LEGEND series reading information (Marie Lu)

Marie Lu has become legend for her dystopic series that has earned rave reviews.

**all ratings from GoodReads

LIFE BEFORE LEGEND
(Legend, #0.5) ebook only
 
3.93 avg rating — 2,290 ratings

This ebook has two original stories that give insight into the lives of June and Day.

Reading Information:
Page Count: 38
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available


LEGEND
(Legend, #1)

**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** ALA Booklist
**Starred Review** VOYA


4.14 avg rating — 74,701 ratings

15-year-old June was born into an elite family and she being groomed to be a member of an elite military circle. Day on the other hand was born and raised in a slum, and he had become the country's most wanted criminal.

June and Day might never have met except that one day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect.  This sets off a search for 'The Truth'.

Word Count: 75,464
Page Count:  320
Accelerated Reading level: 4.8 / points: 11.0
AR quiz: 148251
Lexile: HL710L
--sample pages and reviews available
--read an excerpt


PRODIGY
(Legend, #2)

**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** ALA Booklist
**Starred Review** VOYA

4.30 avg rating — 25,892 ratings

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the Elector Primo dies.  Anden, the Elector's son fills the political void and with this act  the Republic edges closer to chaos.  The Patriot rebels are eager to help Day rescue his brother, but Day and June have one more mission-- to assassinate the new Elector.

Word Count:  97,881
Page Count: 384
Accelerated Reading level: 5.3 / points: 15.0
AR quiz: 156557
--sample pages available

CHAMPION
(Legend, #3)

**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** ALA Booklist
**Starred Review** VOYA


4.51 avg rating — 5,152 ratings

He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion? 

 June and Day have found their separate places within the Republic but they are brought back together when a virulent, deadly plague breaks out.

Page Count: 384
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Here is sampler from the Legend Series, featuring excerpts from Legend and Prodigy


compiled by Pam


You might also be interested in:   #1

UNWIND Series reading information (Neal Shusterman)

 In America after the Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, a parent may choose to retroactively get rid of a child through a process called "unwinding." Unwinding ensures that the child's life doesn’t “technically” end by transplanting all the organs in the child's body to various recipients. Now a common and accepted practice in society, troublesome or unwanted teens are able to easily be unwound. 

Set in the near future, Neal Shusterman explores a world if which the transplant organ trade is essentially 'wide open' and abortion is legal, but delayed.

If those two concepts were not horrific enough, Shusterman manages to make them sound entirely possible. 

Fans of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series should definitely check this out.  But know, that unlike the Uglies, this series has less 'bubbly' and more horror. 

*Adult Worthy~
**all ratings from GoodReads


UNWIND
by Neal Shusterman

4.22 avg rating — 65,370 ratings

**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly

**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal

UNWIND is an rivoting, fast paced story that develops through the eyes of Connor, Risa, and Lev.

Reading Information:
Word Count: 95,297
Page Count: 352
Accelerated Reading level: 5.0 / points: 14.0
AR quiz: 120008
Lexile: 740L
--sample pages and reviews available


UNSTRUNG  (short e-story)
(Unwind, #1.5)
 3.80 avg rating — 1,740 ratings

From 'tithe' to clapper:  this story reveals what happened to Lev between the time he left CyFi, until he showed up at the Graveyard..

Page Count: 92
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available


UNWHOLLY
(Unwind, #2)

4.29 avg rating — 11,481 ratings

As Kirkus Reviews says --"A breathless, unsettling read."

Connor and Risa drift apart, as Lev strives to give his life meaning by ministering to other jailed youths.  Starkey wants to become the new Graveyard leader, and Cam is groomed for leadership by an mysterious group that is going to take advantage of his having been completely made from the parts of dozens of unwound teens.

Word Count: 116,298
Page Count: 416
Accelerated Reader: 5.8 / points: 18.0
AR quiz: 154002
Lexile: 860L
--sample pages and reviews available


UNSOULED
(Unwind, #3)

4.25 avg rating — 944 ratings

The Graveyard is destroyed and now Connor and Lev are on the run, searching for a mysterious woman who the government and all who support unwinding are frightened of.  

Cam struggles without Risa and plots to take down the organization that created him to prove to her how much he cares.

Page Count: 416
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available


compiled by Pam

ASHES Trilogy reading information (Ilsa Bick)

The dystopia ASHES caught the imagination of many YA readers as Ilsa Bick brought Alex, Tom, and Ellie to life.  I know the intense, nonstop action had me turning pages until late at night.  

*This series becomes increasingly violent as it proceeds.  The first book, ASHES, would be suitable for most readers.  By the time we get to volume 3 there is a great deal of violence, sexual situations, and profanity.  I would say that MONSTERS is not suitable for most  middle-graders.  The plot is very complicated and the violence is very graphic and intense.

**all ratings from GoodReads


ASHES
(Ashes Trilogy #1)

Audie Award Nominee for Solo Narration -- Female (2012)
ALA Teens' Top Ten Nominee (2012),

3.94 avg rating — 10,907 ratings

Alex has a brain tumor and she's tired of chemo and the constant day to day struggle to stay positive.  When she hikes into the woods alone it's to consider what her next step should be.  What she doesn't imagine is that it's all going to be taken out of her hands when a huge series of huge electromagnetic pulses blast the United States.

These flashes destroy more than every piece of technology the world.  They do something strange to almost every human being.  Some people it kills outright.  Others it alters their minds so that they can think of nothing better than to chow-down on the next person they meet.

Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.  Together they try to survive.  Violence.

Reading Information:
Word Count: 104,605
Page Count: 496
Accelerated Reading level: 5.0 / points: 16.0
AR quiz: 146122
--get sample pages, reviews, and prices


SHADOWS

3.71 avg rating — 3,409 ratings

In SHADOWS there are a number of changes.  We get the story from multiple Points of View, and the tone changes as Alex finds the strange community of Rule, where safety is an illusion.


Word Count: 119,220

Page Count: 528
Accelerated Reading level: 4.9 / points: 18.0
AR quiz: 154948
--get sample pages, reviews, and prices

MONSTERS
(Ashes #3)

3.78 avg rating — 329 ratings

MONSTERS is the exciting finale of Bick's ASHES Trilogy.

Alex finds that The Changed are still changing.  And all the different plot strings come together, as some characters are reunited, while others die.  Graphic Violence, profanity.

Word Count: 197,073
Page Count: 688
Accelerated Reader: 5.2 / points: 30.0
AR quiz: 161577
--get sample pages, reviews, and prices

compiled by Pam
updated June 2014

IF I STAY series reading information

Starred reviews abound for Gayle Forman's popular series.

**all ratings from GoodReads


IF I STAY
(If I Stay, #1)
by Gayle Forman

**Starred Review** Booklist
**Starred Review** School Library Journal
**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 

3.98 avg rating — 83,925 ratings

While in a coma following an accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.

Word Count: 49,653
Page Count: 272
Accelerated Reading level: 5.3 / points: 8.0
AR quiz: 129747
Lexile: 830L
--sample pages and reviews available  
--available in Spanish

WHERE SHE WENT 
(If I Stay, #2)

ALA Teens' Top Ten Nominee (2012)
4.18 avg rating — 43,050 ratings

Adam, now a rising rock star, and Mia, a successful cellist, reunite in New York and reconnect after the horrific events that tore them apart when Mia almost died in a car accident three years earlier.

Word Count: 55,415
 Page Count: 208
Accelerated Reader: 5.1 / points: 8.0
AR quiz: 143768
Lexile: 800L
--sample pages and reviews available
--available in Spanish

compiled by Pam
updated June 2014

THE QUEEN'S THIEF reading information (Megan Whalen Turner)

THE QUEEN'S THIEF series by Megan Whalen Turner is one collection of books --as is THE HUNGER GAMES and the HARRY POTTER series-- that I whole-heartedly recommend to adults who enjoy YA.  

Turner's series features excellent world-building with realistic politics... and adventure, along with a mature plot line.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND.  

**all ratings from GoodReads


THIEF! (The Queen's Thief, #0.5)
by Megan Whalen Turner
Chad Cameron (Illustrator)

3.63 avg rating — 562 ratings

How strange.  This is short story about young Eugenides that was printed in a Disney magazine.  Currently you can read it here:  http://meganwhalenturner.org/DisneyAdventureThief.html

THE THIEF

Newbery Honor (1997)
ALA Best Book For Young Adults
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2011)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1998) 

3.99 avg rating — 16,665 ratings

Eugenides, Gen, is a thief and the beloved of the Thief God.  In this story told in his own voice, Gen appears at first to be a bedraggled thief who has been imprisoned because he stole the king of Sounis' personal seal.

Because of his skills though, this very king has his court scholar take Gen on a journey into the  mountains of Eddis, to the kingdom of Attolia.  Their mission is to steal something that is said to be a myth: a valuable relic that many others have died trying to pry it from the maze.

Word Count: 68,519
Page Count:  280
Accelerated Reading level: 6.0 / points: 11.0
AR quiz: 15792
Lexile: 920L
--sample pages and a variety of reviews available

QUEEN OF ATTOLIA

**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** Publisher'sWeekly
**Starred Review** HornBook

Books for the Teen Age 2001 (NYPL)
Bulletin Blue Ribbon Best of 2000 Award

4.25 avg rating — 11,209 ratings

Gen is the Queen of Eddis' thief.  And as such he goes into Attolia to harass it's young queen.  This queen, who lost face when Gen stole her relic in THE THIEF, takes him captive and then takes his hand --a penalty meant to end his thieving.

Told in third person, we get to see the ravaging effect that this loss means to a thief who loved his craft.  And throughout we see politics twist and turn until war seems eminent.

Word Count: 82,579
Page Count: 368
Accelerated Reader:  6.7 / points: 14.0
AR quiz: 36676
Lexile: 860L
--sample pages and a variety of reviews available

KING OF ATTOLIA

**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** Publisher'sWeekly
**Starred Review** HornBook

ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2007)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2011)
Common Core Aligned

4.40 avg rating — 11,358 ratings

Don't read this if you haven't read QUEEN OF ATTOLIA.  THERE'S A SPOILER.

Gen is now the King of Attolia. It wasn't the crown he wanted, but it's the crown his inherited.  He plays the clown for the court, and he is so aggravating that at one point a captain of the guard strikes him in the face.  

Rather that have his head, Gen sets out to win over the captain.  To prove that there is more to him than it first appears.

Word Count: 87,218
Page Count: 432
Accelerated Reading level: 5.7 / points: 14.0
AR quiz: 103361
Lexile: 840L
--sample pages and a variety of reviews available

CONSPIRACY OF KINGS

**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** Publisher'sWeekly
**Starred Review** HornBook
**Starred Review** ALA BookList

4.07 avg rating — 6,420 ratings

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2011)
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2010)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature (2010)
Booklist Top Ten Science Fiction/Fantasy Novels for Youth (2010)
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2011)
Andre Norton Award Nominee for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (2010)

This book really breaks from the series, and I think originally the author and publisher meant it to be a 'story of Eddis' type of book.  But readers just wouldn't allow that and it got labelled #4.

However, Gen does not appear in this book, except in memory.  A new character,  Sophos, is introduced and his struggle is to become the king he wants to be. 

Common Core Aligned
Word Count: 76,812
Page Count: 352
Accelerated Reader:  6.6 / points: 13.0
AR quiz: 137746
Lexile: 940L
--sample pages and a variety of reviews available


compiled by Pam

You can find short story collections that includes Ms. Turner's works here.

THE 2 EASIEST BOOKS ABOUT THE BEATLES

This list idea came from my daughter.  She's in middle-school now but has been interested in The Beatles -- yes, John, Paul, George, and Ringo -- for a couple of years.

These books may be at a lower reading level, but BABY'S IN BLACK is definitely NOT for younger children.

BABY'S IN BLACK: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles
by Arne Bellstorf

3.70 avg rating — 604 ratings

GRAPHIC NOVEL - BABY'S IN BLACK is about the romance between Astrid Kirchherr, a German photographer,

THE BREATHING series / Rebecca Donovan reading information

As I do this list OUT OF BREATH is #1 on Amazon's  Top 100 Best Sellers in Teen & Young Adult category; and it's been on the Top 100 list for 161 days.

These books have also garnered much praise at GoodReads.  BUT you need to know that there is a lot of drama in this series, with a lot of abusive situations.  No, not for the extremely sensitive.

This series contains profanity, sexual situations, and abusive violence.

REASON TO BREATHE
(Breathing, #1)

4.34 avg rating — 31,565 GoodReaders

"No one tried to get involved with me, and I kept to myself. This was the place where everything was supposed to be safe and easy. How could Evan Mathews unravel my constant universe in just one day?"

In Weslyn, Connecticut, it's all about who you are and who you are seen with.  Emma stands out because she only wants to be invisible.  She has so much to hide, and she doesn't want people to see the evidence of her painful home life.  

And then... and then Evan Mathews breaks the ice.

Word Count:  135,804
Page Count:  466
Accelerated Reading level: 5.3 / points: 21.0
AR quiz:  158780
--sample pages available




BARELY BREATHING
(Breathing, #2)

4.44 avg rating — 24,824 GoodReaders

It's hard to talk about this book without giving spoilers.  But just know that there is a lot more to learn about Emma after 'the night from hell'.

no reading information currently available

Page Count:  385
--sample pages available


OUT OF BREATH
(Breathing, #3)

4.45 avg rating — 4,784 GoodReaders

The dramatic conclusion.  Emma is now at Stanford, but she's not well.  She's broken and hasn't forgiven herself for the past. Can she?  Is a good future possible?

no reading information currently available
Page Count:  385
--sample pages available

compiled by Pam