All Books
The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies
Synopsis:

A girl doesn't have a date for the school dance―until her dad makes one for her in his lab. "Lily―meet Stitchy." A family enjoys a nice Thanksgiving dinner―until they are interrupted by a torrent of turkeys out for revenge. A princess meets a pea-brained suitor. And the battle of two red hot pepper weenies ends in flames.

Critically-acclaimed author and master of the macabre David Lubar returns from a journey into the darkest depths of his brain with thirty-five more warped and creepy tales. And in the tradition of the three previous Weenie collections―In the Land of the Lawn Weenies, Invasion of the Road Weenies, and The Curse of the Campfire Weenies―he reveals the inspiration behind each story at the end of the book. Don't be a weenie. Read these stories...if you dare!

Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Anthology
The Alcehmist's Pursuit
Synopsis: Hampered by arthritis, Nostradamus is in no mood for granting favors or running about looking for trouble. But when his apprentice Alfeo's mistress asks him to investigate the murder of her beloved courtesan mentor-and promises a fortune in payment-he comes around.

It appears that someone is murdering the courtesans of Venice. All were well-known, admired for their skills-and somehow connected by a sinister event involving one of the great families of the city.

While Nostradamus attempts to use the dark arts to solve riddles which confound explanation, Alfeo finds himself led by a possibly demonic force through a maze of deceit and death. And when the master and apprentice come to the end of their intertwined paths, there may be hell to pay.
Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Patient Zero
Jonathan Maberry
Synopsis:

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. And that's both a good, and a bad thing. It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance....

Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
A Drop of Red
Chris Marie Green
Synopsis: If you run out of vampires to destroy at home, there's always work overseas...

Hollywood stuntwoman-turned-vampire-hunter Dawn Madison, along with her comrades, managed to wipe out the Los Angeles Vampire Underground-and uncovered not only her own dark family heritage but also a terrible truth about the man she loves. Now she's determined to find the next vampire lair, hoping it will help her to make more sense out of her life.

When a new Underground is found in England, Dawn and a vampire-fighting team are dispatched to carry the fight to the enemy in London. Dawn knows by now how deceiving appearances can be-and she is about to find out that it's not only the beautiful people of Hollywood who are willing to bargain with evil...
Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Deathwish
Rob Thurman
Synopsis: In a nightmarish new york city, life is there for the taking in the fourth Cal Leandros novel from New York Times bestselling author Rob Thurman.

Half-human Cal Leandros and his brother Niko are barely getting by with their preternatural investigative agency when the vampire Seamus hires them. He’s being followed, and he wants to know by whom. But the Leandros brothers have to do more than they planned when Seamus turns up dead (or un-undead).
 
Worse still is the return of Cal's nightmarish family—the Auphe. The last time Cal and Niko faced them, they were almost wiped out. Now, the Auphe want revenge. And Cal knows that before they get to him, they will destroy everything and everyone he holds dear. Because, for the Auphe, Cal's pain is a pleasure.
 
And they’re feeling good...
Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Spring Break
Stephanie Hale
Synopsis: Twisted Sisters's Aspen Brooks can't catch a break-even during spring break...

Aspen Brooks trades in sand between her toes for shopping on The Strip when she agrees to go to Las Vegas for spring break with her boyfriend, Rand, her bff, Angel, and Angel's bf, Lucas. Their hotel is hosting the Miss Teen Queen Pageant and surgically enhanced beauty contestants are everywhere. But when Miss Illinois goes AWOL, it's up to Aspen to represent her home state and find out what's really going on. Even if it means putting down the suntan lotion and ignoring Angel's meltdown over breaking up with Lucas...

Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Supergirls Speak Out
Synopsis: Some girls seem to have it all...

The top grades
The best clothes
A great body
A cute boyfriend

But they may also have...

Exhaustion
Anxiety
Eating disorders
Crippling insecurity


From grammar school girls to working women, the pressure to be perfect is spreading like a disease. These Supergirls feel the unrelenting need to succeed -- sometimes at the cost of their own happiness and sanity. A recovering Supergirl herself, Liz Funk exposes the dangerous consequences that can come from striving for perfection. By closely following five girls and interviewing nearly one hundred more, she takes us inside the Supergirl psyche, explaining the causes of this phenomenon and showing how Supergirls can let their (sleek and shiny) hair down and find some time to relax and enjoy life!

With practical advice, biting humor, and the sensitivity of someone who's been through it all, Funk's Supergirls Speak Out is the absolutely necessary companion for any girl who thinks 100 percent just isn't enough.
Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Moonlight
Rachel Hawthorne
Synopsis:

From the moment Lucas first saw Rheena, he knew she was the one...his destined mate. But all he can do is watch her, waiting until she realizes that she is just like him—that she has the power to turn into a wolf.

Lucas is the leader of the Dark Guardians, a pack of werewolves that meet deep in the heart of a state park whose existence is threatened by a sinister bio-tech company. Rheena is a normal seventeen-year-old who loves camping and the outdoors; but she’s adopted and has no idea that she’s inherited the gene that will turn her into a wolf.

Rheena can’t understand why she’s so drawn to distant, aloof Lucas—until it’s almost too late to save him.

Publication Date: 03/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Romance
The Rule of Claw
John Brindley
Synopsis: Ash and her friends live in a future where they are the only human teenagers left, but when Ash is kidnapped and becomes a pawn in a power struggle among the formidable Raptors who captured her, she begins to reconsider her own humanity.
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Everything Is Fine
Ann Dee Ellis
Synopsis: Stuck at home caring for her severely depressed mother and abandoned by her father, Mazzy has only the day-to-day dramas of her neighborhood to keep her busy. But between flirting with the boy next door and worrying about the fact that she's flat-chested, Mazzy has to face the fact that her mom is emotionally paralyzed by a family tragedy. As readers delve into the story, they'll eventually discover what it was that tore Mazzy's family apart, and they'll see what it takes to put it back together.

Despite its serious subject matter, Mazzy brings humor to the trying age of adolescence and gives readers just the kind of awkward, troubled, and endearing character they will gladly embrace.
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Fortune's Magic Farm
Suzanne Selfors
Synopsis: Suzanne Selfors is back with another a humorous light-fantasy adventure that is sure to appeal to anyone who has ever dared to dream.

This story takes place in the dark, dank village of Runny Cove. There, orphan Isabelle works her fingers to the bone at the Magnificently Supreme Umbrella Factory, struggling to support herself and her Grandma Maxine. That is, until Isabelle discovers that she has inherited Fortune's Farm, the last place on earth where magic grows. Now Isabelle must use the magic to save the people of Runny Cove without spilling the secret of Fortune's Farm to the world-or worse, to the greedy factory owner, Mr. Supreme, who wants to exploit the magical fruit for his own selfish purposes.
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
My Life in Pink and Green
Lisa Greenwald
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem solver. After the local homecoming queen shows up at her family’s struggling drugstore with a beauty disaster that Lucy helps to fix, Lucy has a long line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won’t help save the pharmacy. If only she could find a way to make the pharmacy the center of town again—a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days. Lucy dreams up a solution that could resuscitate the family business and help the environment, too. But will Lucy’s family stop fighting long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?
 
This book is a funny and sweet debut featuring an unforgettable narrator who knows what she wants, whether it’s great makeup, a killer business plan, or a better world.

F&P level: T
F&P genre: RF
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Camp Alien
Mike Gorman, Pamela F Service
Synopsis:

Zack knows he's not a normal kid. He's really an alien agent-in-training, brought to Earth to help guide the planet into the Galactic Union. Aliens follow him to a ritzy summer camp, where he's hooked up with Vraj, a huge, dinosaur-like creature on her first-ever assignment. Their mission: To get back a bunch of alien Duthwi eggs that, if hatched, can harm Earth. Their problem: Lots of eggs, too little time, and those bad guys are still after them. So what's a young alien to do?

Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Skeleton Creek
Patrick Carman
Synopsis: A breakthrough new series from bestselling author Patrick Carman, featuring text and technology in an innovative new way.

Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek . . . and Ryan and Sarah are trying to get to the heart of it. But after an eerie accident leaves Ryan housebound and forbidden to see Sarah, their investigation takes two tracks: Ryan records everything in his journal, while Sarah uses her videocam to search things out. . .and then email the clips for Ryan to see.

In a new, groundbreaking format, the story is broken into two parts -- Ryan's text in the book, and Sarah's videos on a special website, with links and passwords given throughout the book.
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Pieces of Me
Susan Ouriou, Charlotte Gingras
Synopsis: Mirabelle's art teacher tells her she has talent, but what good is it doing her? Almost fifteen and friendless, Mira is plagued by dark thoughts. Her body seems to be changing daily. Her mother is domineering and half-crazy and her father -- well, he's her ex-father, mostly out of Mira's life and awkward when he's around. Then she meets free-spirited, confident Catherine, a knockout who makes the boys' jaws drop. Not only is Catherine good at art like Mira, she also knows about kissing boys. Mira has never kissed anyone and doesn't understand the hungry way boys are beginning to look at her. Now that Mira's finally found someone she can talk to, her dark thoughts are vanishing. But as her friend encourages her to come out of her shell, Mira finds that her new-found confidence can still be shattered in an instant. Only after Mira faces a betrayal and a tragedy can she begin to put the fragmented pieces of herself together.
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Reckoning
Arvin Short
Synopsis: It is 1954 in small-town Oklahoma and for 14-year-old Albie Stone and his two best friends, their innocent summer vacation revolves around fishing in the creek, afternoons at the local swimming pool and riding their bikes outside of town to explore the dark, hidden crevasses of the nearby caves they've recently discovered. But the caves become more than a simple adventure destination when an elderly, silver-haired Indian man appears almost magically out of nowhere to join them during a weekend campout. The old man befriends and mesmerizes the spellbound youngsters with his captivating campfire stories . . . before quietly disappearing into the summer night! Returning to the caves a few weeks later in hopes of another visit with the Indian they know as Johnny Killbird, the boys are instead swept into a dangerous fight for survival with an escaped murderer who's hiding out in the caves. Albie flees to a secret hideaway in the caves but soon finds himself in a face-to-face confrontation with the heartless convict. The battle in the darkened caves suddenly comes to a shocking conclusion as Albie emerges only to himself swept into the middle of a . . . murder investigation! It's a summer . . . and the fond memories of an old Indian . . . that Albie will never forget!
Publication Date: 03/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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