ValleyReads

Swing into baseball fever.  Shoeless Joe by W .P. Kinsella
An Iowa farmer builds a baseball stadium in his cornfield, hoping his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, will play in it.

Chicks with Sticks by Elizabeth Lenhard
Four teenage girls from very different social cliques at their progressive Chicago high school become friends after forming a knitting club.

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Ruby Oliver, a moderately popular fifteen-year-old who has suddenly become a social pariah, begins seeing a psychiatrist and makes a list of all her past boyfriends in an attempt to understand where her life went wrong.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds
Provides identification information and color photographs of 544 birds of western North America.

Emako Blue by Brenda Woods
Monterey, Savannah, Jamal, and Eddie have never had much to do with each other until Emako Blue shows up at chorus practice, but just as the lives of the five Los Angeles high school students become intertwined, tragedy tears them apart.

How I Created my Perfect Prom Date by Todd Strasser
When Brad asks someone else to the senior prom, Nicole resorts to a desperate measure–she decides to make her next-door neighbor over into a dream date.

Black and White by Paul Volponi
Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught.

Book of Firsts by James Buckley, Jr.
Presents a listing of more than one thousand famous “firsts,” from the first dental filling to the first E-mail message.

Any book by Michael Crichton. 
He died in November and reading a book he wrote would be a fitting tribute.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen year old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn’t like. 

Mob Princess by Todd Strasser 
High school junior Kate Blessing is part of a mob family; but when her mother gets fed up with Bobby’s cheating and moves out, it is Kate who steps up to help run the “family business.”

The  Christmas Almanack by Berard and Patricia del Re
A collection of miscellaneous facts and information about Christmas. Includes Christmas customs, stories, music, and recipes, among other things.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle’s dangerous work for Britain’s intelligence agency, MI6.

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
After learning about his magical ancestry and his own warrior powers, sixteen-year-old Jack embarks on a training program to fight enemy wizards.

Ultimate Aircraft by Philip Jarrett
Text and plentiful photos profile the most significant and famous aircraft from around the world, throughout history, and present a biographical dictionary of famous aviators and contributors to the development of flight.

Fake ID by Walter Sorrells
After a lifetime of moving and assuming new identities, sixteen-year-old Chass begins to piece together the past that haunts her and her mother which involves a mysterious tape, a deceased popular singer, and the secrets of several people in a small Alabama town.

The Lovely Bones by Ann Sebold
Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon, the victim of a sexual assault and murder, looks on from the afterlife as her family deals with their grief, and waits for her killer to be brought to some type of justice.

Damage by A. M. Jenkins
Seventeen-year-old football hero Austin, trying to understand the inexplicable depression that has drained his interest in life, thinks that he has found relief in a girl who seems very special.

The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies
Collection of biographies of the forty-three first ladies of the United States, discussing their achievements in the White House and beyond, with eleven essays highlighting women’s issues throughout history

All-American Girl by Meg Cabot
Sophomore Samantha Madison stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed teen ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son.

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan
Troubled by family problems, Henry finds his life taking a whole new dimension when he and his friend, old Mr. Fogarty, become involved with Prince Pyrgus Malvae who has been sent from the faerie world in order to escape the treacherous Faeries of the Night.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A novel set against the three decades of Afghanistan’s history shaped by Soviet occupation, civil war, and the Taliban, which tells the stories of two women, Mariam and Laila, who grow close despite their nineteen-year age difference and initial rivalry as they suffer at the hand of a common enemy: their abusive husband.

ESPN Ultimate Highlight Reel
Tells the stories of some of the sports world’s most extraordinary plays, controversial calls, last-second miracles, and unusual fans, collected over the course of twenty-five years and reported on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
A retelling of the Celtic “Swans” myth, in which Sorcha, the only daughter in a family of seven children, is forced to leave the only safe place she has ever known in order to save her brothers from a spell that only she can lift.

Truckers by Terry Pratchett
Reluctant to believe that there’s a world outside the department store in which they live, Torrit, Dorcas, and the other nomes look to Masklin, a newly arrived “outsider,” to lead them to a safe haven when the store goes out of business.

Witch Child by Celia Rees
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.

Ice Hunt by James Rollins (a Sacramento author, by-the-way)
Deep in the earth’s polar ice cap lies the Ice Station Grendel, developed by the Soviets more than seventy years earlier, and now threatening to destroy humanity.

Cool Stuff They Should Teach in School by Kent Healy and Kyle Healy
Presents a practical guide written by teens who provide suggestions on what should be taught in school such as surviving in the real world, controlling attitude, conquering peer pressure, setting proper goals, and handling money.

Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson
Kyra Evans, a smart, less than popular high-schooler begins to fall for Jason Vincent, a popular basketball star.

Breaking Point by Alex  Flinn
Fifteen-year-old Paul enters an exclusive private school and falls under the spell of a charismatic boy who may be using him.

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper
Two fifteen-year-old girls–one a slave and the other an indentured servant–escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

Kung Fu Princess series by Pamela Walker
The first book is Daughter of Light
On her fourteenth birthday, Cassidy Chen receives five ancient and mysterious Chinese coins, which introduce her to the supernatural world known to her Chinese and Irish ancestors and which lead her to accept her destiny as a warrior princess.

Merriam Webster’s Rhyming Dictionary
A dictionary for poets, editors, and others, with approximately 55,000 words arranged alphabetically by their rhyming sound with pronunciations and cross references.

Time for some classic fiction….

Dune by Frank Herbert
Forced by the Emperor of the known universe to live in exile on a barren planet, Duke Leto Atreides and his son lead the struggle against the Empire

A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Three men dare to adventure into a subterranean world full of danger and beauty. They discover many unusual things on their trip to the Earth’s mysterious core.

The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, dig a well, and fight a prairie fire.

The Swiss  Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
A shipwrecked family learns to live off the natural vegetation on their island and refuses to leave when a ship arrives to take them home.

And of course, in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, why not read about Ireland?

Ireland by Patricia Levy
A photo-illustrated overview of Irish culture that covers the country’s geography, history, government, economy, environment, people, lifestyle, religions, languages, arts, leisure activities, festivals, and foods, and includes a map, time line, glossary, and further reading list.

What would February be without some romance?  And chocolate, of course.  Read one of these books.

Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper
Romiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating.

Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci
Feeling alienated from everyone around her, Los Angeles high school senior and cinephile Victoria Jurgen hides behind the identity of a favorite movie character until an interesting new boy arrives at school and helps her realize that there is more to life than just the movies.

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
Seventeen-year-old Vince’s life is constantly complicated by the fact that he is the son of a powerful Mafia boss, a relationship that threatens to destroy his romance with the daughter of an FBI agent.

Try any book by Lori Wick.  We have 24 different titles she wrote.  Pick one!

Chcolate:  from Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers by Nick Malgieri
Contains 380 recipes for chocolate cakes, cookies, creams, mousses, custards, souffles, ices and frozen desserts, pies, tarts, pastries, confections, sauces, and beverages; and includes information on storage, handling, techniques, and different types of chocolate, as well as tips on decorating and showpieces.