The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks

Russell Banks's sixth novel, The Sweet Hereafter tells the tragic story of a school bus accident, revealing how it impacts the lives of individuals as well as the community as a whole. In The Reading List, Contemporary Fiction, Banks is quoted as saying, "I wanted to write a novel in which the community was the hero, rather than a single individual." Although the story is told from the perspectives of four individual narrators, the importance of the community emerges as a strong unifying element.
The Sweet Hereafter has been embraced by critics and readers alike for its unique narrative structure. Banks's intention in writing the novel this way was to avoid what he considers the artifice of omniscient narration and the somewhat preachy tone that often accompanies it. Instead, Banks chose to tell the story four times, each time from a different perspective that is unique, realistic, and limited. The result is a more intimate tone that allows the reader to understand how a single incident can create such different feelings in different individuals. The narration reveals varied threads of guilt, blame, and recovery, and places them in the larger fabric of a community's reaction to a tragedy.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

In a violent and hedonistic future America, reading is banned, and firefighters burn books instead of fighting fires. One day fireman Guy Montag meets Clarisse McClellan, an exuberant teenager who spurs him to question the life he leads and the contents of the books he burns. He begins reading—to the consternation of his wife, Mildred, whose life is entirely given over to popping pills and watching wall-screen TV. Montag's boss, Captain Beatty, is well versed in literature but uses it only to argue his society's viewpoint: Reading is bad, he claims, because making people think makes them unhappy. Increasingly dissatisfied with his society, Montag conspires with Professor Faber, a fellow reader he met in the park. When their plot is discovered and Faber's life jeopardized, Montag kills Beatty and escapes the city. In the forest he joins a group of refugees who preserve books by memorizing them. After nuclear war destroys the city, Montag and the "Book People" head back there to help rebuild a better society.
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Despereaux Tilling is a mouse by Kate DiCamillo

He has big dreams and gets out of the world of mice and into the world of people and rats. He learns a lot about himself and the world around him. He learns that even a tiny mouse can be brave as a knight.

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

One of the most popular and famous children's books of all time is "The Little Engine that Could." Published by Platt & Munk, it has sold many millions of copies, and appeared in numerous editions, since its first printing in 1930. Its title, and its theme of "I think I can" have become part of the American vernacular. Surprisingly, the origins of the story are clouded in mystery and controversy. In addition, many other versions of the story have been published over the last 100 years. By far the most familiar telling of the tale of the Little Engine first appeared in 1930. Published by Platt & Munk, it was "retold" by Watty Piper and illustrated by Lois Lenski. Watty Piper never existed; it is a "house" pseudonym for Platt & Munk and was used on numerous other children's books. The book is used to teach children the value of optimism.

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