Written by: Sydney Veilleux
I have enjoyed reading my whole life and it is something that I can always turn to. Here are my top ten book recommendations:
10.
“Noggin” by John Corey Whaley follows Travis Cote, a 16 year old boy with cancer. The book takes a turn when he gets this new and accepts an offer from a cryogenic group who removes his head and attach it to another body. Cote wakes up five years later, still in a 16 year olds body, while all of his friends have aged. This story brings you on his journey to acceptance.
9.
“One of Us is Lying” by Karen M. McManus follows a group of five students who all receive detention, after they are accused of having phones in their bags, which is against school policy. All five of them state that they have been set up. Once in detention, there is a collision outside and the students are left alone, while Simion, one of the boys in detention, who runs a app about students in their schools gives a speech about their personalities, making him a omniscient narrator, drinks water that was contaminated with peanuts, leading to his death. The four remaining students are accused of murder.
8.
“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding follows a group of British schoolboys who land on a deserted island. There are 4 main characters who each take a different type of leadership role, and end up fighting a lot about these motatives. Soon paranoias hit and the boys turn warlike themselves and nobody can trust each other.
7.
“She’s Not There” by Jennifer Finnoy Boylan is a true story about Jennifer and her transition and journey as a Transgender female. It shows the raw insights of having a life in two genders as she states. It is an eye opening piece.
6.
“This is Where it Ends” by Marieke Nijkamp follows a fictional public school and the horrible act of a school shooting. The book is broken down into time slots and follows every minute of the terrifying 54 minutes.
5.
“Suicide Notes” by Michael Thomas Ford follows protagonist Jeff who wakes up in a psychiatric ward, with the mentality that he does not belong there. Over the course of 45 days he soon learns why he needs to be there, and how much in common he has with the other kids.
4.
“Dear Martin” by Nic Stone, is a timely piece about race and police brutality. Justyce McAllister is a good kid, so why is he being escorted in handcuffs because of the color of his skin? This leads in to look to the writings of Martin Luther King JR. and starts a journal directed to him. It gets better until his best friend is in a car with his windows down and music turned up, shots are fired and Justyce is left in the aftermath.
3.
“Simon VS. The Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli follows main character Simion who is still in the closet, but one email falls into the wrong hands and he is black-mailed so his secret is safe, but he ends up falling in love and is in risk of his secret being revealed.
2.
“Smile” by Raina Telgemaeir is a graphic novel, more for middle school age children, but it is a book that has stuck with me for years. It follows Riana as she goes through the trials of braces and that truly stood out to me when I read it at that age. An honorable mention would be “Guts” by the same author in the same format about anxiety.
1.
“Struck By Lightning” by Chris Colfer is about outcast senior Carson Phillips who wants to get out of his small town and become the youngest writer for The New Yorker. This leads to him blackmailing the schools most popular students to get him into Northwestern. This book is my personal favorite.
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