The full story of a life as antic and adventurous as any of his creations. A man with an incurable case of wanderlust, Shel kept homes on both coasts and many places in between Ñ and enjoyed regular stays in the Playboy Mansion. Everywhere he went he charmed neighbors, made countless friends, and romanced almost as many women with his unstoppable energy and never-ending wit.

Poet, Biography, 266 p.

At the age of 13, Beah was enlisted by the national army to fight rebels in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone, Boy Soldiers, Biography, 240 p.

That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii Bethany responds to the shark's stealth attack with the calm of a girl with God on her side. Pushing pain and panic aside, she immediately begins to paddle with one arm, focusing on a single thought: "Get to the beach...." When the first thing Bethany wanted to know after surgery was "When can I surf again?" it became clear that her unfaltering spirit and determination were part of a greater story.

Shark Attack, 222 p.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Yasuis' lives changed completely and forever. They, along with all West Coast ethnic Japanese, were forced from their homes with only what they could carry and were interned in vast inland "relocation camps." Masuo was shamed and broken, but the family endured as succeeding generations took up the challenge of finding their identity as Americans. Stubborn Twig is their story Ñ a story at once tragic and triumphant, one that bears eloquent witness to both the promise and the peril of America and the meaning of becoming and being an American.

Japaanese-Americans, Pacific Northwest, 347 p.

In 2000, Gary Smith, a Jesuit priest, left a familiar life in the Pacific Northwest to live a month Sudanese refugees struggling to survive in refugee camps in northern Uganda. He traveled to this dangerous, pitiless place to be with these forsaken people out of a conviction that Jesuits should be going where no one else goes. Smith's journal is a vivid, inspiring account of the deep connections he forged during his six years with the refugees in Uganda. Along the way, he discovers a suffering people who, despite being displaced by a brutal civil war, find the spiritual strength to let go of the many and deep sorrows of the past.

Sudan, Faith, 226 p.

Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.Ó Mortenson's tenacious, heroic efforts and Relin's mastery of journalistic narrative give us an inspiring example of that ideal in spellbinding words and spectacular humanitarian efforts.

Politics, Education, Biography, 349 p.

Hemphill memorializes the tragic literary figure with poems that bring her to life.

Verse biography, 261 p.

Beowulf

Told for more than a thousand years, this classic epic is given new life in a graphic novel that honors the spirit of the original tale of the heroic warrior Beowulf and his battle against the monstrous Grendel.

Classic retold, Fantasy, 128 p.

Junior is born with a wide variety of medical problems in an Indian reservation outside Spokane. He decides to leave the reservation and go to an all-white school which leads to unforeseen consequences.

Native Americans, Humor, Mature Themes, 230 p.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun Ñ but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

High School, Humor, 227 p.

God is dead. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion; he is able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, baffle the devil, and cheat Death himself. Exciting, scary, and deeply funny, Anansi Boys is a kaleidoscope journey deep into myth, a wild adventure, and a fierce and unstoppable farce, as Neil Gaiman shows us where gods come from, and how to survive your family.

Myth, Fantasy, Humor, 352 p.

Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street. But Sticky can ball and it might be his ticket home.

Basketball, Foster Homes, Adult themes, 280 p

I am a beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks uprightÑa creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster. You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way foreverÑruinedÑunless I can break the spell.

Retelling of Beauty & Beast, 320 p.

Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her "To Do Before I Die" list. And number one is Sex.

Death, High School, Adult Themes, 326 p.

A compelling, sometimes harrowing coming-of-age story that explores racial tensions in small-town Tennessee during the early '50s. Johnston expertly builds tension as a series of chilling events awakens David to the full horrors of his fatherÕs prejudice.

1950s south Ð Historical Fiction, Prejudice, Mature themes, 183 p.

Ben Wolf has big things planned for his senior year. Had big things planned. Now what he has is some very bad news and only one year left to make his mark on the world.

High School Dying 320 p.

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful. You can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. After life

Fantasy, 277 p. Does not contain a strictly biblical view of heaven.

Nowadays firemen start fires. Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he met a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who told him of a future where people could think. And Guy Montag knew what he had to do....

Science Fiction, Book Burning, Clackamas County Big Read book, 190 p.

In this beautifully crafted story, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world's darkness, gifts of light.

Science Fiction/Fantasy Prejudice & Racism 286 p.

What if Cinderella got the prince, the castle and all its accoutrements, but wasn't remotely interested? After her mother abandons her Ruby is taken in by her estranged sister, Cora. Resentful, suspicious and vulnerable, Ruby resists mightily, refusing the risky business of depending on anybody but herself, and wearing the key to her old house around her neck.

High School Interpersonal relationships, 432 p.

A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid OÕShaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell HammettÕs coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted three generations of readers.

Crime Fiction, 224 p. Everybody Reads, Rural Communities

In a novel that is at once intense, beautiful, and fablelike, Lloyd Jones weaves a transcendent story that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the power of narrative to transform our lives. On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, where the teachers have fled with most everyone else, only one white man chooses to stay behind: the eccentric Mr. Watts, object of much curiosity and scorn, who sweeps out the ruined schoolhouse and begins to read to the children each day from Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations.

War, Power of story, 256 p.

Maerad is a slave in a desperate and unforgiving settlement, taken there as a child when her family is destroyed in war. She doesn't yet know she has inherited a powerful gift, one that marks her as a member of the noble School of Pellinor and enables her to see the world as no other can. It is only when she is discovered by Cadvan, one of the great Bards of Lirigon, that her true identity and extraordinary destiny unfold. Now, she and her mysterious teacher must embark on a treacherous, uncertain journey through a time and place where the forces of darkness wield an otherworldly terror.

Fantasy 492 p

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock and, of course, was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams. He insists that his agent, Arnie, find a team that needs him. What team will Rick play for? The mighty Panthers of Parma, Italy.

Italy, Football, Sports Stories, 262 p.

The four Pevensies help Capsian battle Miraz and ascend his rightful throne.

Fantasy 240 p.

A frightening apocalyptic vision, is narrated by a nameless man, one of the few survivors of an unspecified civilization-ending catastrophe. He and his young son are trekking south along a treacherous highway, starving and freezing, trying to avoid roving cannibal armies.

Apocalypse, Horror, 287 p.

This is the story of the boys' journey from their half-gypsy home on a London junk lot to the ghostly moors of Devon, where they hope and fear to find the truth about their sister's death. It's a long road, cold and hard and violent.

Mystery, Murder, 339p.

Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. After her caregiver is threatened, she escapes to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over the household.

African-American women, Prejudice, Families, 336 p.

This hilarious novel chronicles Scott's freshman year, as he decides that high school would be a lot less overwhelming if it came with a survival manual. Here Scott records his first year of bullies, romance, honors, classes, and brotherhood.

High School, Bullies, Family, 279 p.

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: Ace Detective, Snappy Dresser, RazorÐtongued Wit, Crackerjack Sorcerer, and Walking, Talking, Fire-throwing Skeleton Ñ as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old. These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil. The end of the world? Over his dead body.

Fantasy, Terror, 416 p.

Just when everything is coming together for Sam, his girlfriend Alicia drops a bombshell. Make that ex-girlfriend Ñ because by the time she tells him she's pregnant, they've already called it quits. Sam does not want to be a teenage dad. His mom had him at sixteen and has made it very clear how having a baby so young interrupted her life. There's only one person Sam can turn to Ñ his hero, skating legend Tony Hawk.

High School, Skateboarding, Teen Pregnancy, 304 p. Adult themes

Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

Family 640 p. Everybody Reads for City Club of Portland Adult Themes

John ÒSpudÓ Milton recounts his first year at an elite South African boarding school which is punctuated by the release of Nelson Mandella.

S. Africa, High Schoo,l Apartheid, Adult Themes, 331p.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war in Kabul, by loss, and by fate.

Afghanistan, Taliban, 375 p.

Moving to a small, dreary town is enough to cause angst in any teen, but for Isabella Swan, angst is only the beginning. Soon she's falling in love with Edward, the quintessential dark, handsome guy, who just happens to be a vampire.

High School, Vampires, 498 p.

What Is the What is an epic novel about the lives of two boys during the Sudanese civil war, finding themselves in one unbelievable, utterly surreal situation after another. Thought-provoking, exciting, and repeatedly heartbreaking.

Sudan, Refuges 450 p.