Books for Teens

 Just a note: some of these books are rather disturbing and are definitely for teens and not younger kids.

• Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Red Scarf Girl is the true story of a girl caught in the Cultural Revolution in China in the 60s. A very interesting, tragic read, and slightly disturbing when we see what's going on around us.

The Giver is about a boy's escape from a "utopian" society in which one person has all the memories of the past.

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a story about the horrors of slavery, written and set pre-Civil War. A beautiful book that will make you cry.

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about a woman who commits adultery and whose husband is intent on finding out who the father of her illegitimate child is, and exacting his revenge. Deeper themes of sin, shame, the human conscience, and redemption.

The Hobbit is perhaps the only "fun" read on this list. Bilbo Baggins sets out with a company of dwarves to recover treasure from a mountain guarded by a dragon. Very funny classic and easier reading than The Lord of the Rings.