1 2007 Summer Reading Program (juniors & seniors) Su

Goodwin, Jason. The Janissary Tree Historian Goodwin introduces a promising newmystery series set in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. When a string of murdersdisturbs the tenuous tranquility of the sultan's royal court, savvy eunuch Yashim Togalu iscalled upon to investigate. Digging deeper into the past in order to understand the perils ofthe present, Yashim discovers a link between the crimes and the Janissaries, a disloyal bandof elite soldiers banned by the sultan ten years earlier. As Yashim wends his way in and outof the opulent palace and through the sordid back alleys of nineteenth-century Istanbul, thereader is treated to an appropriately exotic tour of a time and a place where intrigue, deceit,and corruption fueled perilous personal and political passions. (Booklist)King, Laurie R. Keeping Watch Now in his early 50s, Allen is ready to retire from hisdangerous vocation, to settle on his remote island and perhaps serve as a consultant tothose who continue the struggle. But his last rescue, that of a 12-year-old boy trapped in ahorrible situation, continues to haunt him. And when reports reach him that loose ends fromthat case may be unraveling, he's compelled to check it out since his actions may haveendangered others. King captures perfectly the contradictions of combat: the exhilarationand the horror, the isolation and the camaraderie. The niche Allen eventually finds, the onethat allows him to function more or less successfully, offers almost the same mix of extremeemotions. (School Library Journal)Le Carre, John. Absolute Friends The friends of the title are two beautifully realizedcharacters, both idealists in their very different ways. Ted Mundy, the bighearted son of apukka Indian Army officer, leads a life in which his inborn kindliness and lack of self-regardare turned to what he sees as good causes. With Sasha, the crippled son of an old Nazi whoturns bitterly against that past only to be tormented by the rise of a new brutalism in EastGermany, he forms a double-agent partnership that feeds British intelligence during theCold War years. With the collapse of the Soviet system, Ted is at loose ends, trying both tomake ends meet as a cheery tour guide for English-speaking visitors to Mad Ludwig's castlein Bavaria and to support his Muslim wife and her small son in Munich. Suddenly he hearsagain from Sasha, who tells him that a mysterious benefactor wishes to enlist his servicesas teacher and translator to counter the widespread propaganda on behalf of an Iraqi war,and he is inflamed once more with a desire to help. The grim consequences are spelled outby le Carr‚ with a deadly fury that is startling in the context of his usual urbanity.(Publishers Weekly)Straub, Peter. Lost Boy, Lost Girl This brilliant variation on the haunted house tale distillsthemes and characters from Straub's long career, including two of the author's mostpopular creations: Manhattan novelist Tim Underhill and Tim's friend, legendary privatedetective Tom Pasmore. Written from multiple viewpoints, the narrative shuttlesdisturbingly through time and space as Tim travels home to Millhaven, Ill., to attend thefuneral for his sister-in-law, a suicide. In that small city based loosely on Straub'shometown of Milwaukee, Tim spends time with his callow widowed brother, Philip, and hisnephew, sensitive Mark, 15, who found his mother's naked body in the bathtub, wrists slitand a plastic bag over her head. Meanwhile, a serial killer is snatching teen boys from alocal park, and Mark and his sidekick, Jimbo, begin to explore a nearby abandoned house.Mark grows obsessed with the house, eventually revealed as the rotting source of the evilthat stalks Millhaven, but also as the harbor of a great marvel. When Mark disappears, Timpursues his trail and, with Tom Pasmore's help, that of the serial killer who may have takenthe boy away. (Publishers Weekly)NonfictionAkbar, Said Hyder and Burton, Susan. Come Back to Afghanistan: A CaliforniaTeenager’s Story After the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, Afghans living in exilebegan to return home in hopes of participating in rebuilding their war-torn country. Akbar'sfather sold his hip-hop clothing store in Oakland to join his friend Hamid Karzai, now the14