Freshman Summer Reading

List of 7 items.

• An Invisible Thread - Laura Schroff

  This inspirational New York Times 记录了一个忙碌的销售主管和一个处境不利的小男孩之间的终身友谊, 以及他们的生活是如何因为一个小小的善意举动而改变的. 这是一个发生在20世纪80年代纽约的关于善良和善报的简单故事…….an uplifting reminder that small gestures matter-Kirkus Reviews.
  
  Stopping was never part of the plan...
  
  She was a successful ad sales rep in Manhattan. He was a homeless, eleven-year-old panhandler on the street. He asked for spare change; she kept walking. But then something stopped her in her tracks, and she went back. And she continued to go back, again and again. They met up nearly every week for years and built an unexpected, 改变人生的友谊今天已经跨越了近三十年.

• Darius The Great Is Not Okay - Adib Khorram

  Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, 这是相当令人沮丧的——尤其是当他还在处理临床抑郁症的时候, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.
  
  索拉博确保大家都说英语，这样大流士就能明白发生了什么. 他给大流士买了一件伊朗国家足球队的球衣，这让他第一次感觉自己是一个真正的波斯人. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.
  
  索拉博叫他大流士——这是他名字的波斯语原文——大流士从来没有像现在这样觉得自己更像自己，因为他对索拉博来说是大流士. 当他要回美国的时候，他就得自己想办法成为大流士.

• Make Your Bed - Admiral William H. McRaven

  If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
  On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. 麦克雷文在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的毕业典礼上向毕业班致辞. Taking inspiration from the university's slogan, "What starts here changes the world,他分享了他在海豹突击队训练期间学到的十条原则，这些原则不仅帮助他在训练和漫长的海军生涯中克服了挑战, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.
  
  麦克雷文上将的演讲原文在网上疯传，点击量超过1000万. Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, 麦克雷文现在讲述了他自己的生活故事，以及他在服兵役期间遇到的那些人的故事，他们面对困难，下定决心做出艰难的决定, compassion, honor, and courage. Told with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.

• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins

  第十届年度饥饿游戏将在收割的早晨拉开帷幕. In the Capital, 18岁的科里奥兰纳斯·斯诺正在为他作为奥运会导师的荣耀做准备. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, 它的命运取决于科里奥兰纳斯能否战胜它的微弱机会, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
  
  The odds are against him. 他被委以一项耻辱的任务去指导12区的女贡品, the lowest of the low. 他们的命运现在完全交织在一起——科里奥兰纳斯做出的每一个选择都可能导致他的成功或失败, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. 在竞技场外，科里奥兰纳斯开始为他注定的贡品感到难过... 他必须权衡遵守规则的需要和不惜一切代价求生存的欲望.

• The Cousins - Karen McManus

  Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each another, and they've never even met their grandmother. 她富有而隐居，在他们出生前就剥夺了他们的继承权. 所以，当他们每个人都收到一封信，邀请他们在她的岛上度假胜地工作, they're surprised... and curious.
  
  他们的父母都很清楚一点，不去是不行的. 这可能是重获祖母欢心的好机会. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it's immediately clear that she has different plans for them. 他们待得越久，就越意识到他们家族的过去是多么神秘和黑暗.
  
  The entire Story family has secrets. 几年前让他们分开的事情并没有结束——今年夏天，这对表兄弟将学到一切.

• Woodlawn: One Hope. One Dream. One Way. - Todd Gerelds

  In the midst of violent, impassioned racial tensions in Birmingham, Alabama, new football coach, Tandy Gerelds, 伍德劳恩高中(Woodlawn High)是伯明翰最后几所实行种族融合的外围博彩平台之一. 在他看到托尼·内森(Tony Nathan)奔跑之前，他所接手的球队并没有足够的球员来赢得比赛.
  
  但托尼是非洲裔美国人，格瑞尔兹教练知道，让他担任跑卫就像在他自己的背后和他即将成为明星的球员的背后制造目标. But Coach Gerelds saw something in Tony, 他知道他让他踢球的决定不仅仅是为了足球. It was about doing what was right for the school—and the city.
  
  And soon, 在这个城市里，黑人和白人唯一能和睦相处的地方就是格瑞尔兹教练的足球队. With the help of a new school chaplain, 托尼学会了超越自我，意识到比赢得比赛更重要.
  
  In 1974, Coach Gerelds’s interracial team made Alabama history drawing 42,000 fans into the stadium to watch them play. 正是这场比赛激发了伍德劳恩高中上校们的团结和支持，最终让这座城市得以愈合，并教会了它的公民如何去爱.

• You've Reached Sam - Dustin Thao

  17岁的朱莉计划好了自己的未来——和男友萨姆搬出小镇, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes.
  
  Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.
  
  And Sam picks up the phone.
  
  事情发生了奇迹般的转变，朱莉得到了第二次告别的机会. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, 尤其是朱莉目睹了山姆一家所经历的痛苦. 不能站在一旁看着他们共同的亲人痛苦, 朱莉在说出她和山姆通话的真相和冒着失去他的危险之间摇摆不定.