Published in 1999, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a psychological thriller novel by bestselling author Stephen King. Renowned for his horror writing, King draws on primal human fears as he follows spirited nine-year-old Trisha McFarland on a harrowing battle for survival after getting lost in the woods. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon explores themes of nature, faith, and the dangers of everyday life through the eyes of a plucky young heroine. Plans... Read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Summary

Written sometime in the late 2nd century CE, Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, a picaresque novel about a man turned into a donkey, intersperses its main narrative with many raunchy comic tales. In writing about its magic-obsessed hero, Apuleius, a Numidian philosopher living in the Roman Empire, possibly drew on his own experiences of being accused of using magic to seduce a wealthy widow—something he had to defend against in court. The Golden Ass is the only... Read The Golden Ass Summary

The Good Lord Bird is a 2013 novel written by James McBride. It is set during three years of the slave era South and is a work of progressive Americana in the vein of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Good Lord Bird received the National Book Award and great critical acclaim, and is now being adapted into a television series for Showtime. It examines themes of slavery, loyalty, racism, and violent protest.Plot... Read The Good Lord Bird Summary

The Great Greene Heist is a middle grade novel by Varian Johnson that follows Jackson Greene, a middle school boy and nearly reformed prankster, who tries to win his crush through hijinks. The novel was named Publisher’s Best Summer Book of 2014, ALA ALSC Notable Children’s Book in 2015, and received a Kirkus Star Review. Johnson published the sequel To Catch a Cheat in 2016. Johnson is also the author of The Parker Inheritance, which... Read The Great Greene Heist Summary

Published in 2020, The Great Pet Heist is a middle grade adventure novel by Emily Ecton. The novel follows a group of house pets—Butterbean the dachshund, Walt the cat, Oscar the mynah bird, and two rats named Marco and Polo—who are left to fend for themselves after their elderly owner is hospitalized. Facing the threat of being sent to the pound, the animals band together and use their unique skills to plan a heist, targeting... Read The Great Pet Heist Summary

The Great Treehouse War is a 2017 middle grade fiction novel by popular children’s author Lisa Graff. In this novel, Winnie Malladi-Maraj stages a stand-off against her recently divorced parents when their constant bickering threatens to prevent her from passing the fifth grade. Framed as a collective memoir combining the experiences of Winnie and her friends, the novel explores family dynamics and advocating for one’s needs. The text features illustrations and “sticky notes” from the... Read The Great Treehouse War Summary

Kathleen Karr’s The Great Turkey Walk (1998) is a historical adventure novel for middle grade readers. Set in 1860, the story follows 15-year-old Simon Green, who decides to herd 1,000 turkeys nearly a thousand miles from his home in Missouri to the boomtown of Denver, where he believes he can sell them for a fortune. Assembling an unconventional group of companions, Simon embarks on an epic journey across the American West. The novel explores themes... Read The Great Turkey Walk Summary

Steven Rowley’s novel The Guncle, originally published in 2021, is about overcoming grief with the help of humor. The book deals with issues of loss, gay love, and the intangible things that bind families together. The Guncle was an NPR Book of the Year and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist. Rowley, also the author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor, is currently adapting The Guncle into a film for Lionsgate Entertainment.Plot SummaryPatrick O’Hara... Read The Guncle Summary

The Guncle Abroad (2024) by Steven Rowley is the sequel to Rowley’s 2021 bestseller, The Guncle. It follows Patrick, the protagonist, as he travels across Europe with his niece and nephew, Maisie and Grant, preparing them for their father’s wedding in Italy. Five years after the death of their mother, Maisie and Grant are resistant to their father’s fiancée, Livia. Patrick must teach them about love, with hopes they will accept Livia and give their... Read The Guncle Abroad Summary

The Happiest Refugee is a 2010 autobiography by Vietnamese-born, Australian author, actor, comedian, and artist Anh Do. Following his journey from a perilous escape from Communist-ruled Vietnam as a toddler with his large family, to his working-class childhood in Australia where he struggled to fit into the predominantly white society, to his rise as one of Australia’s most sought-after comedians and motivational speakers, The Happiest Refugee is considered one of the most well-received stories of... Read The Happiest Refugee Summary

The Hating Game, published in 2016, is Sally Thorne’s first novel. The enemies-to-lovers office rom com became a USA TODAY bestseller in 2018 and has been published in more than 20 countries. Oprah Winfrey ranked it seventh among the 20 best romance novels of all time. In 2021, Vertical Entertainment produced a film adaptation of the book, directed by Peter Hutchings and starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell. Harper Collins published a movie tie-In edition... Read The Hating Game Summary

South African novelist Zakes Mda published his satirical work The Heart of Redness in 2000. In the novel, Mda blends history, myth, and realist fiction to portray a South African village over a 150-year span. In 1856, a 15-year-old girl from kwaXhosa named Nongqawuse told her uncle, Mhlakaza, that she had encountered the spirits of two of her ancestors. These spirits told the young girl that if the amaXhosa killed all their cattle, destroyed their... Read The Heart Of Redness Summary

Wendy Wasserstein’s play The Heidi Chronicles first opened Off-Broadway with Playwrights Horizons in 1988, transferring to Broadway for a successful run in 1989. The play follows Heidi Holland from the ages of 16 to 40 as she explores her desires for her own life, inspired by the liberation of feminism, but tempered by gendered expectations in a patriarchal society. Critics celebrated the play for introducing feminism into mainstream theater. Wasserstein wrote 11 plays, and The... Read The Heidi Chronicles Summary

The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams, or Joseph Andrews, was written by Henry Fielding and published in 1742 as a “comic epic poem in prose” (14). The novel, one of the first in the English language, encompasses many principles of the Augustan Age in which it was written. In this era literature, particularly satire, was viewed as a means of instruction, and observation was considered the... Read Joseph Andrews Summary

First published in 1749, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling is considered one of the best and most influential early novels in English literature. Henry Fielding was a respected dramatist, essayist, and satirist, and as a public official, he helped to establish London’s first professional police force.A comic novel that blends romance, realism, picaresque, and social commentary—while passing itself off as a true history of a life as well as a reflection of human... Read The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling Summary

American poet Billy Collins’s poem “The History Teacher” was published in his 1991 collection Questions about Angels. This collection was the first to launch Collins to national prominence and this poem is among his most well-known.As an example of a Postmodern poem, the poem is both free verse without a strict structure and self-reflexive, as the poem is aware of its own construction. In a commentary on contemporary conversations surrounding children, education, and rising violence... Read The History Teacher Summary

Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy first appeared in book form in 1979, after Adams originally conceived it as a radio play. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy explores and satirizes many facets of modern life, such as the legitimacy of authority, the absurdity of bureaucracy, and the search for the ultimate answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything. The book follows the galactic exploits of Arthur Dent, the last... Read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Summary

The Homework Machine, written by acclaimed American author Dan Gutman was first published in 2007 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and is the first of a two-book series. The second book, The Return of the Homework Machine, was published in 2011. Gutman is primarily a children’s fiction writer who has been nominated for and won numerous awards, including 18 for The Homework Machine alone. Gutman is best known for his humorous series, My... Read The Homework Machine Summary

The House of God is a novel written by American author and doctor Samuel Bergman under the pseudonym Samuel Shem and originally published in 1978. The book is heavily based on Bergman’s own experiences as a medical intern in the early 1970s, and the fictional hospital “the House of God” is a thinly veiled fictional version of the Beth Israel teaching hospital associated with Harvard Medical School. The novel is a satire in the vein... Read The House of God Summary

The Humans is a contemporary novel by Matt Haig. First published in 2013, the book follows an alien visitor, inhabiting a dead human’s body, who explores what it means to be human, and the true meaning of life. The book received multiple award nominations, and critics praise it for its unusual blend of science fiction, humour, and domestic life. Haig is the internationally bestselling, award-winning author of adult and children’s books. He’s best known for... Read The Humans Summary