What are some book recommendations for high school students that are cutting edge and will grab their attention?

We have a good list of titles, but are always looking for new ones.

Some that our students are reading include Things They Carried, Secret LIfe of Bees, Caramelo, Catcher in the Rye, etc.

But we're always looking for new titles that are powerful, and that a variety of readers would be interested in. Our Eng. teachers do give choice titles as well for different assignments.

Just looking for new recommendations....Please share!

Tags: books, english

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Some other graphic novels I have come across are:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi

The two by Satrapi are filled with a tremendous amount of historical information which may seem overwhelming, but I recommend them because they do open students up to Iran's culture and historical events (could be a great lead into a lesson on tolerance, maybe?)
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 seems to interest my students quite a bit with its usage of a futuristic totalitarian society. The students seem to really relate to the novel's issues concerning technology and censorship. It holds enough substance to really delve into thoughtful discussion; however, the futuristic action generally appeals to most students. In general, the novel is very relevant to this generation of students. You also might consider Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Kurt Vonnegaut's Slaughterhouse Five would certainly be cutting edge. The last two are certainly more controversial than F-451. I hope this helps. I could mention more if you would like.
The Center of Everything and Speak are great choices for teen girls. Many guys in my classes enjoyed Walter Dean Myers's Fallen Angels. One of the most powerful and moving books I've ever read is Cormac McCarthy's The Road. We are considering it for several of our junior and senior classes. Have you checked out The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver? It is another one my girls like. I have many other suggestions for nonfiction.
Absolutely encourage them to read The Situation in Flushing. I LOVED this book and I think it's perfect for high-schoolers.

~Chris
I/we recommend "Such a pretty girl" by Laura Wiess. I can't keep it on the shelf. Also the Uglies, Pretties series. by Westerfeld
I've had Sklar on my shelves for years - but never got down to read him, yet. What were the 'igniting' ideas for you in the book?
Have you ever looked around http://firesidelearning.ning.com. They are reading a book called Courage To Teach by Palmer. The book has caused quite a bit of controversy--you would probably enjoy it!!
No, but you are a great writer, articulate and opinionated. I won't jump into the fray over there---I've parented three sons and hate controversy so much I won't even tell them to put down the toilet lid!!

I bought the book but after the first chapter I said to myself "Done, don't get it!!" The last 10 days, I've read The Appeal John Grisham's new legal thriller, listened to Gorgeous Disaster (the Debra LaFave story--teacher had sex with 14 year old student), listened to Elaine's Circle (story of a teacher and the year she had a kiddo die of cancer) and am now listening to The Informant (the story of the Arthur Daniels Midland price fixing scandal). You can probably see I'm not going to enjoy a book that contains this statement “Truth does not lie in the conclusions we reach about these subjects (how could it be, since our conclusions keep changing?), but in the process of dialogue and inquiry itself, as we keep testing old conclusions and coming to new ones.” What? Not a real deep thinker here!! haha!

Remind me to tell you sometime about my experience in Oprah's online book club, reading A New Earth (or in my case, not reading it)
The 'Tomorrow Series' by an Australian writer John Marsden. The first book is 'Tomorrow When the War Began'. These are excellent novels for teenagers and can usually interest readers who would not consider themselves as readers...
If I were teaching high school again, I would definitely have them read Blood Done Sign My Name because it really made me take a look at race in this country and I am sure it would with students as well. Other good ones are Kite Runner or On Thousand Splendid Suns.
If I were teaching high school again, I would definitely have them read Blood Done Sign My Name because it really made me take a look at race in this country and I am sure it would with students as well. Other good ones are Kite Runner or One Thousand Splendid Suns.
Other books I have noticed as an LRC director that get checked out A LOT are: Acceleration by McNamee, Breathing Underwater by Flinn, series: Child Called It, Give a Boy A Gun by Strasser, Jude by Morgenroth, Lovely Bones by Sebold, Son of the Mob by Korman and of course Twilight series by Meyer. Both Acceleration and Jude are favorite read alouds.

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