If you haven't read The Color Purple by Alice Walker then you need to put down whatever you're reading and dive in to this heartbreaking and uplifting story.

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia the story is about Celie, a poor, uneducated, fourteen-year-old black girl living in the south during the 1930s.

This story is not for the faint of heart, and you will find yourself angry and disgusted with how black women, and men, were treated and the hardships they had to endure.

The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983, but the novel has been repeatedly censored.

It's currently documented as the seventeenth most challenged book in the American Library Association's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000-2009.

The book was adapted into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah, and Danny Glover. Though the movie is good, we recommend you read the book before catching the flick. There's something about the way Alice Walker tells the story that the film just can't capture.

After the First Death is a young-adult novel about a group of terrorists who hijack a school bus full of children.

Though it was written by Robert Cormier in 1979, the story could have taken place today.

The main characters include Kate, a high school student driving the bus, Miro, one of the terrorists, and Ben, the son of a general for an anti-terrorism group. This is a gripping story that will put you on the edge of your seat.

Robert Cormier is a pioneer author for the young-adult genre. He wrote to teens before it was cool or profitable. 

There's not a lot of fluff with Robert Cormier. His work is serious, and he explores a variety of dark and deep issues.

Other great Cormier books include: The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, We All Fall Down, and The Rag and Bone Shop.

"Me and My Little Brain" was written by John D. Fitzgerald in 1971 and is the third book in "The Great Brain" series.

Set in the fictitious small town of Adenville, Utah between 1896 and 1898, "The Great brain" stories are loosely based on Fitzgerald's childhood experiences.

Chronicled by the first-person voice of John Dennis Fitzgerald, the stories mainly center on the escapades of John's mischievous older brother, Tom Dennis Fitzgerald, a.k.a. "The Great Brain" as he tries to swindle, connive, and get one up on just about everyone he encounters.

Me and My Little Brain Synopsis

In "Me and My Little Brain", J.D., takes the stage after Tom goes off to boarding school.  With his brother gone, J.D. is free to follow in Tom's ingenious, conniving, and profitable footsteps, but all of J.D.'s attempts at turning a profit fail miserably, and he soon realizes that he just doesn't have that crafty Great Brain knack. When his younger brother is kidnapped, however, J.D. finds that his little brain may not be so ordinary after all.

Me and My Little Brain is a delightful read for both children and adults alike. It feels a bit like Mark Twain meets Judy Blume and by the end, you'll be cheering for J.D. as he tries to save his little brother with nothing but courage and his little brain.

Although Tomorrow, When the War Began was made into a movie in 2010, and the second book in the series, The Dead of the Night has a complete script, many are still unaware of this classic collection of work by Australian writer, John Marsden.

The series details a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by an undisclosed foreign power.

The novels are told from the perspective of Ellie Linton, a teenage girl, who is part of a small band of teenagers waging a guerrilla war on the enemy soldiers in the region around their fictional hometown of Wirrawee.

We have been fans of the Tomorrow series since the early 2000s. Having read all seven of the novels, we can honestly say they are all exciting reads.

Unlike other series novels like The Hunger Games and Twilight, each story is an enthralling stand-alone for both fans and first-time readers, though it is recommended to read the stories in sequence.

Tomorrow, When the War Began (1993) is the first book in the series.

Plot Summary:

After an extended weekend camping trip in “Hell,” a remote area in the bush, Ellie, Homer, Lee, Kevin, Corrie, Robyn, and Fiona return to find all the people are missing and their pets and livestock are dead or dying.

They come to realize that Australia has been invaded and their family and friends have been taken prisoner.

Avoiding capture by enemy soldiers, as well as retrieving Robyn and Lee who were stuck in the town and picking up one of their school friends Chris, the group return to Hell.

After short period of recovery they start make plans to fight back.

The Tomorrow Series also includes:

The Dead of the Night (1994)

The Third Day, The Frost (1995) – published in the U.S. and Canada as: A Killing Frost)

Darkness, Be My Friend (1996)

Burning for Revenge (1997)

The Night Is for Hunting (1998)

The Other Side of Dawn (1999)

Tomorrow, When The War Began and its sequels are one of the most popular and critically acclaimed series of novels aimed at young readers in Australian literature history. It has sold over 3 million copies in Australia and has been translated into five languages.

We recommend you put Tomorrow, When the War Began at the top of your Spring Break reading list. It's guaranteed fun and well worth your time.