Preparing for Advanced Placement (AP) tests or just getting through the school day takes a ton of a student’s time and energy. This means many students slack on personal reading during the school year. Luckily with spring break, students will have plenty of time to get caught up with these must reads.

“Spring break is the perfect time to give a new book a try,” Coppell High School librarian Lynn Hevron said.

The page turners

We were liars by E. Lockhart

Cadence Sinclair hasn’t been to the island in a year, and when she returns everything is different; the house, her friends and even herself. Through headaches and heartache, Cadence tells the story of her summer trying to understand a puzzle of a family, unaware that she’s missing a key piece. The book is heart wrenching and tear jerking, leaving readers begging for more at the end of each chapter.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Lennie Walker and Bailey Walker were always together. Until they weren’t. With the death of her sister, Lennie walks a different path of life, one somewhere between love and loss. As she becomes involved with two boys, Joe who brings her music and light and her sisters ex-boyfriend Toby who brings her understanding and remembrance, Lennie’s world crumbles around her. The story is bittersweet at each page turn and fosters both hope and grief that destroy and create in a poetic rhythm.

For thrill seekers

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors, weaves a tale of magic and secrets as a middle aged man returns to his childhood home, remembering the events that passed in the presence of his mysterious neighborhood friend Lettie Hempstock. The story enacts a beautiful and frightening picture both strikingly realistic and creatively metaphoric.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This mystery now made into a major motion picture follows the story of three unrelated woman as their lives are suddenly thrown together. The book has readers flipping pages in a frenzy and is difficult, if not impossible, to put down.

For history buffs

The Orphan Train by Christina Kline

This book outlines the unexpected friendship found between rebellious teen Molly Ayer and her community service project, elderly Vivian Aly. The two find unexpected similarities in their lives as they sort through Vivian’s belongings. Not only is the story rooted in American history, the book reminds frustrated millennials that they are not as alone and misunderstood as they often feel.

Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

This story is the imaginings of how one famous and beautiful painting, The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, came to exist. The plot follows Greit, a servant at the painter’s house and her strange and unconventional relationship with the painter. Filled with dream like speculations and characters that jump to life on the page, Girl with the Pearl Earring is a unique and elaborate display of what it truly means to be passionate.

The personal journeys

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a moving fictional story about Charlie, a 32-year-old with an IQ of 68. Alongside a lab rat named Algernon, he becomes an intellectual scholar with the help of experimental medical advancements. The story is heartwarming and tearjerking at every page turn, truly enveloping an idea of appreciation of intellect and the daily struggle of fitting into society.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

This novel follows Christopher, a young autistic boy, on an adventure through the logical and illogical pieces of his life. When he finds his neighbor’s dog dead on the lawn, Christopher is determined to find the killer but ends up finding far more than he planned. The story gives readers a look at the unfamiliar thoughts Christopher is conditioned to while weaving a heartfelt tale of a family searching for solidarity.

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