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The Enchanted Quest
Frewin Jones
Synopsis:

Far from the Realm of Faerie, a quest to save immortality . . .

A deadly plague is sweeping through Faerie, and no one is immune to its bite. Now, withthe guidance of the Dream Weaver, Tania, Rathina, and a mortal ally, Connor, musthead off to find the Divine Harper—the only one who can help Tania renew the FaerieCovenant of Immortality. Their quest will soon take them outside the borders of Faerie,to hostile and unwelcoming lands beyond.

On their travels, Tania and her companions encounter danger at every turn as they battle pirates, contend with mysterious and mystical beings, and try to outwit those under the sinister grip of the Dark Arts. But when Tania's beloved Edric appears, it looks as if they have help at last. Or do they? As tensions and dangers rise, Tania is forced to question everything and everyone around her in order to decide if she is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her loved ones.

Publication Date: 01/26/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
No Longer Daddy's Little Girl
Aarica J. Blackett
Synopsis: No Longer Daddy's Little Girl strips away the feeling of being the only young girl to go through this struggle of growing up in a fatherless household. The author redirected her negative energy towards excelling in her goals, academically, athletically, and spiritually. This book emphasizes the importance of young women shifting the blame and responsibility from the absent fathers to themselves, so they can take control of their own future and their own destiny. Through personal journal entries, stories, and lessons learned along the way, Aarica Blackett uses her experiences, as well as those from other young women, to help young girls become the exception and not another negative statistic.
Publication Date: 01/19/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Boys Without Names
Kashmira Sheth
Synopsis:

For eleven-year-old Gopal and his family, life in their rural Indian village is over: We stay, we starve, his baba has warned. With the darkness of night as cover, they flee to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family until school starts, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer.

But Gopal has been deceived. There is no factory, just a small, stuffy sweatshop where he and five other boys are forced to make beaded frames for no money and little food. The boys are forbidden to talk or even to call one another by their real names. In this atmosphere of distrust and isolation, locked in a rundown building in an unknown part of the city, Gopal despairs of ever seeing his family again.

But late one night, when Gopal decides to share kahanis, or stories, he realizes that storytelling might be the boys' key to holding on to their sense of self and their hope for any kind of future. If he can make them feel more like brothers than enemies, their lives will be more bearable in the shop—and they might even find a way to escape.

Publication Date: 01/19/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
King of RPGS 1
Victor Hao, Jason Thompson
Synopsis: Jason Thompson, Level 14 Shaman/Oozemaster and author of Manga: The Complete Guide, joins forces with Victor Hao to deliver a wickedly funny send-up of manga and gamer culture. Roll up your character and get ready!
 
THE GREATEST GAMER ON EARTH
 
At the University of California, Escondido, no one would guess that freshman Shesh Maccabee is a hard-core gamer—and in recovery to boot, following a court order, a wireless ban, and months of therapy (all because of one little seven-day Internet café episode). His friend Mike—who personally prefers Japanese-console RPGs—is tasked with keeping Shesh far away from any computer with access to World of Warfare.  

    Everything's going according to plan—until a Ren Faire fangirl introduces them to the campus gaming club, where they meet Theodore, a fanatical tabletop game master whose single goal in life is to run the greatest Mages & Monsters game in the world. And there just happens to be room for two more players. Soon Shesh and Mike are dragged into the dungeon of hard-core gaming—and cops, baboon men, Sri Lankan cave roaches, and Gothémon card collectors converge in the zaniest adventure that ever involved twenty-sided dice!
Publication Date: 01/19/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Rebels and Traitors
Lindsey Davis
Synopsis: An epic novel of the turbulent English Civil War seen through the lives of those that fought for peace and struggled for love

Set against the terrible struggle of the English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors is the story of how this turbulent era effected everyone, from rich to poor, and the hopes and dreams that carried them through years of deprivation, bloodshed and terror.

When Gideon Jukes and Juliana Lovell, who are on opposites sides of the struggle, meet during one of the era’s most crucial events, their mutual attraction brings the comfort and companionship for which they both have yearned. But the flowering of radical thought collapses; its failure leads to endless plots and strange alliances. And shadows from the past threaten them individually and together in their hard-won peace.

Like Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind and John Jakes’ North and South, Lindsey Davis brings to life a turbulent time through the stories of those who struggled, fought, lived and loved on all sides of a defining and devastating time.

Publication Date: 01/19/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
Freefall
Ariela Anhalt
Synopsis:

Luke was not eager to accompany his best friend, Hayden, and the cocky new kid, Russell, up to the cliff that night. The plan was to watch Russell jump off the cliff into the lake--his initiation to the Briar Academy fencing team. But instead, after an angry confrontation with Hayden, Russell falls to his death.     

     Now Hayden is in jail and the pressure is on Luke to report what he saw. But what did he see? An accident--or a murder? Luke has always followed Hayden's lead, but this is one decision he'll be forced to make on his own. And to do it, he must face the truth about his friendship with Hayden and his own painful past.

     This suspenseful and scandalous tale of rivalry, peer pressure, and finding the courage to take responsibility will have an impact on readers long after the last page.

Publication Date: 01/18/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Counterfeit Son
Elaine Marie Alphin
Synopsis: Cameron Miller is pretending to be someone he isn't. When he began presenting himself as Neil Lacey, it was the only way he could think of to distance himself from what Pop had done, to finally climb out of his nightmarish existence. He thought it would be easy--playing the rich kid, sailing his boat--but he didn't count on Cougar. Now Cougar, his father's old accomplice, has tracked Cameron down and presented an ultimatum: Share the wealth or be exposed. Will Cameron give up his new identity to protect Neil's family? Or will he let his search for a new life destroy those around him?
Publication Date: 01/18/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Juliet's Moon
Ann Rinaldi
Synopsis: War is turning Juliet Bradshaw's world upside down. Her brother, Seth, rides with William Quantrill's renegade Confederate army, but he's helpless when the Yankees arrest Juliet along with the wives and sisters of Quantrill's soldiers as spies. Imprisoned in a dilapidated old house in Kansas City, Juliet is one of a handful of survivors after the building collapses, killing most of the young girls inside. When she's reunited with her brother, Juliet finds the life she had previously known is gone. Surrounded by secrets, lies, murder, and chaos, she must determine just how far she will go to protect the people and things she holds dear.
Publication Date: 01/18/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Ever-After Bird
Ann Rinaldi
Synopsis: Now that her father is dead, CeCe McGill is left to wonder why he risked his life for the ragged slaves who came to their door in the dead of night. When her uncle, an ornithologist, insists she accompany him to Georgia on an expedition in search of the rare scarlet ibis, CeCe is surprised to learn there's a second reason for their journey: Along the way, Uncle Alex secretly points slaves north in the direction of the Underground Railroad.
    
Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous pre-Civil War South, The Ever-After Bird is the story of a young woman's education about the horrors of slavery and the realization about the kind of person she wants to become.
Publication Date: 01/18/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
Growing Wings
Laurel Winter
Synopsis: "Linnet waited with her eyes closed for the door to open and her mother to peek in. Waited for her to touch Linnet's shoulder blades lightly...Linnet knew that touch in her bones, as if it had happened every night of her life. An imprint, a memory of the skin itself."

So begins this startling first novel about an eleven-year-old girl who suddenly begins to grow wings -- wings with soft auburn feathers, which only at first can be hidden with long hair and loose clothes. Funny, sad, and hopeful, this remarkable story captures a girl's shock at feeling alone in life, as it follows her journey to answer a most important question: how can a girl with wings ever fit into the world?
Publication Date: 01/18/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Andrea Carter And The Trouble With Treasure
Synopsis: When innocent horseplay temporarily lands Andi and her friends in jail, they decide that a trip into the mountains will leave their troubles far behind. Accompanied by big brother Mitch and armed with a map showing old gold diggings, they can’t wait to strike it rich. What could be better than two weeks of camping and horseback riding? But instead of gold they find heaps of trouble―trouble that leaves Mitch gravely wounded. Andi needs help fast. But who can she trust? And what good is a bag of gold when her beloved brother lies near death in the middle of nowhere?
Publication Date: 01/18/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Kulak's Daughter
Gabriele Goldstone
Synopsis: Olga likes little things - especially the tiny apples in the orchard in the spring, or her baby brother's little toes. But when her family is labeled 'Kulak' and exiled to Siberia, she starts to hate little things - especially the bedbugs that overrun the barrack at night, or the lice that carry the dreaded typhus. Suddenly Olga's little world is overwhelmed by Stalin's big plans.
Publication Date: 01/16/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Skinny On Time Management
Synopsis: The Skinny on Time Management summarizes for you the thinking of those who have spent years contemplating time and time management. This book will tell you exactly what you need to know to find the time to accomplish your goals. This book addresses not only techniques for creating additional time but also strategies for making more impactful and effective use of the time you have. Those people who master the techniques and strategies presented in this book are well on their way to the success they aspire to. In The Skinny on Time Management, you will learn how to:


- beat back the impulse to procrastinate
- create a goals-step-time analysis
- focus, focus, focus
- make the most of gaps
- improve your memory and speed-reading
- make your use of time powerful and impactful
- multi-task
- create a time journal
- prioritize
- triumph over distractions
- batch for effectiveness.
Publication Date: 01/15/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Nonfiction
The Crescent
Jordan Deen
Synopsis: Becoming a werewolf is not an option for seventeen-year-old Lacey Quinn, but death can be a strong motivator.   Lacey is so focused on her future that everyday life has passed her by. Counting down the days to her eighteenth birthday, Lacey is almost home free. But when she falls for the mysterious Alex Morris, she lands in the middle of an ancient war between two enemy wolf packs. Tempting dreams, tantalizing lies and a dangerous love triangle ensues leaving Lacey heartbroken and confused. Lacey's fate rests in the hands of Alex and Brandon, but both are pulling her strings for their own agendas. Even as she slips further into the dark world of werewolves, Lacey struggles to find the truth and save the only family she's ever know.
Publication Date: 01/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Nebador: The Test
Rachael Hedges, Amanda Herman, J. Z. Colby, J. Z. Colby
Synopsis: NEBADOR - the incredible journey of five young adults from poverty and oppression to respected citizenship in the wide universe ... This epic young-adult science fiction adventure begins as a strange young man arrives in a medieval kingdom. Stepping out of a swamp near the capital city, mysterious bracelet on his arm, only an unearthly fearlessness saves him from mutilation or death from a wild stallion. He is soon smiling and gazing over the kingdom from the top of a high hill. Openly seeking a crew for a mysterious ship no one has seen, it is soon clear he is looking for something other than salty old sailors. He must learn many hard lessons of survival, and at the same time locate his crew in the rigid craft guilds and religious orders. Tempted by love and pursued by a powerful high priest, he discovers his bright and spirited students in the last place he wanted to look. Just as he starts to teach them, dark political forces catch up with him, and he and his students must undertake a dangerous journey. Bonds of trust and love begin to form as they struggle to find a way out of the medieval walled city. BOOK ONE: THE TEST is the first book in the NEBADOR series. These stories are filled with wit-sharpening and skill-honing challenges - mental, emotional, and spiritual - for both the characters and the reader. It is truly a grand adventure in which the characters come to understand a beloved saying of the Nebador Transport Service: Personal power is the ability to stand on your own two feet, with a smile on your face, in the middle of a universe that contains a million ways to crush you. This is the PAPERBACK MEDIUM PRINT edition in 12-point type, revision 1.
Publication Date: 01/14/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
FDR'S Alphabet Soup
Tonya Bolden
Synopsis: FDR’S New Deal, which followed the 1929 stock market crash, was a hugely influential moment in the history of the United States, encompassing everything from the arts to finance, labor to legislation, and some think it helped bring the country out of the Great Depression. Here, Tonya Bolden, writing in her trademark accessible style, creates a portrait of a time that changed American history both then and now.

FDR’s First 100 Days and how the United States was changed by it then are closely examined, especially now. The 2009 financial situation is eerily mirrored by that of the late 1920s, and this is a perfect book to help teens understand history and its lasting impact on current events.
Publication Date: 01/12/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Nonfiction

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