Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 33 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Tim, Defender of the Earth!
Synopsis: When two gargantuan, human-made monsters clash over the future of the human race and the planet, fourteen-year-old Anna Mallahide has a hard time convincing her classmate, Chris Pitman, that he must play any role in the outcome of their epic battle.
Publication Date: 03/27/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Perfect You
Elizabeth Scott, Lisa Fyfe
Synopsis: Kate Brown's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Kate is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Kate's invisible.

And then there's Will. Gorgeous, unattainable Will, whom Kate acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Will starts acting interested, Kate hates herself for wanting him when she's sure she's just his latest conquest.

Kate figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not always be perfect, good things can happen -- but only if she lets them....
Publication Date: 03/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Between Golden Jaws
Tiffany Trent
Synopsis: Corrine and her friends race to London, in the hopes of finding a rathstone that will help them end this terrible war with the Fey. The girls search the Victorian city only to find that their plan has led to more danger than ever before. With the girls' lives on the line, the Fey Prince offers Corrine a deal: become his consort and her friends can go in peace. Will Corrine fall into the Prince's arms to save her friends? Or can she find another way?

In the third book of the Hallowmere series, author Tiffany Trent weaves a dark tale of romance, deception, and dangerous fairies.
Publication Date: 03/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Keeping Score
Linda Sue Park
Synopsis: Against the background of major league baseball and the Korean War, Maggie Fortini, who is a diehard Brooklyn Dodgers fan, finds a way to make a difference in the world when her brother Jim is drafted into the army and needs her help. 75,000 first printing.
Publication Date: 03/17/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
My Life:The Musical
Maryrose Wood
Synopsis: To best friends and devoted theater fans Emily and Philip, Aurora is no ordinary Broadway musical. Their love for the hit show (whose reclusive author has never been named) is nothing short of an obsession. Thanks to a secret loan from Emily’s grandma Rose, seeing the Saturday matinee has become a weekly ritual that makes real life seem dull and drab by comparison.
But when the theater chat rooms start buzzing with crazy rumors that Aurora might close, Emily and Philip find themselves grappling with some truly show-stopping questions. What, exactly, is the “one sure thing” in show business? How will they pay back the money they owe Grandma Rose? And why hasn’t Philip asked Emily out on a real date? As they go to hilarious lengths to indulge their passion for Aurora, Emily and Philip must face the fact that all shows close sooner or later. But first they’ll put their friendship to the ultimate test, solve Broadway’s biggest mystery–and spend one unforgettable night at the theater.
Publication Date: 03/11/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Lessons in Love
Emily Franklin
Synopsis: During fall term of her senior year at Hadley Hall, Love Bukowski faces myriad challenges, including boyfriend issues, choices about college, her long-lost mother and sister's return, and the loss of her private journals.
Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Turn Up The Heat
Jessica Conant-Park, Susan Conant
Synopsis: Supporting her chef boyfriend as he works to get Simmer, his fledgling trendy restaurant up and running, Chloe Carter must take time out of her busy schedule when Leandra, an unpopular waitress at the restaurant, turns up murdered in a fish truck, in a mystery that comes complete with recipes. By the authors of Simmer Down and Steamed.
Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Truancy
Isamu Fukui
Synopsis:

In an alternate world, in a nameless totalitarian city, the autocratic Mayor rules the school system with an iron fist, with the help of his Educators. Fighting against the Mayor and his repressive Educators is a group of former students called the Truancy, whose goal is to take down the system by any means possible—at any cost.

Against this backdrop, fifteen-year-old Tack is just trying to survive. His days are filled with sadistic teachers, unrelenting schoolwork, and indifferent parents. Things start to look up when he meets Umasi, a mysterious boy who runs a lemonade stand in an uninhabited district.

Then someone close to Tack gets killed in the crossfire between the Educators and the Truants, and Tack swears vengeance. To achieve his purpose, he abandons his old life and joins the Truancy. There, he confronts Zyid, an enigmatic leader with his own plans for Tack. But Tack soon finds himself torn between his desire for vengeance and his growing sympathy for the Truants….

Isamu Fukui wrote Truancy during the summer of his fifteenth year. The author’s purpose is not just to entertain, but to make a statement about the futility of the endless cycle of violence in the world as well as the state of the educational system. And, as he put it, “I need to be in school myself if I want to write about it.”

Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Big Field
Mike Lupica
Synopsis: For Hutch, shortstop has always been home. It's where his father once played professionally, before injuries relegated him to watching games on TV instead of playing them. And it's where Hutch himself has always played and starred. Until now. The arrival of Darryl "D-Will" Williams, the top shortstop prospect from Florida since A-Rod, means Hutch is displaced, in more ways than one. Second base feels like second fiddle, and when he sees his father giving fielding tips to D-Will--the same father who can't be bothered to show up to watch his son play--Hutch feels betrayed. With the summer league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate?

Mike Lupica returns to the big field for the first time since his #1 New York Times bestseller Heat and delivers a feel-good home run, showing how love of the game is a language fathers and sons speak from the heart.

Q&A with Mike Lupica

Q: Where did the idea for The Big Field come from?

A: If it has one starting point, it was when Alex Rodriguez came to the Yankees and left shortstop to play third base. It wasn't so much that Rodriguez was the best all-around player in baseball at the time. It was that I knew he'd always thought of himself as a shortstop. I'm not sure he still doesn't think of himself as a shortstop. And suddenly he was a third baseman. Hutch isn't the best player in this book; Darryl Williams is. But Hutch had been a shortstop his whole life, it defined him as a ballplayer, and now because of the presence of Darryl on their American Legion team, he has to go to second base. It's the starting off point in a book that is ultimately about fathers and sons. But it's about a player having to leave his best position for the good of his team.

Q: In The Big Field, the emotional heart of the story is Keith "Hutch" Hutchinson's relationship with his father, a washed-up ballplayer and former boy phenomenon who never advanced past the minor leagues and who completely soured on the game, setting the stage for a distant relationship with his son. Why did you decide to focus on the father-son dynamic in this novel?

A: Sometimes with fathers and sons, when they can't communicate, they fall back on sports. It is like some universal language for fathers and sons. But at the start of The Big Field, Hutch and his dad don't even have that. And their journey, both of them, and I think it's a great journey, is finding that language again, finding a bond they never really lost. And finding each other.

Q: Can you offer any advice for aspiring sports writers?

A: Read the best guys, in books and newspapers and magazines. And then find ways to write. Write for the school paper, write anywhere you can, but write. I believe strongly that if you have the talent and the spirit, somebody will find you.

Q: When writing a young character do you find yourself looking back to yourself at that age? Or your children?

A: I look back to myself, and remember how important sports were to me, the fellowship, just the sheer fun of having a game with my buddies even if it wasn't organized. I tell people all the time that I still go to games thinking I might see something I've never seen before. I still have that feeling. But more than that, I see sports through the eyes of my children, too. See what they think is good, or cool, or worth watching. See what excites them. They've made me smarter about sports, they really have. But then that always happens when you hang around smart people.

Q: Have you started working on your next book? Can you give us a sneak peak?

A: My next book is already finished. It's about a young foster child, and his love for baseball. He's a catcher. And I think you're going to like him. The book is called "Safe at Home." The book I'm writing right now is my first soccer book. That's all I'm going to tell you!

Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Bronze Pen
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Audrey Abbott dreams of becoming a writer, but with her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, it seems there is no room for what her overworked mother would surely call a childish fantasy. So Audrey keeps her writing a secret. That is, until she meets a mysterious old woman who seems able to read her mind. Audrey is surprised at how readily she reveals her secret to the woman.

One day the old woman gives Audrey a peculiar bronze pen and tells her to "use it wisely and to good purpose." It turns out to be just perfect for writing her stories with. But as Audrey writes, odd things start happening. Did Beowulf, her dog, just speak to her? And what is that bumping under her bed at night? It seems that whatever she writes with the pen comes true. However, things don't always happen in the way that she wants or expects. In fact, it's quite difficult to predict what writing with the pen will do. Could the pen be more of a curse than a gift? Or will Audrey be able to rewrite the future in the way that she wishes---and save her father's life?
Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Violet By Design
Melissa Walker
Synopsis: I was going to get out of the modeling business for good.

But now I'm having trouble sticking with my decision. After all, if it wasn't for modeling, I might still be the invisible wallflower. Hot guys like Paulo wouldn't be interested in me. And I'd never have seen Brazil or Spain-and now France! On the other hand...

I also wouldn't have to choose between my best friend from home and my agent's shrill demands. Or anguish over my body the way only runway models do. Not to mention all this trouble I'm getting into for speaking out in the press about eating disorders.

Maybe the life of an international model isn't for me. But if I quit for good, I might always wonder...What if?



Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Six Innings
James Preller
Synopsis:

Two teams, six innings, one game.

A lively cast of characters--baseball-loving boys between the ages of eleven to thirteen--are playing the biggest game of their lives. With acrobatic catches, clutch hits, dramatic whiffs, and costly errors, this game is full of action. But as the book unfolds, pitch by pitch, a deeper story emerges, with far more at stake: Sam and Mike, best friends, are trying to come to terms with Sam's newly diagnosed cancer. And this baseball diamond becomes the ultimate testing ground of Sam and Mike's remarkable friendship as they strive to find a way to both come out winners.

This is for the championship.

This is for life.

Six Innings is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Publication Date: 03/04/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Fran, The Second Time Around
Amy L. Bernstein
Synopsis: A fresh start. A clean slate. That’s what Mom said as I headed out the door to catch the annoyingly bright and infantile school bus. No one knows you, or anything about you, she said. You can be who you are—whoever you want to be. Now isn’t that just great. I have the privilege of beginning ninth grade, the start of my high school career—or lack of career, more likely—as a complete zero, a nobody. No history, no personality, no best friend. Tracy is out of the picture after, let’s see, eleven years of tried-and-true, best-buds-til-we-die friendship…. Yeah, well, things change in ways you can’t imagine.
Publication Date: 02/18/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Squad: Killer Spirit
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Synopsis: Saying Toby Klein is an unlikely cheerleader is like saying Paris Hilton might be into guys–understatement of the year. But as a Bayport High cheerleader and an undercover government operative, she’s living a life that’s anything but typical. Being on the Squad has its benefits, but just as Toby is getting the hang of protocol and pep rallies, fate kicks things up a notch.
Publication Date: 02/13/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Prey
Lurlene McDaniel
Synopsis: A teacher is supposed to impart a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge. It’s a bit different with Ms. Lori Settles. All the kids are talking about how hot she is–and she is especially interested in Ryan Piccoli. When she starts giving Ryan extra attention, he’s feeling more than happy–at first. He’s used to being the class clown, but really he’s a loner. One day after school, the friendship with Lori Settles goes farther than he ever expected. She’s his teacher. She’s at least twice his age. Intimacy with a teacher is wrong, yet it feels so good in every way. Soon, Lori is making demands and Ryan begins to feel overwhelmed, but Ryan refuses to even admit anything is going on. Something immoral is going on and before too long the choices made will change lives forever.
Publication Date: 02/12/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Cindy Ella
Robin Palmer
Synopsis: The ideal L.A. fairy tale for fans of Once Upon a Time and L.A. Candy, from the author of Geek Charming.

Prom fever has infected LA—especially Cindy’s two annoying stepsisters, and her overly Botoxed stepmother. Cindy seems to be the only one immune to it all. But her anti-prom letter in the school newspaper does more to turn Cindy into Queen of the Freaks than close the gap between the popular kids and the rest of the students. Everyone thinks she’s committed social suicide, except for her two best friends, the yoga goddess India and John Hughes–worshipping Malcolm, and shockingly, the most popular senior at Castle Heights High and Cindy’s crush, Adam Silver. Suddenly Cindy starts to think that maybe her social life could have a happily ever after. But there’s still the rest of the school to deal with. With a little bit of help from an unexpected source and a fabulous pair of heels, Cindy realizes that she still has a chance at a happily ever after.
Publication Date: 02/07/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS