Category Archives: Book Lists
Student Picks – Dec. 2013/Jan. 2014
Want to know what students at PDHS are reading and recommending? Check out the current library display of student picks. This will be an ongoing feature in the library and on the blog, so if you read a book from the school library and want to promote it, fill out a form and it will be added to the display.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Recommended by Grade 7 student
Plot: Two girls in the English army are separated in WWII.
Read it if you like historical fiction and action.
Death Note series by Tsugumi Ohba
Recommended by Grade 8 student
Plot: Light Yagami finds a deathnote and figures out you can kill with it.
Read it if you like mystery.
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Recommended by: Grade 8 student
Plot: Amy is unfrozen, 50 years before she arrives at the new planet.
Read it if you like futuristic books, dystopia.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Recommended by: Grade 8 student
Plot: Park meets a new strange girl at school named Eleanor.
Read it if you like romance.
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer
Recommended by: Grade 9 student
Plot: It’s about a boy who is a half-vampire living with humans.
Read it if you like suspense.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Recommended by: Grade 9 student
Plot: In the future, a family faces disaster.
Read it if you like mystery and survival.
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
Recommended by: Grade 10 student
Plot: 17-year-old Imogene has to save her new friend and herself from an enemy.
Read it if you like punk and mythology.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Recommended by: Grade 11 student
Plot: She goes to a boarding school in Paris and falls in love.
Read it because it is so intense, well-written, and there are cute boys.
King of the Screwups by K. L. Going
Recommended by: Grade 11 student
Plot: Liam keeps screwing up and gets kicked out of his house.
Read it if you like humour and realistic fiction.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Recommended by Grade 12 student
Plot: A girl, normal like you, or is she? Clary is a girl in New York, she has no idea what events are about to take place. After her mother disappears, Clary discovers a world within her, filled with demons, shadowhunters, and angels. She then embarks on an epic journey to find her mother with her newfound shadowhunters and her best friend Simon. What could happen to her if her mother is not found?
Read it if you like fiction, semi-fairy tales, action, and romance/drama.
Season’s Readings
Do you have big reading plans for the holidays? If so, be sure to check out the library’s festive red and green book display to stock up.
- Allegiant by Veronica Roth
- Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- Death by Denim by Linda Gerber
- Fire by Kristin Cashore
- Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
- Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
- I. Q. Book One by Roland Smith
- Keturah & Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
- Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
- Multiple Choice by Claire Cook
- The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman
- The Reddening Path by Amanda Hale
- The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
- Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together by Bryan Lee O’Malley
- Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
- Speechless by Valerie Sherrard
- The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
- Under the Wolf, Under the Dog by Adam Rapp
- While I Live by John Marsden
Student Picks
Want to know what students at PDHS are reading and recommending? Check out the current library display of student picks. This will be an ongoing feature in the library and on the blog, so if you read a book from the school library and want to promote it, fill out a form and it will be added to the display.
November’s student picks are:
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Recommended by: Grade 7 student
Plot: There was a girl, there was a grave, and there was a curse.
Read it for excitement, tears, and laughter.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Recommended by: Grade 7 student
Plot: Everyone gets an operation that makes them look the same, but there is an evil secret behind it.
Read it if you like science fiction, dystopian.
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Recommended by: Grade 8 student
Plot: It’s about a zombie who falls in love with a human.
Read it if you like zombies and love.
Canterwood Crest series by Jessica Burkhart
Recommended by: Grade 9 student
Plot: Sasha is trying to get into an elite boarding school.
Read it if you like horses and drama.
Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
Recommended by: Grade 9 student
Plot: A vampire named Edward falls in love with a girl named Bella.
Read it if you like vampires.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Recommended by: Grade 10 student
Plot: A girl is trying to find her place in the courage faction.
Read it if you like The Hunger Games.
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Recommended by: Grade 11 student
Plot: Saba goes off to save her brother and ends up on a wild, crazy adventure.
Read it if you like action, adventure, and The Hunger Games.
The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha
Recommended by: Grade 11 student
Plot: 1000 awesome things, i.e. chips on your sandwich, socks fresh out of the dryer, coming home to a cooked meal.
Read it if you like optimism and a daily pick-me-up.
Lights, Camera, Read!
Happy Catching Fire Day! The sequel to The Hunger Games just one of many high-profile movie adaptations of teen books released this year, which include Beautiful Creatures, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Ender’s Game, and The Book Thief. The books that inspired these films – and many others – are all available from the PDHS Library and currently on display, so be sure to check them out.
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller with Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley
- Beastly by Alex Flinn
- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
- The Kite Runner by Kaled Hosseini
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
- Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Remembrance Day Books – Fiction
Take time to remember by reading one of these historical novels about WWI and WWII, all of which are on display in the library.
- And in the Morning by John Wilson
- Battle of Britain: Harry Woods, England, 1939-1941 by Chris Priestly
- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
- Charlie Wilcox’s Great War by Sharon E. McKay
- Dawn by Elie Wiesel
- Day by Elie Wiesel
- D-Day: Lieutenant Andy Pope, Normandy 1944 by Bryan Perrett
- The Girls They Left Behind by Bernice Thurman Hunter
- The Guests of War Trilogy by Kit Pearson
- Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Lawrence
- Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
- Murder on the Ridge by Ted Stenhouse
- Prisoner of Dieppe: World War II by Hugh Brewster
- Resistance by Janet Graber
- The Righteous Smuggler Debbie Spring
- Run Like Jäger by Karen Bass
- Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli
- The Trenches: Billy Stevens, The Western Front, 1914-1918 by Jim Eldridge
Miss Calder’s Picks
Here are a handful of books from the PDHS Library I’ve read and loved. Be sure to check them out if you haven’t already (they are currently on display).
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Plot: Amy’s been cryogenically frozen for the 300-year journey to a new Earth, but she wakes early when someone tries to kill her.
Read it if… you want science fiction with lots of intrigue and a dash of romance.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Plot: Two misfits fall in love, despite the odds that are stacked against them.
Read it if… you want a realistic romance that will give you butterflies and break your heart.
Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
Plot: Maggie is starting Grade 10 after years of homeschooling. If surviving high school wasn’t enough, she’s also being haunted.
Read it if… you’re looking for a (mostly) realistic, stand-alone graphic novel by a Nova Scotian author.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Plot: Katsa is “graced” with the ability to kill and is forced to work as a thug for the king. When she meets Prince Po, who is graced with combat skills, Katsa’s world is never the same.
Read it if… you want a fantasy novel with gorgeous writing, rich characters, lots of action and romance.
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Plot: Lucy is searching for Shadow, a mysterious graffiti artist she thinks is the perfect guy. She doesn’t know it’s Ed, who she once dated – and punched in the nose.
Read it if… you like quirky romantic comedies and off-beat adventures.
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Plot: Sig’s alone in a remote Arctic cabin with his father’s corpse and his revolver when there’s a knock on the door.
Read it if… you like historical fiction, tense thrillers, and short books.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Plot: Seraphina is a gifted musician for the Royal Court with a dangerous secret—she is half-human, half-dragon.
Read it if… you like medieval-style fantasies with dragons.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
Plot: One cold Chicago night, two very different Will Graysons collide – with life-changing results.
Read it if… you like humourous, but heartfelt, realistic fiction. And musicals.
Trick Or Read
Get into the Halloween spirit by curling up with a creepy book from the PDHS Library.
- Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
- Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
- Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant by Darren Shan
- Double-Dare to Be Scared by Robert D. San Souci
- Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
- Grimm’s Grimmest illustrated by Tracy Arah Dockray
- Haunted Harbours: Ghost Stories From Old Nova Scotia by Steve Vernon
- The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
- Hell Phone by William Sleator
- The Horrors: Terrifying Tales. Book 2 edited by Peter Carver
- Lighthouse Horrors edited by Charles G. Waugh
- More Maritime Mysteries by Bill Jessome
- Mystery House by Jean Booker
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
- Strange and Spooky Stories: A Haunted Canada Book by Pat Hancock
- This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
- Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
- Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
- Wicked Woods: Ghost Stories From Old New Brunswick by Steve Vernon
- The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Mi’kmaq History Month
This October marks the 20th anniversary of Mi’kmaq History Month. As part of this celebration of Mi’kmaq heritage and culture, the following books will be on display in the PDHS library. Be sure to check them out!
- Cibou: A Novel by Susan Young de Biagi
- Honouring 400 Years edited by Jaime Youngmedicine Battiste
- The Mi’kmaq by Christine Webster
- The Mi’kmaq Anthology edited by Rita Joe and Lesley Choyce
- The Mi’kmaq: How Their Ancestors Lived Five Hundred Years Ago by Ruth Holmes Whitehead and Harold McGee, illustrations by Kathy Kaulbach
- The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor: The First Woman Settler of the Miramichi by Sally Armstrong
- Nine Micmac Legends by Alden Nowlan, illustrated by Shirley Bear
- Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi’kmaq Poet by Rita Joe
Bullying Books
Today the students and staff of PDHS are standing up and speaking out against bullying. To mark the event, I’ve created a display of nonfiction and fiction books in the library that discuss bullying from the perspective of both the bullied and the bully. Some of these books are tough to read, as they force you to think about how your words and actions can deeply impact the lives of others.
Have you read any of the books listed below? Is there a book about bullying you’ve read but that I don’t have in the library? Share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments.
- Against All Odds by Paul Kropp
- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
- The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
- Breaking Point by Alex Flinn
- The Bully by Liza Brown
- Changing Jareth by Elizabeth Wennick
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
- Cracked by K. M. Walton
- It Gets Better edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller
- Names Will Never Hurt Me by James Adoff
- New Blood by Peter McPhee
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picout
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
- The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen
- Run Zan Run by Catherine MacPhail
- Smile by Raina Telgemeier
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Totally Joe by James Howe
Fall Into Reading
Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful summer filled with sun, smores, and books. Be sure to stop by the library to say hi and check out one of the many great books in the Fall display.
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
- Dustlands: Blood Red Road by Moira Young
- Dustlands: Rebel Heart by Moira Young
- Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
- Fire by Kristin Cashore
- I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
- I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
- Kate by Valerie Sherrard
- A Million Suns by Beth Revis
- Rash by Pete Hautman
- The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
- Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Brian Lee O’Malley
- Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
- Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
- Witch & Wizard by James Patterson
PDHS Library 