Principal's Reading List
2011-2012
| August |
 Who Moved My Cheese? for Teens Spencer Johnson |
The core of this teen book--a cheesy (literally) allegory about four characters navigating a maze in pursuit of happiness (cheese) with varying success--is identical to the cheese-quest story told in Johnson's grownup book. |
| September |
 Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything Joshua Foer |
Moonwalking with Einstein
follows Joshua Foer's compelling journey as a
participant in the U.S. Memory Championship. As
a science journalist covering the competition,
Foer became captivated by the secrets of the
competitors, like how the current world memory
champion, Ben Pridmore, could memorize the exact
order of 1,528 digits in an hour.
|
| October |
 My American Journey Colin Powell |
Gen.
Powell's involvement with and analysis of national
and international affairs, from Vietnam to the
Clinton administration, are succinctly and
objectively recounted. Scattered throughout the book
are personal rules of conduct and occasional
incidents of particular kindnesses and of racism.
Teens are given an opportunity to spend some time
with a thoughtful, positive leader.
|
| November |
 My Stroke of Insight Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. |
On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte
Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained
brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a
blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain.
A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own
mind completely deteriorate to the point that she
could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of
her life, all within the space of four brief hours.
As the damaged left side of her brain--the rational,
grounded, detail- and time-oriented side--swung in
and out of function, Taylor alternated between two
distinct and opposite realties: the euphoric nirvana
of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in
which she felt a sense of complete well-being and
peace; and the logical, sequential left brain, which
recognized Jill was having a stroke, and enabled her
to seek help before she was lost completely. |
| December |
 Before I Fall Lauren Oliver |
In this Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls teen hybrid, Sam Kingston is pretty, popular, and has a seemingly perfect boyfriend. But after a late-night party everything goes terribly wrong, and the life that she lived is gone forever. Or is it? |
| January |
 Don’t Tie Yourself Up In “NOTS” David P. Schloss |
This motivational book shares with the reader quick, straight-forward ways to untie themselves from the everyday "nots" that stop them from being their personal best. |
| February |
 Clybourne Park Bruce Norris |
Clybourne Park explodes in two outrageous acts set 50 years apart. Act One takes place in 1959, as nervous community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification. |
| March |
 Revolver Marcus Sedgwick |
In an isolated cabin, fourteen-year-old Sig is alone
with a corpse: his father, who has fallen through
the ice and frozen to death only hours earlier. Then
comes a stranger claiming that Sig’s father owes him
a share of a horde of stolen gold. Sig’s only
protection is a loaded Colt revolver hidden in the
cabin’s storeroom. The question is, will Sig use the
gun, and why? |
| April |
 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese |
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of
a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun
and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their
mother’s death and their father’s disappearance,
bound together by a preternatural connection and
a shared fascination with medicine, the twins
come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of
revolution. Moving from Addis Ababa to New York
City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an
unforgettable story of love and betrayal,
medicine and ordinary miracles--and two brothers
whose fates are forever intertwined.
|
| May |
|
Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her
dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the
move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her
mother and her mother's new family, McLean has
followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind.
And each new place gives her a chance to try out a
new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But
now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire
to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever
that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help
her find out. |
| June |
|
An astonishing new science called "neuroplasticity"
is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the
human brain is immutable. In this revolutionary look
at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman
Doidge, M.D., provides an introduction to both the
brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and
the people whose lives they've transformed. From
stroke patients learning to speak again to the
remarkable case of a woman born with half a brain
that rewired itself to work as a whole, The Brain
That Changes Itself will permanently alter the way
we look at our brains, human nature, and human
potential. |
| July |
|
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane. One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives. Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them--Set–has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe -- a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs. |
