CGHS Library

Books to Film

Insurgent by Veronica Roth (in theaters March 20)

Why read the book? Mild spoilers ahead if you haven't read Divergent. If you've started Roth's trilogy with Divergent, you'll likely be unable to stop, and Insurgent picks up right after the game-changing events at the end of the first book. After surviving a horrific assassination attempt, Tris and Four know the Erudite and Dauntless leaders betrayed their members as well as the unsuspecting citizens of Abnegation. Together, they seek refuge and help from the neutral Faction, Amity. Another page-turner, Insurgent is ideal to read immediately after Divergent.

Why see the movie? Naturally, if you saw Shailene Woodley and Theo James as Tris and Four in Divergent, you'll want to see the second installment. With Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) in charge of the Factions, the "Divergents" are hunted, while Tris and Four make unlikely alliances and unthinkable sacrifices.    

Paper Towns by John Green (in theaters June 5)

Why read the book? John Green isn't only a hugely influential young adult author; he and his brother are popular Internet personalities. After The Fault in Our Stars made more than $125 million domestically -- 10 times its budget! -- it's no wonder the studio agreed to fast-track the next Green adaptation. Part road trip, part mystery, Paper Towns follows high school senior Quentin as he embarks on a massive journey to find his missing neighbor, the eccentric and beautiful Margo.

Why see the movie? Nat Wolff, who played Isaac in The Fault in Our Stars, returns for another Green film as Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, and model-actress Cara Delevingne plays the gorgeous and brilliant Margo Roth Spiegelman. Green fans should be thrilled that the same duo that adapted TFIOS also wrote Paper Towns.

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (in theaters Sept. 18)

Why read the book? The second book in Dashner's dystopian trilogy is the gripping continuation of The Maze Runner, in which a group of boys -- and one girl -- escape a mysterious caged society called the Glade. But just as the Gladers have escaped the prison of the Maze, they must survive another perilous game in a new, even deadlier, environment. The Gladers have two weeks to cross the "Scorch," the most burned-out section of the postapocalyptic world. This time, however, the Gladers aren't alone, and their enemies want them dead.

Why see the movie? The Maze Runner, which made a whopping $341 million worldwide on a $34 million budget, ended with a cliffhanger that posed more questions than it answered. So it's pretty necessary to see The Scorch Trials to find out what happens to Thomas, Teresa, and their surviving Glader friends.

Victor Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (in theaters Oct. 2)

Why read the book? Frankenstein is a perfect classic for teens interested in horror. That nearly 200 years later the book is still inspiring adaptations is reason enough to check out (or reread) the novel. The story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein's many tragedies, primarily his obsession with creating life, is unforgettably freaky, and it's amazing how well the philosophical questions of morality in science hold up two centuries later.

Why see the movie? When Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and the young Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) make a movie together as Igor and a young Dr. Frankenstein, respectively, who wouldn't want to see it? With its unique spin on the origin story -- told from Igor's perspective -- Victor Frankenstein should be a no-brainer for families who love horror films.

Mockingay Part 2 by Suzanne Collins (in theaters Nov. 20)

Why read the book? We'll admit that Mockingjay is a controversial book. Author Suzanne Collins didn't shy away from the horrors (and casualties) of war, from sociopolitical commentary, or from plot twists that may leave you crying big, fat angry tears. As the unputdownable story of Katniss Everdeen's subversive battle against the oppressive Capitol finally comes to its conclusion, expect to be shocked and amazed at what she goes through as the poster girl for a bloody revolution.

Why see the movie? Because it's the final installment in the Hunger Games franchise, so audiences will finally discover the end game for Katniss, who must once again figure out how to survive the all-out war between the District rebels and President Snow and everything the Capitol represents. She may be an Oscar winner, but Jennifer Lawrence will always be the Girl on Fire.

Coming to a Theater Near You (Soon or Someday)

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (in theaters Jan. 29, 2016)
Chloe Grace Moretz will star as Cassie, the brave young heroine of this spellbinding sci-fi thriller (and romance!) about an alien invasion that kills more than 97 percent of humanity.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (in theaters March 4, 2016)
Tim Burton directs and Eva Green and Samuel L. Jackson star in this dark tale (retitled Peregrine's Home for Peculiars) following a teenager who's transported to a secret island where he encounters a frightening old orphanage, kids with special powers, time loops, and creatures. 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (in theaters Oct. 14, 2016)
Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Jones (Like Crazy) plays the gravely ill mother, and Liam Neeson is the titular monster in this intense mother-son tale about a tree that haunts a 13-year-old boy as his mom is dying.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling (in theaters Nov. 18, 2016)
David Yates, the director of the last four Harry Potter films, returns to the Wizarding World to adapt Rowling's story about famed Magizoologist Newt Scamander's adventures in New York City's magical society. 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Don't worry, this has nothing to do with that other book about shades of gray. With the working title of Ashes in the Snow, this film is a historical drama about Lina, a young Lithuanian teen, who is sent to a Soviet forced-labor camp in Siberia during WWII.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Karou, a worldly blue-haired teen, works for her mysterious guardian -- a chimera who grants wishes in exchange for teeth -- until Akiva, an even more mysterious angel, makes her question everything in Taylor's fantasy trilogy.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) knows how to tackle offbeat stories, so he's just the filmmaker to adapt Andrew Smith's award-winning book about an Iowa teen who unintentionally unleashes an apocalypse of giant, procreating insects.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
The producers of If I Stay have optioned Nelson's poignant Michael Printz Award-winning novel about artistic twins Jude and Noah who at 13 were the best of friends and who applied to the same prestigious arts high school. Three years later, they barely speak to each other.

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne
It's the end of the world as they knew it: On their way to school one morning, 14 Colorado school kids (age 5 to 17) end up locked inside a superstore as natural and man-made disasters wreak havoc outside.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
World War Z director Marc Forster is attached to Brown's high-concept fantasy that's equal parts Ender's Game, Hunger Games, and Game of Thrones (and every bit as compelling). In a distant future segregated by color caste, young Darrow is a lowly "Red" of Mars who ends up battling the oppressive "Gold" rule.

Adapted from Common Sense Media Blog by Sandie Angulo Chen

I'll Give You the Sun (FIC Nelson)

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world. (Penguin Teen)

And We Stay (FIC Hubbard)

When high school senior Paul Wagoner walks into his school library with a stolen gun, he threatens his girlfriend Emily Beam, then takes his own life. In the wake of the tragedy, an angry and guilt-ridden Emily is shipped off to boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she encounters a ghostly presence who shares her name. The spirit of Emily Dickinson and two quirky girls offer helping hands, but it is up to Emily to heal her own damaged self.

This inventive story, told in verse and in prose, paints the aftermath of tragedy as a landscape where there is good behind the bad, hope inside the despair, and springtime under the snow. (Random House)

The Scar Boys (FIC Vlahos)

This rock-and-roll novel is written in the form of a college admissions essay (one that blows past the 250-word limit). Left physically and psychologically scarred by a childhood accident involving bullies and lightning, Harbinger “Harry” Jones is ignored or considered a “freak” at school. In middle school, he’s befriended by a kid named Johnny, and in high school they start a band. When they take the show on the road, life becomes immeasurably more entertaining, especially with crushworthy Cheyenne on board as the Scar Boys’ bassist. (Publisher's Weekly)

Cryptid Hunters Series (FIC Smith)

If you were a fan of Roland Smith's high octane adventures in middle school, you might want to check out the books in the series that have been published since then. Peak is also very popular.

All Fall Down (FIC Carter)

Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:

1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.

As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her–so there’s no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door who is keeping an eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.

Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can’t control Grace–no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do.

Her past has come back to hunt her . . .  and if she doesn’t stop it, Grace isn’t the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world all stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone (FIC Griffin)

"Some people wonder if they dare disturb
the universe. Other people smash their
universe to pieces just to see how it looks the
next morning. For those of you who never 
knew her, take this book. Read her life.
Be inspired to be more."

--Lincoln Reed,
Addison Stone's former boyfriend

Books

Poem: "Books," by Billy Collins, from Sailing Alone Around the Room (Random House). 

Books

From the heart of this dark, evacuated campus
I can hear the library humming in the night, 
a choir of authors murmuring inside their books
along the unlit, alphabetical shelves, 
Giovanni Pontano next to Pope, Dumas next to his son, 
each one stitched into his own private coat, 
together forming a low, gigantic chord of language. 

I picture a figure in the act of reading, 
shoes on a desk, head tilted into the wind of a book, 
a man in two worlds, holding the rope of his tie
as the suicide of lovers saturates a page, 
or lighting a cigarette in the middle of a theorem. 
He moves from paragraph to paragraph
as if touring a house of endless, paneled rooms. 

I hear the voice of my mother reading to me
from a chair facing the bed, books about horses and dogs, 
and inside her voice lie other distant sounds, 
the horrors of a stable ablaze in the night, 
a bark that is moving toward the brink of speech. 

I watch myself building bookshelves in college, 
walls within walls, as rain soaks New England, 
or standing in a bookstore in a trench coat. 

I see all of us reading ourselves away from ourselves, 
straining in circles of light to find more light
until the line of words becomes a trail of crumbs
that we follow across a page of fresh snow; 

when evening is shadowing the forest
and small birds flutter down to consume the crumbs, 
we have to listen hard to hear the voices
of the boy and his sister receding into the woods.

Students have difficulty with research when they:

- Don't understand the difference between conducting research and merely compiling a report of information (either lacks a provable thesis or is just a re-organization of information and other people's conclusions found in sources) - Don't do enough reading to understand the scope and the differing perspectives on their topic - Have pre-determined a conclusion without learning enough to support this idea / thesis with evidence - Rely too much on one type of source (remember, you want a balance of primary & secondary sources and source types - books, interviews, websites, journal articles, etc.)