Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

When he was nine, Kip set another child on fire. Now, after years in a juvenile ward, he is ready for a fresh start. But the ghosts of his past soon demand justice, and he must reveal his painful secret. How can Kip tell anyone that he really is--or was--a murderer?

Before and After: A Novel

by Rosellen Brown

The New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book Carolyn and Ben Reiser moved to Hyland, New Hampshire with their two children for the comforts of rural life. But when the local police chief comes looking for their seventeen-year-old son Jacob to question him about the brutal murder of his girlfriend, the Reisers' lives begin to unravel. A compelling story that will capture you in the opening scene... (more)

Bad Boy from Rosebud: The Murderous Life of Kenneth Allen McDuff

Bad Boy from Rosebud: The Murderous Life of Kenneth Allen McDuff

by Gary M. Lavergne

"Bad boy" falls laughably short of describing Kenneth Allen McDuff, and "evil" seems too charitable. "Big Mac" was part Ted Bundy, part legendary small-town ogre Ken Rex McElroy (see Harry N. McLean's In Broad Daylight , 1988). He hated women, and his signature crime was to "take" a young woman and "use her up." He would force "around the world" sex (oral, anal, and vaginal penetration) on her and then murder... (more)

Precious: A Novel

by Sandra Novack

The summer of 1978, ten-year-old Vicki Anderson rides her bike to the local park and goes missing. Her tight-knit blue-collar Pennsylvania neighborhood, where children roam the streets at night playing lightning tag, aboveground pools sparkle in backyards, and flowers scent the air, will never be the same. Down the street from Vicki’s house, another family is in crisis. Troubled by her past, headstrong Natalia... (more)

Dark Places: A Novel

by Gillian Flynn

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben... (more)

Columbine

by David Cullen

On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school, Oklahoma-City style, and to leave "a lasting impression on the world." Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence-irrevocably branding every subsequent shooting "another Columbine." When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; we... (more)

Native Son

by Richard Wright

The Story of Bigger Thomas.

The Pact

by Jodi Picoult

Until the phone calls came at three o'clock on a November morning, the Golds and their neighbors, the Hartes, had been inseparable. It was no surprise to anyone when their teenage children, Chris and Emily, began showing signs that their relationship was moving beyond that of lifelong friends. But now seventeen-year-old Emily is dead&#8212shot with a gun her beloved and devoted Chris pilfered from his father's... (more)

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

14.5 Million copies sold to date The classic, startling, and perennially bestselling portrait of human nature-now available as a Premium Edition with a stunning new cover and re-set, easy-to-read text.

We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)

We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)

by Lionel Shriver

In this gripping novel of motherhood gone awry, Lionel Shriver approaches the tragedy of a high-school massacre from the point of view of the killer's mother.In letters written to the boy's father, mother Eva probes the upbringing of this more-than-difficult child and reveals herself to have been the reluctant mother of an unsavory son. As the schisms in her family unfold, we draw closer to an unexpected climax... (more)

The Bright Forever: A Novel

by Lee Martin

On an evening like any other, nine-year-old Katie Mackey, daughter of the most affluent family in a small town on the plains of Indiana, sets out on her bicycle to return some library books. This simple act is at the heart of The Bright Forever , a suspenseful, deeply affecting novel about the choices people make that change their lives forever. Keeping fact, speculation, and contradiction playing off one... (more)

Peace Like a River

by Leif Enger

Leif Enger's rhapsodic novel about a father raising his three children in 1960s Minnesota is a breathtaking celebration of family, faith, and America's pioneering spirit. Through the voice of eleven-year-old Reuben, an asthmatic boy, Peace Like a River tells of the Land family's cross-country search for Reuben's outlaw older brother, who has been controversially charged with murder. Sprinkled with playful and... (more)

High Risk: Children Without A Conscience

High Risk: Children Without A Conscience

by Ken Magid

The authors explore the reasons why children without a conscience are growing in number. They are at risk of becoming "trust bandits," con-men, liars, dance-away lovers, backstabbers of the business world, and even psychopathic killers.

Romeo and Juliet/West Side StoryWilliam/Laurents, Arthur Shakespeare

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: adolescent homicide

Right Behind You

by Gail Giles