US Summer Reading 2019
Recommendations from the Becker Library Staff
Summer is a great time to expand your reading horizons!
Below are some selections for fun, summer reads and information on writing opportunities.
2019 Alex Award Books
The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have
special appeal to teens and young adults.
Below are some notable suggestions from this list as chosen by SSES Library Staff.
Circe
by Madeline Miller
Spurned by her fellow gods for her lack of beauty and power, minor goddess Circe seeks out mortals instead and finds in herself a new ability: witchcraft, and the power to transform men into monsters. Coming of age over the span of a thousand years, Circe--and the reader--must find safe harbor in this ongoing epic of gods and men. (YALSA website)
Educated: A Memoir
by Tara Westover
Raised in an extremist family and barely homeschooled, Tara Westover decides that education is more important than family. Breaking ties, forging new relationships, and unlearning much of what she’s grown up "knowing" prove to be nearly insurmountable. This stirring memoir shows that ignorance is not bliss, and that knowledge is power. (YALSA website)
Green
by Sam Graham-Felsen
David Greenfield hates being one of the few white kids in his middle school where even his former best friend bullies him. He connects with a boy from the projects, but competition cause a rift in their blossoming friendship. A timely historical fiction, “Green” explores race, class, minority status, and the daily injustices of middle school life. (YALSA website)
Additional Reading Recommendations
Below are some of our current favorites to read all summer long.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
by Hank Green
Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship--like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor--April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. (APL Bibliocommons)
The Iliad
The Iliad, Homer's legendary account of this decade-long ordeal, is considered the greatest war story of all time and one of the most important works of Western literature. In this thoroughly researched and artfully rendered graphic novel, renowned illustrator Gareth Hinds captures all the grim glory of Homer's epic. (APL Bibliocommons)
Emergency Contact
by Mary H.K. Choi
When Penny Lee heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it's seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can't wait to leave behind. Sam is stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. When they cross paths it's a collision of unbearable awkwardness. (APL Bibliocommons)
Texas Teen Book Festival Writing Contest
The TTBF Fresh Ink Fiction Contest is open to Texas residents aged 11-18 years. Entry deadline is July 15, 2019. See Fresh Ink website for more information.
Ask a Librarian
Contact Ms. Bartek (cbartek@sstx.org) or Ms. Andrews (mandrews@sstx.org) for more great summer reads.