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Keturah and Lord Death

2008-12-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

Sixteen year old Keturah uses the art of storytelling to resist the call of death - but how long can her stories prolong her life?

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

2008-02-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

If Naomi wouldn't have gone back for the yearbook camera, she wouldn't have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn't have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her “Chief.” She'd know about her mom's new family. She'd know about her dad's fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future. Will and Naomi left the decision of who gets the camera to the toss of a coin. Naomi picked heads. She lost the coin toss and her memories as well.
E. Schaarschmidt

Fix

2008-02-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Cameron and Allie are sisters. Cameron and Allie inherited big noses from their father, but other than that, they both have the good looks of their mother, formerly a rather famous model. When Cameron turned fifteen, her life changed completely. For the better, according to her. She got a nose job. She turned gorgeous, moved to a new school, and now she's so much more popular! Gone are the days when she used to called Beakface.

Allie's mother feels that she needs the same birthday present Cameron got: a nose job. It made Cameron a much happier person, and who wouldn't want that for their other daughter? Problem is, nobody asked Allie.
E. Schaarschmidt

Th1rteen R3asons Why

2008-02-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

When Clay Jenson plays the casette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah's voice and going to the locations she wants him to visit. The message about how we treat one another makes for compelling reading.

Gentlehands

2008-02-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Buddy Boyle lives year-round with his family in unfashionable Seaville, New York, in a cramped little house on the bay. Skye Pennington spends the summers nearby on lavish estate complete with ocean view and a butler named Peacock.

But Skye and Buddy fall in love anyway. And every once in a while they visit Buddy's estranged grandfather, who makes them forget they're from opposite sides of town. Then a reporter appears, searching for a man known as Gentlehands, a man with a horrifying past. Who is Gentlehands? And what is his connection to Buddy's handsome, aristocratic grandfather? The mystery threatens to shatter Buddy and Skye's relationship, and change their lives forever.

The Society of S

2008-02-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Ariella Montero's mother vanished the day she was born, leaving her to the care of her overprotective scientist father, who homeschools her and limits her contact with the outside world. Only when she reaches adolescence does Ari discover that her special diet and insular home life set her apart from her peers. Her father's confession that he was vampirized shortly before marriage, and that Ari can choose whether to be undead like him or mortal like mom, set her off on a road trip that eventually brings her to her mother and into an understanding of tough truths about her family.

Stargirl

2008-02-10T10:48:00.001-08:00

"She was homeschooling gone amok." "She was an alien." "Her parents were circus acrobats." These are only a few of the theories concocted to explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of nonconformity," is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator Leo Borlock: "She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl."

Before I Die

2008-02-10T10:56:00.001-08:00

Tessa has just a few months to live.

Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her Ten Things To Do Before I Die list. And Number One is sex.

Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.

Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson

2008-02-10T12:06:00.001-08:00

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging presets the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl named Georgia Nicholson, who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie. The book is hysterical enough and added at the end of the story is a funny glossary that will help Americans understand the British slang.

Honk If You Hate Me

2008-02-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Monalisa Kent was just 6 years old when she accidently burned down her hometown's futon factory. But that doesn't stop everyone in town from hating her! Mona has a passion for bumper stickers, and her spends a lot of her free time at the tattoo parlors run by her best friend's parents. The 10 year anniversary of the accident is approaching, and while the town is now benefiting from the fast food industry, Mona's past keeps haunting her. The stares, t.v. interviews, old footage....Mona is sick of all the attention. She doesn't even remember causing the blaze! Then her best friend Glenn begins to act strange... Is it time for Mona to stand up to the bullying and blame of the folk of Mussina Junction? And what secrets has Glenn been keeping from her?!

Fever 1793

2008-02-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

This is a historical novel by acclaimed author, Laurie Halse Anderson. Sixteen year old Mattie Cook lives with her mother and paternal grandfather above the family coffee house in Philidelphia. She has a crush on a boy her mother doesn't approve of, and Mattie tries to get out of doing chores as often as possible! All this changes when the yellow fever epidemic hits the city. At first the family refuses to flee, while many neighbors rush to the country. Follow Mattie as she fights for her life, and those of her friends and family. Will she and her family survive the deadly disease, and the changes brought upon the city in the wake of all the disasters?

General Winston's Daughter

2008-02-10T13:04:00.001-08:00

Averie Winston is 17, and the daughter of a powerful general. She and her (usually) grumpy guardian follow her father and Army officer fiance to Chiarrin, a nation occupied by her homeland's Army. Averie thinks that the trip will give her the chance to spend time with her fiance and her father, and maybe even make her a bride! She hires a native to be her personal servant, and makes friends with other female relatives of the Army. However, once she learns more about the culture of Chiarrin, the more that her opinions begin to change.

Beowulf

2008-02-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this may be a required reading item for some English classes...but this graphic novel is not your average translation!! The pictures are bright and vivid, so that you can actually understand just how ferocious the monsters were! And hey, it may even up your grades in English class....or at least earn a few brownie points with the teacher.

Catherine, Called Birdy

2008-02-15T12:38:00.001-08:00

This is the hilarious tale of a young maiden whose father can't wait to auction - marry - her off for a high price! But this is no damsel in distress, Lady Catherine refuses to be taken advantage of, if she can help it. After all, she'd rather play outside with townspeople than sit inside and sew! Read on to discover if she can avoid her suitors, and how she deals with the potential marriages of her friends!

Sloppy Firsts

2008-02-23T09:53:00.001-08:00

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?
From the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Follow Jessica as she navigates through her world.

Sandpiper

2008-02-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

Sandpiper, 16, is known as the girl with the bad reputation, so none of her former friends cares when a classmate starts harassing her. At home everything is focused on her divorced, ex-hippy mom's joyful new marriage and the elaborate wedding rituals. Then Sandy meets and makes friends with a young man, "the Walker," who seems to go everywhere on foot. Why isn't he in school? Where is his family? Heading each chapter is a poem, and her edgy, angry first-person narrative sets her anguish against the wedding fun. Tension builds as Sandy and the Walker form a tentative friendship, reveal their secrets, and then save each other.

American Born Chinese

2008-03-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

This book is centered around three different plot lines, which connect at the end. Author Gene Luen Yang examines the heartaches a kid can face because of differences. Yang also delves into a little bit of Chinese history, and American predjuices, yet still maintains a fun and funny edge which is sure to make you laugh!

Wildly Romantic The English Romantic Poets: The Mad, the Bad, and the Fangerous

2008-03-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

This book offers a history of the romantic poets - and not just about William Wordsworth's nature walks! From the young poets aspirations, failures, families and children - author Catherine Andronik holds nothing back. There are also excerpts from poems by these famous (and some infamous) poets. If you love poetry, or need a little help to get into Romanticism for school, then you should definately pick this up!

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

2008-03-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

This graphic novel is told in pictures - not words. Tan describes the experience of an immigrant with only visual aids - the only language is foreign, even for the reader. The main character sets out from home, leaving his wife and child in their dangerous homeland. Shadows depict the strange creatures which threaten them. While he deals with language barriers, the protagonist is able to meet friendly faces admist the strange and new.

A Break With Charity: A Story About The Salem Witch Trials

2008-03-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

This story is based on the facts of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. It is an authentic look into Puritan society, and the scare which the people of Salem and surrounding areas were subjected to. Told from the point of view of a teenager who lived through the experience, and knew the accusers well, the events are relayed in a deeply personal way.

The Professor's Daughter

2008-03-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

This graphic novel is a funny, silly tale highlighted by beautiful artwork. Lillian, the daughter of an Egyptologist, falls in love with the mummy of Imoteph IV, an ancient pharoh of Egypt. The story begins in medias res (in the middle of things), leaving the reader to fill in the blanks as the story continues to piece itself together!

Garage Band

2008-03-07T16:30:00.001-08:00

Italian author/artist Gipi presents this graphic novel, about four troubled teens who come together to play music. Each boy has something difficult to deal with, which affects their music and actions. When the possibility of being signed presents itself, the boys go to desperate measures to secure their futures.

Auschwitz

2008-03-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

Pascal Croci created this graphic novel based on interviews with concentration camp survivors. An elderly couple visits the camp where they nearly perished - and lost their only daughter - only to discover that Auschwitz, even in the early 1990's, is still a place of hatred. The pictures and text develop the story of their time in the camp over several flashbacks, leaving the impression that the couple have not spoken of the events in the decades since their freedom.

Notes for a War Story

2008-03-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Italian graphic novelist Gipi presents the story of three teenagers living through a war zone in their Balkan homeland. Two of the boys grew up in poverty, the third, who is the narrator, grew up with rich parents. They are employed by a war-profiteer named Felix, who gives them dangerous tasks. Read along with the pictures to find out how far the boys must go to win Felix's approval, and to stay alive.

the sweet, terrible, glourious year I truly, completely lost it

2008-03-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

This is a chick-lit book any girl can enjoy! Aussie teen Gemma Stone faces a lot this year: her sister has turned into a bridezilla, her best friend convinces her that the only way to get her crush to notice her is by joining the school play (even though Gemma is known for puking while public speaking). And the town low-life keeps popping up wherever she is! Will Gemma be able to maintain her sanity?? Or will she totally lose it?! Very funny!