IRAQ WAR ~ author of "FALLEN ANGELS"

SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH by Walter Dean

304 pages

In his new novel, Walter Dean Myers looks at the Iraq War with the same power and searing insight he brought to the Vietnam War in FALLEN ANGELS. His cast of memorable characters includes the book's narrator, Birdy, a young recruit from Harlem who's questioning why he even enlisted; Marla, a blond, tough-talking, wisecracking gunner; and Jonesy, a guitar-playing bluesman who just wants to make it back to Georgia and open a club. They, and a whole unit of other young men and women, are supposed to help secure and stabilize Iraq and successfully interact with the Iraqi people.

FROM: TeenReads "Best Books of 2008"

~ COMPUTERS ~ GOVERNMENT ~ HOMELAND SECURITY

LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow

384 pages

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only 17 years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works --- and how to work the system. Smart, fast and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

FROM: TeenReads "Best of 2008"