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Outside Reading Choices for the College-Bound by Reading Lexile

The following are recommended books for the college-bound, mostly from the American Library Association’s lists by that name.  Books are listed by lexile so that students may select a book within their reading range (see MAPS results). PHS Library Call Numbers are in BOLD.

580  Enzensberger, Hans. The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure. 1998.  A boy dreams a devil who guides him through a colorful, Alice in Wonderland-like world of mathematical concepts.   

610  Shaara, Michael. Killer Angels. 1974. Officers and foot soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy steel themselves for the bloody Battle of Gettysburg.
FIC SHAARA

620  Abelove, Joan. Go and come back. 2002.  In a story of mutual culture shock, Alicia, a young Isabo girl in a remote area of Peru, is just as fascinated by the American anthropologists, Joanna and Margarita, as they are with the ways of her people.

670   Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. 1999.  Steve Harmon is accused of being an accomplice to murder.  He creates a screenplay of his wrenching experiences at the crime scene, in jail, and on trial.  FIC MYERS

680  Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939. An Oklahoma farmer and his family leave the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression to go to the promised land of California.   FIC STEINBECK

690   Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. 1999.  Calling the police to a party is a tough choice, but what made Melinda call is the devastating secret that keeps her locked in silence.   FIC ANDERSON

700   Freymann-Weyr, Garret.  My Heartbeat.  2002.   Can Ellen get the boy who loves her brother?   FIC WEYR

700  Wright, Richard. Native Son. 1940. For Bigger Thomas, an African American man accused of a crime in the white man's world, there could be no extenuating circumstances, no explanations and only death.  FIC WRIGHT

710  Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1993. Lauren Olamina, who suffers from a hereditary trait called "hyperempathy" that causes her to feel others' pain physically, journeys north along the dangerous highways of twentieth-first century California.  FIC BUTLER

730  Mason, Bobbi Ann. In Country. 1985. After her father is killed in the Vietnam War, Sam Hughes lives with an uncle whom she suspects suffers from the effects of Agent Orange, and struggles to come to terms with the war's impact on her family.
FIC
MASON

750  Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. 1986. In Gilead, a Christian fundamentalist dystopia, fertile lower-class women serve as birth-mothers for the upper class.  FIC ATWOOD

750  Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993. When Jefferson's attorney states, "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this," disillusioned teacher Grant Wiggins is sent into the penitentiary to help this slow learner gain a sense of dignity and self-esteem before his execution.  FIC GAINES

770     Chevalier, Tracy.  Girl With a Pearl Earring. 1999.  Sixteen year-old Griet is hired as a maid in the household of Delft painter Johannes Vermeer, where she becomes an assistant and muse to the famous artist. FIC CHEVALIER

770    Anderson, M.T.  Feed.  2002.  In this society your brain cyberfeed provides an endless stream of information, entertainment and advertising.  When Violet’s feed is disrupted, she’s cast adrift and everyone is forced to examine the power of the feed in his/her life.  FIC ANDERSON

770   Hart, Elva Trevino.  The Barefoot Heart:  Stories of a Migrant Child. 1999.  This honest and moving memoir follows a migrant child and her family as they travel from their home in New Mexico to the farm fields of Minnesota and Wisconsin in search of work.   921 TREVINO            

780  Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. 1985. In a world decimated by alien attacks, the government trains young geniuses like Ender Wiggin in military strategy with increasingly complex computer games. FIC CARD

780 Jiang, Ji-Li.   Red Scarf Girl. 1997. The author tells about the happy life she led in China up until she was twelve-years-old when her family became a target of the Cultural Revolution, and discusses the choice she had to make between denouncing her father and breaking with her family, or refusing to speak against him and losing her future in the Communist Party.  921 JIANG

820  Mori, Kyoko. Shizuko's Daughter. 1993. In the years following her mother's suicide, Yuki develops the inner strength to cope with her distant father, her resentful stepmother, and her haunting, painful memories.  FIC KYOKO

820  Yolen, Jane. Briar Rose. 1992. Disturbed by her grandmother Gemma's unique version of Sleeping Beauty, Rebecca seeks the truth behind the fairy tale.               FIC YOLEN.

830  Albom, Mitch.  Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson. 1997.  Mitch Albom’s Tuesday night visits with his dying sociology professor, Morrie, offer valuable lessons about the art of living and dying with dignity.  921 SCHWARTZ

830  Buloson, Carlos.  America is in the Heart: A Personal Story. 1946. The Filipino poet describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and years of hardship as an itinerant laborer in the rural West.   921 BULOSON  

830   Frank, E. R.  Life is Funny.  2000.  Growing up in New York can be agonizing, humorous, and always a challenge for the teens who tell their stories.  FIC FRANK

840   Armstrong, Lance. It’s Not About The Bike. 2000. Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong describes his triumph over cancer.  921 ARMSTRONG

840   Bradshaw, Gillian. The Sand-Reckoner. 2000.  A youthful Archimedes comes into his own as a mathematician, an engineer, and a fascinating human being in this engaging novel.   FIC BRADSHAW 

840   Hosseini, Khaled.  The Kite Runner. 2003.  Years after he flees Afghanistan, Amir, now an American citizen, returns to his native land and attempts to atone for the betrayal of his best friend before he fled Kabul and the Taliban.  FIC KHALED

840   Salzman, Mark.  True Notebooks2003.  When Salzman agreed to teach a writing class at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles, he had no idea how moved he would be by the lives and the eloquence of his students, all high-risk violent offenders.  808 SALZMAN

840  Hobbs, Anne.  Tisha: Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaska Wilderness. 1977. The author recounts a year of teaching on the Alaska frontier, where the white adults resent her teaching the Indians as well as her relationship with a half-Indian man. 371.1 HOBBS

840  Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. 1972. Ultima, a wise old mystic, helps a young Hispanic boy resolve personal dilemmas caused by the differing backgrounds and aspirations of his parents and society.   FIC ANAYA

860 Brown, ClaudeManchild in the Promised Land. 1965. The autobiography of Claude Brown, describing his life and that of other black Americans in New York City's Harlem area. 921 BROWN

860  Kazmiroff, Theodore.  The Last Algonquin.        

870   Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. 1932. In a chilling vision of the future, babies are produced in bottles and exist in a mechanized world without soul. FIC HUXLEY

870   Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1960. A young girl tells of life in a small Alabama town in the 1930s and her father's defense in court of an African American accused of raping a white woman. FIC LEE           

870  Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. 1991. In short, poetic stories, Esperanza describes life in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago.   FIC CISERNOS

870  Gibbons, Kaye. Ellen Foster. 1987. Casting an unflinching yet humorous eye on her situation, eleven-year-old Ellen survives her mother's death, an abusive father, and uncaring relatives to find for herself a loving home and a new mama. 
FIC GIBBONS

870  Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1987. Preferring death over slavery for her children, Sethe murders her infant daughter who later mysteriously returns and almost destroys the lives of her mother and sister. FIC MORRISON

870  Penn, W. S., editor. The Telling of the World: Native American Stories and Art. 1996. Traditional and contemporary legends, stories, and art from many tribes explain our world and its life forms.

870  Moody, Ann. Coming of Age in Mississippi. 1968. One of the first brave young African American students to participate in a lunch counter sit-in, Moody becomes a heroine of the civil rights movement.                   

870  Rodriguez, Luis. Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. 1993. Rodriguez tells the story of his life in a Los Angeles gang and his later experiences as a Chicano activist.  921 RODRIQUEZ                    

880  O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. 1990.These stories follow Tim O'Brien's platoon of American soldiers through a variety of personal and military encounters during the Vietnam War.   SC O’BRIEN

880  Kingston, Maxine Hong. Woman Warrior. 1976. A memoir of the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants who lived within the traditions and fears of the Chinese past as well as the realities of the alien modern American culture.
921 KINGSTON

890  Power, Susan. The Grass Dancer. 1994. Ending in the 1980s with the love story of Charlene Thunder and grass dancer Harley Wind Soldier, this multigenerational tale of a Sioux family is told in the voices of the living and the dead.  FIC POWER

890  Momaday, N. Scott.   The Way to Rainy Mountain.  1969. Retells Kiowa myths the author learned from his grandmother and describes the Indian life he knew as a child.   970. 3 MOMADAY

890  Delany, Sara and Delany, A. Elizabeth. Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First One Hundred Years. 1993. Chronicles the experiences of two African-American women growing up in North Carolina at the turn-of-the-century.  920 DELANY

890 Gilbreth, Frank B.  Cheaper By the Dozen. 1963. Reveals the family life of the twelve Gilbreth children and their engineer father who runs the household with his unique methodology. 921 GILBRETH

900  Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. 1994. Pipher looks at societal "girl poisoning" and the emotional and psychological havoc it wreaks on the lives of young women.  305.23 PIPHER

900   Abelove, Joan. Go and come back. 2002.  In a story of mutual culture shock, Alicia, a young Isabo girl in a remote area of Peru, is just as fascinated by the American anthropologists, Joanna and Margarita, as they are with the ways of her people.                 

900   Ten Boom, Corrie.   The Hiding Place.  940.54 TEN BOOM

900   Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina. 1992 .Bone confronts poverty, the troubled marriage of her mother and stepfather, and the stigma of being considered "white trash" as she comes of age in South Carolina.     FIC ALLISON

900  Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar In A Sieve. 1954.Natural disasters, an arranged marriage, and industrialization of her village are the challenges Rukmani must face as the bride of a peasant farmer in southern India.    FIC MARKANDAYA

900  McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. 1946.A young Southern girl is determined to be the third party on a honeymoon, despite all advice.  FIC MCCULLERS

910   Alvarez, Julia. In the Time of Butterflies. New York: Algonquin, 1994.  The four Mirabel sisters were called the Mariposas, or butterflies.  Dede, the only survivor, tells the story of courage that helps liberate the Dominican Republic from the dictator Trujillo.       FIC ALVAREZ

920  Gardner, John. Grendel. 1971.In a unique interpretation of the Beowulf legend, the monster Grendel relates his struggle to understand the ugliness in himself and mankind in the brutal world of fourteenth-century Denmark.         FIC GRENDEL

920  Rodriguez, Richard. Hunger of Memory: the Education of Richard Rodriguez: an Autobiography. 1982.Rodriguez's journey through the educational system leads to his belief that family, culture, and language must be left behind to succeed in mainstream America.  921 RODRIQUEZ

930    Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass.  1996.  Lyra Belacqua, a young girl living in an alternate Oxford, and her daimon, Pantalaimon, set out to find her kidnapped playmate and uncover a sinister plot.  Now Lyra must use her special powers to thwart evil and redeem the world.     FIC PULLMAN

940  Watson, Larry. Montana 1948. 1993.The summer he is 12, David watches as his family and small town are shattered by scandal and tragedy.  FIC WATSON

940 Hautzig, Esther.  The Endless Steppe.  921 HAUTZIG

950  Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1952.A young African American seeking identity during his high school and college days, and later in New York's Harlem, relates his terrifying experiences.   FIC ELLISON

960    Mah, Adeline. Chinese Cinderella: the True Story of an Unwanted Daughter.   New York: Delacorte, 1999.  Wu Mei, also called Adeline, is the Fifth Younger Sister of her family, and the one who bears the blame for all their bad fortune.  In her inspirational tale of survival in 1940’s China, she triumphs against all odds.  921 MAH

960  Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899.Edna Pontellier, an unhappy wife and mother, discovers new qualities in herself when she visits Grand Isle, a resort for the Creole elite of New Orleans.  FIC CHOPIN

960  Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer. 1966.Victim of a vicious anti-Semitic conspiracy, Yakov Bok is in a Russian prison with only his indomitable will to sustain him.  FIC MALAMUD

970    Latifa [pseud.].  My Forbidden Face:  Growing Up Under the Taliban; A Young Woman’s Story.  New York: Hyperion Press, 2002.  Sixteen-year-old Latifa dreamed of becoming a professional journalist until the Taliban’s repression of women changed her life.   921 LATIFA

970  LeGuin, Ursula. The Left Hand of Darkness. 1969. First envoy to the technologically primitive world of Winter, Al must deal with a hostile climate; a suspicious, bickering government; and his own conventional sexual mores.   FIC LEGUIN

970  McKinley, Robin. Beauty. 1978.Love is the only key to unlocking a curse and transforming the Beast into a man. 398.2 MCKINLEY

970  Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. 1967.A baseball injury brings together two Jewish boys, one Hasidic, the other Orthodox, first in hostility but finally in friendship.  FIC POTOCK

970  Uchida, Yoshiko. Picture Bride. 1987.Hana Omiya journeys to America in the early 1900s to marry a man she has never met.  FIC UCHIDA

980   Kosinski, Jerzy. Painted Bird. 1965.An abandoned dark-haired child wanders alone through isolated villages of Eastern Europe in World War II.  FIC KOSINSKI

980  Edelman, Bernard  Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam.  959.704 EDELMAN

980   Heat Moon, William.  Blue Highways: A Journey to America.  917.3 HEAT

980   Yolen, Jane, editor. Favorite Folktales from Around the World. 1986. This collection of international folktales provides an understanding of the roots of diverse cultures  398.2 FAVORITE

990  Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. 1866. A sensitive intellectual is driven by poverty to believe himself exempt from moral law.   FIC DOSTOYEVSKY

990  Hillenbrand, Laura.   Seabiscut.     798.4 HILLENBRAND

1000   Crutcher, Chris.  Whale Talk.  2001.  What does a guy do when he has all the talents to be a star athlete, but hates his high school athletic program? FIC CRUTCHER

1000  Rosenberg, Robert.  Bill Cosby: The Changing Black Image.                              

1000 Petry, Ann.  Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad.    921 TUBMAN

1000   Harr, Jonathon.   A Civil Action.            346.7303 HARR

1010 Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. 1951.Emerging from a kaleidoscope of experiences and tasted pleasures, Siddhartha transcends to a state of peace and mystic holiness in this strangely simple story.    FIC HESS


1010  Ford, Michael Thomas. The Voices of AIDS: Twelve Unforgettable People Talk About How AIDS Has Changed Their Lives. 1995. Individuals whose AIDS experiences have been catalysts for making a difference share their poignant and personal stories.    362.1 FORD

1010  Neihardt, John.  Black Elk Speaks.  921 BLACK

1010  Hockenberry, John.  Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence. 1995. Journalist Hockenberry is fearless and funny as he relates the personal and professional experiences he encounters from his wheelchair.  921 HOCKENBERRY

1010  Bernstein, Carl  Al l the President’s Men.  364.1 BERNSTEIN

1020  Agee, James. A Death in the Family. 1957.The enchanted childhood summer of 1915 suddenly becomes a baffling experience for Rufus Follet when his father dies.    FIC AGEE

1020  Jenkins, Peter.   Walk Across America.  917.3 JENKINS

1020  Graham, Robin.  Dove.     910 GRAHAM

1040  Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. Gods and heroes, their clashes and adventures, come alive in this splendid retelling of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths.       291.13 HAMILTON

1040  Mathabane, Mark.  Kaffir Boy.   921 MATHABANE

1040  Dillard, Annie  An American Childhood.  921 DILLARD

1050    Bagdasarian, Adam. Forgotten Fire.  2000.  Based on a true story from the Armenian Holocaust, this is an eloquent, touching and heart-wrenching portrait of pain and triumph during a time of tragedy.        FIC BAGDASARIAN                                              

1060  Emecheta, Buchi. Bride Price. 1976. Aku-nna, a very young Ibo girl, and Chike, her teacher, fall in love despite tribal custom forbidding their romance.  FIC EMECHETA

1060  Curie, Eve.  Madam Curie: a Biography. 1937. In sharing personal papers and her own memories, a daughter pays tribute to her unique and generous mother, a scientific genius.     921 CURIE

1060  McCullough, David.  Truman. 1992.  This notable president earned America's respect by helping to end World War II and reshape the world for postwar peace.  921 TRUMAN

1060  Yeager, Chuck and Janos, Leo.   Yeager: An Autobiography      921 YEAGER

1070    Katz, Jon.  Geeks:  How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho.  New York: Broadway Books, 2001.  Eric and Jesse, poor students and online geeks, find their obsession with computers and technology is their ticket to college and success.  338.7 KATZ

1070  Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. 1970. An African American writer, poet, and actress traces her coming of age.   921 ANGELOU

1070 Atkinson, Linda   In Kindling Flame: the Story of Hannah Senesh   921 SENESH

1080  Douglass, Frederick.  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. 1845. Former slave and famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass describes the horrors of his enslavement and eventual escape.   921 DOUGLAS

1080 Dahl, Roald  Going Solo  921 DAHL

1080  Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. 1970. There's another side of

America's western expansion: the one seen through Native American eyes.   970.5 BROWN

1080 Frank, Anne   Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl940.54 FRANK

1090 Baker, Russell  Growing Up

1100  King, Laurie R. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or, on the Segregation of the Queen. 1994. Retired Sherlock Holmes meets his intellectual match in 15-year-old Mary Russell, who challenges him to investigate yet another case.      FIC KING

1110  Wolfe, Tom.   The Right Stuff.    629.109 WOLFE

1120  Haley, Alex  and X. Malcom.  The Autobiography of Malcom X.  921 X

1120  Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan.  Cross Creek.          921 RAWLINGS

1130  Beal, Merril  I Will Fight No More Forever.          970.3 BEAL

1140  Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. 1961.In this satirical novel, Captain Yossarian confronts the hypocrisy of war and bureaucracy as he frantically attempts to survive.  FIC HELLER

1040  Mathabane, Mark. Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa.. 1986. Growing up under the brutalities of apartheid South Africa, Mathabane describes the growing unrest in his country and his eventual escape through his ties to the tennis community.  921 MATHBANE

1140  Williams, Juan.  Eyes on the Prize: American Civil Rights 1954-1965.  From Brown v. the Board of Education to the Voting Rights Act, Williams outlines the social and political gains of African Americans.  323.4 WILLIAMS                

1150  Keneally, Thomas. Schindler's List. 1982 .Oskar Schindler, a rich factory owner, risks his life and spends his personal fortune to save Jews listed as his workers during World War II.       FIC KENEALLY

1150  Keller, Helen.  The Story of My Life. 1902. Overcoming deafness and blindness to become an outstanding citizen, Helen Keller embodies courage, passion, and perseverance.        921 KELLER

1160  Read, Piers Paul.  Alive.   982 READ

1180   Haddon, Mark.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  2003. Christopher has two mysteries to solve: who killed Wellington the dog, and what happened to his mother.  But Christopher, who has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism, approaches these mysteries and the world itself in a unique and special way. FIC HADD0N

1110  Aronson, Marc. Art Attack: A Short Cultural History of the Avant-Garde. 1998. Discover everything you ever wanted to know about bohemians, hipsters, and the development of the world's most radical art.  700 ARONSON                                          

1110  McCourt, Frank.  Ashes: A Memoir. 1996.Illness, hunger, alcoholism, and death plague McCourt's childhood in Ireland, but somehow he survives with his spirit intact. 921 MCCOURT

1140  Jones, K. Maurice. Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music. 1994. From a village in West Africa to a street in Brooklyn, to MTV, rappers make the Scene.                           

1140  Massie, Robert K.  Nicholas and Alexandra. 1967. At the brink of revolution, the last Tsar of Russia and his family become victims of their own mismanagement and personal problems.              947.08 MASSIE                       

1140   Galarza, Ernesto.  Barrio Boy.  921 GALARZA                                              

1140  Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea. 1997. Haunting premonitions didn't save seven fisherman from the ferocious and deadly power of the sea. 974.4  JUNGER

1150  Blais, Madeleine. In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle. 1995. Learn about the year of heart, sweat, and muscle that transformed the Amherst Lady Hurricanes basketball team into state champions.           

1160  Fouts, Roger. Next of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me About Who We Are. 1997. Describing his career of communicating with chimpanzees, Fouts explains evolutionary, genetic, and emotional bonds with our next of kin.  156 FOUTS

1160  Freedman, Russell.   The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane.  629.13 FREEDMAN

1190   Hersey, John. Hiroshima. 1946. Six Hiroshima survivors reflect on the aftermath of the first atomic bomb. 940.54 HERSEY

1190  Ambrose, Stephen. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the West. 917.804 AMBROSE

1200  Lewis, Anthony.   Gideon’s Trumpet.      323.42 LEWIS

1200  Welty, Eudora.   One Writer’s Beginnings.            921 WELTY

1210  Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. 1997.Inman, a wounded Civil War soldier, endures the elements, The Guard, and his own weakness and infirmity to return to his sweetheart, Ada, who is fighting her own battle to survive while farming the mountainous North Carolina terrain.      FIC FRAZIER

1220  Bissinger, H.G.  Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a DreamNew York: DaCapo Press, 2003 (reprint)  In Odessa, Texas, high school football is more than a recreational interest, it is the whole town’s passion.        796.332 BISSINGER

1220  Goodall, Jane.  In the Shadow of Man. 599.8 GOODALL

1230   Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. New York: Norton, 2003.  Discover the amazing life-after-death adventures of human bodies in this examination of how medical and research scientists use cadavers to make our lives better.       611 ROACH

1240  Schlosser, Eric.  Fast Food Nation:  The Dark Side of the All-American MealBoston:  Houghton Mifflin, 2001.  The growth of the fast food industry has changed America’s eating habits and greatly impacted agriculture, the meatpacking industry, the minimum wage, and other aspects of American life.            394.1 SCHLOSSER

1240  Finn, David. How to Look at Sculpture: Text and Photographs. 1989.To understand sculpture, you have to know what to look for.                                  

1240  McBride, James.  The Color of Water: a Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. 1996. McBride blends his story with that of his mother, who battled poverty and racism to raise twelve children.  921 MCBRIDE

1250  Bernstein, Leonard. The Joy of Music. 1959. Bernstein describes all aspects of classical music.           780.1 BERNSTEIN

1270  Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. 1929.World War I is the setting for this love story of an English nurse and a wounded American ambulance officer.  FIC HEMINGWAY

1280  Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. 1997. Barely a postscript in official Japanese history, the horrific rape, mutilation, torture, and murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens took place over the course of just seven weeks.

1280 DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. 1903. Educator DuBois describes the lives and history of African American farmers, including the career of Booker T. Washington.  305.8 DUBOIS

1280  Uchida, Yoshiko.   Desert Exile: The Up-rooting of a Japanese-American Family.            940.54 UCHIDA

1290  Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. 1988. Cosmology becomes understandable as the author discusses the origin, evolution, and fate of our universe.                523.1 HAWKING

1290  Toffler, Alvin.   Future Shock.     301.24 TOFFLER

1300  Singh, Simon. Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem. 1997.A Princeton professor pursues a lifelong dream of solving a 350-year-old mathematical puzzle.                             

1320  Washington, Booker T.  Up From Slavery.           921 WASHINGTON

1320  Krakauer, John. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
. 1997. His dream expedition to Everest became a nightmare when human error and a sudden storm combined to claim the lives of some of the world's best mountain climbers.  796.52 KRAKAUER

1320   Sobel, Dava. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York: Walker and Company, 1995.  The little known story behind the greatest innovation in navigational science; an 18th century version of the GPS.            526 SOBEL

1340  Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 1962. This landmark book gave birth to the environmental movement.                 632 CARSON

1350    Fagan, Brian.  The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. New York: Basic Books, 2002.  Fagan provides a fascinating look at how climate change influenced the course of the last thousand years of Western history.  He highlights climate’s profound influence on the Viking discovery of North America, the Industrial and French Revolutions, and the Irish Potato Famine.                       

1360  Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man. 1981. Gould's history of the attempt to quantify intelligence could be called the "misuse of science." 

1370  Franklin, Benjamin  Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.            921 FRANKLIN

1380  Alvarez, Walter. T. Rex and the Crater of Doom. 1997. Geologist Alvarez presents the development of the impact theory of dinosaur extinction as the adventure/mystery it was.                            

1390  Day, David. The Search for King Arthur. 1995. Discover through magnificent illustrations and romantic retellings what is fact and what is legend about this fifth-century hero.  942.01 DAY

1400    King, Ross. Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture.  New York: Walker and Co., 2000. In this vivid recreation of the political and artistic milieu of 15th century Florence, an audacious architect achieves the impossible, and makes possible modern building.

1410  Kennedy, John F.  Profiles in Courage.   920 KENNEDY