STAR and Accelerated Reader
STAR is a reading assessment that can be taken throughout the year to measure your progress. Once you know your reading level, you can go to Accelerated Reader for book recommendations, comprehension quizzes, vocabulary support and a variety other types of reading support.
Go to STAR and AR: https://hosted286.renlearn.com/289372/
Go to STAR and AR: https://hosted286.renlearn.com/289372/
Shmoop
Schmoop is a fantastic online resource for all subjects. EAL students will finds its sections on literature and SAT vocabulary help most useful. Check out the video link to see what all Schmoop has to offer.
http://shmoop.com/video/what-is-shmoop/
http://shmoop.com/video/what-is-shmoop/
Grammar Girl
Grammar Girl is my go-to BFF when I have questions about elements of writing like grammar and punctuation. You can sign up for her daily tips.
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
Grammar Quizzes
Need more work on your grammar? Spend just a few minutes each day taking a grammar quiz. Correct answers are given immediately with links to explanation of rules.
http://grammar-quizzes.com
http://grammar-quizzes.com
Shelfari
Create a virtual bookshelf, discover new books, connect with friends and learn more about your favorite books.http://www.shelfari.com
Quizlet
Quizlet is the place to be when you want to study vocabulary for your core classes. Browse the hundreds of lists made by teachers or create your own. Make flashcards. Take quizzes. Who knew vocabulary could actually be fun!
PSAT Prep
While not a fan of big PSAT prep courses, the reality is that many of you are concerned about getting higher scores. Check this out.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/prep.html
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/prep.html
Best Young Adult Novels of All Time … So Far
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, 1951
This is the classic coming-of-age novel about Holden Caulfield’s lost weekend in New York City that established the edgy style and voice of young adult literature sixteen years before the genre was invented.
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, 1967
Sixteen-year-old Susie Hinton’s novel about gang war between the Socs and the Greasers is just as relevant today as when it burst on the literary scene to become the first “young adult” novel and to establish a style that came to be called “the new realism.”
The Contender, by Robert Lipsyte, 1967
With the gangs after him, 17-year-old high school dropout Alfred Brooks climbs the stairs to the boxing club where champions have worked out and begins to dream of becoming a contender.
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, 1967
The son of a Hassidic rebel and the son of an intellectual Zionist form a deep, though unlikely, friendship and share adolescence, family conflict and a crisis of faith in the 1940s.
The Pigman, by Paul Zindel, 1968
Two high school sophomores tell of their friendship with a lonely old man which turns hurtful, then tragic.
Go Ask Alice, by Beatrice Sparks, 1971
The purportedly anonymous diary of a girl destroyed by drugs is still relevant after all these years.
Deathwatch, by Robb White, 1972
Needing money for school, a college boy accepts a job as guide on a desert hunting trip and nearly loses his life as he becomes prey for a madman with a .358 Magnum.
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, 1974
High school freshman Jerry Renault discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school’s annual fundraising drive and angering the school bullies.
Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan, 1976
A group of high school students kidnaps a strict teacher to get even with him, but they don’t know about his weak heart.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor,1976
An African-American family stands strong against the harsh racial climate of 1930s Mississippi. (Newbery Award)
I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier, 1977
Where is Adam going on his urgent winter bike ride to nowhere? Who is Brint the Interrogator? And why does Amy never answer the phone?
The Last Mission, by Harry Mazer, 1979
At the age of 15, Jack enlists in the Air Force to get back at Hitler, but he is not prepared for the reality of being a gunner on bombing raids.
Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt, 1981
After their unstable mother abandons them in the middle of a trip, 13-year-old Dicey leads her brothers and sister on a long walk to find a home with their feisty grandmother.
Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher, 1983
Louie Banks takes a stand against his coach and playing dirty football; he falls in love, and loses his girlfriend in a fatal accident—all in his senior year of high school.
The Moves Make the Man, by Bruce Brooks, 1984
Jerome, the only black kid in school, practices his basketball moves alone until Bix enters the scene to teach him the fine points of the game and trouble ensues.
Remembering the Good Times, Richard Peck, 1985
Tough, beautiful Kate, stalwart Buck, and rich, brilliant Trav form a friendly trio of mutual support until Trav takes his own life.
The Goats, by Brock Cole, 1987
Stripped naked and left on a deserted island by fellow campers as a joke, Howie and Laura develop self-respect as they figure out how to survive humiliation, natural dangers and each other.
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, 1987
When the small plane taking him to his divorced father crashes, Brian, the only survivor, is stranded in the Canadian wilderness and must work out his own survival.
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, 1988
Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry’s stint in Vietnam brings home to him the agony and futility of war as he learns to kill and watches his comrades die.
Weetzie Bat, by Francesca Lia Block, 1989
Lanky lizards! Punk teens Weetzie and Dirk search for love in a modern fairy tale that is funny, moving, and unlike any book you’ve read before.
Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli, 1990
Young Jeffrey Magee comes out of nowhere to become a legend as he brings the warring racial factions of the town of Two Mills together. (Newbery Award)
Calling Home, by Michael Cadnum, 1991
“Imitating the dead is easy,” thinks Peter as he telephones the parents of the friend he has accidentally killed.
Downriver, by Will Hobbs, 1991
Fifteen-year-old Jesse and other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival team abandon their adult leader, steal his van and rafts, and run the dangerous white waters of the Grand Canyon.
Make Lemonade, Virginia Wolff, 1993
A gutsy and exquisitely touching verse novel in which slovenly Jolly, 17, hires sensible LaVaughn, 14, to help her with her two little kids by different fathers.
Catherine Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, 1994
This hilarious journal of a young girl recreates the Middle Ages, fleas and all.
When She Hollers, by Cynthia Voigt, 1994
One morning Tish challenges her molesting stepfather with a knife and must face the dread of what he will do to retaliate that night.
Like Sisters on the Home Front, by Rita Williams-Garcia, 1995
When 14-year-old Gayle gets pregnant for the second time, her exasperated mother sends her ‘down south’ to Uncle Luther’s family to get straightened out.
Tomorrow When the War Began, by John Marsden,1995
When a band of teenage friends return from a wilderness camping trip to find their town, and their country, in the hands
of invaders, they begin their own guerrilla war.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis, 1995
This novel recounts tragi-comic trip of a family of four to visit relatives in Alabama, just in time for a terrible historical event. (Newbery Award)
Parrot in the Oven, Mi Vida, by Victor Martinez, 1996
Set in the gritty projects of a central California town, this novel traces the bittersweet summer when Manny achieves his ambition of being initiated into a gang. (National Book Award)
Rats Saw God, by Rob Thomas, 1996
In a paper he grudgingly agrees to write in order to be allowed to graduate, senior Steve York reflects poignantly and often hilariously on his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events in his life which have made him a “troubled teen.”
Buried Onions, by Gary Soto, 1997
Eddie, a homeboy in Fresno, is trying to make a life for himself in a violent world.
Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, 1997
The moving story in blank verse of a young girl’s hard times during the dust bowl times of the thirties. (Newbery Award)
Tangerine, by Edward Bloor, 1997
Paul’s thick glasses are no impediment (in his mind) to playing on Tangerine Middle School’s soccer team, but does he really believe the story his parents and older brother tell him about ruining his eyes by staring at an eclipse of the sun?
When She Was Good, by Norma Fox Mazer, 1997
Em Thurkill knows that her nightmare big sister Pamela is dead, but why does she still hear Pamela’s voice in her head?
Tenderness, by Robert Cormier, 1997
Runaway Lori has a fixation on 18-year-old Eric, even though she knows he is a serial murderer and will probably kill again.
Bat 6, by Virginia Wolff, 1998
The 20 girls of the rival sixth grade softball teams of Barlow Road and Bear Creek Ridge recall what happened at the big game in 1949, when Aki had just come back from the internment camp and Shazam’s father had been killed at Pearl Harbor.
Holes, by Louis Sachar, 1998
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake, but why does the evil tempered woman who is the warden make Stanley Yelnats and his fellow prisoners dig deep holes every day? (National Book Award and Newbery Award)
Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer, 1998
Jenna Boller, a tall, gawky girl who’s a whiz at selling shoes, and gruff Mrs. Madeleine Gladstone, “the supremely aged president of Gladstone’s Shoes,” learn mutual respect and affection on a long sales trip, in a story full of wisdom, grace and laughs.
Soldier’s Heart, by Gary Paulsen, 1998
In spare, almost biblical prose, Gary Paulsen writes of the horrors of combat in a Civil War novella based on the life of a real boy, Charley Goddard, who lies his way into the Union Army at the age of 15.
Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman, 1998
When 16-year-old Brent causes the death of a girl, his sentence is to go to the four corners of the country to build whirligigs in her image and to influence others lives in ways he never expects.
Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis, 1999
It’s 1936 and Bud is on the lam from a foster home, riding the rails to find the father he’s never met, Herman E. Calloway, and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. (Newbery Award)
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, 1999
Is Steve Harmon guilty of being the lookout in a botched robbery during which a storeowner is killed? As he awaits the results of his trial, Steve writes the story as if it were a screenplay for a movie. (Printz Award)
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, 1999
Unable to tell anyone why she busted a party by calling the cops, Melinda becomes becomes a silent observer of the lies and hypocrisies at her high school while she lives in fear of the boy who raped her.
Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, 2000
With strange, sleepy Rogerson as a boyfriend Caitlin felt she could be anybody, not just the second-rate shadow of her sister—until he began to hit her.
A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck, 2000
In this Newbery-winning sequel to “A Long Way from Chicago,” Mary Alice moves in with the terrifying and lovable Grandma Dowdel for more astonishing adventures.
Gold Dust, by Chris Lynch, 2000
Through the haze of his obsession with baseball, Richard Riley Moncreif only dimly hears what his best friend in eighth grade, Napoleon Charlie Ellis, is trying to tell him about blackness.
Students: This list is by no means a complete list of all the wonderful books out there appealing to teens. I hope you will use it a catalyst to find the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
Parents: Some of these books deal with mature subject matter. I urge you to always monitor what movies your children watch, what video games they play, and what books they read.
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, 1951
This is the classic coming-of-age novel about Holden Caulfield’s lost weekend in New York City that established the edgy style and voice of young adult literature sixteen years before the genre was invented.
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, 1967
Sixteen-year-old Susie Hinton’s novel about gang war between the Socs and the Greasers is just as relevant today as when it burst on the literary scene to become the first “young adult” novel and to establish a style that came to be called “the new realism.”
The Contender, by Robert Lipsyte, 1967
With the gangs after him, 17-year-old high school dropout Alfred Brooks climbs the stairs to the boxing club where champions have worked out and begins to dream of becoming a contender.
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, 1967
The son of a Hassidic rebel and the son of an intellectual Zionist form a deep, though unlikely, friendship and share adolescence, family conflict and a crisis of faith in the 1940s.
The Pigman, by Paul Zindel, 1968
Two high school sophomores tell of their friendship with a lonely old man which turns hurtful, then tragic.
Go Ask Alice, by Beatrice Sparks, 1971
The purportedly anonymous diary of a girl destroyed by drugs is still relevant after all these years.
Deathwatch, by Robb White, 1972
Needing money for school, a college boy accepts a job as guide on a desert hunting trip and nearly loses his life as he becomes prey for a madman with a .358 Magnum.
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, 1974
High school freshman Jerry Renault discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school’s annual fundraising drive and angering the school bullies.
Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan, 1976
A group of high school students kidnaps a strict teacher to get even with him, but they don’t know about his weak heart.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor,1976
An African-American family stands strong against the harsh racial climate of 1930s Mississippi. (Newbery Award)
I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier, 1977
Where is Adam going on his urgent winter bike ride to nowhere? Who is Brint the Interrogator? And why does Amy never answer the phone?
The Last Mission, by Harry Mazer, 1979
At the age of 15, Jack enlists in the Air Force to get back at Hitler, but he is not prepared for the reality of being a gunner on bombing raids.
Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt, 1981
After their unstable mother abandons them in the middle of a trip, 13-year-old Dicey leads her brothers and sister on a long walk to find a home with their feisty grandmother.
Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher, 1983
Louie Banks takes a stand against his coach and playing dirty football; he falls in love, and loses his girlfriend in a fatal accident—all in his senior year of high school.
The Moves Make the Man, by Bruce Brooks, 1984
Jerome, the only black kid in school, practices his basketball moves alone until Bix enters the scene to teach him the fine points of the game and trouble ensues.
Remembering the Good Times, Richard Peck, 1985
Tough, beautiful Kate, stalwart Buck, and rich, brilliant Trav form a friendly trio of mutual support until Trav takes his own life.
The Goats, by Brock Cole, 1987
Stripped naked and left on a deserted island by fellow campers as a joke, Howie and Laura develop self-respect as they figure out how to survive humiliation, natural dangers and each other.
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, 1987
When the small plane taking him to his divorced father crashes, Brian, the only survivor, is stranded in the Canadian wilderness and must work out his own survival.
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, 1988
Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry’s stint in Vietnam brings home to him the agony and futility of war as he learns to kill and watches his comrades die.
Weetzie Bat, by Francesca Lia Block, 1989
Lanky lizards! Punk teens Weetzie and Dirk search for love in a modern fairy tale that is funny, moving, and unlike any book you’ve read before.
Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli, 1990
Young Jeffrey Magee comes out of nowhere to become a legend as he brings the warring racial factions of the town of Two Mills together. (Newbery Award)
Calling Home, by Michael Cadnum, 1991
“Imitating the dead is easy,” thinks Peter as he telephones the parents of the friend he has accidentally killed.
Downriver, by Will Hobbs, 1991
Fifteen-year-old Jesse and other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival team abandon their adult leader, steal his van and rafts, and run the dangerous white waters of the Grand Canyon.
Make Lemonade, Virginia Wolff, 1993
A gutsy and exquisitely touching verse novel in which slovenly Jolly, 17, hires sensible LaVaughn, 14, to help her with her two little kids by different fathers.
Catherine Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, 1994
This hilarious journal of a young girl recreates the Middle Ages, fleas and all.
When She Hollers, by Cynthia Voigt, 1994
One morning Tish challenges her molesting stepfather with a knife and must face the dread of what he will do to retaliate that night.
Like Sisters on the Home Front, by Rita Williams-Garcia, 1995
When 14-year-old Gayle gets pregnant for the second time, her exasperated mother sends her ‘down south’ to Uncle Luther’s family to get straightened out.
Tomorrow When the War Began, by John Marsden,1995
When a band of teenage friends return from a wilderness camping trip to find their town, and their country, in the hands
of invaders, they begin their own guerrilla war.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis, 1995
This novel recounts tragi-comic trip of a family of four to visit relatives in Alabama, just in time for a terrible historical event. (Newbery Award)
Parrot in the Oven, Mi Vida, by Victor Martinez, 1996
Set in the gritty projects of a central California town, this novel traces the bittersweet summer when Manny achieves his ambition of being initiated into a gang. (National Book Award)
Rats Saw God, by Rob Thomas, 1996
In a paper he grudgingly agrees to write in order to be allowed to graduate, senior Steve York reflects poignantly and often hilariously on his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events in his life which have made him a “troubled teen.”
Buried Onions, by Gary Soto, 1997
Eddie, a homeboy in Fresno, is trying to make a life for himself in a violent world.
Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, 1997
The moving story in blank verse of a young girl’s hard times during the dust bowl times of the thirties. (Newbery Award)
Tangerine, by Edward Bloor, 1997
Paul’s thick glasses are no impediment (in his mind) to playing on Tangerine Middle School’s soccer team, but does he really believe the story his parents and older brother tell him about ruining his eyes by staring at an eclipse of the sun?
When She Was Good, by Norma Fox Mazer, 1997
Em Thurkill knows that her nightmare big sister Pamela is dead, but why does she still hear Pamela’s voice in her head?
Tenderness, by Robert Cormier, 1997
Runaway Lori has a fixation on 18-year-old Eric, even though she knows he is a serial murderer and will probably kill again.
Bat 6, by Virginia Wolff, 1998
The 20 girls of the rival sixth grade softball teams of Barlow Road and Bear Creek Ridge recall what happened at the big game in 1949, when Aki had just come back from the internment camp and Shazam’s father had been killed at Pearl Harbor.
Holes, by Louis Sachar, 1998
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake, but why does the evil tempered woman who is the warden make Stanley Yelnats and his fellow prisoners dig deep holes every day? (National Book Award and Newbery Award)
Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer, 1998
Jenna Boller, a tall, gawky girl who’s a whiz at selling shoes, and gruff Mrs. Madeleine Gladstone, “the supremely aged president of Gladstone’s Shoes,” learn mutual respect and affection on a long sales trip, in a story full of wisdom, grace and laughs.
Soldier’s Heart, by Gary Paulsen, 1998
In spare, almost biblical prose, Gary Paulsen writes of the horrors of combat in a Civil War novella based on the life of a real boy, Charley Goddard, who lies his way into the Union Army at the age of 15.
Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman, 1998
When 16-year-old Brent causes the death of a girl, his sentence is to go to the four corners of the country to build whirligigs in her image and to influence others lives in ways he never expects.
Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis, 1999
It’s 1936 and Bud is on the lam from a foster home, riding the rails to find the father he’s never met, Herman E. Calloway, and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. (Newbery Award)
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, 1999
Is Steve Harmon guilty of being the lookout in a botched robbery during which a storeowner is killed? As he awaits the results of his trial, Steve writes the story as if it were a screenplay for a movie. (Printz Award)
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, 1999
Unable to tell anyone why she busted a party by calling the cops, Melinda becomes becomes a silent observer of the lies and hypocrisies at her high school while she lives in fear of the boy who raped her.
Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, 2000
With strange, sleepy Rogerson as a boyfriend Caitlin felt she could be anybody, not just the second-rate shadow of her sister—until he began to hit her.
A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck, 2000
In this Newbery-winning sequel to “A Long Way from Chicago,” Mary Alice moves in with the terrifying and lovable Grandma Dowdel for more astonishing adventures.
Gold Dust, by Chris Lynch, 2000
Through the haze of his obsession with baseball, Richard Riley Moncreif only dimly hears what his best friend in eighth grade, Napoleon Charlie Ellis, is trying to tell him about blackness.
Students: This list is by no means a complete list of all the wonderful books out there appealing to teens. I hope you will use it a catalyst to find the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
Parents: Some of these books deal with mature subject matter. I urge you to always monitor what movies your children watch, what video games they play, and what books they read.