This book is the amazing story of a young girl growing up during a time of turmoil in her country, Dominican Republic. From 1930-1961, Rafael Trujillo, "El Jefe", ruled DR with an iron fist, and committed many atrocities against the Haitians and his very own people. This story portrays Anita, a thirteen year old Dominican girl whose parents are involved in the revolution to overthrow Trujillo. This novel has many twists and turns that will keep you wondering what's next!

This will be our first read together! Every year I begin with this book, because it is an all-time favorite that is part of a trilogy. You'll get to meet Gerald, Monique, Angel, and Jordan and experience many twists and turns in this coming of age novel about struggle, friendship, and triumph.

Note: This book is available in our Library.

Cisneros recounts this partially autobiographical tale in the form of Esperanza, a young Latina woman coming of age in an inner city neighborhood. Written in a series of vignettes, Esperanza shares her family history, dreams, and life experiences with her readers.

This book is required reading for the enrichment class only, but all students are welcome to read it on their own. This is the true story of the Mirabal sisters, "Las Mariposas", who risked their lives to help make Dominican Republic free of the domineering dictator, Rafael Trujillo (AKA "El Jefe") during the 1930s-1960s. This account details the individual stories of all four sisters: Dede, Patria, Maria Teresa, and Minerva.

Throughout the course of this school year, students should be reading constantly- 30 minutes per night, every night! This commitment to reading will help students to not only become stronger readers; in addition, students will increase their vocabulary, which will enhance their writing skills. If we are not reading a core novel (the ones listed above) students are expected to read their own independent novels. These can come from our classroom library, school library, Johnson Public Library, or students can purchase books for their own libraries. Note: there should NEVER be a point in time, throughout this school year, that students do not have a book in their backpack that they are in the process of reading!!!

In this powerful memoir, author Elie Wiesel recounts the days before, during, and after he and his family were imprisoned in one of the worst Holocaust-era concentration camps ever: Auschwitz. In this story, students will examine the tenets of humanity, inhumanity, and, overall, what we can do to make the world a better place.

Meet Lenny and George, an unlikely pair. Set during the Great Depression in the midwest, these two characters endure many hardships, and remain friends throughout them. During this book's disccusions, students will analyze and examine themes such as mental disability, gender, justice, friendship, and how people are affected by their environment.

This book is a narrative adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Othello. The story is set in medieval England, where the young Desdemona and heroic Othello fall in love, and face a myriad of challenges together.

Note: This book is available in our Library.

In this classic tale, a young girl named Scout comes of age in Jim Crow era Alabama, where she learns many life lessons. Themes that are examined in this book are friendship, love, loyalty, prejudice, stereotyping, gender bias, justice, and revenge.