"All I have learned, I learned from books." -Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Reading Challenge
2024-2025
2024 Winner
Teen Choice Award
How do I participate?
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READ at least 4 of the 20 books featured on this page.
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Write a short book review (3-6 sentences) on the comment thread below. Comments are due by March 15, 2025.
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VOTE for your favorite book on the list along with other Illinois high school students between February 15-March 15.
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JOIN the AISLE Student Book Committee to help choose the twenty books.
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Win a bookstore gift card!
Click on Book Image for Summary
On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.
Go to linkTeleportation is safe and routine in the year 2198, but something seems to have gone very, very wrong. Jessica wakes up in an empty, and utterly destroyed, landing unit from the DS Theseus, the ship where she was supposed to rendezvous with her parents. But Jessica isn't on the Theseus orbiting Carver 1061c. The lander seems to have crashed on the planet's surface. Its corridors are empty and covered in bloody handprints. And outside, in the alien dirt, are the marked graves of strangers.
Go to linkJay is living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the world’s most famous resorts. As things outside get worse, trouble starts seeping into Karloff. First, Jay’s friend Connie and her family disappear in the middle of the night and no one will talk about it. Then the richest and most powerful families start arriving, only... they aren’t leaving.
Go to linkA heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Go to linkKindra Neely never expected it to happen to her. And then, one day, it happend: a mass shooting shattered her college campus. Over the span of a few minutes, on October 1, 2015, eight students and a professor lost their lives. And suddenly, Kindra became a survivor. This empathetic and ultimately hopeful graphic memoir recounts Kindra’s journey forward from those few minutes that changed everything.
Go to linkCam disguises herself as a man to inherit her father's money and estate, and though she tries to keep a low profile, she ends up falling for Crown Princess Brie.
Go to linkWhen self-proclaimed 'not very bright' nineteen-year-old Danyal Jilani is chosen for a prestigious academic contest, he hopes to impress a potential arranged marriage match, only to begin falling for the girl helping him study instead.
Go to linkNineteen-year-old orphan Signa Farrow confronts Death--and her own deathly powers--when she investigates the mysterious murder of a relative at the Thorn Grove estate.
Go to linkSeventeen-year-old Poppy takes a home DNA test and unravels her parents' identities and their decades of careful work to keep their family anonymous, allowing the past to come dangerously close to catching up to them.
Go to linkThe exiled Princess Shiori must unravel the curse that turned her six brothers into cranes, and she is assisted by her spurned betrothed, a capricious dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic.
Go to linkWhen seventeen-year-old Avery moves to rural Georgia to live with her ailing grandmother, she encounters decade-old family secrets and a mystery surrounding the town's racist past.
Go to linkWhen hospitalized for her clinical depression, Whimsy connects with a boy named Faerry, who also suffers from the traumatic loss of a sibling, and together they work to unearth buried memories and battle the fantastical physical embodiment of their depression.
Go to linkRobbed of her voice and home, Talin Kanami knows firsthand the brutality of the Karensa Federation and its bioengineered Ghosts. As the Federation closes in on the last remaining free nation of Mara, defeat seems inevitable - even with the defense provided by the legendary Strikers, who have reluctantly accepted refugee Talin among their ranks. Then, a mysterious prisoner is captured. Could he be the weapon that saves them all?
Go to linkIsaiah loves football. In fact, football saved Isaiah's life, giving him structure and discipline after his sister's death tore his family apart. But when Isaiah gets knocked out cold on the field, he learns there's a lot more to lose than football.
Go to linkVanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother's love--and she's on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele's dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja's otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back... by stealing Gisele's life for herself.
Go to linkAfter 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.
Go to linkSince Shelbi enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won't be there very long, she hasn't bothered making friends. Andy Criddle is not okay. At all. He's had far too much to drink. Again. When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. There’s no doubt their connection has them both seeing stars ... but the closer they get, the more the past threatens to pull their universes apart.
Go to linkSixteen-year-old Ana has just moved to New Jersey from Argentina for her Junior year of high school. She’s a poet and a lover of language—except that now, she can barely understand what’s going on around her, let alone find the words to express how she feels in the language she’s expected to speak.
Go to linkPutting their trust in one another, two boys, Andrew and Jamie, search for civilization in a world ravaged by a deadly pathogen, but their secrets could cost them everything as they try to find the courage to fight for the future, together.
Go to linkFollows 16-year-old Alicia, who feels isolated and alone after being sexually abused by a teacher, then cast as the slut who asked for it, until she receives mysterious letters hinting at another victim, forcing her to face her trauma and fight back.
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