Mystery
The Opposite of Hallelujah
Anna Jarzab
A riveting depiction of sisterhood, as one sibling's return home unleashes lies, a secret long buried, and emotional upheaval.Caro Mitchell considers herself an only child--and she likes it that way. After all, her much older sister, Hannah, left home eight years ago, and Caro barely remembers her. So when Caro's parents drop the bombshell news that Hannah is returning to live with them, Caro feels as if an interloper is crashing her family. To her, Hannah's a total stranger, someone who haunts their home with her meek and withdrawn presence, and who refuses to talk about her life and why she went away. Caro can't understand why her parents cut Hannah so much slack, and why they're not pushing for answers. Unable to understand Hannah, Caro resorts to telling lies about her mysterious reappearance. But when those lies alienate her new boyfriend, friends, and put her on the outs with her parents, Caro seeks solace from an unexpected source. And as she unearths a clue from Hannah's past--one that could save Hannah from the dark secret that possesses her--Caro begins to see her sister in a whole new light."Jarzab packs a lot into this story, questions of faith and forgiveness, science and religion, mental illness, guilt and possible redemption, as well as simple high school drama. But at its heart, this is a story about sisters."--Booklist, starred"A layered meditation on family and belief that will ring true for faith-questing teens."--Kirkus Reviews
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Signed by Zelda
An aspiring handwriting analyst tracks down her missing neighbor in this caper from the author of The Problem with the Puddles.More than anything, eleven-year-old Lucy wants to be the world’s most famous handwriting expert. “You can learn a lot about a person through how they write their I’s,” she tells her friend, Pigeon—who just so happens to be a talking bird. When Lucy’s neighbor Zelda goes missing and the only clue is a cryptic handwritten note, Lucy is determined to crack the case using her graphology skills. With some help from Nicky, who lives upstairs, and plenty of advice from Pigeon (who just so happens to be very opinionated), can Lucy decipher the whereabouts of her apartment building’s missing resident?
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From the Publisher
The Toadhouse Trilogy: Book One
Aine believes herself to be a regular teenager in 1930s Alabama, but when a blue-eyed monster named Biblos attacks, she discovers that the reclusive woman raising her isn't really her grandmother and that she's been living inside a book for the past five years. With her blind brother, Spenser, she flees the pages of the novel she's called home, one terrifying step ahead of Biblos' black magic. Her only chance at survival lies in beating him to the three objects that he desires more than life. As she undertakes her strange and dangerous odyssey, Aine must choose between a family she doesn't remember and her growing attraction to a mysterious young man named Gilgamesh. Only through treacherous adventures into The Time Machine, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A Tale of Two Cities, and the epic Indian saga The Ramayana will she learn her true heritage and restore the balance of the worlds... if she can stay alive. "Lourey never slackens the pace!" --St. Paul Pioneer Press "Riveting reading with a fascinating concept, 'The Toadhouse Trilogy' is not to be missed." --The Midwest Book Review "Readers will, like the protagonists, literally get lost in this book. Beautifully written and unquestionably entertaining, this projected trilogy truly does have the potential to become a young adult classic." --Paul Goat Allen (The Chicago Tribune reviewer) “Lourey's wonderful way with words will whisk readers away to an amazing new world!” --Anthony and Agatha Award winning author Chris Grabenstein
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The Secret Room
Shawna and Thea are working together on a math project for their eighth-grade class. But the numbers don't add up, and they make a startling discovery—the secret room in the basement of Thea's house, an old Vermont inn. The code on the walls makes the girls—and everyone in town—wonder why there was a secret room. Was it part of the Underground Railroad, or perhaps something less, well, heroic? Discovering the truth is harder than they would have thought, especially when the truth is not what you want to hear. This new novel is written for young adults age 10 and up. But readers of every age will enjoy this engrossing tale American history, friendship, family ties, nature, community. These are some of the themes that Beth Kanell explores in this beautifully written and ever-so-timely novel. The Secret Room is at once a superb, young-adult suspense story, and one of the best, and most realistic, literary mystery novels I've ever read. At its heart are two wonderful young friends and not-so-amateur detectives, Thea and Shawna. What they learn about themselves, their community, and their state and country, past and present, will astonish and delight you. The Secret Room is a masterwork in which every sentence is lovingly crafted and written straight from the heart. --Howard Frank Mosher, novelist, author of Disappearances; Where the Rivers Flow North; A Stranger in the Kingdom; Walking to Gatlinburg; and more.
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The Royal Red Secret
Joshua "Lucky" Lukenyenko is 12 years old and hopes to follow in his father's footsteps as a photojournalist. While shooting photos in a local cemetery, he runs across a mysterious girl dressed in red. When her bodyguard threatens him, Lucky suspects a mystery. With the help of his friends Ken and Mei Ling Wong, Lucky sets out to find the truth about the mysterious Red Princess.
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The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives
The Jinson twins, Joe and Debbie, decide to start a business during their summer vacation, hiring themselves out to do odd jobs. They find themselves in an odder job than they counted on when Mrs. Gray, who lives with her talkative parrot, the Captain, in an old house down off River Road, engages them to help clean out her basement. Aided by their friend, Mr. Benjamin, the proprietor of the Resource Recovery and Recycling Center (a.k.a. the junkyard), the twins use the clues that Mrs. Gray’s late husband, a former sea captain, left behind to figure out, using scientific principles, where the captain hid his enormous collection of antique Spanish gold coins. But some other people know about the treasure too and have no intention of letting an old lady who spends most of her time with a parrot, an old man who runs a junkyard, and a couple of kids get the treasure.
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The Game of Pirate
When fifteen year old orphan Jack Hampton pays a final visit to Captain Jones in prison, he doesn't expect to spend the next few months aboard the Firebird with a crew of rugged pirates, the fearsome, mysterious Madame Helena and a manuscript full of puzzling clues. An exciting tale of pirates, treasure, treachery and adventure: all somehow tangled up with the loss of the Curchan Ruby and an unusual board game, the Game of Pirate. Those who loved reading Treasure Island will also love this book.
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The Discoveries of Delilah Dark: Book 1
It’s easy to be cynical when you can see the future…Introducing Delilah Dark, a sarcastic 12-year old psychic with a sharp black bob and crocodile-coloured eyes. Since the death of her sister, Bel, she’s not really been a people person, preferring the company of her pet snake Slinky and fighting off boredom with very black coffee.But that’s before the rise of the shadowy business BigCorp, who seem to have a strange hold over consumers. There are riots in shopping malls and no one can stop guzzling food. Is it anything to do with those creepy Burgerlicious adverts? Or the new credit card, Faustcard, where you really should read the small print? The world needs saving, and Delilah Dark is in deeper than she thinks…This is the first part of the Delilah Dark trilogy, and should appeal to fans of Roald Dahl and JK Rowling. About the author:Evie Glass lives in London. She likes tarot-reading, taxidermy and writing gloomy poetry. The three parts of the Delilah Dark Trilogy are ‘The Discoveries of Delilah Dark’, ‘Delilah Dark and the Teacup of Doom’ and ‘Delilah Dark vs. Destiny.’
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The Black Stone Prophecy (Volume 1)
Tom O'Malley is a sarcastic, popular 12-year old who has spent the past year avoiding friends and hiding out at home after a terrible accident. But when Tom finally agrees to leave home for summer camp, he is drawn into the transformative world of Nyi, where the secrets of Earth -- from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the origins of trolls -- are revealed, and where Tom and his friends must face an ancient evil. This suspenseful, witty debut novel deftly explores the power of friendship and the importance of believing in and accepting one's own transformation. It leaves readers begging for the second book in what has the potential to become a beloved middle grade fantasy series.
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The Bar (The Birthright Series)
With Dawna’s court date against the sex traffickers approaching, her younger sister, Emily, has a chip on her shoulder as high as Mt. Rose. When Dawna moved to Reno, she left Emily all alone to face the gossip of their small hometown. Suddenly Emily is thrust into a bigger problem when she finds Loyalton’s most popular cheerleader on the floor of the school bathroom semi-conscious. There are forces driving her and some new friends to take crazy risks. What is it? Where does it come from? Is there any hope of true friendship between seniors and freshman? And what about the boy in the barn?
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