Catalog Search Results
1) Native son
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 6.1 - AR Pts: 24
Language
English
Description
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's novel is just as powerful today as when it was written -- in its reflection of poverty and hopelessness, and what...
2) The jungle
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8 - AR Pts: 22
Language
English
Description
"A manifesto for social change, The Jungle savagely reveals the American dream gone sour. Sinclair strips away the myth of America as a boon to the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Instead, the golden land of manifest destiny is shown to be a Dickensian nightmare, where wage slaves can barely survive, where powerless immigrants are chewed up by a capitalist machine oiled by corruption and bald greed. But the story is more...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 6.4 - AR Pts: 26
Language
English
Formats
Description
Sister Carrie (1900) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Controversial for its honest depiction of work, desire, and urban life, Sister Carrie has endured as a classic of naturalist fiction and remains a powerful example of social critique over a century after its publication. Despite poor reviews upon publication, the novel is now considered a landmark of American literature. Tired of the countryside, Carrie Meeber moves to Chicago to live with her older...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.2 - AR Pts: 9
Language
English
Formats
Description
An African American girl comes of age during the civil rights movement in April Sinclair's hilarious, insightful novel that was named Book of the Year (Young Adult Fiction) for 1994 by the American Library Association Jean "Stevie" Stevenson lives in Chicago's South Side, a neighborhood that acutely feels the social changes of the 1960s. Curious and witty, bold but naïve, Stevie ponders questions such as what makes good hair, and which skin shade...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 6.8 - AR Pts: 42
Language
English
Formats
Description
Augie is a poor but exuberant boy growing up in Chicago during the Depression. While his friends all settle into chosen professions, Augie demands a special destiny. He tests out a wild succession of occupations, proudly rejecting each as too limiting—until he tangles with the glamorous perfectionist Thea.
6) Divergent
Author
Series
Divergent trilogy volume 1
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 16
Language
English
Description
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.6 - AR Pts: 11
Language
English
Description
Seventeen-year-old Zuretta Palmer travels to Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair to find her missing sister, but when the police and the Pinkertons refuse to help her, Zuretta begins her own investigation by becoming a maid at the notorious Castle.
8) Virtuosity
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 9
Language
English
Formats
Description
Just before the most important violin competition of her career, seventeen-year-old prodigy Carmen faces critical decisions about her anti-anxiety drug addiction, her controlling mother, and a potential romance with her most talented rival.
10) Hollow fires
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.1 - AR Pts: 12
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
"After discovering the body of fourteen-year-old Jawad Ali in Jackson Park, seventeen-year-old journalism student Safiya Mirza begins investigating his murder and ends up confronting white supremacy in her own high school." --
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.5 - AR Pts: 3
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"From the beloved author of The House on Mango Street: a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography: an intimate album of a literary legend's life and career. From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico, in a region where "my ancestors lived for centuries," the places Sandra Cisneros has lived...
Author
Series
How to ruin-- series volume 2
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.4 - AR Pts: 9
Language
English
Formats
Description
Living with her Israeli father in Chicago, seventeen-year-old Amy Nelson-Barak feels like a walking disaster, worried about her "non-boyfriend" in the Israeli army, her mother, new stepfather, and the baby they are expecting, a new boy named Nathan who has moved into her apartment building and goes to her school, and whether or not she really is the selfish snob that Nathan says she is.
13) Storm front
Author
Series
Dresden files volume 1
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.5 - AR Pts: 14
Language
English
Description
My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards. Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.
With rent past due and a decent meal becoming an issue of some importance, Harry needs work, and soon. A call from a distraught
...Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.7 - AR Pts: 6
Language
English
Description
Grief-stricken by a recent tragedy, Jennifer returns to the resort village where she grew up to help her beloved grandmother. There, Jennifer will discover new meaning in life and experience not one, but two of the most amazing love stories ever.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.5 - AR Pts: 3
Language
Español
Description
La casa en Mango Street es la extraordinaria historia de Esperanza Cordero. Contado a través de una serie de viñetas -a veces desgarradoras, a veces profundamente alegres- es el relato de una niña latina que crece en un barrio de Chicago, inventando por sí misma en qué y en quién se convertirá. Pocos libros de nuestra era han conmovido a tantos lectores.
The House on Mango Street tells the extraordinary story of Esperanza Cordero. Told through...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 10
Language
English
Description
Maya Aziz, seventeen, is caught between her India-born parents world of college and marrying a suitable Muslim boy and her dream world of film school and dating her classmate, Phil, when a terrorist attack changes her life forever.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.1 - AR Pts: 11
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.
18) The litigators
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 6.5 - AR Pts: 20
Language
English
Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • After leaving a fast-track legal career and going on a serious bender, David Zinc is sober, unemployed, and desperate enough to take a job at Finley & Figg, a self-described “boutique law firm” that is anything but.
Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are in fact just two ambulance chasers who bicker like an old married couple. But now the firm is ready to tackle a case that could...
Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are in fact just two ambulance chasers who bicker like an old married couple. But now the firm is ready to tackle a case that could...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.2 - AR Pts: 12
Language
English
Description
Sixteen-year-old Izzy is used to keeping her thoughts to herself--in school, where her boyfriend does the talking for her, and at home, where it's impossible to compete with her older siblings and high-powered parents. When she mistakenly walks into a stand-up comedy club and performs, the experience is surprisingly cathartic. After the show, she meets Mo, an aspiring comic who's everything Izzy's not: bold, confident, comfortable in her skin. Mo...
20) Fool moon
Author
Series
Dresden files volume 2
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.6 - AR Pts: 16
Language
English
Description
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is Chicago's only openly practicing wizard. He is also dead broke. His vast knowledge and magical skills are unfortunately matched by his talent for making powerful enemies and alienating friends. With little more than his integrity left, he accepts an offer of work from Lt. Karrin Murphy of Chicago's Special Investigations Unit. He wants to redeem himself in Murphy's eyes and make enough money to quiet his rumbling...