This is the third book in the trilogy that began with the Newbery Award winner, The Giver and later, Gathering Blue. Matt, who found Kira's father in Gathering Blue, now lives in the utopian community called the Village. Kira's father is the Seer and Matt has grown under his care. Matt, a responsible member of the community, acts as a messenger for Leader, the blue-eyed Jonas from The Giver. Matt, once a scruffy thief, discovers that he has healing powers. Matt's skills become crucial in saving his formerly tolerant village from the greed and the suspicion that is eating it away.
Messenger could be used alone as a novel or as part of the trilogy in an author study.

This is an interesting recounting of the survival story of Ernest Shackleton's adventure. Ernest Shackleton and his crew were attempting to cross Antarctica. When the Endurance became icebound in Antarctica in 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 were 166 kilometres from land. Although their mission was unsuccessful, their survival story is remarkable. The men played on the ice to pass the time after the Endurance sank. They took to their lifeboats and spent a year travelling over ice, water and mountains to safety. In 1916, Shackleton led a rescue party to retrieve his men and, remarkably, the entire crew survived. The photos provide an opportunity to witness what the crew experienced during the journey.

The protagonist in this novel is chosen by powerful adults to carry out an important task. Set in a futuristic society that emerges after great destruction on planet Earth, Kira is left homeless after her mother dies mysteriously. Kira is threatened with death because she has a deformed leg and her society sees no purpose for those who cannot do hard labour. Kira is saved because, like her mother, she is able to dye threads.
The Council of Guardians gives her the job of repairing and restoring the robe of the Singer, the oral historian who presides at the annual harvest time Gathering celebration. Through her work, Kira discovers that she has real talent for creating new and beautiful patterns. She also discovers, however, that her temporary privileged status will eventually bring her doom. The novel is an examination of a future society that will challenge readers to think about community, creativity and the values they have learned to accept.
Gathering Blue would be a good choice for literature circles and for discussions around the theme of the future.

The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest is the story of the rescue on May 10, 1996. The book tells how the climbers became disoriented in a vicious storm and when the group runs out of oxygen, it complicates the situation. A Russian mountaineer, Anatoli Boukreev, climbs without oxygen and saves six of his climbers during the height of the storm.
The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest provides the transcripts and debriefing after the tragedy as well as another viewpoint to Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Jamling Norgay's Touching My Father's Soul.

Kit Watson and his family return to the coal-mining town of Stoneygate to look after Kit's aging, recently widowed grandfather. Kit is lured into playing a game called Death by a boy named John Askew. When Kit must stay alone in a mine, he is haunted by the ghosts of people who died working in the mines. John disappears and Kit, an aspiring writer, creates a story about a prehistoric boy who becomes separated from his family.
The story parallel's John's life and the stories that Kit's grandfather has told him about the mines.
This book won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2001 for literary excellence.