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Synopsis: A young orphaned girl in modern-day China discovers the meaning of family in this inspiring story told in verse, in the tradition of Inside Out and Back Again and Sold.
Kara never met her birth mother. Abandoned as an infant, she was taken in by an American woman living in China. Now eleven, Kara spends most of her time in their apartment, wondering why she and Mama cannot leave the city of Tianjin and go live with Daddy in Montana. Mama tells Kara to be content with what she has…but what if Kara secretly wants more?
Told in lyrical, moving verse, Red Butterfly is the story of a girl learning to trust her own voice, discovering that love and family are limitless, and finding the wings she needs to reach new heights.
Kara never met her birth mother. Abandoned as an infant, she was taken in by an American woman living in China. Now eleven, Kara spends most of her time in their apartment, wondering why she and Mama cannot leave the city of Tianjin and go live with Daddy in Montana. Mama tells Kara to be content with what she has…but what if Kara secretly wants more?
Told in lyrical, moving verse, Red Butterfly is the story of a girl learning to trust her own voice, discovering that love and family are limitless, and finding the wings she needs to reach new heights.
Publication Date: 02/03/15
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Poetry
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Kami is into science, way smarter than she should be, a little obtuse, and born to investigate. The kind of girl who excels in Martial Arts and runs a chaos theory experiment in her locker. Kami finds a way to focus her talents when she meets Daniel, whose younger sister Julia died from an overdose of prescription drugs―drugs that the cops think came from Daniel’s stash. First Daniel turns up at Kami’s MA class, and later she saves him from a couple of drug dealers at the local skate park. Neither episode endears him to her, but Kami views life as a series of data points, and in Daniel’s case, the data do not add up. Her theory turns out to be correct: Daniel is taking he fall to protect his sister’s reputation―and to work with the cops to find out who really supplied his sister with drugs.
Kami assembles a team of sleuths to help Daniel meet those goals. Top of the list is her best friend Sandy, who can con anybody out of anything, every time. Sandy’s boyfriend Sam, editor of the school newspaper, is researcher in chief. Then there is gorgeous Gavin, a computer genius whose abilities to help are hindered by the fact that he’s already in trouble with the cops for hacking. Daniel’s novice police handler provides a link to law enforcement.
The trail leads to the local stables, where Julia kept a stash of drugs. The team next uncovers a link to the manufacturer of the drugs. Working with the police, Kami goes undercover as an intern at the pharmaceutical company that makes the drugs that killed Julia. But she’s not the only undercover agent on the trail.
In Chaos Theory, first time author M Evonne Dobson not only tells a fast-paced mystery, but also explores her protagonist’s deep need to understand the chaotic lives of those around her, lives that refuse to be neat, clean, and simple. Especially when death happens to those you love. Set in Iowa, Chaos Theory is a young adult contemporary crime novel, the first in a proposed series tentatively called The Kami Files.
Kami assembles a team of sleuths to help Daniel meet those goals. Top of the list is her best friend Sandy, who can con anybody out of anything, every time. Sandy’s boyfriend Sam, editor of the school newspaper, is researcher in chief. Then there is gorgeous Gavin, a computer genius whose abilities to help are hindered by the fact that he’s already in trouble with the cops for hacking. Daniel’s novice police handler provides a link to law enforcement.
The trail leads to the local stables, where Julia kept a stash of drugs. The team next uncovers a link to the manufacturer of the drugs. Working with the police, Kami goes undercover as an intern at the pharmaceutical company that makes the drugs that killed Julia. But she’s not the only undercover agent on the trail.
In Chaos Theory, first time author M Evonne Dobson not only tells a fast-paced mystery, but also explores her protagonist’s deep need to understand the chaotic lives of those around her, lives that refuse to be neat, clean, and simple. Especially when death happens to those you love. Set in Iowa, Chaos Theory is a young adult contemporary crime novel, the first in a proposed series tentatively called The Kami Files.
Publication Date: 02/03/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Synopsis: The USS Carl Sagan blasted off from an overpopulated Earth in search of survival. Three centuries later, descendants of the Sagan’s first crew return to find Earth void of human life and all Humanity’s footprints in ruin. Upon landing, the Sagan’s crew struggles to uncover the mystery behind their ancestors’ disappearance while once extinct alpha-predators on the planet and political operatives on the Sagan maneuver for ultimate control of the planet’s future.
Publication Date: 02/02/15
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis: Finalist, Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction
Bronze Medal, Independent Publishers Book Awards
Finalist, Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book of the Year Awards
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, May 15, 1969 -- Fiery young Gus Bessemer vows to stop the war in Vietnam. His weapon of choice? Guerrilla street theater. But when a Berkeley riot squad escalates from teargas to shotguns, Gus' defiant art attack screeches to a halt.
Injured, outraged, and on the lam -- Gus splits for the Colorado Rockies to work with his hands and get his head together. Ironically, Gus' quest for inner peace brings him face-to-face with a Rocky Mountain counterculture full of colorful communards, FBI snitches, stolen dynamite, and a dead body in the National Forest.
A Bowl Full of Nails offers the reader a suspense-filled tale bursting with humor, espionage, and rebellion while the author explores Gus' dance between personal demons and political resistance.
[SCROLL DOWN to read Editorial Reviews for A Bowl Full of Nails.]
Bronze Medal, Independent Publishers Book Awards
Finalist, Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book of the Year Awards
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, May 15, 1969 -- Fiery young Gus Bessemer vows to stop the war in Vietnam. His weapon of choice? Guerrilla street theater. But when a Berkeley riot squad escalates from teargas to shotguns, Gus' defiant art attack screeches to a halt.
Injured, outraged, and on the lam -- Gus splits for the Colorado Rockies to work with his hands and get his head together. Ironically, Gus' quest for inner peace brings him face-to-face with a Rocky Mountain counterculture full of colorful communards, FBI snitches, stolen dynamite, and a dead body in the National Forest.
A Bowl Full of Nails offers the reader a suspense-filled tale bursting with humor, espionage, and rebellion while the author explores Gus' dance between personal demons and political resistance.
[SCROLL DOWN to read Editorial Reviews for A Bowl Full of Nails.]
Publication Date: 02/01/15
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: With just one step, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings' world changes--literally.
Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing.
While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.
An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?
Will Alex risk her entire world--and maybe even her life--to save Medora?
Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing.
While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.
An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?
Will Alex risk her entire world--and maybe even her life--to save Medora?
Publication Date: 02/01/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis: Benni Dublanc is exemplary, which, in the year 2622 CE, is entirely ordinary. She’s young, she’s pretty, she’s in love, and she attends Academy Aeraea, a center of fashion, thought and modern style built on the pulse of the greatest city ever imagined—Genesia, Mars. Like all Genesians, Benni has never seen a blue sky, she can summon any and all knowledge into view with nothing more than a thought, makes her daily two-hundred kilometer commute in two minutes, and was sculpted into a model citizen beginning from the day she was born. Benni will never know famine, she will never know war, and after a horrific accident on the night of her twenty-second birthday, she will never be human again.
Publication Date: 01/30/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis: If you love two countries and they go to war with each other, which one do you choose to fight for? The German musician Friedrich is in Norway with his Norwegian girlfriend Ellen when Hitler attacks in April 1940. They flee together from Oslo but happen to find themselves very close to the fighting. Their dilemma is that both like Germany but not the Nazis, and Friedrich does not want to fight. Ellen hides him, pretending that he is Dutch. After a long struggle they end up in her grandparents' house on the coast where they spend some idyllic months. But it cannot last forever. When Friedrich disappears Ellen goes to Vienna and Berlin in the middle of war to look for him.
Publication Date: 01/30/15
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Synopsis: Can they change their destiny? The sequel to FATES.
They kissed only once—and it was electric, like the air before a storm. But Corinthe, a Fate from another world, and Lucas, a teenage boy from California, broke the rules of the universe, and learned too late that their love would have consequences. In the dizzying aftermath, Luc refuses to accept his destiny—not if it means a life without Corinthe. As a fire rages through the Crossroads that connect worlds, Luc must find a way to turn back time and save Corinthe.
Meanwhile, Luc’s party-loving younger sister, Jasmine, starts to realize that things are not as they seem when time begins stuttering, sending her everyday life in San Francisco spinning into chaos. She’s thrown into the path of Ford, a troubled soul with a secret past, who helps her unravel the mysterious threads that connect them all.
Two breathtaking romances interweave across time in this story of what lies on the other side of Fate, as both Jas and Luc discover the incredible lengths they will go to for love.
Have you read FATES?
“Bross takes myth and makes it into brilliance, crafting a story the reader will never want to end.” —Carrie Jones, New York Times bestselling author of the Need series
“A divine debut we are all fated to read!” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout
They kissed only once—and it was electric, like the air before a storm. But Corinthe, a Fate from another world, and Lucas, a teenage boy from California, broke the rules of the universe, and learned too late that their love would have consequences. In the dizzying aftermath, Luc refuses to accept his destiny—not if it means a life without Corinthe. As a fire rages through the Crossroads that connect worlds, Luc must find a way to turn back time and save Corinthe.
Meanwhile, Luc’s party-loving younger sister, Jasmine, starts to realize that things are not as they seem when time begins stuttering, sending her everyday life in San Francisco spinning into chaos. She’s thrown into the path of Ford, a troubled soul with a secret past, who helps her unravel the mysterious threads that connect them all.
Two breathtaking romances interweave across time in this story of what lies on the other side of Fate, as both Jas and Luc discover the incredible lengths they will go to for love.
Have you read FATES?
“Bross takes myth and makes it into brilliance, crafting a story the reader will never want to end.” —Carrie Jones, New York Times bestselling author of the Need series
“A divine debut we are all fated to read!” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publication Date: 01/27/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Series
Synopsis:
It’s hot and steamy in the summertime in Alabama, even on top of a mountain, at an exclusive resort hotel for the rich and famous. Fifteen year-old Sophie Franklin doesn’t know what to expect when she arrives there with her family, from New York, in the summer of 1892. But what she finds, beside the opulent Hotel Monte Sano, are a handsome stable boy named Jude who just may turn out to be the first true love of her life and his African American friend Smokey who knows more about what goes on at the hotel than anyone else. And a butchered man, bleeding to death under the hotel’s boardwalk!
Shocked and afraid, Sophie’s mother wants to pack the family back to New York. So Sophie can stay, she and Jude and Smokey set out to find the murderer. But what they find is a Gothic maze of Jim Crow bigots, Yankee carpetbaggers, pistol-packing gamblers, menacing ghosts, and revenge seekers determined to settle a Civil War grudge not so long since passed.
The Hotel Monte Sano is a fast paced mystery set in a fascinating fin de siècle world of ambition and decadence—when love, at least for the moment, eclipses the mounting tensions between rich and poor, black and white, and North and South.
Publication Date: 01/22/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Synopsis: Newly qualified lawyer Ruby Edwards is pretty much where she wants to be in life: a new job in a prestigious law firm, good friends, and above all a promising future with Oliver, the love of her life. Why, then, does she feel drawn to the mysterious and magnetically handsome Cole Frost? Why does she feel like she's seen him before? South Coast is a small place but why does he keep appearing in her life? She knows Oliver is the one for her; she has no doubts about that. She would never cheat because that would make her more like the mother who abandoned her than she would ever want to be. But she can't seem to stay away from Cole Frost's piercing silver eyes, which might have seen much more than is usual in a lifetime...
Publication Date: 01/22/15
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis: A hilarious, action-packed New York Times bestselling series launches with a story-within-a-story, from the author of the Half Upon a Time trilogy.
Life is boring when you live in the real world, instead of starring in your own book series. Owen knows that better than anyone, what with the real world’s homework and chores.
But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen—his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany’s half-fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.
Bethany can’t let anyone else learn her secret, so Owen makes her a deal: All she has to do is take him into a book in Owen’s favorite Kiel Gnomenfoot series, and he’ll never say a word. Besides, visiting the book might help Bethany find her father…
…Or it might just destroy the Kiel Gnomenfoot series, reveal Bethany’s secret to the entire world, and force Owen to live out Kiel Gnomenfoot’s final (very final) adventure.
Life is boring when you live in the real world, instead of starring in your own book series. Owen knows that better than anyone, what with the real world’s homework and chores.
But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen—his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany’s half-fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.
Bethany can’t let anyone else learn her secret, so Owen makes her a deal: All she has to do is take him into a book in Owen’s favorite Kiel Gnomenfoot series, and he’ll never say a word. Besides, visiting the book might help Bethany find her father…
…Or it might just destroy the Kiel Gnomenfoot series, reveal Bethany’s secret to the entire world, and force Owen to live out Kiel Gnomenfoot’s final (very final) adventure.
Publication Date: 01/20/15
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: Seventeen year old Albany French wants nothing more than to find her very own happily ever after. She dreams of finding her fairy godmother, going to the ball, and being swept away by a Prince. Much to her dismay, her life is no fairy tale. Albany is just a typical, all American girl who attends an overly crowded public high school. An untimely tragedy leaves Albany desperate for a new life. She seeks comfort in her eccentric grandmother, Greta. Not only does Greta welcome Albany into her home with open arms, but she transfers Albany to a new school. But... this new school is not your average high school. This is... Happily Ever After High, the enchanting high school that hosts hundreds of magical, fairytale students. Albany is about to begin the journey of a lifetime… as she discovers who she really is, where her family came from, falls in love for the first time, and embarks on a quest to fulfill a prophecy that has been passed on for ages. Welcome to Happily Ever After High.
Publication Date: 01/18/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis: New York Times Bestseller
“A double helping of fun and mischief!”
—Jeff kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
“Hilarious.”
—Dav Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants series
Miles Murphy is not happy to be moving to Yawnee Valley, a sleepy town that’s famous for one thing and one thing only: cows. In his old school, everyone knew him as the town’s best prankster, but Miles quickly discovers that Yawnee Valley already has a prankster, and a great one. If Miles is going to take the title from this mystery kid, he is going to have to raise his game.
It’s prankster against prankster in an epic war of trickery, until the two finally decide to join forces and pull off the biggest prank ever seen: a prank so huge that it would make the members of the International Order of Disorder proud.
In The Terrible Two, bestselling authors and friends Mac Barnett and Jory John have created a series that has its roots in classic middle-grade literature yet feels fresh and new at the same time.
“The pranks, the brotherhood, the art, the heart! What’s not to love about the Terrible Two?”
—Sara Pennypacker, author of the Clementine series
“You don’t have to be a cow, like cows, or even know a cow to love the Terrible Two.”
—Dave Eggers
“This book is terrible! Terribly funny, terribly full of pranks, and terribly wonderful.”
—Jon Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheese Man and the Frank Einstein series
“The Terrible Two are my kind of kids. And what’s more, they’re kids’ kind of kids.”
—Annie Barrows, author of the Ivy & Bean series
“A double helping of fun and mischief!”
—Jeff kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
“Hilarious.”
—Dav Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants series
Miles Murphy is not happy to be moving to Yawnee Valley, a sleepy town that’s famous for one thing and one thing only: cows. In his old school, everyone knew him as the town’s best prankster, but Miles quickly discovers that Yawnee Valley already has a prankster, and a great one. If Miles is going to take the title from this mystery kid, he is going to have to raise his game.
It’s prankster against prankster in an epic war of trickery, until the two finally decide to join forces and pull off the biggest prank ever seen: a prank so huge that it would make the members of the International Order of Disorder proud.
In The Terrible Two, bestselling authors and friends Mac Barnett and Jory John have created a series that has its roots in classic middle-grade literature yet feels fresh and new at the same time.
“The pranks, the brotherhood, the art, the heart! What’s not to love about the Terrible Two?”
—Sara Pennypacker, author of the Clementine series
“You don’t have to be a cow, like cows, or even know a cow to love the Terrible Two.”
—Dave Eggers
“This book is terrible! Terribly funny, terribly full of pranks, and terribly wonderful.”
—Jon Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheese Man and the Frank Einstein series
“The Terrible Two are my kind of kids. And what’s more, they’re kids’ kind of kids.”
—Annie Barrows, author of the Ivy & Bean series
Publication Date: 01/13/15
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis:
A gorgeous bounty hunter. A wanted woman. A passion they can't deny.
Accused of a horrific crime and on the run, Kat has been rejected by everyone she loves. She's a fugitive from her past, flitting from town to town with nothing but the clothes on her back―until she meets a man who literally stops her in her tracks.
A notorious bounty hunter with powerful instincts, he never fails to capture his prey. But there's something about Kat that gets under his skin–and it's not just the naked innocence he sees in her pretty eyes. Behind his ice cold demeanor, he has his own darkness... and now his lively, vulnerable mark is about to crack him wide open.
As they travel across the country together, both captor and captive are unable to deny the spark of attraction between them. Will their journey bring them together…or will their dangerous secrets tear them apart?
Publication Date: 01/13/15
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
Synopsis: Don't fall asleep. Don't dream. Don't get caught.At the beginning of her freshman year of high school, Amy can think of nothing worse than moving to the boring, suburban town of Narrowdale. And that's before she starts having the same nightmare over and over again, waking up every night to a creepy whistle outside her window and being haunted by a mysterious, menacing presence. Getting used to the new school becomes the least of her problems.
As she delves deeper to uncover the truth, she unknowingly edges closer to mortal danger. Terrible events that took place years ago threaten to happen again, but now Amy's life is on the balance. Unfortunately, the one guy who is supposed to protect her, nineteen year old Peter, doesn't believe her.
Some things seem to happen only in Narrowdale, where dark secrets hide beneath the surface...
As she confronts the mysteries of Narrowdale, Amy documents her experiences in her blog. The book contains live links to this blog.
As she delves deeper to uncover the truth, she unknowingly edges closer to mortal danger. Terrible events that took place years ago threaten to happen again, but now Amy's life is on the balance. Unfortunately, the one guy who is supposed to protect her, nineteen year old Peter, doesn't believe her.
Some things seem to happen only in Narrowdale, where dark secrets hide beneath the surface...
As she confronts the mysteries of Narrowdale, Amy documents her experiences in her blog. The book contains live links to this blog.
Publication Date: 01/12/15
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Paranormal
Synopsis: The epic tale of two teens in a fight to save a warming planet...the universe...and their love. A cli-fi quest to outsmart polluters, full of romance, honour and adventure.1st Place Winner, Dante Rossetti Awards 2017First Place Chanticleer Dante Rossetti Award WinnerReaders' Favorite Award WinnerBook Excellence FinalistA Top 10 Best Science Fiction bookBest Climate and Environmental Fiction bookLitPick Award winnerIncluded in "12 Works of Climate Fiction Everyone Should Read"
'Top Fiction Read' of the YearNew York Book Festival Honorable Mention
An excerpt received an Eco-Fiction Story Contest Honorable Mention
"Honestly, it's not my fault. Humans were polluting the planet to desolation. What else could I do? I had to save her. "
When a smart-mouthed, mixed-race teen wonders why the work that needs to be done pays nothing compared to the busywork glorified on holovision news, the search for answers takes him on the wildest journey of anyone's lifetime. With the girl of his dreams, he inadvertently invents living computers. Just as the human race allows corporations to pollute Earth into total desolation, institute martial law and enslave humanity, the two teens set out to save civilization. Can they thwart polluters of Earth and other fertile planets? The heroes come into their own in different kinds of relationships in this diverse, multi-cultural romance. Along the way, they enlist the help of female droid Any Gynoid, who uncovers cutting-edge scientific mysteries. Their quest takes them through the Big Bang and back. Will Starliament tear them from the project and unleash 'intelligent' life's habitual pollution, or will youth lead the way to a new way of coexisting with Nature?
Nature's Confession couldn't be more timely, just as the IMF reveals that governments spend $5.3 trillion on fossil fuel subsidies every year, after COP 21 climate decisions in Paris, and the largest climate change march in world history when world leaders converged for an emergency UN Climate Summit in New York City. With illustrations and topics for discussion at the back of the book, JL Morin entertains questions about busywork; economic incentives to pollute; sustainable energy; exploitation; cyborgs; the sanctity of Nature; and many kinds of relationships in this diverse, multi-cultural romance.
'Top Fiction Read' of the YearNew York Book Festival Honorable Mention
An excerpt received an Eco-Fiction Story Contest Honorable Mention
"Honestly, it's not my fault. Humans were polluting the planet to desolation. What else could I do? I had to save her. "
When a smart-mouthed, mixed-race teen wonders why the work that needs to be done pays nothing compared to the busywork glorified on holovision news, the search for answers takes him on the wildest journey of anyone's lifetime. With the girl of his dreams, he inadvertently invents living computers. Just as the human race allows corporations to pollute Earth into total desolation, institute martial law and enslave humanity, the two teens set out to save civilization. Can they thwart polluters of Earth and other fertile planets? The heroes come into their own in different kinds of relationships in this diverse, multi-cultural romance. Along the way, they enlist the help of female droid Any Gynoid, who uncovers cutting-edge scientific mysteries. Their quest takes them through the Big Bang and back. Will Starliament tear them from the project and unleash 'intelligent' life's habitual pollution, or will youth lead the way to a new way of coexisting with Nature?
Nature's Confession couldn't be more timely, just as the IMF reveals that governments spend $5.3 trillion on fossil fuel subsidies every year, after COP 21 climate decisions in Paris, and the largest climate change march in world history when world leaders converged for an emergency UN Climate Summit in New York City. With illustrations and topics for discussion at the back of the book, JL Morin entertains questions about busywork; economic incentives to pollute; sustainable energy; exploitation; cyborgs; the sanctity of Nature; and many kinds of relationships in this diverse, multi-cultural romance.
Publication Date: 01/08/15
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction