Fiction
Karma Khullar's Mustache
Kristi Wientge
“Kristi Wientge deftly captures the turmoil of adolescence.” —Us Weekly Debut author Kristi Wientge tackles the uncomfortable—but all too relatable—subject of female body hair and self-esteem with this sweet and charming novel in the tradition of Judy Blume.Karma Khullar is about to start middle school, and she is super nervous. Not just because it seems like her best friend has found a newer, blonder best friend. Or the fact that her home life is shaken up by the death of her dadima. Or even that her dad is the new stay-at-home parent, leading her mother to spend most of her time at work. But because she’s realized that she has seventeen hairs that have formed a mustache on her upper lip. With everyone around her focused on other things, Karma is left to figure out what to make of her terrifyingly hairy surprise all on her own.
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Quicksand Pond
Janet Taylor Lisle
An ALA Notable Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2017 “Striking, enigmatic, and haunting all around.” —Booklist (starred review) “A suspenseful, realistic, finely crafted story exploring friendship, trust, and how we judge others.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Newbery Honor winner Janet Taylor Lisle’s novel about a pivotal summer in two girls’ lives explores the convictions we form, the judgments we make, and the values we hold.The pond is called Quicksand Pond. It’s a shadowy, hidden place, full of chirping, shrieking, croaking life. It’s where, legend has it, people disappear. It’s where scrappy Terri Carr lives with her no-good family. And it’s where twelve-year-old Jessie Kettel is reluctantly spending her summer vacation. Jessie meets Terri on a raft out in the water, and the two become fast friends. On Quicksand Pond, Jessie and Terri can be lost to the outside world—lost until they want to be found. But a tragedy that occurred many decades ago has had lingering effects on this sleepy town, and especially on Terri Carr. And the more Jessie learns, the more she begins to question her new friendship—and herself.
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Pablo and Birdy
Alison McGhee, Ana Juan
A boy who drifted into the seaside town of Isla as a baby searches for answers about where he and his parrot came from in this charmer of a tale laced with magical realism from New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee.The seaside town of Isla has many stories, the most notable being the legend of the Seafaring Parrot. Locals claim that the Seafarer remembers every sound, every whisper, cry, laugh, or snort ever uttered. But, though there have been rumored Seafarer sightings, no one has actually seen the bird before. Other stories surround a boy named Pablo, who had washed up on shore in a blow-up swimming pool as an infant with only a lavender parrot as a companion. Now, on the eve of his tenth birthday, the stories are repeated. “At first I thought it was a huge fish,” Emmanuel, the man who found and took Pablo in, says. Pierre, the baker’s guess was a good one: Perhaps Pablo has come from an undiscovered country, one unknown to the rest of the world. Maybe the inhabitants there lived in tree houses, or underground. Or maybe he’s a pirate baby. But Pablo wants the truth, and the only one who might know it is Birdy, his parrot. After all, she was there, holding onto the raft. But unlike most birds who live in Isla, Birdy can neither talk or fly. Or, at least, she never has. Until…one day, when strong winds begin to blow—winds similar to the ones that brought Pablo to shore—Birdy begins to mutter. Could Birdy be a Seafaring parrot? If she is, then she will be able to tell Pablo the true story of where he came from—of who tied him so lovingly and safely to that raft? But, if she is, that also means the second part of the Seafarer myth is true…that Seafaring Parrots will, eventually, fly away. As Pablo is buzzing with questions, hopes, and fears, an old saying echoes in his mind: winds of change mean fortune lost or fortune gained. And while the winds rise in Isla, Pablo holds tight to Birdy. Would losing his companion, his dearest link to his past, be that loss?
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When Dimple Met Rishi
A New York Times bestseller An NPR Best Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2017 A School Library Journal Best Young Adult Book of 2017 A Bustle Best YA Novel of 2017 A PopSugar Best Young Adult Novel of 2017 A Book Riot Best Book of 2017 A Paste Magazine Best Young Adult Novel of 2017 “Effervescent.” —Chicago Tribune “Full of warm characters and sweet romance.” —Entertainment Weekly “Get ready to fall in love with Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel.” —HelloGiggles The rom-com everyone’s talking about! Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage.Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
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Missing
Kelley Armstrong
Fans of CJ Omololu's The Third Twin will flock to the romantic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, now available in paperback. The only thing Winter Crane likes about Reeve's End is that soon she'll leave it. Like her best friend did. Like her sister did. Like most of the teens born in town have done. There's nothing for them there but abandoned mines and empty futures. They're better off taking a chance elsewhere.What Winter will miss is the woods. Her only refuge. At least it was. Until the day she found Lennon left for dead, bleeding in a tree.But now Lennon is gone too. And he has Winter questioning what she once thought was true. What if nobody left at all? What if they're all missing?"A compelling thriller that keeps the reader hooked until the end." -VOYA, Starred
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Freedom Flight (Support and Defend)
Patrick Jones
When Paige's mom returns from her final tour of Air Force duty, Paige couldn't be happier for things to go back to normal. But before long, Paige realizes her mom brought something else back with her?an addiction to pain pills. The irritable, medicated, zombie version of her mom isn't the person Paige wanted to come home. She'll try anything to get through to her mom and help her with her painful secret. But can Paige get her mom clean without ruining their relationship and her own ROTC dreams?
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I'm Lola, and I thought this year would be different. Just for once, I wanted to be a glass-half-full kind of girl for. It's 1981, and nice girls don't curse. But the Demented Duo has been harassing me since middle school--cutting down my looks, my Christianity, my virginity. How am I supposed to control my anger when everyone at Sunset High School seems like they're out to get me? They'll embarrass me about anything. And Then George strides in, and like magic, everything is better. If only it lasted. How will I ever clean up my mess and make amends? Can anyone still love me? "Identity. Belonging. Significance. Lowly gives us a deep glance into the world of adolescence and bullying with grit and grace." -Dr. JJ Jones, D. Min. Family Discipleship Pastor Fellowship Nashville, Franklin Campus "We really love Lowly. Laura expressed the feelings of a your girl so remarkably, along with some wonderful humor and a beautiful life lesson on forgiveness. We give Lowly a BIG thumbs-up." -Russ and Linda Murphy Russ Murphy Ministries Russ is an award-winning inspirational singer-songwriter and author of Not Alone: Finding the Love of Your Life Bio Raised in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Laura Angaroni (BS, Economics, Baylor University) is proud to be from what some consider the wrong side of the tracks. She and her husband, Craig, live in Houston, Texas, where Laura writes, coaches her two teens, and after four years of high school ministry is taking a break to chase preschoolers around the church nursery.
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From the Publisher
The Order of the Trees
Found as a baby, on a bed of moss under an old growth tree, Cedar’s beginning was a mystery. As she began her sixth grade year, Cedar resembled her namesake with her wild mane of brown hair, her sinewy body, and deer-like eyes. She makes her first true friend, a new student, Phillip, with whom she shares her special woodland spot along with the gifts it brings. When Cedar falls suddenly ill, Phillip discovers that her health is connected to the fate of the forest where she was found. Their special woods are threatened by an impending development, so they create a plan to save it which includes a hospital, a getaway car, and a protest.
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Misfortune Annie and the Locomotive Reaper
When Annabelle Fortune, the fastest gunslinger in the wild west, inadvertently stops a stranger from attacking a train -- and he wears a suit that enables him to fly! -- the government believes she's the only one to have witnessed the Locomotive Reaper and survived to tell the tale.Promising to find out what he can about her missing father, the Director of the Secret Service persuades Annie to swear in. Too soon, her detested nickname re-stakes its claim.Partnered with Beau Slokam, whose penchant for gambling leads them straight to the Doom Gang, Misfortune Annie guides the smooth-talking Southerner in a chase through the Rockies, with her Cheyenne friend, Wontoa, rounding out their unlikely trio.When Annie again meets the Locomotive Reaper, his gadgetry proves far more advanced -- and deadly -- than even top scientists could have imagined.
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The Origins of Benjamin Hackett
"O'Connor's lilting prose beautifies his tale [as he] tackles a serious theme of forlornness with sincerity, buoyancy, and wit." --Kirkus ReviewsAll families have secrets. Most go untold...In the summer of '96, Benjamin Hackett has come of age, technically. And in the midst of the celebratory hangover, his world is whipped out from under his feet. His parents have finally shared their lifelong secret with him; he's adopted.At the age of eighteen, the boy still has some growing up to do, and with the help of JJ, his loquacious consigliore and bodyguard, he embarks on an adventure that'll put to bed a lifetime of lies.Over the course of five days, they find themselves caught up in the darker side of Cork. But when they sweep through the misfits blocking their way and finally discover the truth of it...now that's the greatest shock of all.The Origins of Benjamin Hackett is a tender tale of heartache and displacement told through a wry and courageous voice. Set in Ireland, it's a timely reminder that the world hasn't moved on just as fast as we fancy. Now, in this emotionally charged story, Gerald O'Connor explores conditioned guilt and its consequences in a country still hiding from the sins of its past.Praise for THE ORIGINS OF BENJAMIN HACKETT..."The Origins of Benjamin Hackett by Gerald O'Connor is a raucous and riotous coming of age story that is brutal, tender and hilarious." - Paul D. Brazill, author of A Case of Noir and Guns of Brixton"O'Connor doles out killer dialogue that adds oodles of character to this hero's journey. Told with the lilt and panache of Joseph O'Connor and Dermot Bolger in their novels of the 90s, Gerald O'Connor is the new and improved voice we've been waiting for." - Gerard Brennan, author of Undercover and Wee Rockets"Visceral writing that inherits a long Irish tradition. O'Connor's narrative contains sharp characterisation, and has an assured voice, while dramatising conditioned guilt with humour and style." - Richard Godwin, author of Apostle Rising, Mr. Glamour and One Lost Summer and others"If you're expecting the usual coming-of-age tale, you're in for a big shock. This is a tale big on heart and one which the author, Gerald O'Connor, has hied religiously to the advice of Harry Crews for writers, to leave out the parts readers skip. None of those parts remain in these pages. An auspicious debut!" - Les Edgerton, author of The Death of Tarpons, The Bitch, The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping, Bomb, and others
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