Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heart-wrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring. Written in free verse, this award-winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental--and emotional--turmoil they leave in... (more)

Sold

by Patricia McCormick

Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls

This Is All

by Aidan Chambers

Subtitled "The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn", this is the story of Cordelia from the time she is 15 until she is 20. She is pregnant and plans to give this account to her daughter on her 16th birthday so that they can share their youth together. She chooses the old and famous Japanese book "The Pillow Book" by Sei Shonagon' as a model in order to include all kinds of things she has already written as well as the... (more)

Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway (Girls of Many Lands)

Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway (Girls of Many Lands)

by Kirkpatrick Hill

Part of the Girls of Many Lands series, Hill's (The Year of Miss Agnes) finely detailed novel set in a Yup'ik Eskimo village in the 1890s feels mesmerizingly authentic. Minuk, the narrator, is 12 the spring that the missionary family arrives, and like the other children she is fascinated by the sight of her first kass'aq (white) woman and child. She can't imagine what the "sort of pink butterfly" hanging from the... (more)

The Silent Boy (Readers Circle)

by Lois Lowry

Precocious Katy Thatcher comes to realize what a gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way. “The author balances humor and generosity with the obstacles and injustice of Katy’s world to depict a complete picture of the turn of the 20th century.”— Publishers Weekly , Starred

Absolute Brightness

by James Lecesne

Darkness: Where light is not. Light: Brightness or illumination from a particular source. Absolute brightness: The mystery of Leonard Pelkey. This is the story of a luminous force of nature: a boy who encounters evil and whose magic isn't truly felt until he disappears.

Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls

First published in 1961, a modern-day classic for children follows the friendship between a boy and his two dogs as they search out adventure along the dark hills and river bottoms of Cherokee country. Reprint.

Feed

by M. T. Anderson

Identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love in a futuristic society where people connect to the Internet via feeds implanted in their brains. For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction,... (more)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer

All Quiet on the Western Front

by Susan Van Kirk, A. W. Wheen, Erich Maria Remarque, Erich M. Remarqu, A. W. Wheen

ONE OF TWELVE TITLES IN VINTAGE'S A FORMAT WAR PROMOTION The Greatest Novel about the First World War and an International Bestseller All Quiet on the Western Front is probably the most famous anti-war novel ever written. The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of Flanders during the First World War. Through his eyes we see all the realities of war; under fire, on patrol, waiting in the... (more)

Speak

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to... (more)

Turgenev: First Love (Russian Texts)

by Constance Garnett, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

When the down-at-heel Princess Zasyekin moves next door to the country estate of Vladimir Petrovich's parents, he instantly and overwhelmingly falls in love with his new neighbour's daughter, Zinaida. But the capricious young woman already has many admirers and as she plays her suitors against each other, Vladimir's unrequited youthful passion soon turns to torment and despair - although he remains unaware of his... (more)

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on... (more)

Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is a first-person narrative of the title character, a small, plain-faced, intelligent and honest English orphan. The novel goes through five distinct stages: Jane's childhood at Gateshead, where she is abused by her aunt and cousins; her education at Lowood School, where she acquires friends and role models but also suffers privations; her time as the governess of Thornfield Manor, where she falls in... (more)

The Good Earth

by Pearl S. Buck

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP A poignant tale about the life and labors of a Chinese farmer during the sweeping reign of the country¹s last emperor. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:  A concise introduction that gives readers important background information  A chronology of the author's life and work  A timeline of significant events that... (more)

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)

by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince. Richard Howard's new translation of the beloved classic-published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-ExupÃ©ry's birth-beautifully reflects Saint-ExupÃ©ry's unique and gifted style. Howard, an acclaimed poet and one of the preeminent translators of our time, has excelled in bringing... (more)

Jenny of the Tetons (Great Episodes)

by Kristiana Gregory

Carrie Hill hates Indians. Indians killed her parents and ruined her life. With nowhere else to go, fifteen-year-old Carrie signs on to help care for the family of Beaver Dick Leigh, an English trapper. To her dismay, Carrie discovers that Beaver Dick's wife, Jenny, is a Shoshoni Indian! But as Carrie's wounds heal under Jenny's gentle care, she begins to respect and love this kind woman. ... (more)

La hija del Ganges (Daughter of the Ganges): La historia de una adopción (A Memoir)

La hija del Ganges (Daughter of the Ganges): La historia de una adopción (A Memoir)

by Asha Miro?

"Quiero unos padres," insistía Asha cuando solo tenía cinco años, sentada en lo alto de las escaleras del orfanato de Bombay. Por fin, en 1974, Asha viajó a Barcelona, donde la esperaban sus nuevos padres adoptivos y una hermana, otra niña india. En 1995, cuando acababa de cumplir veintisiete años, Asha viajó a Bombay a conocer el país que la vio nacer. Luego de este viaje, ella regresó por segunda vez a la India... (more)

The Linden Tree

by Eleanor Mathews

When eleven year old Katy Sue loses her mother, Edna, to meningitis, she and her family must adjust to life without her. The rural farm in the 1940’s provides a natural backdrop that is rhythmic and routine — and unforgiving, even when a family member dies. The house’s haunted emptiness is only filled when Aunt Katherine, Edna’s youngest sister, comes to the family’s aid, as does Jake, an ornithologist and... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: sad story

by Karen Hesse

by Patricia McCormick

by Wilson Rawls

by Aidan Chambers

by Kirkpatrick Hill

by Lois Lowry

by James Lecesne

by Wilson Rawls

by M. T. Anderson

by Jonathan Safran Foer

by Susan Van Kirk, A. W. Wheen, Erich Maria Remarque, Erich M. Remarqu, A. W. Wheen

by Laurie Halse Anderson

by Constance Garnett, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

by Khaled Hosseini

by Charlotte Bronte

by Pearl S. Buck

by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

by Kristiana Gregory

by Asha Miro?

by Eleanor Mathews