Meaningful/Thought-Provoking Books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Meaningful books
• Thought-provoking books

Peace Like a River 
By Leif Enger
F ENGER
The quiet 1960s midwestern life of the Land family -- father Jeremiah, and children, Reuben, Davy and Swede -- is upended when Davy kills two teenage boys who have come to harm the family. On the morning of his sentencing, Davy escapes from his cell and the Lands set out in search of him. Their search is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world. 

Kira-Kira 
By Cynthia Kadohata
YA F K ADOHATA
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill. 

Homeless Bird 
By Gloria Whelan
YA F WHELAN
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. 

Sold 
By Patricia McCormick
F MCCORMIC
When she is tricked by her stepfather and sold into prostitution, thirteen-year-old Lakshmi becomes submerged in a nightmare where her only comfort is the friendship she forms with the other girls, which helps her survive and eventually escape. 

Charms for the Easy Life 
By Kaye Gibbons
F GIBBONS
A tale of three generations of North Carolina women that has charmed readers from coast to coast. Their men may come and go -- but for Margaret, Sophia and Charlie Kate, the hopes, hurts, large losses and small victories are the stuff that bind family together.