unRequired Reading Blog

It’s one of life’s ironies that you don’t realize how much someone’s impacted your life until they’re gone. More specifically, you realize that you never told that person how much they meant. It isn’t until they pass that you think, “Oh! I wish I had said something!” You think about how that person shaped who you are, in major or even subtle ways, and sometimes realize that you wouldn’t be you if it weren’t for that person’s influence, guidance, or mere presence in your life.

William Kamkwamba first encountered the magic that ruled Malawi when he was six. Herd boys found a  sack in the road; it was filled with bubblegum!  What a treasure! "Should we give any to this little boy with leaves in his hair?", they asked. Of course they did, a double handful of gumballs: so many colors.  William ate them all.

The Young Adult Library Services Association has just announced this year's Teens' Top Ten. Over 11,000 teens voted online for their favorites from August 24 through September 18. And the winners are ...

1. Paper Towns by John Green
2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
5. Identical by Ellen Hopkins
6. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
7. Wake by Lisa McMann
8. Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast
9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Teen Read Week is all about reading for fun, so take a break from homework by checking out one of these great books.

Here are some books to get you started (after you finish the rest of her books, of course!):

If you enjoyed The Other Side of the Island, here are some other titles you may like:

Talk about hearing voices in your head. On New World, all men, boys, and animals can hear each other's thoughts, also called "noise." There's ways to cover up or mask your thoughts, but it's hard to do. Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown, on the cusp of his 13th birthday, which will make him a man. One day, while running an errand, he notices a silence in the noise - something that has never happened before - and comes upon someone who changes his perception of his world forever.

Thank you for your book match request for titles like How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot. Here are some books that might enjoy:

And Sometimes Why
by Mame Farrell.
Eighth grader Jack is confused when he finds his relationship changing with his best friend, an athletic girl named Chris who has suddenly become attractive.

Bloomability
by Sharon Creech.
When her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school, thirteen-year-old Dinnie discovers an expanding world and her place within it.

Thanks for using our Bookmatch service and here are some books you might like:

16 Isn’t Always Sweet by Cassandra Carter.

Alastair Reynolds is a Welsh astrophysicist who writes spectacular stories and novels about the future. A future where there are several types of humans, and not all of them get along. Interstellar travel is possible; it will take a while, even on a lighthugger, traveling just under light speed. Orbital habitats form the Glitter Band above the planet Yellowstone in the Epsilon Eridani system, all doomed. They just don’t know it yet.