Fiction
The Secret of the Puzzle Box
Penny Warner
The Code Busters are excited for their class field trip to Angel Island, known as the Ellis Island of the West. One of Mika's ancestors passed through the island's immigration station in the early twentieth century, and Mika thinks he may have left behind some secret messages . . . plus a very special box. But as the Code Busters search for hints from the past, they get caught up in an even bigger secret.Can you crack the code? Test your brain with the Code Busters to see if you have the right stuff to be an ace detective. Answers are in the back, in case you get stuck.
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A Twist of Fate
Natasha Shaloshvili, Laurie Friedman
April is stunned when her grandma announces she has cancer. And rather than undergo difficult treatment, Gaga wants to cross an item off her bucket list: going skiing in the mountains. So she's taking the whole family to Utah! Despite their matching ski outfits, April is looking forward to time with her grandma and cousins. But tension builds as Sophie mysteriously shuts April out, Harry swoons over another skier, the aunts tiptoe around Gaga's feelings, and April faces peer pressure on the slopes. When disaster strikes, April has to try to embrace Gaga's approach: that life is what you make of it.
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Beware That Girl
Teresa Toten
For fans of We Were Liars, Gone Girl, and The Girl on the Train comes a powerful psychological thriller with a gripping pace and Hitchcockian twists. Set against the backdrop of New York City, this compelling novel delves into the dysfunctional yet mesmerizing world of the mega-wealthy elite and will keep readers guessing until the very last page. The Haves. The Have-Nots. Kate O’Brien appears to be a Have-Not. Her whole life has been a series of setbacks she’s had to snake her way out of—some more sinister than others. But she’s determined to change all that. She’s book-smart. She’s street-smart. And she’s also a masterful liar. As the scholarship student at the elite Waverly School in NYC, Kate has her work cut out for her: her plan is to climb the social ranks and land a spot at Yale. She’s already found her “people” among the senior-class “it” girls—specifically in the cosseted, mega-wealthy yet deeply damaged Olivia Sumner. As for Olivia, she considers Kate the best friend she’s always needed, the sister she never had. When the handsome and whip-smart Mark Redkin joins the Waverly administration as head of fund-raising, he immediately charms his way into the faculty’s and students’ lives, becoming especially close to Olivia, a fact she’s intent on keeping to herself. It becomes increasingly obvious that Redkin poses a threat to Kate, too, in a way she can’t reveal—and can’t afford to ignore. Mark has his own plan for a bright future and never doubts that he can pull it off. How close can Kate and Olivia get to him without having to share their dark pasts? “Combines a Gossip Girl milieu with the unsettled psychological terrain of Gone Girl.” —PW “It’s smart, dark, entertaining, and unpredictable.” —Quill & Quire, Starred
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The Safest Lies
From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger comes a captivating psychological thriller about a girl who must face her darkest fears—but can she outrun the past? Kelsey has lived most of her life in a shadow of suspicion, raised to see danger everywhere. Her mother hasn’t set foot outside their front door in seventeen years, since she escaped from her kidnappers with nothing but her attacker’s baby growing inside her—Kelsey. Kelsey knows she’s supposed to keep a low profile and stay off the grid for their protection, but that plan is shattered when her dramatic car accident and rescue by volunteer firefighter and classmate Ryan Baker sparks media coverage. A few days later, she arrives home to find her mother missing. Now, to have a chance at a future, Kelsey will have to face her darkest fears. Because someone is coming for her. And the truth about the past may end up being the most dangerous thing of all. "[A] fast-paced, suspenseful treat." —PW, starred "Positively movie-ready." —Kirkus “Will blow readers’ minds.” —SLJPraise for Megan Miranda's All the Missing Girls:"This thriller's all of your fav page-turners (think: Luckiest Girl Alive, The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl) rolled into one." —TheSkimm"Fast-paced and frightening." —Refinery29"[The] perfect read for thriller fans." —Bustle.com
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Fighters, Feared and Fallen
Thomas is swept into Robert Cain’s web of terrorHe's forced to fight in a child armyAgainst the most evil of peopleAnd learns the first casualty of war is the truth“If you can’t trust yourself, Thomas, who can you trust?”
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Faceless (The Anonymous Chronicles Book 2)
Twelve months is a lifetime. Especially when each day is a land mine of panic attacks and fear. Josie’s father, the Maj, is headed to a war zone. To combat her loneliness, Josie (a.k.a. Rooster) accepts 12 challenges left by the Maj in a yearlong geocache hunt. When one of the challenges tests Rooster, she is confronted with the issue of homelessness. Her friend Bronwyn is battling another war. Surviving life on the streets. Suddenly homelessness has a face. And sometimes fighting the enemy isn’t the only battle in war. Do Bronwyn and her sister finally escape life on the run? Will the Maj survive combat and return home?
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Return to the Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel
Melissa de la Cruz
The sequel to the #1 New York Times best seller The Isle of the LostMal's an expert at intimidating her enemies, but she's broken the habit since leaving her villainous roots behind. So when she and her friends Evie, Carlos, and Jay all receive threatening messages demanding they return home, Mal can't believe it. Sure, she's King Ben's girlfriend now, and she's usually nice to her classmates, but she still didn't think anyone would be silly enough to try to push her around. The thing is, it kind of worked. Especially since she and her friends have a sneaking suspicion that their villainous parents are behind the messages. And when Evie looks into her Magic Mirror, what she sees only confirms their fears. Maleficent's just a tiny lizard after her run-in with Mal at Ben's Coronation, but she's the worst villain in the land for a reason. Could she have found a way to escape? Whatever's going on, Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay know they have to sneak back to the Isle and get to the bottom of it. Without its infamous leader, the island's even worse than when they left it, but the comforts of home-even a home as gloomy as the Isle of the Lost-can be hard to resist for recently reformed villains. Will the kids be able to beat the evil bubbling at the Isle's wicked core, or will the plot to destroy Auradon succeed?
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"The 5th Wave" meets "The Host" in an epic new saga, SEEK.“An intriguing read that any pre-teen or teen will enjoy!”—LitPickOut of seven billion people, there’s only one thing we all have in common. We search for what eludes us. We evade what causes us sorrow. We extract what doesn’t suit our needs. And we kill to get what we want. WE SEEK. In the time it takes you to read this, two lives will be revoked and one spared. Some call it divine intervention, others say natural selection decides, but no one really knows for sure. EXCEPT ME. My name is Keira, and this is how I saved you.Keira Donavan joins a secret government agency called SEEK to get her sister, Lindy, an illegal operation (a genetically created spinal cord transplant). The surgery promises to repair Lindy’s legs after a car accident, which Keira feels responsible for, leaves her paralyzed. At SEEK, Keira is a trained huntress who tracks and kills parasitic shadows in the Daniel Boone National Forest. She's told the shadows—the "Khayal"—are evil parasites which prey on humans. But things get weird after she finds herself injured and alone in the woods. Once rescued, everything changes including her eye-color and her job. SEEK gives her a human target—a handsome nineteen-year-old millionaire—Jonathan Steed. Now she has two choices if she's going to succeed in getting Lindy that operation, seduce Jonathan and convince him to join SEEK...or kill him.But nothing goes according to plan when she finds herself staring into eyes the same radioactive green as hers. Jonathan swears SEEK's been lying to her, but it isn’t until Keira comes face-to-face with a true Khayal that her world crashes down—one lie at a time—until she's forced to see the truth. Khayal are good and SEEK wants her dead. But running isn’t that simple. SEEK has her sister and her family.Again Keira must choose, save her sister and her family or save the Khayal. And falling in love with Jonathan isn't helping.LitPick Top Choice Book Review Award **Mild Language
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From the Publisher
Lion Island
Margarita Engle
In a haunting yet hopeful novel in verse, award-winning author Margarita Engle tells the story of Antonio Chuffat, a young man of African, Chinese, and Cuban descent who became a champion of civil rights.Asia, Africa, Europe—Antonio Chuffat’s ancestors clashed and blended on the beautiful island of Cuba. Yet for most Cubans in the nineteenth century, life is anything but beautiful. The country is fighting for freedom from Spain. Enslaved Africans and nearly-enslaved Chinese indentured servants are forced to work long, backbreaking hours in the fields. So Antonio feels lucky to have found a good job as a messenger, where his richly blended cultural background is an asset. Through his work he meets Wing, a young Chinese fruit seller who barely escaped the anti-Asian riots in San Francisco, and his sister Fan, a talented singer. With injustice all around them, the three friends are determined that violence will not be the only way to gain liberty.
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Ollie's Odyssey
William Joyce, William Joyce
From the creator of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and The Guardians of Childhood comes an grand adventure of valor, friendship, and a look into the mysterious world of favorite toys.In the secret realm of toys, there are many mysteries. There is the Code of the Toys, which is as ancient as childhood. There’s also the magic of becoming a child’s favorite, the highest honor in the Toy World. Made by hand by Billy’s mother, Ollie is a special toy, “a toy who will matter.” He becomes Billy’s best friend, confidant, pal, and yes, Billy’s “favorite.” But there are villains in the Toy World, and Zozo, the clown king, is the most feared. He and his toy henchman (the Creeps) have sworn to steal and imprison favorite toys until they forget their children and become forever lost. When Ollie is toynapped, Billy must rescue his beloved favorite from Zozo’s subterranean lair in the old Carnival Place, past the park, through the woods, and into the night. Never has a journey of ten blocks been more epic.
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