The Help

By Kathryn Stockett

    Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, it follows the story of Skeeter Phelan and some maids working for white families in the city, commonly called "the help" (hence the title of the book).

    Aibileen has begun to work for Mrs. Elizabeth Leefolt after resting for months after her son's death. She takes care of Mrs. Leefolt's baby, Mae Mobley, and develops a strong love for her. Her friend, Minny Jackson, is an excellent cook, but she can't hold a job because she blabs at her employers. Her most recent job was for Mrs. Walters, Hilly Holbrook's mother. Skeeter Phelan, a young white woman, has just graduated from the University of Mississippi. She sticks out and is very tall, so her mother worries she will never get married.

    One day, Hilly suggests an initiative that would create segregated bathrooms for the help in white people's homes. Skeeter, as editor of the Jackson newsletter, is supposed to put this in, but she can't do it. She begins to see the injustices the white people put upon their Black servants, and wonders what happened to her childhood maid, Constantine.

    Minny has landed a new, high paying job, but her employer is odd. Mrs. Celia Foote is nervous that her new husband will realize that she's worthless at being a housewife, and refuses to let Minny and him cross paths. Minny agrees to teach her things on the condition that she eventually tell's Johnny (her husband).

In the Time of the Butterflies

By Julia Alvarez

A high school Contemporary Heritage book

    Based on a true story, this novel is set in the mid-1900s Dominican Republic during the reign of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and revolves around 4 Mirabal sisters, who work to free their country. Three of them, Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa, were killed by his secret police on November 25, 1960. The fourth, Dedé, was not with them and is portrayed throughout the book as a woman telling the story of the others to a reporter who resembles the author.

    The four sisters grew up in Salcedo province, in Ojo de Agua. Patria, the eldest, is shown as a religious character, who evolves throughout the book as she loses her faith with the death of her third child, then regains it in a new fashion during a pilgrimage. Dedé, the second daughter, is weaker than her sisters and was prevented from joining her sisters' revolution by her husband, which is why she survived them. Minerva, the third eldest, is the most headstrong and courage of the four, leading two of her sisters into the revolution. Maria Teresa, or Mate, is the youngest, and she evolves as well, going from always admiring Minerva to realizing that she can choose her own path.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code
By Dan Brown
Read in 8th Grade
Robert Langdon, professor of symbology at Harvard, in trying to relax in the wee hours of the night after giving a speech to the American University of Paris. Then, Jacques Sauniére, a renowned art curator, is murdered. And Langdon is the scapegoat. However, all is not lost. He and a police cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, discover that Sauniére protected an ancient secret - one that could destroy the church. They go on a hunt to try to uncover the secret, but with traitors and police at every turn, they must work fast. It turns out at last that they are looking for the Holy Grail, the fabled chalice in the Bible. The Knights Templar supposedly found it in Jerusalem long ago, and it is being protected by the Priory of Sion.

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck
Read in 8th Grade
One of Steinbeck's more difficult books, this book explores the troubles of farmers in 1930s Midwest. What was once fertile land cultivated for generations is now desolate and being taken over by conglomerate banks. Tom Joad, recently freed from prison, finds that his family has already been evicted. With no home and nowhere to stay, they sell everything and join the Dust Bowl migration to California. But when they get there, they find that all the rumors of good wages all wrong. The Californians hate the "Okies", who work for just a few cents to a pound of picked fruit/cotton. Few survive the test of these times, and many starve, head back, or die. But the Joads get luck after luck, and just barely, they survive.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini
Read in 8th Grade
Amir is a young boy living in Afghanistan, friends with a Hazara named Hassan. The Hazara are considered lesser people in Afghanistan and are mostly servants. Amir is the son of the most prestigious man in town. But for many years, the two are best friends. Kite fighting is a popular sport in Kabul, Amir's town. And Hassan is the best at chasing down cut kites. But one day, Amir sends Hassan off by himself to get a kite, and he is raped.
This event fractures the friendship, and Amir escapes turmoil in Afghanistan soon after with his father to America. He lives happily there, but one day, his past calls to him, and he must return. Hassan, meanwhile, has had a child. One day, the Taliban kills him and takes his son.