Uceda International Institute Lit Workshop

2025 Reading list

Let’s pick out the books we’ll be reading in January, February, and March of 2025! Click on the hotspots below to get a sneak peek of these literary masterpieces! Then, cast your vote in WhatsApp. This new year will truly be one for the books! 😜

Bud, Not Buddy

The House on Mango Street

Holes

Wonder

And Then There Were None

The City of Ember

Level: Moderate Genre: Historical Fiction Action Level: 2 Page Count: 288 Audio Book Length: 5 hrs and 14 min Feature Film: N/A

Bud, Not Buddy -- Christopher Paul Curtis

HERE WE GO AGAIN. We were all standing in line waiting for breakfast when one of the caseworkers came in and tap-tap-tapped down the line. Uh-oh, this meant bad news, either they'd found a foster home for somebody or somebody was about to get paddled. All the kids watched the woman as she moved along the line, her high-heeled shoes sounding like little fire- crackers going off on the wooden floor. Shoot! She stopped at me and said, "Are you Buddy Caldwell?" I said, "It's Bud, not Buddy, ma'am.'' She put her hand on my shoulder and took me out of line. h be very happy."

The blurb

The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros

Level: ModerateGenre: Coming of Age Action Level: 1Page Count: 110 Audio Book length: 1 hr 20 min Feature Film: N/A

We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler, it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember. But what I remember most was moving a lot. Each time it seemed like there'd be one more of us. By the time we got to Mango Street we were six-- Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny, and me. The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom. But even so, it's not the house we thought we'd get.

The Blurb

Holes -- Louis Sachar

Level: Easy Genre: adventure Action Level: 3 Page Count: 233 Audio Book Length: 4 hrs 30 min Feature Film: Yes. Starring Shia Labeouf, Sigourney Weaver, and John Voight (2003)

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland. There used to be a town of Green Lake as well. The town shriveled and dried up along with the lake, and the people who lived there. During the summer the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five degrees in the shade— if you can find any shade. There's not much shade in a big dry lake. The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of the "lake." A hammock is stretched between the two trees, and a log cabin stands behind that. The campers are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs to the Warden. The Warden owns the shade.

The Blurb

Wonder -- R. J. Palacio

Level: Easy Genre: Contemporary Action Level: 1 Page Count: 320 Audio Book Length: 7 hr 10 min Feature Film: Yes. Starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, and Owen Wilson (2017)

I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat icecream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go. If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here's what I think: the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.

The blurb

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

Level: Difficult Genre: Mystery Action Level: 3 Page Count: 264 Audio Book Length: 6 hr Feature Film: Yes, multiple. Barry Fitzgerald (1945) TV Drama (2015)

In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in The Times. He laid the paper down and glanced out of the window. They were running now through Somerset.He glanced at his watch – another two hours to go. He went over in his mind all that had appeared in the papers about Soldier Island. There had been its original purchase by an American millionaire who was crazy about yachting – and an account of the luxurious modern house he had built on this little island off the Devon coast. The unfortunate fact that the new third wife of the American millionaire was a bad sailor had led to the subsequent putting up of the house and island for sale. Various glowing advertisements of it had appeared in the papers.

The Blurb

The City of Ember -- Jeanne DuPrau

Level: Difficult Genre: Dystopian Action Level: 4 Page Count: 270 Audio Book Length: 6 hr Feature Film: Yes. Starring Saoirs Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Bill Murray (2008)

When the City of Ember was first built, and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder, both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future. "They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years," said the chief builder. "Or perhaps, two hundred and twenty." "Is that long enough?" asked his assistant.. "It should be. We can't know for sure." "And when the time comes," said the assistant. "How will they know what to do?" "We'll provide them with instructions, of course," the chief builder replied. "But who will keep the instructions? Who can we trust to keep them safe and secret all that time?" "The mayor of the city will keep the instructions," said the chief builder. "We'll put them in a box with a timed lock, set to open on the proper date."

The blurb

In And Then There Were None, ten strangers are invited to a remote island under mysterious circumstances. Soon, they realize they are being accused of past crimes, and one by one, they start dying under eerie circumstances. As the survivors try to figure out the identity of the killer among them, paranoia and tension escalate, leading to one of Agatha Christie’s most famous and twisted conclusions.

Bud, Not Buddy tells the story of a ten-year-old orphan named Bud Caldwell who is living in Michigan during the Great Depression. Armed with a suitcase of special mementos and a flyer advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, Bud embarks on a journey to find the man he believes to be his father. Along the way, Bud discovers the importance of family, perseverance, and hope.

In The City of Ember, the underground city of Ember is in trouble. The lights are flickering, and supplies are running out. Lina Mayfleet and her friend Doon Harrow find an ancient message that may hold the key to saving their darkening city. As they work together to unravel the mystery, they uncover long-buried secrets about their home and race against time to escape before it’s too late.

Wonder tells the story of Auggie Pullman, a young boy born with facial differences, as he enters school for the first time. Previously homeschooled, Auggie must now face the challenges of making friends, fitting in, and navigating fifth grade at a mainstream school. Through multiple perspectives—Auggie’s, his family’s, and his classmates’—the novel explores themes of kindness, acceptance, and the power of empathy.

The House on Mango Street tells the poignant story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago. Through a series of vignettes, Esperanza reflects on her experiences, dreams, and the struggles of her community. As she navigates the challenges of adolescence, poverty, and cultural expectations, she longs to escape the confines of her surroundings and find her own path in life. With lyrical prose and vivid imagery, Sandra Cisneros captures the voice of a girl in search of a better future, while rooted in the people and places that shape her identity.

Holes follows the story of Stanley Yelnats, a boy who is wrongfully convicted of stealing and sent to a juvenile detention camp called Camp Green Lake. There, he and the other boys are forced to dig large holes in the dry lakebed every day, supposedly to build character. But Stanley soon realizes that the Warden has a hidden agenda—she's searching for something buried beneath the desert. As Stanley uncovers the truth, he learns about his family’s history, a centuries-old curse, and the connection between his fate and that of his new friend, Zero.