Give YA Something to Think About

Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. Tor, 1991.

Earth's Military leaders train children in a last ditch effort to defeat an intergalactic enemy.  Is Ender Wiggins the boy genius who can save the world?

Cofer, Judith Ortiz. An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio. New York : Puffin Books, 1996.

12 short stories about Puerto Rican teens.

Titles: "Day in the barrio, Bad influence, Arturo's flight, Beauty lessons, Catch the moon, An hour with Abuelo, The one who watches, Matoa's mirror, Don Jose of La Mancha, Abuela invents the zero, A job for Valentin, Home to El Building, and White balloons"

Crutcher, Chris. Ironman. Greenwillow, 1995.

Bo Brewster is training for the Ironman Triathlon. He tells a teacher off and ends up in an anger-management class run by a Japanese-American cowboy. Bo finds new challenges and some unlikely new friends.

Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. Greenwillow, 2001.

An independent thinking high school senior starts a swim team for the school outcasts.

Farmer, Nancy. House of the Scorpions. New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2002. 0689852223

Action packed book filled with things to think about like human cloning.

Gold, Alison Leslie. A special fate : Chiune Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust / Alison Leslie Gold. New York : Scholastic Press, 2000.

This Japanese diplomat saved thousands of Jews by giving them visas in the early days of WWII.

Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.

Who gives a hoot about tiny burrowing owls in Florida ? Find out in this fast paced story about Roy, Beatrice, and a boy with no name.

Lowry, Lois. The Giver / Lois Lowry. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1993. 0395645662

What would you give up in exchange for living in a "perfect" society? The Giver is part 1 of a trilogy.

• Lowry, Lois. Gathering Blue / Lois Lowry. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 0618055819
• Lowry, Lois. The Messenger / Lois Lowry. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2004. 0618404414

Mackall, Dandi Daley. Winnie the Horse Gentler: Wild Thing. Tyndale. 2002.

Winnie is crazy about horses and she has a gift for calming wild ones. Winnie has a lot to think about as she is also dealing with the death of her mother and a crisis of faith.

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. Harper Collins Publishers, 1999.

Is Steve Harmon guilty of murder or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Already read it? You might like Walter Dean Myers' Fallen Angels about a soldier in the Vietnam War.

Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.

Stargirl, with a name like that, she would have to be an original and she is. No one at Mica High has ever met anyone so non-conformist. Stargirl sings happy birthday to students in the cafeteria while playing her ukulele. She drops money on the sidewalk for little kids to find. She cheers for BOTH teams at school sports tournaments. Can anyone so selfless and caring survive the pressure to conform? Will her individuality be squashed or will the town of Mica , Arizona never be the same?

Already read it? You might like Jerry Spinelli's latest book called Loser (New York : Joanna Cotler Books, 2002. 0060004835)

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Make Lemonade. Scholastic, 1994, c1993.

What is it like to be an inner-city single mother? What's it like to baby sit for that mother so you can earn money for college? A quick read that gives you a lot to think about.

Already read it? Read what happens next: Wolff , Virginia Euwer. True Believer, 2001. See what happens next.

Yumoto, Kazumi. Natsu no niwa. English The friends / Kazumi Yumoto ; translated by Cathy Hirano. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996. Ages 9-13.

Three 6th grade boys learn about death and friendship one summer when they spy on an old man thinking he might die any day. Japanese title means Summer Garden.