Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Teen Books for April, 2011

Those That Wake by Jesse Karp
Teen Science Fiction

New York City's spirit has been crushed. People walk the streets with their heads down, withdrawing from one another and into the cold comfort of technology. Teenagers Mal and Laura have grown up in this reality. They've never met. Seemingly, they never will.

But on the same day Mal learns his brother has disappeared, Laura discovers her parents have forgotten her. Both begin a search for their families that leads them to the same truth: someone or something has wiped the teens from the memories of every person they have ever known. Thrown together, Mal and Laura must find common ground as they attempt to reclaim their pasts.

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Steel by Carrie Vaughn
Teen Fantasy

Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.

The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate's life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her here, she forms a desperate scheme to get home--one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainaous pirate captain.

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Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt
Teen Fiction

According to her guidance counselor, fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas needs a focus object--an item to concentrate her emotions on. It's supposed to be something inanimate, but Payton decides to use the thing she stares at during class: Sean Griswold's head. They've been linked since the third grade (Griswold-Gritas--it's an alphabetical order thing), but she's never really known him.

The focus object is intended to help Payton deal with her father's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. And it's working. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend Jac, Payton starts stalking--er, focusing on--Sean Griswold... all of him! He's cute, he shares her Seinfeld obsession (nobody else gets it!) and he may have a secret or two of his own.

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Recyclo-Gami: 40 Crafts to Make Your Friends Green With Envy! by Laurie Goldrich Wolf
Teen Nonfiction/Crafts

What can you make out of your old bits of paper, left over pieces of yarn, or not-so-brand-new cartons and containers? Craft your own purse out of playing cards, whip up a scrapbook made of cereal boxes, or a dollhouse from an empty juice carton!

All crafts are made out of materials that many of us find just lying around the house or sitting on the curb waiting to be tossed in a landfill. Overpriced decor, fashion, and gifts are out, and recyclable crafts are in!

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Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams
Teen Suspense

Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control...

A gripping story of a girl who loves her mother, but must face the truth of what life with that mother means for both of them.

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The Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker
Teen Mystery

Since when do the dead send email? Kate Lowry's best friend Grace died a year ago. So when she gets an email from her, Kate's more than a little confused. Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace's death was more than just a tragic accident.

She teams up with a couple of knights-in-(not-so)-shining armor--the dangerously hot bady boy Liam, and her lovestruck neighbor, Seth. But at their elite private school, there are secrets so big people will do anything to protect them--even if it means getting rid of anyone trying to solve a murder...

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Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster
Teen Science Fiction

Humanity, like computers, can be upgraded. And old versions disappear... At some unspecified point in the future, when technology is as advanced as possible and we are a race of super beings, some old audio tapes are discovered. On the tapes is the story of fourteen-year-old Kyle Straker.

Hypnotized, Kyle missed the upgrade of humanity to 1.0. He isn't compatible with our new technology. And through the recording, he narrates what the upgrades really mean. And it's absolutely terrifying.

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Chime by Franny Billingsley
Teen Fantasy

Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony, lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Teen Tech Week Tweet Contest!

Soooo....It's Teen Tech Week. What do YOU think is the most awesome piece of technology? Do you love anything that starts with an i? Totally into the controller-free Kinect? Are you reading your books on a screen? Tell us what's the best. Keep it short and sweet and you'll be entered to win a brand new Zen MP3 player.

Click here to enter and good luck!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

New Teen Books for March, 2011

Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court by Various Authors
Teen Sports Fiction/Short Stories

A series of short stories by such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Joseph Bruchac, interspersed with pems and photographs, provides different perspectives on a game of streetball played one steamy July day at the West 4th Street court in New York City known as The Cage.

These stories offer blistering moves and dialogue, complex and rewarding characters, and off-the-court background, contextualizing the game and making it clear just how vital it is to those who play.

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Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin
Teen Romantic Fiction

Fans of romance don't need to look any further than the fauxmance brewing between teen idols Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers--known on their hit TV show as Jenna and Jonah, next-door neighbors flush with the excitement of first love. But it's their off-screen relationship that has helped cement their fame, as passionate fans follow their every PDA. They grace the covers of magazines week after week. Their fan club has chapters all over the country. The only problem is their off-screen romance is one big publicity stunt, and Charlie and Fielding can't stand to be in the same room. Still it's a great gig, so even when the cameras stop rolling, the show must go on, and on, and on... Until the pesky paparazzi blow their cover, and Charlie and Fielding must disappear to weather the media storm. It's not unitl they're far off the grid of the Hollywood circuit that they realize that there's more to each of them than shiny hair and a winning smile.

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Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Teen Science Fiction

"Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't."

Lena Haloway has always accepted the government's decree that love is a disease that must be eradicated--but then she meets Alex.

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Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
Young Sherlock Holmes series
Teen Mystery

It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers--his uncle and aunt--in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local people die from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amvus Crowe. So begins Sherlock's true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinster villain of exquisitely malign intent.

In the first teen series endorsed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate, the legend of Sherlock Holmes is born as a teenage Sherlock probes his first murder mystery.

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Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
Teen Horror/Mystery

Kendall loves her life in small town Cryer's Cross, Montana, but she also longs for something more. But when Cryer's Cross is rocked by unspeakable tragedy, Kendall shoves her dreams aside and focuses on just one goal: help find her missing friends. Even if it means spending time with the one boy she shouldn't get close to... the one boy who makes her question everything she feels for Nico.

Determined to help and to stay true to the boy she's always loved, Kendall keeps up the search--and stumbles upon some frightening local history. She knows she can't stop digging, but Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried...

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The Girl Who Became a Beatle by Greg Taylor
Teen Fiction

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah! When Regina Bloomsbury's band the Caverns, breaks up, she thinks it's all over. And then she makes a wish--"I wish I could be as famous as the Beatles." The Beatles are her music idols. The next day, she gets up to find that the Caverns are not just as famous as the Beatles, they have replaced them in history! Regina is living like a rock star, and loving it. There are talk shows, music videos, and live concerts with thousands of screaming fans. And Regina is the star of it all. But fame is getting the better of Regina, and she has a decision to make. Does she want to replace the Beatles forever? Here is a rocking novel about the good and the bad of Hollywood, fame, and rock'n roll.

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The Batboy by Mike Lupica
Teen Sports Fiction

It is every baseball kid's dream summer job: the batboy for your hometown Major League team. Yet for fourteen year-old brian, the job means more than just the chance to hang around his idols. Baseball was the job his father loved so much, in the end he couldn't leave it. Yet he could leave his family. Now Brian sees the job as the way to win back his father.

There is no winning back some people, though. Just ask Hank Bishop--once the most popular player in baseball before he was banished for using steroids. Now he is making his comeback. And an unlikely friendship slowly develops between this man in need of a family and this boy in need of a father.

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Angel by James Patterson
Maximum Ride series
Teen Adventure Fiction

In the seventh book in the bestselling series, evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution. Worse, they're trying to convince her that her perfect mate is Dylan, the newest addition to the flock. The problem is that, in spite of herself, Max is starting to believe it.

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