Breaking Dawn

Author: Stephenie Meyer

First line: I'd had more than my fair share of near-death experiences; it wasn't something you ever really got used to.

Why you should read this book: If you've come this far in the Twilight series, you really don't have any other choice, do you? While the first quarter of the book basically comprises a lot of trite teenage wish-fulfillment, and the second quarter of the book is completely superfluous to the story and something of a literary offense, the second half of this book is easily the best part of the series. Bella comes into her own, substantially less annoying once her unending self-sacrifice has a focus and some muscle to back it up, characterization becomes integral to the plot, and even though you know a happy ending is in the cards, there's at least some suspense regarding who's going to die (not Bella).

Why you shouldn't read this book: You fear the unknown and believe it should be destroyed. Or you have anything better to do.

Food of the Gods: the Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge a Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution

Author: Terence McKenna

First line: A specter is haunting planetary culture--the specter of drugs.

Why you should read this book: Provocative, controversial, and iconoclast, this book makes a compelling argument, based on detailed historic, anthropological, and archeological evidence, that ritual, ecstatic, and communal use of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, was the primary catalyst in the transformation of human beings from mere animals to creatures capable of higher thought and complex art, culture, language, religion, and civilization. This proto-civilization edenic past for which we still yearn, a matri-focused partnership society with a direct and respectful relationship to the vegetable world, was destroyed as alcohol and other intoxicants further removed and refined from the source enabled dominator societies to quash shamanic systems and place control of the world into the hands of a small, male ruling class. The progression of human society is presented as a progression of consciousness-altering substances, each one taking us further from paradise, and the book concludes with a plea to a return to ecstatic shamanic tradition, beginning with deregulation of all plant-based substances.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're a stodgy old fundamentalist who fears that a global embrace of consciousness-expanding will wrench from you your death grip on the world's power and resources.

Savvy

Author: Ingrid Law

First line: When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he'd caused it.

Why you should read this book: When you're a Beaumont, thirteen is a very special birthday, because that is the day when you first experience your savvy--a remarkable, unpredictable, and often violent power that may take years to control--so when Mibs' dad has a car wreck and ends up in a coma the day before she turns thirteen, she knows the trouble's only starting. Next thing she knows, the well-meaning but meddling preacher's wife determines that Mibs must have a big, public party, despite the family's tragedy, and Mibs decides it's time to stowaway on a bible-delivery bus and get to her father's side in the hospital. Accompanied by two of her brothers, and the preacher's two kids, she sets out on a magical ride through the midwest, destined to learn more about herself and the people around her than she ever wanted to know.

Why you shouldn't read this book: In your opinion, all tattoos are trashy, and writing on your skin is both wrong and dangerous.

Man's Search for Meaning

Author: Viktor E. Frankl

First line: This book does not claim to be an account of facts and events but of personal experiences, experiences which millions of prisoners have suffered time and again.

Why you should read this book: In this classic, seminal, and controversial volume, the author relates his experience as a prisoner in various Nazi Concentration Camps during World War II, focusing on the psychology of the prisoner, the perspectives that allowed individuals to survive suffering and seeming hopelessness, and the basis for logotherapy, which he developed before the war and honed while interned. Modern editions include a chapter outlining the framework of logotherapy, which insists that humans must create their own meaning, whether they do so through action, experience, or dignity in the face of suffering, along with a final chapter which speaks to modern maladies resulting from the enforced ideal that one must "be happy." This book ought to be required reading for anyone over the age of fourteen, but especially for those who have ever suffered from depression or a sense of meaninglessness in life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You find nihilism warm, cozy, and comforting.

Blubber

Author: Judy Blume

First line: My best friend, Tracy Wu, says I'm really tough on people.

Why you should read this book: Jill Brenner doesn't think there's anything wrong with teasing Linda Fischer, because Linda is a fat, smelly whale who probably doesn't have any feelings anyway, and besides, it was Wendy's idea, and you don't cross Wendy, ever. Jill thinks a lot of people probably deserve to be punished, like her annoying little brother, and the mean old man who doesn't give out Halloween candy, so why shouldn't she mete out justice? When the whole class calls Linda, "Blubber," it's true and funny, but what happens when an entire fifth grade class turns against a single individual?

Why you shouldn't read this book: This year, you're going to catch those meddling kids who dare to look at your property on October 31st.

Hannah and Cyclops

Author: Steven Schnur

First line: My friend Judge Gilbert told me that if I was going to write about what happened to Rafi, I should tell the whole story from the beginning—not just the part about how we helped save him, but also how long it took everyone to realize that Rafi was in serious trouble in the first place.

Why you should read this book: Most of the kids in Hannah’s class don’t like Rafi, because he’s a new kid who doesn’t try to make friends, and he’s sloppy and accident-prone and he can’t read, but Hannah feels sorry for him. Soon, Hannah begins to realize that Rafi isn’t as clumsy as he says, and there’s another reason that he’s in and out of the hospital, and always showing up to school with new bruises. But what happens when the truth is so terrible that not even the adults she trusts most want to believe the evidence?

Why you shouldn’t read this book: Some graphic discussion of child abuse.

The Cuckoo Sister

Author: Vivien Alcock

First line: The first day of August had always been a bad day for us.

Why you should read this book: All of Kate Seton's life, her family has suffered from an unspoken absence: the void left after her sister, Emma, was kidnapped from her baby carriage as her mother went dress shopping. Kate has long dreamed of this unknown sister, but when an angry teenager with too much makeup and low-class diction turns up on the doorstep with a note claiming she is the long-lost Emma, no one knows what to think. Even Emma swears her name is Rosie and she doesn't want to have anything to do with this well-to-do family, except the woman she thought was her mother is gone, and now the Setons must determine how to welcome--or reject--this difficult surprise.

Why you shouldn't read this book: The first thing you'd do is go for genetic testing.

Other Bells for Us to Ring

Author: Robert Cormier

First line: Everybody in those days was singing “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” and “Mairzy Doats” to keep their spirits up because the war was still going on and our soldiers were fighting all over Europe and in places like Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, and here at home you needed ration stamps to buy meat and even shoes, and little children saved up money to buy U.S. War Bonds.

Why you should read this book: Darcy has never had a friend like Mary Kathleen, and in fact, she never had a friend at all before she had Mary Kathleen, so even though Darcy is Unitarian and Mary Kathleen is Catholic, the two find that there is adventure all over their small town. Their religious differences and the differences between Darcy’s small family and Mary Kathleen’s large one can be perplexing, but Darcy does her best to understand, until her father disappears in the war and Mary Kathleen disappears at home. Do miracles really happen, Darcy wonders, and, if so, does God care what religion you are?

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You know very well that God cares what religion you are, and if you don’t get it right, you’re damned.

But Excuse Me That Is My Book

Author: Lauren Child

First line: I have this little sister, Lola.

Why you should read this book: When Lola determines that she must go to the library immediately in order to check out the best book in the world, Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies, Charlie finds himself in the unenviable position of explaining to her the reality of the library system, from being quiet inside to understanding that Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies is not her book and that other children have the right to check it out too. With patience and humor, Charlie helps Lola expand her reading horizons.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You’ve checked out the same library book every week for the last five years and you don’t care who else might want to read it.

I Am Too Absolutely Small for School

Author: Lauren Child

First line: I have this little sister, Lola.

Why you should read this book: Modern siblings Charlie and Lola are headed to school, but little sister Lola feels that she may be “too extremely busy doing important things at home” to venture into the unknown. Charlie persuades her that reading, writing, and counting above ten are useful skills, but Lola still worries about leaving her invisible friend, Soren Lorensen, who is cleverly rendered in semi-invisible ink and can only be seen clearly when the light hits the illustration just so. Of course, in the end, chatty and personal Lola finds that school is pretty interesting after all.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You usually go to school dressed as an alligator.