father tells him he may on two conditions. First, Gabe must travel up north to experience the severe cold of the Northwest Territories for one year. Second, he must attend boarding school. While flying through Canada with... Read Far North Summary
Fear and Trembling is an 1843 Christian philosophical tract written by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and published under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio (John of the Silence). The title refers to a passage from the Bible, which demands that “salvation” be worked out “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Most of Fear and Trembling focuses on the biblical story of Abraham, whom God told to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham’s actions (despite his fear... Read Fear And Trembling Summary
Fifty Shades of Grey is an erotic romance novel written by E. L. James and published in 2011. The story has origins as fanfiction for the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. In August 2009, James posted it on fanfiction.com as Master of the Universe under the pen name Snowqueens Icedragon. After reworking the story as original fiction, James published the newly named Fifty Shades of Grey through the Writer’s Coffee Shop, an independent online Australian... Read Fifty Shades of Grey Summary
Finnegans Wake is a 1939 novel by James Joyce. The experimental style of the novel has given Finnegans Wake a reputation for being one of the most challenging texts in the English language. Joyce’s use of idiosyncratic language and phrasing, his structural innovations, and his ambitious themes attempt to explore the boundaries between sleep, dreams, and waking life. Though Finnegans Wake has not been adapted into other media in its totality, its influence and legacy... Read Finnegans Wake Summary
Drawing on the author’s hardscrabble childhood in early-20th-century Ireland, Frank O’Connor’s “First Confession” chronicles the experience of seven-year-old Jackie, who must ready himself for the emotional and spiritual challenge of his first confession in the Catholic Church. The story was first published as “Repentance” in 1935 but heavily revised in later editions. This guide follows the version most reprinted today from O’Connor’s 1951 collection Traveller's Samples: Stories and Tales. O’Connor (1903-1966), who published more than... Read First Confession Summary
Forged by Fire is a novel for young adults written by Sharon M. Draper. It is the second book in the Hazelwood High trilogy, which focuses on the lives of high schoolers in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was first published in 1997 and won the Coretta Scott King Award. Forged by Fire focuses on the life of Gerald Nickelby, a young African American boy, and his struggles with physical and emotional abuse.Plot SummaryGerald lives with his... Read Forged By Fire Summary
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) is a novel by the Modernist American author Ernest Hemingway. The novel tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American volunteer working as a demolition specialist for the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. Robert, sent to blow up a bridge to aid a Republican offensive, enlists the aid of a band of guerrilla fighters in the mountains. Robert falls in love with a woman in their care... Read For Whom the Bell Tolls Summary
In Newbery medalist Louis Sachar’s sci-fi thriller Fuzzy Mud (2015), Tamaya and Marshall cut through the restricted woods behind their school to avoid a bully—but encounter a strange mud that has the potential to destroy nearly all life on Earth. While Marshall struggles with the emotional effects of being bullied, Tamaya develops an unusually aggressive rash from the mud and worries that in protecting Marshall she has gravely injured Chad. Each character faces difficult ethical... Read Fuzzy Mud Summary
Giovanni’s Room, originally published in 1956 and now regarded as a classic, is a romantic tragedy written by author and activist James Baldwin. The book follows American protagonist David’s life and relationships in France during the 1950s. David tries to come to terms with his sexuality after falling in love with Giovanni, an Italian barman, but he also seeks the safety of his heterosexual relationship with another American expatriate, Hella. Due to the story’s depiction... Read Giovanni's Room Summary
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard (Harper Teen, 2016) is the second installment of the New York Times bestselling Red Queen YA fantasy series and follows a group of fugitives and rebels as they work to build an army to take on the powerful ruling class. Glass Sword follows Red Queen and is the prequel to King’s Cage. Aveyard grew up in western Massachusetts before moving to Los Angeles, California where she received her degree in... Read Glass Sword Summary
Goodnight Mister Tom is a work of historical fiction written by Michelle Magorian and published in 1981. The novel is aimed at an audience of middle grade readers. It tells the story of eight-year-old William Beech, who, at the start of WWII, has to move with his abusive mother from an impoverished suburb of London to the countryside, where they are in the care of an elderly recluse, Thomas Oakley. The novel explores the impact... Read Goodnight Mister Tom Summary
Guts is the third mid-grade graphic memoir in a trilogy by author/illustrator Raina Telgemeier through which she relates the true story of her childhood. Guts specifically records Raina’s fourth- and fifth-grade years, when she transitioned from nine to 10 years old. During this period, she first experiences gastrointestinal issues, eventually diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Panic attacks accompany the IBS, and the two conditions exacerbate each other, intensifying her distress. Her narrative chronicles how... Read Guts Summary
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in J. K. Rowling’s enormously popular Harry Potter series. Accordingly, it chronicles Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and his ongoing struggle against the evil wizard Voldemort. Other works by this author include Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.Plot SummaryThe story opens over summer vacation. Harry... Read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Summary
The Prisoner of Azkaban is the third installment of the best-selling Harry Potter series by the British author J.K. Rowling. The highly successful fantasy series was adapted into film beginning in 2001, and in 2004 the film adaptation of The Prisoner of Azkaban was released. The story takes place during Harry Potter’s third year as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is forced to uncover painful and complex secrets of the... Read Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban Summary
Heart-Shaped Box (2007) is the debut novel of horror writer Joe Hill, son of the famous Stephen King. The novel is a contemporary Gothic story about Judas “Jude” Coyne, a retired rock star hunted by a ghost. His confrontation with the ghost forces him and his girlfriend, Marybeth “Georgia” Kimball, to confront their respective pasts and current relationship. Hill went on to publish novels such as Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), and The Fireman (2016), as... Read Heart-Shaped Box Summary
Hannah Hurnard’s 1955 novel Hinds’ Feet on High Places is an allegorical portrayal of purgation, progress, and ascent within the spiritual life. Born to Quaker parents, Hurnard struggled with her faith in her youth but experienced a powerful conversion at the age of 19. Inspired, she gained theological training in England and went on to author almost two dozen books over the course of her life, including a sequel to Hinds’ Feet entitled Mountain of... Read Hinds’ Feet on High Places Summary
House of Stairs, written by William Sleator and published in 1974, is a young adult science fiction classic whose title is inspired by M. C. Escher’s famous lithograph print. The novel explores the social and emotional effects of authoritarianism by placing five teenage protagonists in an enclosed location filled only with endless staircases. Prompted by a strange machine, the main characters undergo a psychological experiment that tests the limits of their morality and sense of... Read House of Stairs Summary
Published by Minotaur Books in 2013, How the Light Gets In is the ninth book in Louise Penny’s bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series. The series is famous for its heroic protagonist, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the head of the homicide division at the Sûreté du Québec. The novel comprises of three narratives: the murder of Constance Ouellet, the internal conflict at the Sûreté, and the mysterious death of a clerk at the Ministry of... Read How the Light Gets In Summary
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson was published in 1954. The novel depicts a dystopian/post-apocalyptic world in which people infected with a contagious disease behave like vampires. The last human man, Robert Neville, must protect himself as he studies the scientific basis for the disease. I Am Legend discusses moral relativism, the evolution of the horror genre, and loneliness. It has been adapted several times, most recently as the 2007 film I Am Legend starring... Read I Am Legend Summary
Originally published in 2002, Markus Zusak’s I Am the Messenger is a young adult realistic fiction novel. Ed Kennedy, the protagonist and narrator, is a 19-year-old cab driver whose average life takes an unexpected turn when he stops a bank robber. After this moment of heroism, he begins receiving mysterious playing cards with cryptic messages that lead him to people in need of his assistance. The novel is set in suburban Sydney and draws on... Read I Am The Messenger Summary
Lois Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973) follows a group of teenagers in an American town as they deal with the ramifications of accidentally killing a young boy. The novel was adapted as a major motion picture in 1997. Its themes include guilt, selfishness, and revenge. The novel opens with protagonist Julie James nervously opening a letter. Subverting the reader’s expectations, Duncan makes the letter an acceptance letter from Smith College rather... Read I Know What You Did Last Summer Summary
I’ll Give You the Sun (2015) is an award-winning novel penned by Jandy Nelson about relationships, art, and destiny. It follows the story of twins Noah and Jude Sweetwine who once shared a close relationship but find themselves barely speaking to each other two years after their mother’s death.Jandy Nelson is an American author who writes young adult fiction. I’ll Give You the Sun is her second novel, which won numerous awards and honors, including... Read I'll Give You the Sun Summary
Imagining Argentina (1987) is a fantasy novel by American author Lawrence Thornton. Set against the backdrop of Argentina’s Dirty War, Imagining Argentina centers Carlos Rueda, a Buenos Aires native whose supernatural abilities grant him insight into the fates of Argentina’s disappeared. The novel’s complicated consideration of power, memory, and authoritarianism has been critically acclaimed, earning a nomination for the PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction. Thornton would later expand the story into two succeeding novels, Naming the... Read Imagining Argentina Summary
Inventing Elliot, by British author Graham Gardner, is set in England in a fictional high school, Holminster High. First published in 2003, Inventing Elliot is Gardner’s debut novel. He was inspired by The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, a realistic book about a boy going against the system in a private Catholic school, and George Orwell’s book 1984, a dystopian social science fiction novel that explores the horror of violence and totalitarianism. Garner was also... Read Inventing Elliot Summary
Matt de la Pena’s young adult novel I Will Save You (2010) follows the narrator, Kidd Ellison, after he runs away from a group home to live and work at a campground on the beach. Harboring memories of a traumatic past, he forges new relationships and fosters old ones that test his self-understanding. Through flashbacks, dreams, and journal entries mixed with the present day, the narrative explores themes such as The Impact of Trauma on... Read I Will Save You Summary
James and the Giant Peach by British author Roald Dahl was first published in 1961. This critically acclaimed children’s novel was made into an award-winning film in 1996. It tells the story of a giant peach that magically grows in a young boy, James’s, back garden—big enough for him to enter the center of the peach and have adventures with the insects who live in there. Dahl is known as one of the 20th century’s greatest... Read James And The Giant Peach Summary
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006) is a realistic middle grade novel that follows best friends Jeremy and Lizzy on their quest to find the meaning and purpose of their lives as they try to unlock a gift from Jeremy’s late father. The book was nominated for several major awards, including the Nutmeg Book Award in Connecticut (2010) and the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’... Read Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life Summary
Jesus’ Son (1992) is a collection of short fiction by American writer Denis Johnson, published by Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux. It explores themes of The Slipperiness of Time, Substance Use Disorder, and Violence as Inevitability. In the form of a short story cycle, each of the 11 stories of Jesus’ Son is narrated by the same protagonist, who has a substance use disorder and is referred to in the narrative as “Fuckhead”. The book takes... Read Jesus' Son Summary
July’s People, a 1981 dystopian novel by South African author Nadine Gordimer, imagines the aftermath of a bloody uprising that topples South Africa’s notorious, white-ruled apartheid regime. Her novel, which follows a white family’s desperate flight from Johannesburg, traces the complex interdependencies of white and Black South Africans, revealing the insidiousness of the regime’s racial disparities and mindsets, even among liberal, well-meaning white people. Through the lens of this hypothetical future, Gordimer’s novel explores racial... Read July's People Summary
Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind (2020) is a work of apocalyptic fiction that examines the relationship between race and class during an unspecified disaster that cuts off all communication, forcing two families together. The book uses omniscient narration and interpersonal conflict to heighten the fear of disconnection in the Information Age, treating the apocalypse as an event that happens on a human scale. Published to great acclaim, it has been longlisted for the National... Read Leave the World Behind Summary
Gary D. Schmidt’s Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2004), an historical novel for young adults, received the Newbery Honor in 2005. It is based on actual events occurring on Malaga Island, Maine in 1912, when the government of Maine placed the residents of the island in a mental hospital and tore down their homes.Turner Buckminster is the son of a reverend living in Phippsburg, Maine in 1912. Turner has just relocated to Phippsburg from... Read Lizzie Bright And The Buckminster Boy Summary
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 (2007) is a military-themed memoir by former Navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell, with the help of ghostwriter Patrick Robinson. Based on a 2005 mission in Afghanistan, the book examines the intricacies of warfare. The narrative explores themes such as valor, self-sacrifice, and the multifaceted nature of combat. The book became a New York Times bestseller and subsequently inspired a 2013... Read Lone Survivor Summary
Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and The Start of a New Nation (2003) is a narrative history of the English’s founding of Jamestown in 1606 written by David A. Price. Price is a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other American publications. In his retelling of the story, Price seeks to puncture some of the romantic mythology surrounding the relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas, while placing their... Read Love and Hate in Jamestown Summary
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992) is a self-help and personal development book by American author John Gray. The book is designed to help couples improve their relationships by accepting how different men and women are. Although the book was initially met with critical acclaim, it has lost popularity due to critiques about sexist content and the book’s worldview. Although this is Gray’s best-known work, Gray has published many similar books concerned... Read Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus Summary
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Moon Over Manifest is a 2010 novel by author Claire Vanderpool. It relates the story of 12-year-old Abilene Tucker, a drifting girl in search of her father, a home, and a sense of belonging. When the novel starts, her father, Gideon Tucker, has just sent Abilene to the Kansas town of Manifest, claiming that he can’t take her to Iowa, where he is allegedly taking a railroad job. It is 1936, and the Great Depression... Read Moon Over Manifest Summary
Nausea is a philosophical novel by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Originally published in 1938, the novel was first translated to English in 1949. Nausea takes place in the fictional French city of Bouville (“Mud Town”) and follows the day-to-day life of the reclusive historian Antoine Roquentin. Antoine lives completely alone, without friends or family, as he researches and writes a book on an 18th-century French aristocrat, the Marquis de Rollebon. Antoine’s daily interactions with... Read Nausea Summary
Nine Perfect Strangers is a 2018 novel by Liane Moriarty. Set in Sydney, Australia, the novel follows a group of strangers who gather at a wellness retreat to receive treatment from a mysterious health guru. The novel was adapted for a 2021 television series starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, and Michael Shannon.This guide uses an eBook copy of the text published by Flatiron Books. It also discusses potentially triggering situations, including death by suicide, trauma... Read Nine Perfect Strangers Summary
South African author Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) published the short story “Once Upon a Time” in 1989 while South Africa was still under apartheid, an institutionalized system of racism that from 1948 until 1994 discriminated against all people who were not white. Gordimer was the daughter of Jewish immigrants. Though not an Afrikaner (a South African descended from 17th-century Dutch colonizers), Gordimer was white and therefore part of South Africa’s ruling minority. Gordimer wrote about characters... Read Once Upon a Time Summary
On the Nature of Things is a philosophical work by the Roman author Titus Lucretius Carus (whom we call “Lucretius”). It was written in the early 50s BC, in Latin. Though this is a work of science and philosophy, it is also a poem. This work provides a detailed description of Epicurean philosophy, which encompasses theories of atoms, cosmology, theology, and a wide variety of natural phenomena. It also addresses the nature of the mind... Read On The Nature Of Things Summary
On the Road, published in 1957, is a novel by prominent Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac that recalls his cross-country travels across the US in the late 1940s. It explores concepts of society, freedom, and—most of all—friendship.Sal Paradise (Kerouac’s pseudonym) is the story’s protagonist and narrator, while other key characters stand in for fellow Beat luminaries in his circle, including poet Allen Ginsberg (best known for the revolutionary 1956 poem Howl) and writer William S... Read On the Road Summary
Out of Darkness is a young adult historical novel written by Ashley Hope Pérez and published in 2015 by Holiday House of New York. Pérez holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Indiana University, where her research focused on Latin American literature. A professor of World Literatures at Ohio State University, she is also the author of What Can’t Wait (2011), The Knife and The Butterfly (2012), and Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions about... Read Out of Darkness Summary
Parable of the Talents is a 1998 novel by Octavia Butler; it is the sequel to her 1995 novel Parable of the Sower. The novel is a dystopian, science fiction narrative set in a futuristic America ravaged by the climate crisis, violence, and racial and religious persecution. Unlike many science fiction authors, Butler focuses her novel mainly on the experiences of racially diverse characters, including many Black and Latinx characters. Parable of the Talents was... Read Parable of the Talents Summary
Toni Morrison’s novel Paradise was published in 1997, just a few years after she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. According to Morrison, it is the last book of a trilogy that includes Beloved and Jazz. Morrison is an esteemed American novelist, having also received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1998) and the Coretta Scott King Award for Authors (2005), among other awards. She was educated at Howard University and Cornell University, and... Read Paradise Summary
Prayers for the Stolen is a 2012 coming-of-age novel by American Mexican author Jennifer Clement, who resides in Mexico City. Clement formerly served as president of PEN Mexico, part of a worldwide association of playwrights, poets, editors, essayists, and novelists that advocates for freedom of expression. Clement took up this role at a time when Mexico was among the most dangerous countries in the world in which to work in journalism. The narrator and protagonist... Read Prayers for the Stolen Summary
Pretty Little Liars is a young adult fiction novel written by Sara Shepard. It is the first book in the Pretty Little Liars series, which features 16 books, along with seven companion novels. The highly successful series was featured on The New York Times best-seller list and adapted into a television show in 2010. The popular show lasted seven seasons and aired on the Freeform Network. Although Shepard had only written eight books in the... Read Pretty Little Liars Summary
Psycho (1959) is a horror novel by Robert Bloch and the inspiration for filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock’s film of the same name, which came out one year later. While Hitchcock’s adaptation has largely eclipsed Bloch’s original in the public eye, fans of the film will recognize the basic plot and the major twists in Bloch’s novel. However, Bloch’s Norman Bates is (physically) unrecognizable from the version Anthony Perkins played on screen. Psycho is a slasher thriller... Read Psycho Summary
Rebecca, a bestselling novel by famed English writer Daphne du Maurier, was published in 1938, and has never gone out of print. The winner of the National Book Award for favorite novel of 1938, Rebecca has been adapted numerous times, including Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film version, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and a 1997 television miniseries. It was most recently adapted for a Netflix film in 2020 by the same name. Rebecca... Read Rebecca Summary
“‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman,” one of Harlan Ellison’s most famous short stories, was published in Galaxy in 1965 and went on to win both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. Ellison (1934-2018) was an American speculative fiction and screenwriter whose works were influential in the development of New Wave science fiction. “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” uses nonlinear storytelling to depict a short-lived one-man rebellion against a dystopian future society. The story explores themes... Read "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman Summary
Riders of the Purple Sage is a novel by western writer Zane Grey. Set in 1871, the novel follows the story of Jane Withersteen, a Mormon woman being persecuted by her church leaders for refusing to become the third wife of church leader, Elder Tull, as well as her fondness for non-Mormons, or gentile, settlers in the area. The novel first appeared as a 19-part series in the magazine, Field and Stream, in January of... Read Riders of the Purple Sage Summary
IntroductionEmma Donoghue’s Room is a 2010 novel about a boy named Jack who lives in a single room with his mother, Ma. Room is a crime thriller novel that explores themes of trauma, innocence, and adaptability through the eyes of five-year-old narrator, Jack. Room has received many awards, including the ALA Alex Award, the Indies Choice Book Award for Fiction, and The New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year award. Room was... Read Room Summary
Saturday is a novel by Ian McEwan, first published in 2005 by Jonathan Cape. Ian McEwan is an acclaimed British author who has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. In Saturday, McEwan delves into the inner life of a single individual, Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon living in London. The novel takes place over the course of a single day, February 15, 2003, against the... Read Saturday Summary
Kenneth Oppel’s 1997 award-winning middle-grade novel Silverwing is a high-fantasy work that follows a young bat’s journey to find his colony. The novel has sold over a million copies and been adapted for television as an animated children’s series. This book is the first of four in The Silverwing Book Series.Plot SummaryThe novel is divided into three parts, and it shifts point of view between Shade, a runt newborn Silverwing bat, and Goth, a cannibalistic... Read Silverwing Summary
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a sermon written by Jonathan Edwards, pastor of the Congregational church of Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1741, during the period of the First Great Awakening. Edwards delivered the sermon to remarkable effect on July 8, 1741, in Enfield, Connecticut, during a revival tour, and it was published shortly thereafter in Boston. Though its hellfire-and-brimstone style is not typical of Edwards’s work, it quickly became his best-known publication... Read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Summary
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a chivalric romance of unknown authorship. Written sometime in the late-14th century, the work employs a complex metrical scheme that involves several lines of pentameter punctuated by a “bob and wheel”: a two-syllable “bob” followed by a rhyming quatrain of six-syllable lines. The bob and wheel structure is fairly typical of Middle English verse, as is the alliterative verse used throughout the sections written in pentameter. Its subject... Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Summary
Small as an Elephant is a middle grade realistic fiction novel written by Jennifer Richard Jacobson and originally published in 2011. In addition to writing, Jacobson teaches literacy workshops across the US. She grew up in Maine, which is the inspiration for the setting of many of her stories. Small as an Elephant examines several themes related to unstable attachment, support, and hardship. The novel received more than 10 awards, including the Maine Lupine Award... Read Small as an Elephant Summary
Stanisław Lem, a prominent Polish philosopher, essayist, and literary critic who achieved notoriety in the mid-20th century, is best known for his science fiction novels. Among these books, Solaris is regarded by most reviewers and critics as Lem’s masterpiece. Published in Polish in 1961, the English version was translated from the French version in 1970—which Lem allegedly referred to as “poor” (Flood, Alison. “First Ever Direct English Translation of Solaris Published.” The Guardian, 15 June... Read Solaris Summary
Introduction Sold is a young adult novel published in 2006 by American author Patricia McCormick. The protagonist and first-person narrator is Lakshmi, a Nepali girl from a remote mountain village who is 13 when she is trafficked for sex to an illicit organization in a large city in India. Through a series of short, titled poems (or vignettes), Lakshmi chronicles her experiences in the brothel called the “Happiness House,” recording her experiences with the people... Read Sold Summary
Gary Paulsen’s young adult novel Soldier’s Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers highlights a young soldier’s experience in the Civil War. Many of the novel’s plot events are based on historical records, as is the novel’s main character Charley, who is based on the actual soldier Charley Goddard. However, Paulsen takes liberties within the story and notes that parts of the... Read Soldiers Heart Summary
Something Borrowed is a work of romantic fiction from author Emily Giffin, published in 2004. It was a critical and commercial success, earning rave reviews and landing a spot on the New York Times bestseller list. The novel was Giffin’s first, and she has published several more books in the same genre. Some of her other books include Love the One You’re With (2008), Heart of the Matter (2010), Where We Belong (2012), and Something... Read Something Borrowed Summary
Sphere (1987) is a novel by best-selling author Michael Crichton, the sixth novel he released under his own name but his 16th novel overall. The novel follows protagonist Norman Johnson as he travels to the bottom of the ocean with a team of scientists to explore an unknown spacecraft. Inside the craft is a sphere that when entered enhances imagination and allows people to manifest reality from their unconscious mind. Sphere was made into a... Read Sphere Summary
Lissa Price’s Starters is a young adult science fiction novel set in the near future after the Spore Wars, during which biological weapons were used against the United States and wiped out much of the unvaccinated middle-aged population. As a result, many teens were left without families, and the elderly feared for their place in society. Starters without grandparents were barred from essentially every type of work. This led to teens being rounded up to... Read Starters Summary
Steelheart, a 2013 young adult sci-fi/fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, is the first installment of The Reckoners trilogy. The story takes place in dystopian Chicago, dubbed “Newcago,” which is overrun by evil superhumans called Epics and ruled by a functionally invulnerable tyrant named Steelheart. David Charleston, an 18-year-old boy whose father Steelheart killed 10 years before, joins a rebel group called the Reckoners hoping that they will help him take revenge on Steelheart. Borrowing elements... Read Steelheart Summary
Suite Française, by French-based Ukrainian writer Irène Némirovsky (born 1903), was published in the original French upon its discovery in 2004. However, Némirovsky started writing Suite in 1941, during the Nazi occupation of France, when those with a Jewish ethnic background like her faced persecution under the contemporary antisemitic regime. She and her husband, Michel Epstein, and their two young daughters, Denise and Élisabeth, had fled Paris for Issy-l’Évêque, a rural village in Burgundy. There... Read Suite Francaise Summary
Originally written in German and published in 2002, Jan-Philipp Sendker’s debut novel, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, was translated into English by Kevin Wiliarty in 2006. An international bestseller, the novel received the Indies Choice Honor Award for Best Fiction Novel in 2013. In response to such acclaim, Sendker penned a sequel, A Well-Tempered Heart, in 2012. The novel is international in scope—being written by a German journalist who lived in upstate New York, detailing... Read The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Summary
The Bean Trees (first published in 1988) is the first novel by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet who holds degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology, and her work often addresses biodiversity, social justice, communities, and people’s interactions with their environment. The Bean Trees is a work of realistic adult fiction that follows Taylor Greer as she leaves her rural upbringing in Kentucky, drives across the country to Tucson, Arizona, and... Read The Bean Trees Summary
The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James, first published in 1903, centers on the relationship between John Marcher, a man haunted by the premonition that his life will be defined by some catastrophic event, and May Bartram. James’s narrative dissects the psychological effects of fear and anticipation by focusing on his characters’ inner lives and existential musings. The tale is an internalized ghost story wherein Marcher’s fears become self-fulfilling prophecies of loss. The third-person... Read The Beast in the Jungle Summary
The Beginning of Everything is a young adult coming-of-age novel by the accomplished American author Robyn Schneider. First published in 2013, it is Schneider’s debut novel and has been nominated for numerous YA book awards. It is published in multiple countries, in the UK under the title Severed Heads, Broken Hearts. Schneider, who lives in Los Angeles, is the author of several other bestselling YA books: Extraordinary Means; Invisible Ghosts; You Don’t Live Here. Her... Read The Beginning of Everything Summary
IntroductionBritish author Roald Dahl first made his mark as a leading writer of children’s literature in 1961, when he published James and the Giant Peach. His subsequent books include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, and his 1982 novel The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), which was illustrated by Quentin Blake and based on a segment of Dahl’s 1975 book Danny, the Champion of the World. His books have been viewed as darker... Read The BFG Summary
Daphne du Maurier’s short story “The Birds” was first published in her 1952 collection, The Apple Tree: A Short Novel and Several Long Stories. It is a Gothic horror story about a man who must protect his family from the brutal and inexplicably organized attacks perpetrated by the birds. Du Maurier’s tale evokes the social isolation of individuals in 1950s England, the British civilians’ memories of helplessness during the Blitz, and the fear of destructive... Read The Birds Summary
Walter Farley was only 26 years old when he published The Black Stallion, the fictional adventure story of the friendship between a boy and a majestic, powerful horse. Farley’s book, first available in 1941, was an instant bestseller. The Black Stallion and its 20 sequels have sold more than 12 million copies. The novel won the 1944 Young Reader’s Choice Award and inspired three Black Stallion movies and a TV series. At the heart of... Read The Black Stallion Summary
Not far from Cincinnati in 1830 lies a “great forest” occupied by the scattered homes of early settlers. Among them is an old, neglected cabin with a front door and boarded-up window. For decades, a white-haired man named Murlock has lived there; he looks 70 but is really 50. He lets his yard grow wild and provides for himself by selling animal skins.Murlock is found dead at his cabin, apparently of natural causes. He’s buried... Read The Boarded Window Summary
The Breakdown (2017) is a psychological thriller and B. A. Paris’s follow-up to her internationally bestselling debut, Behind Closed Doors. The Breakdown was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Mystery and Thriller in 2017. It has been adapted into a film titled Blackwater Lane, released in 2024 and starring Minka Kelly, Maggie Grace, and Dermot Mulroney. The novel portrays Cass Anderson’s battle with guilt and fear after a woman is murdered near her home... Read The Breakdown Summary
Julie Otsuka is a Japanese American writer who was born in 1962 in Palo Alto, California. Both The Buddha in the Attic (2011) and her 2002 novel, When the Emperor was Divine, portray the Japanese American experience of internment camps following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The subject is close to Otsuka’s heart; the FBI arrested her grandfather on suspicion of being an enemy spy, while her mother, uncle, and grandmother were... Read The Buddha in the Attic Summary
The Castle of Otranto, first published in 1764 by English author Horace Walpole (1717-1797), is considered the first supernatural work of Gothic fiction, influencing many well-known 19th century writers such as Clara Reeve, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.The five-chapter long novella revolves around the mysterious supernatural events at the titular castle, whose owner goes to villainous lengths to maintain control of it. Walpole introduces Gothic elements that drive the... Read The Castle of Otranto Summary
The Chrysalids is a young-adult science fiction novel, written by John Wyndham and first published in 1955. Wyndham was a renowned science fiction author of the post-World War II era, and many of his works are thus inspired by a potential nuclear apocalypse. The Chrysalids was well-received by critics and is considered one of Wyndham’s best novels. It was adapted into a BBC radio play in 1982 and a play in 1999.This guide utilizes the... Read The Chrysalids Summary
China Miéville’s The City and the City, originally published in 2009, is a hybrid of two distinct genres—speculative fiction and detective fiction—that explores the human susceptibility to fear and the erection of borders as a response to that fear. Other themes examined in the novel are political corruption, violence inspired by far-right politics, and the allure of myths. The City and the City is the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the World Fantasy... Read The City and the City Summary
The Client is a legal thriller written by John Grisham. Published in 1993, it is Grisham’s fourth novel. An international best-selling author, Grisham was a lawyer himself for nine years and even served in the Mississippi House of Representatives for six years. His legal and political expertise lend especially well to The Client’s subject matter involving legal ethics, notions of justice, the power of government over its citizens, and political careerism. The Client was adapted... Read The Client Summary
The Couple Next Door, Shari Lapena’s 2016 international best-seller, begins as a classic detective story. As the mystery deepens, the novel turns into a tense psychological study of a dysfunctional family, the calculating logic of emotional manipulation, the spiral of post-partum depression, and the corrupting power of greed. Paramount Television optioned the novel for a TV series adaptation in 2018. Shari Lapena is the author of eight novels for adults, including The Couple Next Door... Read The Couple Next Door Summary
The Courage of Sarah Noble, written by Alice Dalgliesh and published in 1954, follows the experience of young Sarah as she accompanies her father to Connecticut. It is based on a true story that took place in 1707, though Dalgliesh admits in the “Author’s Note” that she has “had to imagine many of the details” of Sarah’s story; thus, this is a work of historical fiction and not a biography or nonfiction text.Dalgliesh was a... Read The Courage of Sarah Noble Summary
Gary Paulsen’s The Crossing is a young adult novel published in 1987. This realistic work of fiction highlights the hope and opportunity Manny, a Mexican teenager, envisions waiting for him in America, and the desperation that propels him to attempt the border crossing from Mexico into the United States.Paulsen (1939-2021) was a celebrated author of middle grade and young adult fiction, best known for writing the award-winning Hatchet series. His work often depicts wilderness settings... Read The Crossing Summary
The Darkest Child (2004) is a coming-of-age historical fiction novel by Delores Phillips. The teenage protagonist and first-person narrator, Tangy Mae Quinn faces racism and segregation in the Jim Crow South, as well as domestic abuse, poverty, and nonconsensual sex work. Despite these challenges, Tangy finds eventual escape when she leaves her abusive mother, Rozelle, and her past behind her to pursue her own goals, which are rooted in education. The novel explores The Role... Read The Darkest Child Summary
The Day of the Jackal is a 1971 thriller by Frederick Forsyth. The novel is centered around a professional assassin, known only as the Jackal, who is hired by a French paramilitary group to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle. Forsyth’s realistic, research-based writing style builds suspense through a detailed account of the cat-and-mouse chase that spans across Europe, showcasing the complexities of security and espionage during a tumultuous political era. The novel has been... Read The Day of the Jackal Summary
The Dead Zone (1979) is a science fiction thriller novel by Stephen King. King’s story about a man who sees visions of the future after awakening from a years-long coma explores themes of missed opportunity, belief, and the sacrifices inherent in moral action. The novel was nominated for numerous awards, including the 1980 Locus Award, and has been adapted for film (1983) and television (2002-07). Please be advised that The Dead Zone includes mention of... Read The Dead Zone Summary
Anton Chekhov was born in Russia in 1860. His most celebrated works include the plays Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard and the short stories “The Peasants” and “The Lady With the Dog.” Chekhov was no stranger to comedy, but his humor is often couched within serious, unsettling situations, featuring characters who are unable or unwilling to overcome their shortcomings and help themselves. “The Death of a Government Clerk” contains some of these same elements... Read The Death of a Government Clerk Summary
The Denial of Death was written by the American cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker and published in 1973. The work explores the fear of death and the ways in which rituals and beliefs have helped humans to cope with it throughout history. It was inspired by the fact that Becker had been diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. Over the course of his life, he taught at several prestigious universities, including Syracuse University, UC Berkeley, and, by... Read The Denial of Death Summary
American author Edgar Allan Poe wrote the Gothic short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” in 1839. It first appeared in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and later in Poe’s collection of short stories Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. Poe is considered a founding figure of US Gothic and Romantic literature. He is best known for his poetry, including "The Raven" (1845) and "Annabel Lee" (1849), and short stories such as "The... Read The Fall of the House of Usher Summary
The Firm is a legal thriller by author John Grisham. The Firm is Grisham’s second novel, and the first to bring him widespread fame as the number one novel of 1991 on the New York Times bestseller list. The novel was made into a feature film in 1993 directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise. In 2012, The Firm was made into a television series that enjoyed a single season on NBC that portrayed... Read The Firm Summary
Paula Hawkins wrote The Girl on the Train over the course of six months in 2014. Hawkins, an Oxford-educated journalist and writer, drew on her experience as a reporter in London to structure the novel and describe its locations. Drawing immediate comparisons to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train had similar performance, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2015, and remaining there for 13 consecutive weeks... Read The Girl On The Train Summary
C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, first published in serial form in 1945 and as a novel the following year, explores an unnamed narrator’s experiences in Heaven and Hell. Although Lewis is best known for his contribution to children’s literature in The Chronicles of Narnia series, he also wrote many works of adult fiction and nonfiction. Almost all of his published work is either explicitly or implicitly religious in nature; many of his nonfiction works are... Read The Great Divorce Summary
The Great Greene Heist is a middle grade novel by Varian Johnson that follows Jackson Greene, a middle school boy and nearly reformed prankster, who tries to win his crush through hijinks. The novel was named Publisher’s Best Summer Book of 2014, ALA ALSC Notable Children’s Book in 2015, and received a Kirkus Star Review. Johnson published the sequel To Catch a Cheat in 2016. Johnson is also the author of The Parker Inheritance, which... Read The Great Greene Heist Summary
Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s 2012 novel, The Great Unexpected, follows the relationship between two best friends, Naomi Deane and Lizzie Scatterding, both orphans who know little about their families. They have felt heartache and loss, though these experiences impact them in contrasting ways: Lizzie is talkative and enthusiastic, while Naomi is guarded and anxious. In a discussion of her inspiration for the text, Creech recounts her realization that when faced with the unexpected, children... Read The Great Unexpected Summary
The Heretic’s Daughter (2008) is the debut novel of author Kathleen Kent. Upon publication, it immediately made the New York Times bestseller list. Kent followed this title with two other best-selling historical fiction works: The Traitor’s Wife (2010) and The Outcasts (2013). She also wrote a crime fiction trilogy that was nominated for an Edgar Award. A resident of Texas, Kent was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2020 for her contribution to... Read The Heretic's Daughter Summary
The Historian (2005), Elizabeth Kostova’s best-selling novel, blends fact and fiction to reinvent the myth of the iconic vampire Dracula, or Vlad Ţepeş. In this retelling, the unnamed narrator accompanies her ambassador father, Paul, across Europe in the early 1970s as he tells her the story of his near encounter with the vampire. He tells her the Prince of Wallachia lives, 500 years after his death. Paul’s mentor, Dr. Rossi, was conducting research on Dracula... Read The Historian Summary
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is an 1831 gothic novel by French author Victor Hugo, originally published under the title Notre-Dame de Paris. Set in 15th-century France, the novel concerns the intertwined stories of Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and Archdeacon Claude Frollo. The story has been adapted many times for theater, television, and film, including an animated film by Disney released in 1996.This guide refers to the 2009 Oxford Classics edition of the novel, translated from French to... Read The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Summary
Mark Twain’s short story “The Invalid’s Story,” published in his 1882 collection The Stolen White Elephant, Etc., is a tall tale involving a mix-up between a coffin and a box full of guns. Traveling on a train with what he believes to be the coffin, the first-person narrator mistakes the odor of pungent cheese for that of the decaying corpse. Disparaged by critics for its crudeness at its time of publication, the story deals with... Read The Invalid's Story Summary
The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel written by the English novelist H.G. Wells. Wells’s experiences researching and teaching biology inform the novel, as do contemporary debates about the practice of vivisection (the practice of performing experiments on live animals). By describing frightening and fantastical events, Wells explores themes of power structures, violence, and what it means to be human. This guide references the 2005 Penguin Classics edition. Content Warning: The... Read The Island of Doctor Moreau Summary
The Lies of Locke Lamora, written by Scott Lynch and published in 2006, is the first entry in the Gentleman Bastards series. These novels mix caper stories and fantasy stories and include adventure, violence, dark humor, and intimate friendships. The Lies of Locke Lamora is an international best seller and was nominated for multiple awards. The other entries in the series are Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves, and The Thorn of... Read The Lies of Locke Lamora Summary
Irene Hunt’s 1976 middle grade novel The Lottery Rose focuses on a young boy named Georgie who hides the evidence of his abuse and neglect at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend, Steve. After Georgie wins a rosebush at his local grocery store, he becomes attached to the shrub and passionately cares for it. Georgie’s life changes when the court system places him in an all-boys Catholic school, where he meets adults who... Read The Lottery Rose Summary
Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon (1930) is a detective novel that was first serialized in the magazine Black Mask. As Hammett’s third novel, The Maltese Falcon includes the introduction of Sam Spade as the protagonist, a departure from the nameless Continental Op who narrated his previous stories. Spade’s hard exterior, cool detachment, and reliance on his own moral code would become staples of the hardboiled genre, and The Maltese Falcon has since been named one... Read The Maltese Falcon Summary
Written in 1924, Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” has achieved fame as a popular short story worldwide. The story is an iconic tale that questions the value of human life and offers a commentary on the morality of man and instinct versus reason. It has sparked numerous adaptations and inspired other pieces of fiction, from poems and novels to several films and TV series.As the story opens, Sanger Rainsford, a game hunter, is on... Read The Most Dangerous Game Summary
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie was originally performed in London’s West End in 1952. It is a two-act murder mystery play with a twist ending that subverts the traditional genre expectations of detective fiction, set in the early 1950s. The Mousetrap is the longest running West End play, with over 27,000 performances. There have been a few TV and movie versions made in locations such as Germany, the USSR, and India.This study guide cites the... Read The Mousetrap Summary
The Night She Disappeared is a young-adult thriller by American author April Henry. Published in 2012 by Henry Holt, The Night She Disappeared tells the story of Kayla Cutler, a high-school senior kidnapped while on a pizza delivery, and Gabie Klug, her coworker, who discovers that she was the perpetrator’s intended target. As Gabie races to uncover the truth before it’s too late, The Night She Disappeared tackles themes of class-based prejudice and the fallibility... Read The Night She Disappeared Summary
“The Night the Ghost Got In” is a short story from the comedic semi-autobiographical memoir My Life and Hard Times published in 1933 by James Thurber. Thurber is best known for his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” which has been twice adapted for film. This guide references the 1999 Harper Perennial Classics Reprint edition of My Life and Hard Times.“The Night the Ghost Got In” tells the first-person account of a young... Read The Night the Ghost Got In Summary
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph (2014) is a self-help book by American author Ryan Holiday. Holiday identifies three aspects of confronting obstacles: “Perception,” “Action,” and “Will.” Weaving Stoic philosophy with historical and contemporary anecdotes, Holiday argues that people can turn obstacles into opportunities by changing their perceptions of their problems. Holiday points to role models such as former American president and general Dwight D. Eisenhower, American aviator... Read The Obstacle is the Way Summary
Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic horror story “The Oval Portrait” is among his shortest narratives. As it recounts the story of the death of a painter’s young wife, it addresses the themes The Relationship Between Art and Life, The Dangers of Obsession, and The Nature of Romantic Relationships. “The Oval Portrait” is actually the 1845 revision of a longer story, “Life in Death,” which Poe wrote in 1842, shortly after his beloved young wife, Virginia, first... Read The Oval Portrait Summary
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is a Gothic mystery novel first published serially in 1910. The novel follows a “ghost” who haunts the Paris Opera and the mysterious incidents attributed to this figure. The characters and the narrator himself try to uncover the secret of this ghost, who is really a masked man infatuated opera singer, Christine Daaé. The novel has been adapted into several formats, most notably a 1925 silent film... Read The Phantom of the Opera Summary
“The Pit and the Pendulum,” Edgar Allan Poe’s agonizing tale of terror and suspense, was first published in 1842. One of Poe’s many horror stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum” became famous for its depiction of pure dread. This guide refers to the 1992 Modern Library edition of Poe’s Collected Tales and Poems.The story begins with shocking suddenness: “I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony” (246). The narrator, we soon discover, is a... Read The Pit and the Pendulum Summary
“The Premature Burial” is a short horror story published in 1844 by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that explores the fear of being buried alive, otherwise known as taphephobia. This condition is considered rare in contemporary times but was a common fear during the 19th century because, due to a lack of sufficient medical techniques and technologies, people were sometimes mistakenly declared deceased and accidentally buried alive.Other short stories written by this author include The... Read The Premature Burial Summary
“The Queen of Spades” is a short story by Russian author Alexander Pushkin, first published in 1834. In the story, a young army officer becomes obsessed with learning a trick to win vast sums of money at cards. The story has been adapted into films, radio broadcasts, and operas. Many scholars consider Pushkin to be one of the greatest Russian writers and the founder of modern Russian literature. His most famous works include Eugene Onegin... Read The Queen Of Spades Summary
The Red Badge of Courage was written in 1895 by Stephen Crane, a novelist, poet, and journalist well known for his naturalist style and for incorporating the inner lives of common and marginalized people. The novel won wide acclaim for Crane, though his life after the book’s publication was distinguished by scandal and money troubles. Its themes reframe the concept of military duty as a rite of passage, detailing a highly individual and self-searching act... Read The Red Badge of Courage Summary
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck was published in installments from 1933 to 1936, as a novella in 1937, and in a short story collection, The Long Valley, in 1945. Steinbeck drew upon his experience living in the Salinas Valley. The four stories that make up The Red Pony are considered works of classic literature and bildungsroman, or coming-of-age stories. Steinbeck also wrote the screenplay for the 1949 film adaptation of The Red Pony, and... Read The Red Pony Summary
In The Ruins of Gorlan, a Medieval adventure-fantasy novel for middle-grade readers, young Will learns the arts of the secretive Ranger tracker-warriors and defends his kingdom against an evil baron. Released in 2004 by author John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan won multiple awards, spawned the bestselling Ranger Apprentice book series, and has been published in 18 countries. A television adaptation is in the works.Following a long career in advertising, author Flanagan shifted to book... Read The Ruins of Gorlan Summary
Published in 1905, The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emma Orczy, is a historical romance adventure novel about a wealthy English baronet with a secret life as a hero who rescues the innocent from the French Reign of Terror. Told mainly from the viewpoint of his wife, the book—based on the successful London play of the same name—birthed a series of Scarlet Pimpernel novels, movies, and TV productions. It ushered in the secret-identity genre of adventure... Read The Scarlet Pimpernel Summary
The Septembers of Shiraz (2007), a novel by Iranian writer Dalia Sofer, recounts the experiences of the Amins, an Iranian Jewish family, during the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s. The book is closely based on Sofer’s family history: When Sofer was 10, her family fled Iran, crossing the border to Turkey with the help of smugglers. The Septembers of Shiraz depicts the changing atmosphere and events that characterize the treatment of the wealthy class... Read The Septembers Of Shiraz Summary
“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway that was first published in Cosmopolitan in 1936. It explores themes of power and dominance, courage and cowardice, and the nature of masculinity. The story details a hunting party and love triangle in which a husband, a wife, and their hired huntsman struggle for dominance and power over one another. This guide references the collection The Snows of Kilimanjaro... Read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber Summary
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is a psychological thriller and crime novel published in 1988. The novel follows FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling as she becomes increasingly involved in the investigation of serial killer Buffalo Bill. The book is the sequel to Harris’s 1981 novel Red Dragon and includes several continuing characters, like the serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The novel won the 1988 Bram Stoker Award and 1989 Anthony Award for Best... Read The Silence Of The Lambs Summary
Gabriel García Márquez’s The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor was first published in Spain in 1970 under the title Relato de un naufrago (“story of a castaway”). The nonfiction work relates Luis Alejandro Velasco’s 10-day survival adrift on a raft in the Caribbean after being thrown overboard from his Colombian destroyer in rough seas. While there had been a censored, government-backed version of Velasco’s story that was publicized, the uncensored story was first published in... Read The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor Summary
The Swallows of Kabul (2002) is the 11th published work by Mohammed Moulessehoul. It is published under the pen name Yasmina Khadra, derived from Moulessehoul’s wife’s first two names, to circumvent military censorship of works published by soldiers. Moulessehoul has written extensively regarding his experiences in the military as an Algerian, exploring themes and events across the Arab and French worlds. The Swallows of Kabul is a work of historical fiction, taking place during the... Read The Swallows of Kabul Summary
The Talisman is a 1984 novel co-written by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It is a fantasy novel with horror elements and has connections to the works in King’s Dark Tower series. The Talisman is a road trip book that tells the story of Jack Sawyer and his quest to save his mother. The Talisman examines themes of lost innocence, coming of age, friendship, the corrupting nature of power, and more.The Talisman has a sequel... Read The Talisman Summary
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known short stories, first published in The Pioneer in January 1843. It is a work of Gothic horror written from the first-person point of view; like other Poe stories that employ the same narrative style (e.g., "The Black Cat," also published in 1843, or "Berenice," published in 1835), "The Tell-Tale Heart" uses an unreliable narrator to explore obsession, guilt, violence, and the supernatural. It has been... Read The Tell-Tale Heart Summary
The Troop (2014) is a horror novel by Nick Cutter. Troop 52, consisting of five teenage boy scouts and their Scoutmaster, Dr. Tim Riggs, goes on an annual camping trip to a remote, uninhabited island in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. There, a strange, sick man approaches their cabin and introduces them to a deadly, bioengineered virus. Just as dangerous as the virus itself are the crumbling group dynamics and morality once the... Read The Troop Summary
The Truth About Forever (2004) is a young adult contemporary romance by Sarah Dessen. The novel follows Macy Queen, a teen girl struggling to heal from the tragic death of her father, only to find that the answers lie not in chasing perfection and control but embracing the unpredictable and chaotic joys of life. The Truth About Forever is Sarah Dessen’s sixth published novel and won the 2004 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Urban... Read The Truth About Forever Summary
Written by Gary Paulsen in 1989, The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen depicts a young boy’s coming of age through an adventure in the wilderness. Fourteen-year-old David Alspeth sets sail out into the Pacific to fulfill his uncle’s last wishes and ends up lost and alone at sea. Paulsen was an avid outdoorsman who spent a great deal of time sailing the Pacific Ocean, and his nautical experience is evident in the details... Read The Voyage of the Frog Summary
The War I Finally Won is a work of historical fiction written by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley. The novel is intended for middle grade readers. It was published in 2017, and has won numerous awards, including qualifying for the New York Times Best Seller list, winning the California Young Reader’s Medal, and being named one of the Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books of the Year. The War I Finally Won is a sequel to Bradley’s highly... Read The War I Finally Won Summary
“The Way Up to Heaven” by Roald Dahl was initially published in 1954 in an issue of The New Yorker magazine and later included in his 1960 short story compilation book Kiss Kiss. The story was also adapted for TV in 1957 and 1979. Dahl is well known for his children’s novels, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, and The Big Friendly Giant, many of which appeal with elements that are unusually... Read The Way Up To Heaven Summary
The Whisper Man, released in August 2019, is a crime thriller by British author Alex North about the potential resurgence of a serial child murderer known as the Whisper Man and how it entangles various characters in a small town. North claims he got the idea for the book after his son mentioned “the boy in the floor.” Through criminal investigation and the lives of a father and son, North explores the nature of intergenerational... Read The Whisper Man Summary
The Witch Elm (2018) is a psychological crime thriller by best-selling American Irish author Tana French. The story follows Toby Hennessy, who unearths harmful family secrets while salvaging his identity after a traumatic assault. A standalone novel separate from French’s award-winning Dublin Murder Squad series, The Witch Elm appeared on NPR’s list of best books from 2018 and the New York Times’s notable books of 2018. Other works by this author include The Trespasser (2016)... Read The Witch Elm Summary
Cylin and John Busby’s The Year We Disappeared is a true crime memoir originally published in 2008. An expanded, 10th-anniversary edition was published in 2018. The book falls into both the memoir and true crime genres and is told from the perspective of the victims rather than a third party, such as a reporter. The Busby’s story was also featured on CBS’s newsmagazine, 48 Hours. It originally aired in 2010.Plot SummaryIn the summer of 1979... Read The Year We Disappeared Summary
Through My Eyes is the autobiography of Ruby Bridges. In 1960, Bridges became the first African American child to integrate an elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana following a court mandate for the state to desegregate its public school system. Louisiana trailed segregation effort in neighboring states, such as the nine Black high school students known as the “Little Rock Nine” who integrated a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.Bridges’s autobiography, published in... Read Through My Eyes Summary
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None is a work of fiction written by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Published between 1883 and 1885, the allegorical novel also known as Thus Spake Zarathustra is a collection of speeches by a character named Zarathustra to the villagers of The Motley Cow. Nietzsche uses many literary devices such as personification, allegory, and allusion. The philosophical points referenced in Thus Spoke Zarathustra include the death of... Read Thus Spoke Zarathustra Summary
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) is a thriller written by John Le Carré. It is the first entry in a trilogy of books about an aging spy named George Smiley and has been adapted into television and radio shows as well as a feature film. This study guide refers to the 2018 Penguin Classics eBook edition.Plot SummaryIn the aftermath of a failed mission in Czechoslovakia, George Smiley is forced to retire early from the British intelligence... Read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Summary
Touching the Void is a 1988 memoir by British author Joe Simpson. The book recounts the disastrous, near-fatal attempt of Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, to ascend the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. The book details Simpson’s harrowing ordeal, in which he broke his leg and fell into a crevasse, and how he survived against seemingly insurmountable odds.Simpson’s narrative highlights the resilience of the human spirit and explores the... Read Touching the Void Summary
Published in 1962, Travels With Charley: In Search of America is a narrative travelogue by John Steinbeck. The book follows a cross-country road trip the author took with his dog, a brown poodle named Charley. They travel in a camper-style pickup truck named Rosinante, which Steinbeck had custom built for the trip. Steinbeck embarked on the journey because he felt disconnected from the larger picture of American life after years of living in New York... Read Travels With Charley Summary
Turtle in Paradise is a 2010 historical fiction children’s novel by Jennifer L. Holm. Set in the Florida Keys during the Great Depression, the novel follows an 11-year-old girl’s struggles and successes as she visits her aunt and cousins in the town where her mother grew up. The novel won the Golden Kite Award and is a Newbery Honor Book as well as a Junior Library Guild selection.This guide refers to the 2010 Random House... Read Turtle in Paradise Summary
A mysterious Dome—invisible, electrified, and impenetrable—descends over the town of Chester’s Mill, or, as it is known to the locals, The Mill. Even more bizarrely, the Dome contours exactly to the borders of this small town in Maine. In Stephen King’s expansive novel Under the Dome, he investigates what happens when a town is cut off from the larger world, held captive not only by the mysterious Dome but also by the designs of a... Read Under the Dome Summary
UnWholly (2012) by Neal Shusterman is Book 2 in the Unwind Dystology. Shusterman originally planned the series to be a dystopia trilogy, but the third book, UnSouled, was split into two for publication due to length. While it was nominated for several awards in Young Adult literature, it did not win any, in contrast to the first book of the series, Unwind, which won nearly a dozen awards and prizes. UnWholly is science fiction, specifically... Read UnWholly Summary
War, a battle journal by best-selling reporter and filmmaker Sebastian Junger, describes a year in the rugged highlands of Afghanistan with a platoon of American soldiers who face the worst fighting and toughest conditions of any unit in the US military. Published in 2010, the book describes months of mind-numbing danger, multiple firefights per day, injuries and deaths, and matter-of-fact heroism. The men display extreme toughness, gallows humor, and intense mutual loyalty despite the nearly... Read War Summary
War Horse is a children’s historical fiction novel by Michael Morpurgo. The book was first published in Great Britain in 1982 by Kaye & Ward and was a runner-up for the Whitbread Book Award in the same year. The book is told from the point of view of a young horse named Joey and chronicles his journey and the relationships he builds with his various owners during World War I. The beloved novel is a... Read War Horse Summary
Originally published in 1994, Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals primarily focuses on the 1957-58 school year at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, during which Beals was a member of the Little Rock Nine—the first group of Black students to attend the formerly all-white high school of 2,000 white students. Beals’s book, written for young-adult readers, speaks of her early life and her many adult accomplishments. Encouraged by school administrators and local... Read Warriors Don't Cry Summary
Weedflower, Cynthia Kadohata’s 2006 historical fiction young adult novel, tells the story of 12-year-old Japanese American Sumiko amid Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the US government’s ensuing involvement in World War II. Kadohata depicts the conditions of Japanese internment camps from Sumiko’s perspective, providing unique insight and education on the racism that Japanese Americans faced and the US government’s poor decisions.This guide references the 2009 paperback reprint edition from Atheneum Books for Young Readers.Plot... Read Weedflower Summary
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda (1998) describes the Hutu majority’s slaughter of at least 800,000 Tutsis in 100 days in 1994—with author and journalist Philip Gourevitch documenting the meticulous planning behind the genocide. Gourevitch chastises the international community, especially the United States and France, for failing to stop the genocide in accordance with obligations under the Genocide Convention. Visiting Rwanda one year after... Read We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families Summary
When Nietzsche Wept is a 1992 novel written by Stanford University Professor of Psychology Irvin D. Yalom. Set in Vienna in 1882, the novel imagines a working relationship between the famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the eminent physician Josef Breuer. Breuer believes that Nietzsche’s physical ailments have psychological causes, and he embarks on his newly invented “talking cure”—effectively a precursor to talk therapy and psychoanalysis. Eventually, through an agreement between the two men, it... Read When Nietzsche Wept Summary
When the Sea Turned Silver by Grace Lin takes readers on a journey through a richly imagined world full of imagery and Chinese folklore. The novel follows the adventures of Pinmei and Yishan as they navigate themes of Finding and Creating Identity, The Power of Stories, and how Perception Shapes Reality. Recognized for its storytelling and cultural depth, When the Sea Turned Silver was a 2016 National Book Award Finalist. Critics praise the novel for... Read When the Sea Turned to Silver Summary
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, MD, is an inspirational advice book on how people and businesses can respond to changing times and situations by learning how to adapt quickly and successfully. The book centers on a parable about two mice and two people who live in a maze and search for cheese—the things each wants in life—and what happens when the cheese they’ve been enjoying disappears. First published in 1998, the book proved... Read Who Moved My Cheese? Summary
Wintergirls is a young-adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson published in 2009 by Penguin Books. Wintergirls is the winner of the 2010 Milwaukee County Teen Book Award and has received several other award nominations. Wintergirls follows the mental health journey of Lia Overbrook as she attempts recovery from anorexia, depression, and other mental health issues. Lia spends the weeks during Thanksgiving and Christmas struggling to gain closure over her former best friend Cassie’s death. Lia... Read Wintergirls Summary
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a horror fiction novel by Max Brooks published in 2006. The book was a critical and commercial success, generally receiving positive reviews and spending several weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. It has sold millions of copies around the world and was subsequently turned into a successful movie starring Brad Pitt, released in 2013, and a highly rated video game, released in... Read World War Z Summary
Jerry Spinelli’s 1997 Wringer is a middle-grade novel intended for a young adult (YA) audience.This study guide uses the 1997 HarperCollins edition.Plot SummaryPalmer LaRue is young boy living in the small town of Waymer, the home of Family Fest. Family Fest is a week of fun, games, and fried food, but the event culminates with the mass shooting of 5,000 pigeons. Shooters pay to kill the birds and the money pays for the town’s park... Read Wringer Summary
Year of Wonders (2001) is a historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks, tracing the 1666 outbreak of the bubonic plague in the English town of Eyam. When the town’s zealous rector, Michael Mompellion, and the community submit to a voluntary quarantine, young widow Anna Frith serves with the rector and his wife Elinor to minister to the townsfolk as the plague wreaks havoc. Through the eyes of 18-year-old Anna, the novel explores what happens when... Read Year of Wonders Summary
