Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

"Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest . . . is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world."-Tom Brokaw

"An inspiring chronicle . . . this is one protagonist who clearly deserves to be called a hero."-People

"Mortenson’s mission is admirable, his conviction unassailable, his territory exotic."-The Washington Post

Nature Noir by Jordan Fisher Smith

Slated to be drowned by a dam, the California state park patrolled by the author of this haunting memoir is a "condemned landscape" of gorgeous river canyons hemmed in by exurban sprawl and peopled by eccentric gold miners, squatting families, drug dealers and miscellaneous drunken, gun-waving rowdies, a place where "turkey vultures floated... savoring the hot air for the inevitable attrition of heat, drought and violence." -Publishers Weekly.

"Eloquently meditative . . . [Smith writes]with a gritty candor -- think of a gun-toting Norman Maclean or Wallace Stegner." -- Alan Burdick The New York Times Book Review

"Gloriously unlike anything I've ever read before . . . gives entree into a strange, dark, and mesmerizing outdoor world that's absolutely unforgettable." -- Caroline Leavitt Boston Globe

"He writes about the natural world with more grace than anyone since Edward Abbey." Newsweek

"Extraordinary . . . Nature Noir marks the debut of a terrific new nature writer, one whose penetrating, ranger's-eye view of the Sierra Nevada recalls the plain-spoken timbre of Edward Abbey and David James Duncan." Outside

Holes by Louis Sachar

Grade 5-8-Stanley Yelnats IV has been wrongly accused of stealing a famous baseball player's valued sneakers and is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention home where the boys dig holes, five feet deep by five feet across, in the miserable Texas heat. It's just one more piece of bad luck that's befallen Stanley's family for generations as a result of the infamous curse of Madame Zeroni. Overweight Stanley, his hands bloodied from digging, figures that at the end of his sentence, he'll "...either be in great physical condition or else dead."

"There is no question, kids will love Holes."-SLJ, Starred Review

"[A] rugged, engrossing adventure."-Kirkus Reviews

"This delightfully clever story is well-crafted and thought-provoking."-VOYA

"[Sachar] comes fully, brilliantly into his own voice. This is a can't-put-it-down read."-The Bulletin

Epitaph for a Peach by David Mas Masumoto

A lyrical, sensuous and thoroughly engrossing memoir of one critical year in the life of an organic peach farmer, Epitaph for a Peach is "a delightful narrative . . . with poetic flair and a sense of humor" (Library Journal).

“[Masumoto is] a poet of farming and peaches.” (New York Times Book Review)

“[A] wonderful writer...[Masumoto] uses his farm as Thoreau did his.” (Los Angeles Times)

“A peach of a book.” (Publishers Weekly)

“. . . lyrical . . .enough to make a peach lover drool and also weep...[A] charming tale.” (Atlantic Monthly)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

After years of working as a fireman--one who burns books and enjoys his work--Guy Montag meets a young girl named Clarisse who makes him question his profession and the values of the society in which he lives.  His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

“Brilliant . . . Startling and ingenious . . . Mr. Bradbury’s account of this insane world, which bears many alarming resemblances to our own, is fascinating.” —Orville Prescott, The New York Times

“A masterpiece . . . A glorious American classic everyone should read: It’s life-changing if you read it as a teen, and still stunning when you reread it as an adult.” —Alice Hoffman, The Boston Globe

“The sheer lift and power of a truly original imagination exhilarates . . . His is a very great and unusual talent.” —Christopher Isherwood, Tomorrow