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The Straight Road to Kylie Nico Medina Life is fabulous for Jonathan Parish. He's seventeen, out and proud, and ready to party through senior year with his posse of best girlfriends. But the year starts off with the wrong kind of bang when Jonathan, in an inebriated lapse of judgment, sleeps with a friend of his: a girl friend! When word gets around that hot-but-previously-unavailable Jonathan might be on the market, the school's "It" girl approaches him with a proposal: pretend to be her boyfriend, and achieve popularity like he's never known. But popularity isn't what Jonathan wants. And suddenly, going back into the closet becomes Jonathan's only way to get what he's after a trip to see Kylie Minogue.
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Freak Show by James St. James Billy Bloom is gay, but it’s mostly theoretical, as he hasn’t had much experience. When he has to move to Florida, he can’t believe his bad luck. His new school is a mix of Bible Belles, Aberzombies, and Football Heroes, none of which are exactly his type. Billy’s efforts to fit in and stand out at the same time are both hilarious and heartrending. In this novel from adult author and media personality James St. James, readers are in for a wild ride as he tells Billy’s fascinating story of bravado, pain, and unexpected love, inspired by his own experiences.
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Notes on a Near-Life Experience Olivia Birdsall Mia never thought she'd be the child of a broken home. Yet when she's 15 years old, one day her father just up and moves out. As her family life crumbles, her love life is finally coming together. Julian, her brother Allen's best friend and her longtime crush, has finally noticed her and being with Julian makes her happier than she can put into words. Meanwhile, her mother has disappeared into work, her brother is skipping school and acting weird, and her father is cohabitating with a frighteningly sexy Peruvian woman named Paloma. Mia wishes the divorce would just go away so she could focus on Julian, but she can't ignore her problems forever.
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Dream Factory by Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler When the character actors at Disney World go on strike, the teens hired as replacements learn that it isn't exactly the Happiest Place on Earth. Ella gets to be Cinderella, simply because the shoe fits. It should be a dream come true, but Ella no longer believes in dreams. Luke is a fur character, Dale the chipmunk. Chip is played by his girlfriend, Cassie, who is perfect in every way. Why, then, does Luke find himself more drawn to imperfect things like the theme park's Phantom? A team-building scavenger hunt brings Luke and Ella together. As they uncover the Magic Kingdom's treasures, they discover an undeniable magic between them.
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Am I Right or Am I Right? by Barry Jonsberg Calma Harrison is in love. Not just with herself, but also with the handsome checkout guy at Crazi-Cheep. So stocking shelves at the Crazi- Cheep seems like the perfect job until that annoying customer tries to hold up the store. And then there's the small matter of the rest of Calma's life: her absent father turns up after five years and wants to 'talk,' her mother is clearly living a secret second life, and her new best friend is hiding something horrible.Calma is sure she knows exactly what's going on. And clearly her direct, personal intervention is required to make things right.
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Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then absolutely everything changed. Now she's counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, "That's her - that's Shark Girl," as she passes. In the meantime there are only questions: Why did this happen? What about her art? What about her life? In this striking first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it's like to lose part of yourself and to summon the courage it takes to find yourself again.
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Strays by Ron Koertge Sixteen-year-old Ted O'Connor's parents just died in a fiery car crash, and now he's stuck with a set of semi-psycho foster parents, two foster brothers, Astin, the cocky gearhead, and C.W., the sometimes gangsta, and an inner-city high school full of delinquents. He's having pretty much the worst year of his miserable life. Or so he thinks. Is it possible that becoming an orphan is not the worst thing that could have happened to him? Master novelist Ron Koertge brings his best work yet, a smart, surprising story full of trademark wit and sharp insight about a boy learning to run with a new pack.
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Stray by Stacey Goldblatt Since her parents' divorce, Natalie's overprotective mother has kept her on a very short leash and, except for a few white lies, Natalie's been quite obedient. However, when Carver, a family friend who's "very attractive, bordering hot," comes to stay with them to intern at her mother's veterinary clinic for the summer, Natalie finds herself quickly challenging her mother's strict boundaries. As a dedicated dog lover, Natalie introduces and continually references characters based on the particular dog breed that they most resemble. However, as Natalie slowly begins asserting herself, the constant dog references fade, and the characters, especially Natalie and Carver, take center stage and become fully developed. Light and fun. Stray is a winning novel that provides us with an important reminder: it's okay to make mistakes and break the rules, especially when it comes to love.
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Jinx by Meg Cabot The only thing Jean Honeychurch hates more than her boring name is her nickname, Jinx. Misfortune seems to follow her everywhere she goes which is why she's thrilled to be moving in with her aunt and uncle in New York City. Maybe when she's halfway across the country, Jinx can at least escape the havoc she's caused back in her small hometown. But trouble has definitely followed Jinx to New York. And it's causing big problems for her cousin Tory. Beautiful, glamorous Tory is hiding a dangerous secret one that she's sure Jinx is going to reveal. Jinx is beginning to realize it isn't just bad luck she's been running from. It's something far more sinister and the curse Jinx has lived under since the day she was born might just be the only thing that can save her life.
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My Desperate Love Diary by Liz Rettig I am absolutely over the moon. G spoke to me today.
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Starlet by Randi Reisfeld When seventeen-year old Jacey Chandliss enters and wins Generation Next: America's Top Young Actress, an American Idol-type contest that offers the winner a star-making role in a major Hollywood motion picture, she's thrust into the bright Hollywood spotlight. She's got a bonafide Hollywood power-agent, and she's living in L. A. for the summer. It's all a lot to handle, and Jacey would probably buckle under the pressure if she didn't have her friends along for the ride. Her best friends Dash and Desi and her cousin Ivy are part of Jacey's Posse. They're going to Hollywood with Jacey to keep Jacey from going Hollywood.
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My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow In the tumultuous New Orleans of 1960, thirteen-year-old Louise finds her world turned upside down when a stranger from the North arrives at her mother's boarding house. Louise's mother spends her mornings at the local elementary school with a group of women known as the Cheerleaders, who harass the school's first black student, six-year-old Ruby Bridges, as she enters the building. One day a Chevy Bel Air with a NY license plate pulls up, and out steps Morgan Miller, a man whose mysterious past is eclipsed by his intellect and open manner. For the first time, Louise feels as if someone cares what she thinks, even if she doesn't know what she believes. But when the reason for Morgan's visit is called into question, everything Louise thinks she knows about her mother, her world, and herself will change.
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Sofi Mendoza's Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico by Malin Alegria Even though Sofi Mendoza was born in Mexico, she's spent most of her life in California. But when Sofi and her friends sneak off for a weekend in Tijuana, she gets in real trouble. To Sofi's shock, the border patrol says that her green card is counterfeit. Until her parents can sort out the paperwork and legal issues, Sofi is stuck in Mexico. In the meantime, Sofi's parents arrange for her to stay with long-lost relatives in rural Baja. It's bad enough that Sofi has to miss senior prom and even graduation, but her aunt, uncle, and cousins live on a ranch with no indoor plumbing! Through the unexpected crash course in her heritage, Sofi comes to appreciate that she has a home on both sides of the border.
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The Noah Confessions by Barbara Hall At the age of 16, it's standard procedure for every girl at Lynnie Russo's posh Los Angeles prep school to get a car. So on her 16th birthday, Lynnie is startled when she opens the small gift box from her father and it doesn't contain the shiny new set of keys she was expecting. Instead she finds a worn-out bird charm bracelet. When she cuts school to go try surfing so as to have a special day, instead of grounding her, her father hands her a manuscript box and says, "Your mother wanted you to have this when it seemed you were losing perspective. I think now's the time." Lynnie uncovers her family's secrets, loves, and tragedies.
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Some of Tim's Stories by S. E. Hinton The stories in this book are all less than 1000 words in length. Hinton takes her typical teen protagonists just a few years down the line into their mid-20s. They are a bit bitter and lacking in hope, but still retain a spark. The book has a premise involving the mysterious Tim, who is never mentioned anywhere except in the title. It's the significance this "barely there" character holds for Hinton that is intriguing and about which readers learn in the engaging interviews that make up the second half of the volume. Her paring down of words has resulted in tales that are immediate and gripping; they engage readers and push them to fill in the empty spaces, which are as thoughtfully crafted as the narratives.
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How Ya Like Me Now? by Brendan Halpin Since Eddie's dad died, and his mom went into rehab, his aunt and uncle have taken him away to Boston. His new school, which he attends with his cousin Alex, is experimental: there’s a CEO instead of a principal, classes are held in an office building, and the students, all sporting business-casual looks, are the only urban kids Eddie has ever seen outside of a rap video. As for Alex, it’s bad enough that he has to share his bedroom with Eddie, but his parents are on his case about including his quiet cousin in his social life as well. Two boys find that they have a lot to learn from each other in this touching, funny novel about finding your place and looking out for your friends.
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A Non-Blonde Cheerleader in Love by Kieran Scott The Sand Dune High cheerleading squad has gone coed, and not everyone is happy about it. Annisa’s psyched when her boyfriend signs up, and stunting with the guys is pretty cool. But then the battle of the sexes heats up, and Annisa is caught in the middle. Can one non-blonde figure out a way to keep the girls from killing the guys, or will the battle turn into an all-out cheer war?
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Billy Standish Was Here by Nancy Crocker Billie Standish has pretty much no one. Her parents are too caught up in their own lives, and the only two girls in town her age want nothing to do with her. When it looks like a nearby levee might break, and Billie's elderly neighbor, Miss Lydia, is the only other person besides her family to stick around, a friendship is born out of circumstance. What happens during that time, in that empty town, is a tragedy that Billie can't bear alone. Can the love of one woman nearing the end of her life save the life of a young woman just at the beginning of living hers?
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The Story of the Cannibal Woman by Maryse Conde One dark night in Cape Town, Rosélie's husband goes out for a pack of cigarettes and never comes back. Not only is she left with unanswered questions about his violent death but she is also left without any means of support. At the urging of her housekeeper and best friend, the new widow decides to take advantage of the strange gifts she has always possessed and embarks on a career as a clairvoyant. Rosélie builds a new life for herself and seeks the truth about her husband's murder in a deft exploration of post-apartheid South Africa and a smart, gripping thriller.
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Mr. Thundermug by Cornelius Medvei This is a poignant story of an animal who acquires the ability to eloquently speak human language. Beautiful, eerie lithograph illustrations place the reader in a vivid world that is both familiar and alien where Mr. Thundermug and his family take up occupancy in an abandoned apartment building. On the roof of that building, Mr. Thundermug gazes at the heavens and thinks deep thoughts while his wife picks bugs off him and eats them. He's somewhat confused by his complex existence as a fluent member of human society who has the essential nature of a more ancient species, but he assimilates as best he can. Eventually, his worlds collide, and he is brought to court for a petty crime and asked to defend himself in impossible ways.
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Anything But Ordinary by Valerie Hobbs From the moment their romance begins in eighth grade, Winifred and Bernie are individualists. They pride themselves on being different, and have each other for support through the tough years of high school. So when they consider college, they send off for the same catalogs, promising never to separate. But Bernie’s mother dies and he more or less drops out of school, becoming an ordinary guy working away in a tire shop, while Winifred goes about as far from New Jersey as a girl can go: the University of California at Santa Barbara. College is a culture shock to Winifred, but her three savvy roommates teach her how to fit in. By the time Bernie catches up with her again, Winifred has become, well . . . ordinary. Can they rediscover their true selves and true love?
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Harmless by Dana Reinhardt There was a man. He had a knife. He attacked us down by the river. It was just a harmless little lie. Anna, Emma and Mariah concoct a story about why they're late getting home one night-a story that will replace their parents' anger with concern. They just have to stand by it. No matter what. Suddenly the police are involved, and the town demands that someone be punished. And then there is the man who is arrested and accused of a crime that never happened.
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Now You See Her by Jacquelyn Mitchard Hope has it all: brains, beauty, and acceptance at Starwood, a prestigious arts prep school. A mere sophomore, she has won the lead in Romeo and Juliet, beating out seniors for the role, seniors who have been in movies and on Broadway! And with handsome Logan as her Romeo onstage and off, her life couldn't be more perfect. So why would this talented teen throw everything away? Why would she fake her own abduction? Hope wants to explain what really happened, and gradually the truth comes out: Maybe her life wasn't that perfect after all.
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Ride Wit' Me by Katina King Mercedes, 16, is rich and black; she attends an exclusive private boarding school on the East Coast but returns home to her family's mansion in the Chicago suburbs every summer. She knows that her father is an entrepreneur, but he dismisses questions about his business with a simple, "Mo' money, mo' problems." When Mercedes falls in love with sexy, confident, 17-year-old Dalvin, her father prohibits the relationship and reveals to his daughter that he and Dalvin's father are big-time criminals who each own half of Chicago's streets.
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Bhangra Babes by Narinder Dhami This is a third outing for the original Bindi Babes. Amber, Jazz and Geena have finally secured Auntie’s engagement to the gorgeous Mr Arora. Now the girls are vying for the attention of the gorgeous new guy at school, Rocky, who has his own recording studio. Amber thinks she’s bound to capture his heart when she invites him to DJ at Auntie’s wedding, but when the girls go to hear Rocky sing, Amber realizes she’s made a big mistake. It’s going to be a huge headache to work this one out, but if they don’t, every guest at the wedding will have a worse one! Fortunately, a great idea comes from an unexpected source, and the girls bounce back again.
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Dawn and Dusk by Alice Mead For as long as thirteen-year-old Azad can remember, the Islamic Republic of Iran, where he lives in the predominantly Kurdish town of Sardasht, has been at war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and his country has been a harsh society full of spies, secrets, and “disappearances.” Still, most of the time Azad manages to live a normal life, hanging out at the bakery next door, going to school with his friend Hiwa, playing sports, and taking care of his parrot. Then Azad learns that his town may soon become a target for Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. Now more than ever, Azad feels torn between his divorced parents and his conflicting desires to remain in his home or escape.
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Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background, average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn't believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father's boss's daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy, and Tyler's secret crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world.
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Life As It Comes by Anne-Laure Bondoux Sisters with nothing in common? That's Mado and Patty. Studious and responsible, 15-year-old Mado is the family brain. Patty, on the other hand, is a carefree 20-year-old party girl who lives on her own and has plenty of boyfriends. The two are following divergent paths until their parents die in a car accident and a family court judge reluctantly appoints Patty as her sister's guardian. Now these two improbable siblings face the challenges of growing up together but it's Mado who quickly assumes the big sister's role. And it's not a role she particularly wants, especially after Patty announces that she's several months pregnant.
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Cupcake by Rachel Cohn Irrepressible Cyd Charisse returns in a third novel that picks up right where Shrimp left off. CC is now 18 and living in New York's Greenwich Village with her half-brother, Danny, thinking about culinary school and reconsidering her "no contact" agreement with Shrimp, who is surfing and writing haiku in New Zealand. Her new life features ups and downs . When Shrimp arrives on her doorstep just in time for a Christmas surprise, CC must decide if she wants to continue building her own life or make one with the man she loves.
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The Wolf by Steven Herrick Sixteen-year-old Lucy Harding simmers with repressed anger toward her abusive father, her compliant mother, and her naive younger brother. Unable to overtly rebel, she finds a symbol and an idol in a wild dog whose nighttime howls infuriate her father and whose wily command of the wilderness outwits the enraged man's attempts to hunt him down. The Hardings's only neighbors are the Jacksons. Fifteen-year-old Jake Jackson enjoys the company of his hardworking father, who teaches him to respect the land and shares with him an old story about a lone wolf who lives, despite all odds, in the wild country. The symbolic richness of the beast itself, part myth and part shadow, destroying and surviving, infuriating and inspiring, becomes a provocative lens for viewing both the men who struggle to find a livelihood and the children who inherit their successes and failures.
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Crazy Hot (The Au Pairs Series #4) by Melissa de La Cruz This summer's not just hot, it's crazy hot.
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The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian When college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont’s back roads, her life is forever changed. Formerly outgoing, Laurel withdraws into her photography and begins to work at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs that he won’t let anyone see. When Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel discovers that he was telling the truth: before he was homeless, Bobbie Crocker was a successful photographer. As Laurel’s fascination with Bobbie’s former life begins to merge into obsession, she becomes convinced that some of his photographs reveal a deeply hidden, dark family secret. Her search for the truth will lead her further from her old life and into a cat-and-mouse game with pursuers who claim they want to save her.
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The Problem With Paradise by Lesley Dahl Nobody gets why Casey's upset. She's just been informed that she's spending the ENTIRE summer on some deserted tropical island with her father, his new wife, and her two brothers. Her father will study the endangered sea turtle, her brothers will drive her crazy, and Casey's sure she will die of boredom while dreaming of all the fun she could have been having with her friends back home. But Tartuga turns out to have its charms, particularly a cute boy Casey's age named Josh. And spending so much time away from cell phones and emails give Casey the unexpected chance to listen to herself. But when a tropical storm bears down in Tartuga and Casey's father can't make it back in time, will Casey be able to pull it together and save Paradise for all of them?
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The Red Thread by Roderick Townley How do you avenge, or forgive, your own murder four hundred years after it happened? Prompted by recurrent dreams, sixteen-year-old Dana uncovers an ancient crime that has drawn the same souls together through three lifetimes. There's nothing sinister about the girl's sunlit twenty-first-century American life in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Yet, centuries ago, terrible things were done by someone she knows! Could it be her easygoing, easy-to-look-at boyfriend, Chase? Or her younger brother, Ben, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a school bus accident? What about Gianna, her inscrutable enemy on the yearbook staff? Or her eccentric psychotherapist, Dr. Sprague? As Dana summons courage to reenter the past, each incarnation propels her to new discoveries and new suspicions until the threads of all three lives converge in a devastating revelation.
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| Drawing the Ocean by Carolyn MacCullough A gifted painter, Sadie comes from California to Connecticut determined to fit in at her new school. Yet her first attempt at making friends in the new town backfires when she reaches out to the loner everyone calls Fryin’ Ryan, the very last person who can help her achieve her dream. And to further complicate matters, her twin brother, Ollie, keeps appearing to her, seeming to want something. Her twin brother, who died when they were twelve.
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Skinny by Ibi Kaslik Holly’s older sister, Giselle, is self-destructing. Haunted by her love-deprived relationship with her late father, this once strong role model and medical student, is gripped by anorexia. Holly, a track star, struggles to keep her own life in balance while coping with the mental and physical deterioration of her beloved sister. Together, they can feel themselves slipping and are holding on for dear life. This honest look at the special bond between sisters is told from the perspective of both girls, as they alternate narrating each chapter. Gritty and often wryly funny, Skinny explores family relationships, love, pain, and the hunger for acceptance that drives all of us.
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Rebound by Bob Krech Ray Wisniewski lets us know that despite what the guidance counselors keep saying, race matters. In Ray's New Jersey high school, the black guys play basketball and the Polish guys wrestle: when you are the only white person in the locker room after basketball tryouts, you definitely notice. To pursue his own hoop dreams, Ray has to deal with a white coach who falls all over himself to favor black kids, hostile black kids who do not want Ray on the team, well-meaning parents who try to hide their discomfort in his new black friendships, and a lifelong best friend whose anti-black racism proves to be dangerously deep and disturbing.
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Simple Genius by David Baldacci A three-hour drive from Washington, D.C., two clandestine institutions face each other across a heavily guarded river. One is the world's most unusual laboratory, whose goals and funding are a mystery. The other is an elite CIA training camp shrouded in secrecy. Now a man and a woman are about to run a gauntlet between these two puzzle factories, straight into a furious struggle to exploit a potentially world-shattering discovery, and keep some other secrets underwraps forever.
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Upstate by Kalisha Buckhanon "Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?"
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| It's a Mall World After All by Janette Rallison It’s too bad they don’t give out diplomas for what you learn at the mall, because I could graduate with honors in that subject. Since I’ve worked there, I’ve become an expert on all things shopping-related. For example, I can tell you right off who to distrust at the mall:
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French Toast, A White Cane & Memories by Laura Fay Robbie One early morning, a mother, two brothers, and a family pet leave on vacation to return to their favorite place on earth. With the amusing antics of Chase, the seriousness of his older brother, Bo, and the single mother who tries to hold the family together, this important trip to the Pacific Ocean turns into an epiphany for an older brother. This novel is based on the true story of a young boy (age 9) who is losing his eyesight because of the devastating effects of the rare and incurable disease, retinitis pigmentosa. Come along with Lucy, Bo, and Chase as they travel from central California to the very depths of the human heart.
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Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon Forty-one-year-old school nurse Kate Cypher has returned home to rural Vermont to care for her mother who's afflicted with Alzheimer's. On the night she arrives, a young girl is murdered; a horrific crime that eerily mirrors another from Kate's childhood. Three decades earlier, her dirt-poor friend Del, shunned and derided by classmates as "Potato Girl", was brutally slain. Del's killer was never found, while the victim has since achieved immortality in local legends and ghost stories. Now, as this new murder investigation draws Kate irresistibly in, her past and present collide in terrifying, unexpected ways because nothing is quite what it seems . . .
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Drama High Series: The Fight by L. Divine Sixteen-year-old Jayd Jackson is no stranger to drive-by shootings or run-ins with the friendly neighborhood crackhead. Street-smart, book-smart, and life-smart, she's nobody's fool, least of all KJ's, the most popular and cutest basketball jock at South Bay High, a.k.a. Drama High. Yes, it's a fact, Jayd fell hard for his player ways for a time, but now that KJ's shown his true colors, dumping Jayd because she refused to give up the cookies, she's through with him and his game playing for good.
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A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird Set in occupied Palestine, Laird's work minces no words about the very real difficulties Palestinians experience under Israel's control. Karim, obsesses over soccer and computer games. When Israeli soldiers bomb his school and humiliate his father, Karim experiences new emotions: anger, shame, and disgust. Together with Hopper, a boy from the nearby refugee camp and his buddy Joni, Karim clears a rocky plot of land for a soccer field. As the boys grow closer to Hopper, their activities become more daring. An extraordinary book about war and peace through the eyes of a young Palestinian boy.
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Crazy in Love by Dandi Daley Mackall High school senior Mary Jane Ettermeyer has been struggling to be thegood girl for a long time, and so far, she’s been able to keep her pledge of abstinence. But when the cutest guy in school starts flirting with her, she suddenly finds herself crazy in love, even though a) Jackson House can’t possibly think she’s cute, so this must be a joke and b) she’s vowed to keep herself pure until marriage and c) he shouldn’t even be talking to her, because he already has a girlfriend!
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By the River by Steven Herrick Harry Hodby, his brother, Keith, and their father live in a little Australian town near a river. Harry's life and the lives of various townspeople are revealed in a series of free-verse poems. His mother died when he was seven and Keith was six. Their friend Linda dies in a flood, the young woman for whom Harry has a secret crush gets pregnant and leaves, and a new girl comes to town. Harry mourns the death of his mother and of Linda and comes to realize that he is not the only one who continues to miss them. He learns about life by observing his father, his brother, his friends and their parents, and his enemies and their parents as they go about their daily lives.
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Leslie by Omar Tyree The second of three children, Leslie Beaudet has experienced more than she would ever be willing to share. To her Haitian immigrant father, Leslie is a princess who always deserves more than poverty. To her Black Indian mother, she is a source of pride and a reason to carry on. To her sister, she is understanding incarnate. To her peers at Dillard University, Leslie is most likely to succeed. But when an alarming string of New Orleans murders begin to point in Leslie's direction, it becomes clear that no one knows the real Leslie or her dark hunger for power.
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Mind Prey by John Sandford Minneapolis PD Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport, seen last in Night Prey, carries on as a smart, quirky hero in the seventh ``Prey'' book. When psychiatrist Andi Manette and her two young daughters are kidnapped, Lucas must discover whether it's a ransom snatch, the work of one of Andi's ex-patients or the ruse of someone in her life who might benefit from her death. Readers know the kidnapper is John Mail, a scary ex-patient who's entertained nasty dreams of Andi for years. He enacts his violent sex fantasies with the imprisoned Andi; it seems only a matter of time before he will go after the girls.
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by Dave Eggers In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety for a time. Valentino's travels bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation as well as a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States.
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Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita Exhausted, sixteen-year-old TV star Kaitlin Burke craves a real breather during her show's months-long hiatus, but the various adults who manage her career believe any kind of rest period will hinder her success in Hollywood. So, she cooks up a plan to get the break she wants: she will disguise herself and attend a regular high school. Kaitlin convinces her parents and the other adults to let her do it by promising to keep up all her public appearances and auditions while she is going to school.
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Exposure by Patricia Murdoch Pudgy Julie has long been bullied by her high school's popular Dana. When Dana attends a party and exposes herself, she is photographed, with Julie inadvertently finding the pictures. Julie, enjoying her new power, taunts Dana and eventually leaves the photo for the school to view. Dana threatens suicide, and a chastised Julie visits her at home, where they discuss their antipathy and reconcile. Before Julie leaves, she discovers her visit stopped Dana from suicide.
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Angels Fall by Nora Roberts Reece has come a long way to see the stunning view below her. As the sole survivor of a brutal crime back East, she has been on the run, desperately fighting the nightmares and panic attacks that haunt her. Reece settles in Angel's Fist, Wyoming and takes a job at a local diner. And now she's hiked this mountain all by herself. It was glorious, she thought, as she peered through her binoculars at the Snake River churning below. Then Reece saw the man and woman on the opposite bank. Arguing. Fighting. Suddenly, the man was on top of the woman, his hands around her throat . . .
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The Theft & the Miracle by Rebecca Wade On a cold, rainy day, ordinary Hannah Price stumbles into the cathedral and does something extraordinary, almost in a trance. She makes a perfect drawing of an antique carving of the Virgin and Child, capturing their every detail. The next day the statue of the Child is taken from the Virgin's arms, and a few days later Hannah is interviewed by the police. Soon, strange things start happening to her. An odd man keeps appearing. The portrait she painted of her best friend, Sam, is vandalized. Is it all related to the theft? Hannah is determined to find the statue, even if it will take a miracle.
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19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult Sterling is a small, ordinary town where nothing ever happens until the day it's shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.
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In the Name of God by Paula Jolin 17-year-old Nadia is an excellent student, daughter, and sister, but above all strives to walk the straight path and follow the laws of Islam. Living in Damascus, Syria, she's conflicted about her Westernized peers, the internal economic, social, and political struggles of her country, and the war raging in Iraq. When her cousin is arrested for speaking out, Nadia finds herself drawn into the dark world of Islamic fundamentalism, eventually contemplating the ultimate sacrifice to take a stand for her people and her religion.
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Painting Caitlyn by Kimberly Joy Peters Caitlyn feels ignored by her mother and step-father who are obsessed with having a baby, her best friend is always blowing her off for a boyfriend, and she's struggling in art, her favorite subject. Caitlyn is completely depressed when Tyler enters her life and seems to make her problems disappear. Older, gorgeous, and totally into Caitlyn, he makes Caitlyn feel important, needed, and special. But just as things get serious, Caitlyn discovers Tyler’s jealous side. Once she realizes her "perfect" boyfriend is as controlling as he is caring, she is faced with a choice: she can either let this relationship define her, or find the courage to break away. This is an emotionally charged story about teen dating and abusive relationships.
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Echo by Kate Morgenroth In the year since Justin's younger brother, Mark, died in a horrific accident, Justin's life has unraveled. Justin used to be one of the school's star athletes, but now he's not even on any of the teams. He used to be part of the popular crowd, but now everyone at school treats him like he's a monster. He used to date one of the prettiest girls at school, but now she will barely speak to him. Then on the anniversary of his brother's death he gets into a fight with his former best friend, and things spiral out of control with terrible consequences. Now Justin is hearing a voice that's making him relive the day of the accident over and over again.
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The Fighter by Jean-Jacques Greif Fighting is a way of life for Moshe Wisniak. As a boy from a very poor neighborhood in Warsaw, he can’t run away when Polish kids attack the Jews, because his legs are weak. So he learns to use his fists, his head and other weapons to defend himself and his brothers. When the family moves to Paris in 1929, everyone finds work and life improves slowly. Moshe, now Maurice, is a leather worker and a young husband. At a Jewish sports club, he takes up boxing, and becomes an amateur flyweight. But the war comes to Paris, and by 1942, the French police round up foreign Jews and the Germans deport them by the hundreds every day. They send Maurice to the death camp at Auschwitz. In the camp, SS officers sense Maurice’s strength. They command him to box against a dying prisoner. Does Maurice kill the prisoner or be killed by the SS for refusing to obey them?
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The Real Question by Adrian Fogelin Sixteen-year-old Fisher Brown is a geeky high school honors student who lives in the security of his boring life with his guidance counselor father. Fish is supposed to be studying for his SATs, the next step in his academic journey to ensure his acceptance at Yale. Yet, there is a lot missing from Fish's life: his mother, his freedom, and adventure. While Fish's father is away taking care of Nana, Fish is offered a chance to see life as never before. Lonny Traynor, a school dropout with a jaded past, enlists Fish's help for a weekend to put a roof on a house. Curiosity and the taste of freedom get the better of Fish and he finds himself with a one-way ticket to another part of the state. If his plans had turned out as he expected, there would be no repercussions from his father, his friends, or even the SAT. But, as in reality, if everything went according to plan, there wouldn't be a story to tell.
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Alabama Moon by Watt Key Ten-year-old Moon Blake has spent most of his life hiding out in the forests of Alabama with his father, a shell-shocked war veteran who clings to conspiracy theories and trusts no one. In his short life, Moon has met fewer people than he can count on one hand. But when his father dies unexpectedly, Moon is forced to make a decision. His has father taught him everything about survivalist living. He can make his own clothes, build a shelter, prepare a meal out of roots and berries, and "whip" a man three times his size. But on his own, Moon quickly finds himself pursued by people who believe he belongs in society and will do almost anything to ensure his capture.
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Tyrell by Coe Booth Tyrell is a young, African-American teen who can't get a break. He's living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter. His father's in jail. His girlfriend supports him, but he doesn't feel good enough for her and he seems to be always on the verge of doing the wrong thing around her. There's another girl at the homeless shelter who is also after him, although the desires there are complicated. Tyrell feels he needs to score some money to make things better. Will he end up following in his father's footsteps?
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