All Books
Invisible Ink
Terry Griggs
Synopsis: The third title in this delightful series begins as Olivier, an adventurous 12-year-old boy, is helping his very odd step-step-stepgramma with her equally odd yard sale. When some mysterious customers show up, along with a troublesome wind, Olivier flees the scene, ending up in the Dark Woods, where terrible damage has been done. Determined to get to the source of the trouble, he and his pals travel far afield, encountering curious individuals along the way, including an intellectual giant, a severed but affable head, a malodorous monarch named Queen Bacteria, and a tyrant named Sleek. Olivier must face the dangers armed with only an ordinary stone, a mysterious cracked inkwell containing a liquefied secret, and his trusty pen pal, Murray Sheaffer. Set in a fascinating fantasy world, Invisible Ink is packed with humor and imagination.
Publication Date: 09/14/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Humor
Wide Awake
David Levithan
Synopsis: In the not-too-impossible-to-imagine future, a gay Jewish man has been elected president of the United States. Until the governor of one state decides that some election results in his state are invalid, awarding crucial votes to the other candidate, and his fellow party member. Thus is the inspiration for couple Jimmy and Duncan to lend their support to their candidate by deciding to take part in the rallies and protests. Along the way comes an exploration of their relationship, their politics, and their country, and sometimes, as they learn, it's more about the journey than it is about reaching the destination.

Only David Levithan could so masterfully and creatively weave together a plot that's both parts political action and reaction, as well as a touching and insightfully-drawn teen love story.
Publication Date: 09/12/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Runaway
Wendelin Van Draanen
Synopsis: "It's a cold, hard, cruel fact that my mother loved heroin more than she loved me."

Holly is in her fifth foster home in two years and she's had enough. She's run away before and always been caught quickly. But she's older and wiser now--she's twelve--and this time she gets away clean.

Through tough and tender and angry and funny journal entries, Holly spills out her story. We travel with her across the country--hopping trains, scamming food, sleeping in parks or homeless encampments. And we also travel with her across the gaping holes in her heart--as she finally comes to terms with her mother's addiction and death.

Runaway is a remarkably uplifting portrait of a girl still young and stubborn and naive enough to hold out hope for finding a better place in the world, and within herself, to be.
Publication Date: 09/12/06
Age Level: Any Age
Genre: Fiction
A Drowned Maiden's Hair
Laura Amy Schlitz
Synopsis: "People throw the word 'classic' about a lot, but A Drowned Maiden's Hair genuinely deserves to become one." — Wall Street Journal

Maud Flynn is known at the orphanage for her impertinence, so when the charming Miss Hyacinth and her sister choose Maud to take home with them, the girl is as baffled as anyone. It seems the sisters need Maud to help stage elaborate séances for bereaved, wealthy patrons. As Maud is drawn deeper into the deception, playing her role as a "secret child," she is torn between her need to please and her growing conscience – until a shocking betrayal makes clear just how heartless her so-called guardians are. Filled with tantalizing details of turn-of-the-century spiritualism and page-turning suspense, this lively historical novel features a winning heroine whom readers will not soon forget.
Publication Date: 09/12/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Monkey
Jeff Stone
Synopsis: At 11-years-old, Malao is the youngest of the Five Ancestors. Master of the monkey fighting style, he’s curious and quick, fast and fun-loving. But now, with the destruction of the temple and the deaths of his older brothers and Grandmaster, Malao the fun-loving monkey is forced to face things he’d rather not. As he grapples with these new and unwelcome feelings, Malao has an encounter with a dangerous band of bandits, is adopted by a troop of monkeys commanded by a one-eyed albino, and hears tantalizing rumors of a mysterious recluse called the Monkey King, who is said to act, and look, a lot like him. . . .


From the Hardcover edition.
Publication Date: 09/12/06
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Agnes Grey
Anne Bronte
Synopsis: In her daring first novel, the youngest Brontë sister drew upon her own experiences to tell the unvarnished truth about life as a governess. Like Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë was a young middle-class Victorian lady whose family fortunes had faltered. Like so many other unmarried women of the nineteenth century, Brontë accepted the only "respectable" employment available--and entered a world of hardship, humiliation, and loneliness.
Written with a realism that shocked critics, this biting social commentary offers a sympathetic portrait of Agnes and a moving indictment of her brutish and haughty employers. Separated from her family and friends by many miles, paid little more than subsistence wages, Agnes stands alone--both in society at large and in a household where she is neither family member nor servant. Agnes Grey remains a landmark in the literature of social history. In addition to its challenge to the era's chauvinism and materialism, it features a first-person narrative that offers a rare opportunity to hear the voice of a Victorian working woman.
Publication Date: 09/08/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Classic
The Shalamar Code
Mary Louise Clifford
Synopsis:

This thrilling tale of romance and intrigue offers a close-up view of Pakistani culture in a post-9/11 world.

Political unrest is on the rise in Pakistan, where remnants of AlQaeda are stirring up trouble in tribal territories. It’s clearly not the best time for fifteen-year-old Mumtaz―the daughter of a famous lawyer who’s also the leader of an outlawed opposition party―to get mixed up in Karachi’s criminal underworld. But when her brother is held hostage by a drug-running thug named Moocher, she has no choice. Defying her parents and generations of cultural tradition, Mumtaz gets involved with a young man who risks everything to assist her on a dangerous mission to expose Moocher as a spy. Not until she gets caught does the bright Pakistani teenager realize she may be in over her head.

Publication Date: 09/08/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Romance
Devilish
Maureen Johnson
Synopsis: During her senior year at St. Teresa's Preparatory School, Jane must battle against the devil, who is masquerading as a sophomore with a penchant for cupcakes, to save her best friend Ally, who has sold her soul in exchange for popularity.
Publication Date: 09/07/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Last Days
Scott Westerfeld
Synopsis: Strange things are happening: old friends disappearing, angels (or devils) clambering on the fire escapes of New York City. But for Pearl, Moz, and Zahler, all that matters is the band. As the city reels under a mysterious epidemic, the three combine their talents with a vampire lead singer and a drummer whose fractured mind can glimpse the coming darkness. Will their music stave off the end? Or summon it?

Set against the gritty apocalypse that began in Peeps, The Last Days is about five teenagers who find themselves creating the soundtrack for the end of the world.

Publication Date: 09/07/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Rules of Survival
Nancy Werlin
Synopsis: This National Book Award Finalist is a thought-provoking exploration of emotional abuse, self-reliance and the nature of evil. A heart-wrenching portrait of family crisis, this is perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.
 
For Matt and his sisters, life with their cruel, physically abusive mother is a day-to-day struggle for survival. But then Matt witnesses a man named Murdoch coming to a child’s rescue in a convenience store; and for the first time, he feels a glimmer of hope. Then, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt’s mother. Life is suddenly almost good. But the relief lasts only a short time. When Murdoch inevitable breaks up with their mother, Matt knows that he’ll need to take some action. Can he call upon Murdoch to be his hero? Or will Matt have to take measures into his own hands?
 
A gripping, powerful novel that will stay with you long after you’ve read it. Nancy Werlin, the New York Times Bestselling author of Impossible, shows why she is a master of her genre.
 
 
“[A] dark but hopeful tale, with pacing and suspense guaranteed to leave readers breathlessly turning the pages.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“Beautifully framed as a letter from Matthew to his younger sister, the suspense is paced to keep Matthew’s survival and personal revelations chock-full of dramatic tension. Bring tissues.”—Kirkus (starred review)
 
“Grace and insight.”—School Library Journal (starred review)
 
National Book Award Finalist
LA Times Book Prize Finalist
ALA Best Books of the Year
ALA Quick Pick

 

Publication Date: 09/07/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Cirque Du Freak: Sons of Destiny
Synopsis: The stunning finale to the "New York Times" bestselling series brings Darren face-to-face with his archenemy, Steve Leopard. One of them will die. The other will become the Lord of the Shadows and destroy the world. Is the future written, or can Darren trick destiny?
Publication Date: 09/06/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
All You Need Is Love
Emily Franklin
Synopsis: Having returned from a study-abroad program in London to be with her aunt who has breast cancer, seventeen-year-old Love struggles to decide what to do next with her life while also experiencing some tensions with her father.
Publication Date: 09/05/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Unrivalled Spangles
Karen Wallace
Synopsis: Always dreaming of getting out of their father's circus and living normal lives, performers Ellen and Lucy Spangle bide their time and do the work required of them, but when Ellen meets an English gentleman, her hopes for real love is renewed until a disaster strikes and she is forced back into the family business.
Publication Date: 09/05/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Queen Geek Social Club
Synopsis: If you're somebody like Shelby Chappelle, a smart, witty, pretty geek army of one, you can't just put a poster up at school and advertise for somebody to be your best friend. But now freakishly tall Becca Gallagher has moved to town, with her dragon tattoo and wild ideas. Suddenly Shelby's madscientist father and their robot, Euphoria, seem normal. They become best friends instantly. But Becca wants to shake things up at school and look for "others of our kind"...and decides to form the Queen Geek Social Club.

The thing is, this guy Fletcher Berkowitz keeps nosing around, asking lots of questions about the Club. He's cute, and interesting, and possibly likes Shelby. Therefore, she must torture him. One good thing about being a loner: no one can break your heart.

Publication Date: 09/05/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Romance
Reiffen's Choice
S. C. Butler
Synopsis: Reiffen, only twelve years old, is the true heir to the thrones of both Wayland and Banking. He and his friends Avender and Ferris live in a magical world of talking animals, dwarves, and shape-shifting bears but…he lives with the shame of knowing that no one will ever let him rule these kingdoms, that their crowns will bring him nothing but betrayal and sorrow…and that he is powerless. Reiffen will have only a short life of child's innocence, a brief respite from the trial of impossible adult responsibility, the trial of attempting to finish a task he can never complete.

And then he is shown the nations of his world from the peak of a fortress drear and tempted with fame and fortune and his rightful place on the throne of great kingdoms--his kingdoms. He need only surrender his humanity; kill his loves and he would have his childhood fantasy.
He would be granted great Black knowledge, more furious than anything he had ever imagined. He could desire justice…but would have to kill everything he loved to get it. His prayers would be answered…if only he would sacrifice everything he held dear.

Reiffen's Choice is the first book in a trilogy about innocence and struggle that can only be compared to Eragon and Eldest, The Once and Future King and Raymond E. Feist's Magician. It will be an experience you will never forget.

Publication Date: 09/05/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Going Under
Kathe Koja
Synopsis:

Because all my life had been a chrysalis, with you, Ada and Marshall and our house; even though we did other things and saw other people, the summers at the lake, and all those homeschoolers' parties, it was still always just – us.

Hilly and her brother, Ivan, have been homeschooled by their parents. All their lives it has been just the two of them – Ivan and Hilly, brother and sister, pilot and copilot. Until Hilly breaks out of their cozy cocoon to work on the local high school literary magazine as an extracurricular activity. Ivan feels betrayed: it's no longer just the two of them. And when Hilly goes into a depression after the suicide of a friend she has made at the magazine, she drifts even further away from Ivan. Hilly's parents insist that she see a psychotherapist. Ivan steps in to help manage Hilly's recovery by taking her to and from her appointments but compounds the betrayal by establishing his own relationship with the manipulative therapist.

Through the alternating voices of Hilly and Ivan, and drawing on the myths of Persephone and Narcissus, Kathe Koja explores the souls of two teenagers caught in a world where love takes you deeper than you ever dreamed you'd go.

Publication Date: 09/05/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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