Contemporary

We found 106 results.

SOMETHING LIKE HOPE by Shawn Goodman

February 15th, 2010 by Shawn Goodman · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: March 8, 2011
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73939-9
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Shavonne is a fierce and desperate seventeen year-old who finds herself in a large juvenile lockup hundreds of miles from home. She wants to turn her life around before her eighteenth birthday, but her problems seem too big, and time is running out. Amidst corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past, Shavonne must find the courage to fight for a redemption she’s not sure she deserves. The Author: Shawn Goodman Location: Ithaca, NY Shawn Goodman based SOMETHING LIKE HOPE on his experiences working as a psychologist in a… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Spring · Contemporary · Delacorte · Events · Foster Care · Goodman, Shawn · Local · Mental Illness · Multicultural · National · New York · Rated R · Self-esteem/Self-image · Young Adult

STAR IN THE MIDDLE by Carol Larese Millward

February 15th, 2010 by Carol Larese Millward · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: WestSide Books
Release Date: October 26, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934813-13-3 (School ISBN: 978-1-934813-29-4)
ISBN (paperback): TBD

At sixteen, Star Peters is determined to keep her baby, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult each day. Instead of training for her high school’s cross-country team and preparing for her junior year, she is struggling to meet her baby’s needs, while trying to cope with painful, haunting secrets that she’s shared with no one. Wilson Fletcher, the… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Winter · Contemporary · Family · Maryland · Millward, Carol Larese · National · Pregnancy · Rated PG-13 · Sexual Abuse · WestSide Books · Young Adult

OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS by Alexandra Diaz

February 8th, 2010 by Alexandra Diaz · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: December 22, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-60684-034-4
ISBN (paperback): TBD

When a rumor starts circulating that Tara's boyfriend has been with one of the guy cheerleaders, the innuendo doesn't just hurt Tara. It marks the beginning of the end for three lifelong friends. Tara's training for a marathon, but also running from her fear of abandonment from her father. Whitney Blaire seems to have everything, but an empty mansion and absentee parents leave her looking for her own value in the wrong places. And Pinkie has a compulsive need to mother everyone to make up for the mama she's never… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · Contemporary · Diaz, Alexandra · Egmont USA · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) · Humor · National · New Mexico · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Young Adult

SEEDS OF CHANGE by Jen Cullerton Johnson

January 25th, 2010 by Jen Cullerton Johnson · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Release Date: 05-31-2010
ISBN (hardcover): 160060367X, 9781600603679
ISBN (paperback):

SEEDS OF CHANGE is picture book biography of scientist Wangari Maathai, the first African womanand first environmentalist to win a Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004), for her work planting trees in her native Kenya. The Author: Jen Cullerton Johnson Location: Chicago, IL Author Visit Information Jen Cullerton Johnson has contributed to Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World as an author. JEN CULLERTON JOHNSON is a writer, educator, and environmentalist with an MFA in Nonfiction Writing and an MEd in Curriculum Development… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Ecology/The Environment · Events · History · Johnson Cullerton, Jen · Lee and Low Books · Nonfiction · Picture Book · Rated PG

TIME FOR BED, BABY TED by Debra Sartell

January 25th, 2010 by Debra Sartell · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Holiday House
Release Date: March 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 9780823419685
ISBN (paperback): TBD

TIME FOR BED, BABY TED is a sweet bedtime story done in rhyme. With vibrant, lively illustrations by Kay Chorao. It’s time for bed, but where is baby Ted? He’s not baby Ted! Try and guess what he is instead. With a quack, a snack, a cluck and a tuck, a loving father prepares his child for bedtime in this charming story. The Author: Debra Sartell Location: Bay Area, California This is Debra’s bio: In college I studied child psychology, art and theatre. Which somehow led down a crooked path of… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Holiday House · Humor · Picture Book · Rated PG · Sartell, Debra

JUST ADD MAGIC By Cindy Callaghan

January 18th, 2010 by Cindy Callaghan · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin M!x
Release Date: Fall, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

The Author: Cindy Callaghan Location: Wilmington, DE While cleaning the attic one day, Kelly Quinn, a curious sixth grader with a passion for cooking, finds a book of secret recipes bearing a warning: Beware of the Law of Returns. Using the book, Kelly starts a cooking club with her best friends, clumsy roller-skating Darbie and fashionista soccer star Hannah. The dishes from the book are delish, but they seem linked to strange occurrences at home, at school and on the soccer field. Coincidence? Kelly Quinn’s theory: There… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Callaghan, Cindy · Contemporary · Friendship · Humor · Magic · Middle Grade · Mystery · Rated G · Simon & Schuster BFYR

THE BESTEST RAMADAN EVER by Medeia Sharif

January 18th, 2010 by Medeia Sharif · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2011
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Almira Abdul, a Middle Eastern mutt of Syrian and Iranian origins, is fifteen going on sixteen and she’s fasting for Ramadan for the first time ever. She has to redeem herself after the disastrous events of the previous Ramadan, so she forges ahead when she’s surrounded by the temptations of food and the negativity of a cranky grandfather. Coinciding with the holy month is her first major crush with a boy named Peter, whom her best friend Lisa is also in love with. Peter ambiguously cozies up to her as… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Summer · Contemporary · Family · Flux · Friendship · Humor · Multicultural · Rated PG · Religion · Sharif, Medeia · Young Adult

TAKEN BY STORM by by Angela Morrison

December 21st, 2009 by Angela Morrison · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: March 5, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-59514-238-2
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-59514-274-0

Seventeen-year-old Leesie Hunt has rules: No making out. No sex. And definitely no falling for a non-Mormon. She pours all her passion into poetry, thoughts of escaping her tiny town and getting into her dream school, BYU. Then scuba diver Michael Walden arrives in Tekoa and everything changes. He survived a storm that took his parents’ lives, and the world as he knew it. Leesie and Michael couldn’t be more different. His dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above. Yet they are drawn… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Grief · Love · Morrison, Angela · Poetry · Rated PG-13 · Razorbill · Religion · Romance · Young Adult

THE WITCHY WORRIES OF ABBIE ADAMS by Rhonda Hayter

December 21st, 2009 by Rhonda Hayter · Email post · Print

Spring 2010
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 6, 2010
ISBN (hardcover) 978-0-8037-3468-5
ISBN (paperback): TBD

THE WITCHY WORRIES OF ABBIE ADAMS is about a regular eleven-year old girl with normal problems like a really strict fifth-grade teacher. (Meet Miss Linegar. Rhymes with vinegar.) She’s chronically behind in homework, struggling to remember all her lines in the drama club play, and tormented by having to keep a big secret from her very best friend. And on top of all these problems, she’s also a witch and has to deal with outsized crises, like her little brother morphing into a werewolf and… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Dial Books for Young Readers · Events · Family · Fantasy · Hayter, Rhonda · Humor · Magic · Middle Grade · Rated G · Science

HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY by Crystal Allen

December 18th, 2009 by Crystal Allen · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring/Summer 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins – Balzer and Bray
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): [XXX-X-XXXXXX-XX-X or TBD]
ISBN (paperback): [XXX-X-XXXXXX-XX-X or TBD]

Thirteen-year-old LAMAR WASHINGTON is the maddest, baddest most spectacular bowler ever at Striker’s Bowling Paradise. In addition to hanging out at Striker's all summer, Lamar vows to change his image from dud to stud by finding a way to make money and snag a super fine Honey. So when a crafty teenage thug invites him to use his bowling skills to hustle, Lamar seizes the opportunity. As his judgment blurs, Lamar makes an irreversible error, damaging every relationship in… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Summer · Allen, Crystal · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · HarperCollins Children's Books · Humor · Middle Grade · Rated PG

THE LIPSTICK LAWS by Amy Holder

December 14th, 2009 by Amy Holder · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2011
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

At Penford High School, Britney Taylor is queen bee. She dates whomever she likes, rules over her inner circle of friends like Genghis Khan, and can ruin anyone's life as easily as snapping her perfectly manicured fingers. Just ask the unfortunate few who have crossed her. For April Bowers, Britney is also the answer to her prayers. With zero friends and nothing close to a boyfriend, April is so unpopular, kids don't know she exists. That is, until Britney notices her. One lunch spent at Britney's table, and April… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Spring · Body Image · Contemporary · Friendship · Holder, Amy · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt · Humor · Peer Pressure · Rated PG-13 · Young Adult

THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney

December 11th, 2009 by Daisy Whitney · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2010
Publisher: Little Brown
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Some schools have honor codes. Others have handbooks. Themis Academy has THE MOCKINGBIRDS. They're an underground, student-run secret society at the prestigious boarding school and their job is to serve as the judge, jury and prosecution of the students, for the students and by the students. It's about justice, it's about honor, it's about speaking up, with a bit of forbidden romance thrown in! The Author: Daisy Whitney Location: San Francisco, CA By day, Daisy Whitney is a producer, on-air correspondent, podcaster and expert in the new media business. At night, she writes novels for… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Contemporary · Little, Brown · Rated PG-13 · Whitney, Daisy · Young Adult

NICE AND MEAN by Jessica Leader

December 9th, 2009 by Jessica Leader · Email post · Print

Publication: Summer 2010 /li>
Publisher: Aladdin MIX
Release Date: June 8, 2010
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-416991-60-1

In Nice and Mean, Marina is the mean one. Sachi is nice. Marina is Barney's. Sachi is Burlington Coat Factory. It's bad enough that they have to coexist in video class—but now they're being forced to work together on the big semester project. Marina's goal? Expose her wanna-be BFF to the entire middle school as a kiss-up and fashion victim. Sachi's goal? Prove that she's not just another honor-roll Indian student and broaden her classmates' cultural horizons. Work together in harmony? Yeah, that would be no. How can Sachi film… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Summer · Aladdin · Contemporary · Events · Friendship · Humor · Leader, Jessica · Middle Grade · Multicultural · Peer Pressure · School

DONUT DAYS by Lara Zielin

November 2nd, 2009 by Lara Zielin · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Release Date: August 6, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 0399250662
ISBN (paperback): TBD

DONUT DAYS’ main character, Emma, has a lot going on. Her best friend’s not speaking to her, a boy she’s known all her life is suddenly smokin’ hot and in love with her, and oh yes, her evangelical minister parents may lose their church, especially if her mother keeps giving sermons saying Adam was a hermaphrodite. But this weekend Emma’s only focused on Crispy Dream, a hot new donut franchise opening in town, where Harley bikers and Frodo wannabes camp out waiting to be the first… Continue reading

Categories: Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Religion · Young Adult · Zielin, Lara

JUNGLE CROSSING by Sydney Salter

November 2nd, 2009 by Sydney Salter · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall/2009
Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books
Release Date: September 28, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-15-206434-1
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Thirteen-year-old Kat can think of dozens of good reasons not to go on a boring family vacation to hot, grungy Mexico. Number one: missing her friend Fiona’s mini-camp. If she’s not there, she’ll begin eighth grade as a social reject. And it looks like she’s the odd girl out on vacation, too. When Kat’s parents arrange for her and her younger sister, Barb, to go on a teen adventure tour, Barb makes more friends than she does. The only person who will talk to Kat is Nando, a… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Action/Adventure · Contemporary · Events · Friendship · Middle Grade · Rated PG · Salter, Sydney

RUNNING FOR MY LIFE by Ann Gonzalez

October 2nd, 2009 by Ann Gonzalez · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
Publisher: WestSide Books
Release Date: March 25, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934813-00-3
ISBN (paperback): TBD

RUNNING FOR MY LIFE is the powerful story of Andrea McKane, a fourteen-year-old who struggles to cope with her mother's schizophrenia. The book accurately portrays the difficulties a teen faces when dealing with the illness, the abuse and the absence of a psychotic parent. RUNNING FOR MY LIFE shows the effects of mental illness on a family, and a teenager's attempts to manage the… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Friendship · Gonzalez, Ann · Mental Illness · Rated PG · WestSide Books · Young Adult

FREEFALL by Mindi Scott

October 2nd, 2009 by Mindi Scott · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
Publisher: Pulse
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback):TBD

If Seth McCoy had asked his Magic 8-Ball whether he'd ever get his life on track, the answer would have been: Very doubtful. Or maybe: Don't count on it. For too long, Seth's focus was on getting wasted with his band—a pastime that contributed to his reputation as a slacker, a jerk, and an all-out loser. But there's one thing the Magic 8-ball didn't predict: Seth's close friend dying after a night of partying. Scared sober, Seth finally notices a girl who's been there all along: sweet, beautiful, broken Rosetta. She's… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Contemporary · Death · Events · First Love/First Crush · Local · Music · National · Rated R · Scott, Mindi · Simon Pulse · Washington · Young Adult

THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES by Kristina McBride

October 2nd, 2009 by Kristina McBride · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer, 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: May 25, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 1606840851 (isbn13: 9781606840856)
ISBN (paperback): TBD

It’s been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.

For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can’t? How dare she… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Summer · Contemporary · Egmont USA · Events · Friendship · McBride, Kristina · Ohio · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Young Adult

CHANGE OF HEART by Shari Maurer

September 8th, 2009 by Shari Maurer · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: WestSide Books
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

CHANGE OF HEART: When you’re 16 years old, it never occurs to you that you might die. Emmi Miller’s got a fabulous life. She has tons of friends, does great in school and is an all-star soccer player who played in Europe last summer. It even looks like Sam Hunter, a totally cute baseball player, might be interested in her. And then she… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Friendship · Local · Love · Maurer, Shari · National · New York · Rated PG-13 · Sports · WestSide Books · Young Adult

SHOOTING KABUL by N.H. Senzai

September 8th, 2009 by N.H. Senzai · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: June, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

SHOOTING KABUL is about the power of hope, love and perseverance. In early 2001, Fadi and his family hide in a sheltered teashop in a border town between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Staring at the full moon, Fadi recalls the first line of the tattered book he’d found in the black-market, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – “Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away...” Fadi hopes that his family’s escape will be successful - if it… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Summer · Action/Adventure · Contemporary · Family · Middle Grade · Multicultural · Rated PG · Senzai, N.H. · Simon & Schuster BFYR

ROSIE AND SKATE by Beth Ann Bauman

September 4th, 2009 by Beth · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, Random House
Release Date: August 11, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73735-7
ISBN (paperback): TBD

ROSIE AND SKATE is about two sisters, ages 15 and 16, in a New Jersey shore town. When their dad, a “nice drunk,” lands himself in jail, they cope in different ways. Skate and her boyfriend Perry are inseparable, until he goes off to Rutgers leaving her behind. Rosie is drawn to a boy in her support group. Within the embrace of their warmhearted community, the girls find hope for the future. The Author: Beth Ann Bauman Location: New York, NY Beth Ann Bauman is… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Author Spotlight · Bauman, Beth Ann · Contemporary · Events · Family · Interviews · Local · National · New York · Random House · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Young Adult

INCONVENIENT by Margie Gelbwasser

August 26th, 2009 by Margie Gelbwasser · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Alyssa Bondar’s world is falling apart. She has just entered her sophomore year at Glenfair High, the only place to hang out is behind the CVS, Keith her cross-country crush keeps sending her mixed signals, and her best friend Lana has started the school year with large breasts and a sexy attitude–-attracting the attention of the most popular kids in the school, a group Alyssa clearly doesn’t fit into. Alyssa’s Jewish, like most of Glenfair, but since she’s also Russian, Alyssa feels even more separated from… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Contemporary · Events · Family · Flux · Friendship · Gelbwasser, Margaret · Local · Multicultural · National · New Jersey · Rated PG-13 · Young Adult

BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver

August 7th, 2009 by Lauren Oliver · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: March 2, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061726804
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world’s most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the parking lot to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last. Then she gets a chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Death · Events · Friendship · HarperTeen · Local · National · New York · Oliver, Lauren · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Suicide · Young Adult

TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala

August 7th, 2009 by Holly Cupala · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: June 22, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061766664
ISBN (paperback): TBD

It’s tough, living in the shadow of a dead girl… In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own. Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Connect · Contemporary · Cupala, Holly · Death · Drama · Events · Family · First Love/First Crush · Grief · HarperTeen · Literature · Local · Love · National · Peer Pressure · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Secrecy · Suicide · Washington · Young Adult

EXCLUSIVELY CHLOE by J.A. Yang

July 6th, 2009 by J.A. Yang · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Speak
Release Date: May 14, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): none
ISBN (paperback): 978-0142412268

Chloe-Grace can’t help it—she’s spectacular. How could she not be with celebrity parents who have been the queen and king of Hollywood for years? And Chloe is a celebrity all unto herself as well— she’s the first celebrity-adopted kid in Hollywood. But now Chloe’s sixteen, and she is tired of every undesired moment of the world’s attention. She wonders what it would be… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Adoption · California · Contemporary · Divorce · Drama · Events · Local · National · Rated PG · Romance · Societal Pressure · Speak · Yang, J.A. · Young Adult

Freaked by J. T. Dutton

June 24th, 2009 by J. T. Dutton · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: March 17, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): ISBN-13: 978-0061370793
ISBN (paperback): TBD

FREAKED is about 15 year old prep school student Scotty Loveletter, ardent fan of the Grateful Dead. Facing a difficult meeting with his mother who is America’s best known sex self-help expert, Scotty road trips to a Dead show. The Author: J. T. Dutton Location: Cleveland, Ohio J. T. Dutton was raised on a horse farm in Northwest Connecticut until attending Skidmore College. After receiving a BA in English and spending a little time not knowing what she wanted to do with her life… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Winter · Contemporary · Drugs · Dutton, J. T. · Events · Family · HarperCollins Children's Books · Humor · Local · National · Ohio · Rated PG-13 · Young Adult

THE MARK by Jen Nadol

June 24th, 2009 by Jen Nadol · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: January 19, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 1599904314
ISBN (paperback): 978-1599994313

Sixteen-year old Cassie Renfield has seen the mark since forever: a glow around certain people as if a candle were held behind their back. The only time she pointed it out taught her she shouldn’t do it again, so Cassie has kept quiet, considering its rare appearances odd, but insignificant. Until she watches a man die. Mining her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today. Cassie searches her past, her philosophy lessons, even her new boyfriend for answers, always careful to… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · Bloomsbury · Contemporary · Death · Events · Local · Nadol, Jen · National · New York · Paranormal · Quest · Rated PG · Young Adult

LIVVIE OWEN LIVED HERE by Sarah Dooley

June 1st, 2009 by Sarah Dooley · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2010
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Go ahead. Look through the windows of any house in Nabor. It won't take you more than a couple of blocks to find Livvie Owen's name written on a wall. That's because Livvie, who has autism, has gotten the Owens evicted from over twenty homes in the town of Nabor. Of course her family doesn't say it's her fault. But Livvie can sense it in the stares of the landlords and her growing isolation from her family. The options now are few: move out of town or… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Contemporary · Dooley, Sarah · Events · Family · Fiewel & Friends · Learning Disabilities · Middle Grade · North Carolina · Poverty · Rated PG · Siblings

LIPSTICK APOLOGY by Jennifer Jabaley

May 24th, 2009 by Jennifer Jabaley · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: August 6, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 1595142312
ISBN (paperback): 978-1595142313

Four little words written in lipstick mean Emily must say goodbye to everything she knows. Emily Carson has always been a good girl. So when she throws a party the night her parents leave for vacation, she's sure she'll get busted. What Emily doesn't know is that her parents will never return. That their plane will go down. And the only thing… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · Georgia · Humor · Jabaley, Jennifer · Local · Love · National · Rated PG-13 · Razorbill · Young Adult

AROUND OUR WAY by Tameka Fryer Brown

May 22nd, 2009 by Tameka Fryer Brown · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-8109-8971-9

It's a beautiful, cloudless summer day--perfect for the annual neighborhood celebration. Everything is running smoothly...until Momma burns the food! AROUND OUR WAY is a lyrical, rhyming picture book; a contemporary story about a young girl's love for her close-knit, diverse community. The Author: Tameka Fryer Brown Location: Charlotte, NC Tameka Fryer Brown has gone from medical supply sales rep, to stay-at-home mom, to (now) children's book author. She has worked with children of all ages in various church and volunteer organizations, and as a Teacher's Assistant at her children's Montessori school (ages 3-6) . AROUND OUR WAY… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Abrams Books · Brown, Tameka Fryer · Community · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · Local · Multicultural · National · North Carolina · Picture Book · Rated G

ANOTHER FAUST by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

May 22nd, 2009 by dnayeri · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: August 25, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-763637-07-1
ISBN (paperback): TBD

One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish - only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city's most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor's extraordinary "gifts." At once chilling and wickedly… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Candlewick Press · Contemporary · Drama · Family · Fantasy · Friendship · Literature · Local · Magic · National · Nayeri, Daniel · Nayeri, Dina · New York · Rated PG · School · Young Adult

DREAMING ANASTASIA by Joy Preble

May 22nd, 2009 by Joy Preble · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2009
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release Date: September 1, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): 978-1402218170

Sixteen year old Anne thinks her life is pretty ordinary - until she smacks into handsome, mysterious, and okay, annoying Ethan on her way to chemistry class. Now Anne has powers she doesn't understand, a history altering mission she may not want, and a growing attraction to this blue-eyed stranger. And Ethan - who at eighteen made some choices he's starting to… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Contemporary · Family · Fantasy · Grief · Preble, Joy · Romance · Sourcebooks · Texas · Young Adult

LOSING FAITH by Denise Jaden

May 7th, 2009 by Denise Jaden · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: fall, 2010
Publisher: Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster
Release Date: September 7, 2010
ISBN (paperback): 978-1416996095

In LOSING FAITH: When Brie's sister, Faith, dies in a fall from a cliff, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood, Brie must also contend with increasingly distant parents, her boyfriend's betrayal, and her sudden outcast status at school. And once she's over the initial shock of Faith's death, Brie is… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Contemporary · Grief · Jaden, Denise · Local · National · Rated PG · Religion · Siblings · Simon Pulse · Young Adult · _CANADA British Columbia

THE REINVENTION OF EDISON THOMAS by Jacqueline Houtman

May 7th, 2009 by Jacqueline Houtman · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Season Spring 2010
Publisher: Front Street
Release Date: March 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-59078-708-3
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Eddy Thomas can read a college physics book, but he can't read the emotions on the faces of his classmates at Drayton Middle School. He can spend hours tinkering with an invention, but he can't stand more than a few minutes in a noisy crowd, like the crowd at the science fair, which Eddy fails to win. When the local school… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Bullies · Contemporary · Family · Front Street Books · Houtman, Jacqueline · Learning Disabilities · Middle Grade · Science · Wisconsin

THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF -1 by Steve Brezenoff

May 6th, 2009 by Steve Brezenoff · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Release Date: September 1, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Three Long Island friends, whose lives unravel dramatically and suddenly, face false love, vanishing families, and lost life in their sophomore year. Lily, the math goddess, finds herself deep in her own number-raddled mind, with nowhere else to seek comfort; Noah, the pot dealer, sees the mistakes of his elders in everyone around him; and Simon, the former track star, faces a… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Brezenoff, Steve · Carolrhoda · Contemporary · Death · Family · Friendship · Minnesota · Rated R · Young Adult

THE WITCH’S ALPHABET (IRON CODEX VOL. 1) by Caitlin Kittredge

May 6th, 2009 by Caitlin Kittredge · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2010
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical-born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Delacorte · Fantasy · Friendship · Kittredge Caitlin · Local · Love · National · Rated PG-13 · Siblings · Washington · Young Adult

BREAK by Hannah Moskowitz

May 6th, 2009 by Hannah Moskowitz · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer, 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: August 25, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): N/A
ISBN (paperback): 978-1416982753

Jonah is on a mission to break every bone in his body. Everyone knows that broken bones grow back stronger than they were before. And Jonah wants to be stronger-needs to be stronger, because his family is falling apart around his bickering parents, his allergic-to-everything brother, and the screaming new baby. Maybe if he breaks and heals enough times, he'll show… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Contemporary · Family · Maryland · Mental Illness · Moskowitz, Hannah · Rated R · Siblings · Simon Pulse · Young Adult

THIS TREE COUNTS! by Alison Formento, illustrated by Sarah Snow

April 20th, 2009 by alison ashley formento · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Release Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-8075-7890-2
ISBN (paperback): TBD

In THIS TREE COUNTS! there's only one tree behind Oak Lane School. It needs friends. Before Jake and his friends in Mr. Tate's class plant new trees, they first listen to the story the old tree has to share. The Author: Alison Ashley Formento Location: New Jersey Alison Ashley Formento counts and plants trees with her family in New Jersey. Besides… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Albert Whitman · Animal · Contemporary · Counting · Ecology/The Environment · Formento, Alison Ashley · Local · National · New Jersey · Picture Book · Rated G · Seasons

THE GEEK GIRL’S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance

April 15th, 2009 by Vance Darcy · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: May 19, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): N/A
ISBN (paperback): 1416978348

When Bethany -- self-proclaimed geek girl -- makes the varsity cheerleading squad, she realizes that there's one thing worse than blending in with the lockers: getting noticed. She always felt comfortable as part of the nerd herd, but being a member of the most scrutinized group in her school is weighing her down like a ton of textbooks. Even her Varsity… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Indiana · Local · Minnesota · National · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Simon Pulse · Tahmaseb, Charity · Vance, Darcy · Young Adult

THE OTHER SIDE OF BLUE by Valerie O. Patterson

March 31st, 2009 by Valerie O. Patterson · Email post · Print

Publisher: Clarion
Release Date: Fall 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-547-24436-5
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Fifteen-year-old Cyan, named after the color blue by her artist mother, feels blue in all its shades, when she returns to the Caribbean one year after the loss of her father, drowned in an inexplicable boating accident. Expected to play host to a potential stepsister, Cyan's past and future seem colored by mystery. Did her mother drive her father away? If he killed himself, why didn't he leave her a note to help her understand? And what is she to make of the ice bucket and shattered champagne glasses found on… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Arts, Theater, Film · Clarion · Contemporary · Family · Grief · Local · Mystery · National · Patterson, Valerie O. · Rated PG-13 · Virginia · Young Adult

FIONA FINKELSTEIN, BIG-TIME BALLERINA! by Shawn K. Stout

March 31st, 2009 by Shawn K. Stout · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2009
Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: September 8, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Nine-year-old Fiona Finkelstein has a chance to become a Big-Time Ballerina-to dance on a real stage with a real curtain!--and the only thing standing in her way is a flat out awful case of stage fright. With a mom who's a soap opera actress, a father who's a TV meteorologist, and a little brother who thinks he's a superhero, Fiona's family seems to be full of natural performers. But Fiona can't figure out why she didn't get their cool-as-a-creamsicle genes. FIONA FINKELSTEIN, BIG-TIME BALLERINA! is illustrated by… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Aladdin · Arts, Theater, Film · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Maryland · Middle Grade · National · Rated G · Stout, Shawn K.

THE RISE OF RENEGADE X by Chelsea M. Campbell

March 31st, 2009 by Chelsea M. Campbell · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: May 11, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1606840603
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Summer · Campbell, Chelsea M. · Contemporary · Egmont USA · Family · Fantasy · Humor · Rated PG-13 · Superpowers · Washington · Young Adult

THE BEEF PRINCESS OF PRACTICAL COUNTY by Michelle Houts

March 31st, 2009 by Michelle Houts · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009 /li>
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: April 14, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0385735841
ISBN (paperback): TBD

After years of waiting, it's finally Libby Ryan's turn to shine at the Practical County Fair. Libby is filled with excitement as she raises two calves in hopes of winning the annual steer competition. Against her father's advice, Libby gives the calves names, even though both steers will eventually be sold. What's the big deal? She's lived her whole life on a cattle farm. After a few months of preparing for the Practical County Fair, Libby finds that she is growing closer to her steers with… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Animal · Contemporary · Delacorte · Events · Family · Friendship · Houts, Michelle · Local · Middle Grade · National · Ohio · Rated G

GONE FROM THESE WOODS by Donny Bailey Seagraves

March 4th, 2009 by Donny Bailey Seagraves · Email post · Print

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Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: August 25, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73629-9
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Eleven-year-old Daniel Sartain didn't want to go hunting with Uncle Clay that cold November morning. But he went. Now he feels like a monstrous villain in one of his comic books as he tries to cope with the guilt after accidentally killing his beloved uncle. Mom tries to hold the family together with her comfort and love. Mrs. Hardy, Daniel's guidance counselor at school, offers a sanctuary in her office as she tries to help Daniel survive after losing his role model and best friend… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Contemporary · Death · Delacorte · Events · Family · Georgia · Local · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · Seagraves, Donny Bailey · Suicide

MABEL, ONE AND ONLY by Margaret Muirhead

March 4th, 2009 by Margaret Muirhead · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 2, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-8037-3198-1
ISBN (paperback): TBD

The only kid on her block, Mabel can usually count on her grown-up neighbors for a game or two. Not today, though. Everyone is busy, and Mabel is a bit lonely . . . until she and her canine sidekick, Jack, think up idea after idea. There's one-footed roller-skating and Super Ball bowling and enough rambunctious fun that even the grown-ups wonder what they're missing. All they have do is ask Mabel, a brand-new character who may just be the favorite cousin of… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Dial Books for Young Readers · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Massachusetts · Muirhead, Margaret · National · Picture Book · Rated G

THE SECRETS OF THE CHEESE SYNDICATE by Donna St. Cyr

March 4th, 2009 by Donna St. Cyr · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2009
Publisher: CBAY Books
Release Date: August 4, 2009
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933767-10-9

Robert Montasio didn't think his day could get any worse until his sister drinks a bizarre soda that causes her to start shrinking. Robert's only hope is a mysterious organization known as the Secret Cheese Syndicate. Unfortunately, they can't help without a special cheese that has been lost for years. Now, with a tiny little sister in his pocket, Robert has to travel the world to find the Mystic Cheese of Eliki and, perhaps, discover secrets from his family's past. The Author: Donna St. Cyr Location: Baton Rouge, LA I… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · CBAY Books · Contemporary · Events · Fantasy · Humor · Local · Louisiana · Middle Grade · Mythology · National · Rated G · Secrecy · Siblings · St. Cyr, Donna

JANE IN BLOOM by Deborah Lytton

February 9th, 2009 by Deborah Lytton · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books
Release Date: March 19, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-525-42078-1
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Jane's big sister Lizzie has always been the center of attention. No one ever pays attention to boring, plain Jane. But when Jane's twelfth birthday marks the beginning of Lizzie's final descent into a fatal eating disorder, Jane discovers that the only thing harder than living in her big sister's shadow, is living without her. In the wake of tragedy, Jane learns to look through her camera lens and frame life differently, embracing her broken family and understanding that every girl has her season… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · California · Contemporary · Dutton · Events · Family · Grief · Local · Lytton, Deborah · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · Siblings

ANIMAL HOUSE by Candace Ryan

February 9th, 2009 by Candace Ryan · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Jeremy lives in a "gorvilla," but his teacher doesn't believe him. Can Jeremy keep his "lamprey" and "vulchair" on their best behavior when Mrs. Nuddles makes a home visit, or will he earn his "third strike" and not get to go on the class field trip? The Author: Candace Ryan Location: Los Angeles, CA Candace Ryan lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son. She's a stay-at-home Mom/picture book author, but in a former life, she taught secondary Special Education for 9… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · Animal · California · Contemporary · Humor · Local · National · Picture Book · Rated G · Ryan, Candace · School · Walker Books

OPERATION REDWOOD by S. Terrell French

February 8th, 2009 by S. Terrell French · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: April 22, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-8109-8354-0
ISBN (paperback): TBD

"SIBLEY CARTER IS A MORON AND A WORLD-CLASS JERK!!!" When Julian Carter-Li intercepts an angry e-mail meant for his high-powered uncle, it sets him on an environmental adventure. His uncle's company plans to log an ancient redwood grove and it's up to Julian and a clever group of friends to stop them. Filled with humor and surprising plot twists, OPERATION REDWOOD is an environmental page-turner with a multi-cultural cast of characters. It touches on the unique history of California's redwoods and the complexities of civil… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Action/Adventure · Amulet · California · Contemporary · Ecology/The Environment · Events · Family · French, S. Terrell · Friendship · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · Multicultural · National · Nature · Rated G

CANDOR by Pam Bachorz

February 8th, 2009 by Pam Bachorz · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: September 22, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-606840-12-2
ISBN (paperback): TBD

In a town where his father brainwashes everyone, Oscar Banks has found a way to secretly fight the subliminal Messages. But when he falls in love, he must choose whether to let Nia be lost to brainwashing or to sacrifice himself. The Author: Pam Bachorz Location: Washington, DC Pam Bachorz grew up in a small town in the Adirondack foothills, where she participated in every possible performance group and assiduously avoided any threat of athletic activity. With a little persuasion she will belt out tunes from "The Music… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Bachorz, Pam · Conformity · Contemporary · District of Columbia · Egmont USA · Events · Local · Love · National · Science Fiction · Young Adult

THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU by Heather Duffy Stone

February 7th, 2009 by Heather Duffy Stone · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN (paperback): TBD

The stories people tell are always about the things we left behind, and about the things we wish we could do again. The real story isn't about what you know; it's about what you wish you knew then. When my brother and my best friend fell in love-that was the end of everything I knew. Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection-and as Noelle's best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Drugs · Events · Flux · Friendship · Love · Mental Illness · New York · Stone, Heather Duffy · Young Adult

WINK! THE NINJA WHO WANTED TO BE NOTICED by J. C. Phillipps

February 7th, 2009 by J. C. Phillipps · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: March 19, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-670-01092-9
ISBN (paperback): TBD

WINK! THE NINJA WHO WANTS TO BE NOTICED is about a young ninja student named Wink. He wants is to prove to his teacher, Master Zutsu, that he is an awesome ninja. But when Wink practices of the art of stealth and blends into his surrounds, no one notices him at all. And Wink wants to be noticed. After Wink is kicked out of the Summer Moon… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Connecticut · Contemporary · Events · Humor · Local · National · Phillipps, J.C. · Picture Book · Rated G · Self-esteem/Self-image · Viking Children's Books

CAROLINA HARMONY by Marilyn Taylor McDowell

February 7th, 2009 by Marilyn Taylor McDowell · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Press, Random House
Release Date: March 10, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73590-2
ISBN (library binding): 978-0-385-90575-6

It is the summer of 1964, and Carolina is a runaway hiding out at Harmony Farm, nestled in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Harmonys, Mr. Ray and Miss Latah, are treating Carolina as their own. Carolina yearns to belong, but she figures considering herself part of a family again is just wishful thinking. Carolina is holding her secrets close while the Harmonys patiently wait to hear her story. But she is caught between her past and her present. For nine years she lived easy… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Action/Adventure · Contemporary · Events · Family · Foster Care · Local · McDowell, Marilyn Taylor · Middle Grade · National · Random House · Rated G · Vermont

THE MONSTER VARIATIONS by Daniel Kraus

February 7th, 2009 by Daniel Kraus · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer, 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: August 11, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 9780385737333
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Someone is killing boys in a small town. The murder weapon is a truck, and the only protection is a curfew enacted to keep kids off the streets. But it's summer-and that alone is worth the risk of staying out late for James, Willie, and Reggie. Willie, who lost his arm in the first hit-and-run attack, finds it hard to keep up with his two best friends as they leave childhood behind. All of them are changing, hounded by their parents, hunted by the killer, and haunted… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Book Trailer · Contemporary · Crime · Delacorte · Events · Friendship · Horror · Illinois · Kraus, Daniel · Local · National · Thriller · Young Adult

A MATCH MADE IN HIGH SCHOOL by Kristin Walker

January 26th, 2009 by Kristin Walker · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: May 14, 2009
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-59514-257-3

When a mandatory course forces Fiona to "try the knot" with super-jock Todd Harding, she's convinced life could not possibly get any worse. Until moments later, when her long-time crush is paired with her arch-enemy (otherwise known as Todd's obscenely hot, slightly sadistic girlfriend). But that's nothing compared to her best friend's fate - a year with the very shy, very goofy, very big Johnny Mercer. A series of hilarious pranks and misunderstandings leave Fiona wondering: is there something her supposed "best friend" hasn't told her? Could there be more… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Contemporary · Events · Friendship · Humor · Illinois · Local · National · Rated PG-13 · Razorbill · Romance · School · Walker, Kristin · Young Adult

THE RING by Bobbie Pyron

January 26th, 2009 by Bobbie Pyron · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: WestSide Books
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

In THE RING, fifteen-year-old Mardie is on a downhill slide as she tries to fit in at high school. She sneaks out of the house, drinks, and lies. After she hits rock bottom, she discovers an unlikely place of acceptance and salvation: the boxing ring and the other "misfits" who train in the ring for there own reasons. Through months of training, Mardie learns to focus and believe… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Action/Adventure · Contemporary · Local · National · Pyron, Bobbie · Self-esteem/Self-image · Siblings · Sports · Utah · WestSide Books · Young Adult

FAIREST OF THEM ALL by Jan Blazanin

January 26th, 2009 by Jan Blazanin · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: MTV Books
Release Date: April 21, 2009
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-4165-7993-9

Fifteen-year-old Oribella Bettencourt has a perfect life. She's a dancer, a model, and star of the beauty queen circuit. With her mother guiding her career, she's on the fast track to stardom when a Hollywood producer comes to Des Moines looking for a beautiful girl with lustrous golden hair to play a major role in his new movie. And Oribella fits that description perfectly. So what if she doesn't have any friends or anyone to talk to except her mother? She's on the brink of having all her… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Blazanin, Jan · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Grief · Iowa · Local · MTV Books · National · Rated PG · Young Adult

PROPHECY OF DAYS, BOOK ONE: THE DAYKEEPER’S GRIMOIRE by Christy Raedeke

January 26th, 2009 by Christy Raedeke · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

PROPHECY OF DAYS, BOOK ONE: THE DAYKEEPER'S GRIMOIRE is the story of Caity Mac Fireland, a funny, tech-savvy girl from San Francisco whose parents drag her to an isle off the coast of Scotland to manage some family property. Caity finds that a Mayan relic is concealed there, intentionally left centuries ago by Mayan Daykeepers in an attempt to keep their profound knowledge about the year 2012 alive into the current era. As she delves into this world of secret knowledge, Caity is… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Action/Adventure · Contemporary · Flux · Local · Mystery · National · Oregon · Raedeke, Christy · Young Adult

INITIATION by Susan Fine

January 26th, 2009 by Susan Fine · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN (paperback): TBD

What comes from stuffing eight hundred blue-blazered boys into one school, where fifteen floors filled with classrooms and libraries and lunchrooms and science labs stack and bury desperate boys right on top of each other? That's what freshman Mauricio Londoño discovers, along with a few things about Macbeth and geometry, during his first long year at the St. Stephen's School for Boys in New York City. The Author: Susan Fine Location: Chicago After many years in New York City, Susan Fine said goodbye to Zabar's and Gray's Papaya in search of an… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Fine, Susan · Flux · Friendship · Illinois · Local · National · Rated R · Young Adult

HAVEN by Beverly Patt

January 8th, 2009 by Beverly Patt · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Blooming Tree Press
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933831-24-4

With his Christmas wish for an ATV dashed, Rudy Morris isn't sure how he fits into his family anymore. Latonya Dennis just wants a family to fit into. Their paths cross on Christmas Day, when Latonya ends up as the annual orphan at the Morris household. But Latonya doesn't disappear from their lives the day after Christmas like the other orphans have. She pulls Rudy and his best friend, Stark, into a scheme to fix up a rusty, old ATV and use it to help her run away from… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Blooming Tree Press · Contemporary · Foster Care · Friendship · Humor · Illinois · Local · Middle Grade · National · Patt, Beverly · Rated G

TMI by Sarah Quigley

January 7th, 2009 by Sarah Quigley · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books
Release Date: April 16, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0525479086
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Friends call Becca the Overshare Queen, but her tendency for TMI never seemed like a problem to her until she blabs about her sweet band-geek boyfriend's sloppy kisses-and gets dumped! Realizing it may be better to resist the temptation to overshare face-to-face, Becca decides to blog anonymously about everything instead. On her blog, Too Much Information, Becca unleashes her alter ego, Bella. Bella tells it like it is . . . though perhaps with a bit more drama. After all, no one's going to read… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · California · Contemporary · Dutton · Events · Friendship · Humor · Local · National · Quigley, Sarah · Rated PG · Romance · Young Adult

ALL UNQUIET THINGS by Anna Jarzab

January 7th, 2009 by Anna Jarzab · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: January 12, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 0385738358

ALL UNQUIET THINGS centers around the murder of teen heiress Carly Ribelli, who was found shot to death a mile from her house in a wealthy Northern California suburb. Carly's uncle, a dissolute alcoholic, was convicted of the crime, but a year later his daughter still doesn't believe her father is guilty. Determined to prove his innocence, Audrey Ribelli contacts Carly's ex-boyfriend, Neily Monroe, the boy who found Carly's body. She is convinced that he knows more than he thinks about the events that led up to Carly's death. Despite… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Crime · Delacorte · Friendship · Jarzab, Anna · Local · Mystery · National · New York · Young Adult

YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME by Stacey Jay

January 7th, 2009 by Stacey Jay · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: January 22nd, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): N/A
ISBN (paperback): 978-1595142252

Q: HOW MANY ZOMBIES DOES IT TAKE TO RUIN A SOCIAL LIFE? A: NOT MANY. Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a whole bunch of semi-dead people with killer issues. All Megan really wants is to go to homecoming, but when you're trailed by a bunch of slobbering corpses whenever you leave the house, it's kinda hard to score a date. Let's just say Megan's love life could use some major resuscitation. Megan's convinced her life can't get any worse -… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Winter · Arkansas · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Horror · Humor · Jay, Stacey · Local · National · Rated PG-13 · Razorbill · Romance · Young Adult

Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

January 7th, 2009 by cjomololu · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
Publisher: Walker
Release Date: February 2010
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

When 16 year-old Lucy comes home to find her mother dead under a stack of National Geographics in their garbage-filled home, she hesitates as she starts to dial 911. She hardly notices the mountains of stuff that fill every available space in the entire house or smells the decay anymore - but she knows the paramedics will, and so will the news cameras that will follow. They'll notice the garbage and the smell and wonder how anyone ever lived like this. Only freaks live like this. As she stares… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · California · Contemporary · Family · Jaynes Omololu, Cynthia · Local · Mental Illness · National · Rated PG-13 · Secrecy · Walker Books · Young Adult

SCONES AND SENSIBILITY by Lindsay Eland

January 5th, 2009 by Lindsay Eland · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: February 14, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Polly Madassa is convinced she was born for a more romantic time. A time when Elizabeth Bennet and Anne of Green Gables walked along the moors and beaches of the beautiful land, a time where a distinguished gentleman called upon a lady of quality and true love was born in the locked eyes of two young lovers. But alas, she was not. This, however, does not stop our young heroine from finding romance wherever she can conjure it up. So while Polly is burdened with a summer job of… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Colorado · Contemporary · Egmont USA · Eland, Lindsay · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · National · Rated G

DULL BOY by Sarah Cross

January 5th, 2009 by Sarah Cross · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books
Release Date: May 14, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-525421-33-7
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Superpowers are awesome - unless you actually have them, like Avery does. There's only so much he can pass off as "adrenaline" before people start to get suspicious. Probably it's best to lie low, so guys in white lab coats don't come to carry him away, to find out what makes his freakish body tick. Who wants to be vivisected? But flying under the radar becomes a whole lot harder when you can actually fly. It's dangerous to be different, so for now he'll pretend… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Contemporary · Cross, Sarah · Dutton · Fantasy · Friendship · Local · National · New York · Self-esteem/Self-image · Superpowers · Young Adult

PRADA & PREJUDICE by Mandy Hubbard

January 5th, 2009 by Mandy Hubbard · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: June 11, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 1595142606
ISBN (paperback): 978-1595142603

Fifteen-year-old Callie buys a pair of real Prada pumps to impress the cool crowd on a school trip to London. Goodbye, Callie the clumsy geek-girl, hello popularity! But before she knows what's hit her, Callie wobbles, trips, conks her head... and wakes up in the year 1815! She stumbles about until she meets the kind-hearted Emily, who takes Callie in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. Sparks soon fly between Callie and Emily's cousin, Alex, the maddeningly handsome-though totally arrogant-Duke of Harksbury. Too… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Contemporary · Friendship · Historical Fiction · Hubbard, Mandy · Local · Love · National · Razorbill · Romance · Washington · Young Adult

DANI NOIR by Nova Ren Suma

January 5th, 2009 by Nova Ren Suma · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: September 22, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4169-7564-9
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Life is nothing like a noir movie. Or so you think. Fade in on thirteen-year-old Dani Callanzano. It's the summer before eighth grade, and Dani's stuck in her nowhere mountain town with only her favorite noir mysteries at the Little Art Movie Theatre to keep her company. But when a big secret invades the scene in real life, Dani decides to bring the truth to light. Armed with a vivid imagination, a flair for the dramatic, and her knowledge of all things Rita Hayworth, Dani sets out to solve… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Aladdin · Arts, Theater, Film · Contemporary · Divorce · Events · Friendship · Local · Middle Grade · Mystery · National · New York · Rated PG · Suma, Nova Ren

THE CINDERELLA SOCIETY by Kay Cassidy

January 5th, 2009 by Kay Cassidy · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: April 13, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-60684-017-7
ISBN (library binding): 978-1-60684-062-7

When the prom queen becomes your fairy godmother... Sixteen year old outsider, Jess Parker, gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join a secret girl power society dedicated to defeating the mean girls of the world. The Cinderella Society guides all new recruits through its top secret ultimate life makeover. It’s all part of preparing them to face down the Wickeds and win. Determined not to let the Cindys down, Jess dives in with a passion. Finally, a chance to belong and… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Bullies · Cassidy, Kay · Contemporary · Egmont USA · Indiana · Local · National · Peer Pressure · Rated PG · Romance · Self-esteem/Self-image · Young Adult

OTTO GROWS DOWN by Michael Sussman

January 5th, 2009 by Michael Sussman · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Sterling
Release Date: February 3, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4027-4703-8
ISBN (paperback): TBD

What would it be like if time went backwards? One unlucky little boy is about to find out! Otto has just one birthday wish: that his new baby sister Anna had never been born. And it comes true when the days suddenly start moving in reverse. But now, instead of growing up, Otto's growing DOWN. He's getting younger every minute and in danger of disappearing entirely. Can he turn things around before it's too late-for Anna and himself? OTTO GROWS DOWN challenges children to think in new ways as they… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Action/Adventure · Contemporary · Humor · Local · Massachusetts · National · Picture Book · Rated G · Sussman, Michael

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z by Kate Messner

December 12th, 2008 by Kate Messner · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Gianna Zales has a lot on her plate this fall - a father who drives her to school in the family hearse, a mother who's turned into the junk food police, a little brother who thinks he's a member of the paparazzi, and a grandmother who leaves false teeth in the refrigerator. Worst of all, she's left her 7th grade leaf collection to do at the last minute. It's a monster project, and Gianna will miss cross-country sectionals if she doesn't meet the deadline… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Messner, Kate · Middle Grade · National · New York · Rated G · School · Walker Books

TORTILLA SUN By Jennifer Cervantes

December 9th, 2008 by Jen Cervantes · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Chronicle
Release Date: May 05, 2010
ISBN (hardcover):ISBN 9780811870153

"Sometimes you can't see the magic. You just know it's there because you can feel it." Tortilla Sun -- When twelve-year-old Izzy discovers a beat-up baseball marked with the words "Because…magic" while unpacking in yet another new apartment, she is determined to figure out what it means. What secrets does this old ball have to tell? Her mom certainly isn't sharing any—especially when it comes to Izzy's father, who died before Izzy was born. But when she spends the summer in her Nana's remote New Mexico village, Izzy discovers long-buried

Categories: 2010 Spring · Cervantes, Jennifer · Chronicle · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · Local · Middle Grade · Multicultural · National · New Mexico · Rated G · Young Adult

SEA by Heidi R. Kling

December 9th, 2008 by Heidi R. Kling · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer, 2010
Publisher: Putnam
Release Date: June 10, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0399251634
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother's disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father's volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met. She knows they can't be together, so why can't she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Summer · Action/Adventure · California · Contemporary · Events · G.P. Putnam's Sons · Grief · Kling, Heidi R. · Local · Love · National · Natural Disaster · Romance · Young Adult

THE FOURTH STALL by Chris Rylander

December 9th, 2008 by Chris Rylander · Email post · Print

THE FOURTH STALL by Chris Rylander

Publication Season/Year: 2011
Publisher: Harpercollins
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Christian "Mac" Barrett is a fifth grade "Godfather" who runs a business operation out of the fourth stall of the boy's bathroom and has the answer to everyone's problems -- be it help with a bully, test answers, candy, or even dates with girls. But his business is threatened when Staples, a bookie and high school dropout, sets up shop in Mac's school. Now Mac has to deal not only with the day-to-day problems of running his business, but also a legendary villain and… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Action/Adventure · Aladdin · Bullies · Contemporary · Crime · Espionage · Events · Friendship · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · National · North Dakota · Rated PG · Rylander, Chris · Sports

FORGET HER NOTS by Amy Brecount White

December 6th, 2008 by Amy Brecount White · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release Date: March 2, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-06-167298-9
ISBN (paperback):TBD

When someone leaves three mystery flowers outside her dorm door, Laurel thinks that maybe the Avondale School isn't so awful after all -- until her own body starts to freak out. In the middle of her English presentation on the Victorian Language of Flowers, strange words pop into her head, and her body seems to tingle and hum. Impulsively, Laurel gives the love bouquet she made to demonstrate the language to her spinster English teacher. When that teacher unexpectedly and immediately finds romance, Laurel suspects that something -- something magical -- is… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Fantasy · Friendship · Greenwillow Books · Local · Magic · National · Romance · Virginia · White, Amy Brecount · Young Adult

MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne

November 27th, 2008 by Erin Dionne · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: February, 2009
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Release Date: February 5, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0803734-35-7
ISBN (paperback): 978-0-803732-96-4

Thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris is no string bean, but comfy sweatpants and a daily chocolate cookie suit her just fine. Her under-the-radar lifestyle could have continued too, if her aunt hadn't entered her in the HuskyPeach Modeling Challenge. To get out of it, she's forced to launch Operation Skinny Celeste-because, after all, a thin girl can't be a fat model! What Celeste never imagined was that losing weight would help her gain a backbone . . . or that all she needed to… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Dial Books for Young Readers · Dionne, Erin · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Massachusetts · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · Self-esteem/Self-image

STUPID CUPID by Rhonda Stapleton

November 27th, 2008 by Rhonda Stapleton · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: December, 22, 2009
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-4169-7464-2

Felicity's no ordinary matchmaker...she's a cupid! Felicity Walker believes in true love. That's why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid's Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn't just a matchmaker...she's a cupid! (There's more than one of them, you know.) Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Contests · Events · Family · Friendship · Local · Love · National · Ohio · Paranormal · Rated G · Rated PG · Romance · Simon Pulse · Stapleton, Rhonda · Young Adult

THE NAUGHTY LIST by Suzanne Young

November 27th, 2008 by Suzanne Young · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Release Date: 02/04/2010
ISBN (paperback): 1595142789
Preorder available: Here
Series-The Naughty List: Book 1

Junior class president Tessa Crimson is the captain of the Smitten Kittens—the Wildcats cheerleading squad. But when Washington High experiences a break-out of make-outs, Tessa and her girls create a secret snooping society to catch the cheaters in the act. The Naughty List. Is your boyfriend on it? The Author: Suzanne Young Location: Oregon

Suzanne Young is an author, wife and mother of two. Originally from Utica

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Humor · Local · National · Oregon · Rated PG · Razorbill · Romance · Young Adult · Young, Suzanne

NOTHING LIKE YOU by Lauren Strasnick

November 24th, 2008 by Lauren Strasnick · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: October 20, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4169-82647
ISBN (paperback): TBD

When Holly loses her virginity to Paul, a guy she barely knows, she assumes their encounter is a one-night stand. After all, Paul is too popular to even be speaking to Holly… and he happens to have a long-term girlfriend, Saskia. But ever since Holly's mom died six months ago, Holly has been numb to the world, and she's getting desperate to feel something, anything—so when Paul keeps pursuing her, Holly relents. Paul's kisses are a welcome diversion… and it's nice to feel like the kind of… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · California · Contemporary · Events · Friendship · Grief · Infidelity · Local · National · Rated PG-13 · Simon Pulse · Strasnick, Lauren · Young Adult

PALACE BEAUTIFUL by Sarah DeFord Williams

November 24th, 2008 by Sarah Williams · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Thirteen-year-old artist and dreamer Sadie, her little sister Zuzu, and new best friend Belladonna Desolation meet in a secret attic room to vicariously live the experiences a girl recorded in a journal hidden there during the flu epidemic of 1918. The Author: Sarah DeFord Williams Location: Salt Lake City, UT Sarah DeFord Williams lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her husband and three kids. She has been writing all her life and has a special fondness for children's literature. In addition to writing and spending time with her… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · Contemporary · Epidemics · Family · Friendship · G.P. Putnam's Sons · Historical Fiction · Local · Middle Grade · National · Siblings · Utah · Williams, Sarah Deford

SLIDING ON THE EDGE by C. Lee McKenzie

November 9th, 2008 by C. Lee McKenzie · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: WestSide Books
Release Date: April 24, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-934813-06-5
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Shawna Stone is sixteen going on twenty-five. Already deeply scarred, she has learned to survive with a tough attitude and a thin blade. Her journey is destined to be short. SLIDING ON THE EDGE enters the world of a desperate teen and her disillusioned grandmother, each with secrets that stir mutual distrust. As these two unlikely companions struggle to co-exist we are reminded that the human spirit has the capacity to overcome even the deepest suffering. The Author: C. Lee McKenzie Location: Los Gatos, CA A native Californian, C. Lee McKenzie… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · California · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · McKenzie, C. Lee · Middle Grade · National · Romance · Suicide · WestSide Books · Young Adult

HARMONIC FEEDBACK by Tara Kelly

November 8th, 2008 by Tara Kelly · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Henry Holt BYR
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Doctors have pinned 16-year-old Drea Horvath with everything from ADHD to Asperger's Syndrome. She has an obsession with sound design, a tendency to blurt out whatever she's thinking, and a problem making friends, but likes to think of this as following her own rhythm in a confusing world. Drea is hesitant to befriend purple-haired Naomi Quinn, her teenage neighbor with a kamikaze personality. But Naomi is the first person to treat her like she isn't a world class dork. Then there's Justin Rocca, the persistent boy in her… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Conformity · Contemporary · Death · Drugs · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Henry Holt BFYR · Kelly, Tara · Learning Disabilities · Local · Music · National · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Societal Pressure · Washington · Young Adult

WINGS by Aprilynne Pike

November 8th, 2008 by Aprilynne Pike · Email post · Print

Publisher: Harper Collins/Harper Teen
Release Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061668036
ISBN (paperback): TBD

WINGS is the first of four books about an ordinary girl named Laurel who discovers she is a faerie sent among humans to guard the gateway to Avalon. When Laurel is thrust into the midst of a centuries-old battle between faeries and trolls, she's torn between a human and a faerie love, as well as her loyalties to both worlds. The Author: Aprilynne Pike Location: Spanish Fork, Utah Aprilynne Pike has been spinning faerie stories since she was a child with a hyper-active imagination. At the age of twenty she received… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Faeries · Fantasy · HarperTeen · Local · National · Pike, Aprilynne · Rated PG · Utah · Young Adult

FAERY REBELS: SPELL HUNTER by R.J. Anderson

November 7th, 2008 by R.J. Anderson · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Release Date: April 28, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061554742
ISBN (paperback): 978-0061554749

Youngest and boldest of all the faeries of the Oak, Knife fearlessly battles the savage crows and other predators who threaten her dying people. But when she strikes up a forbidden friendship with a human named Paul, she arouses the wrath of the powerful Faery Queen herself. With the help of some unexpected allies, Knife sets out to solve the mystery of the Oakenfolk's missing magic - but she soon discovers that the truth may cost her everything... Also available in the UK as KNIFE in… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Action/Adventure · Anderson, R.J. · Contemporary · Events · Faeries · Fantasy · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · HarperCollins Children's Books · Local · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · _CANADA Ontario

ONE WISH by Leigh Brescia

November 2nd, 2008 by Leigh Brescia · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Westside Books
Release Date: April 23, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934813-05-8
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Overweight Wrenn Scott desperately wants to be popular and snag a hot boyfriend. Living with her single mom and younger sister, Karly, she lands a lead role in the high school musical, her voice for once overshadowing her weight. Pushing to get thinner by opening night, Wrenn's waistline shrinks as she learns all the wrong ways to lose weight from a new "it-girl" friend in the show. Meanwhile, her mom is falling for Phil, "a balding Channel 8 News-nerd"; her sister is wrapped up in her… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Body Image · Book Trailer · Brescia, Leigh · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Local · National · North Carolina · Rated PG-13 · WestSide Books · Young Adult

THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN by Josh Berk

November 2nd, 2008 by Josh Berk · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter (January) 2010
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 10, 2010
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Children's librarian Josh Berk's debut young adult novel, set in coal mining Pennsylvania and narrated with sardonic humor by a boy who is overweight, deaf, and a little cranky. In his first year at mainstream high school, the incomparable Will Halpin begrudgingly solves a murder and uncovers a secret truth about his family history. The Author: Josh Berk Location: Allentown, PA Josh has written about everything from fine art to punk rock for little 'zines and big newspapers. The child of two librarians… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · Alfred A. Knopf · Berk, Josh · Contemporary · Humor · Local · Mystery · National · Pennsylvania · Rated PG-13 · Young Adult

PERFECT SHOT by Debbie M. Rigaud

November 2nd, 2008 by Debbie Rigaud · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: December 1, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

London Abrams is all about spiking volleyballs, not wearing spike heels. But in one ker-azy moment, she signs up for a modeling contest as an excuse to meet its cute photography intern. Never in a million years did London expect to get selected as a finalist. Before she knows it, she's in an online reality show competition against 14 super chic chicks--including her childhood frenemy. As the lone (read: token) sporty girl, London feels way out of her league and wants to quit. But when the cutie photo… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · 2009 Winter · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Multicultural · National · New Jersey · Rated G · Rigaud, Debbie M. · Romance · Self-esteem/Self-image · Simon Pulse · Young Adult

SHRINKING VIOLET by Danielle Joseph

November 2nd, 2008 by Danielle Joseph · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: MTV
Release Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN (paperback): 978-1416596967

Shrinking Violet is about high school senior, Tere Adams and her one dream-to be a DJ. By day she is paralyzed when she has to talk to people, but at night, she rocks, doing mock broadcasts in her bedroom. Her confidence is further eroded by her mom, who still sees Tere as the chubby, pale kid, the other children called Snowball. Mom thinks that Tere's dreams are just silly fantasies, but her new husband, Rob, offers Tere an internship at his top-forty radio station. Her best friend, Audrey, the only… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Florida · Friendship · Humor · Joseph, Danielle · Local · MTV Books · National · Rated PG · Self-esteem/Self-image · Young Adult

MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter

November 2nd, 2008 by Sydney Salter · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Harcourt
Release Date: April 1, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): 978-0152066437

It's the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future--and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she's determined for Super Schnozz to… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Author speaking availability · Body Image · Contemporary · Events · Family · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt · Humor · Local · National · Nevada · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Salter, Sydney · Self-esteem/Self-image · Utah · Young Adult

SECRETS OF TRUTH & BEAUTY by Megan Frazer

November 2nd, 2008 by Megan Frazer · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: July 7, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4231-1711-7
ISBN (paperback): TBD

When Dara Cohen was little, she wasn't just a star in her parent's eyes, she was crowned Little Miss Maine. That was then. Now Dara's seventeen, and she's not so little anymore. So not little that when her classmates find out about the pageant, their jaws drop. Add to that a control-freak Mom, and a barely there Dad. Yet what hurts Dara the most is the family secret: Dara has an older sister her parents tried to erase from their lives. When a disastrously misinterpreted English project… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Body Image · Contemporary · Events · Family · Frazer, Megan · Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) · Hyperion · Local · Maine · National · Young Adult

TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler

November 1st, 2008 by Sarah Ockler · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown
Release Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-316-05159-0
ISBN (paperback): TBD

For Anna Reiley and Frankie Perino, the ingredients for the Absolute Best Summer Ever are simple: Two girls. Two bikinis. And twenty days in Zanzibar Bay, California. The best part? According to Frankie, if they meet one boy every day, there's a good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the fun, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie... she's already had her romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death last year. TWENTY BOY SUMMER is… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Contemporary · Events · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Grief · Little, Brown · Local · National · New York · Ockler, Sarah · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Young Adult

BREATHING by Cheryl Renée Herbsman

October 23rd, 2008 by Cheryl Renee Herbsman · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: April 16, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-670-01123-0
ISBN (paperback): TBD

What if the guy who took your breath away was the only one who could help you breathe? Savannah would be happy to spend the summer in her coastal Carolina town lying in a hammock reading her beloved romance novels and working at the library. But then she meets Jackson. Once they lock eyes, she's convinced he's the one-her true love, her soul mate, a boy different from all the rest. And at first it looks like Savannah is right. Jackson abides by her mama's strict rules… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · California · Contemporary · Events · Family · Herbsman, Cheryl Renee · Local · National · Rated PG · Romance · Viking Children's Books · Young Adult

CRASH INTO ME by Albert Borris

October 23rd, 2008 by albertborris · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: July 2009
ISBN-10: 1416974350
ISBN-13: 978-1416974352

CRASH INTO ME is a road trip like none you've ever imagined in which four troubled teens embark on a cross-country trek to visit the gravesites of celebrity suicides. Along the way, they bond over their own dark impulses prior to their planned demise in Death Valley. A darkly funny novel, the story combines the intensity of human desperation with the unpredictability of teens on the open road. The Author: Albert Borris Location: Moorestown, NJ Albert Borris is a national award-winning student assistance counselor. A licensed alcohol and drug counselor, Albert specializes in working with… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Borris, Albert · Contemporary · Friendship · Local · National · New Jersey · Simon Pulse · Suicide · Travel · Young Adult

STRUTS AND FRETS by Jon Skovron

October 19th, 2008 by Jon Skovron · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2009
Publisher: Abrams Amulet
Release Date: TBD
ISBN (hardcover): TBD
ISBN (paperback): TBD

More than anything, Sammy wants to play guitar in a famous indie rock band. The problem is that his front man is a jerk who can't sing, his bassist is a burn-out who can't remember the songs, and his drummer is just out to lunch. But Sammy needs this band because it's the only good thing he's got going. His father skipped out before he was born, his mother is an overworked therapist with a drinking problem, his grandfather is slowly losing… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Alzheimer's · Amulet · Contemporary · District of Columbia · Family · Humor · Local · Music · National · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Skovron, Jon · Young Adult

SOUL ENCHILADA by David Macinnis Gill

October 16th, 2008 by David Macinnis Gill · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins
Release Date: April 7, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 0061673013
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Bug Smoot was thirteen years old when her grandfather put her soul up as collateral on his dream car --a classic 1958 Cadillac Biarritz. Now, five years later, Papa C is dead and buried, and Bug is trying to make it on her own by delivering pizzas and staying one step ahead of her landlord. And then the repo man arrives. Only Mr. Beals--stinking to high heaven of rotten eggs and sporting leathery wings--is not just any repo man...just as Pesto, Bug's longtime unrequited crush, is… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Events · Gill, David Macinnis · Greenwillow Books · Local · National · North Carolina · Paranormal · Young Adult

PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE by Cynthea Liu

October 14th, 2008 by Cynthea Liu · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Release Date: June 11, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0399250439
ISBN (paperback): TBD

Twelve-year-old Paris Pan’s life is a mess. She’s just moved to a tiny town in Nowheresville, Oklahoma; her family life is a comical disaster; her new friends are more like frenemies; and the boy she has a crush on is a dork. Things couldn’t possibly get worse, until she discovers that a girl mysteriously died years ago while taking a seventh-grade rite of passage–the Dare– right near Paris’s new house. So when Paris starts hearing strange noises coming from the creepy run-down shed in her backyard… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · G.P. Putnam's Sons · Humor · Illinois · Liu, Cynthea · Local · Middle Grade · Multicultural · Mystery · National · Paranormal · Quiz/Discussion Guide/Activity · Rated PG

SHINE, COCONUT MOON by Neesha Meminger

October 12th, 2008 by Neesha Meminger · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1416954958
ISBN (paperback): 1416954953

Samar--a.k.a. Sam--is an Indian-American teenager whose mom has kept her away from her old-fashioned family. It's never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a demanding boyfriend. But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam's house--and turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam is eager, but when boys attack her uncle, chanting "Go back home, Osama!," Sam realizes she could be

Categories: 2009 Spring · Author Videos · Book Trailer · Contemporary · Events · Local · Margaret K. McElderry · Meminger, Neesha · Multicultural · National · New York · Rated PG · Young Adult · _CANADA Ontario

THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA by Cynthea Liu

October 12th, 2008 by Cynthea Liu · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
Publisher: Speak Puffin
Release Date: February 19, 2009
ISBN (paperback): 978-0142411346

Chinese-born Cece was adopted when she was two years old by her American parents. Living in Texas, she’s bored of her ho-hum high school and dull job. So when she learns about the S.A.S.S. program to Xi’an, China, she jumps at the chance. She’ll be able to learn about her passion—anthropology—and it will give her the opportunity to explore her roots. But when she arrives, she receives quite a culture shock. And the closer she comes to finding out about her birth parents, the more apprehensive she gets. Enter… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Adoption · Book Trailer · Contemporary · Events · Family · Friendship · Illinois · Liu, Cynthea · Local · Multicultural · Music · National · Rated PG · Romance · Speak · Travel · Young Adult

THE SECRET YEAR by Jennifer R. Hubbard

October 10th, 2008 by writerjenn · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Viking Children's Books
Release Date: TBD
ISBN: 978-0670011537

Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They've never told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends, and especially not Julia's boyfriend.When Julia dies suddenly, Colt tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew her. He discovers a journal she left behind. But he is not prepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay the price for the secrets he's kept. The Author: Jennifer R. Hubbard Location… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Contemporary · Death · Hubbard, Jennifer R. · Local · National · Pennsylvania · Secrecy · Viking Children's Books · Young Adult

EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

October 10th, 2008 by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Release Date: January 2010
ISBN: 0-545-09676-6

Reginald Garvey McKnight created a superhero character in kindergarten; now he dreams of being a real-life leading man: The Guy who's got game and gets The Girl. Instead, he threw up on the first day of school. In front of everyone. Eighth grade has gone downhill ever since. In EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO, Reggie wonders why things are so bad if God is so good; his faith at all levels is challenged by his friendships, his work at a homeless shelter, and a pair of "Dora The Explorer" shoes. Reggie's involvement… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Arthur A. Levine Books · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · Local · Middle Grade · Multicultural · National · New York · Perkovich, Olugbemisola Rhuday · Rated PG · Self-esteem/Self-image · Young Adult

THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

October 10th, 2008 by Kathryn Fitzmaurice · Email post · Print

Publication Season/Year: Winter, 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins/The Bowen Press
Release Date: February 3, 2009
ISBN (Trade): 978-0-06-162497-1
ISBN (Library): 978-0-06-162499-05

Eleanor "Groovy" Robinson loves cooking and plans to go to culinary school just as soon as she's old enough. But even Groovy's thoughtfully planned menus won't fix the things that start to go wrong the year she turns eleven. Suddenly, her father is in jail, her best friend's long absent mother reappears, and the swallows that make their annual migration to her hometown arrive surprisingly early. As Groovy begins to expect the unexpected, she learns about the importance of forgiveness and starts to understand the complex… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · 2009 Winter · Activitiy/Craft · Animal · Author Videos · Book Trailer · Bowen Press · California · Contemporary · Events · Family · Fitzmaurice, Kathryn · Food · Friendship · Local · Middle Grade · National · Nature · Rated G

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