Reading: Overcoming Adversity

This enchanting novel, about an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of treasure, is a testament the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts. Fiction. 182 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied, stole, and lived on the streets. This candid memoir was written by a father who wouldn't give up on his son. Nonfiction. 340 pages. Available as ebook

A memoir of growing up in the tough world of Baltimore in the 1980s chronicles the relationship between the author and his father, a Vietnam vet and Black Panther affiliate, and his campaign to keep his sons from falling victim to the temptations of the streets. Nonfiction. 227 pages. Available as ebook

What are your hidden jewels? Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy. Nonfiction. 276 pages.

Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima – a curandera who cures with herbs and magic - comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. Under her wise wing, Tony will test the bonds that tie him to his people,as Ultima nurtures the birth of his soul. Fiction. 290 pages.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has witnessed some of the worst crimes peopel can inflict on others. So wherever he goes, he inevitably gets asked, How do I forgive? This book is his answer. Nonfiction. 229 pages, Available as ebook

In this powerful memoir, Nicole Mason tells her story, navigating between an unpredictable home life and school, where she excelled. While showing us her own path out of poverty, Mason examines the conditions that make it nearly impossible to escape poverty and exposes the presumption harbored by many--that the poor don't help themselves enough. Nonfiction. 242 pages.

When Garrard Conley was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to 'cure' him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. This memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds. Nonfiction. 340 pages.

In a remarkable true story about human inventiveness, an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family. Nonfiction. 286 pages.

Having come from Mexico to California ten years ago, 14-year-old Francisco is still working in the fields but fighting to complete his education. In this autobiographical story, Jimenez celebrates his Mexican roots even as he learns to be an American. Young Adult Fiction. 195 pages.

A boy with Asperger's investigates the murder of his neighbor's dog. Described as 'gloriously eccentric' and 'very moving' and 'very funny'. Young Adult Fiction. 226 pages.

The gripping account of the experiences of the thirty-three men who endured entrapment beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days during the San José mine collapse outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010. Nonfiction. 309 pages.

Smart, funny and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine who has built a shell around herself after surviving a tough childhood, who grows to realize that the only way to survive is to open her heart.

Hazel,a 16-year old girl with stage IV thyroid cancer. To help her deal with her clinical depression, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets "hottie" Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor. Irreverent, raw, and unforgettable. Young Adult Fiction. 318 pages. Available as ebook

Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn't "look" autistic. But, as he's quick to point out in this memoir, autism "looks" different for just about everyone. Young adult memoir. 169 pages. Available as audiobook

In this is a moving account of one woman's journey into madness and back, .Susanna Kaysen writes about the 17 months she spent on a ward for teenage girls at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Nonfiction. 168 pages.

After a family tragedy orphans her, Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., moves into her grandmother's mostly black community in 1980s Portland, where she must swallow her grief and confront her identity as a biracial young woman. Fiction. 264 pages. Available as ebook

The story of a former literature professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents himself as a trucker in the United States. A whimsical and passionate story of a father and daughter on the run. Fiction. 295 pages.

Two Pulitzer Prize winners address our era's worst human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world. They show that a little help can transform lives, and that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential. Nonfiction. 294 pages.

An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. Nonfiction. 346 pages.

"I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe." In this powerful best seller, Roxanne Gay explores what it means to be overweight in a time when the bigger you are, the less you are seen. Nonfiction. 306 pages. Available as ebook

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor-including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother-and how she retook control of her life. Memoir. 304 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday October 9, 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price. Nonfiction. 327 pages. Available as ebook

Heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting, this stirring memoir chronicles one Asian-American immigrant's struggle to find himself--and to transcend the dangers of gang life in Los Angeles. Nonfiction. 249 pages.

Evidence links the lack of nature in children's lives and the rise in obesity, attention disorders, and depression. This book looks for ways for children to experience the natural world more deeply. Nonfiction. 390 pages.

Sheryl Sandberg--Facebook COO and one of "Fortune" magazine's most powerful women in business--looks at what women can do to help themselves by taking more risks and advocating for themselves. Nonfiction. 228 pages.

What makes a happy person, a happy life? George Dawson, a 101-year-old man who learned to read when he was 98, reflects on the philosophy he learned from his father--a belief that "life is so good"—as he offers valuable lessons in living. Nonfiction. 260 pages.

Sixteen-year-old Bri hopes to become a great rapper, and after her first song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, must decide whether to sell out or face eviction with her widowed mother. By the author of The Hate U Give. Young adult fiction. 447 pages.

Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same city within a few years of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Why? Nonfiction. 250 pages.

This book offers a sweeping tapestry of people who are making the world a better place and a guide to the ways that we can do the same. Nonfiction. 382 pages.

A self-portrait of a black teenage girl, big, fat, unloved, with a father who rapes her and a jealous mother who screams abuse. For Precious, hope appears when a courageous young teacher bullies, cajoles and inspires her to learn to read. Fiction. 139 pages.

When a tragic school bus accident leaves Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb. The doctors tell her she will never run again. Her track team finds a way to help rekindle her dream of running. Young Adult Fiction. 336 pages.

Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four African American siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups. Fiction. 261 pages.

Mack’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted , and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant, The Shack wrestles with timeless questions. Christian Fiction. 266 pages.

"This book relates how four undocumented Mexican immigrants in Arizona put together an underwater robot from scavenged parts and went on to beat teams from prestigious universities to win the
National Underwater Robotics Competition at UC Santa Barbara." Nonfiction. 224 pages.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder returns with the extraordinary true story of Deo, a young man who arrives in America from Burundi after surviving a civil war and genocide in search of a new life. Nonfiction. 284 pages.

In the military soldiers form intimate bonds, a closeness that is lost at the end of deployment. Tribe explores the irony that for many veterans war feels better than peace, why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today's divided world. Nonfiction. 168 pages. Available as ebook

A sportswriter conveys the wisdom of his late mentor, professor Morrie Schwartz, recounting their weekly conversations as Schwartz lay dying. An inspiring best-seller about how to live fully and robustly. Nonfiction. 192 pages.

One of the first African American students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 tells her story about the threats and emotional abuse she endured on the path to integration. Nonfiction. 312 pages.