Teen Picks: The Best and the Worst

Posted by the Edwardsville Teen Advisory Board

The library has an active group of young people who help develop youth programs, work on projects and generally have a great time during their meetings.  This post is the second list of reading and viewing suggestions (for others, visit EPL Teen Picks on our Pinterest site). This month's theme for book picks:  The Best and Worst Reading Assignments - Ever.

The Best:

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe ( 4 votes)  Revenge, being buried alive, and friendship gone wrong - classic Poe.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin  When an eccentric millionare dies mysteriously, 16 very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will... and what a will it is!

The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank  Anne Frank's diaries have always been among the most moving and eloquent documents of the Holocaust.  If you've never read this remarkable autobiography, do so.

The Scarlet Ibis by Margaret Atwood  In this delightful collection of short stories, Atwood explores relationships between men and women, parents and children, and people and pets.

Call of the Wild by Jack London  (also 2 votes for worst book)  Based on London's experiences as a prospector in the Canadian Wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle  for existence, this is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival.

The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jakobs  If given a means to make three wishes, what would you wish for?  That question is posed to the White family in this macabre classic when an old friend visits with his mummified talisman.







The Worst:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens  Humbled, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman, this is a gripping tale of crime, guilt, revenge and reward.

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko (3 votes) and Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko  In this appealing novel set in 1935, 12-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family move from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island where his father gets a job as an electrician at the prison and his mother hopes to send his autistic sister to a a special school in San Francisco.

Freak the Mighty by W.L. Philbrick  Two boys - a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant and a tiny Einstein in leg braces - forge a unique friendship  when they pair up to create one formidable human force.