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September
2007 features
books and links about
Back to School |
September features a variety of fiction that
highlight students in the story.
All
loves excelling
by Josiah Bunting III
F Bun
A former headmaster of the prestigious Lawrenceville School, near
Princeton, New Jersey, tells with an insider's authenticity the
poignant story of the fierce competition for admission to select
colleges—and the havoc the resulting stresses can wreak on one
teenager and her ambitious family.
One Mississippi
by Mark Childress
F Chi
Struggling with his outsider status after moving to a small
Mississippi town at the beginning of his junior year, 1970s teen
Daniel Musgrove befriends fellow misfit Tim and becomes embroiled in a
devastating chain of events following a car accident.
Hey Nostradamus!
by Douglas Coupland
F Cou
Pregnant and secretly married, Cheryl Anway scribbles what becomes her
last will and testament on a school binder shortly before a rampaging
trio of misfit classmates gun her down in a high school cafeteria.
Overrun with paranoia, teenage angst, and religious zeal in the
massacre's wake, the sleepy suburban neighborhood declares its saints,
brands its demons, and moves on. But for a handful of people still
reeling from that horrific day, life remains permanently derailed:
Cheryl, who calmly narrates her own death; Jason, the boy no one knew
was her husband, still marooned ten years later by his loss; Heather,
the woman trying to love the shattered Jason; and Jason's father, Reg,
whose rigid religiosity has separated him from nearly everyone he
loves.
Gentlemen
and players
by Joanne Harris
F Har
As the new term gets under way at the elite St. Oswald's School for
Boys, a number of increasingly devastating incidents occurs, leaving
the unraveling school in the hands of the only person who can save it,
long-time eccentric Classics teacher Roy Straitley.
Pay
it forward
by Catherine Ryan Hyde
F Hyde
A wondrous and moving story about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old
boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his
teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up
with a plan to change the world for the better--and to put that plan
into action.
The
moth diaries
Rachel Klein
F Kle
At an exclusive girls' boarding school, a sixteen-year-old girl
records her most intimate thoughts in a diary. The object of her
growing obsession is her roommate, Lucy Blake, and Lucy's friendship
with their new and disturbing classmate. Ernessa is an enigmatic,
moody presence with pale skin and hypnotic eyes. Around her swirl dark
rumors, suspicions, and secrets as well as a series of ominous
disasters. As fear spreads through the school and Lucy isn't Lucy
anymore, fantasy and reality mingle.
Too far
by Mike Lupica
F Lup
A student on the local high school paper enlists the aid of city
journalist Ben Mitchell to uncover the truth about the school's
championship basketball team when rumors begin to circulate about
violent hazing rituals at a team retreat.
Schooling
by Heather McGowan
F McG
Catrine Evans is a thirteen-year-old American sent to an English
boarding school after her mother dies of cancer. Thrown into a strange
environment of dubious educational value, she shows us her world in an
unstoppable stream of thoughts and feelings.
School days
by Robert B. Parker
F Par (Mysteries)
Lily Ellsworth, grande dame of Dowling, Massachusetts, hires Spenser
to investigate her grandson Jared Clark's alleged involvement in a
school shooting. Though seven people were killed in cold blood, and
despite Jared's being named as a co-conspirator by the other shooter,
Mrs. Ellsworth is convinced of her grandson's innocence. Jared's
parents are resigned to his fate, and the boy himself doesn't seem to
care whether he goes to prison for a crime he may not have committed.
As the probe goes on, Spenser finds himself up against a number of
roadblocks, from the school officials who don't want him asking
questions, to Jared's own parents, who are completely indifferent to
the boy's defense. Ultimately, Spenser discovers a web of blackmail
and some heavy-duty indiscretions, and a truth too disturbing to
contemplate.
Special topics in calamity physics
by Marisha Pessl
F Pes (Mysteries)
Having moved from one academic outpost to another throughout her
childhood, Blue van Meer attends the elite St. Gallway School in her
senior year, where the deaths of a teacher and student awaken her
analytical instincts.
Nineteen minutes
by Jodi Picoult
F Pic
In the aftermath of a small-town school shooting, lawyer Jordan McAfee
finds himself defending a youth who desperately needs someone on his
side, while detective Patrick DuCharme works with a primary witness in
the daughter of the judge assigned to the case.
Vernon God Little
by D.B.C. Pierre
F Pie
Fifteen-year-old Vernon Little sits in the Martirio, Texas jail, and
he's in trouble. His friend Jesus has just blown away sixteen of his
classmates before turning the gun on himself. Vernon, as his only
buddy, has become the center of attention for the ensuing media
circus. Eulalio Ledesma, in particular, begins manipulating matters so
that Vernon becomes the focus for the biarre and vengeful impulses of
the townspeople.
Prep
by Curtis Sittenfeld
F Sit
Lee Fiora is an intelligent fourteen-year-old when her father drops
her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in
Massachusetts, leaving behind her animated, affectionate family in
South Bend, Indiana. Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive
teenagers who spend summers in Nantucket and speak in their own clever
shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee
becomes a shrewd observer of--and eventually a participant in--their
rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like
an outsider and is drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time
she's a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault.
But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn,
her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.
The sacrifice
by Robert Whitlow
F Whi
Attorney Scott Ellis has returned home to Catawba, North Carolina,
where he agrees to defend Lester Garrison, a teenage racist charged
with firing upon an African American congregation. Determined to make
his mark in the unpopular case, Scott throws himself totally into
building a defense. Scott also volunteers as the advisor for a mock
trial team at Catawba High School. To his surprise, the team sponsor
is a teacher with a familiar face--Kay Wilson, the girl of Scott's
high school dreams. Should he pursue a relationship with Kay or forget
is rekindled feelings? The darkness in Lester Garrison's eyes is not
the only evil Scott faces. Frank Jesup, a student on the mock trial
team, has his own problems threatening to explode.
Orphans
of chaos
by John C. Wright
F Wri (Science Fiction)
For Amelia and her friends, the strict English boarding school they
live in is all they have ever known. The sprawling estate, bordered by
unknown territory on all four sides, is both orphanage, academy, and
prison. The school has a large staff, but only five students, none of
whom know their real names or even how old they are. Precocious and
rebellious, all five teenagers are more than just prodigies. Amelia
can see in four dimensions. Victor can control the molecular
arrangement of matter. Vanity can find secret passageways where none
existed before. Colin is a psychic. Quentin is a warlock. And, as time
goes by, they're starting to suspect that none of them are entirely
human.
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