Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 119 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Newes From The Dead
Mary Hooper
Synopsis: "Intriguing and captivating."—Celia Rees, author of Witch Child WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)Anne can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies immobile in the darkness, unsure if she'd dead, terrified she's buried alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows. Meanwhile, a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive? Beautifully written, impossible to put down, and meticulously researched, Newes from the Dead is based on the true story of the real Anne Green, a servant who survived a hanging to awaken on the dissection table. Newes from the Dead concludes with scans of the original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon. Newes from the Dead is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Temptress Four
Gaby Triana
Synopsis:

Four best friends, one graduation cruise, a week of partying.

Eight days of strife and storms . . .

It's supposed to be the best eight days of their lives.

Bonds will be broken...

But when a fortune-teller predicts trouble the night before their trip,

One of you will not come home...

Fiona, Killian, Alma, and Yoli are left on edge, wondering what it could all mean.

Gaby Triana gets right to the heart of that thrilling, nerve-wracking, exhilarating, terrifying, amazing time that comes right after graduation, when the big question is: Where do we go from here?

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Little Vampire
Joann Sfar, Joann Sfar
Synopsis:

Living in a house filled with grown-up ghouls and monsters, Little Vampire is so lonely that he’s even willing to go to school if that’s what it takes to find friends.  Unfortunately, school seems to be filled with children who are still alive. . . .

Little Vampire finds friendship with a boy named Michael, and they embark on adventures in the three stories in this collection.  Included in this book are Little Vampire Goes to School (a New York Times Bestseller), Little Vampire Does Kung Fu, and Little Vampire and the Society of Canine Defenders (now published in the United States for the first time).  Insightful and inventive, Joann Sfar brings Little Vampire and Michael’s fantastical world to young readers in stories that both feed the imagination and resonate with emotional truth.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dog Gone
Cynthia Chapman Willis
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Dill (short for Dylan) is desperately trying to keep her family from falling apart. Her father is always at work, her mother is gone, and their dog, Dead End, seems to be here one moment and missing the next.     And big trouble is brewing. A wild pack of dogs is destroying local livestock and property, and the sheriff has ordered them to be shot. Is this where Dead End has been disappearing to? How far will Dill and her best friend, a boy nicknamed Cub, go to uncover the truth, and hold together the last strands of a family that seems to be unraveling?
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark Power Collection
Synopsis: Some doors are better left unopened. Some doors, you don't want to find out what lies behind them. In the Forbidden Doors series by bestselling author Bill Myers, teenager Rebecca 'Becka' Williams, her younger brother Scott, and her friend Ryan Riordan are swept into heart-stopping encounters with an all-too-real invisible world---a world fraught with deception and spiritual adversaries that promise goodness and enlightenment but will stop at nothing to destroy life, sanity, and human souls. Witchcraft. Reincarnation. Ouija Boards. UFOs. Shamanism. Counterfeit spiritualities are widespread and popular with spiritually searching young adults such as Becka's peers. What's the harm? Find out. Join Becka, Scott, and Ryan as they head for mind-bending clashes between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God. Combining meticulous research, realistic settings, and masterful storytelling, the Forbidden Doors novels take you from the mountains of New Mexico to the inner workings of a secret society---and into the truth of God's Word, which exposes lies and reveals the reality of spiritual warfare. Each volume in the series contains three books that center around a particular kind of Forbidden Door. Book One: Dark Powers contains The Society, The Deceived, and The Spell; Book Two: Invisible Terror contains The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter; Book Three: Deadly Loyalty contains The Curse, The Undead, and The Scream; Book Four: Ancient Forces contains The Ancients, The Wiccan, and The Cards
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
Synopsis: Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Fire Thief Fights Back
Synopsis: The final book in the critically acclaimed Fire Thief trilogy concludes the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods. Forced to travel through time to escape Zeus's avenging eagle, Prometheus arrives in 1785 Eden City and befriends a boy named Sam. Together, Prometheus and Sam must defend Eden City from seven terrifying mythological monsters. Packed full of wry puns, wisecracking gods, and sarcastic footnotes, this action-packed story pokes fun at narrative tradition and takes readers on a wild ride through Greek mythology. Fans who have followed Prometheus's flight through the trilogy's first two adventures will be dazzled by the very surprising ending.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Joys of Love
Léna Roy, Madeleine L'Engle
Synopsis:

During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She’s never felt so alive. And soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth’s ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth’s perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.

Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Léna Roy, the protagonist Elizabeth is close to an autobiographical portrait of L’Engle herself as a young woman—“vibrant, vulnerable, and yearning for love and all that life has to offer.”

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Lucky (by Rachel Vail)
Synopsis:

It's all good . . . and lucky Phoebe Avery plans to celebrate by throwing an end-of-the-year bash with her four closest friends. Everything will be perfect—from the guest list to the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. The only thing left to do is find the perfect dress . . . until Phoebe goes from having it all to hiding all she's lost.

Phoebe's older sisters warn her to keep the family's crisis totally secret. Unfortunately, her alpha-girl best friend looks increasingly suspicious, and Phoebe's crush starts sending seriously mixed signals. Phoebe tries hard to keep smiling, but when her mother is humiliated in Neiman Marcus while buying Phoebe that perfect dress and her father decides to cancel her party, she panics. How far will she go to keep up her image as a lucky girl?

With lucky, Rachel Vail begins a powerful sisterhood trilogy, comprised of one book for each of the three fascinating Avery sisters, with all their secrets laid bare during the year that completely changes their lives. Phoebe is the youngest; her story combines first love and flip-flops, friendship and sisterhood, humor and tears. Breezy, witty, and poignant, lucky is Rachel Vail at her breathtaking best.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Abomination
Robert Swindells
Synopsis: Martha is 12 and very different from other kids—no TV, no computer, no cool clothes, and especially no friends. It's all because of her parents, who are strict members of a religious group called the Brethren. Their rules dominate Martha's life, and one rule is the most important of all: she must never ever invite anyone home. If she does, their terrible secret—Abomination—could be revealed. But as Martha makes her first real friend in Scott, a new boy at school, she begins to wonder, Is she doing the right thing by helping to keep Abomination a secret? And just how far will her parents go to prevent the truth from being known?
Publication Date: 04/28/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Kingdom of Malinas
Synopsis: Sorrel knows what she must do. Enter the Kingdom of Malinas to rescue her people from slavery. It should be easy. But the Kingdom of Malinas harbours evil…
Publication Date: 04/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Golden Path
Anson Montgomery
Synopsis: FROM: Dianna Torman (dtorman@deadmail.anonymous.guyana.000)
SUBJECT: Warning and Plea.
Sweetheart, I don't want to alarm you, but I fear I must. If you are getting this email it is because something has happened to us. This note is rigged to be sent from a special dead letter drop if I have not checked back in three days.

So begins the email that changes your life forever.
Where have your parents gone? Were they kidnapped? Did they travel on their own to Ungava Bay? Were the explosions at Carlsbad, New Mexico volcanic or something more sinister? Why is the government so interested? And why do your parents, who are college professors, suddenly have $74 million in the bank?

It starts with a simple call into the headmaster's office on a perfect fall day. It turns into a search for your missing parents that takes you and your two best friends on a trip into the hollow Earth. Part thriller, part travelogue, part personal quest, The Golden Path - Volume One weaves a labyrinthine journey as you search for answers to the truth about your past and the clues to your future. Every choice you make could be the difference between your parents life and death, and your ultimate destiny.

Four story lines continue from Volume One to Volume Two. Can you find the ultimate Golden Path?

A Multi-Volume Interactive Epic
Publication Date: 04/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Willing Sacrifice (The Sugar & Spice Series)
Synopsis: Raised in isolation, La’tiera has been coddled and secluded, her mission too important to risk anything happening to her. The Herald—a harbinger comet--has appeared in the sky, telling all the Time of Trial is near. She is ready to do as her duty requires, though the very world she will die to preserve is one she will never see. Dal has led a free life, serving the Order established centuries ago to find and instruct the Bearer in how to perform the Trial established by the covenant made between the Four Gods and the Demons who seek to take over his world. Yet as the latest Trial approaches, there has been no news of the Bearer. The Order is worried.
 A lively child draws these two together. La’tiera is elated at seeing a person or two from the outside, even as she worries her selfish desire for companionship might put all in jeopardy. Suspicion then arises on both sides, as what she has been taught and what Dal knows to be true are widely different. La’tiera knows the truth—she is the sacrifice that will save the world, no matter who says it should be otherwise. Her task has always been clear. She will not be swayed from her course. But Dal knows her death will open their world to the savage Demons—the exact opposite of what she has been told. He must find a way to get her to accept this before it is too late. But can he? Her very dedication and stubbornness might just doom their world to destruction. Let the battle of wills begin.
Publication Date: 04/23/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Crispin- At the Edge of the World
Synopsis:
The more I came to know of the world, the more I knew I knew it not.

He was a nameless orphan, marked for death by his masters for an unknown crime. Discovering his name— Crispin—only intensified the mystery.  Then Crispin met Bear, who helped him learn the secret of his full identity. And in Bear—the enormous, red-bearded juggler, sometime spy, and everyday philosopher—Crispin also found a new father and a new world.

Now Crispin and Bear have set off to live their lives as free men. But they don’t get far before their past catches up with them: Bear is being pursued by members of the secret brotherhood who believe he is an informer. When Bear is badly wounded, it is up to Crispin to make decisions about their future—where to go, whom to trust. Along the way they become entangled with an extraordinary range of people, each of whom affects Crispin and Bear’s journey in unexpected ways.  To find freedom and safety, they may have to travel to the edge of the world—even if it means confronting death itself.

In this riveting sequel to the Newbery-Award winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead—the second book in a planned trilogy—Avi explores themes of war, religion, and family as he continues the adventures of Crispin and Bear.
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Love Me Tender
Audrey Couloumbis
Synopsis: Elvira’s family has never been the warm, fuzzy type. Most of the time, Elvira can’t stand the sight of her little sister, Kerrie. Elvira and her mother, Mel, fight more often than not. Mel hasn’t spoken to her own family in years. And when Mel announces she’s pregnant again, Elvira’s daddy storms off to Las Vegas to enter an Elvis impersonator competition. But when an urgent phone call sends Elivra, Mel, and Kerrie on an unexpected trip to visit Mel’s family, Elvira discovers that love doesn’t always look like it does in television commercials–it can be as simple as a bucket of blueberries, an attic full of memories, or a song. But it’s there all right. You just have to know how to look for it.
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Found
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who's also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere -- and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives.

Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying?

With Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix begins a new series that promises to be every bit as suspenseful as her Shadow Children series -- which has sold more than 41/2 million copies -- and proves her, once again, to be a master of the page-turner.
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS