A lifetime of friendship endures many upheavals. Ellie and Homa, two young girls growing up in Tehran, meet at school in the early 1950s. Though their families are very different, they become close friends. After the death of Ellie's father, she and her difficult mother must adapt to their reduced circumstances.
El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present—from Ponce de Leon’s initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico. Interwoven in this stirring narrative of events and people are cultural issues that have been there from the start but which are unresolved to this day: language, belonging, community, race, and nationality. Seeing them play out over centuries provides vital perspective at a time when it is urgently needed.
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1828. Naïve but determined James Willoughby has abandoned his posh, sheltered life at Oxford to pursue a lifelong dream of studying surgery in Edinburgh. A shining beacon of medical discovery in the age of New Enlightenment, the city’s university offers everything James desires—except the chance to work on a human cadaver.
For that he needs to join one of the private schools in Surgeon’s Square, at a cost he cannot afford. In desperation he strikes a deal with Aneurin “Nye” MacKinnon, a dashing young dissectionist with an artist’s eye for anatomy and a reckless passion for knowledge. Nye promises to help James gain the surgical experience he craves—but it doesn’t take long for James to realize he’s made a devil’s bargain... Nye is a body snatcher—and James has unwittingly become his accomplice.
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Over three days in October, 1871, much of Chicago, Illinois, was destroyed by one of the most legendary urban fires in history. Incorporated as a city in 1837, Chicago had grown at a breathtaking pace in the intervening decades—and much of the hastily-built city was made of wood. Starting in Catherine and Patrick O’Leary’s barn, the Fire quickly grew out of control, twice jumping branches of the Chicago River on its relentless path through the city’s three divisions. While the death toll was miraculously low, nearly a third of Chicago residents were left homeless and more were instantly unemployed.
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
1. Destination - B. City
The first decision on your road trip is your Destination! You'll have three destinations to choose from, and the second choice you can make is going to the City!
Complete the City choice by reading any title that is set in or around a city and recording the title on your Road Trip tracking sheet.
You can use any title that you’d like, but here are some suggestions to complete the City choice.
Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (Print) (Libby Audio)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (Print) (Libby eBook) (Libby Audio)
Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (Print) (Libby eBook)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Print)
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (Print) (Libby eBook)
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Print)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Print) (Libby eBook) (Libby Audio)
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Print) (Libby eBook) (Libby Audio)
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Print)
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Print)
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (Print) (Libby eBook) (Libby Audio)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Print) (Libby Audio)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (Print)
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Print) (Libby eBook) (Libby Audio)
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Print) (Libby Audio)
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Libby eBook)
The Resurrectionists by A. Rae Dunlap (Print)
Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Print) (Libby Audio)
El Norte: the epic and forgotten story of Hispanic North America by Carrie Gibson (Print) (Libby eBook)
The Lost City of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann (Print) (Libby eBook)
Chicago's Great Fire: the destruction and resurrection of an iconic American City by Carl Smith (Print) (Libby eBook)
Example by Example (I-Share Print) (Libby eBook) (Libby Audio)