Ms. Kaster's Library

Banned Books Week

2010-10-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Banned Books Week September 25-October 10, 2010
Celebrating Your Freedom to Read

Gone by Michael Grant

2009-11-05T13:19:00.001-08:00

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents - unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers - that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...
"Book Synopsis"

Michael Grant weaves a wonderful tale that will have you hooked from the first page.

Finding the Time to Read

2009-11-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

This year my hectic schedule has left me little time for reading. My goal is to find a few minutes everyday to read and make book tests for the students. I really enjoy loosing myself in a good book and that is part of my problem. Once I start reading I do not want to stop until I have finished the book.

2009-09-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank Pam Buessing and Deb Fischer for their generous donation of books to our library. We have a wonderful selection of books for our students thanks to all of the donations we have received.

Books Donated by Pam Buessing and Deb Fischer
Between the Tides
Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure
The Choice
The Color of Water
Covenant Child
Cross Country
Easy Kanji
Help Yourself
His Name is Ron
Hope Rising
The Hundred Brothers
I am a Soldier, Too
If my Father Loved Me
The Last Storyteller
The Last Summer
Longitudes and Attitudes
Memories of Anne Frank
Milkweed
Mistaken Identity
Mornings on Horseback
Mrs. Dalloway
Petey
Promises to Keep
Remember Me
Saddam: The Face of Evil
Standing Tall
The Thirteenth Tale
The Violent Bear it Away
Wenny has Wings

Fitness DVDs Added to Library

2009-09-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to funding from the PEP grant we have added fitness DVDs to the library. The following DVDs are now available for checkout.

P90X: Extreme Home Fitness
Pilates: MTV
Pilates for Beginners
Power 90: Fat Burning System
Power 90: Sculpt and Sweat 1-4 & Ab Rippers
Power Yoga: MTV
Power Yoga: Total Body
Punch, Kick, & Jam: Turbo Jam
Scoring Without the Ball: Better Basketball
Slim in 6
Taebo Cardio Circuit 2
Taebo Get Celebrity Fit
The Biggest Loser the Workout 2
Total Body Workout: Bosu Balance Trainer
Ultimate Taebo
Yoga Express Workout: The Firm
10 Minute Trainer: Total Body, Lower Body, and Abs
5 Rocking Workouts
Better 1 on 1 Defense: Better Basketball
Better 1 on 1 Offense: Better Basketball
American Gladiators: Ultimate Workout
Better Ball Handling: Better Basketball
Better Passing: Better Basketball
Better Post Play: Better Basketball
Better Shooting 2: Better Basketball
Bosu Balance Trainer
Bosu Cardio Fusion
Bosu Equilibrium
Bosu Reactive Strength and Power
Bosu Strength and Athletic Conditioning
Bosu Total Sports and Conditioning
Cardio Burn Sculpt
Cardio Core Express
Cardio Dance Blast
Christy Lane's Complete Guide to Party Dances
Darrin's Dance Grooves
Great Body
Hip Hop Abs: Fat Burning Cardio, Ab Sculpt, and Total Workout
Hip Hop Abs: Hips, Buns, & Thighs
Hit the Spot Core Complete: Denise Austin

2009-08-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Synopsis
“Look, Mick,” he said, “you’re going to find out from somebody in the gym, so you might as well find out from me. Those supplements you’re taking? They might get you a little bigger, but just a little. If you’re after serious results, there’s other stuff that produces better results much faster, stuff that a lot of guys in the gym use.” “What other stuff?” “You know what I’m talking about—gym candy.”

Runningback Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking into the open, and running free with nothing but green grass ahead. He has dreams of winning and of being the best. But football is a cruel sport. It requires power, grace, speed, quickness, and knowledge of the game. It takes luck, too. One crazy bounce can turn a likely victory into sudden defeat. What elite athlete wouldn’t look for an edge? A way to make him bigger, stronger, faster?
This novel explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success under the always glaring—and often unforgiving—stadium lights.

Great book for reluctant readers.

2009-08-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Five lives were lost in a tragic accident involving a Taylor University van, and one young woman, severely injured and comatose, was rushed to the hospital. Families, faculty, students, and communities grieved their losses and joined in prayer and hope as the one young woman, Laura Van Ryn, fought for her life in a hospital bed. The national news spread the story, and people everywhere shared the grief and the hope.

Five weeks passed for the Cerak family. Believing they had buried their daughter, the Ceraks clung to their faith and worshipped God through their tears, learning to look forward with hope to an eternal reunion with their lovely daughter Whitney. They spent weeks in mourning and grief, slowly moving toward healing.

Five weeks passed for the Van Ryns. Keeping a constant bedside vigil over their precious daughter Laura, they sat and prayed and hoped. They rejoiced at each tiny advance toward recovery. They celebrated each sign of Laura's healing.

And then the shock! "Okay, Laura, I would like you to write your name for me," the occupationaltherapist said. W-H-I-T-N-E-Y.

An event that could be seen as pure tragedy becomes a celebration of life's unfathomable gifts and mysteries.

Warning: This book will move you to tears. You may not want to read it in class.
Many times when something like this happens we are quick to call our attorneys and seek revenge in whatever way possible. The families in this book remind us how faith, love, and compassion will get us through the hard times quicker than hate and revenge. A touching story that will stay with you long after you have read it.

Out of Captivity

2009-08-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Synopsis From the Publisher

On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American civilian contractors—Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom Howes—crash-landed in the mountainous jungle of Colombia. Dazed and shaken, they emerged from the plane bloodied and injured as gunfire rained down around them. As of that moment they were prisoners of the FARC, a Colombian terrorist and Marxist rebel organization. In an instant they had become American captives in Colombia's volatile and ongoing conflict, which has lasted for almost fifty years.

In Out of Captivity, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes recount for the first time their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and, ultimately, rescue, tracing their five and a half years as hostages of the FARC. Their story takes you inside one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, going behind enemy lines with vivid and haunting imagery. Their words conjure a reality that few people have ever encountered—from sleeping on beds literally carved out of the jungle to escaping Colombian military air strikes under the cover of darkness to being bound with steel chains by their captors. Describing backbreaking starvation marches and forced isolation, the authors chronicle their confrontations and interactions with the FARC guerrilla soldiers—a motley crew of brainwashed, idealistic teenagers and seasoned vet-erans who've been around long enough to realize that the only way out of the FARC is in a body bag.

Though the physical punishments their bodies endured were unrelenting, the psychological battles they waged were the ultimate test of their resolve. With candid detail, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes relate the perilousmental struggles they each experienced, as they grappled with feelings of guilt, fear, and anxiety for the families and lives they'd left behind. Exposing the transformative power of captivity, they show how they turned these fears into strengths, using their memories and their families, their pasts and their futures, to motivate them in their quest for survival.

Despite the odds and the conditions, despite the chains and the silence, and despite the often tense relationships they experienced with their fellow Colombian hostages, they had one another, forging a bond that allowed them to cope with the horrific conditions of their confinement. This brotherhood enabled them to persevere through the worst that the FARC threw at them while always reminding them of their ultimate goal: freedom.

A harrowing account of one of the longest civilian hostage crises in United States history, Out of Captivity is a remarkable and compelling exploration of how far three Americans were willing to go as they fought to stay alive for themselves, their families, and one another.

After watching this story on television last year I knew this was a book we had to get for the library. I was completely captivated by this story of survival in the Colombian Jungle. What these men endured with courage, strength, and dignity would have completely broken even the best of us.

New Books for the Library

2009-05-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of books that were sent to the Axtell High School Library from Meg Koch from Rockville Center, New York. The students will be excited to see all of the new books we will have for them next year. Everyone at Axtell High School would like to thank Ms. Koch for her generous donation.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Promises to Keep by Joe Biden

Invasion of the boy Snatchers by Lisi Harrison

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

Best Friends for Never by Lisi Harrison

The Pretty Committee Strikes Back by Lisi Harrison

Revenge of the Wannabes by Lisi Harrison

Sealed with a Diss by Lisi Harrison

Dial L for Loser by Lisi Harrison

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolf

The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O’Conner

The Last Summer by Ann Brashares

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

Longitudes and Attitudes by Thomas L. Friedman

Another Shipment Arrives

2009-04-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

It was so nice to find a package of books waiting for us from one of our friends in New York. This package of books came to us from Patricia Sullivan who works for Molloy College. So many really nice books were sent and the students are anxiously waiting for me to process the books so they can be checked out. We would like to thank her for these wonderful books and a thank you to Annette Kaster for paying the postage.
Here is a list of books that were sent to us.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Cell by Stephen King
Rose Madder by Stephen King
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Mary Mary by James Patterson
Violet are Blue by James Patterson
The Beach House by James Patterson
The 6th Target by James Patterson
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Tithe by Holly Black
Valant by Holly Black
Rachel’s Tears by Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Story of a Bad Boy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
They Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

First Shipment of Books Arrive

2009-04-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

Book Donations From Our New York Friends

2009-04-03T11:02:00.001-07:00

The library at Axtell High School has been truly blessed this year by our Guardian Angels located in New York. Thanks to Annette Kaster, Jean Brett-Leach, and the members of the RVC Beautification Committee, the Axtell High School will be receiving several shipments of new and gently used books over the next couple of months.

Why would people in New York help our small library? Annette, a cousin of our librarian, was visiting with Jean about the budget cuts we were facing in our school and talking about the fundraising we have done this year to raise money for library books. Jean decided to have a book drive for our school library and gave members of the RVC Beautification Committee the information. Now, because of these wonderful people, the only dilemma students may face when coming to the library is deciding which book to read first.

On April 1st we received our first shipment of books and students could hardly wait to start checking them out. This act of kindness is so greatly appreciated and we are so thankful for our New York Friends.

Following is a list of books that were sent to us in the first shipment of books from Chris Allers. Everyone at Axtell High School would like to thank Chris Allers for this kind gift.

Mercy by Jodi Picoult
Song of Susannah by Stephen King
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver(2 copies)
The Broker by John Grisham
The Stone Monkey by Jeffery Deaver
The Hunted by Andrew Neiderman
Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
The Brimstone Network by Tom Sniegoski
Cloudstreet By Tim Winton
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver
The Jester by James Patterson
Violets are Blue by James Patterson (2 copies)
The Two Dead Girls by Stephen King
The Partner by John Grisham
Four Blind Mice by James Patterson
Mary Mary by James Patterson
Loser by Jerry Spinelli
Skelton Key by Anthony Horowitz
Virgin Earth by Philippa Gregory
Garden of Beasts by Jeffery
Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King
The Riders by Tim Winton
Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz
Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark
The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams (2 copies)
Runaway Jury by John Grisham
Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli
See How They Run by James Patterson
No Limits by Michael Phelps
The 5th Horseman by James Patterson
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowlings
The Lake House by James Patterson
The Dark Tower VII by Stephen King
Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
4th of July by James Patterson
The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush
Beach Road by James Patterson
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
The Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
No Place Like Home by Fern Michaels

Comments

2009-03-29T18:50:00.001-07:00

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at kasterc@usd488.k12.ks.us.

New Books in The Library!!!

2009-03-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

The following books have been purchased for the Axtell High School Library.

Forgotten Soldiers by Brian Moynanhan
Flyboys by James Bradley
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill
The Girls by Lori Lansens
The Best Poems of the English Language by Alissa Heyman
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen
Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra by Obert Skye
Daniel X by James Patterson
Nightworld by L.J. Smith

These books are the first of many we will be able to purchase this year because of the support for our Candy Gram sales.

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is the time of year when most of us do our spring cleaning. We go through all of our stuff and make that hard decision to get rid of what we do not need. If, while doing your spring cleaning you find any books you need to get rid of, why not donate them to the library. I will take all books and what we are unable to use I will donate to the Mission Center in Seneca. Donating your used books is a great way to clean up some space on your bookshelves while filling the shelves at the high school library. If you have any books you would like to donate to the library please call Cindy Kaster at 785-736-2237.

Candy Gram Fundraiser a Success

2009-03-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

When you are faced with budget cuts some times you have to find creative ways to raise money. This year the Axtell High School Library sold candy grams for Christmas and Valentines Day to raise money for books. At Christmas, we sold the candy grams for $1 and the recipients received a candy cane with a special message attached. For Valentines Day, students and parents could choose between a $1.00 candy gram consisting of two suckers and a special message or a $2.50 Candy Gram which included a cup filled with candy and a special message. Students could send them to students and parents could send them to their children attending Axtell High School, Summerfield Elementary, and St. Michael’s School.

All money raised will go towards the purchase of new books for the library. I would like to thank all of the students who assisted me with the Candy Grams. I could not have gotten them done without your help. I would also like to thank everyone who purchased a Candy Gram. All together we have raised approximately $350 for the library.
Cindy Kaster

The Notebook

2009-03-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

The Notebook
Nicholas Sparks

In the summer of 1946, two young people come together despite Allie's stubborness and fall in love. Nicholas Sparks tells the story in The Notebook of these people and conveys a message of what love really means.

Allie moved to North Carolina with her family where she spent the summer, then moved back to her original home, only because her mother forced her. While she was spending time in North Carolina, she was at a carnival with her friends, when a man was about to do anything imaginable to get a date with her. She was on the Ferris Wheel with her friends when Noah, a man she had never met or seen, jumped on and held on with all of his strength. Allie insisted he get down, but he refused. By coincidence, they meet at the movie theater a couple of days later. She is a little shocked at first, but warms up to Noah quickly. They walk home together and start spending every minute that they possible can with each other.

The night before she left to go back home, Allie and Noah got into a huge fight and said that it was over, even though neither of them really meant it. The next day when she went to say goodbye, Noah was not around. Noah wrote her every day for a year after that, and after he received not a single letter from Allie, he finally gave up. Allie moved on with her life and became serious with Lon, her fiance. Allie saw that Noah restored the house he promised her he would, and told Lon that she needed to get away for a few days. Once again she falls back in love with Noah and cannot decide between him or Lon. When Lon hears the news that his fiance is with her ex, he rushed to her side right away.

Allie must choose between Lon or Noah, but you will not find out what happens until you read the book. If you like love stories that have you suspenseful until the end, I reccommend that you read this book.

By
Lindsey Smith

Keeping Faith

2009-03-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Keeping Faith
Jodi Picoult

This book by Jodi Picoult is by far one of the best ones of hers I have read so far. The beginning is a little slow, and it is hard to get into it, but once the story plot is in place, you will not want to put this book down.

The book is set in the present time, about a mother who fights to keep custody of her little girl. This is a 7 year old girl named Faith, who becomes a national name in all households in the U.S. Why, you may ask does this 7 year old become so famous? She does extraordinary things that become unexplainable and it raises the attention of religious leaders, news reporters, the law, and her parents.

In the beginning of the book Mariah, the mother, thought everything was going really good for her, until she finds out her husband was being unfaithful to her again. This sends Mariah into another depression, 7 years before she had suicidal depression for the same thing. Her husband, Colin, moves out and starts another life, files for divorce, and leaves Mariah to have custody of their child Faith. This leaves Faith in shock and not speaking for days, until suddenly she has this imaginary friend and starts speaking again. But this is not any ordinary friend, like I said before, the unexplainable happens and keeps happening because of Faith and her friend.

News crew and cults and just nosy people hear about Faith's unexplainable happenings and start to stay and camp outside of the property where they live. This makes Colin feel that Faith is not safe with Mariah and he files for custody of Faith. This of course leads to a custody battle over Faith.

I would really hate to ruin all the surprises in the book, so now you're just going to have to read the book yourself to find out who wins the custody battle over Faith, who Faith was hearing, what the unexplainable things were, and many other surprising details, in this book by Jodi Picoult.

By Michelle Peschel

Hatchet

2009-03-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

This is a good book for you if you are an outdoor person because it talks about surviving the great extremes of the wilderness. Brian is going to meet his dad in Canada when all of a sudden the pilot starts to have problems with his chest. Brian has to take over the plane and make a water landing, which is hard for a person who has never been in a plane. He lands the plane and is hurt, but he is still able to pull through the forces of the wilderness.

He faces many challenges and has to learn to do many things. This book also shows how skills learned at school and at home can help you if you are ever in an emergency. Brian uses his knowledge to slowly pull himself through every challenge he faces. Some of the things he has to learn to do is how to catch fish and to start a fire. These are two basic survival needs he needs to to survive these extremes.

He is scared to death that he is going to die out there and no one would ever know what happened to him. Every time he heard a plane he would try to get to a higher elevation so they would be able to see him easier, but he failed every time. He had to scavenge for any food he could find and what he did find was not eaten all at once. It was put into storage so he had something to eat later when he got hungry.

This story is called Hatchet because all the way through the crash and the rescue, the hatchet was with him and never let him down. He used it for many things like starting a fire and killing animals. The hatchet was a present from his mom that he will never forget or let go of.

By Jared Heiman

My Side of the Mountain

2009-03-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

My Side of the Mountain
Jean Craighead George

Sam Gribley, the main character in My Side of the Mountain is just a young teenage boy when he decides to run away from home. Problems at home had him overwhelmed and he believes living in the wilderness would be much more peaceful. Was his assumption right? Or will Sam end up worse than he started? Too bad this questioon will not be answered in such a short book review; that would ruin the ending to a great book.

Leaving home with only a penknife, a ball of cord, an axe, and $40 he has saved up from selling magazines subscriptions, Sam Gribley was nature bound, diving into the biggest adventure of his life. While walking to his destination would take days, Sam hitched a ride with a trucker who was delivering items to a small village up the mountain; sitting in silence did not last long. The trucker was very curious as to why he was dropping Sam off in the middle of nowhere; Sam replied honestly telling the man that he was running away from home. But the trucker insisted Sam to think it through; knowing from his own experiences that running away isn't as fun as you think. But Same wanted out, wanted to run away from the pain at home and everything else that came with it.

Stepping out of the truck was the best feeling Sam had ever had. He was ready to begin the fight for survival. After walking for what seemed like minutes for Sam he was miles deep within the shadows of the forest where he soon finds his home, a huge tree that was completely hollow. He knew that luck was on his side. One day a man appeared, little did Sam know that this would be his only company for the long time he would spend in the forest. Over the summer Sam made a good comfortable area in the woods, a place her could finally call home. During the summer he became very knowledgeable with his surroundings, he learned to fish, how to hunt, and what plants were edible and which plants to stay away from. One day while out and about Same decides to climb a rock ledge and while climbing up he found a nest of Peregrine Falcon, like the one he had watched, and one of the babies became his best friend. As fall came upon, so did the hunters, all to Sam's benefit, the deer that were shot he gathered and put to his own good use.

When winter had finally arrived it was cold in the forest but Sam learned to cope with the inconveniences, and continue to grow knowledge about his surroundings. Bando, the man he met in the summer, departed but promised to return for Christmas. But when Bando returns will there be anything left? Will Bando return in time to save Sam from going out of his mind? These questions can only be answered by reading the book; it might just be the best choice you ever make.

By Tyler Heiman

Summer of My German Soldier

2009-03-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

Summer of My German Soldier
By Bette Greene

In Bette Greene’s novel, Summer of My German Soldier, Patty Bergen lived through a summer she would never forget. This fictional novel set during World War II, takes you back to understand the hardships of was that everyone had to live through.

The summer that Patty Bergen turns twelve, the U.S. Army is ordered to set up a prison camp for the German Nazi prisoners in her home town, Jenkinsville, Arkansas. Throughout the summer, Patty finds herself growing fonder of one of the prisoners, a German soldier captured by the U.S. Army, named Anton Ricker. Even though Patty is a Jewish girl and Anton is a German Nazi, they both become friends instantly.

After Anton escaped from the prison camp, Patty did everything she could to keep him safe and away from the American soldiers. She found him a shelter, brought him food and clothing, and visited as often as she could.

Once the town found out about the escapee, the sheriff began questioning everyone in town. This became very difficult for Patty. She truly did go against everything she believed in to cover up Anton. She soon found out this would change her life forever.

I believe this is a good book for anyone who enjoys reading romance novels. The relationship between Patty and Anton just grows more every day. Together they find a way to stand all of the hardships of war. Patty even puts out herself to risk everything she has for the safety of Anton. It is a very interesting book and I really enjoyed it.

By Katie Porting

The Book Thief

2009-01-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

The Book Thief
By: Marcus Zusak

When I first started The Book Thief, it was extremely hard to catch onto at first. In the beginning, you will meet Death, the narrator of the story. Death's story is about Liesel Meminger in the time of World War II. He tells us how he first meets Liesel, and about how his job is never ending. No one could take his place even if her wanted to "retire."

The first time Death meets Liesel is when her brother dies on the train when they are going to their foster parent's home. This is the first time that Liesel steals a book, called The Gravedigger's Handbook. This book is what her Papa teaches her to read with when she has nightmares about her brother.

Her first week at her foster home, Liesel meets Rudy. He becomes her best friend. They help each other through the hard times, like food rations and Jew parades. He also helps her steal more books.

Something else that helps Liesel is her Papa's accordion. One day, he tells her the story of how he acquires the accordion; through a great friend who passed away in World War I. His friend had a son named Max. Twenty years later, Max is meeting Hans Huberman for the first time, and he hopes that Hans will take him in. Hans and Rosa, his wife, do help him get back on his feet and let him stay in the basement. This is against the law though, because Max is a Jew. This causes great distress on the Huberman family.

Although this book is good, it is also sad in many ways. I loved The Book Thief, because it had an amazing point of view and a really good plot.

Leven Thumps

2009-01-30T12:36:00.001-08:00

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
By Obert Skye

If you’re creative and have an imagination like nobody else then this series is for you!! The fantasy world of Foo will come alive in your mind and the adventures of Leven Thumps will excite your imagination to the fullest!

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo is the first book in the series and it is always best to start at the beginning. In this novel Leven meets his furry little sycophant Clover. Leven thought his life was tough before, but now the fantasy world of Foo and our world depend on him to defeat the villainous Sabine and save both worlds.

He meets Winter who has the power to freeze any object whether alive, dead, or in Foo, a dream. Leven will also meet a talking toothpick and many people who wish to have him killed. Leven learns he had a grandfather who figured a way to cross in and out of Foo as he pleased and now it’s Leven’s responsibility to destroy the gateway before Sabine destroys both Reality and Foo. Despite the danger, both worlds depend on Leven and he doesn’t understand why fate chose him.

Leven learns that Foo is where dreams come from and without Foo; there will be no dreams in Reality. Throughout this book Leven learns more and more about a world he never knew existed and how it’s his responsibility to save this world and Reality.

Magical creatures that could only come from dreams live in Foo and some believe that Leven and Winter are traitors because many of Foo’s people have come to join Sabine.

Read this book and the rest of the series to learn what happens to Leven, the talking toothpick, Winter, Clover, and the world of Foo and Reality! Don’t forget to open your mind to the world of the unknown and maybe you’ll find a world like Foo somewhere in your dreams.
Do You Dream?!

Patience
Axtell High School Student

Twilight

2009-01-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

Twilight
By Stephanie Meyer

Bella left the hard life she loved in Phoenix to live in Forks, Washington with her father, Charlie. She’s having a hard time adjusting to the new place that she finds so wretched. That is, until she sees him, Edward Cullen.

She is immediately drawn to Edward and the mysterious way he carries himself. Edward on the other hand seems repulsed by her entirely. Bella is completely taken aback by his anger and rage towards her. Upon arriving from a few days absence, his attitude towards her changes entirely.

Their friendship starts of shaky but manages to blossom into so much more. Edward’s secret threatens to get in the way of their love, but Bella won’t be scared off so easily. After all, she isn’t like any girl Edward has met before.

Suddenly, Bella’s life is at stake and it’s a race to keep her alive and away from a dangerous force. Bella and Edward have many difficult decisions to make in order to stay alive.

This is a great tale of love and adventure. It is by far the greatest book I have read. It keeps your interest entirely and has you guessing the whole time.

WARNING: Reading Twilight may cause frequent dazzling, an obsession with Edward Cullen, increased heart rate, a reading frenzy, and the irresistible urge to go to Wal-Mart and obtain the sequels. Read at your own Risk.

Danielle
Axtell High School Student

Twilight Mania Hits Axtell High School!

2008-12-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

If you walk into any classroom at Axtell High School you will see several people with at least one of the books from the Twilight series in their hands. Once one book in the series is finished, they impatiently wait for the next book to become available. After reading the books it is easy to see why these books are so popular.

Twilight is a classic love story but with a twist. Bella Swan has just moved to a small town in Washington where she meets Edward Cullen, the love of her life. The story has a lot of twists and turns and overall I have to say I have enjoyed reading all of the books in the series although the second book was not as good as the others.

Life of Pi Donated to the Library

2008-11-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Life of Pi is about a boy named Pi who along with his family and a managerie of zoo animals are traveling by ship to Canada to start a new life. After the ship sinks Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker, a Zebra, a hyena, and an oragutan. This is an incredible story about the lengths a person will go just to survive. This book starts out a little slow but if you keep with it you will not be sorry. Although I enjoyed this book I am not sure how I feel about the ending.

Murder By Family

2008-10-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of the books donated to our Library from our friend Raine in New York. This was a touching and thought provoking book.

Description(From Howard Books)

This is the tragic story of Kent Whitaker's heart-wrenching journey toward forgiveness and faith after the brutal murder of his wife and one of his sons.

Straight from the headlines comes an incredible true story of a son's treachery. For the first time, readers are offered inside access to the emotional drama that went on behind the scenes. At the core is the remarkable healing power of forgiveness, demonstrated by Kent Whitaker, which shows how the survivors of such atrocious events can still forgive those who have permanently damaged their lives.

One evening, the Whitaker family returned home after dinner, celebrating a son's impending graduation from college. On opening the front door, they faced a gunman lying in wait. The gunman opened fire, instantly killing the younger son and Kent's wife, leaving Kent and his older son lying wounded until police and ambulances arrived. While recovering in the hospital, Kent resolved in his heart to forgive whoever was responsible for the deaths of his wife and son.

Over the next few weeks, it was discovered that the whole murder plot had been orchestrated by the surviving son -- whom Kent had unknowingly forgiven. After a trial that resulted in a death sentence for his son, Kent emerged from this harrowing ordeal to share their astonishing journey toward forgiveness and redemption.

Product Details
Howard Books, September 2008
eBook, 224 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4391-3998-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-3998-1

How Many Have You Read

2008-10-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

Book Love

"The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six."

Here’s what you are supposed to do:
*Look at the list and bold those we have read.
*Italicize those we intend to read.
*Star the books we LOVE.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre** - Charlotte Bronte***
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling***
5. To Kill a Mockingbird** - Harper Lee***
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte***
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman***
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger***
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame***
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis***
34. Emma - Jane Austen***
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen ***
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis***
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini***
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden***
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne***
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery***
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding***
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility** - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon***
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold***
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett***
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker***
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom***
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes** - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl***
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

New Books Donated to the Library

2008-09-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Linda Lattimer has donated three books from the Homecoming Heroes series. These books are part of the Love Inspired collection and are published by Steeple Hill Books. There have been three books in this series published so far and we appreciate her donating them to our library.

The Last Lecture

2008-08-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough." From The Last Lecture

If I had to pick one book that has had the greatest impact on me I would have to pick The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It is an amazing book that everyone should be required to read.

Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Melon, was asked to give a "Last Lecture". This is a time honored tradition where a professor gives a lecture based on the premise; if this was the very last lecture you would be giving, what would you say? When Randy Pausch was asked to give this lecture many did not know that he was in fact dying from pancreatic cancer. From that lecture came this incredible book. This is not a book about dying, but how to fully live your life. This book will encourage you to knock down the brick walls in your life and live your life to the fullest . His stories and anecdotes will have you laughing and crying. I just can not say enough about this book.

Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.
From The Last Lecture

When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care. From The Last Lecture

You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore. From The Last Lecture

Donated Books

2008-08-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

Deb Fischer has donated the following books to our library.
Sandpiper Drift by Vanessa Del Fabbro
Ronald Reagan: A Life in Pictures by the editors of Life
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Mobsters and Gangsters: Organized Crime in America, From Al Capone to Tony Soprano by the editors of Life
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Donated Books

2008-08-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Jones has donated the following books to our library. They are Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult and Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates.

2008-08-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is a book I had started a few weeks ago and could not get into. I was told that it would be one of the best books I have ever read so I should give it another chance. Thankfully, I did because this has to be one of the best books ever written. I am thankful to the person who talked me into giving it another chance because I would have missed an amazing, deeply moving, and powerful story.

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Death, it turns out, is not proud.

The narrator of The Book Thief is many things -- sardonic, wry, darkly humorous, compassionate -- but not especially proud. As author Marcus Zusak channels him, Death -- who doesn't carry a scythe but gets a kick out of the idea -- is as afraid of humans as humans are of him.

Knopf is blitz-marketing this 550-page book set in Nazi Germany as a young-adult novel, though it was published in the author's native Australia for grown-ups. (Zusak, 30, has written several books for kids, including the award-winning I Am the Messenger.) The book's length, subject matter and approach might give early teen readers pause, but those who can get beyond the rather confusing first pages will find an absorbing and searing narrative.

Death meets the book thief, a 9-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger, when he comes to take her little brother, and she becomes an enduring force in his life, despite his efforts to resist her. "I traveled the globe . . . handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity," Death writes. "I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger's brother. I did not heed my advice." As Death lingers at the burial, he watches the girl, who can't yet read, steal a gravedigger's instruction manual. Thus Liesel is touched first by Death, then by words, as if she knows she'll need their comfort during the hardships ahead.

And there are plenty to come. Liesel's father has already been carted off for being a communist and soon her mother disappears, too, leaving her in the care of foster parents: the accordion-playing, silver-eyed Hans Hubermann and his wife, Rosa, who has a face like "creased-up cardboard." Liesel's new family lives on the unfortunately named Himmel (Heaven) Street, in a small town on the outskirts of Munich populated by vivid characters: from the blond-haired boy who relates to Jesse Owens to the mayor's wife who hides from despair in her library. They are, for the most part, foul-spoken but good-hearted folks, some of whom have the strength to stand up to the Nazis in small but telling ways.

Stolen books form the spine of the story. Though Liesel's foster father realizes the subject matter isn't ideal, he uses "The Grave Digger's Handbook" to teach her to read. "If I die anytime soon, you make sure they bury me right," he tells her, and she solemnly agrees. Reading opens new worlds to her; soon she is looking for other material for distraction. She rescues a book from a pile being burned by the Nazis, then begins stealing more books from the mayor's wife. After a Jewish fist-fighter hides behind a copy of Mein Kampf as he makes his way to the relative safety of the Hubermanns' basement, he then literally whitewashes the pages to create his own book for Liesel, which sustains her through her darkest times. Other books come in handy as diversions during bombing raids or hedges against grief. And it is the book she is writing herself that, ultimately, will save Liesel's life.

Death recounts all this mostly dispassionately -- you can tell he almost hates to be involved. His language is spare but evocative, and he's fond of emphasizing points with bold type and centered pronouncements, just to make sure you get them (how almost endearing that is, that Death feels a need to emphasize anything). "A NICE THOUGHT," Death will suddenly announce, or "A KEY WORD." He's also full of deft descriptions: "Pimples were gathered in peer groups on his face."

Death, like Liesel, has a way with words. And he recognizes them not only for the good they can do, but for the evil as well. What would Hitler have been, after all, without words? As this book reminds us, what would any of us be?

Reviewed by Elizabeth Chang
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

New Books Donated to Library

2008-07-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today when I checked my mail I noticed a package from a friend of mine who lives in New York City. I was a bit excited because I knew that she had sent the library another care package of books. Rain works for a publishing company that creates various magazines and they are sent these unedited books to preview for the magazines. After the books have been previewed they are put into a box for employees to take home. Rain takes all of the books she thinks we might use and ships them to us. Because of budget cuts we were not going to have any new books for the library this year, I had to purchase AR tests. So this shipment of books from Rain is a blessing. Here is a list of the books that she sent us.

Creepers by Joanne Dahme
Love in the Corner Pocket by Marlene Perez
Drop by Lisa Papademetriou
The Road to Vengeance by Judson Roberts
Coming Unglued By Rebeca Seitz
Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Larry and the Meaning of Life by Janet Tashjian
Oh. My. Gods. By Tera Lynn Childs
Poison Ink by Christopher Golden
Scandalosa by Michele Serros
Crush Worthy by Sara Lawrence
Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway
Oblivion Road by Alex McAulay
Life is Fine by Allison Whittenberg
Graffiti Girl by Kelly Parra
Talent by Zoey Deans
Finding Daddy by Louise Plummer
The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis
The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine by April Lurie
How to (Un)Cage A Girl by Fracesca Lia Block
The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman
Open Court by Carol Clippinger
Frenemies by Alexa Young
Murder by Family by Kent Whitaker
The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner
The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Spin the Bottle by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Zen and the Art of Faking it by Jordan Sonnenblick
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer
My Tiki Girl by Jennifer McMahon
Forever Changes by Brendan Halpin
Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block
Little Accidents by Emily Blake
Mission Canyon by Meg Gardiner
Killer Spirit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Collateral Damage by Fern Michaels
Dream by Jeanine Le Ny
Farewell Navigator Stories by Leni Zumas
Secrets of the Wee-Free Men and Discworld by Carrie Pyykkonen and Linda Washington
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
Everything Nice by Ellen Shanman
Serafina67 *urgently requires life* by Susie Day
Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen
The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich
Imaginary Enemy by Julie Gonzalez
The Possibilities of Sainthood by Donna Freitas
Take Back Your Family by Rev Run and Justine Simmons
From May to December by Pat Macenulty
An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Windspear
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
The Viper Within by Sam Mills
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin
Headlong by Kathe Koja
Caught Between the Pages by Marlene Carvell
The Agitator's Daughter by Sheryll Cashin

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-07-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

This is the incredible story of two women who are brought together by fate and end up forming an incredible friendship. The women have suffered more pain than anyone should have to bear and yet they endure, clinging to their friendship to help them through it all. One of the things I like about Hosseini's books is how he draws you completely into the story and you become emotionally attached to Mariam and Laila. Not only will you read an incredible story, but you will learn a bit about Afghanistan. I strongly recommend it.
Cindy

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years -- from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding -- that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives -- the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness -- are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love -- a stunning accomplishment.
From www.barnesandnoble.com

Over A Thousand Hill I Walk With You

2008-07-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

This book affected me like no other book has. Over A Thousand Hills.... tells the story of Hanna Jansen's adopted daughter Jeanne. Jeanne grew up in Rwanda. Her family had a good life until one evening when they were driven out of their homes. Members of the Tutsis ethnic group were victims to mass genocide. Jeanne witnesses the brutal deaths of friends and families by people she grew up with. Jeanne was the only one in her family to survive. She witnesses unspeakable acts that we can not even imagine and yet through out everything she has to endure her will to survive is amazing. This is an incredible book that will affect you long after you are finished.

A Long Way Gone

2008-07-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

This book tells the story of Beah, a boy soldier from Sierra Leon. At the age of 13 he is forced to flee from the rebel soldiers and is witness to unspeakable acts of violence. At the age of 13 he is picked up by the government army and given drugs, an AK-47, and told that the people he will be killing are responsible for the deaths of his family. A cold blooded killer is born. At 16 UNICEF intercedes and Beah is removed from the fighting. Because of the dedicated staff at the center where he is placed Beah is eventually able to come to terms with what has happened and realizes that he has to forgive himself.

A Long Way Gone hits you hard in the gut with Sierra Leone’s unimaginable brutality and then it touches your soul with unexpected acts of kindness. Ishmael Beah’s story tears your heart to pieces and then forces you to put it back together again, because if Beah can emerge from such horror with his humanity in tact, it’s the least you can do.

— Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle: A Memoir

A breathtaking and unselfpitying account of how a gentle spirit survives a childhood from which all innocence has suddenly been sucked out. It's a truly riveting memoir.

— Time Magazine

Deeply moving, even uplifting ... Beah's story, with its clear-eyed reporting and literate particularity—whether he's dancing to rap, eating a coconut or running toward the burning village where his family is trapped—demands to be read.

— People, (Critic's Choice, Four stars)

When Beah is finally approached about the possibility of serving as a spokesperson on the issue of child soldiers, he knows exactly what he wants to tell the world: “I would always tell people that I believe children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” “Others may make the same assertions, but Beah has the advantage of stating them in the first person. That makes A Long Way Gone all the more gripping.

— Christian Science Monitor

Nineteen Minutes

2008-07-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

This book will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. It is one of those books that will stay with you long after you have read it. Peter Houghton wakes up one morning, goes into his school and goes on a shooting rampage. What events lead to this desperate act? This book tackles a tough issue like no other book has. Jodi Picoult is very adept at giving several viewpoints in her novels and this one is no exception. Not only do we get insight as to why Peter committed this horrible act, but we also get to see how hard being popular is through the eyes of Josie, Peter's one time childhood friend. I felt like I was a part of the story from the first page. I could not put it down.
This book will make you think about how you treat others and I guarantee that you will want to do something to reach out to a child who is bullied.

Database List

2008-07-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

The following is a list of databases that we have access to through the state of Kansas.

WorldCat

OCLC ArticleFirst database

OCLC PapersFirst database

OCLC ProceedingsFirst database

WorldCat Dissertations and Theses *

Clase and Peridica

ERIC

GPO

MEDLINE

The World Almanac And Periodical Abstracts

Periodical Abstracts A&I Full-Text

Books for the College Bound

2008-07-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

Author	Title
--	Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua	Things Fall Apart
Agee, James	A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane	Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James	Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel	Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul	The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte	Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily	Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert	The Stranger
Cather, Willa	Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey	The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton	The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate	The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph	Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore	The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen	The Red Badge of Courage
Dante	Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel	Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel	Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles	A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor	Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick	Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore	An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre	The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George	The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph	Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo	Selected Essays
Faulkner, William	As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William	The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry	Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott	The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave	Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox	The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von	Faust
Golding, William	Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas	Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel	The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph	Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest	A Farewell to Arms
Homer	The Iliad
Homer	The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor	The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale	Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous	Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik	A Doll's House
James, Henry	The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry	The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz	The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong	The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper	To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair	Babbitt
London, Jack	The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas	The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García	One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman	Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman	Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur	The Crucible
Morrison, Toni	Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery	A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene	Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George	Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris	Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia	The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan	Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel	Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas	The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria	All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond	Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry	Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D.	The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William	Hamlet
Shakespeare, William	Macbeth
Shakespeare, William	A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William	Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard	Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary	Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon	Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander	One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles	Antigone
Sophocles	Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John	The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis	Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher	Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan	Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William	Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David	Walden
Tolstoy, Leo	War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan	Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire	Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.	Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice	The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith	The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora	Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt	Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar	The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee	The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia	To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard	Native Son