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Recommendations based on I Am the Messengerby Markus Zusak
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
An Abundance of Katherines
by John Green
A teenage boy's quest for love and self-discovery, learning to accept himself and find happiness.
Colin Singleton, a child prodigy living in Chicago , fears he will not maintain his genius as an adult. Over the span of his life, Colin has dated nineteen girls named Katherine, all spelled in that ... (Wikipedia)
Every Day
by David Levithan
A story of love, identity and acceptance, as a person wakes up in a different body each day.
Every Day is about the story of A, a person who wakes up occupying a different body each day. As described by Frank Bruni of The New York Times , "A. doesn't have a real name, presumably because they ... (Wikipedia)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
by Gabrielle Zevin
Life of an isolated bookseller is transformed when an unexpected visitor brings unexpected joy.
“Marvelously optimistic about the future of books and bookstores and the people who love both.”—, The Washington Post, A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
An exploration of love, identity, and the power of fate in a family's struggles and triumphs.
Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde ) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a ... (Wikipedia)
It's Kind of a Funny Story
by Ned Vizzini
A young man's struggle with mental illness, finding his path to recovery.
Craig Gilner, the narrator, is 15 years old and lives with his family in a middle-class Brooklyn neighborhood. He attends the prestigious Executive Pre-Professional High School, having studied ... (Wikipedia)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
A young Native American boy's struggles to survive in a difficult world.
The book follows a fourteen-year-old boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation near Wellpinit, Washington for a school year. It is told in episodic diary style, moving from the ... (Wikipedia)
Jasper Jones
by Craig Silvey
An Australian coming-of-age story, exploring racial prejudice and the power of friendship.
The protagonist Charlie Bucktin is a quiet, book loving, 13-year-old boy who lives in the fictitious rural town of Corrigan, Western Australia. On a summer evening in 1965, Charlie receives an ... (Wikipedia)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Two teenage boys explore friendship, identity, and family, with unexpected results.
The book is divided into six sections. In each part we see the two main characters, Aristotle and Dante, discovering more about themselves, more Aristotle than Dante. 15-year-old Aristotle "Ari" ... (Wikipedia)
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
A soldier's harrowing experience of the horrors of war.
The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer, who belongs to a group of German soldiers on the Western Front during World War I . The patriotic speeches of his teacher Kantorek had led the whole class to ... (Wikipedia)
Bridge of Clay
by Markus Zusak
A family saga about five brothers and their father, centered around the building of a bridge. A story of love, loss, and redemption.
The Dunbar boys live in a suburb of Sydney, in a house of mayhem and madness that only five young boys can cause. Left to their own devices after their mother, Penny Dunbar, died of cancer, and their ... (Wikipedia)
Inkheart
by Cornelia Funke
A young girl's journey to uncover the secrets of a magical book, and the power of books to shape our lives.
12-year-old Meggie sees a stranger staring at her outside her window and tells her father, Mortimer (or Mo, as Meggie calls him) about it. Her father invites the stranger in, who introduces himself ... (Wikipedia)
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
A young boy's journey through a graveyard, learning the secrets of the dead.
The story begins as the man Jack murders most of the members of a family (later revealed to be the Dorian family) except for the toddler upstairs. Unknown to him, the toddler has climbed out of his ... (Wikipedia)
The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness
A young boy's struggle to discover the truth of a hidden world and his own special place in it.
Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown, a small settlement on 'New World' – an alien planet only recently colonized by humanity. Todd is within days of his thirteenth birthday, the age in ... (Wikipedia)
The Raven Boys
by Maggie Stiefvater
Four friends on a supernatural quest to find a magical Welsh king.
The Raven Cycle follows the story of Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, and Noah Czerny as they attempt to find the sleeping Welsh King Owain Glendower who is buried on the ... (Wikipedia)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
A young boy's quest to find the lock that matches a mysterious key his father left behind.
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and ... (Goodreads)
The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein
An uplifting story of a race car driver and the bond between humans and animals.
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by ... (Goodreads)
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
Interconnected stories of family and love, tracing the consequences of decisions made throughout life.
The novel opens in the year 1952. Saboor, an impoverished farmer from the fictional village of Shadbagh, decides to sell his three-year-old daughter Pari to a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul. ... (Wikipedia)
I'll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson
Two teens navigate struggles of family, love, art, and identity as they come of age.
Noah and Jude Sweetwine are twins. As they enter their teen years, they grow apart. This is partly due to their sibling rivalry, as they compete for the attention of their mother, Dianna; and partly ... (Wikipedia)
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
by Carol Rifka Brunt
A young girl's journey of grief and healing as she discovers the secrets of her beloved uncle's life.
June Elbus is a 14-year-old girl living in Westchester in 1986. She is in love with her gay uncle, Finn Weiss, a fact she is scared to admit even to herself. Finn is dying of AIDS. Being a ... (Wikipedia)
Orphan Train
by Christina Baker Kline
A story of two women's intertwined lives, spanning generations and crossing continents.
The #1 New York Times Bestseller “A lovely novel about the search for family that also happens to illuminate a fascinating and forgotten chapter of America’s history. Beautiful.”—Ann Packer Moving ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Thief
by Megan Whalen Turner
A thief with a hidden agenda sets off on a journey to reclaim an ancient relic.
The main character, a boy named Gen (short for Eugenides), is released from prison by the magus of the King of Sounis. Gen had been imprisoned for stealing the King's seal . The magus, whose name is ... (Wikipedia)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by Patrick Süskind
A murder mystery set in 18th century France, exploring the depths of human obsession.
An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of ... (Goodreads)
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
A young boy's journey of self-discovery, coming to terms with his mother's terminal illness.
Thirteen-year-old Conor O'Malley awakens from the same nightmare he has been experiencing for the past few months, "the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming". At seven minutes after ... (Wikipedia)
Station Eleven
by Emily St. John Mandel
Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
An elderly man's unexpected quest of faith, discovering the power of hope and love.
Harold Fry, 65, has cut the lawn outside his home at Kingsbridge on the south coast of Devon when he receives a letter. A colleague of twenty years ago, Queenie Hennessy, has cancer and is in a ... (Wikipedia)
The Wednesday Wars
by Gary D. Schmidt
A coming-of-age story of a student facing the challenges of the Vietnam War era.
In this Newbery Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero. The Wednesday Wars is a wonderfully witty and compelling story about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over ... (Goodreads)
The House of Hades
by Rick Riordan
A daring quest by demigods to prevent an ancient evil from escaping and wreaking havoc.
After Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson fall into Tartarus at the end of, The Mark of Athena, , the other five demigods of the " Prophecy of Seven " ( Frank Zhang , Hazel Levesque , Jason Grace , Leo ... (Wikipedia)
Shutter Island
by Dennis Lehane
A U.S. Marshal investigates a psychiatric hospital on a remote island, uncovering chilling secrets and an unexpected truth.
In 1954, widower U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, go on a ferry boat to Shutter Island, the home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate ... (Wikipedia)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the inner and outer worlds.
The first part, "The Thieving Magpie", begins with the narrator, Toru Okada, a low-key and unemployed lawyer's assistant, being tasked by his wife, Kumiko, to find their missing cat. Kumiko suggests ... (Wikipedia)
She's Come Undone
by Wally Lamb
A young woman's trial-filled journey to self-acceptance and self-preservation.
Dolores Price is heartbroken when her handsome, but irresponsible father, Tony, leaves their suburban home for another woman. She and her mother, Bernice, move into her uptight Catholic grandmother's ... (Wikipedia)
