Print

The Forever War
Joe Haldeman
The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic-- Featuring a new introduction by John ScalziThe Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...
Book Details

The Fighting Ground
Avi
Scott O’Dell Award for Best Historical Fiction * ALA Notable Book * ALA Best Books for YANewbery Medal-winning author Avi tells the “compelling story of a young boy’s first encounter with war and how it changes him.”—Publishers WeeklyJonathan may be only thirteen years old, but with the Revolutionary War unfolding around him, he’s more certain than ever that he wants to be a part of it—to fight for independence alongside his brother and cousin to defeat the British. But Jonathan’s father, himself wounded from battle, refuses to let his son join the front lines. When Jonathan hears the tavern bell toll, calling all soldiers to arms, he rushes to enlist without telling his dad. Gun in hand, Jonathan falls in with a militia and marches onward to the fighting ground. It feels like he’s been waiting his whole life for this moment. But no amount of daydreaming could prepare Jonathan for what he encounters. In just twenty-four hours, his life will be forever changed—by his fellow soldiers, unsuspecting enemies, and the frightening and complicated realities of war. More than thirty years after its publication, award-winner The Fighting Ground continues to be an important work of historical fiction for young readers.
Book Details

Spirits of Ash and Foam
Greg Weisman
Welcome to the Prospero Keys (or as the locals call them: the Ghost Keys), the beautiful chain of tropical islands on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle where Rain Cacique lives. When Rain's maternal grandfather passed away, he left her his special armband: two gold snakes intertwined, clasping each other's tails in their mouths. Rain soon discovers that the armband is actually a zemi – a very powerful talisman created by the island's native Arawak Taino Indians – and that it allows Rain to see ghosts, including her own grandfather who is determined to help her uncover the Ghost Keys' hidden world of mystery and mysticism, intrigue and adventure.Now, Rain Cacique's looking for a few answers ― and the second zemi, a Taino relic that allows her to see dead people. But it's the first week of school, so she's pretty busy juggling teachers, homework, baby-sitting duties, new friends, missing tourist kids… and a vampire with a tribal twist. Spirits of Ash and Foam is the second installment in Greg Weisman's Rain of the Ghosts series.
Book Details

Looking for Jack Kerouac
It wasn't Duke Walczak's fault that I took off for Florida, like Kathy thought. The truth is, we started getting sideways with each other on our class trip to New York and Washington D.C. nearly a year earlier—which, looking back, is ironic since she was the one dead set on going.From the author of Wish You Were Here andStranded in Harmony (American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults), and Vermeer's Daughter (a School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults).In 1964, Paul Carpetti discovers Jack Kerouac's On the Road while on a school trip to New York and begins to question the life he faces after high school. Then he meets a volatile, charismatic Kerouac devotee determined to hit the road himself. When the boys learn that Kerouac is living in St. Petersburg, Florida, they go looking for answers.Barbara Shoup is the author of seven novels and the co-author of two books about the fiction craft. She is the recipient of numerous grants from the Indiana Arts Council, two creative renewal grants from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the 2006 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, and the 2012 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Regional Indiana Author Award. She was the writer-in-residence at Broad Ripple High School Center for the Humanities and the Performing Arts in Indianapolis for twenty years. Currently, she is the executive director of the Indiana Writers Center.
Book Details

Mr. Zidderdeedee
Bobbs, the Little Boy and Agnes had become very good friends. When the weather was nice they enjoyed playing in their treehouse. They laughed and told secrets. The Little Boy had found a delightful book he wanted to share with Bobbs and Agnes. And so the story of Mr. Zidderdeedee begins. While the Little Boy was reading Mr. Zidderdeedee to them, they were spellbound. Mr. Zidderdeedee was a jolly fellow and he certainly had a very important job to do. Was Mr. Zidderdeedee real? Young readers will decide.
Book Details

The Fog of Forgetting
There’s no turning back for the five children in The Fog of Forgetting when they are engulfed in a mysterious and impenetrable fog and washed ashore on an island in the North Atlantic. Their struggle to survive is the epic beginning of a new adventure-fantasy trilogy that will take you on a memorable journey from coastal Maine to worlds unknown, where friend and foe may be the same."The Fog of Forgetting," the first volume in The Five Stones Trilogy, begins at the best of all possible times: the start of summer vacation. For the three Thompson brothers, Chase (13), Knox (11), and Teddy (6), this means a long drive to Summerledge, their beloved house in Maine, near the village of Fells Harbor. All is as it should be until the sudden appearance of two adopted neighbor girls from Haiti, Evelyn (13) and Frankie (9), a hasty departure of their parents, and a sunny day lead to an unexpected voyage. Before long, the children find themselves beyond familiar waters and engulfed by a curtain of dense fog, beyond which lies a land forgotten and besieged, an island of ancient secrets and terrible history: Ayda. As the children explore their surroundings and meet strange new friends, it becomes clear that they have landed somewhere far from home―and beyond rescue. Crackling with action and suspense, The Fog of Forgetting plumbs the rich territory between realism and fantasy by immersing the reader in an imaginative world that is also natural and recognizable. Funny, gripping and―above all―compelling, The Fog of Forgetting brings together captivating characters, integrated narrative, myth, romance, and mystery for the delight of all, be they a sophisticated ten-year-old boy or a fifty-year-old reader who still remembers what it’s like to be young with the long days of summer ahead.
Book Details

SamGreen. Wildlife expert. Warrior. And desperately missing her mom.She also doesn't think her 16th birthday should be a survival test. But she is about to learn she could die in the next 24 hours. Creepy monsters and a giant called Uncle Biggie do exist. Along with a scary guardian who wants to take over the world, and an ancient wise-cracking parrot who wants to stop him. It's up to Sam to save two worlds. With a supernatural staff named WhipEye--that she has no clue how to use. Impossible. Unless Sam heals her broken heart. Gets help from magical creatures called Great Ones.And the boy next door--Jake--decides he's on board for an adventure out of his worst nightmares. Sam must also find the courage to fight the biggest battle of her life...and risk everything for love...
Book Details

Season of the Witch
Mariah Fredericks
Like Fredericks's The Girl in the Park, here is a page-turner that perfectly captures the world of New York City private schools, as it explores the notion of power among teenage girls. Publisher's Weekly, in a starred review, raves, "Fredericks again proves her gift for conveying the intensity of adolescence, while exploring the ways girls’ sexuality is used against them and asking why 'we all have to be predators and prey.'"Queen Bee Chloe is going to make Toni suffer for whatever transpired between Toni and Chloe's boyfriend, Oliver, over the summer. From day one of eleventh grade, she has Toni branded as a super slut, and it isn't long before things get so ugly that Toni fears for her safety. What's a scared, powerless, and fed-up teenager to do? Guided by Cassandra—a girl with some serious problems of her own—Toni decides to stop playing the victim and take control. Cassandra has been experimenting with witchcraft, and together they cast a spell on Chloe that may actually cause her death. Could Toni have really made such an awful thing happen?
Book Details

Promise Bound
Anne Greenwood Brown
Calder and Lily never imagined falling in love would mean breaking apart. But ever since Lily started wearing a glass pendant that once belonged to Nadia, Calder's adoptive mother, she's been having vivid dreams of what life was like for the mermaid matriarch. In fact, she's been dreaming as if she were Nadia! And Nadia, it seems, made a promise before her death. A promise to reunite Calder's biological mother with her son. Lily knows merfolk are bound to keep their promises. Calder's not buying into it, though. He chalks up the dreams to stress. He wants Lily to focus on the future—their future, not the past. Which forces Lily to send Calder away. Calder goes, feeling rejected and more than a little tempted to revert to his hunting ways. What both of them overlook is the present: Calder's sisters, Maris and Pavati, are fighting for control of the mermaid clan, and now that Lily and her dad have transformed into mer-creatures, both mermaids vie for daughter and father as allies. Which of the two mermaids can be trusted? Will Lily make costly mistakes, forcing her to descend to the depths of Lake Superior? And if Calder returns, will he be the same merman Lily grew to love? The stakes are high, with many lives at risk, but Calder and Lily must confront the past as well as their darkest impulses if they want a chance at being together.
Book Details

Spaceheadz with Super Hampster Grip(SPHDZ 3)
Shane Prigmore, Jon Scieszka
The SPHDZ are about to reach their recruitment quota—and that’s when the real story STARTS! Michael K. and the gang only have 100 SPHDZ left to sign up. But something is about to go horribly wrong that will change EVERYTHING forever. What if the 3.14 million and one brainwaves aren’t for saving the world at all? What if Agent Umber finally catches up with the SPHDZ? What if the AAA Chief has a new plan? What if Fluffy can speak...baby? New twists and new turns await readers. And in the end, Michael K. may not know whom he can trust anymore.... The third book in the out-of-this-world series is full of twists and turns—and a bigger mystery is about to be revealed!