This is the biography of the rise and fall of the notorious Benedict Arnold. Arnold is known for being a traitor, but this informational novel brings his side of the story to life, by telling a compelling story instead of just listing facts about his life. Arnold's early life was marked by tragedy, death, and destitution. Eventually he joined the Continental Army, wins many vital battles during the American Revolution, and is appointed general by George Washington. Arnold was a military genius and created the first American Naval Fleet. This biography analyzes many of Benedict Arnold's letters, both written and received, and the reader experiences the infighting and financial ruin that eventually results in his historic betrayal and fall from grace.
This biography would be best paired while teaching students about the American Revolution, and is for grades 7 and up.
Sheinkin, S. (2010). The notorious Benedict Arnold. New York: Macmillian.
Lesson plans
Teaching resources
In this science fiction novel, Austin Szerba is a hormonal and sexually fluid teenager in a small Iowa town. He has a girlfriend, but may also be in love with his best friend Robby. One day, the three of them are hanging out when they are attacked by Gran Wallace and his gang. One thing leads to another, and the group accidentally releases a plague that turns people into gigantic praying mantises with insatiable appetites for food and mating. Austin, Robby, and his girlfriend Shann find a bunker hidden underneath a silo. There they find out the origin of the plague, and equipment to survive. They figure out that the plague was caused partially by Robby's blood, and therefore his blood is needed to end the plague. They use Robby's blood to kill the bugs with paint balls, but are too late to save the town. Throughout the book Austin is sexually attracted to both Robby and Shann, and is as overtly sexual as the praying mantises. In the end Austin has a child with Shann, but partners with Robby in their post-apocalyptic world. This novel starts out as realistic fiction, and smoothly transitions to science fiction. Best for grades 9 and up for substance abuse and extreme sexuality.
Smith, A. (2014). Grasshopper jungle. New York: Dutton.
Book trailer
In this realistic fiction novel Miles Halter is a sixteen year old nicknamed "Pudge" that leaves his home in Florida to attend the boarding school his father went to in Alabama. Pudge has no problem leaving his life behind because he had no friends and is seeking his "great perhaps." Once at school, Pudge is accepted by a group of pranksters and his roommate Chip introduces him to the wonderful Alaska Young. Alaska is a young self-destructive feminist that all the boys fall in love with, especially Pudge. As the year progresses, Pudge is introduced to smoking, drinking, and his first girlfriend. Suddenly Alaska is dead. Pudge and his friends begin to question everything, trying to figure out if it was an accident or if Alaska committed suicide. In the process Pudge and his friends begin to deal with the loss of their friend and process through their feelings of grief.
Grades 9 and up.
Green, J. (2005). Looking for
Alaska: A novel. New York: Dutton Children's Books.
Book trailer
Educator's Guide
Cassie is your typical teenager until the Others show up. For ten days everyone on Earth can see an alien ship hovering above the planet, but no one knows what they want. Then it happens, all mechanical objects stop working while Cassie is at school. Next comes the 2nd wave, tsunamis that take out billions of people. The 3rd wave is the Red Death, that pretty much kills the majority of Earth's survivors in a gruesome way. Cassie's mom dies from the plague, but Cassie's father dies in the 4th wave, when They release Silencers into the wild to gun down survivors. Now Cassie is facing the 5th wave, when the Others take over human bodies and no one can tell the difference between Them and legitimate humans; so you trust no one to stay alive. Now Cassie battles the 5th wave as she attempts to keep a promise to her little brother, and hopes she can find him still alive. The ending leaves several loose threads, so look forward to the sequel. The 5th Wave is science fiction and best for grades 9 and up.
Yancey, R. (2015). The 5th Wave. New York: Speak.
Book trailer
Cath and her twin sister Wren both grew up as huge Simon Snow fans. But Wren is growing up and becoming more independent and informs Cath that when they go off to college, Wren no longer wants to be roommates. While Wren is outgoing and begins to party and drink, Cath is more introverted and would rather stay in her dorm room and write Simon Snow fan fiction. Cath's roommate Reagan has an ex-boyfriend named Levi, that Cath falls for. Cath has a rocky first semester at college when her father has a breakdown, her sister gets alcohol poisoning, and Levi breaks her heart. But Cath comes back stronger during her next college semester, and finds her inner voice in her writing. She finally lets go of her past and her Simon Snow obsessions, and moves on with her life and Levi's love. Fangirl is realistic fiction about a coming of age, first love story geared towards grades 9 and up.
Rowell, R. (2013). Fangirl. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.
Book trailer
Billy Bloom is being sent to live with his father in Florida during his senior year of high school to attend a private school because his mother can no longer deal with him. Billy wants to fit in at his new school, but he has a penchant for being fabulous that makes it nearly impossible. Billy shows up to school in his most manly pirate outfit, but soon notices everyone at school is very conservative, straight, and mostly white. Billy is picked on, and matters get worse when the teacher steps out of the classroom and Billy is beaten so badly that he is hospitalized. Billy's crush Flip is a hunky football player, and he begins to visit Billy in the hospital. Billy realizes that the kids at school do not like people that are different, and decides the only way to change things is to nominate himself and run for Homecoming Queen. Billy is so outrageous in his campaign to become Homecoming Queen, that he makes the news and starts to win over some of his fellow students with his antics. In the end he does not get enough votes to win, but despite this, the gender-fluid teen has made his mark at his new school by accepting who he is and moving bravely forward.
For grades 9 and up.
St. James, J. (2007). Freak show. New York: Dutton.
In this historical fiction novel, Julie (code name Verity) is a Scottish aristocrat and a special agent translator who is captured by the Nazi regime. In jail, she is tortured and forced to write down everything she knows about about the airplanes, airfields, and codes of the British forces. She tells the story of how she met her best friend Maddie, who found a way to become a female pilot and flew the plane that dropped Julie off in occupied France before she was captured and Maddie's plane crashed. Maddie is found and hidden by French resistance forces. When she hears that Julie is still alive Maddie attempts to help rescue her from the Nazis. During the rescue attempt, things go awry and Maddie hears Julie use specific code words which ask Maddie to shoot her. Maddie heartbreakingly does as she is asked, because she knows Julie is suffering and does not want to reveal anything else to the Nazis.
Grades 9 and up.
Weins, E. (2012). Code name Verity. New York, NY: Hyperion.
Lesson plans
Book trailer
Shiver is a supernatural romance novel that is told from the perspectives of both Grace and her werewolf soulmate, Sam. Grace likes to be near the woods in her backyard and watch the wolves every winter. When she is nine, a wolf with yellow eyes saves her from being attacked by the other wolves. Every winter after that, Grace looks in the woods for her yellow-eyed wolf. When a local teen is killed by wolves, the townspeople form a hunting party. Grace runs into the woods to try to save her yellow-eyed wolf, when she comes across a wounded boy on her back porch with eyes that remind her of her wolf. Grace realizes this boy is her wolf in human form, and tends his wounds while trying to help him from reverting back into a wolf. Grace and Sam fall in love, but both know that Sam will return to wolf form with the approach of winter. When others in town are attacked, Sam and Grace find out the teenager that was killed by wolves is responsible, and now a wolf himself. They team up with his sister and try to find a cure. The story ends with a happy ending, as Sam is cured, and Grace and he can finally be together.
For grades 9 and up.
Stiefvater, M. (2009). Shiver. New York: Scholastic Press.
Book trailer
Discussion points
In this historical fiction novel, Death himself narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living Nazi Germany in 1939. Liesel is mourning the death of her little brother, and her new foster mother is full of thunder, while her foster father attempts to gain her trust. Liesel begins attending school and befriends a neighborhood boy named Rudy. Liesel's foster father begins to teach her to read, and Liesel begins stealing books to keep up with her new reading habit. Soon her foster parents begin hiding an ailing young Jewish man, Max, in their basement, whom Liesel befriends. When things get difficult, Max must flee and eventually is caught by the Nazi's. Liesel begins to write her story in a blank book, and is down in her basement writing when her street is heavily bombed. All of her friends and loved ones die in the bombing, but Liesel survives and is eventually reunited with Max years later. The Book Thief is for grades 9 and up, as it contains violence and death while it offers a unique look inside Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
Zusak, M. (2006). The book thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Teaching Resources
Teaching Resources 2
Lesson ideas
Gabi Hernandez is a sixteen year old teenager, finishing up her senior year of high school, and chronicling it all in her diary. Gabby deals with personal issues like her weight gain, her traditional Hispanic mother, and her drug-addicted absentee father. Gabby's support system are her two best friends, Cindy and Sebastian. Cindy has recently turned up pregnant at school, and Sebastian has come out as gay to his family and is kicked out of his house. Gabi is a highly relatable character for any teenager and especially to Hispanic teens. As the story progresses, Gabi learns that she enjoys writing poetry, and would like to go off to college. When Gabi is accepted to her dream college, she must figure out if will go, or stay behind with her family as is her cultural norm.
Grades 9 and up.
Quintero, I. (2014). Gabi: A girl in pieces. TX: Cinco Puntos.
Teacher's Guide
Book trailer
In this futuristic dystopian novel, Todd is an orphan and the only boy in a town of men called Prentisstown. There are no women in Todd's town, and all the men in town can hear each others' thoughts, called the "noise." The rising action begins when Todd is in the forest with his dog, and discover a silence in the noise. Todd has to keep this silence a secret, as it is caused by a girl. Todd flees his town, and begins a terrified journey with the girl, Viola, as an army from Prentisstown pursues them led by a preacher named Aaron. Along their journey Todd learns that the Prentisstown men killed all of their women, and were outcast because of it. Nothing is as Todd thought it was, and was raised to believe. Viola ends up killing the Preacher Aaron who has been chasing them the entire time, and just as Todd and Viola finally reach the city Haven, they are confronted with the mayor of Prentisstown, who is now calling himself President Prentiss. The story is continued in the following novel.
Grades 9 and up.
Ness, P. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
Lesson plan
Book trailer
This realistic fiction novel is told in first person by Kier Sarafian, a popular high school football player who sees himself as a good guy. As senior year progresses, Kier begins to abuse alcohol, drugs, vandalizes public property and becomes destructive. But Kier does not think he has any issues. After Kier spends a night with his childhood friend Gigi in a dorm room on his sister's college campus, Kier does not understand why Gigi is upset afterwards and will not talk to him. Keir is in denial about what happened between them that night. Gigi says Keir raped her, but Kier does not believe that is what happened. Keir's memory is fuzzy due to his substance abuse. As the book progresses, the reader realizes Kier's account of what happened that night is being mansplained, and he truly is the monster Gigi says he is. If Kier did not intentionally rape Gigi, is he ultimately redeemable?
Grades 9 and up.
Lynch, C. (2005). Inexcusable. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Book trailer
Every summer, privileged Cadence Sinclair Eastman and her family members gather on their own private island off the coast of Cape Cod. Summers are filled with lemonade and games of scrabble, while their mothers argue about their future inheritance. Cadence is introduced to Gat, and quickly falls in love with him despite the fact that he an "Idian boy" and not accepted by her family. Together with two cousins, Cadence and Gat form a group called the liars. The next summer when Cadence is fifteen, Gat breaks her heart, her grandmother dies, and her parents split up. She also suffers from a mysterious accident that causes Cadence to lose her memory and suffer from migraines. Cadence can not understand why her "liars" are no longer answering their phones. She is prescribed heavy painkillers by the doctor for her migraines, and doesn't return to the island until for another two summers. Once there, with the help of the "liars," Cadence is able to remember that her mother and aunts were fighting over their inheritance. Cadence and her group decided to burn the house down so there was nothing left to fight over, and Cadence ends up being the only one to survive. Cadence realizes that her liars are all ghosts that she has been talking to, and she is now ready to let them move on to the afterlife.
Readers will enjoy the mystery and intrigue in this realistic fiction novel, as Cadence tries to remember what happened to her and piece her life back together.
Grades 9 & up.
Lockhart, E. (2014). We were liars. New York: Delacorte.
Book trailer
Study guide
In this first person narrative, we are introduced to Doug Hanson, a 17-year-old boy that only cares about two things, his railroad, the Madham Line, and his best friend Andy. Doug is viewed as a creep by the other kids, and Andy is a football star. Doug is psychologically unhinged, and like some people with mental illness, he believes he is fine and that it is others that have a problem. Doug is beat up after school, stalks his crush, and refuses to talk about an incident that happened a few years back at the Tuttle place, for which he sees a therapist and is strongly medicated. After calling in a bomb threat at school, Doug is kicked out and it is revealed that he is no longer taking his medication. While speaking with a psychiatrist, Doug recounts the moment when he and Andy started a fire in an abandoned house, which ended up taking the life of Andy. However, Doug still believes Andy is with him, and doesn't realize it is only in his head. Afterwards, Doug sets fire to his train and the town of Madham, and his basement burns down. Doug then claims to be in the Madham burn unit, with Andy by his side, but the reader is unsure whether Doug survived the fire or is in a mental institution. This realistic fiction novel covers mental illness and makes readers question whether a narrator's point of view can be trusted.
Grades 7 and up.
Hautman, P. (2005). Invisible. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Discussion module
The Living is a riveting, modern, realistic fiction novel of survival. Shy Espinoza is working a summer job on a cruise ship when a huge earthquake hits the west coast and sends several tsunami waves across the US, destroying the ship Shy is on. Shy is left in a life raft in the middle of the ocean, trying to survive in shark-infested waters. Once he makes it to a remote island, Shy begins to realize that the illness that killed his grandmother was created in a laboratory and has now been released into a populace that is trying to recover from natural disasters. This novel tackles class derision, global disasters, and romance wrapped up in a survival story led by an inconspicuous hero.
Grades 9 and up.
De la Peña, M. (2015). The living. New York: Ember.
Book trailer
Liza is a senior at Foster Academy, a private school where she is president of student council. One day she meets Annie, a student at the local public school with a beautiful voice, at a local museum. As the two begin to spend more time together, Liza begins to question her feelings for Annie, as they continue to grow beyond friendship. Annie confesses to Liza that she is gay, and Liza is confronted with her own questions regarding her sexuality and her love for Annie. When Liza is left to pet sit for her lesbian teachers, Liza and Annie play house and are discovered after they make love by a teacher and student that attend Liza's school. Liza faces some serious ramifications by her school board, and her teachers are fired. Liza must now confront her sexuality and her feelings for Annie as they go off to college. Liza eventually decides to keep loving Annie, and the two reconnect. Annie On My Mind is realistic fiction best for grades 7 and up.
Garden, N. (1982). Annie on my mind. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Book trailer
Eric Calhoune has always been friends with Sarah Brynes because they both share a commonality - they are outcasts. Eric is severely overweight, and Sarah is disfigured and burned due to a childhood accident. Sarah is the toughest person Eric knows. One day Sarah stops talking and responding right in the middle of class, and is taken and admitted to a mental hospital. Eric does his best to keep their friendship together by visiting Sarah every day while balancing school and swim team. Eric wants to help figure out why Sarah won't speak, and eventually uncovers that Sarah's own father was behind her childhood scars. Eric ends up in a clash against Sarah's father, who evades authorities, and is ultimately caught by Eric's mother's "wimpy" boyfriend who turns out to be a Vietnam Special Ops veteran.
This books is realistic fiction and covers topics of friendship, abortion, religion, suicide, and shame. Best for grades 7 and up.
Crutcher, C. (1993). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Teacher resources
Lesson plan
Jerry is a freshman at an all-boy prep school, Trinity. Archie, the leader of the school gang, the Vigils, tells Jerry to boycott selling chocolate for the school fundraiser for 10 days. Jerry decides to continue his boycott in retaliation against the Vigils, and begins to inspire other students to do the same. The Vigils start harassing Jerry, calling his house and beating him up after football practice. Archie even sets up a boxing match between Jerry and the violent school thug, Emile Janza. Jerry tries to win the fight, but ultimately fails and has to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. At the end of the novel, Archie is not punished for his actions, and Jerry decides it is best not to disturb the universe by testing authority, because it is not worth it. This novel is realistic fiction and can be used for discussing bullying and peer pressure in school. Best for grades 9 and up.
Cormier, R. (1974). The chocolate war: A novel. New York: Delacorte.
Lesson plans
Book trailer
For grades 9 and up, a graphic novel biography that examines the life of the famous "giant" wrestler, Andre the Giant. Andre Roussimoff was born in France in 1946. He suffered from
acromegaly, a rare syndrome where his body generated excessive growth hormone and caused him to grow to over 7 ft. tall. As a child Andre was ridiculed, and as an adult, he fought to be taken more seriously. Andre eventually becomes a wrestler, and builds his career as he becomes more famous and travels around the world. Yet despite his fame and fortune, Andre seems to feel he is still lacking something, and attempts to make up for it by overindulging in food and liquor, knowing that his condition is deteriorating due to his disability. Multiple wrestlers and co-stars were interviewed to create this biography, which is intended for grades 9 and up.
Brown, B. (2014). Andre the Giant: Life and legend. First Second.
Book trailer
