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Here Lies the Librarian
Synopsis: Peewee idolizes Jake, a big brother whose dreams of auto mechanic glory are fueled by the hard road coming to link their Indiana town and futures with the twentieth century. And motoring down the road comes Irene Ridpath, a young librarian with plans to astonish them all and turn Peewee’s life upside down.

This novel, with its quirky characters, folksy setting, classic cars, and hilariously larger-than-life moments, is vintage Richard Peck – an offbeat, deliciously wicked comedy that is also unexpectedly moving.

Publication Date: 04/20/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Ark Angel
Anthony Horowitz
Synopsis: Shot outside the offices of MI6 and left for dead by Scorpia, Alex Rider awakens in a top-secret hospital, glad simply to be alive. But danger has a way of following Alex, and when the boy in the next room is the victim of a kidnapping attempt, it is Alex who saves him—only to be kidnapped himself. The man behind the kidnapping? None other than Nikolei Drevin, wealthiest developer in the world, and the man who single-handedly is funding the first luxury hotel in outer space, Ark Angel. Yet the project is hemorrhaging millions of dollars along the way, and Drevin will stop at nothing to cease the bleeding. Even if it means blowing up Ark Angel. Even if it means sacrificing his only son. . . .
Publication Date: 04/20/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs
Synopsis: On an unseasonably warm Easter Sunday, a young girl named
Ivy discovers a chilling secret in the basement of the Rumbaugh
pharmacy across the street from the hotel where she lives with
her mother. The discovery reveals a disturbing side to the
eccentric lives of family friends Abner and Adolph Rumbaugh,
known throughout their small western Pennsylvania town
simply as the Twins. It seems that Ab and Dolph have been
compelled by a powerful mutual love for their deceased mother
to do something extraordinary, something that in its own
twisted way bridges the gap between the living and the dead.
Immediately, Ivy's discovery provokes the revelation of a
Rumbaugh family curse, a curse that, as Ivy will learn over the
coming years, holds a strange power over herself and her own
mother.

In his third book for young adults, Jack Gantos has scripted a
completely original drama. With gothic flavor and black humor,
he depicts a group of people bound together by love,
compulsion . . . and a passion for taxidermy.

Publication Date: 04/18/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Being Bindy
Alyssa Brugman
Synopsis: Eighth grade is torture–at least it is for Bindy!
(1) Her best friend since kindergarten becomes her worst enemy.
(2) She’s stuck taking yoga in sports ed, where she unleashes the Very Bad Thing that gets the whole school talking.
(3) She suffers total humiliation when certain unmentionables are tossed around at assembly.
What’s more, Bindy’s divorced parents are behaving badly.
(1) Her laid-back father looks like he’s falling for–could it be?– none other than her ex-best friend’s mother. Which means that . . .
(2) . . . Bindy’s worst enemy might just end up as her sister!
(3) Her domineering mom always wants Bindy to do things her way.
Enough is enough! To survive the drama in her life, Bindy must make some tough decisions in this funny, searching novel about being true to yourself.
Publication Date: 04/11/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Invisible Threads
Maria Dalton, Annie Dalton
Synopsis: Naomi was never going to be like her mother. The crazy highs and underground lows. Naomi was in control. When the time came she would be the perfect mother–nothing like her own.
On the day Carrie-Anne turned 16, she surpassed her. The girl-woman who gave away her own child. Her biological mother. Carrie-Anne got to 16 without making that mistake. That’s what she was, really–a mistake. And now the invisible threads tying her to the past are driving her to find out why and how it happened. After all, if you don’t know where you come from, how can you know where you belong?
But sometimes asking questions is harder than hearing the answers. And sometimes the answers don’t matter at all.
Publication Date: 04/11/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
King Dork
Frank Portman
Synopsis: Tom Henderson (a.k.a. King Dork, Chi-mo, Hender-fag, and Sheepie) is a typical American high school loser until he discovers the book, The Catcher in the Rye, that will change the world as he knows it. When Tom discovers his deceased father’s copy of the Salinger classic, he finds himself in the middle of several interlocking conspiracies and at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead people, naked people, fake people, ESP, blood, a secret code, guitars, monks, witchcraft, the Bible, girls, the Crusades, a devil head, and rock and roll. And it all looks like it’s just the tip of a very odd iceberg of clues that may very well unravel the puzzle of his father’s death and–oddly–reveal the secret to attracting semihot girls.
Being in a band could possibly be the secret to the girl thing–but good luck finding a drummer who can count to four.
Publication Date: 04/11/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Listen!
Stephanie S. Tolan
Synopsis:

Learning to walk again is the easy part.

For twelve-year-old Charley, recovering from the accident that shattered her leg is nowhere near as difficult as facing the solitude of a summer without her best friend and with a father who does nothing, now, but work. Solitude means time to think, time to hear for the first time the awful silence left in her world two years ago by her mother's death.

But the summer holds a surprise for Charley, in the form of a mysterious dog who appears in the woods across the lake from her home. In order to connect with this wild spirit she names Coyote, Charley will have to do more than just walk. She will have to follow Coyote into the heart of her memories: the woods her mother loved so much. And she will have to learn to listen past the silence.

This unsentimental, unforgettable story comes straight from the heart of Newbery Honor author Stephanie S. Tolan. As she describes Charley's difficult emotional and physical journey, she weaves together themes of nature, family, and love into a complex and powerful portrait of recovery.

Publication Date: 04/11/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
I Is Someone Else
PATRICK COOPER
Synopsis: It is 1966, and the times, they are a-changin’. Fifteen-year-old Stephen is on his way to a summer program in France when he meets two glamorous new friends of his older brother, Rob, who has been missing for 18 months. They persuade Stephen to travel to Istanbul with them, to find his brother. And what a world opens up to him: a world of beautiful girls, drug busts, fascinating cultures, fast-moving friendships, and betrayals. As he travels further into Asia, the nature of Stephen’s journey changes: The search for his brother is replaced by an inner exploration, in which he must confront his own past, and his own dark secret.
Publication Date: 04/11/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Riding Out the Storm
Claudia Jones
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Emily has never wondered if she's had past lives-she's too busy thinking about the life she's living. Between taking care of her horse Moonie, keeping up with homework, and fending off the school bully who picks on her best friend for being chubby, Emily's got enough on her plate. But after she nearly drowns in the new pool at her middle school, she begins having recurring nightmares that lead her to think that this life may not be her first.

Riding out the Storm is a modern tale that chronicles a young girl's journey into recalling a past-life and how she copes with the outcome. Spiritual and believable, this novel features a charismatic narrator who learns to listen to the signals around her and trust her instincts. Along her journey, Emily finds herself anxious to learn all she can about reincarnation, and she discovers the value of reaching out to not-so-unfamiliar strangers to repair relationships long interrupted.

Publication Date: 04/08/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Just Listen
Sarah Dessen
Synopsis: A New York Times bestseller

To find the truth you’ve got to be willing to hear it.
 
When she’s modeling, Annabel is the picture of perfection.
 
But her real life is far from perfect.
 
Fortunately, she’s got Owen. He’s intense, music-obsessed, and dedicated to always telling the truth.
 
And most of all, he’s determined to make Annabel happy. . .
 
“This is young adult fiction at its best.” —School Library Journal
 
Also by Sarah Dessen:
Along for the Ride
Dreamland
Keeping the Moon
Lock and Key
The Moon and More
Someone Like You
That Summer
This Lullaby
The Truth About Forever
What Happened to Goodbye
Publication Date: 04/06/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Nothing but the Truth (and a Few White Lies)
Synopsis: Half Asian and half white, Patty Ho has never felt completely home in her skin. When a Chinese fortuneteller foresees a white guy on Patty's horizon, things go from bad to worse in this debut novel by a bright new talent.
Publication Date: 04/05/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Mask of Atreus
A. J. Hartley
Synopsis: When the proprietor of an obscure museum is found dead amidst priceless Greek antiquities--one of which is missing along with the bones of a legendary hero thought to exist only in myth--museum curator Deborah Miller enters into dangerous realm of mystery, murder, and vengeance. Original.
Publication Date: 04/04/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Boys that Bite
Mari Mancusi
Synopsis: Two sisters--as different as the sun and the rain. For one, getting into the Blood Coven is to die for. But for the other, getting out could be lethal...When Sunny McDonald gets dragged to Club Fang by her twin sister Rayne, she doesn't expect to find anything besides a bunch of Goth kids playing at being vampires. But when some guy mistakes Sunny for her dark-side-loving sister and bites her on the neck, she finds out that his fangs are real--and deadly.

Now, Sunny has less than a week to figure out how to reverse the bite, or else she's going to end up as the perpetually undead. And not only will she be a vampire, she'll also be bonded to Magnus--the bloodsucker who bit her--forever. And forever is a really long time...
Publication Date: 04/04/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Vandal
Michael Simmons
Synopsis: Will is pretty much your average 16-year-old. He does well enough in school, plays in a rock band, chases girls with little success, and has a typical collection of oddball friends...with one significant exception. For as long as he can remember, he has been systematically beaten up--physically, mentally, and emotionally--by his older brother. Taut, gripping and at times mordantly funny, Vandal amply fulfills the promise of Michael Simmons's justly praised first novel, Pool Boy.
Publication Date: 04/04/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Emil and Karl
Jeffrey Shandler, Yankev Glatshteyn
Synopsis: Written in the form of a suspense novel, Emil & Karl draws readers into the dilemma faced by two young boys--one Jewish, the other not--when they suddenly find themselves without homes or families in Vienna on the eve of World War II. A taut, gripping page-turner, it offers a picture of life during the period and the moral challenges faced under Nazism--and a prescient glimpse of the early days of the Holocaust. Written in Yiddish, it is here translated into English for the first time.
Publication Date: 04/04/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
La Linea
Ann Jaramillo
Synopsis:

Miguel's life is just beginning. Or so he thinks. Fifteen-year-old Miguel leaves his rancho deep in Mexico to migrate to California across la linea, the border, in a debut novel from Ann Jaramillo of life-changing, cliff-hanging moments.
But Miguel's carefully laid plans change suddenly when his younger sister Elena stows away and follows him. Together, Miguel and Elena endure hardships and danger on their journey of desperation and desire, loyalty and betrayal. An epilogue, set ten years after the events of the story, shows that you can't always count on dreams--even the ones that come true.
Latino Interest.

Publication Date: 04/04/06
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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