Filed under: News
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BELLE: A RETELLING OF “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” by Cameron Dokey
Once upon a time. Summary: Lacking her sisters’ awe-inspiring beauty, Belle withdraws from society, devoting her time to wood carving. Secretly Belle longs to find the fabled Heartwood Tree which, if carved by the right hands, will reveal the face of one’s true love. During a fierce storm, Belle’s father stumbles upon the mysterious Heartwood and encounters a terrifying and lonely beast. Now Belle must carve the Heartwood to save her father, and learn to see not with the eyes of her mind, but with the eyes of her heart.
THE CONFESSIONAL by J.L. Powers
(14+) The murder of a student at an all-boys Catholic school in the border city of El Paso, Texas, throws the lives of a diverse group of friends into chaos.
COVER-UP: MYSTERY AT THE SUPER BOWL by John Feinstein
Fledgling fourteen-year-old sports reporters Susan Carol and Stevie investigate suspicious activities at the Super Bowl after Stevie gets fired from his co-anchor job on a ground-breaking teen sports show.
EVOLUTION, ME AND OTHER FREAKS OF NATURE by Robin Brande
Following her conscience leads high school freshman Mena to clash with her parents and former friends from their conservative Christian church, but might result in better things when she stands up for a teacher who refuses to include “Intelligent Design” in lessons on evolution.
FEELS LIKE HOME by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo
Following the death of their father, seventeen-year-old Michelle’s older brother–who had disappeared six years earlier–returns to their small Texas town where, with the help of S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders,” the two siblings try to find a way to move beyond a past tragedy.
FIRE IN THE HILLS by Donna Jo Napoli
Upon returning to Italy, fourteen-year-old Roberto struggles to survive, first on his own, then as a member of the resistance, fighting against the Nazi occupiers while yearning to reach home safely and for an end to the war.
FULL SERVICE by Will Weaver
(14+) In the summer of 1965, teenager Paul Sutton, a northern Minnesota farm boy, takes a job at a gas station in town, where his strict religious upbringing is challenged by new people and experiences.
KISS ME KILL ME by Lauren Henderson
(14+) Longing to be part of the in-crowd at her exclusive London school, orphaned, sixteen-year-old Scarlett, a trained gymnast, eagerly accepts an invitation to a party whose disastrous outcome changes her life forever.
LEMONADE MOUTH by Mark Peter Hughes
A disparate group of high school students thrown together in detention form a band to play at a school talent show and end up competing with a wildly popular local rock band.
THE MARVELOUS EFFECT by Troy Cle
Marvelous world bk. 1. Summary: Strange things are happening on Earth, and twelve-year-old Louis Proof discovers that he is one of the few people able to see–and combat–the responsible beings, who came from Midlandia, the planet at the center of the universe, to continue a battle that rages there.
THE OTHER HALF OF ME by Emily Franklin
(14+) Feeling out of place in her athletic family, artistic sixteen-year-old Jenny Fitzgerald, whose biological father was a sperm donor, finds her half sister through the Sibling Donor Registry and contacts her, hoping that this will finally make her feel complete.
WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T KNOW by Sonya Sones
Fourteen-year-old Robin Murphy is so unpopular at high school that his name is slang for “loser,” and so when he begins dating the beautiful and popular Sophie her reputation plummets, but he finds acceptance as a student in a drawing class at Harvard.
THE WHOLE SKY FULL OF STARS by Rene Saldana, Jr.
Eighteen-year-old Barry competes in a non-sanctioned boxing match in hopes of helping his recently-widowed mother.
BARACK OBAMA by Beatrice Gormley
This is a biography about the forty-fourth president of the United States. Containing up-to-the-minute information, including President Obama’s November victory, this is essential reading for every young student of American history.
COLLISON COURSE by William Shatner
Thrown in jail beside a young Vulcan who has been charged with plotting to sell Vulcan artifacts, a troublesome young James T. Kirk forges an uneasy alliance with his cellmate, Spock, with whom he is given a choice to stay imprisoned or to join Starfleet.
GRIEF GIRL: MY TRUE STORY by Erin Vincent
(14+) Describes the life of a teenager with a seventeen-year-old sister and a three-year-old brother who lose their parents in an automobile accident.
HUSH: AN IRISH PRINCESS’S TALE by Donna Jo Napoli
Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.
PLAGUE ROOM by Steven Piziks
Ghost Whisper #1. Summary: Just an ordinary day in Grandview with customers at the Village Java looking for that perfect caffeine fix and lookylous being transformed into buyers by the eclectic assortment of antiques at Same As It Never Was. But there’s nothing ordinary about the blur of activity at Jack’s Dry Cleaning, where shirts are spinning on the racks and dresses are dancing without their owners.
TELL THE WORLD: TEEN POEMS FROM WRITERSCORPS edited by Kenneth Carroll
Through poetry we tell the world who we are, where we’re from, what we love, what we think, how we feel, and why we hope. Tell the World is a stunning collection of poems by teens who have taken part in workshops run by WritersCorps.
THE GLASS WORLD Kai Meyer
Dark reflections bk. 3. Summary: While Merle, Junipa, and the great flying stone lion accompany an Egyptian high priest to the fortress of the powerful sphinx, Serafin and Eft voyage deep beneath the ocean to ask the help of a sea witch in freeing Venice from the Pharoh and his mummy warriors.
THE ROGUES by Jane Yolen
Stuart Quartet #4. Summary: After his family is evicted from their Scottish farm, fifteen-year-old Roddy forms an unlikely friendship with a notorious rogue who helps him outwit a tyrant landlord in order to find a family treasure and make his way to America.
SEEING REDD by Frank Beddor
Looking glass wars. Summary: When Alyss Heart returns to her rightful place on the throne of Wonderland, she is put to the test as enemies, both inside and outside the borders of her queendom, push their own agendas and wield horrific weapons.
SHOCK POINT by April Henry
Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng is determined to expose her stepfather after learning that he is giving a dangerous experimental drug to his teenaged psychiatric patients, but he sends her to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico in order to keep her quiet
SKIN HUNGER by Kathleen Duey
Resurrection of magic bk. 1. Summary: In alternate chapters, Sadima travels from her farm home to the city and becomes assistant to a heartless man who is trying to restore knowledge of magic to the world, and a group of boys fights to survive in the academy that has resulted from his efforts.
THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS by Tamora Pierce
On visit to Namorn to visit her vast landholdings and her devious cousin, Empress Berenene, eighteen-year-old Sandry must rely on her childhood friends and fellow mages, Daja, Tris, and Briar, despite the distance that has grown between them
