Educated by Tara Westover

Awesome Read!

A Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Review by Amazon

The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.

The Giver Lois Lowry

Review by Amazon

The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Review by Amazon

For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens.

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Review by Amazon

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade.  And he almost is, until the new girl in school. Leslie Burke, outpaces him.  The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia.  One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs.  It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Review by Amazon

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa.  She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells-taken without her knowledge in 1951- became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more.  Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance.  This phenomenal New Your Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.

BFG by Roald Dahl

Review by Amazon

The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It's lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants—rather than the BFG—she would have soon become breakfast. When Sophie hears that the giants are flush-bunking off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!