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Chasing the Falconers
Gordon Korman
Synopsis: Two kids break out of a juvenile detention center and become fugitives in order to clear their convicted parents' names in this heartstopping series from kid-read master Gordon Korman.

Aidan and Meg Falconer are their parents' only hope. The Falconers are facing life in prison -- unless Aidan and Meg can follow a trail of clues to prove their innocence. The problem? Right now they're trapped in a juvenile detention center. Until they escape one night -- and find themselves on the run, both from the authorities and from a sinister attacker t who has his own reason to stop them. The Falconers must use their wits to make it across the country ... with plenty of tests along the way.
Gordon Korman takes readers into FUGITIVE territory -- with thrilling results.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Anacaona
Edwidge Danticat
Synopsis: Edwidge Danticat, the award-winning, best-selling author of THE FARMING OF BONES and KRIK? KRAK! offers a powerful addition to The Royal Diaries series with the story of Haiti's heroic queen Anacaona.

With her signature narrative grace, Edwidge Danticat brings Haiti's beautiful queen Anacaona to life. Queen Anacaona was the wife of one of her island's rulers, and a composer of songs and poems, making her popular among her people. Haiti was relatively quiet until the Spanish conquistadors discovered the island and began to settle there in 1492.
The Spaniards treated the natives very cruelly, and when the natives revolted, the Spanish governor of Haiti ordered the arrests of several native nobles, including Anacaona, who was eventually captured and executed, to the horror of her people.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Montmorency on the Rocks
Eleanor Updale
Synopsis: Montmorency, the man leading a double life, torn between his two identities, returns in this gripping sequel.

Five years after giving up his life of crime in the sewers, Montmorency is back in London. But his evil alter ego, Scarper has returned too, pulling him back into a dark world of crime.

Montmorency's old friend and fellow government agent, Lord George Fox-Selwyn, fights to rescue him from disaster and risks calling in Montmorency's prison doctor, Robert Farcett, to help.

However, when Montmorency turns up on a Scottish Island, he finds himself caught in another web of mystery.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Maia of Thebes
Ann Turner
Synopsis: Leap into the ancient world in renowned author Ann Turner's exciting addition to the Life and Times series. Maia's story is filled with action, adventure, and all the drama of life in ancient Egypt.

The intrigue and mysticism of ancient Egypt comes to life in Ann Turner's spectacular addition to The Life and Times series. In the time of the Pharoah Hatshepsut's rule, the Egyptian days could pass as slowly as the Nile's lazy waters, or as quickly as the Nile's rising floodwaters.

Maia and her brother are orphaned and living with a cold, judgmental aunt and uncle in Thebes. Searching for a way out of their house, Maia pleads with her brother, Sethnet, who is learning to be a scribe, to teach her how to write. He agrees, and this is to be her saving skill.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Freddy to the Rescue
Joe Cepeda, Dietlof Reiche
Synopsis: A smartly written, humorously told adventure story, with a nod to environmentalism propels this third installment in the increasingly popular Golden Hamster Saga--as only Freddy Auratus can write it!

For Freddy Auratus being a civilized golden hamster comes with responsibilities. So when he learns that the lives of a tribe of endangered field hamsters are at risk, he takes action. But it's Freddy's own life--and his most valuable secret--that is put in jeopardy when, along with a wise tomcat and a pair of guinea pig poets (turned Opera divas), he takes on City Hall (and some bulldozers). Will Freddy's hamsteritarian mission be his end?
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
You and You and You
Tara Chace, Per Nilsson
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Anon is so lost in his dual fantasies of befriending Sara, the owner of the library card he's found, and of his absentee father's god-like qualities that he doesn't mind that everyone at school is making fun of him. Seventeen-year-old Zarah has her mind on the alarming behavior of her jealous boyfriend as well as her relationship with a woman at work, which suddenly becomes complicated. Nils, who is going through an existential crisis, engages in some risky behavior while exploring how it might feel to be dead. He is also obsessed with Zarah, although he doesn't really know her. Then Nils's friend Hannes makes a misstep that might have deadly consequences. When Anon meets Sara, and Nils meets Zarah, and Anon and Zarah and Nils all come together unexpectedly, their lives take surprising new turns.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Kalpana's Dream
Judith Clarke
Synopsis: All she thought of was the boy with the skateboard ... Sheep and shepherds, little new lambs ... Why? Neema and her best friend, Kate, are freshmen at Wentworth High. In English class they have the notorious Ms. "Bride of Dracula" Dallimore for a teacher. "Learn to fly!" she urges her students. But what are they supposed to write for their essay, "Who Am I?" At home, Neema's great-grandmother, Kalpana, has come for an extended visit all the way to Australia from India. At night she dreams of flying; during the day she cooks Indian food and watches the same Indian video again and again. It should be great having her there, but Neema doesn't speak Hindi, Kalpana doesn't speak English, and Neema's mother can't always be there to translate. Meanwhile, Gull Oliver, the good-looking new boy at school, seems familiar to Neema. At night he flies past her house on his skateboard. Both Neema and Kalpana watch him, drawn to him for different reasons. This rich story weaves realism and fantasy into an unusual portrayal of coming together and finding the essence of who you are.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Prometheus Project:  Trapped
Douglas E. Richards
Synopsis: Ryan and Regan Resnick have just moved to the world's most boring place. But when they discover their parents are part of an ultra-secret project called Prometheus they are plunged into a nonstop adventure: one that will be the ultimate test of their wit, courage, and determination.

Soon they are under attack and facing hostile alien worlds, alien technology, and unimaginable dangers at every turn. Now, with their mother facing certain death, they must race to solve a seemingly impossible mystery to have any hope of saving her. But if they save their mom, they will have no way to save themselves. . .
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl, Book 4)
Synopsis: Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl is back…and so is his cunning enemy from Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, Opal Koboi. At the start of the fourth adventure, Artemis has returned to his unlawful ways. He's in Berlin, preparing to steal a famous impressionist painting from a German bank. He has no idea that his old rival, Opal, has escaped from prison by cloning herself. She's left her double behind in jail and, now free, is exacting her revenge on all those who put her there, including Artemis.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
YA-YAS IN BLOOM
Rebecca Wells
Synopsis:

For readers everywhere who are ga-ga for the Ya-Yas and clamoring for more and for those who are lucky enough to be discovering the Ya-Yas for the first time, comes a new book about the incomparable Sisterhood, bursting with life and funnier than ever....

An emotionally charged addition to Rebecca Wells' award-winning bestseller Little Altars Everywhere and #1 New York Times bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, YA-YAS IN BLOOM reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas' friendship in the 1930s and roars with all the raw power of Vivi Abbott Walker's 1962 T-Bird through sixty years of marriage, child-raising, and hair-raising family secrets.

When four-year-old Teensy Whitman prisses one time too many and stuffs a big old pecan up her nose, she sets off the chain of events that lead Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie to become true sister-friends. Told in alternating voices of Vivi and the Petite Ya-Yas, Siddalee and Baylor Walker, as well as other denizens of Thornton, Louisiana, YA-YAS IN BLOOM show us the Ya-Yas in love and at war with convention. Through crises of faith and hilarious lapses of parenting skills, brushes with alcoholism and glimpses of the dark reality of racial bigotry, the Ya-Ya values of unconditional loyalty, high style, and Cajun sass shine through. Necies wise credo, "Just think pretty pink and blue thoughts," helps too...

But in the Ya-Yas' inimitable way, these four remarkable women also teach their children about the Mysteries: the wonder of snow in the deep South, the possibility that humans are made of stars, and the belief that miracles do happen. And they need a miracle when old grudges and wounded psyches lead to a heartbreaking crime...and the dynamic web of sisterhood is the only safety net strong enough to hold families together and endure.

After two bestsellers and a blockbuster movie, the Ya-Yas have become part of American culture -- icons for the power of women's friendship. YA-YAS IN BLOOM continues the saga, giving us more Ya-Ya lore, spun out in the rich patois of the Louisiana bayou country and brim full of the Ya-Ya message to embrace life and each other with joy.

Publication Date: 03/29/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Witch's Boy
Michael Gruber
Synopsis:

A wondrous journey through the realms of magic

They call him Lump. Ugly, misshapen -- more goblin than human child -- abandoned as an infant and taken in by a witch, he is nursed by a bear, tutored by a djinn; his only playmates are the creatures of the forest, whose language he learns to speak.

But when Lump inevitably stumbles into the human world, his innocence is no match for the depths of people's cruelty, which turns his heart to stone, and fuels a vengeance that places him and his witch mother in deadly peril. Yet these disasters also send Lump on a journey of self-discovery, to realms deep within the earth and far beyond mortal imagination.

In this stunning fantasy debut, Michael Gruber has created a world that is at once deceptively familiar and stunningly original, a world of cruelty, beauty, legend, truth, and above all, wonder. Readers will delight in the author's ingenious retelling of classic fairy tales and will marvel at the stunning new tale of a boy raised by a witch, a cat, a bear, and a demon.

Publication Date: 03/29/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in Train
Synopsis:

The sixth book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot.

Student body president, that is—nominated by her power-mad best friend, Lilly. This is not how Mia imagined kicking off her sophomore year, but as usual, she has bigger problems to worry about, like Geometry. And now that Mia's one true love, Michael, is uptown at college, what's the point of even getting up for school in the morning? But the last straw is what Lana whispers to her on the lunch line about what college boys expect of their girlfriends. . . . Really, it's almost more than a princess in training can bear!

Princess in Training is the sixth book in the beloved, bestselling series that inspired the feature film starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.

Publication Date: 03/29/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Secret Agent
Mark Johnston, Robyn Freedman Spizman
Synopsis: With help from his friends, New York City high school student Kyle Parker sets out to save his parents' marriage by trying to get his father's novel published.
Publication Date: 03/22/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Scorpia
Anthony Horowitz
Synopsis: Alex Rider, the spitting image of his father in so many ways, is about to find out just how closely he is his father's son. When Alex learns that his father was an assassin for Scorpia, the most powerful terrorist organization going, his world shatters. Now Scorpia wants Alex on their side, and Alex wages a war of conscience he no longer has the will to win. Until, that is, he learns of Scorpia's latest plot: an operation known only as "Invisible Sword" that will result in the death of thousands of people. Unless he can stop it first . . . .
With a cliffhanger you'll want to read twice, Scorpia is the most intense thriller yet from bestselling author Anthony Horowitz.
Publication Date: 03/17/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Year They Won: A Tale of the Boston Red Sox
Synopsis: It's the year 2024, and your beloved baseball team hasn't won the World Series for twenty years, long before yu were born. You're worried the Curse has descended on the Red Sox again and that they won't win for another 86 years.So you and your buddies (and your cat) put together a Plan to win the Series again, even if you have to steal it for the Sox. If yo've ever loved or hated the Boston Red Sox, stolen a base or tried to, rooted for the underdog, taken a baseball glove to a game, crossed your fingers, or yelled at the ump--this is the book you've been waiting for.
Publication Date: 03/11/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Girls They Left Behind
Synopsis:

Like any teenager, Natalie wants to have fun. But it's 1944, and almost all the boys she knows have signed up and are being shipped overseas to fight the war in Europe. Too often she takes the trip to Union Station to wave goodbye to another friend, wondering if he'll ever come home again. And like her other girlfriends, Natalie is getting tired of waiting for the war to be over. There are still dances at the Armories to meet handsome boys in uniform, but is that all a girl can do for the war effort?

Natalie has a plan. Her first move was to change her name from Beryl, which didn't sound sophisticated at all. Now she quits school and takes a job at a department store. Buying War Saving Stamps with her meager earnings is not enough for Natalie, however, and soon she finds work at De Havilland Aircraft, making bombers. But it is during this time, when she is taking the most pride in her war work, that Natalie and her family get the news they've been dreading: her cousin, a gunner in the Dambusters Squadron, is listed as missing, presumed dead. And as news of other boys reaches home - some of it good but so much of it bad - Natalie begins to wonder what kind of world will be there for them all when the war finally ends.

At times funny and at other times deeply moving, Bernice Thurman Hunter's last novel is drawn from her own memories of being a teenager in Toronto during World War II. In Natalie, Hunter has created a spunky, outspoken and utterly charming character, which readers young and old will revel in. And in her unforgettable portrait of the home front, Hunter has brought to life the daily trials and tribulations of a generation of women who had to stand by while their men went to war.

Publication Date: 03/07/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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