July Picks

1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
   During the Holocaust, two young boys with very different lives and circumstances enter into an unlikely friendship. Their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

2. A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park
   This story follows two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, fetches water from a pond that is a two hours' walk from her home: she makes this trip to the pond twice a day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who search for their families and a safe place to stay. Salva and Nya's stories intersect in an astonishing way and end with an afterword by the real-life Salva Dut, on whom the novel is based.

3. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
   Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait for the operation that will turn her from an ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty. As a pretty, she'll be brought to paradise where her only job is to have fun. However, her new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become pretty and runs away. Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and she's given a choice: find Shay and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all.

4. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
   The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has a fervent love of stories and has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior. When he is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat with only a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger.

5. Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel
   Shade is a young Silverwing bat, the runt of his column. He's determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum. However, during a fierce storm, he loses the others and faces a difficult journey on his own. However, as he tries searching for his own flock, Shade meets a remarkable group of characters.