Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

During the summer just before she is to start high school, Melinda calls the police during an end-of-summer party. When word gets out that she is the cause of the police breaking up the party, Melinda is shunned by her friends and starts high school as the school pariah. The book shows Melinda's steady decline over the course of the school year until finally, she becomes a mute. Though she is only a mute because she is too afraid to speak the truth about what really happened at the party that started it all....

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The novel My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult is a novel about a girl, Anna, who struggles to fight for the right to her own body. Her older sister Kate, at a young age was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia. Anna was brought in to this world through in vitro fertilization, so that she would serve as a genetic kidney match for her older sister. Throughout Anna’s entire life she has donated blood and bone marrow, which has affected Anna traumatically, but Kate’s leukemia kept coming back. After Kate’s kidneys failed, Anna is counted on by her parents to provide her sister with one of her kidneys. Anna hired a lawyer Campbell Alexander, to request that she be emancipated from her parents and acquire the right to decide for herself whether or not to give her sister the kidney. As the book comes to the conclusion, the reader discovers that the only motive Anna had for instigated the lawsuit was because Kate did not want to receive Anna’s kidney. Following the trial, Anna was granted the right to make her own medical decisions. She was then in a terrible car accident and was declared brain dead. Campbell Alexander was granted power of attorney over Anna’s medical decisions following the trial, and gave Anna’s kidney to Kate. Although Kate was very weak she survived the transplant. The epilogue is one of the most touching pieces of literature, in which Kate expresses that Anna’s is the only she lived.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Told through emotionally-charged letters from a 15-year-old freshman in high school, The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells the story of Charlie's high school experience. Chbosky addresses the issues of homosexuality, abusive relationships, and falling in love, all while exploring what it means to be growing up in contemporary America. It tackles the ever-common issues of teenage angst, finding your place, and friendship in high school, as Charlie makes friends, falls in love, and discovers what it means to be "infinite."

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Brief Description of book- NO SPOILERS!!!

Night by Elie Wiesel

Brief Description of book- NO SPOILERS!!!

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Tuesdays With Morrie tells of a student's relationship with an old college professor while at the same time, publishes a collection of life lessons. Sixteen years after graduation, Mitch Albom reunites with his old college professor Morrie Schwartz, or "Coach", as he affectionately calls him. With the cold realization that time is running short as Morrie is dying of ALS, Albom seeks the answers to life's questions while Morrie answers them during their meetings every Tuesday.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

When we first meet Lee Fiora, she is a 14 year old girl from South Bend, Indiana on her way to her first year at the prestigous Ault boarding school. We follow Lee through her four years at Ault, watching her deal with frienships, boys, family, teachers, and everything any teenage girl has to deal with. Told from Lee's point of view, the book is filled with the angst-ridden moments that can only come with high school and growing older.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

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Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. It turns out that prospects weren't so great back in the old country either--not with Malachy for a father. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting cliches about drunken Irish manhood are based. Mix in abject poverty and frequent death and illness and you have all the makings of a truly difficult early life. Fortunately, in McCourt's able hands it also has all the makings for a compelling memoir.

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

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Graduation is over and college is only a summer away. Remy is counting the days until she's gone, far away from her mother and her books, and a future step-father. When it comes to guys, Remy and her mother have very differing opinions. A successful romance novelist, Remy's mother believes in true love and refuses to give up the search, although so far unlucky in that department. Learning from her mother's love life, Remy prefers things simple, sticking to relationships that she ends when things get serious. Breaking up with guys is just another task for Remy, not really a hard thing to do. But when she meets Dexter, a determined clutz, her "tough-as-nails exterior" gets shaken up.