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Draw the Dark
Ilsa J. Bick
Synopsis: There are things in Winter, Wisconsin, folks just don't talk about. The murder way back in '45 is one. The near-suicide of a first-grade teacher is another. And then there is 17-year old Christian Cage. Christian's parents disappeared when he was a little boy, and ever since he's drawn and painted obsessively, trying desperately to remember his mother. The problem is Christian doesn't just draw his own memories. He can draw the thoughts of those around him. Confronted with fears and nightmares they'd rather avoid, people have a bad habit of dying. So it's no surprise that Christian isn't exactly popular. What no one expects is for Christian to meet Winter's last surviving Jew and uncover one more thing best forgotten--the day the Nazis came to town. Based on a little-known fact of the United States' involvement in World War II, Draw the Dark is a dark fantasy about reclaiming the forgotten past and the redeeming power of love.
Publication Date: 10/02/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Me, Frida
David Diaz, Amy Novesky
Synopsis: Like a tiny bird in a big city, Frida Kahlo feels lost and lonely when she arrives in San Francisco with her husband, the famous artist Diego Rivera. It is the first time she has left her home in Mexico. And Frida wants to be a painter too.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />


 


But as Frida begins to explore San Francisco on her own, she discovers more than the beauty, diversity, and exuberance of America. She finds the inspiration she needs to become one of the most celebrated artists of all time.


 


Me, Frida is an exhilarating true story that encourages children to believe in themselves so they can make their own dreams soar.

Praise for Me, Frida
"The writing is lucid, the emotions are universal, and the illustrations soar. Glowing with warm, vibrant colors, the charcoal and acrylic paintings create distinctive, statuesque people within imaginatively conceived landscapes, cityscapes, and interiors." –Booklist
Publication Date: 10/01/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
When Strawberries Bloom
Synopsis:           New love and even more questions enter Lizzie Glick's life in When Strawberries Bloom, the second novel in this series written by an Amish writer and based on true life experiences. Lizzie's dream of teaching school has finally come true. She loves the brand-new school building, the sound of the children singing, and the independence she has in the classroom. Even the occasionally unruly boys can't ruin the excitement she feels each morning when she starts the school day.           But at home things are in turmoil again. What do Dat's sudden health problems mean for the future of their farm? And what about Lizzie's future? Emma and Mandy are so certain that Joshua and John are their perfect matches, but Lizzie doesn't know what to think about Stephen and how he might fit into her life. What will Lizzie decide? Will she continue to teach school? Or will she give up that dream so that her wish for marriage and a family can come true? Stephen says he loves her, but Lizzie isn't sure he really understands her. Can she hope to find anyone within her Amish community who loves her bright mind, her ever-active imagination, her competitive spirit and her stormy humor?

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Publication Date: 10/01/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Phoenix and the Carpet
Bruce Coville, H. R. Millar, E. Nesbit
Synopsis: E. Nesbit’s rip-roaring sequel to Five Children and It follows the wondrous adventures of Robert, Jane, Cyril, Anthea, and The Lamb as they discover a clever phoenix and a magic carpet that can take them anywhere they wish. With an introduction by popular fantasy author Bruce Coville, this classic novel will be sure to please.
Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Where The Truth Lies
Jessica Warman
Synopsis:

On the surface, Emily Meckler leads the perfect life. She has three best friends, two loving parents, and the ideal setup at the Connecticut prep school where her father is the headmaster. But Emily also suffers from devastating nightmares about fire and water, and nobody knows why. Then the enigmatic Del Sugar enters her life, and Emily is immediately swept away-but her passionate relationship with Del is just the first of many things that aren't quite what they seem in Emily's life. As the lies she's been told start to unravel, Emily must set out to discover the truth regarding her nightmare; on a journey that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about love, family, and her own idyllic past.

This companion novel to Warman's critically acclaimed Breathless proves that sometimes the biggest lies are told to the people you love the most.

Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dangerous Angels
Francesca Lia Block
Synopsis:

The Weetzie Bat series, by acclaimed author Francesca Lia Block, was listed among NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels. This collection brings together all five luminous novels of the series in one paperback.

Spinning a saga of interwoven lives and beating hearts, these postmodern fairy tales take us to a Los Angeles brimming with magical realism: a place where life is a mystery, pain can lead to poetry, strangers become intertwined souls, and everyone is searching for the most beautiful and dangerous angel of all: love.

The Weetzie Bat books broke new ground with their stylized, lyrical prose and unflinching look at the inner life of teens. The New York Times declared Dangerous Angels was "transcendent." And the Village Voice proclaimed "Ms. Block writes for the young adult in all of us."

Includes Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop.

Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Jake
Audrey Couloumbis
Synopsis: A heartwarming holiday story from Audrey Couloumbis, the Newbery Honor–winning author of Getting Near to Baby. With beautiful writing and an endearing young narrator so honest and full of hope that you can't help but fall in love with him, Audrey Couloumbis tells a story, of a young boy and the grandfather that he’s just getting to know, that will make readers laugh and cry and, most of all, appreciate the gift of family.

It's a few days before Christmas when ten-year-old Jake's mom breaks her leg, ending up in the hospital. For as long as Jake can remember, it's been just him and his mom. So with no one else to look after him, the hospital contacts the gruff granddad that Jake only knows through awkward twice-a-year phone calls. When Granddad shows up, he's nothing like Jake expected. And he brings a dog with him—a nightmare dog, Jake thinks at first. But as Jake gets to know his grandfather and a makeshift family of friends and neighbors comes together around him and his mom, he realizes that this might not be such a bad Christmas after all.
Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Penny Dreadful
Abigail Halpin, Laurel Snyder
Synopsis: The perfect book for girls and boys who look to find adventure and magic in surprising places!

What if you were really bored with your life? What would you wish for?

Penelope Grey wishes for something—anything!—interesting to happen, and here’s what she gets:

• Her father quits his job.
• Her family runs out of money.
• Her home becomes a pit of despair.

So Penelope makes another wish, and this time the Greys inherit a ramshackle old house in the middle of nowhere. Off they go, leaving the city and their problems behind them. Their new home is full of artists, tiny lions, unusual feasts, and true friends. Almost immediately, their lives are transformed. Penelope’s mother finds an unexpected job, her father discovers a hidden talent, and Penelope changes her name!

Penny’s new life feels too magical to be real, too real to be magic. And it may be too good to last . . . unless she can find a way to make magic work just one more time—if it even was magic.

Any Which Wall author Laurel Snyder introduces a quirky cast of characters as pleasantly strange as they are deeply real. Abigail Halpin adds to the charm with her distinctive line drawings.

Fans of Polly Horvath’s My One Hundred Adventures, Ingrid Law’s Savvy, and Jeanne Birdsall’s The Penderwicks will be enchanted by Laurel Snyder’s alternatively humorous and poignant look at small-town life and what it really takes to become a happy family.
Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Star of Stone
Leah D. Janeczko, Pierdomenico Baccalario
Synopsis: In the second installment of the Century Quartet, Italian author P. D. Baccalario continues the mystery that will take four cities and four extraordinary kids to solve.

Four kids. A wooden top. And four postcards with secret instructions.

New York City, March 15
Another mysterious artifact reunites Harvey from New York, Elettra from Rome, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai in their attempt to save the world. When they meet people who knew Alfred Van Der Berger, the murdered professor who sent them on their quest in Rome, they realize that the challenge is far from over. And when they discover a series of four postcards written in code years ago by the professor himself, their destiny becomes even clearer.

The cards send the kids all over New York City, through old libraries and abandoned tunnels, in search of the Star of Stone, an ancient object fundamentally connected to the earth. But a new set of villains, predators of Manhattan nightlife, will do anything to stop them....
Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Museum of Thieves
Lian Tanner
Synopsis: Amazon Best Books of the Month, October 2010: In the city of Jewel, safety and temperance are prized above all other virtues. Goldie, an impetuous girl with a talent for petty thievery, is eagerly awaiting her Separation, in which her silver guardchain connecting her to her parents for safety is finally cut. When tragedy strikes and the city’s sly and deceptive ruler, the Fugleman, cancels all Separations indefinitely, Goldie decides she’s had enough of safety and runs away to the fascinating, mysterious Museum of Dunt. Yet this museum is no dusty educational edifice, as Goldie soon learns: it has moods and feelings like a living being. Its shape-shifting rooms house not historical artifacts, but great and terrible powers that, if unleashed, could destroy the city. In the museum, Goldie meets a quirky cast of misfits, including Toadspit, an Oliver-Twist-like ragamuffin living in the museum; Sinew, a harp-toting spy; and Broo, a talking dog with secret powers of his own. Before long, however, the Fugleman discovers the secret of the museum and tries to use its powers to tighten his control of the city, and it’s up to Goldie, Toadspit, and Broo to stop him. Lian Tanner’s Museum of Thieves is filled with characters who are oddball but meaningful, a dystopia-for-beginners plot that is at once serious and silly, and a pace fast enough to draw in even reluctant readers. The thrilling conclusion teaches that courage and freedom are virtues, too, even if they mean a few scrapes along the way. --Juliet Disparte

Publication Date: 09/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Double Overtime
Dana Lotito
Synopsis: Miles Anderson is the new kid at Carson High School. He's the new basketball star everyone is whispering about and the one who will lead the team to victory. If only the team wasn't so terrible; if only he wasn't so distracted by the only girl who won't pay attention to him; if only he wasn't at war with his brother maybe he would be able to be the guy everyone expects. Miles has to choose what areas of his life to focus on. Basketball is a given, since he has to uphold the family legacy. He'll do whatever it takes to get closer to Libby, the enticing girl who is finally showing interest. So his issues with his brother, Adam, who stayed behind at the prestigious Hill View Academy, are stuffed aside while tensions continue to boil beneath the surface. But nothing seems to go Miles's way, because even Libby has her secrets - secrets that deliver blow after blow to Miles, until he is forced to find a way to fix his own mistakes before he loses everything.
Publication Date: 09/23/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Animal Rescue Team: Hide and Seek
Priscilla Lamont, Sue Stauffacher
Synopsis: It’s autumn in Grand River, and as Keisha and her pals prepare for Halloween, a phone call comes in to Carters’ Urban Rescue: a deer has been spotted in the neighborhood . . . with a pumpkin on his head! The deer was enjoying the birdseed treat inside when, somehow, it got stuck. The Animal Rescue Team has a problem to solve: how do you get a pumpkin off a deer’s head when you can’t catch him? (And how can Keisha concentrate when the newest animal at Carters’ Urban Rescue is howling his way into her heart?)

Whatever the dilemma, if it’s got fur or feathers, the Carters are the ones to call! Filled with adventure, lots of laughs, and plenty of critters, Sue Stauffacher’s Animal Rescue Team books are perfect for independent readers.
 
Also available:
Animal Rescue Team #1: Gator on the Loose!
Animal Rescue Team #2: Special Delivery!
Publication Date: 09/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Secret of a First Daughter
Cassidy Calloway
Synopsis:

Morgan is a National Disaster.

Morgan Abbott couldn’t be happier. Super-cute Max has quit her Secret Service detail to be her (secret) boyfriend, and the annoying Brittany Whittaker has been ousted from class president, leaving the post open for Morgan! Life is pretty sweet.

Now Morgan just has to tackle college applications—but she has so much else to juggle that looking that far ahead seems impossible! Good thing she’s graceful under pressure . . . well, sometimes.

A trip to London should be just the thing to take her mind off all the craziness, but true to form, chaos follows Morgan wherever she goes—and the trip turns into an international disaster. Can she make it right? Or will she cause a royal mess?

Publication Date: 09/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Pink Locker Society
Debra Moffitt
Synopsis:

"Shh! You are now a member of the Pink Locker Society. More details to come. Shh!"

Welcome to the Pink Locker Society. Membership is a high honor, but Jemma and her two best friends can't tell anyone about their secret office, the work they do, or how they always manage to skip study hall. Behind pink doors, the trio of teens (plus Bet, the new girl) have been asked to take on a mysterious mission at Margaret Simon Middle School. They're supposed to help other girls by answering their questions about the PBBs.* Can Jemma, Piper, Kate, and Bet think fast and think pink?

Visit the Pink Locker Society at PinkLockerSociety.org.

*Look on page 27 to learn what the PBBs are!

Publication Date: 09/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Dark Deeps
Arthur Slade
Synopsis: A fantastic Steampunk adventure in the deeps

Transforming his appearance and stealing secret documents from the French is all in a day’s work for fourteen-year-old Modo, a British secret agent. But his latest mission—to uncover the underwater mystery of something called the Ictíneo—seems impossible. There are rumors of a sea monster and a fish as big as a ship. French spies are after it, and Mr. Socrates, Modo’s master, wants to find it first. Modo and his fellow secret agent, Octavia, begin their mission in New York City, then take a steamship across the North Atlantic. During the voyage, Modo uncovers an astounding secret.
 
The Dark Deeps, the second book in Arthur Slade’s Hunchback Assignments series, is set in a fascinating Steampunk Victorian world. Modo’s underwater adventures and his encounters with the young French spy Colette Brunet, the fearless Captain Monturiol, and the dreaded Clockwork Guild guarantee a gripping read filled with danger, suspense, and brilliant inventions.
Publication Date: 09/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Roland Wright: Brand-New Page
Gregory Rogers, Tony Davis
Synopsis: It’s really happened—Roland Wright is joining the royal household at Twofold Castle as a brand-new page! This is his big chance to impress the King and his knights.
 
But Roland meets with a few difficulties:
1)      The Queen hates mice, so it looks as if Nudge, Roland’s pet mouse, can’t stay.
2)      There’s an older page who makes sure poor boys like Roland get sent home in
         disgrace.
3)      A huge, tusked animal is on the loose. . . .
 
If things don’t improve, Roland’s dream of being a knight could be over in a day.
Publication Date: 09/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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