Kindred, Octavia Butler: Dana,
a woman living in the 1970’s, is the main character of this book. At
the beginning of the book, she suddenly feels faint and is inexplicably
transported from her living room to another time and place, to a
riverbank where a young boy appears to be drowning. She saves the boy
and gives him CPR before she is suddenly returned to her living room.
As the book continues, she keeps getting taken from her life to rescue
this same boy, and can’t control when it happens. She soon finds out
that the boy lives on a southern plantation during the time slavery, and
as a black woman, must face the reality of being in that time and
place.
Note: This book has a high
reading level, as it is found in the regular section of book stores, not
the young adult section. It also jumps back and forth between time
periods. This book contains some mature content (descriptions of
violence).
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes: The
main character of this book is Charlie Gordon, a man with a very low IQ
who is chosen to participate in an experimental surgery to increase his
intelligence. The surgery was successfully tested on a lab mouse named
Algernon, and Charlie becomes the first human test subject. The story
is told from Charlie’s point of view as he writes progress reports to
monitor his progress throughout the experiment. The surgery works and
Charlie does, in fact, become smarter. But what price does he have to
pay?
Note: At first, Charlie’s progress
reports are filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. As his
intelligence grows, so does his vocabulary and sentence structure,
leading to a high reading level. This book contains some mature content
(references to sexuality).
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury: In future
America, a fireman isn't what it means today. Firemen of the future are
charged with setting fires - specifically to burn all books for the
good of humanity. The title refers to the temperature at which paper
burns. Future America itself isn't what you'd be too familiar with,
either. It's a place where lawlessness and total abandonment of
self-control are the norms, and being an intellectual is outlawed.
Anyone caught with a book is thrown into a mental hospital, and their
possessions burned to the ground. The central character, Guy Montag,
after seeing some people willingly die for their books, is a little
uneasy with his job as a fireman, the life he leads, or the society he
is a part of. He slowly joins the "outlaws" and becomes entangled in a
war.
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer: One of only
two non-fiction choices on the list, this book tells the true story of
Chris McCandless, who set out to survive in the Alaskan wilderness with
very few supplies. In the early 1990s, when Chris graduated from
college he gave all his money to charity, abandoned almost all his
possessions, cut all ties with his upper-middle class family, and set
out on a journey across the US. He eventually hitchhikes to Alaska, and
walks out into the wilderness to try to survive on his own. Four
months later, McCandless's body is found by a hunter after he died of
starvation. Jon Krakauer investigates McCandles's life in an attempt to
piece together the of story of his death, as well as to figure out what
drove him to abandon a comfortable life in favor of such high-risk
activities. Thanks to journals McCandless left behind and interviews
with those who knew him, you hear the story of his fight to survive and
get a glimpse into his mind-set.
