INSIGHT by Diana Greenwood

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release Date: April 15, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 0310723140
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Some secrets won’t let you go.

Elvira Witsil lives about as far away from civilization as you can get, in a remote corner of Wisconsin where nothing much ever happens. In a house crowded with her mother, her cantankerous grandmother, and her little sister, Jessie, Elvira feels forgotten and alone.

Their house also contains numerous secrets, and Elvira’s family holds their secrets closely. Secrets about the father that Jessie never knew, and that Elvira can’t forget. Secrets about that day five years ago. And the one secret that Elvira can’t quite understand: that Jessie sees things no one else can see.

These secrets will lead Elvira and her family on a journey far away from home—on a journey toward redemption and healing—if she can just bring herself to believe.

Tía Isa wants a car. Something big enough for the whole family when they’re together. A special car to take them all the places where the bus cannot go. But how can a girl and her tía find the money – and where will they find that one special car?

Stupid Fast is the story of Felton Reinstein, a fifteen-turning-sixteen-year-old in a rural Wisconsin town whose sudden growth spurt turns him from a small, sad, jumpy, picked-on kid (called squirrel nut) to a powerful athlete.  In Felton’s voice, speaking from his bedroom in the middle of the night, we learn of his broken home, his mother’s intensifying depression, his little brother’s pirate-clothed struggles, and the seeming root of all trouble – his father’s suicide ten years earlier, against the back-drop of his growing athletic success, his first love – a young African-American pianist named Aleah, and growing relationships with the same kids who tortured him through-out his childhood.  As his home crumbles, literally and figuratively, Felton finds triumph on the field born of real kindness from new friends, from the support he’s given by Aleah and her father, from his once estranged grandmother’s rescue mission, and, most importantly, from his new understanding of his father, his self, and his potential for both destruction and magnificence.  Stupid Fast asks us to know ourselves, to be compassionate, and to be unremittingly passionate about what we love.

Travis Stephenson is a 19-year-old Marine on leave after his first deployment to Afghanistan, struggling with PTSD, a disintegrating family, and friendships that no longer fit. When his path crosses that of Harper Gray, a girl whose reputation he trashed with a middle school lie, Travis feels like he’s found something to hold onto–someone who helps him feel normal. Whatever that means.

SHOES FOR ME! by Sue Fliess

• Publication Season/Year: Spring/2011
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books, Pinwheel Books
• Release Date: March 1, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0761458258

When Hippo realizes her feet have grown, she and Mom set off to buy new shoes. Hippo tries on every pair until she finally finds the perfect shoes for her.

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Release Date: January 1, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0545162159
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Lucy Wu, aspiring basketball star and interior designer, is on the verge of having the best year of her life.  When her dad invites a long-lost aunt in China to come visit, her plans are ruined – or are they?  Like the Chinese saying that events that appear to be good or bad luck often turn out to be quite the opposite, Lucy finds that while she may not get the “perfect” year she had planned, she can create something better.

Lucy’s relationship with her great-aunt, Yi Po, gets off to a rocky start when Lucy’s floundering Chinese skills causes her to misinterpret an innocent comment.  Slowly, though, the two develop a powerful connection as Lucy discovers Yi Po’s difficult past and Yi Po helps Lucy with her own problems.  When Lucy’s hopes of leading the sixth-grade basketball team to victory are threatened by an unscrupulous rival, it is Yi Po who helps tip back the scales of justice.  In the end, Lucy does get much of what she wanted – but finds that nothing is the same because of Yi Po.

THE SWEETEST THING by Christina Mandelski

• Egmont USA
• Release Date: May 10, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-60684-253-9
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

In the world of Sheridan Wells, life is perfect when she’s decorating a cake. Unfortunately, everything else is a complete mess: her mom ran off years ago, her dad is more interested in his restaurant and the idea of a boyfriend is laughable.

But Sheridan is convinced finding her mom will solve all of her problems – only her dad’s about to get a cooking show in New York, which means her dream of having her family back together will be dashed. Using just the right amount of romance, family and cute boys, THE SWEETEST THING will entice fans with its perfect mixture of girl-friendly ingredients.

PULL by B. A. Binns

• Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
• Publisher: WestSide Books
• Release Date: October 27, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934813-43-0
• ISBN (paperback): [TBD]

The world implodes for seventeen-year-old David when his father kills his mother. Guilt over his inability to protect her drives him to dedicate his life to fulfilling her last wishes for him – that he complete high school and attend college. But he is happier working with his hands than sitting in classrooms that feel like prison cells. David deals with homework and hormones that draw him ever closer to Yolanda, the school’s “IT” girl, who means trouble because she’s also bad boy Malik’s girlfriend. When Yolanda and David get together, sparks fly, leading Malik to threaten David’s freshman sister. David’s problems converge as he struggles to rescue his sister without resorting to violence, and then has to choose between his mother’s dreams for him and his own dream of working with his hands for a mentor he has grown to admire.

OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

• Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2011
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Release Date: January 11, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73901-6
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Ari Mitchell feels invisible at her Brooklyn high school. Her hair is too flat, her style too preppy, and her personality too quiet. And outside school, Ari feels outshined by her beautiful, confident best friend, Summer. Their friendship is as complex and confusing as Ari’s relationship with her troubled older sister, Evelyn, a former teenage mom whose handsome firefighter husband fills Ari’s head with guilty fantasies.

When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York—and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn’t think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari’s family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future. Meanwhile, Summer warns her that what she feels for Blake is just an infatuation. Not real love. But Ari’s world is awash with new colors, filled with a freshness and an excitement she hasn’t felt in years.

When misfortune befalls Blake’s family, he pulls away, and Ari’s world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

MOONGLASS is a contemporary YA novel about a girl who, years after her mother’s death, gets a fresh start in a new seaside town. She seems to be outrunning the past, but discovers that the sea glass she wears around her neck is not just a token of her mother’s memory but a connection to the very stretch of water she now calls home.

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 for, or merely discover the beauty of Steinbeck, the crappy truth about plans and a few small facts about gravity? The Pull of Gravity is a coming-of-age story about first love, friendship, and the true nature of family.

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 years. But 7th grade is different than the past and suddenly Charlie Joe’s scheme backfires on him with far-reaching and hilarious consequences. It would have been easier to just read the book in the first place.

RIVAL by Sara Bennett Wealer

• 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 college savings account, gets an unlikely invitation to Homecoming, she suspects Brooke of trying to sabotage her with one last public humiliation.

As pressures mount, Brooke starts to sense that the person she hates most might just be the best friend she ever had. But Kathryn has a decision to make. Can she forgive, or are some rivalries for life?

ISLAND STING by Bonnie J. Doerr

• 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 teams, and her rapid-fire city life.

On her first day in the Keys, Kenzie rescues a drowning animal with the help of Angelo, a young Cuban-American local, whose rock-star face and savvy attitude are as exotic to Kenzie as her new environment. She learns the animal is an tiny endangered  Key deer that was chased into the canal by a poacher’s hound. But there’s more trouble on the island than the senseless slaughter of an endangered species: trap thefts threaten fishermen’s livelihoods; boaters destroy sea grass habitats; discarded garbage on land and sea kills wildlife. And Kenzie thought this place would be dull…

Kenzie and Angelo make a pact to expose the vicious deer killer and clean up the environment. They recruit a team, organize Keys Teens Care, plan an environmental cleanup crusade, and wage a dangerous undercover operation to solve the Key-deer-killer mystery. Though they work with a team to tackle their mission, each silently deals with traumatic loss. Throughout the investigation, Angelo and Kenzie experience a confusing magnetic attraction while struggling with cultural differences. But bit by bit they learn how much they have in common, and as Angelo and Kenzie work to protect the fragile tropical environment and its wildlife, both begin the slow process of healing.

Book Trailer

THE BOY WHO HOWLED by Timothy Power

• 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, people seem offended!