Fiction
Chanda's Wars
Allan Stratton
"Wherever you are . . . I'm coming to get you. I'm going to bring you home."Chanda has been dreaming of civil war, lost children, and rivers of blood. Suddenly the dream is real. Rebel soldiers brutally attack her family's village and kidnap her brother and sister. Risking their lives, Chanda and a troubled young tracker must pursue the rebels through the unforgiving bush to save her family.
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Saved by the Music
Selene Castrovilla
The last place fifteen-year-old Willow wants to spend her summer is on a run-down former coffee barge in a boatyard in Rockaway, New York. But that's where her aunt is converting the broken down hulk into a floating concert hall and Willow has no choice but to help; her unstable mom has kicked her out for the summer. Willow's miserable when she sees that there isn't even a shower on the barge, and she has to deal with Craig, the leering hunk of a construction worker working with her aunt. The only bright spot is Axel, an older teenage boy living alone on a neighboring sailboat. Introverted and mysterious, he has the soul of a poet, a deep, philosophical mind, and loves Shakespeare. He's also scarred by a painful, disturbing past, and the two bond through their shared pain and laughter. But when devastating events threaten to destroy them, Willow and Axel struggle to save each other--and themselves--before it's too late.
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Piper Reed Gets A Job
Christine Davenier, Kimberly Willis Holt
Piper Reed and her fellow Gypsy Club members are in need of a clubhouse. Raising money to buy one proves a challenge. Piper, being the resourceful fifth grader that she is, launches her own party-planning business and gets her first job throwing young Brady's birthday celebration. But things don't go as expected on the day of the big event. Fortunately for Piper, her friends and family come to her rescue!
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The Storm in the Barn
Matt Phelan, Matt Phelan
Tall tale. Thriller. Gripping historical fiction. This artful, sparely told graphic novel — a tale of a boy in Dust Bowl America — will resonate with young readers today. (Age 10 and up)In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father’s failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot’s abandoned barn — a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it’s hard to trust what you see with your own eyes — and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes. With phenomenal pacing, sensitivity, and a sure command of suspense, Matt Phelan ushers us into a world where desperation is transformed by unexpected courage.
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Leigh Ann's Civil War
Ann Rinaldi
Leigh Ann Conners is spunky and determined. Although she often finds herself in trouble, she loves her two older brothers dearly and would do anything to make them proud. When the Yankees arrive in Roswell, Georgia, Leigh Ann places a French flag upon the family’s mill. She hopes the Yankees will then spare the mill from destruction, but her actions have disastrous results. Sent north with the women and children who worked in the mill—all branded traitors for making fabric for Confederate uniforms—Leigh Ann embarks on a journey that requires her to find her own inner strength. Only then will she be able to rise above the war raging around her.
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The Magician's Elephant
Yoko Tanaka, Kate DiCamillo
In a highly awaited new novel, Kate DiCamillo conjures a haunting fable about trusting the unexpected — and making the extraordinary come true. (Ages 7 and up)What if? Why not? Could it be?When a fortuneteller's tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller's mysterious answer (an elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that you will hardly dare to believe it’s true. With atmospheric illustrations by fine artist Yoko Tanaka, here is a dreamlike and captivating tale that could only be narrated by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo. In this timeless fable, she evokes the largest of themes — hope and belonging, desire and compassion — with the lightness of a magician’s touch.
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The Goldsmith's Daughter
Tanya Landman
A bearer of doom, or a bringer of change? As the Aztec empire falls, one girl defies her destiny. (Age 12 and up)In the golden city of Tenochtitlán, the people live in awe of Emperor Montezuma and in fear of blood-hungry gods. Under an ill-fated sky, a girl is born, facing a life of submission and domestic drudgery. But Itacate has a secret passion for goldwork, forbidden to women, and is forced to disguise her identity to protect herself and her family. When her city is shaken by Cortez’s invasion, Itacate challenges fate, culture, and faith by crafting golden statues — and pursuing the love of a man who should be her enemy. From the author of I AM APACHE comes a tale of clashing cultures, a rich and powerful depiction of Aztec life during the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
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The Ask and the Answer
Patrick Ness
Part two of the literary sci-fi thriller follows a boy and a girl who are caught in a warring town where thoughts can be heard — and secrets are never safe.Reaching the end of their tense and desperate flight in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical government. Todd, meanwhile, faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives — Todd’s gritty and volatile; Viola’s calmer but equally stubborn — the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs. Torn by confusion and compromise, suspicion and betrayal, can their trust in each other possibly survive?
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Ginger High
Melissa Burmester
Ginger High is no ordinary school. It is a school for students with special powers. Many years ago people came to Earth from the Kingdom of Animist, a parallel universe. Two long time friends, Matthias and Amanta, attended the school and then returned home to Animist. The school has had many unexplained deaths. Daisy Fisher attends the school after her old school burns down. Matthias and Amanta are called back to the school to help solve the mysteries. What are powers? And what is with this crazy school? Welcome to Ginger High.
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The Youngest Templar
Michael Spradlin
Tristan and his friends haveescaped the Holy Land, but theirdangerous journey is far fromover!Picking up right where the breathtaking actionleft off, Tristan and his friends, the archer RobardHode and the assassin Maryam, have escapedthe Holy Land, but they are still a long wayfrom the end of their perilous journey. And whilethey may have eluded the villainous Templar SirHugh, they know he will never be far behind.Their only hope is to reach safety in England. Butbefore they do that they run straight into a rebelband of Cathars, a heretical sect fighting off the oppressionof France’s king. When Tristan falls for thebeautiful leader of the Cathars, though, his loyaltiesare torn between aiding her in her hour of need orfleeing with his sacred charge—to protect the HolyGrail.
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