Daniel Hand Freshmen Lit & Writing List (2025)

Books from DHHS Freshmen summer reading list in LION

Showing 1 - 20 of 25  There are a total of 114 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe"
Star rating for Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.
Book cover for "Be more chill"
Star rating for Be more chill
Description:
"Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day, he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way. Until the day he learns about the "squip." A pill-sized supercomputer that you swallow, the squip is guaranteed to bring you whatever you most desire in life. By instructing him on everything from what to wear, to how to talk and walk, the squip transforms Jeremy from...
Book cover for "Between shades of gray"
Star rating for Between shades of gray
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her, along with her mother and younger brother, by cattle car to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All seems to be lost, but Lina refuses to give up hope. Will that be enough to keep her alive?
Book cover for "Chaos theory"
Star rating for Chaos theory
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Since Shelbi enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won't be there very long, she hasn't bothered making friends. What her classmates don't know about her can't be used to hurt her--you know, like it did at her last school. Andy Criddle is not okay. At all. He's had far too much to drink. Again. Which is bad. And things are about to get worse. When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. So she doesn't resist reaching out. And there's...
Book cover for "Concrete rose"
Star rating for Concrete rose
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
"A gang leader's son finds his effort to go straight for the sake of his child challenged by a loved one's brutal murder, in a poignant exploration of Black coming-of-age- set seventeen years before the events of the award-winning 'The Hate U Give'"--
Book cover for "The cruel prince"
Star rating for The cruel prince
Author:
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
Jude, seventeen and mortal, gets tangled in palace intrigues while trying to win a place in the treacherous High Court of Faerie, where she and her sisters have lived for a decade. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans....
Book cover for "A curse so dark and lonely"
Star rating for A curse so dark and lonely
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
Eighteen for the three hundred twenty-seventh time, Prince Rhen despairs of breaking the curse that turns him into a beast at the end of each day until feisty Harper enters his life.
Book cover for "Curveball"
Star rating for Curveball
Description:
After an injury ends former star pitcher Peter Friedman's athletic dreams, he concentrates on photography which leads him to a girlfriend, new fame as a high school sports photographer, and a deeper relationship with the beloved grandfather who, when he realizes he is becoming senile, gives Pete all of his professional camera gear.
Book cover for "Divergent"
Star rating for Divergent
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Beatrice Prior's society is divided into five factions--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice must choose between staying with her Abnegation family and transferring factions. Her choice will shock her community and herself. But the newly christened Tris also has a secret, one she's determined to keep hidden, because in this world, what makes you different...

10. Heir

Book cover for "Heir"
Star rating for Heir
Author:
Description:
"An orphan. An outcast. A prince. And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees. Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite. Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic...
Book cover for "If I stay"
Star rating for If I stay
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.
Book cover for "The maze runner"
Star rating for The maze runner
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
Book cover for "One of us is back"
Star rating for One of us is back
Description:
A member of the Bayview Crew disappears and everyone feels like they could be next, but the situation suddenly worsens when someone unexpectedly returns to Bayview.
Book cover for "One of us is lying"
Star rating for One of us is lying
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule. Sports star Cooper only knows what he's doing in the baseball diamond. Bad body Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime. Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life. And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won't ever talk about any of them again. He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online. Investigators conclude...
Book cover for "One of us is next"
Star rating for One of us is next
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"A year after the Bayview four were cleared of Simon Kelleher's death, a new mystery has cropped up--a game with dangerous consequences that's targeting students at Bayview again. And if the creator isn't found soon, dangerous could prove deadly"--
Book cover for "Parachutes"
Star rating for Parachutes
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
They're called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the US while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she'd be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger's house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound...

17. Scythe

Book cover for "Scythe"
Star rating for Scythe
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
"In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't"--
Book cover for "The selection"
Star rating for The selection
Author:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"The opportunity to be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and pricelss jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and leaving her home to enter a fierce cmpetition for a crown she doesn't want. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she begins to realize that the life...
Book cover for "The sun is also a star"
Star rating for The sun is also a star
Author:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Two teens--Daniel, the son of Korean shopkeepers, and Natasha, whose family is here illegally from Jamaica--cross paths in New York City on an eventful day in their lives--Daniel is on his way to an interview with a Yale alum, Natasha is meeting with a lawyer to try and prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica--and fall in love"--
Book cover for "Sunrise on the reaping"
Star rating for Sunrise on the reaping
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves. When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family...