Top Three Books: January 2019

The new year is all about a fresh start—but it’s also about a new perspective. These books will make you look twice at things you always took for granted.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Jonas lives in a community where everybody is the same—that is to say, everybody is perfect. But when he is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory, he realizes that with the pain of the old world came great blessings: beauty, color, music . . . In this teen dystopia, Lois Lowry tells a piercing story about pain, beauty, and choices we make.

The Beak of the Finch, by Jonathan Weiner

Far off in the Galapagos, on a small, rocky island subject only to the whim of the weather, a community of finches struggle to survive under the hot sun. Their story is an epic proof of the theory of Darwinian evolution. In The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner reveals that not only is evolution very real—it happens every day. This book for older teens is fresh new look at the science of change.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

George is small and witty; Lennie is huge and has the mind of a small child; and yet they travel together in harmony. But when disaster strikes, even George cannot protect Lennie from his attackers—and Lennie’s blind devotion to George. This poignant classic for older teens is a heart-wrenching tale of dreams, reality, and the no-man’s-land that comes in between.