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Adventure | Page 43 | LitPick Book Reviews
Adventure
Pools
Pools
One day, Lark and her friend Shelley, visit their neighbour, Ms Trowper, to fetch their ball from her garden. Ms Trowper is not her usual cheery self. She has a pool of water in her attic. She is convinced it is a magical hole. She wants Lark and Shelley to see what’s in it. The girls decide Ms Trowper is bonkers and make a hasty retreat. Later that night, Lark’s mum insists she saw Lark’s brother, Fin, and his ‘sensible’ friend, Mat, disappear through a hole in the garden. It makes no sense. Fin and Mat are on a camping trip and are not due home for days. Troubled by this strange turn of events, the two friends return to Ms Trowper’s house. They revisit the hole in Ms Trowper’s attic and get sucked through the pool of water into another dimension: Craggthorn, where they are given a very important assignment. If they fail, a powerful spell will bind them to Craggthorn forever.

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The Girl With the Half and Half Face
The Girl With the Half and Half Face
She's trained to follow wherever her Core leads. Until it leads her away from everything she's ever known . . . into mortal danger. Eighteen-year-old Kayli-el is part of a new species on her planet, with a powerful internal guidance called the Core. After her teacher is murdered for its secrets, Kayli-el runs for her life - right into the arms of Tamber, a boy who's crossed the ocean on a mysterious quest. When the killers who murdered her teacher capture her best friend , Kayli-el faces a choice with devastating consequences: follow her Core's wisdom and flee across the ocean to safety with Tamber, leaving Serene behind, or defy her own guidance to try and save Serene's life.

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The Confounding Case of the Climate Crisis (Galactic Academy of Science)
The Confounding Case of the Climate Crisis
With time travel and mysteries that need solving, the Galactic Academy of Science (G.A.S.) series instructs readers on how to think like scientists. Under the guidance of a Dude or Dudette from the future, the middle school characters are faced with treacherous, present-day crimes that require a historical knowledge of science in order to be solved. From investigating problems to analyzing data and constructing explanations and solutions, this series blends elements of sci-fi with educational methods that distill the key thinking habits of scientists and engineers. An adventure that investigates the causes and consequences of climate change Something strange is going on during Anita and Benson’s field trip to a greenhouse as their guide is making wild claims about carbon dioxide and their science teacher, Mr. Fazmel, has mysteriously disappeared. That’s when Quarkum Phonon, a Dude from the future, sends Anita and Benson on a Galactic Academy of Science mission to learn about the origins of climate change and the ways communities around the world are dealing with its impact. With stops around the world—from a Hawaiian volcano to Greenland and Geneva—Anita and Benson sift through the evidence for climate change. On their return home, the students face the question: what can a couple of kids do to reduce CO2 emissions and slow down climate change? A portion of all profits from this book will go to support local projects helping people in the developing world adapt to climate change.

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The Cryptic Case of the Coded Fair (Galactic Academy of Science)
The Cryptic Case of the Coded Fair
With time travel and mysteries that need solving, the Galactic Academy of Science (G.A.S.) series instructs readers on how to think like scientists. Under the guidance of a Dude or Dudette from the future, the middle school characters are faced with treacherous, present-day crimes that require a historical knowledge of science in order to be solved. From investigating problems to analyzing data and constructing explanations and solutions, this series blends elements of sci-fi with educational methods that distill the key thinking habits of scientists and engineers.   Learn to create and crack codes in this latest G.A.S. installment   Dr. G and his companions are using coded messages in a plot to corrupt the International Science Fair. Quarkum Phonon, a Dude from the future, calls on four middle school students for help. Benson and Anita work on their computers while two new G.A.S. recruits, Ella and Shomari, travel through time, facing kidnappers, thieves, and spies in their scramble to learn about codes and ciphers. Across two millennia and five countries, they meet Julius Caesar, Thomas Jefferson, Alan Turing, and others, while learning about substitution ciphers, frequency analysis, wheels, cylinders, book codes, the Verginère Table, the Enigma, and public and private keys. But will they break Dr. G’s code in time to save the science fair? A computer-based online extension that allows readers to create and decode their own secret messages is also included.

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Redemption's Warrior

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Dead Man's Hill (Hell's Kitchen Adventure) (Volume 1)
Dead Man's Hill
Malcolm and his classmates crusade to protect their neighborhood from the bum on Dead Man's Hill; a mysterious homeless man who lives atop the abandoned elevated Westside Highway in 1980s New York City. When the plan to eliminate the bum goes haywire, a rumor spreads about a killer hobo on the loose. Malcolm then remembers they left a buddy behind. Throughout the story, Malcolm is caught between his best friend Rob’s live-and-let-live attitude and the fiery rhetoric of another friend. Which way will he choose? Dead Man's Hill is the first novella in the Hell’s Kitchen Adventure series.

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Stolen (Heart of Dread)
Stolen: Heart of Dread
Michael Johnston, Melissa de la Cruz
Who is Eliza Wesson?Months after Nat and Wes said good-bye on the shores of the Blue, Nat is learning how to control and use her new power. She and her drakon are the last of their kind—and she’s risked her life for their reunion. When she receives a mysterious distress call, she races to help, soliciting the guidance of her new friend, the beautiful and aloof Faix Lazaved of the Blue.Still heartbroken over losing Nat, Wes is racing cars on a New Vegas racetrack while his team is scattered and lost. When he finds out that his sister, Eliza, is being held in the golden domes of El Dorado, he does what he’s best at—running to her side—and gambles on luck to see him through one more time.Magic, romance, and danger collide as Nat and Wes become entangled in a dark new adventure that leads right to the heart of the mystery of their frozen, broken world. They soon discover that the answer to both their quests lies in the same question: Who is Eliza Wesson—what is she capable of, and why was she stolen from her family so long ago?

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Princess of Thorns
Princess of Thorns
Stacey Jay
Game of Thrones meets the Grimm’s fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.   It’s been ten years since Princess Aurora’s mother, the Sleeping Beauty, sacrificed her life to give her daughter her magical powers. Aurora knows that magic is never free. The price for hers is that she will never know romantic love.      Prince Niklaas is living on borrowed time. Unless he is able to convince a princess to marry him before his eighteenth birthday, he will meet the same terrible fate as his ten older brothers.      When Niklaas and Aurora meet under unusual circumstances, they must race to prevent the fulfillment of an ogre prophecy foretelling the end of human life. But will they be able to break their curses? “Compelling and action-packed. . . . The combination of adventure; lovable, complex characters; and a touch of romance make this a book that teens will be drawn to, especially those who appreciate strong female protagonists.”—School Library Journal “The plotting is impeccable, the world building ample, and the resolution neatly done without feeling pat.”—Booklist  “The banter between rakish Niklaas and feisty Aurora is crackling with chemistry and wit.”—The Bulletin “We absolutely loved Stacey Jay’s Princess of Thorns, a riveting retelling of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ that's full of action, drama and romance.”—romantictimes.com “Will appeal to fantasy lovers.”—VOYA “Jay creates people with real flaws, but endows them with enough integrity to be characters to respect and want to know.”—examiner.com Praise for Juliet Immortal “The bones of the classic Beauty and the Beast story are all here, imaginatively fleshed out with tropes from science fiction, fantasy, even political drama. . . . Will please readers who like to believe that fairy tales can come true, even under dire circumstances.” —The Bulletin, Recommended Praise for Of Beast and Beauty “The romance is intense, and so is the horror in this strong reversal of the Romeo and Juliet story. . . . Teens will enjoy the macabre fantasy story of forbidden love.” —Booklist

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Moon Bear
Moon Bear
Alessandro Gottardo, Gill Lewis
Both torn from their homes in Laos, a boy and a moon bear cub form a deep bond in this “moving and memorable” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) tale of impossible odds and resilient hope, based on true and tragic conditions in Eastern Asia.Twelve-year-old Tam, on a dare, ventures into a moon bear den in the mountains of Northern Laos. His goal is to steal the cub and sell it, making a fortune for his family. But the mother bear’s unexpected return upends Tam’s plan, and he barely escapes with his life. And then his life implodes anyway: his entire mountain village is made to relocate to make room for a new highway. Lured by the promise of electricity, running water, and a television, Tam’s people move to an overcrowded village, where Tam’s father is killed by a stray landmine. Now the family breadwinner, Tam is forced to work hundreds of miles away in the city of Laos, at a moon bear farm where bile from bear gall bladders is used for medicine. It is a cruel, miserable place, and when a familiar face—the very cub he’d seen in the den in Vietnam—is sold to the bear farm, Tam knows he must save this moon bear, no matter what it takes. Deeply and powerfully moving, Moon Bear is an unforgettable story of compassion, hope, and bravery against overwhelming odds, and brings to light the real-life, heartwrenching plight of Asia’s endangered moon bears.

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Palace of Lies (The Palace Chronicles)
Palace of Lies
Desmia discovers the reality of royalty is far from a fairy tale in this third adventure set in the Cinderella-esque world of Just Ella and Palace of Mirrors, from New York Times bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix.Desmia and her twelve sister-princesses are ruling Suala together at last, a united front. The kingdom seems to have finally gotten its happily ever after, but Desmia, trained by a lifetime of palace intrigue, is not so sure. She desperately wants to believe all is well, but she can’t help seeing danger around every corner. And then the unthinkable happens, and Desmia’s worst fears are confirmed. Now, without the support of the sister-princesses she’s grown to rely on or the trappings of royalty that have always convinced people to listen to her, Desmia must find the courage to seek out the truth on her own terms—and to determine the course of two kingdoms.

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