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Desires of the Dead
Kimberly Derting
Synopsis:

The second book in the steamy, romantic Body Finder thriller series by Kimberly Derting.

Violet and Jay are finally dating, but adjusting to the new relationship is not as easy as Violet anticipated. Especially when she has to split Jay’s time and attention with his new best friend, Mike, and Mike’s pesky younger sister—who happens to be obsessed with Jay.

Meanwhile, when Violet’s special abilities lead her to the body of a young boy, her tip to the police puts her on the radar of the FBI. Violet tries to fend off the FBI’s questions while maintaining the semblance of a normal life, but somebody’s leaving her threatening notes and an echo around Mike’s house reinforces that all is not right. Violet is forced to admit that perhaps the only people who can help her figure it out are the very people she’s desperate to avoid—the FBI.

Desires of the Dead is the compulsive second book in the four-book Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting.

Publication Date: 02/15/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Girl Who Became A Beatle
Synopsis:

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!

When Regina Bloomsbury's band, the Caverns, breaks up, she thinks it's all over. And then she makes a wish―"I wish I could be as famous as the Beatles."

The Beatles are her music idols. The next day, she gets up to find that the Caverns are not just as famous as the Beatles, they have replaced them in history! Regina is living like a rock star, and loving it. There are talk shows, music videos, and live concerts with thousands of screaming fans. And Regina is the star of it all.

But fame is getting the better of Regina, and she has a decision to make. Does she want to replace the Beatles forever?

Greg Taylor's The Girl Who Became a Beatle is a rocking young adult novel about the good and the bad of Hollywood, fame, and rock 'n roll.

Publication Date: 02/15/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel
Antonio Deleo, David Goodberg
Synopsis: In 2051, commercial time travel became a global reality. Opportunities abounded for curious history buffs, futurists, and corrupt entrepreneurs. Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel is a spellbinding collection of 37 tales that explore time travel tourism and its repercussions.

In various settings ranging from Earth to deep space, Selected Shorts presents tales of those brave (or foolish) enough to adventure through the space-time continuum. Explore an era devastated by the Worlds War of 2267, cluttered with time-traveling tourists and swindlers, terrorized by the all-powerful Icelandic Mafia, endangered by ruthless corporations, and threatened by vigilante space aliens.

The future as we know it will never be the same.

Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Anthology
Cryer's Cross
Lisa McMann
Synopsis: Kendall loves her life in small town Cryer¹s Cross, Montana, but she also longs for something more. She knows the chances of going to school in New York are small, but she's not the type to give up easily. Even though it will mean leaving Nico, the world's sweetest boyfriend, behind.

But when Cryer's Cross is rocked by unspeakable tragedy, Kendall shoves her dreams aside and focuses on just one goal: help find her missing friends. Even if it means spending time with the one boy she shouldn't get close to... the one boy who makes her question everything she feels for Nico.

Determined to help and to stay true to the boy she's always loved, Kendall keeps up the search--and stumbles upon some frightening local history. She knows she can't stop digging, but Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried....
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Tiger Rising
Kate DiCamillo
Synopsis: Kate DiCamillo’s second novel, a National Book Award finalist, is now available in a beautiful gift edition that features the author’s signature stamped on the cover.

Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-yearold Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger — a real-life, very large tiger — pacing back and forth in a cage. What’s more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things — like memories, and heartache, and tigers — can’t be locked up forever.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Owl Ninja
Rhian Nest James, Sandy Fussell
Synopsis: The uniquely talented samurai kids are back — and ready to join forces with a ninja clan! — as the fast-paced martial arts series continues.

(Ages 9-14)

Across the valley, a drumbeat echoes. For ten days, the drum will call the mountain ryus to war, including the samurai kids from the Cockroach Ryu. Only Japan’s feudal emperor can stop the war, so Niya and Sensei Ki-Yaga set off on a grueling journey with all the Cockroaches, whose firm friendship and unusual skills must be put to the test in order to beg the Emperor to maintain peace. Sensei Ki-Yaga is respected and wise, but unfortunately, the last time he encountered the Emperor, the Emperor threatened to cut off his head. All seems hopeless until Ki-Yaga guides the Cockroaches to meet with the Owl Ninja clan. Samurai and ninja are supposed to be enemies, but can these two groups somehow work together to save the sensei and stop the battle in time?
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Pick-Up Game
Charles R. Smith Jr., Charles R. Smith Jr., Marc Aronson, Various
Synopsis: Pass! Shoot! Swish! And 1! An all-star team of YA authors scores spectacularly with an action-packed anthology about street basketball.

It’s one steamy July day at the West 4th Street Court in NYC, otherwise known as The Cage. Hotshot ESPN is wooing the scouts, Boo is struggling to guard the weird new guy named Waco, a Spike Lee wannabe has video rolling, and virgin Irene is sizing up six-foot-eightand-a-half-inch Chester. Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, Adam Rapp, Joseph Bruchac, and Sharon Flake reveal how it all goes down in a searing collection of short stories, in which each one picks up where the previous one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems and photographs by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Can You Survive The Zombie Apocalypse?
Synopsis: WARNING: This book is mean and violent and FOR ADULTS. That's because...
Unspeakable horror awaits in these pages! Bloodsplattering, brain-impaling, flesh-devouring horror. You've probably read your fair share of zombie stories. But this time it's different. No longer can you sit idle as a bunch of fools make all the wrong moves. All hell is about to break loose--and YOU have a say in humanity's survival. 
You have choices to make.

Moral dilemmas.

Strategic decisions.

Weapons. Vehicles.

Will you be a hero?

Or will you cover your own ass at all costs?

Can you withstand the coming hours, days, weeks, and months? Or will you die amidst the chaos and violence of a zombie uprising?

Or, worst of all, will you become one of them?
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Tall Story
Candy Gourlay
Synopsis: Andi is short. And she has lots of wishes. She wishes she could play on the school basketball team, she wishes for her own bedroom, but most of all she wishes that her long-lost half-brother, Bernardo, could come and live in London where he belongs.

Then Andi's biggest wish comes true and she's minutes away from becoming someone's little sister. As she waits anxiously for Bernardo to arrive from the Philippines, she hopes he'll turn out to be tall and just as crazy as she is about basketball. When he finally arrives, he's tall all right. Eight feet tall, in fact—plagued by condition called Gigantism and troubled by secrets that he believes led to his phenomenal growth.

In a novel packed with quirkiness and humor, Gourlay explores a touching sibling relationship and the clash of two very different cultures.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Amelia Lost
Candace Fleming
Synopsis: From the acclaimed author of The Great and Only Barnum—as well as The Lincolns, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin's Almanac—comes the thrilling story of America's most celebrated flyer, Amelia Earhart.

In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth between Amelia's life (from childhood up until her last flight) and the exhaustive search for her and her missing plane. With incredible photos, maps, and handwritten notes from Amelia herself—plus informative sidebars tackling everything from the history of flight to what Amelia liked to eat while flying (tomato soup)—this unique nonfiction title is tailor-made for middle graders.

Amelia Lost received four starred reviews and Best Book of the Year accolades from School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Horn Book Magazine, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Biography
Flesh and Blood So Cheap
Albert Marrin
Synopsis: On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burst into flames.  The factory was crowded.  The doors were locked to ensure workers stay inside.  One hundred forty-six people—mostly women—perished; it was one of the most lethal workplace fires in American history until September 11, 2001.

But the story of the fire is not the story of one accidental moment in time.  It is a story of immigration and hard work to make it in a new country, as Italians and Jews and others traveled to America to find a better life.  It is the story of poor working conditions and greedy bosses, as garment workers discovered the endless sacrifices required to make ends meet.  It is the story of unimaginable, but avoidable, disaster.  And it the story of the unquenchable pride and activism of fearless immigrants and women who stood up to business, got America on their side, and finally changed working conditions for our entire nation, initiating radical new laws we take for granted today.

With Flesh and Blood So Cheap, Albert Marrin has crafted a gripping, nuanced, and poignant account of one of America's defining tragedies.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Nonfiction
So Shelly
Ty Roth
Synopsis: Until now, high school junior, John Keats, has only tiptoed near the edges of the vortex that is schoolmate and literary prodigy, Gordon Byron. That is, until their mutual friend, Shelly, drowns in a sailing accident.

After stealing Shelly's ashes from her wake at Trinity Catholic High School, the boys set a course for the small Lake Erie island where Shelly's body had washed ashore and to where she wished to be returned. It would be one last "so Shelly" romantic quest. At least that's what they think. As they navigate around the obstacles and resist temptations during their odyssey, Keats and Gordon glue together the shattered pieces of Shelly's and their own pasts while attempting to make sense of her tragic and premature end.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Amos Daragon
Y. Maudet, Bryan Perro
Synopsis: Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2011: Melding the best of mythology and fairytale, Amos Daragon #1: The Mask Wearer is the first book in a fast-paced adventure series for middle grade readers. Amos is a hero straight out of the Brothers Grimm--loyal, trustworthy, and very clever--outsmarting villains with their own nefarious schemes. In this classic story of good versus evil, Amos has been chosen as a Mask Wearer, tasked with combating forces of evil using the power embedded in four lost masks. Encountering gorgons, mermaids, nagas, and the Egyptian god Seth, Amos proves he is a fierce opponent and a steadfast friend. A satisfying conclusion sets the tone for the next book, and the mythology glossary at the end is an added bonus.--Seira Wilson

A Letter from Author Bryan Perro

As a young boy, I had a passion for comic books, especially the French Pif Gadget and Rahan. At fourteen, I discovered my first book, The Devil’s Triangle by American writer Richard Winer. The book was about the Bermuda Triangle; I loved how it dealt with the supernatural and how unexplained forces exert power over the boats, aircrafts, and people who dare to venture in this eerie part of the Atlantic Ocean. This real-life mystery and Winer’s way with words fueled my imagination.

During my college years, I developed a deep interest in anthropology and the myths that exist throughout the world. I have around 350 books in my home--all myths and legends from places near and far. The fantastical creatures that populate these amazing stories, along with the hero in each of them, inspired me to create Amos Daragon, the series.

When I was looking for a magical item that Amos Daragon would need to find on his quest, I was surprised to learn that the first such item in the history of mankind is not the magic wand, but the mask.

When the aborigines, the first men, danced around their campfires, they personified animals. How did they do this? They wore masks! If, for example, they put on the mask of the eagle, their vision grew more piercing. This enhanced power allowed them to be a better hunter. So I wanted Amos to be in pursuit of mankind’s first magical item, the mask. Four of them, in fact! And since I wanted to write an extended series, I decided that stones would empower the masks. Not only did this allow Amos to harness his abilities as Mask Wearer slowly, it gave me the opportunity to explore all sorts of adventures for my young hero. It’s been an incredible journey for him and for me--one that I hope boys and girls will join as they begin Amos Daragon #1: The Mask Wearer.

Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Animal Rescue Team:Show Time
Priscilla Lamont, Sue Stauffacher
Synopsis: The squirrels at Mt. Mercy College are getting too friendly—they're frightening the students, making the nuns jumpy . . . and they're super messy. It's time to call the Animal Rescue Team! 

Meanwhile, Keisha's got a problem of her own. The Grand River Steppers jump rope team has a chance to win first place in their school district this year, but Keisha's so nervous, she keeps messing up! When she and Daddy go to the Veteran's Facility to check out their squirrel situation, Keisha meets Sergeant Pinkham, who's learning how to use his new prosthetic leg. Could Sarge be just the person to help Keisha stay calm, do well, and have fun at the competition?

Perfect for independent readers, the Animal Rescue Team books offer adventurous and heartwarming stories with lots of laughs—and plenty of critters.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Kindred
Tammar Stein
Synopsis: The first time I meet an angel, it is Raphael and I am eighteen.

Miriam is an unassuming college freshman stuck on campus after her spring break plans fall through. She's not a religious girl--when pressed she admits reluctantly to believing in a higher power. Truth be told, she's about as comfortable speaking about her faith as she is about her love life, which is to say, not at all. And then the archangel Raphael pays Miriam a visit, and she finds herself on a desperate mission to save two of her contemporaries. To top it all off, her twin brother, Mo, has also had a visitation, but from the opposite end of the good-evil spectrum, which leaves Miriam to wonder--has she been blessed and her brother cursed or vice versa? And what is the real purpose behind her mission?
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Eli the Good
Silas House
Synopsis: In his timely YA debut, a best-selling novelist revisits a summer of tumult and truth for a young narrator and his war-torn family.

Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former warprotester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war — a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and a powerful sense of place.
Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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