Showing posts with label good books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good books. Show all posts

Monday, November 7, 2011

New Teen Books for November, 2011

Tankborn by Karen Sandler
Teen Science Fiction

Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. they are Genetically Engineered Non-humans: gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen. But when Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she forms an unexpected friendship with Zul's great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night, and she begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them.

Kayla and Mishalla reunite to hatch a plan to save the children who are disappearing. Both girls must put their lives and hearts at risk to crack open a sinister conspiracy, one that may reveal secrets no one is ready to face.

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Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Teen Fiction

Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother's battle with cancer. Lupita must take on more responsibility for her house and seven younger siblings, and deal with the pressures of high school, while finding refuge in acting and writing poetry.

This Young Adult novel-in-verse includes a glossary of Spanish terms.

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The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
Teen Historical Adventure

It's 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows - a fascinating boy who's not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy. When Benjamin's father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary's sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies - Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons.

Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

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Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King
Teen Fiction

Lucky Linderman didn't ask for his life. He didn't ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn't ask for a fther who never got over it. He didn't ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn't ask to be the target of Nader McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far.

But Lucky has a secret. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the prison his grandfather couldn't escape, where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?

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Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
Teen Fiction

In a heartbeat, in a wingbeat, it happens. Isla's father falls. They're racing across the fields, following the swans flying to winter at the lake like they do every year, when something goes wrong. And before she can even catch her breath, they're in the back of an ambulance, she's holding his hand.

As Isla struggles with her father's frailty and the new feelings she has for Harry, a boy she meets at the hospital, she's determined to help the only way she knows how. Outside the hospital windows, Isla watches a lone whooper swan struggling to fly. If only she could save the lost bird, would that somehow heal her dad, and cure Harry, and make everything good again?

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Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
Teen Fantasy/Adventure

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

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The Lost Songs by Caroline B. Cooney
Teen Southern Fiction

The day Lutie Painter takes the city bus north instead of the school bus west, cutting class for the first time ever, her aunt and uncle have no idea what she is up to. That same morning, Lutie's pastor, Miss Veola, whispers as always, "This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." A block from Miss Veola and up a hill in Chalk, Train Greene, burning with anger, has a decision to make, and he's running out of time. A few miles away, among finer houses, Kelvin Hartley yawns and gets ready for another day at school, where he is a friend to all and makes an effort at nothing. And Doria Bell, who recently moved to the South from Connecticut, walks to the bus stop, hoping the high school kids who live nearby will say hello.

All of these lives intertwine and--in surprising ways--become connected to Lutie's ancestors, who are buried in the cemetery in Chalk.

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Palace of the Damned by Darren Shan
Saga of Larten Crepsley series
Teen Horror

After failing his mentor and killing the entire crew of a ship in a bout of revenge for the death of his assistant, Larten in bereft with guilt. He no longer has the drive to live the vampiric life, and hides out in Paris, masquerading as a human. There, he finds some happiness, even falling in love with a girl. But the darkness inside him is too great for humanity, and he is forced to make a choice: hide in the shadows of the human world, or take his place among the vampire clan and protect those weaker than himself. But enemies are waiting, traps are laid, and Larten's path is bound to be strewn with bodies.

This is his story.

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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

New Teen Books for September 2011


The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric
Teen Historical Fantasy
Teodora has always longed to visit Venice, and at last she has her chance. But strange and sinister things are afoot in the beautiful floating city. Teo is quickly subsumed into a secret world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets, statues speak, rats read, and librarians fluidly turn into cats. And where a book, "The Key to the Secret City," leads Teo straight into the heart of the danger that threatens to the destroy the very city to which she feels she belongs. An ancient proverb seems to unite Teo with a Venetian boy, Renzo, and with the Traitor who has returned from the dark past to wreak revenge... But who is the Undrowned Child destined to save Venice?


 
You've Got Talent by Andrea Mills
Teen Nonfiction

Wanna dance? Wanna sing? You've Got Talent features everything you need to know about the world of entertainment, past and present. Readers can relive the greatest and most memorable performances, from the earliest shows to the most expensive disasters! They'll get a sneak peek behind the scenes to look at the stage and equipment, and to meet the people who make everything happen, from top-billing stars to scriptwriters and set designers.




Witchlanders by Lena Coakley
Teen Fantasy

High in their mountain covens, redwitches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future. It's all a fake. At least that's what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes--one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people's old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?

But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he's ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change.

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Envy by Gregg Olsen
Empty Coffin series
Teen Mystery

Crime lives--and dies--in the deceptively picture-perfect town of Port Gamble (aka "Empty Coffin"), Washington. Evil lurks and strange things happen--and 15-year-olds Hayley and Taylor Ryan secretly use their wits and their telepathic "twin-sense" to uncover the truth about the towns victims and culprits. "Envy," the series debut, involves the mysterious death of the twins' old friend, Katelyn. Was it murder? Suicide? An accident? Hayley and Taylor are determined to find out--and as they investigate, they stumble upon a dark truth that is far more disturbing than they could have ever imagined. Based on the shocking true crime about cyber-bullying, "Envy" will take you to the edge--and push you right over.

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Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans
Teen Science Fiction Suspence

To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette's syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric Powers.

Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael's friend Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children - and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he's to survive.

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Dark Souls by Paula Morris
Teen Horror

Miranda Tennant arrives in New York, the most haunted city in the world, with a terrible, tragic secret. She is eager to lose herself amid the quaint cobblestones, hoping she wont' run into the countless ghosts who supposedly roam the city...

Then she meets Nick, and intense, dark-eyed boy who knows all of York's hidden places and histories. Miranda wonders if Nick is falling for her, but she is distracted by another boy--one even more handsome and mysterious than Nick. He lives in the house across from Miranda and seems desperate to send her some sort of message. Could this boy be one of New York's haunted souls?

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Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter
Teen Historical Fiction

Selene has grown up in a palace on the Nile with her parents, Cleopatra & Mark Antony--the most brilliant, powerful rulers on earth. But the jealous Roman Emperor Octavianus wants Egypt for himself, and when war finally comes, Selene faces the loss of all she's ever loved. Forced to build a new life in Octavianus' household in Rome, she finds herself torn between two young men and two possible destinies--until she reaches out to claim her won.

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The Project by Brian Falkner
Teen Science Fiction Adventure

It begins with a book, the most boring book in the world, a books so boring no one could ever read it--the perfect place to hid a dangerous secret.

When best friends Luke and Tommy volunteer to help move books from their library's basement to higher ground during a quick rising food, they discover the only surviving copy of the most boring book in the world: "Leonardo's River," lost for over 100 years. The book is connected to Leonardo da Vinci and is worth millions, so they return that night to steal it. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones with that plan...

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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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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

New Teen Books for January 2011

The Gift by James Patterson
Witch and Wizard Series
Teen Suspense

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as the leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order. But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding prologue of book one... "The Execution of the Allgoods."

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Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner
Teen Fiction

For Claire Boucher, life is all about skating on the frozen cow pond and in the annual Maple Show right before the big pancake breakfast on her family's farm. But all that changes when Russian skating coach Andrei Grosheva offers Claire a scholarship to train with the elite in Lake Placid. Tossed into a world of mean girls on ice, where competition is everything, Claire realizes that her sweet dream come true has sharper edges than she could have imagined. Can she find the strength to stand up to the people who want to see her fail and the courage to decide which dream she wants to follow?

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Solitary by Alexander Gordon Smith
Escape from Furnace Series
Teen Science Fiction/Horror

Alex Sawyer and his mates should have known there was no way out of furnace penitentiary. Their escape attempt only lands them deeper in the guts of this prison for young offenders, and then into solitary confinement. And that's where a whole new struggle begins--a struggle to not let the hellish conditions overwhelm them. Because before another escape attempt is even possible, they must first survive the nightmare that now haunts their endless nights.

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Sapphique by Catherine Fisher
Teen Fantasy/Dystopias

Finn and Claudia were betrothed to one another as children. Now seventeen, they are soon to become king and queen of the Realm. But their kingdom is only a visage; in reality its surface beauty is maintained by the powerful computer Incarceron, where after the devastating destruction of the Years of Rage the Realm's inhabitants only pretend to live "in Era." Finn has escaped Incarceron only to find that he must defend his right to the throne from another challenger. His life and Claudia's hang on Finn convincing the Court that he is the lost prince, even though he has his own doubts about being the true heir.

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Night Whispers by Erin Hunter
Warriors, Omen of the Stars Series
Teen Fantasy

The deadly battle between ThunderClan and ShadowClan is over, but the aftermath still echoes around all four Clans. As Dovepaw grapples with the knowledge that there are realms--and cats--her senses cannot reach, Jayfeather and Lionblaze are determined to figure out how StarClan could have allowed this fight to happen. Jayfeather soon finds the answer in the darkest of places, and he and Lionblaze prepare to do whatever they can to staunch the flow of evil into ThunderClan. The ties that bind the Clans are slowly breaking in the face of the greatest threat that the warriors--and the warrior code--have ever known.

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Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
Teen Fiction

Things in Delilah Hannaford's life have a tendency to fall apart. She used to be a good student, but she can't seem to keep it together anymore. Her "boyfriend" isn't much of a boyfriend. And her mother refuses to discuss the fight that has divided their family eight years ago. Falling apart, it seems, is a Hannaford tradition.

Over a summer of new friendships, unexpected romance, and moments that test the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, Delilah must face her family's painful past. Can even her most shattered relationships be pieced together again?

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Entice by Carrie Jones
Teen Romantic Fantasy

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla? And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't turned into just any pixie... She's Astley's queen.

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Blood Ninja II: The Revenge of Lord Oda by Nick Lake
Teen Horror/Adventure

Taro's world was turned upside down when his father was murdered by a ninja, and another ninja who saved Taro's life turned him into a vampire. Thus began the young man's journey through feudal Japan, training to become a ninja and learning about himself.

Now that the vile Lord Oda is dead, Taro and his friends are safe in the mountain lair of the ninjas. Or so they think. Soon, Taro, Hana, and Hiro find themselves in a trap as strange new creatures invade their lives and familiar enemies surround them.

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