Grade 10 Summer Reading List
(APPLICABLE for 10A or 10H students)
ONLY need to choose ONE book from either FICTION, NON-FICTION, or GRAPHIC NOVELS below
A Very Large Expanse of Sea
by Tahereh Mafi
"It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down."
Genre: Realistic fiction; Love stories
Subjects: First loves, High schools, Love, Prejudice, Schools, Sixteen-year-old girls, Stereotypes (Social psychology), Teasing, Teenage relationships, Vulnerability
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After The Shot Drops
by Randy Ribay
"Bunny and Nasir have been best friends forever, but when Bunny accepts an athletic scholarship across town, Nasir feels betrayed. While Bunny tries to fit in with his new, privileged peers, Nasir spends more time with his cousin, Wallace, who is being evicted. Nasir can't help but wonder why the neighborhood is falling over itself to help Bunny when Wallace is in trouble.When Wallace makes a bet against Bunny, Nasir is faced with an impossible decision—maybe a dangerous one.Told from alternating perspectives, After the Shot Drops is a heart-pounding story about the responsibilities of great talent and the importance of compassion."
Genre: Realistic fiction; Multiple perspectives
Subjects: Basketball, Best friends, Courage in teenagers, Despair, Families, Friendship, Money-making projects, Scholarships and fellowships, Sports
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Cemetery Boys
by Aiden Thomas
"Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him. When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave."
Genre: Paranormal fiction
Subjects: Ghosts, Magic, Murder victims, Teenage boys, Witches
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Dear Martin
by Nic Stone
"Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack."
Genre: Realistic fiction
Subjects: High school seniors, Letters, Police brutality, Prep schools, Racial profiling, Racism
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Marcelo in the Real World
by Francisco X. Stork
"Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear--part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify--and he's always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after his junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm's mailroom in order to experience "the real world." There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm.He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it's a picture he finds in a file -- a picture of a girl with half a face -- that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight."
Genre: Realistic fiction
Subjects: Asperger's syndrome, Ethics, God (Christianity), Injustice, Interpersonal relations, Law firms, Romantic love, Seventeen-year-old boys
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The Marrow Thieves
by Cherie Dimaline
"In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America's Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the "recruiters" who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing "factories.""
Genre: Apocalyptic fiction; Dystopian fiction; Science fiction
Subjects: Bone marrow, Dreams, First Nations (Canada), Post-apocalypse, Procurement of organs, tissues, etc., Teenage boy orphans
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Mirage
by Somaiya Daud
"In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place.As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death."
Genre: Science fiction; Afrofuturism and Afrofantasy
Subjects: Colonialism, Eighteen-year-old women, Imaginary kingdoms, Impostors, Kidnapping, Look-alikes, Mistaken identity, Princesses, Royal pretenders, Teenage kidnapping victims
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Monday's Not Coming
by Tiffany D. Jackson
"Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help.As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?"
Genre: Mysteries; Realistic fiction
Subjects: Bullying and bullies, Child abuse, Dyslexia, Growing up, Loss (Psychology), Missing persons, Schools, Violence
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My Mechanical Romance
by Alexene Farol Follmuth
"Bel would rather die than think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering at school, she’s basically forced into joining the robotics club. Even worse? All the boys ignore Bel—and Neelam, the only other girl on the team, doesn't seem to like her either. Enter Mateo Luna, captain of the club, who recognizes Bel as a potential asset—until they start butting heads. Bel doesn’t care about Nationals, while Teo cares too much. But as the nights of after-school work grow longer and longer, Bel and Teo realize they've made more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made each other and the team better. Because girls do belong in STEM."
Genre: Romantic comedies
Subjects: Competition, High schools, Love, Robotics Schools, Science projects, Seventeen-year-old girls, Sexism, Teenage boy/girl relations, Teenage boys, Teenagers
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The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
by Dashka Slater
"One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight." Genre: Crime and law; Narrative nonfiction
Subjects: Assault and battery, Consequences, Criminal justice system, Gender identity, Victims of crimes
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Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card
by Sara Saedi
"At thirteen, bright-eyed, straight-A student Sara Saedi uncovered a terrible family secret: she was breaking the law simply by living in the United States. Only two years old when her parents fled Iran, she didn’t learn of her undocumented status until her older sister wanted to apply for an after-school job, but couldn’t because she didn’t have a Social Security number. Fear of deportation kept Sara up at night, but it didn’t keep her from being a teenager. She desperately wanted a green card, along with clear skin, her own car, and a boyfriend.Americanized follows Sara’s progress toward getting her green card, but that’s only a portion of her experiences as an Iranian-“American” teenager. From discovering that her parents secretly divorced to facilitate her mother’s green card application to learning how to tame her unibrow, Sara pivots from the terrifying prospect that she might be kicked out of the country at any time to the almost-as-terrifying possibility that she might be the only one of her friends without a date to the prom."
Genre: Autobiographies and memoirs
Subjects: Anxiety in teenagers, Families, Family secrets, Immigrants, Teenage girls, Undocumented immigrants
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The Beautiful Struggle
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
You are able to read either the YA adaptation or the original edition
"A memoir of growing up in the tough world of Baltimore in the 1980s chronicles the relationship between the author and his father, a Vietnam vet and Black Panther affiliate, and his campaign to keep his sons from falling victim to the temptations of the streets."
Genre: Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; Narrative nonfiction; Family and Relationships; Life stories
Subjects: Fathers and sons; Growing up; Street life
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Black Birds in the Sky
by Brandy Colbert
"The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today? These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward."
Genre: History books; Social issues
Subjects: Race relations, Tulsa Race Massacre, Violence
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
by Elizabeth Partridge
"In March 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops into Vietnam. 57,939 American soldiers would be killed and seventeen years would pass before this controversial chapter of American history concluded with the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982.The history of this era is complex; the cultural impact extraordinary. But it's the personal stories of eight people--six American soldiers, one American nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee--that form the heartbeat of Boots on the Ground. From dense jungles and terrifying firefights to chaotic medic rescues and evacuations, each individual's story reveals a different facet of the war and moves readers forward in time. Alternating with these chapters are profiles of key American leaders and events, reminding readers what was happening at home, including Kent State, Woodstock, and Watergate."
Genre: History books
Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder, Refugees Soldiers, Veterans, Vietnam War
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The Cat I Never Named : A True Story of Love, War, and Survival
by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess and Laura Sullivan
"Amra was a teen in Bihac, Bosnia, when her friend said they couldn’t speak anymore because Amra was Muslim. Then refugees from other cities started arriving, fleeing Serbian persecution. When Serbian tanks rolled into Bihac, the life she knew disappeared—right as a stray cat followed her home. Her family didn’t have the money to keep a pet, but after the cat seemed to save her brother, how could they turn it away? Saving a life one time could be a coincidence, but then it happened again—and Amra and her family wondered just what this cat was.This is the story of a teen who, even in the brutality of war, never wavered in her determination to obtain education, maintain friendships, and even find a first love—and the cat that provided comfort, and maybe even served as a guardian spirit, in the darkest of times."
Genre: Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; History books
Subjects: Families, Girls and cats, Interethnic conflict, Muslim teenagers, Survival, Teenage girls, Yugoslav War, 1991-1995
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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi
"This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited." Genre: History books; Social issues
Subjects: Discrimination, Race relations, Racism, Stereotypes (Social psychology)
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¡Ay, Mija!: My Bilingual Summer in Mexico
by Christine Suggs
"Sixteen-year-old Christine takes their first solo trip to Mexico to spend a few weeks with their grandparents and tía. At first, Christine struggles to connect with family they don’t yet share a language with. Seeing the places their mom grew up—the school she went to, the café where she had her first date with their father—Christine becomes more and more aware of the generational differences in their family. Soon Christine settles into life in Mexico, eating pan dulce, drawing what they see, and growing more comfortable with Spanish. But when Mom joins their trip, Christine’s two worlds collide. They feel homesick for Texas, struggle against traditions, and miss being able to speak to their mom without translating. Eventually, through exploring the impacts of colonialism in both Mexico and themselves, they find their place in their family and start to feel comfortable with their mixed identity."
Genre: Autobiographical comics; Comics and graphic novels; Biographies; Growing up; Growing up
Subjects: Adjustment, Artists, Belonging, Bilingualism, Body image, Grandparents, Learning, Self-acceptance, Self-discovery, Summer, Teenagers, Vacations, Voyages and travels
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Dragon Hoops
by Gene Luen Yang
"Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins. But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well. "
Genre: Autobiographical comics; Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; Comics and Graphic novels; Sports and recreation
Subjects: Basketball, Basketball tournaments, Comic book writers, High school basketball players, High school teachers
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I Am Alfonso Jones
by Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson, and John Jennings
"Alfonso Jones can’t wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school’s hip-hop rendition of the classic Shakespearean play. He also wants to let his best friend, Danetta, know how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun, and he shoots Alfonso.When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he’s on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso’s family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets. As they confront their new realities, both Alfonso and those he loves realize the work that lies ahead in the fight for justice."
Genre: Comics and Graphic novels
Subjects: Families of murder victims, Fifteen-year-old boys, Grief, Life after death, Police brutality, Racism, Spirits, Teenage murder victims
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The Magic Fish
by Trung Le Nguyen
"Real life isn't a fairytale. But Tien still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tien, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay? An amazing graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together."
Genre: Comics and Graphic novels; Fairy tale and folklore-inspired fiction
Subjects: Books and reading, Children of immigrants, Identity (Psychology), Interpersonal communication, Teenage boys
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They Called Us Enemy
by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker
"Long before George Takei braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's -- and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future. In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard. They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future."
Genre: Autobiographical comics; Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; Comics and Graphic novels; History books
Subjects: Actors and actresses, Concentration camps, Discrimination, Forced relocations, Race relations, Racism, World War II
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Welcome to the New World
by Jake Halpern
"After escaping a Syrian prison, Ibrahim Aldabaan and his family fled the country to seek protection in America. Among the few refugees to receive visas, they finally landed in JFK airport on November 8, 2016, Election Day. Resettled in Connecticut with little English, few friends, and even less money, the family of seven strive to create something like home. The America in which the Aldabaans must make their way is by turns kind and ignorant, generous and cruel, uplifting and heartbreaking."
Genre: Biographical comics; Comics and graphic novels; Family and Relationships; Life stories
Subjects: American dream, Immigrant families, Islamophobia, Refugees, Social acceptance
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