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Blessed
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Synopsis: With a wink and a nod to Bram Stoker, New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites the casts of Tantalize and Eternal in a delicious dark fantasy her fans will devour.

(Ages 14 & Up)

"You’ll try to fight it. But you’ll only be fighting your true self. It’s done. It’s destined. In time, you’ll come to accept it." He pulled back his sleeve to reveal two dress watches. "In time, you’ll come to me."

Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateuse and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life — or undeath. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love, the hybrid werewolf Kieren, of murder charges; thwart the apocalyptic ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the seductive vampire-chef who "blessed" her; and keep her dead parents’ restaurant up and running. She hires a more homespun chef and adds the preternaturally beautiful Zachary to her wait staff. But with hundreds of new vampires on the rise and Bradley off assuming the powers of Dracula Prime, Zachary soon reveals his true nature — and a flaming sword — and they hit the road to staunch the bloodshed before it’s too late. Even if they save the world, will there be time left to salvage Quincie’s soul?
Publication Date: 01/25/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Badd
Tim Tharp
Synopsis: Ceejay has never been pretty or popular, but she knows who she is: she's younger sister to Bobby, the most charming bad boy in town. Bobby's a bit wild, but with his big heart and sense of fun, everybody loves him. And nobody understands Ceejay like Bobby.

Now, Ceejay can't wait for Bobby to return home from his tour in Iraq. But then he turns up unannounced and seems to be avoiding his family. And he's so different. His wild streak has become reckless. His sense of fun has become desperate. And seeing this, Ceejay's own tough shell begins to crack. How can she believe in being strong when her hero is broken?

As she tries to get Bobby back, Ceejay begins to reexamine her family, her community, and everyone in her life. What she finds is that true strength is not quite what she thought it was.
Publication Date: 01/11/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter
Synopsis: After an unfortunate incident at the hair salon, Bessica is not allowed to see her best friend, Sylvie. That means she's going to start middle school a-l-o-n-e. Bessica feels like such a loser. She wants friends. She's just not sure how to make them.
It doesn't help that her beloved grandma is off on some crazy road trip and has zero time to listen to Bessica. Or that Bessica has a ton of homework. Or that gorgeous Noll Beck thinks she's just a kid. Or that there are some serious psycho-bullies in her classes. Bessica doesn't care about being popular. She just wants to survive—and look cute. Is that too much to ask when you're eleven?
Publication Date: 01/11/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
City of Night
Michelle West
Synopsis: THe Hosue War is the story of the battle for control of the most powerful of the ruling Houses in the Essalieyan Empire -- House Terafin. But it is also the tale of Jewel Markess. 

Rescued from her precarious existence as an orphan in the slums of the capital city, Averalaan, by Rath -- a recluse whose family is powerful within House Terafin -- Jewel is gathering together children less fortunate than herself, creating her own den.

But now times are truly desperate within Averalaan's hundred holdings. Street children are disappearing, theft and violence are increasing, and even Jewel's den is finding it hard to make ends meet.

They've been living on their own for some time, but Rath is still their mentor and continues to sell items they find in the ancient undercity hidden beneath the streets of Averalaan. Then suddenly, Rath orders them to avoid the undercity. 

Yet Rath himself refuses to heed the warnings of Jewel's seer dreams. Instead, he allies with the mages of the Order of Knowledge in a secret war against demonic foes, knowing he'll be targeted for death -- or worse. In a last attempt to protect Jewel and her den-kin, he provides a note of introduction to the head of House Terafin -- Rath's sister, whom he'd sworn never to contact. 

For only withing the well-guarded Terafin manse will the den stand any chance of escaping the unnatural forces reaching out to claim them....
Publication Date: 01/04/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Taking Off
Jenny Moss
Synopsis:

Reimagining the days surrounding this unforgettable event in history, readers are brought back to 1986 as the astronauts prepare for the Challenger mission, and Christa McAullife trains to be the first teacher in space. When a teen named Annie meets Christa, she is fascinated by Christa's courage. Truly inspired, Annie is determined to make it to Florida to see the Challenger launch, a trip that will forever change how she thinks about herself and her secret desire for her own future. Although she is devastated when tragedy strikes, Annie honors Christa by following her own dream, despite the obstacles. Bringing in her experience as a NASA engineer, Jenny Moss weaves a moving story that recaptures the inspiration teens must have felt years ago as they watched Christa McAuliffe reach for the sky.

Publication Date: 01/04/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Faeman Quest
Herbie Brennan
Synopsis:

Herbie Brennan's popular and critically acclaimed Faerie Wars series is well known for its cast of magical characters, hilarious dialogue, and wildly inventive flights of fantasy. Now, with The Faeman Quest, Brennan returns to the world of Faerie to introduce a new character - Mella, the daughter of King Consort Henry and Queen Holly Blue. When Mella accidentally travels to the country of Haleklind, she discovers rebel forces preparing an invasion using a terrifying new magical weapon.

This novel features old favorites-Brimstone, Pyrgus, and Lord Hairstreak's head-but readers will identify immediately with Mella, whose stubborn streak and fiesty daring must save the Faerie realm from mass destruction.

Publication Date: 01/04/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Synopsis: HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
Publication Date: 01/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Savannah Grey
Cliff McNish
Synopsis:

Savannah Grey needs to keep moving. She doesn't know why, but she can't let herself get tied down by too many people. It's almost like she's being chased by something. And now something strange is happening with her neck―with her throat.

Savannah Grey never thought she'd meet someone like Reece―a guy who seems to understand her. He even knows about her neck. The same thing is happening to him. It's as if their voices are becoming weapons, warming up for some kind of attack.

Savannah Grey has no idea what might be chasing her or why her voice suddenly feels like the most powerful weapon on the planet, but she's about to find out.

Nature is preparing for battle with the universe's ultimate monster. The time to fight is almost here. The weapon is Savannah Grey.

Publication Date: 01/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit
Synopsis: From the author of National Book Award finalist Hey, Kiddo.

The Breakfast Bunch is excited for the upcoming bake sale—and the best part is that it's raising money for an awesome field trip.  But when all the snacks go missing, it's no laughing matter.  Someone is sabotaging the bake sale.  But why?

Lunch Lady and the Breakfast Bunch are hot on the trail . . . one brownie crumb at a time.
Publication Date: 12/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Vampire Crush
A. M. Robinson
Synopsis:

I swear, my life was always totally normal.

Normal house, normal family, normal school. My looks are average, I don't have any superpowers, no one's showing up to tell me I'm a princess—you get the picture. But when my junior year started, something not normal happened. There were new kids at school . . . new kids with a wardrobe straight out of a 19th-century romance novel, and an inexplicable desire to stay at school until sundown.

And on top of that, James Hallowell showed up. James, who stole my sandwiches in fourth grade and teased me mercilessly through middle school. James, who now seems to have the power to make my heart race any time he comes near.

But something weird is going on. Because James rarely goes out during the day. And he seems stronger than your typical guy. And he knows the new kids, all of whom seem to be harboring some kind of deep secret. . . .

Publication Date: 12/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Punkzilla
Adam Rapp
Synopsis: An award-winning writer and playwright hits the open road for a searing novel-in-letters about a street kid on a highstakes trek across America.

For a runaway boy who goes by the name "Punkzilla," kicking a meth habit and a life of petty crime in Portland, Oregon, is a prelude to a mission: reconnecting with his older brother, a gay man dying of cancer in Memphis. Against a backdrop of seedy motels, dicey bus stations, and hitched rides, the desperate fourteen-year-old meets a colorful, sometimes dangerous cast of characters. And in letters to his sibling, he catalogs them all — from an abusive stranger and a ghostly girl to a kind transsexual and an old woman with an oozing eye. The language is raw and revealing, crackling with visceral details and dark humor, yet with each interstate exit Punkzilla’s journey grows more urgent: will he make it to Tennessee in time? This daring novel offers a narrative worthy of Kerouac and a keen insight into the power of chance encounters.
Publication Date: 12/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Emily the Strange
Rob Reger, Buzz Parker, Jessica Gruner, Rob Reger
Synopsis:

Emily's uniquely strange homeschool syllabus includes:

1. Time Travel 101
2. Advanced Spy Photography
3. Bonnet Basics
4. Great Aunts Through the Ages
5. Intro to Germ Theory
6. Care and Feeding of 'Squito Fish
7. Fundamentals of Black Rock
8. Spiderweb Embroidery
9. Historical & Contemporary Felines
10. Pop Quizzes
11. Foodstuffs of the 1780s
12. Thwarting Ancestral Enemies
13. Techniques in Parallel

Publication Date: 12/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Fall for Anything
Courtney Summers
Synopsis:

From the author of Cracked Up to Be and Some Girls Are comes Courtney Summers's Fall or Anything, a gripping story about one girl's search for clues into the mysterious death of her father.

When Eddie Reeves's father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father's and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie's vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered?

Publication Date: 12/21/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
All You Get Is Me
Yvonne Prinz
Synopsis:

A summer of love, loss, and justice.

Things were complicated enough forRoar, even before her father decided toyank her out of the city and go organic.Suddenly, she’s a farm girl, albeit areluctant one, selling figs at the farmers’market and developing her photographsin a ramshackle shed. Caught betweena troublemaking sidekick named Storm, abrooding, easy-on-the-eyes L.A. boy,and a father on a human rights crusadethat challenges the fabric of the farmcommunity, Roar is going to have to tackleit all—even with dirt under her fingernailsand her hair pulled back with a rubberband meant for asparagus.

Publication Date: 12/21/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Princess of Las Pulgas
C. Lee McKenzie
Synopsis: After her father's slow death from cancer, Carlie thought things couldn't get worse. But now, she is forced to confront the fact that her family in dire financial straits. To stay afloat, her mom has had to sell their cherished oceanfront home and move Carlie and her younger brother Keith to the other side of the tracks to dreaded Las Pulgas, or "the fleas" in Spanish. They must now attend a tough urban high school instead of their former elite school, and on Carlie's first day of school, she runs afoul of edgy K.T., the Latina tattoo girl who's always ready for a fight, even on crutches. Carlie fends off the attention of Latino and African American teen boys, and one, a handsome seventeen-year-old named Juan, nicknames her Princess when he detects her aloof attitude towards her new classmates. What they don't know is that Carlie isn't really aloof; she's just in mourning for her father and almost everything else that mattered to her. Mr. Smith, the revered English teacher who engages all his students, suggests she'll like her new classmates if she just gives them a chance; he cajoles her into taking over the role of Desdemona in the junior class production of Othello, opposite Juan, after K.T. gets sidelined. Keith, who becomes angrier and more sullen by the day, spray paints insults all over the gym as he acts out his anger over the family's situation and reduced circumstances. Even their cat Quicken goes missing, sending Carlie and Keith on a search into the orchard next to their seedy garden apartment complex. They're met by a cowboy toting a rifle who ejects them at gunpoint from his property. But when Carlie finds him amiably having coffee with their mom the next day -- when he's returned her cat -- she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems in Las Pulgas.
Publication Date: 12/15/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Priscilla the Great
Sybil Nelson
Synopsis: Did you ever want a blowtorch for a finger? Meet Priscilla Sumner, an ordinary seventh grader with extraordinary gifts. As if middle school isn't hard enough, not only does Priscilla have to fight pimples and bullies, but genetically enhanced assassins trying to kill her and her family. Armed with wit, strength, and a genius best friend, Priscilla must defeat the Selliwood Institute, a mysterious organization with a mission of turning children into killing machines.
Publication Date: 12/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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