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Spellbound and Determined
Spellbound and Determined
Dax Varley
Welcome to Mimi's Charms & Enchantments - a New Age shop filled with magical merchandise and colorful customers. Cam couldn't ask for a better afterschool job.When a shady man in gray slinks in one afternoon, Cam is thisclose to calling 911. To her relief, he hurries away, leaving behind the nauseating odor of his cologne and a curious spell he's dropped on the floor. But this spell is not your average hocus-pocus. It's ancient, odd and promises Power Supreme - something Cam could definitely use to keep up her 3.9 grade point average.But the spell requires more than what's stocked on Mimi's shelves. And acquiring each item will take some heavy teamwork. With the help of her best friend, Reade, and Zach, the high school's resident genius/nerd, Cam can't lose...unless the Gray man returns.

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Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
K.G. Campbell, Kate DiCamillo
Top Choice
Winner of the 2014 Newbery Medal Holy unanticipated occurrences! A cynic meets an unlikely superhero in a genre-breaking new novel by master storyteller Kate DiCamillo.It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry — and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format — a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell.

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Firecracker: First Edition
Firecracker
David Iserson
A hilarious tragicomedy from New Girl and SNL writer David Iserson! Being Astrid Krieger is absolutely all it's cracked up to be.She lives in a rocket ship in the backyard of her parents' estate.She was kicked out of the elite Bristol Academy and she's intent on her own special kind of revenge to whomever betrayed her. She only loves her grandfather, an incredibly rich politician who makes his money building nuclear warheads.It's all good until..."We think you should go to the public school," Dad said.  This was just a horrible, mean thing to say. Just hearing the words "public school" out loud made my mouth taste like urine (which, not coincidentally, is exactly how the public school smells).  Will Astrid finally meet her match in the form of public school? Will she find out who betrayed her and got her expelled from Bristol? Is Noah, the sweet and awkward boy she just met, hiding something?

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Alice-Miranda Takes the Stage
Alice Miranda Takes the Stage
Jacqueline Harvey
Girls who are fans of Judy Moody, Matilda and Clementine will love spunky Alice-Miranda!Alice-Miranda is thrilled to be back at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies, where the girls are rehearsing a play with the neighboring boys' school. But it's not all glamour and stage lights: there are rumors of a witch in the woods, and Alice-Miranda's friends, Jacinta and Millie, are clashing with Sloan Sykes, a rude new student whose pushy mother comes up with a get-rich scheme that could have disastrous results. When Alice-Miranda learns of the plot, she tries to set things right--and on the night of the big performance, no less!

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Lawn Mower Magic (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
Magical Mix-ups #3: Grasshopper Magic
   With a POP! and a puff of smoke, the Willows' lawn mower calls it quits. A new mower will cost their parents a lot of money, money Derek had hoped to borrow for a train ticket to visit a friend. Luckily Derek and his brother and sisters find a rusty push mower tucked away in the shed. It doesn't look like much, but it turns out that it's been soaking up magic for years. And it's hungry for grass!   Can Derek earn his ticket? Maybe . . . if he, Abner, Tate, and Celia can keep the magic mower under control!   Lynne Jonell follows up her Junior Library Guild selection, Hamster Magic, with a second story of the Willow family's rowdy run-ins with mixed-up magic.

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Crush: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Love (Liar Liar)
Crush
Gary Paulsen
Readers met the comical Kevin in Liar, Liar and Flat Broke.  Kevin gets serious about Tina Zabinski, the Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Finally, finally, he's worked up his courage—he's going to ask her out. Or will his trademark scheming get in his way?

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Vote (Liar Liar)
Vote
Gary Paulsen
   Kevin Spencer, the hero of Liar, Liar, Flat Broke, and Crush, has a knack for tackling big ideas and goofing up, so what's next? Politics, of course! He's running for office, and his campaign is truly unique.

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The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic
The Problem With Being Slightly Heroic
Uma Krishnaswami, Abigail Halpin
Dini is back from India—with Bollywood star Dolly in tow! But life in the States isn’t all rose petal milk shakes…Dini and Maddie, very best friends, are back in the same country at the same time! Better still, Dolly Singh, the starriest star in all of Bollywood, is in America too. Dini’s only just returned from India, and already life is shaping up to be as delicious as a rose petal milk shake. Perfect. Then why can’t she untie the knot in her stomach? Because so much can go wrong when a big star like Dolly is in town. All Dini has to do is make sure Dolly has everything she needs, from a rose petal milk shake to her lost passport to…a parade? And an elephant? Uh-oh… It’s time to think. What Would Dolly Do? If Dini can’t figure it out, Dolly might take matters into her own hands—and that will surely lead to the biggest mess of all! Uma Krishnaswami has concocted a delicious sequel to her multiple star-reviewed The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, which Kirkus Reviews called “a delightful romp.”

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Worse Things Happen at Sea!: A Tale of Pirates, Poison, and Monsters (The Ratbridge Chronicles)
Worse Things Happen At Sea!
Alan Snow, Alan Snow
Set sail for adventure on the high seas in this rollicking tale of pirates, poison, and monsters from New York Times bestselling author Alan Snow.The kooky residents of Ratbridge are clamoring for the miracle medicine Black Jollop, but a shortage calls for action. The Nautical Laundry, the famed rat-pirate vessel, must journey afar to gather the medicine’s secret ingredient. But things aren’t what they seem…and soon the ship is under attack. Can young Arthur and his Ratbridge friends triumph and return with the cure for the towns ills? Illustrated throughout with hundreds of detailed and delightful black-and-white drawings, this imaginative novel will captivate young sea-faring scallywags and brave buccaneers who love a daring, humorous, and extraordinary adventure.

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Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
This funny fractured fairy tale goes behind the scenes of Rumpelstiltskin. New York Times Bestselling author Liesl Shurtliff "spins words into gold [Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor winner]."In a magic kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone's joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse. To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.A Texas Bluebonnet finalist and winner of the ILA award for middle grade fiction, Rump is perfect for fans of Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted or Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm. And don't miss Liesl Shurtliff's other fairy tale retellings: Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk and Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood."A fresh riff on the Grimm Brothers' Rumpelstiltskin, told with wit from the impish point of view of the troublemaker himself." —People"Lighthearted and inventive, Rump amusingly expands a classic tale." —Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fablehaven.

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