Great Book Suggestions?

And while you're offering input on my book dilemma, any great books you can offer up for suggestions? Sometime soon we are suppose to hear from our high school counterparts to see what novels they do in the 9th and 10th grade (the IB MYP program goes on to high school for those two grades, so we try to work with the school that our program feeds into) and they might have some books in storage that they aren't using that we could borrow, too. I'm looking novels that are multicultural, particular set outside of the US, and also books about man's inventions or creations (and it's impact), which I suppose lends itself pretty well to science fiction, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Nonfiction suggestions are welcome, too. The latter is a theme my team would like to work with next year, but of course they thought it would be a great idea and then just drop the whole deal in the English teacher's lap. Gee, thanks for the input, aye? Anyway, these suggestions could be books to be studied together or books students read independently. :-)