Spud

by John van de Ruit

South Africa. In 1990, 13-year-old choir-
boy John “Spud” Milton keeps a diary of
his first year at an elite, boys-only
boarding school in South Africa, where
he deals with bizarre housemates, wild
crushes, embarrassingly dysfunctional
parents, and more.
Students Across the Seven Seas (series)
This series of books follow girls who are studying abroad in a
wide variety of foreign countries, including China, Russia, Aus-
tralia, Italy, and more. They’re written by more than one author,
but they all look pretty similar, so you can spot them on the
shelf easily.

Beneath My Mother’s Feet

by Amjed Qamar

Pakistan . When her father is injured, 14-

year-old Nazia is pulled away from her
school, her friends, and her preparations
for an arranged marriage, to help her
mother clean houses in a wealthy part of
Karachi, Pakistan, where she finally rebels
against the destiny that is planned for her. Once Upon a Time (series)
This series of books retells classic and foreign fairy tales. You
can read tales set in Japan, Italy, the Middle East, and more.
Bamboo People They’re written by more than one author, but they all look simi-
by Mitali Perkins lar, so you can spot them on the shelf easily.

Burma/Myanmar. Two Burmese boys, one

a Karenni refugee and the other the son
of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet
in the jungle. In order to survive, they
must learn to trust each other.

Duchessina
Read a
by Carolyn Meyer
book s
Italy. While her tyrannical family is out
of favor in Italy, young Catherine de foreig et in a
Medici is raised in convents, then in n land
1533, when she is 14, her uncle, Pope
Clement VII, arranges for her marriage
.
to the prince Henri of France, who is
destined to become king.

A Little Wanting Song
by Cath Crowley
Australia. One Australian summer, two
very different 16-year-old girls — Charlie,
a talented but shy musician, and Rose, a
confident student longing to leave her
tiny town — are drawn into an unexpected
friendship, as told in alternating voices.
Peak
by Roland Smith
Nepal and China. A 14-year-old boy at-
tempts to be the youngest person to
reach the top of Mount Everest.
Red Glass
by Laura Resau
Mexico and Guatemala. 16-year-old Sophie
has been frail and delicate since her pre-
mature birth, but discovers her true
strength during a journey to Mexico,
where the 6-year-old orphan her family
hopes to adopt was born, and to Guate-
mala, where her would-be boyfriend hopes to find his
mother and plans to remain.
Revolver
by Marcus Sedgwick
Finland. 15-year-old Sig is shocked to see a
hole in the frozen lake outside his family’s
cabin and to find his father’s corpse
nearby. Why did Einer steer his dog sled
across the lake instead of taking the
safer route? Sig’s sister and stepmom go
for help, leaving Sig alone with Einar’s
body in the cabin. Soon after, an armed
stranger barges in, demanding a share of
Einar’s stolen gold.
’
Anna and the French Kiss Trash
by Stephanie Perkins
by Andy Mulligan
France. When Anna’s romance-novelist father
Philippines. 14-year-old Raphael and Gardo
sends her to an elite American boarding
team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure
school in Paris for her senior year, she
out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raph-
reluctantly goes and meets an amazing boy
ael finds during their daily life of sorting
who becomes her best friend, in spite of
through trash in a third-world country’s
the fact that they both want something
dump.
more.
The Fetch
The Book Thief by Laura Whitcomb
by Marcus Zusak
Russia. After 350 years as a Fetch — a
Germany. Trying to make sense of the hor-
death escort — Calder breaks his vows
rors of World War II, Death relates the
and enters the body of Rasputin, whose
story of Liesel — a young German girl whose
spirit causes rebellion in the Land of
book-stealing and storytelling talents help
Lost Souls while Calder struggles to con-
sustain her family and the Jewish man they
vey Ana and Alexis, orphaned in the Rus-
are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
sian Revolution, to Heaven.
The Agency: A Spy in the House Toads and Diamonds
by Heather Tomlinson
by YS Lee
India. A retelling of the Perrault fairy tale
England. Rescued from the gallows in 1850s
set in pre-colonial India, in which two
London, young orphan and thief Mary Quinn
stepsisters receive gifts from a goddess
is offered a place at Miss Scrimshaw’s
and each walks her own path toe find her
Academy for Girls where she is trained to
gift’s purpose, discovering romance along
be a part of an all-female investigative unit called The Agency
the way.
and at age 17, she infiltrates a rich merchant’s home in hopes
of tracing his missing cargo ships.
The Uninvited
by Tim Wynne Jones
Blood Ninja
by Nick Lake
Canada . After a disturbing freshman year at
Japan. After his father is murdered and a
NYU, Mimi is happy to get away to her fa-
ninja saves his life, Taro discovers the
ther’s remote Canadian cottage, only to
connection between ninjas and vampires
discover a stranger living there who has
and finds himself being dragged into a
never heard of her father and who is con-
bitter conflict between the rival lords
vinces Mimi is responsible for leaving sinis-
ruling Japan.
ter tokens around the property.