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THE PULL OF GRAVITY by Gae Polisner

July 16th, 2010 by Gae Polisner · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
  • Publisher: Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux
  • Release Date: Spring 2011
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD                         
Nick Gardner is having a rough year. His brother’s a jerk, his big fat dad has hit the road, and his sort-of best friend is dying. When a feverish hallucination puts Nick on a collision course with a water tower, a television news crew, and one Jaycee Amato, a girl with Siberian Husky eyes, his whole life begins to change. Together, they  set out on a secret journey to keep a promise to their dying friend. Will they accomplish what they set out… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Spring · Contemporary · Death · Debut · Family · Farrar, Straus, and Giroux · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Literature · Local · Love · National · New York · Polisner, Gae · Rated PG · Stand-alone · Young Adult

CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING by Tommy Greenwald

July 16th, 2010 by Tommy Greenwald · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2011
  • Publisher: Roaring Brook
  • Release Date: Spring, 2011
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
This is the story of 13-year-old Charlie Joe Jackson, 7th grader, baseball player, B+ student, and all around normal guy. Charlie Joe is also a book-hater. Reading is a drag, and with just a little effort, he has managed to outwit the school's plan of having him plow through book after book. Charlie Joe has had an on-going deal with one his friends in which just a few extra high-value snacks have been exchanged for a full reader's report on the school-assigned book.  It's a system that has worked for him for… Continue reading

Categories: Connecticut · Contemporary · Family · Friendship · Greenwald, Tommy · Humor · Middle Grade · Rated PG · Roaring Brook Press

RIVAL by Sara Bennett Wealer

July 12th, 2010 by Sara Bennett Wealer · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Winter, 2011
  • Publisher: HarperCollins
  • Release Date:  Feb 15, 2011
  • ISBN (hardcover): 9780061827624
  • ISBN (paperback): 9780061827631
SUMMARY: The stage is set for a high-stakes duet between Brooke and Kathryn, two high school seniors preparing for the prestigious Blackmore singing competition. Brooke and Kathryn work toward the Blackmore with eyes not just on first prize but on one another, each still stinging from a past that started with friendship and ended in betrayal. With competition day nearing, Brooke dreams of escaping the in-crowd for life as a professional singer, but her scheming BFF Chloe has other plans. And when Kathryn, an overachieving outcast with an underachieving… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Winter · Arts, Theater, Film · Contemporary · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · HarperCollins Children's Books · Local · Music · Ohio · Romance · Stand-alone · Wealer, Sara Bennett · Young Adult

Island Sting by Bonnie J. Doerr

June 7th, 2010 by Bonnie J. Doerr · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: Leap Books
  • Release Date: January 6, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): 978-1-61603-002-5
Island Sting is a contemporary eco-mystery set in the Florida Keys. Though it is fiction, details about the natural environment and endangered species are authentic. It’s a tale of intrepid teens who change the effects of disappointment and heartache by taking positive action. Kenzie Ryan has been forced to move from New York City to Nana’s cottage on an island in the Florida Keys. Talk about culture shock! She’s been torn away from her circle of lifetime friends at St. Joseph’s Academy for girls, her swim and softball… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Action/Adventure · Animal · Community · Contemporary · Crime · Death · Debut · Divorce · Doerr, Bonnie J. · Ecology/The Environment · Events · Family · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Grief · Leap Books · Local · Middle Grade · Mystery · National · Nature · North Carolina · Rated G · Religion · Science · Stand-alone · Travel · Young Adult

THE BOY WHO HOWLED by Timothy Power

May 24th, 2010 by Timothy Power · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
  • Release Date: October 26, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-1599905099
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
As far back as Callum can really remember, he’s been living in the Wild as the furless mascot of a wolf pack. But when his pack sends him back to live with his own kind—humans—fitting in is quite a challenge. He doesn’t remember English very well, so he accidentally says his name is “Clam.” He’s spent most of his life eating fresh-killed elk, so dining with vegetarians is tricky. And when he tries to impress the Alpha student in the school cafeteria by stealing food… Continue reading

Categories: Action/Adventure · Animal · Bloomsbury · California · Contemporary · Events · Family · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · Power, Timothy · Rated G · Siblings

CLARITY by Kim Harrington

April 26th, 2010 by Kim Harrington · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
  • Publisher: Scholastic Point
  • Release Date: March 1, 2011
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-545-23050-6
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Clarity “Clare” Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch an object and the visions come to her. It’s a gift. And a curse. When a teenage girl is murdered, Clare’s ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case – but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare’s brother – who has supernatural gifts of his own – becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Spring · Crime · Debut · Family · First Love/First Crush · Harrington, Kim · Massachusetts · Mystery · Paranormal · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Scholastic Press · Stand-alone · Young Adult

A BLUE SO DARK by Holly Schindler

April 26th, 2010 by Holly Schindler · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publisher: Flux
  • Release Date: May 1, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): ISBN-10: 0738719269 ISBN-13: 978-0738719269
As A BLUE SO DARK opens, Aura Ambrose struggles to hide a secret.  Her mother, a talented artist and art teacher, is slowly being consumed by schizophrenia, and Aura has been her sole caretaker ever since Aura’s dad left hem.  Convinced that “creative” equals crazy, Aura shuns her own artistic talent.  But as her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet draws Aura toward the depths of her imagination.  Just as desperation threatens to swallow her whole, Aura discovers that… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Arts, Theater, Film · Contemporary · Debut · Events · Family · Flux · Local · Mental Illness · Minnesota · Rated PG-13 · Schindler, Holly · Stand-alone · Young Adult

THE END OF THE LINE by Angela Cerrito

March 15th, 2010 by Angela Cerrito · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring / 2011
  • Publisher: Holiday House
  • Release Date: forthcoming
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Robbie is convinced his life is over. He is sent to Great Oaks, a school for troubled youth that is run like a prison. To get home, he must follow the rules, face the past, and tell the truth. Otherwise, Great Oaks School will really be the end of the line. The Author: Angela Cerrito Location: Germany Angela Cerrito is an author and pediatric physical therapist. She is a recipient of the Kimberly Colen Memorial Grant and the Assistant International Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Living… Continue reading

Categories: 2011 Spring · Action/Adventure · Author Location · Cerrito, Angela · Chapter Book · Contemporary · Crime · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Holiday House · Middle Grade · Mystery · National · Rated G · Stand-alone

STAR IN THE MIDDLE by Carol Larese Millward

February 15th, 2010 by Carol Larese Millward · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Maryland · Millward, Carol Larese · National · Pregnancy · Rated PG-13 · Sexual Abuse · Stand-alone · WestSide Books · Young Adult

IVY’S EVER AFTER by Dawn Lairamore

February 8th, 2010 by Dawn Lairamore · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: Holiday House
  • Release Date: May 15, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-823422-61-6
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
The kingdom of Ardendale has always locked its princesses in a white tower guarded by a dragon. It’s the only way to lure gallant young princes to the tiny, out-of-the-way kingdom to marry them. But Ivy is a princess who doesn’t care to be rescued, and Elridge a dragon afraid of being slain. Neither wants anything to do with Romil, a scheming prince from the frozen North who has his own less than romantic reasons for wanting Ivy’s hand in marriage. Never mind that humans and dragons have… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Action/Adventure · Book Trailer · California · Conformity · Debut · Events · Faeries · Family · Fantasy · Friendship · Holiday House · Humor · Lairamore, Dawn · Local · Magic · Middle Grade · Quest · Rated PG · Stand-alone

BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. by Medeia Sharif

January 18th, 2010 by Medeia Sharif · Email post Email post · Print 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. Coinciding with the holy month is her first major crush with a boy named Peter, whom her best friend Lisa also is in love with. She also has a new enemy at school, catty Shakira Malik, a fellow Muslim who trades barbs with everyone. Her dentist father proclaims that she needs braces. Along with the hectic month her… Continue reading

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

THE WITCHY WORRIES OF ABBIE ADAMS by Rhonda Hayter

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

  • Publication Season/Year: 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… Continue reading

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

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

December 18th, 2009 by Crystal Allen · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Family · Friendship · HarperCollins Children's Books · Humor · Middle Grade · Rated PG · Stand-alone

NIGHTSHADE CITY by Hilary Wagner

December 14th, 2009 by Hilary Wagner · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: October 1st, 2010
  • Publisher: Holiday House
  • Release Date: October 1, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0823422852
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
“Fans of Redwall and the Warriors series will love this heroic tale of good versus evil in a subterranean society of rats. The world of the Catacombs is so compelling readers will wonder if it really might exist under our city streets. Expect great adventures in Nightshade City.” –Rick Riordan, Author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series Deep beneath a modern metropolis lies the Catacombs, a kingdom of remarkable rats of superior intellect. Following the Bloody Coup, the once peaceful democracy has become a dictatorship, ruled… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Fall · Action/Adventure · Age Group · Animal · Author Location · Book Trailer · Debut · Family · Fantasy · Holiday House · Illinois · Middle Grade · Rated G · Rated PG · Stand-alone · Wagner, Hilary

DONUT DAYS by Lara Zielin

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

SHOOTING KABUL by N.H. Senzai

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Summer 2010
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Release Date: June 22, 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 -… Continue reading

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

ROSIE AND SKATE by Beth Ann Bauman

September 4th, 2009 by Beth · Email post Email post · Print 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… Continue reading

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

INCONVENIENT by Margie Gelbwasser

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
  • Publisher: Flux
  • Release Date: November 1, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): N/A
  • ISBN (paperback): 978-0738721484
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… Continue reading

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

TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala

August 7th, 2009 by Holly Cupala · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Drama · Events · Family · First Love/First Crush · Grief · HarperTeen · Literature · Local · Love · National · Peer Pressure · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Secrecy · Stand-alone · Suicide · Washington · Young Adult

FREAKED by J. T. Dutton

June 24th, 2009 by J. T. Dutton · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Drugs · Dutton, J. T. · Events · Family · HarperCollins Children's Books · Humor · Local · National · Ohio · Rated PG-13 · Stand-alone · Young Adult

LIVVIE OWEN LIVED HERE by Sarah Dooley

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall 2010
  • Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
  • Release Date: August 17, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0312612535
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Olivia “Livvie” Owen feels things differently than her parents and two sisters. Livvie is autistic. Her family has had to move repeatedly because of her outbursts. When they again face eviction, Livvie is convinced she has a way to get back to a house where they were all happy, once. The problem is, Livvie burned down that house. But she’s not giving up. Here is her story.
The Author: Sarah Dooley Location: Huntington, West Virginia As a child, Sarah Dooley lived twenty-four different places, including an abandoned post office, a tent… Continue reading

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

LIPSTICK APOLOGY by Jennifer Jabaley

May 24th, 2009 by Jennifer Jabaley · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Georgia · Humor · Jabaley, Jennifer · Local · Love · National · Rated PG-13 · Razorbill · Stand-alone · Young Adult

AROUND OUR WAY ON NEIGHBORS’ DAY by Tameka Fryer Brown

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
  • Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
  • Release Date: August 1, 2010
  • 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 ON NEIGHBORS' DAY 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… Continue reading

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

ANOTHER FAUST by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

May 22nd, 2009 by Dina Nayeri · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Drama · Events · Family · Fantasy · Friendship · Literature · Local · Magic · National · Nayeri, Daniel · Nayeri, Dina · New York · Rated PG · School · Stand-alone · Young Adult

DREAMING ANASTASIA by Joy Preble

May 22nd, 2009 by Joy Preble · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Fantasy · Grief · Preble, Joy · Romance · Sourcebooks · Stand-alone · Texas · Young Adult

THE REINVENTION OF EDISON THOMAS by Jacqueline Houtman

May 7th, 2009 by Jacqueline Houtman · Email post Email post · Print 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 crossing… Continue reading

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

THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF -1 by Steve Brezenoff

May 6th, 2009 by Steve Brezenoff · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Minnesota · Rated R · Stand-alone · Young Adult

BAD GIRLS DON’T DIE by Katie Alender

May 6th, 2009 by Katie Alender · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
  • Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
  • Release Date: April 21, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-1423108764
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy thirteen-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude. When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Alender, Katie · California · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Horror · Hyperion · Local · Mystery · National · Rated PG · Stand-alone · Thriller · Young Adult

BREAK by Hannah Moskowitz

May 6th, 2009 by Hannah Moskowitz · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Maryland · Mental Illness · Moskowitz, Hannah · Rated R · Siblings · Simon Pulse · Stand-alone · Young Adult

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

April 15th, 2009 by Darcy Vance · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Indiana · Local · Minnesota · National · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Simon Pulse · Stand-alone · Tahmaseb, Charity · Vance, Darcy · Young Adult

THE OTHER SIDE OF BLUE by Valerie O. Patterson

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

  • Publisher: Clarion
  • Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
  • Release Date: October 19, 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… Continue reading

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

ME WITH YOU by Kristy Dempsey

March 31st, 2009 by Kristy Dempsey · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
  • Publisher: Philomel
  • Release Date: May 14, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 0399250174
  • ISBN (paperback): 978-0399250170
Here is a special two-some. From tea time to game time, in singing or swinging, in the good times and even in the grumpy ones, this granddaughter knows her grandpa loves her. With simple rhymes and charming illustrations, ME WITH YOU celebrates the sure love between a grandparent and a grandchild. This book celebrates the specialness of the two . . . and the uniqueness of each! The Author: Kristy Dempsey Location: Greenville, SC/Belo Horizonte, Brazil As a child, Kristy Dempsey enjoyed swinging from trees and splashing in the… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · 2009 Summer · Debut · Dempsey, Kristy · Events · Family · Friendship · Philomel · Picture Book · Poetry · Rated G · South Carolina · Stand-alone

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

March 31st, 2009 by Shawn K. Stout · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Maryland · Middle Grade · National · Rated G · Stand-alone · Stout, Shawn K.

THE RISE OF RENEGADE X by Chelsea M. Campbell

March 31st, 2009 by Chelsea M. Campbell · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Egmont USA · Events · Family · Fantasy · Humor · Rated PG-13 · Stand-alone · Superpowers · Washington · Young Adult

THE BEEF PRINCESS OF PRACTICAL COUNTY by Michelle Houts

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
  • 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 · Debut · Delacorte · Events · Family · Friendship · Houts, Michelle · Local · Middle Grade · National · Ohio · Rated G · Stand-alone

GONE FROM THESE WOODS by Donny Bailey Seagraves

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

  • 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 · Debut · Delacorte · Events · Family · Georgia · Local · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · Seagraves, Donny Bailey · Stand-alone · Suicide

MABEL, ONE AND ONLY by Margaret Muirhead

March 4th, 2009 by Margaret Muirhead · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Dial Books for Young Readers · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Massachusetts · Muirhead, Margaret · National · Picture Book · Rated G · Stand-alone

FINDING LINCOLN by Ann Malaspina

March 4th, 2009 by Ann Malaspina · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
  • Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
  • Release Date: September 1, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Louis needs to find a book about President Lincoln for a class report, but the main library is open to whites only. He searches in the small library in the church basement for African Americans, but he can't find any books about presidents.  His parents tell him to be patient.  Some day soon, he'll be allowed to borrow books from the main library, but Louis refuses to wait. The Author: Ann Malaspina Location: Ridgewood, NJ Ann has written many nonfiction books for young people, some of them… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Fall · Albert Whitman · Debut · Events · Family · Historical Fiction · History · Local · Malaspina, Ann · National · New Jersey · Picture Book · Prejudice · Rated G · Stand-alone

JANE IN BLOOM by Deborah Lytton

February 9th, 2009 by Deborah Lytton · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Dutton · Events · Family · Grief · Local · Lytton, Deborah · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · Siblings · Stand-alone

OPERATION REDWOOD by S. Terrell French

February 8th, 2009 by S. Terrell French · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Ecology/The Environment · Events · Family · French, S. Terrell · Friendship · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · Multicultural · National · Nature · Rated G · Stand-alone

CAROLINA HARMONY by Marilyn Taylor McDowell

February 7th, 2009 by Marilyn Taylor McDowell · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Foster Care · Local · McDowell, Marilyn Taylor · Middle Grade · National · Random House · Rated G · Stand-alone · Vermont

BULL RIDER by Suzanne Morgan Williams

January 26th, 2009 by Suzanne Morgan Williams · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
  • Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
  • Release Date: February 24, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4169-6130-7
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Fourteen year old Cam O'Mara is a ranch kid from the sage brush country of central Nevada. He is a skateboarder, not a champion bull rider like his brother Ben, but when Ben joins the Marines and is seriously injured in Iraq, Cam turns to his family traditions and in particular bull riding to overcome his grief and to give his brother hope for a new life. Ellen Fockler, library coordinator for Washoe County School District says: Suzanne Morgan Williams' novel, BULL RIDER, vividly captures life… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Winter · Action/Adventure · Debut · Events · Family · Local · Margaret K. McElderry · Middle Grade · National · Nevada · Stand-alone · Williams, Suzanne Morgan

FAIREST OF THEM ALL by Jan Blazanin

January 26th, 2009 by Jan Blazanin · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Grief · Iowa · Local · MTV Books · National · Rated PG · Stand-alone · Young Adult

DEMONGLASS by Rachel Hawkins

January 7th, 2009 by Rachel Hawkins · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
  • Publisher: Hyperion
  • Release Date: TBD
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Sophie Mercer thought being a teenage witch meant flying broomsticks, talking cats, and awesome spells. Instead, her mom still makes her ride the bus, she's allergic to pet dander, and the one big spell she attempts at prom goes seriously bad-like, Carrie-levels of bad. As a result, Sophie is shipped off to Prentiss Academy, a boarding school for Witches, Shapeshifters, and Faeries. At Prentiss, Sophie discovers that the traumas of regular school have nothing on the goings-on at "Freak High," what with the trio of Dark Witches who want Sophie… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Winter · Alabama · Debut · Family · Fantasy · Friendship · Hawkins, Rachel · Hyperion · Local · Mystery · National · Paranormal · Rated PG · Secrecy · Stand-alone · Young Adult

YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME by Stacey Jay

January 7th, 2009 by Stacey Jay · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Horror · Humor · Jay, Stacey · Local · National · Rated PG-13 · Razorbill · Romance · Stand-alone · Young Adult

Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

January 7th, 2009 by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
  • Publisher: Walker
  • Release Date: February 2, 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… Continue reading

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

SCONES AND SENSIBILITY by Lindsay Eland

January 5th, 2009 by Lindsay Eland · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Egmont USA · Eland, Lindsay · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · National · Rated G · Stand-alone

SEASIDE DREAM by Janet Costa Bates

January 5th, 2009 by Janet Costa Bates · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: Lee and Low Books
  • Release Date: Sep, 30, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Cora keeps watch as presents and family stream through the door. The house is abuzz with aunts, uncles and cousins. Pots and pans are filled with food from their family's native Cape Verde. A big party, birthday cake and all, will take place on the beach.  It seems like her family has thought of everything to celebrate Grandma's 70th birthday but when Cora and Grandma take a nighttime walk on the beach, it is Cora that notices there is something else Grandma needs to make… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Costa Bates, Janet · Debut · Events · Family · Lee and Low Books · Local · Massachusetts · Multicultural · National · Picture Book · Rated G · Stand-alone

BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves

January 5th, 2009 by Dia Reeves · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: Simon Pulse
  • Release Date: January 5, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 1416986189
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
BLEEDING VIOLET summary: Sixteen-year-old Hanna Järvinen is an unusual girl with a head full of hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet full of frilly, violet dresses. Everything a girl needs--except love.  But that's what mothers are for, and Hanna is sure she can reconcile with hers, even though she was abandoned as a baby. Unfortunately, her mother lives in Portero, an odd East Texas town with doors that lead out of the world, flesh-eating creatures, and parasitical spirits--not an ideal environment for winning a… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Debut · Events · Family · Horror · Local · Mental Illness · Monsters · National · Paranormal · Rated · Rated PG-13 · Reeves, Dia · Simon Pulse · Stand-alone · Texas · Young Adult

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z by Kate Messner

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
  • Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
  • Release Date: September 1, 2009
  • 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… Continue reading

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

THE RED UMBRELLA by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

December 9th, 2008 by Christina Diaz Gonzalez · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Summer 2010
  • Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
  • Release Date: May 11, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 0375861904
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
The Red Umbrella is the moving tale of a 14-year-old girl's journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan—an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro's revolution. In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucía Álvarez still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town, everything begins to change. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. Her friends feel like strangers. And her… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Alfred A. Knopf · Debut · Drama · Events · Family · Florida · Friendship · Gonzalez, Christina Diaz · Historical Fiction · History · Local · Middle Grade · Multicultural · National · Stand-alone

TORTILLA SUN By Jennifer Cervantes

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: Chronicle
  • Release Date: May 05, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover):ISBN 9780811870153
The Author: Jennifer Cervantes Location: New Mexico Jennifer was born and raised in San Diego but spent many summers in New Mexico as a child. She didn' t think there was much to do there so she made up lots of adventures and read countless books to pass the time. Somehow, she found her way back to New Mexico (temporarily) to attend college and met a boy, which lead her to make  New Mexico her home (permanently). She lives with her husband, and three daughters (who are great editors and sources of inspiration) spending much of her… Continue reading

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

MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne

November 27th, 2008 by Erin Dionne · Email post Email post · Print 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 shine… Continue reading

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

STUPID CUPID by Rhonda Stapleton

November 27th, 2008 by Rhonda Stapleton · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Local · Love · National · Ohio · Paranormal · Rated G · Rated PG · Romance · Simon Pulse · Stand-alone · Stapleton, Rhonda · Young Adult

Before You Were Here, Mi Amor by Samantha R. Vamos

November 24th, 2008 by Samantha R. Vamos · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
  • Publisher: Viking Children's Books
  • Release Date: March 19, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-670-06301-7
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
BEFORE YOU WERE HERE, MI AMOR is a bilingual children's picture book concerning all the things that one family does to welcome a new child into the world.  The story evokes the warmth and community of family life through the acts of each member of la familia - mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, and grandfather, as well as the family puppy.  The illustrator, Santiago Cohen, enhanced the story with beautifully vibrant and colorful illustrations. BEFORE YOU WERE HERE, MI AMOR is an ideal book… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Author Spotlight · Babies · Bilingual · Book Trailer · Connect · Contests · Debut · Events · Expectant Parents · Family · Local · National · Picture Book · Rated G · Stand-alone · Topic · Vamos, Samantha · Viking Children's Books · Washington

PALACE BEAUTIFUL by Sarah DeFord Williams

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
  • Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
  • Release Date: April 15, 2010
  • 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… Continue reading

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

LEAVING GEE’S BEND by Irene Latham

November 10th, 2008 by Irene Latham · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring  2010
  • Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
  • Release Date: Jan 7, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
Every quilt tells a story. When ten year old Ludelphia Bennett decides to make a quilt for her mama, she thinks it will tell the story of her quiet life in the isolated sharecropper community of Gee's Bend, Alabama. But when Mama gets deathly ill and rumors start flying about the "witches of Gee's Bend," life gets tangled and Ludelphia worries that it's all her fault. Determined to fix things, Ludelphia takes her needle and thread and leaves Gee's Bend for the very first time. Her adventures take… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Action/Adventure · Alabama · Debut · Events · Family · G.P. Putnam's Sons · Historical Fiction · Latham, Irene · Local · Middle Grade · National · Stand-alone · Survival

SLIDING ON THE EDGE by C. Lee McKenzie

November 9th, 2008 by C. Lee McKenzie · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · McKenzie, C. Lee · Middle Grade · National · Romance · Stand-alone · Suicide · WestSide Books · Young Adult

WINNIE’S WAR by Jenny Moss

November 8th, 2008 by Jenny Moss · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
  • Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
  • Release Date: February 3, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0802798190
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
A debut novel set against the backdrop of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Life in Winnie's sleepy town of Coward Creek, Texas, is just fine for her. Although her troubled mother's distant behavior has always worried Winnie, she's plenty busy caring for her younger sisters, going to school, playing chess with Mr. Levy, and avoiding her testy grandmother. Plus, her sweetheart Nolan is always there to make her smile when she's feeling low. But when the Spanish Influenza claims its first victim, lives… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Winter · Debut · Epidemics · Events · Family · Historical Fiction · History · Local · Middle Grade · Moss, Jenny · National · Stand-alone · Texas · Walker Books

ONE WISH by Leigh Brescia

November 2nd, 2008 by Leigh Brescia · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Local · National · North Carolina · Rated PG-13 · Stand-alone · WestSide Books · Young Adult

PERFECT SHOT by Debbie M. Rigaud

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

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

MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter

November 2nd, 2008 by Sydney Salter · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · 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 · Stand-alone · Utah · Young Adult

SECRETS OF TRUTH & BEAUTY by Megan Frazer

November 2nd, 2008 by Megan Frazer · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Frazer, Megan · Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) · Hyperion · Local · Maine · National · Stand-alone · Young Adult

WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS by Fran Cannon Slayton

November 1st, 2008 by Fran Slayton · Email post Email post · Print Print

Every time I go to jump on a steam train as it chugs its way through Rowlesburg -- Every time I throw out my hands to grab the rusty metal rungs and haul myself up onto the side of one of them black coal cars, hoisting my knees up over its churning, screeching wheels -- Every single time I jump on a train -- my heart thumps even noisier in my ears than the clanking of the old iron horse I'm hopping up onto. I love steam trains. I love living in a town that's chock full of 'em. I love being on 'em, being anywhere near 'em. They're as much a part of my life around here as the mountains. Or breathing. But it's a dangerous business, hopping a ride onto a moving train. First off, there's always a right decent chance of getting killed. Second, and about ten thousand times worse, my father might find out. But I'm not like Dad -- I don't mind breaking the rules now and again. Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Action/Adventure · Death · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Grief · Historical Fiction · History · Humor · Local · Middle Grade · Mystery · National · Philomel · Rated PG · Secrecy · Slayton, Fran Cannon · Stand-alone · Virginia · Young Adult

BREATHING by Cheryl Renée Herbsman

October 23rd, 2008 by Cheryl Renee Herbsman · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Herbsman, Cheryl Renee · Local · National · Rated PG · Romance · Stand-alone · Viking Children's Books · Young Adult

STRUTS AND FRETS by Jon Skovron

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2009
  • Publisher: Abrams Amulet
  • Release Date: November 1, 2009
  • 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… Continue reading

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

PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE by Cynthea Liu

October 14th, 2008 by Cynthea Liu · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · 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 · Stand-alone

THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA by Cynthea Liu

October 12th, 2008 by Cynthea Liu · Email post Email post · Print 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 · Debut · Events · Family · Friendship · Illinois · Liu, Cynthea · Local · Multicultural · Music · National · Rated PG · Romance · Speak · Stand-alone · Travel · Young Adult

EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

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

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
  • Release Date: January 1, 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… Continue reading

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

THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

October 10th, 2008 by Kathryn Fitzmaurice · Email post Email post · Print 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 stories of the… Continue reading

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

BEDTIME MONSTER by Heather Ayris Burnell

October 10th, 2008 by Heather Ayris Burnell · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Fall 2010
  • Publisher: Raven Tree Press
  • Release Date: September 16, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934960-03-5
  • ISBN (bilingual hardcover): 978-1-932748-80-2
  • ISBN (bilingual paperback): 978-1-932748-81-9
Paul is just a nice, ordinary kid. Until bedtime that is, when Paul becomes positively monstrous! He whines. He grumbles. He howls. Paul even sprouts long ears, sharp claws, and a great big tail. Paul is a bedtime monster!

Bedtime Monster is the story of a common nighttime occurrence—the bedtime tantrum. Children will perhaps see a tiny bit of themselves in Paul. Parents will empathize with the nighttime struggle to get kids to bed. And everyone will enjoy the humor of Dad’s ‘secret’ reason for

Categories: 2010 Fall · Bedtime · Bilingual · Book Type · Burnell, Heather Ayris · Events · Family · Fantasy · Genre · Humor · Local · Monsters · National · Picture Book · Publication Date · Publisher · Rated G · Raven Tree Press · Stand-alone · Topic · Washington

THE DEMON’S LEXICON by Sarah Rees Brennan

October 9th, 2008 by Sarah Rees Brennan · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
  • Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
  • Release Date: June 2, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-1416963790
Sixteen year old Nick lives in London - but not for long. His family is on the run from magicians because his mother has stolen a powerful charm from them. With his father dead and his mother insane, Nick’s only comfort is his older brother, who protects him. But when his older brother gets marked with a demon sign that means death, it means they must kill a magician to erase the sign. What ensues is a deadly cat and mouse game with the magicians, in which… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Summer · Action/Adventure · Brennan, Sarah Rees · Debut · Events · Family · Fantasy · Local · Magic · Margaret K. McElderry · Monsters · National · Rated PG-13 · Stand-alone · Young Adult · _IRELAND Dublin