New Leaf Nominations for September 2018 • The Shortest, Gladdest Years of Life: School

[Catlady]

I'm staying on the dark side with my second nomination: This Is Where It Ends (2016) by Marieke Nijkamp.

The #1 New York Times Bestseller!

Everyone has a reason to fear the boy with the gun.

10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03
The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told from four perspectives over the span of 54 harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

A Buzzfeed Best YA of 2016
#1 Young Adult Debut of 2016
A Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Winter '15 Kids Indie Next List
Goodreads YA Best Books of the Month
Buzzfeed 5 YA Books You Should Be Reading This January
Bustle.com 18 of 2016's Most-Anticipated YA Novels
BookRiot 15 Books out in 2016 You Should Mark Down Now
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist for Young Adult Fiction

Amazon U.S., $7.99
Kobo U.S., $8.69

Amazon Canada, CA $8.24
Kobo Canada CA $10.59

Amazon Australia, AU $8.85
Kobo Australia, AU $11.87

Amazon UK, £5.22
Kobo UK, £6.59

Also available as an audiobook. E-book can be borrowed through Overdrive, Hoopla, Freading, and Scribd. Scribd also has the audiobook.


ETA: I really wanted to nominate a book that deals with school shootings; my original choice was A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic, because I'd read another of his books, but it's not available in Australia or the UK. I also considered Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito and The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke; Quicksand passed the availability test but is more of a courtroom drama and The Life Before Her Eyes is only available as an audiobook in Australia and the UK.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

[...] By the way, gmw, I haven't read this! I didn't know the movie was based on a book.

Pleased to hear not everyone has read it. And I didn't know there had been a movie made from it until I started looking for links to the ebooks (I have this one in paperback).

[fantasyfan]

I’ll third The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

[Greg Anos]

This could be considered a school book, depending on how you define "school"

Tunnel In The Sky by Robert Heinlein.

[issybird]

I'll second Never Let Me Go.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

This could be considered a school book, depending on how you define "school"

Tunnel In The Sky by Robert Heinlein.

We're not fussy. If you think it qualifies, that's good enough.

[Dngrsone]

Well, i had a nomination, but it's expensive (to me) and does not appear to be available electronically via the public library (though it looks like Hoopla might have the audiobook somewhere):


Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillian by Richard Roberts.

Penelope Akk is the middle-school daughter of two superheroes who desperately wants her own superpowers to manifest, but as the title suggests, things go a little sideways.

This is a fast, fun read, and I think I have paid full price for most of the titles in the series (including the fifth one I just discovered came out), which is uncommon of me, but there you go...

It's available at Amazon.com for holy carp $5.99?

[CRussel]

First, a couple of seconds -- Goodbye, Mr. Chips and A Separate Peace. The first I've never read, but I'm assuming is as sappy as the movie, but that's OK, sometimes I like that. And it's free in Canada and short. The second, I read in the 60's and very much liked but that was a LONG time ago and I no longer remember anything at all about it or have any idea if it's stood the test of time, but I'm willing to see.

Next, a non-nomination: I seriously thought about nominating To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield. It's a wonderful book, and was a wonderful BBC/Masterpiece Theater mini-series. And it's somewhat reasonably priced at $9.99 in the US (less in the UK), but it's 600 pages and I just didn't see us wanting a book that long, plus I just had a book selected so I thought I'd spend my tickets supporting others. However, I will highly recommend this if you want a good read about school. Oh, and also somewhat about wars since that was our previous theme and this is very much a book about both the results of WWI in the UK and the anticipation and results of WWII.

From Amazon:

Spoiler:

R.F. Delderfield is a born storyteller." — Sunday Mirror

The beloved classic saga from master author R. F. Delderfield, subject of a landmark BBC miniseries.

To Serve Them All My Days is the moving saga of David Powlett-Jones, who returns from World War I injured and shell-shocked. He is hired to teach history at Bamfylde School, where he rejects the formal curriculum and teaches the causes and consequences of the Great War.

Eventually David earns the respect of his students and many of his fellow teachers, against the backdrop of a country struggling to redefine itself. As David falls in love and finds himself on track to possibly take on the headmaster role, he must search to find the strength to hold true to his beliefs as the specter of another great war looms.

To Serve Them All My Days is a brilliant picture of England between the World Wars, as the country comes to terms with the horrors of the Great War and the new forces reshaping the British government and society.

Subject of a Landmark BBC Miniseries

Includes Bonus Reading Group Guide

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

"I sometimes still wake up in the morning and look forward to reading more about P.J. and Bamfylde."

"From the stationmaster on the first page to the last boy on the last page, these characters all have a very human aspect that connects to you immediately."

"This book should be in everyone's library."

"This is an ennobling book…it showed a person wounded in body and spirit who found that concentrating on the details of teaching the schoolboys under his care was, in a sense, a healing meditation."

"…just the book for a cold rainy day…with a hot cup of tea and a scone."

"Mr. Delderfield's manner is easy, modest, heartwarming."
Evening Standard

"He built an imposing artistic social history that promises to join those of his great forebears in the long, noble line of the English novel. His narratives belong in a tradition that goes back to John Galsworthy and Arnold Bennett."
Life Magazine

"Sheer, wonderful storytelling."
Chicago Tribune

"Highly recommended. Combines tension with a splendid sense of atmosphere and vivid characterisation. An excellent read."
Sunday Express

[Bookpossum]

Good thought Charlie - I agree that sounds a bit too long for the Club, but the suggestion is there for those who might want to investigate it further.

[Bookpossum]

I third Never Let Me Go. I have read it and found it very moving and thought-provoking.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Good thought Charlie - I agree that sounds a bit too long for the Club, but the suggestion is there for those who might want to investigate it further.

And I hope some do -- it's quite a good book, and the book I first thought about for this theme, way back when we were discussing future themes.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I third Never Let Me Go. I have read it and found it very moving and thought-provoking.

Yay! I really think it would spark a lot of good conversation.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Yay! I really think it would spark a lot of good conversation.

I agree!

[June]

I second This Is Where It Ends and Tunnel In The Sky

[Dazrin]

I will third:
Tunnel in the Sky
Here's a blurb for it since one isn't in the second post:

From the author of STARSHIP TROOPERS comes TUNNEL IN THE SKY, the story of a group of students who are dropped on a foreign planet in order to test their survival skills. When the rescue ship doesn't arrive, they must create a new society and learn to adapt to their new life in the wild… but are their greatest troubles from beasts or fellow man?

I will also third A Separate Peace and Boy: Tales of Childhood.