Fiction
Island Girl
Sandra Byrd
Every summer thirteen-year-old Meg returns to the berry fields of her grandparents' farm on Sauvie's Island, Oregon. But this year, everything is different. With her mother remarried and a new baby on the way, Meg isn't quite sure where she fits in the family anymore. And now the comfortable familiarity of the farm has changed, too. There is a new girl, Tia...and she obviously holds a special place in Meg's grandparents' hearts. During this season of growth, Meg faces the challenge of figuring out what life, family, and friendship are all about. In order to thrive she must learn the importance of her unique characteristics and God's plan for her life. Book 1 of Friends for a Season.
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Dark Angel
David Klass
A taut psychological thriller for teens Seventeen-year-old Jeff thought he would never again have to deal with his older brother, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. But after six years, Troy’s sentence has been overturned on a technicality and he is released from prison. He returns to a family deeply divided about having him back home. Jeff can’t forget how his life was disrupted by his brother, how his family had to move to another state and start over. Still, his parents believe things will be different now. But Troy’s return makes a mess of Jeff ’s life – at home, at school, and with his girlfriend. When Jeff ’s rival on the soccer field turns up missing, Jeff suspects Troy is involved, and he sets out to prove it. But nothing could prepare Jeff for what happens as he gets closer to the truth.With unexpected flashes of humor, David Klass once again gives readers a gripping, multilayered novel about good and evil and the powerful bonds of family. Dark Angel is a 2006 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
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Crushed
Laura McNeal, Tom McNeal
Audrey and her best friends Lea and C.C. have just arrived at Jemison High from the one-room private school where they spent grades six through ten, where they performed Gilbert and Sullivan musicals, where they adored Edith Wharton. They’re a nerdy little trio, so everyone is shocked when the handsome new guy, Wickham Hill, asks Audrey out. Audrey is soon so smitten that she hardly pays any mind to the vicious underground newspaper at school–or to that strange lurking guy in World Cultures. Before long, it seems everyone at Jemison High is worried about getting crushed–by friends, by enemies, by a mysterious reporter.From the Hardcover edition.
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Tofu and T. Rex
Greg Leitich Smith
Hans-Peter, who enjoys working in his family's Chicago delicatessen, applies for admission to the prestigious Peshtigo School that his cousin Freddie, a vegan and outspoken animal rights activist, attends. By the author of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo.
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Kalpana's Dream
Judith Clarke
All she thought of was the boy with the skateboard ... Sheep and shepherds, little new lambs ... Why? Neema and her best friend, Kate, are freshmen at Wentworth High. In English class they have the notorious Ms. "Bride of Dracula" Dallimore for a teacher. "Learn to fly!" she urges her students. But what are they supposed to write for their essay, "Who Am I?" At home, Neema's great-grandmother, Kalpana, has come for an extended visit all the way to Australia from India. At night she dreams of flying; during the day she cooks Indian food and watches the same Indian video again and again. It should be great having her there, but Neema doesn't speak Hindi, Kalpana doesn't speak English, and Neema's mother can't always be there to translate. Meanwhile, Gull Oliver, the good-looking new boy at school, seems familiar to Neema. At night he flies past her house on his skateboard. Both Neema and Kalpana watch him, drawn to him for different reasons. This rich story weaves realism and fantasy into an unusual portrayal of coming together and finding the essence of who you are.
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Jailbait
Andrea Robin Kaplan is a clique unto herself. In other words, she has no friends. Her only goal is get through high school with the least amount of humiliation possible, which should be easy— nothing ever happens in the suburbs, right? Wrong. One day, as Andi walks home from school, a little brown VW drives up and she meets Frank. Frank makes her feel beautiful and special. With Frank, Andi forgets how alone she is.From boundary breaking author Lesléa Newman comes a haunting story about a girl who is all alone, and a man old enough to know better.
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The Foretelling
Alice Hoffman
A coming-of-age story that pierces the soul and heals the spirit, this is the tale of the future leader of the Amazon women warriors. Rain must hold fast to her inner warrior, but she is startled and mystified by the first stirrings of mercy towards the enemy.
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A. D. 62: Pompeii
Rebecca East
A twenty-first century woman is stranded in first century Pompeii when a time travel experiment goes awry; she is sold to a wealthy family as a house slave. This provides her with an intimate, upstairs/downstairs perspective on household life in ancient times. At first she does menial work, but she improves her situation by telling stories and making prophecies. As her influence grows, she wins the love of her master and his daughter and provokes the vengeful jealousy of his wife.In this gentle fable about the power of stories to change people's lives, the heroine uses sources that include fairy tales and great works of literature to argue for womens rights and the humanity of slaves, and to inspire herself and others to be resourceful, courageous and independent. Miranda's own life becomes as mythic as the stories she tells. In a narrative that is part adventure, part romance, and part fantasy, the heroine triumphs over adversity and makes a place for herself in the world of the past.Visit the companion web site at www.rebecca-east.com to see ancient works of art that inspired the descriptions of characters and settings.
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Jay
W. Royce Adams, Royce W. Adams
In this colorful sequel to "Me & Jay," 16-year-old Jay Thornton is orphaned and "catches out" on a freight train to avoid placement in a foster home. Instead of a romantic hobo lifestyle, Jay discovers constant physical dangers, frequent hunger, and the fear of being caught by train gangs or angry railroad police. His adventures on the run, and contact with homeless drifters, force him to examine his personal values and the friendships he's left behind. He must decide whether to join a subculture on the fringe of society, or return to a new life in the familiar place he's known as home. The story delivers action-packed excitement, tempered by hard lessons that show why a romantic escape fantasy often proves harder than facing reality.
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Worlds of the Golden Queen
David Farland
Originally published as two books, Worlds of the Golden Queen is a stellar tale of love, adventure, sacrifice, and war set in a fantastic future. In the first novel, The Golden Queen, the insectoid Dronons have slain the human queen Semarritte, thowing into chaos the ten thousand worlds over which she reigned. Desperate to save mankind, Lord Veriasse, her near-immortal consort, has created a new queen: Everynne, cloned from the dead original. Hotly pursued, Everynne falls in with cocky bodyguard Gallen O'Day; the pious Orick, an intelligent black bear; and the beautiful orphan Maggie Flynn. With Gallen and the others newly sworn to her service, the young queen begins the great struggle against the aliens. Leaping from world to world via an ancient system of instantaneous transport gates, the heroes face terrible dangers and great wonders as they seek the heart of the dronon worlds, carrying the battle straight to the enemy.In the second novel, Beyond the Gate, Maggie Flynn has become, by test of combat, the new Golden Queen. Gallen, Maggie, and Orick face an attack by Dronons on a planet where humans have achieved the pinnacle of genetic engineering. They must stop them while guarding the secret of Maggie's whereabouts, for she is only the Golden Queen until her champion, Gallen, is defeated by a Dronon challenger. In the midst of a slam-bang story, Farland raises and examines deep questions of humanity's definition and identity.
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