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Love, Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
Synopsis:

The New York Times bestselling sequel to Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli’s modern-day classic Stargirl!

Love, Stargirl picks up a year after Stargirl ends and reveals the new life of the beloved character who moved away so suddenly at the end of Stargirl. The novel takes the form of "the world's longest letter," in diary form, going from date to date through a little more than a year's time. In her writing, Stargirl mixes memories of her bittersweet time in Mica, Arizona, with involvements with new people in her life.

In Love, Stargirl, we hear the voice of Stargirl herself as she reflects on time, life, Leo, and - of course - love.

 

Don’t miss Jerry Spinelli’s latest novel, The Warden’s Daughter, about another girl who can't help but stand out.
 
“Spinelli is a poet of the prepubescent. . . . No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion.” —The New York Times
 
 

Publication Date: 08/14/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Vendetta
Chris Humphreys
Synopsis: Book I of the Runestone Saga ends with a terrifying reversal. The grandfather who showed Sky how to use the power of the runes to travel back in time, revealed his secret plans—which turn out to involve murder and possession. Sky must now find a way to fight his powerful teacher—for his cousin's very soul.

And so he travels to Corsica, home of his other forbearers, hoping to find some knowledge, some power. The blood feud of vendetta still runs hot in Sky's family, as does the supernatural power of the MazzeriÑthe Corsican dream hunters of death. Sky must again travel back through time, inhabiting the life of Tza, a fierce girl from the 1500s. As he sinks into Tza's mind, Sky wondersÑare all of his ancestors murderers?

Vendetta is a heady, exciting blend of supernatural possibility and historical truth that will leave readers gasping for the final installment of the trilogy.
Publication Date: 08/14/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Lizard People
Charlie Price
Synopsis: YOU MEET THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE LOBBY OF A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL.  The author of Dead Connection proves that what goes on in our minds just may be the scariest thing of all. Ben Mander's junior year is derailed when his mentally ill mother erupts in the school office.  Visiting her in the psych hospital, Ben meets Marco, who also has a mentally ill mother.  Marco tells a story that turns Ben's idea of reality upside down.  Soon, the story begins to uncomfortably mirror Ben's own life.  Lizard People races along the edge of madness as Ben wrestles with his greatest fear--that deep within him lie the seeds of his own insanity.
Publication Date: 08/07/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Bone by Bone by Bone
Tony Johnston
Synopsis:

FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK in 1950s Tennessee. Tony Johnston draws on her own childhood memories to limn a portrait of a sensitive and compassionate boy fighting for a friendship his father forbids.

David's daddy is determined that his son will grow up to be a doctor like himself. David studies the human bones, and secretly teaches them in turn to his black friend, Malcolm. In a rage, Dr. Church forbids Malcolm to ever enter their home--and threatens to kill him if he does. David tries to change his daddy's mind. but when Malcolm crosses the line, Dr. Church grabs his shotgun.

Publication Date: 08/07/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat
Stuart Macfarlane, Linda Macfarlane
Synopsis: The secret lives and loves of cats are revealed in this adventurous novel that peeks into a year in the life of the mischievous feline Adrian Cat. Adrian is having trouble keeping his new year's resolutions (especially "I will not be condescending to my humans"), and he's also adjusting to the fact that his humans have a new baby, his best friend needs constant advice, and he's in love for the first time—with the angelic-seeming Snowball. When Snowball turns out to be less than perfect and tries to lead Adrian into organized crime, he refuses to follow her and instead joins up with a scruffy yet tender alley cat named Gypsy. After Snowball's gang runs Adrian out of town, he is forced to make some strange friends and travel a rough road in order to get home safely to his family and to his new love, Gypsy.
Publication Date: 07/30/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Skin Hunger (A Resurrection of Magic)
Sheila Rayyan, Kathleen Duey
Synopsis: Living in a world where magic is outlawed, Sadima's special gift to speak to the animals binds her to two young men who are determined to restore magic to their poor village in order to save the people they love.
Publication Date: 07/24/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Defect
Will Weaver
Synopsis: Maybe it was bad karma. Maybe it was just bad luck. Whatever the reason, fifteen-year-old David was born defective. His bug eyes, pinched face, and hearing aids are obvious, but there is a secret David keeps from everyone, even his foster parents. Because of a thin layer of skin hidden under each arm, David can fly--well, glide is more like it. Terrified of doctors, wary of letting down his guard, David is determined to hide his secret at any cost. But then David meets Cheetah, a girl whose own defect doesn't diminish her spirit, and suddenly his life begins to take wing.
 
In this arresting new novel, Will Weaver creates an unforgettable character on the path to discovering that some blessings can be a curse--and some curses a blessing.
Publication Date: 07/24/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane
Synopsis: When an accident leaves teenage cousins Meline and Jocelyn parentless, they come to live with their unknown and eccentric Uncle Marten on his private island. They soon discover that the island has a history as tragic as their own: it was once an air force training camp, led by a mad commander whose crazed plan to train pilots to fly airplanes without instruments sent eleven pilots to their deaths. Jocelyn, Meline, and Uncle Marten are soon joined on this island of wrecked planes and wrecked men by an elderly Austrian housekeeper, a very mysterious butler, a cat, and a dog. But to Jocelyn and Meline, being in a strange new place around strange new people only underscores the fact that the world they once knew has ended.
 
Told in the alternating voices of four characters dealing with grief in different ways, Polly Horvath’s new novel is a rich and complicated story about loss and the possibility— and impossibility—of beginning again.  The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Publication Date: 07/24/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Not Like You
Deborah Davis
Synopsis: "Starting a new chapter" is how Kayla’s mother, Marilyn, has always referred to their abrupt moves—five in the past two years. But what 15-year-old Kayla hates even more than moving is Marilyn’s drinking. It once landed Kayla in foster care, and she’ll do anything to keep that from happening again, even if it means making sacrifices in her own life to keep her mother from falling apart.

Now Marilyn has moved them to New Mexico and promised, yet again, to quit booze for good. Kayla knows better than to believe her, but something about this move does feel different. Kayla is putting down roots, earning money as a dog walker, and spending time with Remy, a 24-year-old musician. And after years of taking care of her mother, Kayla is starting to think of herself and who she wants to be. She knows for sure who she doesn’t want to be. But is she willing to do whatever it takes to create a different life for herself—even if it means leaving her mother behind?

Sharply honest and beautifully written, this powerful novel is about loving someone else enough to stay with her through anything—and loving yourself enough to let her go.
Publication Date: 07/16/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Someone Named Eva
Joan M. Wolf
Synopsis: On the night Nazi soldiers come to her home in Czechoslovakia, Milada’s grandmother says, “Remember, Milada. Remember who you are. Always.” Milada promises, but she doesn’t understand her grandmother’s words. After all, she is Milada, who lives with her mama and papa, her brother and sister, and her beloved Babichka. Milada, eleven years old, the fastest runner in school. How could she ever forget?

Then the Nazis take Milada away from her family and send her to a Lebensborn center in Poland. There, she is told she fits the Aryan ideal: her blond hair and blue eyes are the right color; her head and nose, the right size. She is given a new name, Eva, and trained to become the perfect German citizen, to be the hope of Germany’s future—and to forget she was ever a Czech girl named Milada.

Inspired by real events, this fascinating novel sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Nazi agenda and movingly portrays a young girl’s struggle to hold on to her identity and her hope in the face of a regime intent on destroying both.
Publication Date: 07/16/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Home Is East
Many Ly
Synopsis: Ever since she was a tiny child, Amy’s father’s friends have told her that her young, pretty mother is going to leave her. Of course Amy knows that could never happen—her parents love each other and her, so how could her mother ever leave? Then, one chilly afternoon, Amy’s mother never shows up to pick her up from school. In that moment, Amy confronts a world that she never wanted to know existed.

Amy and her father are Khmer, or Cambodian. In Florida’s tight-knit Cambodian community, word travels fast—and pity soon becomes suffocating. When Amy and her father escape to California, Amy faces new challenges, including a father that she barely recognizes. But with strength and courage, Amy builds a new network of friends, and comes to understand her father’s deep sadness—and his fierce love for her. Home Is East is a moving and hopeful story of how a father and daughter came apart, and how they found their way back to each other.


From the Hardcover edition.
Publication Date: 07/10/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Time of the Eagle
Sherryl Jordan
Synopsis:

I was the first child born to a hunted people, in the first winter of their flight. My earliest memory is of being carried on my mother's hip across barren plains, with wild mountains all around, and of rough tents made of skins stretched across sticks planted in the dust, of hunger and thirst and a feeling I did not like or understand, but which I know now was the fear that shadowed my people, as a wolf shadows a wounded deer.

Avala dreams of becoming a healer, but her dreams are not the same as her destiny. Hers is a mighty but lonely fate, for she is the chosen one—the one who will bring the Time of the Eagle, when the hunted will become the hunters and win back their freedom. It is a destiny that requires the spirit of a warrior and the heart of a healer. But does Avala have the courage to set the Eagle on its flight?

In this epic story about a girl born to greatness, Sherryl Jordan tells an unforgettable tale of destiny, betrayal, and the power of love and faith.

Publication Date: 07/03/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Return to Zandria
Christine Norris
Synopsis: Ivy Peterson was not ordinary. Ivy was More-Than-Ordinary because once she found herself in a very special place and had a very special adventure. But Ivy was far too old for fairy tales... wasn't she? It has been three years since Ivy recovered the Talisman of Zandria, and her life is very different. She is no longer the shy young girl who chased a fairy through a magic gate, but a teenager, concerned with clothes, friends, and school. She has nearly forgotten about the special world that exists on the other side of a thin, magical veil. But they have not forgotten her. Now a crisis is brewing in Zandria, and only Ivy can help. They implore her to come to their aid, and Ivy's memories of adventure pull her once again into the enchanted world of mermaids, dragons and wizards. Reunited with old friends, and bringing a new one along for the ride, Ivy must now lead them into the wilds of her own world, and not only keep them safe, but stop an empire from falling into the clutches of evil.
Publication Date: 07/02/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
This is What I Did
Ann Dee Ellis
Synopsis: Imagine if you had witnessed something horrific. Imagine if it had happened to your friend. And imagine if you hadn't done anything to help. That's what it's like to be Logan, an utterly frank, slightly awkward, and extremely loveable outcast enmeshed in a mysterious psychological drama. This story allows readers to piece together the sequence of events that has changed his life and changed his perspective on what it means to be a good friend and what it means to be a good person.

This is What I Did: is a powerful read with clever touches, such as palindrome notes, strewn throughout the story and incorporated into the unique design of the book.
Publication Date: 07/01/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
When The Cat's Away
Gilbert Morris
Synopsis:

Readers of mysteries and cat lovers alike will devour this third whodunit in the Jacques & Cleo, Cat Detectives series by bestselling author, Gilbert Morris.

When White Sands, Alabama, is chosen as the location for an international cat show, cat lovers from all over the world flock to the beach. Jake Novak is disgusted at the idea of people fawning over cats, but his downstairs housemate, Mary Katherine Forrest, is delighted. And when the favorite pedigreed cat is kidnapped, however, the cat–loving world is shocked. Then other favored contestants disappear and Jake is hired to solve the catnapping.

As the plot thickens, the friends of Jake and Mary Katherine are drawn into the chase—Beverly Devon–Hunt, Enola Stern, and Oceola Plank join forces to run the catnapper to a blazing finish—aided of course, by Jacques the Ripper...

Publication Date: 07/01/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Bone Race
Steve Butz
Synopsis: Taking place in 1871 against a backdrop of the golden age of paleontology and the beginnings of human fascination with dinosaurs, this story begins with the violent destruction of a Paleozoic museum in New York City and the unique competition that results. In response to an eccentric millionaire’s contest to assemble the world's greatest collection of dinosaur bones, fascinating characters take off on individual quests, full of action and intrigue, in search of fossils. Loosely based on real historical events, the epilogue offers a true account of the real-life people and events that inspired the story and their important contributions to the science of paleontology.
Publication Date: 07/01/07
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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