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Forensics
Richard Platt
Synopsis:

Just like on CSI, readers will explore the crime lab and discover how detectives use scientific evidence to solve crimes. Find out how bloodstains, footprints, and fingerprints can lead police to catch criminals, and learn how specialists match trace evidence--such as a single hair found on a victim--to catch a murderer.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Nonfiction
Pirates and Smugglers
Moira Butterfield
Synopsis:

This is a swashbuckling introduction to the highwaymen--and women--of the seas from the Cilician pirates who terrorized the Mediterranean more than two thousand years ago to today's well-organized and ruthless buccaneers who target supertankers on the China Sea. The book examines the terror tactics of pirates throughout the ages and uncovers the secretive schemes of modern-day smugglers.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Newes From The Dead
Mary Hooper
Synopsis: "Intriguing and captivating."—Celia Rees, author of Witch Child WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)Anne can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies immobile in the darkness, unsure if she'd dead, terrified she's buried alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows. Meanwhile, a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive? Beautifully written, impossible to put down, and meticulously researched, Newes from the Dead is based on the true story of the real Anne Green, a servant who survived a hanging to awaken on the dissection table. Newes from the Dead concludes with scans of the original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon. Newes from the Dead is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Temptress Four
Gaby Triana
Synopsis:

Four best friends, one graduation cruise, a week of partying.

Eight days of strife and storms . . .

It's supposed to be the best eight days of their lives.

Bonds will be broken...

But when a fortune-teller predicts trouble the night before their trip,

One of you will not come home...

Fiona, Killian, Alma, and Yoli are left on edge, wondering what it could all mean.

Gaby Triana gets right to the heart of that thrilling, nerve-wracking, exhilarating, terrifying, amazing time that comes right after graduation, when the big question is: Where do we go from here?

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Little Vampire
Joann Sfar, Joann Sfar
Synopsis:

Living in a house filled with grown-up ghouls and monsters, Little Vampire is so lonely that he’s even willing to go to school if that’s what it takes to find friends.  Unfortunately, school seems to be filled with children who are still alive. . . .

Little Vampire finds friendship with a boy named Michael, and they embark on adventures in the three stories in this collection.  Included in this book are Little Vampire Goes to School (a New York Times Bestseller), Little Vampire Does Kung Fu, and Little Vampire and the Society of Canine Defenders (now published in the United States for the first time).  Insightful and inventive, Joann Sfar brings Little Vampire and Michael’s fantastical world to young readers in stories that both feed the imagination and resonate with emotional truth.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Dog Gone
Cynthia Chapman Willis
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Dill (short for Dylan) is desperately trying to keep her family from falling apart. Her father is always at work, her mother is gone, and their dog, Dead End, seems to be here one moment and missing the next.     And big trouble is brewing. A wild pack of dogs is destroying local livestock and property, and the sheriff has ordered them to be shot. Is this where Dead End has been disappearing to? How far will Dill and her best friend, a boy nicknamed Cub, go to uncover the truth, and hold together the last strands of a family that seems to be unraveling?
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark Power Collection
Synopsis: Some doors are better left unopened. Some doors, you don't want to find out what lies behind them. In the Forbidden Doors series by bestselling author Bill Myers, teenager Rebecca 'Becka' Williams, her younger brother Scott, and her friend Ryan Riordan are swept into heart-stopping encounters with an all-too-real invisible world---a world fraught with deception and spiritual adversaries that promise goodness and enlightenment but will stop at nothing to destroy life, sanity, and human souls. Witchcraft. Reincarnation. Ouija Boards. UFOs. Shamanism. Counterfeit spiritualities are widespread and popular with spiritually searching young adults such as Becka's peers. What's the harm? Find out. Join Becka, Scott, and Ryan as they head for mind-bending clashes between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God. Combining meticulous research, realistic settings, and masterful storytelling, the Forbidden Doors novels take you from the mountains of New Mexico to the inner workings of a secret society---and into the truth of God's Word, which exposes lies and reveals the reality of spiritual warfare. Each volume in the series contains three books that center around a particular kind of Forbidden Door. Book One: Dark Powers contains The Society, The Deceived, and The Spell; Book Two: Invisible Terror contains The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter; Book Three: Deadly Loyalty contains The Curse, The Undead, and The Scream; Book Four: Ancient Forces contains The Ancients, The Wiccan, and The Cards
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
Synopsis: Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Physics: Why Matter Matters
Simon Basher, Simon Basher, Dan Green
Synopsis:

Basher Science: Physics, Why Matter Matters! created and illustrated by Simon Basher, Written by Dan Green:

Imagine physics as a community full of wacky characters--the building blocks of the universe each with a unique personality. This book throws open the doors and welcomes you into their amazing world. From gravity to the theory of relativity, this unique book provides visual interpretations of complex concepts, designed to make learning physics easier and a whole lot more fun!

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Educational
The Fire Thief Fights Back
Synopsis: The final book in the critically acclaimed Fire Thief trilogy concludes the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods. Forced to travel through time to escape Zeus's avenging eagle, Prometheus arrives in 1785 Eden City and befriends a boy named Sam. Together, Prometheus and Sam must defend Eden City from seven terrifying mythological monsters. Packed full of wry puns, wisecracking gods, and sarcastic footnotes, this action-packed story pokes fun at narrative tradition and takes readers on a wild ride through Greek mythology. Fans who have followed Prometheus's flight through the trilogy's first two adventures will be dazzled by the very surprising ending.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Series
The Joys of Love
Léna Roy, Madeleine L'Engle
Synopsis:

During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She’s never felt so alive. And soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth’s ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth’s perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.

Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Léna Roy, the protagonist Elizabeth is close to an autobiographical portrait of L’Engle herself as a young woman—“vibrant, vulnerable, and yearning for love and all that life has to offer.”

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
If I Were Your Boyfriend
Synopsis:

Social zero meets unlikely hero

How had Keysha gone from popular to social outcast? One word: frenemy. A girl Keysha thought was her friend planted drugs on her—and Keysha got caught. The media blitz on their wealthy suburb turned everyone against her. First day back at school, and Keysha is stared down in the halls. Whispered about. No one will talk to her. And the girl who ruined Keysha's reputation laughs in her face. So when a guy with his own bad rep offers to help, Keysha's first reaction is yeah, right. Talk about an unlikely hero.

But soon she realizes that Wesley Morris is more than just hot, more than just talk. He's been there, done that and turned his life around. But no one wants this so-called bad-news boyfriend anywhere near Keysha. Including her family. Still, Wesley isn't willing to walk away and let Keysha Also Available pay for someone else's crime. He'll even risk everything to save her…and their relationship.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Lucky (by Rachel Vail)
Synopsis:

It's all good . . . and lucky Phoebe Avery plans to celebrate by throwing an end-of-the-year bash with her four closest friends. Everything will be perfect—from the guest list to the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. The only thing left to do is find the perfect dress . . . until Phoebe goes from having it all to hiding all she's lost.

Phoebe's older sisters warn her to keep the family's crisis totally secret. Unfortunately, her alpha-girl best friend looks increasingly suspicious, and Phoebe's crush starts sending seriously mixed signals. Phoebe tries hard to keep smiling, but when her mother is humiliated in Neiman Marcus while buying Phoebe that perfect dress and her father decides to cancel her party, she panics. How far will she go to keep up her image as a lucky girl?

With lucky, Rachel Vail begins a powerful sisterhood trilogy, comprised of one book for each of the three fascinating Avery sisters, with all their secrets laid bare during the year that completely changes their lives. Phoebe is the youngest; her story combines first love and flip-flops, friendship and sisterhood, humor and tears. Breezy, witty, and poignant, lucky is Rachel Vail at her breathtaking best.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Wicked Lovely
Melissa Marr
Synopsis:

Fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black won’t be able to resist the world of Melissa Marr's #1 New York Times bestselling series, full of faerie intrigue, mortal love, and courtly betrayal.

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom, her best friend Seth, her life—everything.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Abomination
Robert Swindells
Synopsis: Martha is 12 and very different from other kids—no TV, no computer, no cool clothes, and especially no friends. It's all because of her parents, who are strict members of a religious group called the Brethren. Their rules dominate Martha's life, and one rule is the most important of all: she must never ever invite anyone home. If she does, their terrible secret—Abomination—could be revealed. But as Martha makes her first real friend in Scott, a new boy at school, she begins to wonder, Is she doing the right thing by helping to keep Abomination a secret? And just how far will her parents go to prevent the truth from being known?
Publication Date: 04/28/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Kingdom of Malinas
Synopsis: Sorrel knows what she must do. Enter the Kingdom of Malinas to rescue her people from slavery. It should be easy. But the Kingdom of Malinas harbours evil…
Publication Date: 04/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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