And.....ACTION!
Books that'll get your blood pumping.
We couldn't make this stuff up: True Life Tales
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by by H.G. Bissinger
Every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true.
Can I see your I.D.? : true stories of false identities by Chris Barton
Ten true stories of assumed identities, from the impoverished young woman who enchanted nineteenth-century British society as a faux Asian princess, to the sixteen-year-old boy who "stole" a subway train in 1993, to the lonely but clever Frank Abagnale of "Catch Me if You Can" fame.
Shadow divers : the true adventure of two Americans who risked everything to solve one of the last mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson
Tells the story of the discovery in 1991 of a World War II German U-boat, sunk sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey, by deep sea divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, and their six year obsession with identifying the submarine which sank with its crew onboard.
Near death in the mountains : true stories of disaster and survival edited by Cecil Kuhne.
A collection of twelve short stories depicting true accounts of mountain climbers' near death experiences, and features selections entitled "No Picnic on Mount Kenya," "The White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger," "The Mountain of My Fear," and others.
The wave : in pursuit of the rogues, freaks, and giants of the ocean by Susan Casey
Recounts the exploits of Laird Hamilton and his group of surfers as they travel the world searching for the ultimate wave, a one hundred-foot monster that has the ability to destroy ships.
The year we disappeared : a father-daughter memoir by Cylin Busby & John Busby
Father and daughter, Cylin and John Busby, share their memories of the challenges they faced after their family was forced to go into hiding in order to protect themselves from a killer who had already shot John, a police officer, once and was determined to finish the job.
Escape from Camp 14 : one man's remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the west by Blaine Harden
Chronicles the life of Dong-hyuk Shin, who was raised in a political prison camp in North Korea, and describes the inhuman condtions inside, his harrowing escape from the camp and the country, and his efforts to raise awareness of the camps to others.
The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America by Erik Larson
Tells the parallel stories of Daniel Burnham, the main architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and serial killer Henry H. Holmes, discussing the challenges Burnham faced in creating the hugely successful White City, and looking at how Holmes used the opportunities afforded by the fair to lure victims to their deaths.
Marley and Me by John Grogan
The author presents a tender story of his family's love for their golden retriever, Marley, and recalls how he grew from a mischievous puppy into a nearly impossible adult that no amount of obedience school training could correct.
Wacky Weather
Ashfall by Mike Mullin
After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its surroundings, fifteen-year-old Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.
Life as we Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
Safekeeping by Karen Hesse
When Radley returns to the United States after volunteering abroad, she comes back to a country under military rule with strict travel restrictions, and she must find her way back to her Vermont home through the New England woods.
Vampires
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Robert Neville, the last living man on an Earth in which every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, struggles to survive, scavenging for food and supplies and desperately searching for other survivors and trying to avoid the evil that lurks in the shadows.
The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd: Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
Thirteen-year-old half-vampire Vladimir Tod struggles to navigate the ups and downs of eighth grade while keeping his untested powers and impulses under control.
The Passage by Justin Cronin
FBI agent Brad Wolgast vows to protext six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte after a government military experiment she was involved in goes bad, unleashing a toxic virus that turns humans into bloodthirsty monsters.
Like it was made for the movies...
Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series) by Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer
Just before her graduation from La Jolla's exclusive Freiburg Academy, valedictorian and scholarship student Kylie Flores inadvertently ends up in Ensenada, Mexico, with Max, one of the most popular boys in school, where, in twenty-four jam-packed hours, their lives dramatically change.
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schrieber
Perry's parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom but after an incident at the dance he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father's precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.
Geek Out!: Technology as Foe
Erebos: It's a Game, It Watches You by Ursula Poznanski
Nick is given an addictive computer game called "Erebos" that asks its players to carry out actions in the real world in order to keep playing online, actions which become more and more terrifyingly manipulative. As Nick loses friends and all sense of right and wrong in the real world, he gains power and advances further towards his online goal--to become one of the Inner Circle of Erebos.
Robopocalypse : a novel by Daniel H. Wilson
Archos, a powerful artificial intelligence, takes on the persona of a shy human boy and begins to take over the world's technology and turn it against humanity, launching a robot war that no one seems to be able to contain or stop.
Brain Jack by Brian Falkner
In a near-future New York City, fourteen-year-old computer genius Sam Wilson manages to hack into the AT&T network and sets off a chain of events that have a profound effect on human activity throughout the world.
Kick-Butt Girls
Graceling by Kristin Cashores
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace of killing and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Sixteen-year-old Eon hopes to become an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune and learn to be its main interpreter, but to do so will require much, including keeping secret that she is a girl.
Rift by Andrea Cremer
Sixteen-year-old Lady Ember Morrow fulfills a family obligation by joining her friend Alistair in the Conatus Guard and begins training to help with the order's true mission, to seek out and stop evildoers and their unnatural creations.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray travels to England in search of her brother only to be abducted by the Dark Sisters, residents of London's Downworld, home to the city's supernatural folk, and she becomes the object of much attention--both good and bad--when it is discovered she has the power to transform at will into another person.
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
In a distant future, eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured, too, and taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter until new friends help plan an escape.