Fiction

Kickers: Book 4 Game-Day Jitters
Jimmy Holder, Rich Wallace
Filled with on-the-field soccer scenes, black-and-white artwork, and sports statistics throughout, this short novel—ideal for newly independent readers, athletes, and all sports fans—follows nine-year-old Ben and his fourth-grade team, the Bobcats, as they race to the Kickers League playoffs. Ben knows he's one of the team's strongest players, but he's been struggling with the jitters. He's just freezing up on the field. Can he pull through for his teammates now that they really need him?
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Angel In My Pocket
Ilene Cooper
When Bette finds an angel coin among the money collected in a carwash, she puts it in her pocket and forgets about it. But things start to change, especially once Gabby, a mysterious and kind new neighbor, moves into Bette's Chicago building. Suddenly, Bette is able to face some big losses--her mother's recent death; her sister's departure for college--and move forward. And once the angel coin falls into the hands of three other kids in Bette's class, their lives change, too. Soon, these two girls and two boys will be connected in ways that open them up to unlikely friendships and new ways to believe in themselves. Here is an entirely new twist on the angel trend.
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Miles From Ordinary
Carol Lynch Williams
"Imagine Anna Quindlen or Sue Miller turning her attention to writing a young adult novel, and you have an idea what [Williams] has done for early teen readers…" --Audrey Couloumbis, author of the Newbery Honor Book Getting Close to BabyThirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control...."No one can get inside the head and heart of a 13-year-old girl better than Carol Lynch Williams, and I mean no one," said James S. Jacobs, Professor of Children's Literature at Brigham Young University, of her breakout novel, The Chosen One. Now this award-winning YA author brings us an equally gripping story of a girl who loves her mother, but must face the truth of what life with that mother means for both of them.
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Desires of the Dead
Kimberly Derting
The second book in the steamy, romantic Body Finder thriller series by Kimberly Derting. Violet and Jay are finally dating, but adjusting to the new relationship is not as easy as Violet anticipated. Especially when she has to split Jay’s time and attention with his new best friend, Mike, and Mike’s pesky younger sister—who happens to be obsessed with Jay.Meanwhile, when Violet’s special abilities lead her to the body of a young boy, her tip to the police puts her on the radar of the FBI. Violet tries to fend off the FBI’s questions while maintaining the semblance of a normal life, but somebody’s leaving her threatening notes and an echo around Mike’s house reinforces that all is not right. Violet is forced to admit that perhaps the only people who can help her figure it out are the very people she’s desperate to avoid—the FBI.Desires of the Dead is the compulsive second book in the four-book Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting.
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The Piper's Son
Melina Marchetta
The award-winning author of Finnikin of the Rock and Jellicoe Road pens a raw, compelling novel about a family’s hard-won healing on the other side of trauma.(Age 14 and up)Award-winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca - but five years have passed, and now it’s Thomas Mackee who needs saving. After his favorite uncle was blown to bits on his way to work in a foreign city, Tom watched his family implode. He quit school and turned his back on his music and everyone that mattered, including the girl he can’t forget. Shooting for oblivion, he’s hit rock bottom, forced to live with his single, pregnant aunt, work at the Union pub with his former friends, and reckon with his grieving, alcoholic father. Tom’s in no shape to mend what’s broken. But what if no one else is either? An unflinching look at family, forgiveness, and the fierce inner workings of love and friendship, The Piper’s Son redefines what it means to go home again.
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The Returning
Jean Sorrell
It is the summer of 1951 in Kansas City, six years following the end of World War II. The worst flood of the century is about to happen, but eleven-year-old Sara Johnson and the rest of her neighbors along Southwest Boulevard have no idea of the impending disaster. Sara clings to the belief that haer father, missing in action since the battle of Iwo Jima, will return to her. She finds a kindred spirit in her friend, Nathalie Springer, a Jewish refugee from France, whose uncle owns the bookstore down the street. The two girls, with the help of a mysterious book and its author, Aaron Fishchel, explore the idea of soul transference, where people are reborn into the body of someone else. The reason for their interest is connected to the new pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Reverend Emmett Bell looks amazingly like Sara's daddy, and he was there on Iwo Jima, but his severe wounds obscured some of his features and left him with amnesia. Is it possible the new minister is actually Sara's father, or Sara's father in the body of Emmett Bell? The coincidences add up and the idea tantalizes the girls, but their investigation leads to heartbreak and division in their families, among the neighbors and their new minister. The folks who live on Southwest Boulevard want to bury physical and emotional wounds suffered during the war. Sara's questions go too far. What is God's plan for the hereafter? It might be unexplainable to the folks who live on Southwest Boulevard in Rosedale, Kansas, but not to an eleven-year-old girl, who proves that love can cross all boundaries, including death.
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Bad Apple
Laura Ruby
"If I really wanted to open up, I'd confess that I really am the liar everyone believes I am."Everyone thinks Tola Riley is crazy. Everyone except Mr. Mymer, her art teacher. He doesn't care about her green hair, or nose ring—and he gets her paintings and lets her hang out in the art room during lonely lunch periods.Although Tola likes to keep to herself, when rumors start flying about an affair between her and Mr. Mymer, she is suddenly at the center of a scandal. The whole town is judging her—even her family. When Mr. Mymer is suspended, she has no choice but to break her silence. The question is, will anyone believe her?
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Held
Edeet Ravel, Gareth Williams
Seventeen-year-old Chloe’s summer vacation in Greece comes to an abrupt end when she is suddenly bound, gagged and whisked away to an unidentified location. Waking up from a drug-induced sleep, she finds herself in a squalid warehouse. Chloe can only imagine the worst. After several days of total isolation and utter despair, Chloe faces a new threat when her kidnapper appears, but she also feels a sense of relief. His revelation that she is being held as ransom for a prisoner exchange, however, does little to allay her fears. The weeks pass and, haunted by terrifying dreams and with only her thoughts to keep her company, Chloe fights to remain calm in an impossible situation. At least her kidnapper, although cold and distant, visits frequently, often bringing gifts. Before long, Chloe begins to have feelings for him that take her by surprise. Though still fearing for her safety, she now fantasizes about a life together. And is it her imagination, or does her captor share those feelings? Even when she is finally released, Chloe vows to protect her captor at any cost. This powerful psychological thriller leaves readers wondering at every suspenseful turn: Is Chloe experiencing Stockholm syndrome?
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Who Am I
M.L. Rice
Discovering who you are is the hardest part of growing up. Devin Kelly is an Air Force brat, band nerd, bookworm, and loner. After the untimely death of her father, she and her mother move to Los Angeles to start a new life. Devin is welcomed to her new school by an arrogant bully named Jason who promises to make the rest of her senior year miserable. Things turn around, however, when a beautiful and intelligent young woman named Melanie Parker, who happens to be Jason’s sister, comes to her rescue. As the relationship between Devin and Melanie grows, Devin finds herself becoming more and more drawn to her new friend’s vivacious spirit. It’s not until an unpleasant confrontation with Jason that Devin must admit to herself that her feelings for Melanie are far more than platonic.
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Small As An Elephant
Jack’s mom is gone, leaving him all alone on a campsite in Maine. Can he find his way back to Boston before the authorities realize what happened?(Ages 10-14)Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has been unpredictable, sometimes loving and fun, other times caught in a whirlwind of energy and "spinning" wildly until it’s over. But Jack never thought his mom would take off during the night and leave him at a campground in Acadia National Park, with no way to reach her and barely enough money for food. Any other kid would report his mom gone, but Jack knows by now that he needs to figure things out for himself - starting with how to get from the backwoods of Maine to his home in Boston before DSS catches on. With nothing but a small toy elephant to keep him company, Jack begins the long journey south, a journey that will test his wits and his loyalties - and his trust that he may be part of a larger herd after all.