National Reading Group Month

This novel by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely tells the story of Rashad and Quinn, two teenagers whose lives are changed after an incident of police brutality divides their community.

Layla Amin thinks of herself as a typical American teenager. But when Muslim-Americans like Layla and her family are forcibly relocated to internment camps, the seventeen-year-old decides to fight for her freedom.

Bryan Stevenson details his experiences as a defense attorney, focusing on the case of Walter McMillian, who insisted on his innocence even after he was sentenced to the death penalty. This book provides an eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at how the criminal justice system works — or doesn't.

After a fight with her best friend, Miranda starts receiving mysterious letters from a person who can predict the future — and who warns Miranda that someone is going to die.

Three young refugees — a Jewish boy fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939, a Cuban girl suffering under the Castro regime in 1994, and a Muslim boy trying to escape war-torn Syria in 2015 — make desperate journeys in search of freedom and safety.

In this memoir Jeannette Walls recounts a turbulent childhood with her eccentric and dysfunctional family.

Colson Whitehead's novel follows Cora, an enslaved woman, as she travels north in search of freedom. Infused with a hint of magical realism, this harrowing and groundbreaking book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

In this historical novel-in-verse, German teenager Sophie Scholl joins a secret resistance group called the White Rose in order to oppose the Nazi regime.

Is the world worth saving? That's the question Henry Denton must answer when aliens give him the power to save—or destroy—the planet. Learn these words from the novel by Shaun David Hutchinson.

This biography immortalizes a woman whose cancerous cells contributed to medical breakthroughs around the world.

Laura Hillenbrand recounts the tumultuous and amazingly true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who, after surviving 40 days adrift at sea, became a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II.

Stargirl Caraway lives life on her own terms, but when she moves to a new town her unique personality rubs others the wrong way. As the school year goes on, Stargirl is torn between staying true to herself and fitting in.

Liesel Meminger is a foster child living in Nazi Germany in 1939. Surrounded by violence, hardship, and war, Liesel is watched over by Death, who narrates her story.

Citra and Rowan live in a society in which all natural causes of death have been eliminated. The two teenagers are recruited to be "scythes," people who administer death in order to cull the population.

Marie-Laure is a blind French girl who flees the Nazi occupation of Paris. Werner Pfennig is a young orphan living in a German mining town. In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, their lives intertwine in unexpected ways as they try to survive the havoc of war.

Twelve-year-old Shayla doesn't like to make waves—but as she navigates middle school and educates herself about prejudice in her community, she learns that sometimes it's good to cause a little trouble.

When bombs go off at their school, seven students are trapped inside. As they struggle to survive, they learn that one of their own is the bomber.

Spanning three decades, this novel tells the story of the Prices, a missionary family that settles in the Belgian Congo in the late 1950s.

In this novel-in-verse, Will spends a sixty-second elevator ride weighing whether or not he should avenge his brother's death. Learn these words from Jason Reynolds's innovative and powerful exploration of gun violence.

Growing up in a traditional Indian village, Koly expects to enter into an arranged marriage at a young age. But Koly's husband and his family are not what they seemed, and she must forge a new path to independence.

Two children, both named Wes Moore, grew up in similar circumstances in Baltimore, but one ended up in prison while the other won a Rhodes Scholarship and became a respected business leader. In this book, author Wes Moore explores the challenges and choices that led him and the other Wes Moore to have two radically different fates.

In Nic Stone's unflinching exploration of racism, high school student Justyce McAllister writes letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in order to process the violence and prejudice he encounters in his community.

In this companion novel to Dear Martin, a teenager in a juvenile detention center tries to make sense of his life by writing letters to an old friend.

This bestselling book traces the history of racist ideas and racial injustice in the United States.

A Japanese-American boy and a French girl become unlikely pen pals during World War II.

A sixth-grader and an elderly woman discover they have something in common — years of moving from one foster family to another.

In this dystopian novella, a young man rebels against his conformist society.

When Lincoln begins attending a new school, he must play basketball against his old teammates.

In this graphic novel, which draws on the author's family history, a teenage girl is transported back in time to a World War II incarceration camp for Japanese Americans.

Meena and River, twelve-year-olds from very different backgrounds, become pen pals.

Told in the form of journal entries and a screenplay, this novel tells the story of a teenager on trial for murder. 1999 HarperCollins edition.

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, seventeen-year-old Muir moves in with a family that challenges her fiercely guarded independence.

Based on a real-life events, this novel tells the story of Dita Kraus, who secretly ran a small lending library while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.

Inspired by historical events, this novel explores tensions between a 19th-century community of deaf islanders and an ambitious scientist.

When a technological miracle allows Jamal's best friend, Q, to be brought back to life for a few weeks, Jamal must decide whether to tell Q the truth about what happened to him.

Tracy, a seventeen-year-old living in Texas, tries to prove that her father and brother are innocent of the crimes of which they've been accused.

In this memoir, co-written by Ryan Estrada and illustrated by Ko Hyung-Jo, Kim Hyun Sook recounts her years as a student activist in South Korea.

Noor and Sal — two Pakistani American teenagers living in a small town — are falling in love as they struggle with difficult family issues.

Following a wave of antisemitic attacks, fifteen-year-old Orthodox Jew Hoodie Rosen faces the ire of his family and community when he falls in love with a non-Jewish girl.

Trained to be a Ladybird Scout, sixteen-year-old Prudence Perry is expected to carry on her family's legacy of hunting interdimensional parasites that are drawn to human emotions.

After Earth is destroyed by a comet, twelve-year-old Petra Peña wakes up on a new planet and discovers she is the only one who remembers Earth. She must use her stories and her wits to save humanity's legacy.

After a plague of dreamlessness spreads across North America, seventeen-year-old Frenchie is captured so the Canadian government can harvest his bone marrow as a cure. Frenchie must find a way to escape and reunite with his found family.

Eighth-grader Molly is fed up with her school's unfair dress code policy, so she starts a podcast to protest it, sparking a rebellion.

Seventeen-year-old aspiring journalist Safiya Mirza comes across a dead body in a Chicago park. Because it belonged to another Muslim teenager, the haunting sight guides her to uncover the truths behind the murder of Jawad Ali.

High school cheerleaders Eleanor and Chanel face a tumultuous senior year after their decision to kneel during the national anthem at the first football game of the season.

Running away from the slave-owning Southerland Plantation, twelve-year-old Homer and his seven-year-old sister Ada head to the swamp, where they find some unexpected help.

When seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson moves from Washington, D.C. to a small town in Georgia, she encounters conflicts linked to painful family secrets.

In this true crime book, David Grann investigates the murders of members of Osage Nation in the 1920s.

Twelve-year-old Summer learns of her grandfather's traumatic childhood suffering because of his indigenous (Cree) heritage. Her family's present happiness and unity within their native community in Alberta, Canada, is a beautiful lesson in resilience, honor, and the healing power of love.

In this novel in verse, Syrian American Kareem struggles to fit in and make his middle school football team during a time of difficulty for his family.

In this novel in verse, 13-year-old Jake struggles with anorexia and learns to understand his own worth during treatment at a residential facility.