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The Game of Sunken Places
Synopsis: From the best-selling, award-winning author of FEED comes a fantastic, fun, and funny middle-grade adventure starring two of the most disarmingly deadpan boys you'll ever meet

When Brian and Gregory receive an invitation to stay at a distant relative's strange manse . . . well, they should know better than to go, since this is a middle-grade adventure novel. But they go anyway. Why not? Once there, they stumble upon The Game of Sunken Places, a board game that mirrors a greater game for which they have suddenly became players. Soon the boys are dealing with attitudinal trolls, warring kingdoms, and some very starchy britches. Luckily, they have wit, deadpan observation, and a keen sense of adventure on their side.
Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Premonitions
Jude Watson
Synopsis: Absorbing mystery and suspense from bestselling author Jude Watson, about a girl whose ability to see the past, present, and future is the key to solving the disappearance of her best friend

Grace has premonitions. They've haunted her since her parents' death. She doesn't know how to deal with them, and doesn't want to. She never knows whether she's seeing the past, the present, or the future. It just comes to her.
Then Grace's best friend disappears. And suddenly the premonitions that have been the bane of her existence become the only way to solve the mystery of where the friend has gone -- and how she can be saved in time.
Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy
Synopsis: The third book in the Children of the Red King series, CHARLIE BONE AND THE INVISIBLE BOY offers more magical fantasy that is fast paced and easy to read.

This semester at Bloor's Academy brings a few changes. There is a new art teacher, Mr. Boldova, and a new student named Belle, who lives with the Yewbeam aunts and seems to have strange power over them. Emma and Charlie soon discover Mr. Boldova's secret identity: He is the older brother of Ollie Sparks, the boy who lives in the attic of Bloor's Academy. Ollie had always been prying into matters that didn't concern him, so Ezekiel Bloor had made him invisible. When Charlie and his friends find him, Ollie is alone and hungry, so they promise to help him become visible again.
Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Series
Spy X: The Code
Peter Lerangis
Synopsis: In this thrilling mystery series, 12-year-old twins Andrew and Evie navigate through a maze of intrigue and espionage as they try to uncover the truth about their mother's disappearance.

Leaving only a cryptic note, Andrew and Evie's mother vanishes on their eleventh birthday. Now, almost a year later, the twins receive a mysterious package from someone named Spy X. They soon learn that the contents of the box will lead them on an incredible journey toward finding their mother - and into a world where no one's identity can be trusted.

In Book #1, Andrew and Evie aren't initially sure what to make of the package that arrives at their door soon after they move to a new town. It's filled with random things--a key, something that looks like a kaleidoscope, (continued)

Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Carl Melcher Goes To Vietnam
Synopsis: The year is 1968. Like thousands of other American boys, Carl Melcher is drafted and sent to Vietnam. His new company is infected with the same racial tensions plaguing the nation. Despite that, Carl makes friends on both sides of the color line. The war, like a tiger lurking in the bushes, picks off its victims one by one. Naively over-optimistic, Carl believes that karma and good intentions will save him and his friends. Then fate intervenes to teach Carl something of the meaning of life, and death.
Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Kensuke's Kingdom
Michael Morpurgo
Synopsis: When Michael's father loses his job, he buys a boat and convinces Michael and his mother to sail around the world. It's an ideal trip - even Michael's sheepdog can come along. It starts out as the perfect family adventure - until Michael is swept overboard. He's washed up on an island, where he struggles to survive. Then he discovers that he's not alone. His fellow-castaway, Kensuke, is wary of him. But when Michael's life is threatened, Kensuke slowly lets the boy into his world. The two develop a close understanding in this remote place, but the question of rescue continues to divide them.
Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
Lord of the Kill
Theodore Taylor
Synopsis: In bestselling author Theodore Taylor's novel, a 16 year-old boy must take care of his family's wildlife preserve, while handling the kidnapping of one of the most dangerous tigers known to man.

When a half-eaten body is found inside a locked jaguar cage, eighteen-year-old Ben Jepson knows it's no prank - someone is trying to make trouble for the Los Coyotes Big Cat Preserve and its manager, Ben's father. An outspoken conservationist, Dr. Jepson has made some powerful enemies.

Ben's parents are on a tiger conservation mission deep in the jungle. Now Ben is the only one who can keep Los Coyotes running. But when his beloved tiger Dmitri, nicknamed "Lord of the Kill," is kidnapped, Ben must decide whether to wait for the authorities or to strike out on his own.
Publication Date: 07/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Beyond the Deepwoods
Chris Riddell, Paul Stewart
Synopsis: Young Twig lives in the Deepwoods, among the Woodtrolls, but he isn’t one of them. In a brave attempt to find out where he belongs, Twig wanders into the mysterious, dangerous world beyond the Deepwoods. He meets a collection of odd companions, such as his wise guardian, the Caterbird; the Slaughterers, a peaceful race who butcher animals for their livelihood; and the vicious, bile-swilling Rotsucker. Always watching out for the horrible Gloamglozer, whose presence haunts the thoughts of all the inhabitants of The Edge, Twig steadfastly pursues his quest until he discovers his roots, not among the trees, but in the skies. . . .
Publication Date: 06/22/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Stormchaser
Chris Riddell, Paul Stewart
Synopsis: Since his childhood in the DeepWoods, young Twig has always longed to soar above the forest canopy and explore the sky. Now a crew member on his father’s sky pirate ship, the Stormchaser, his dream seems fulfilled. But a much higher destiny awaits Twig. The lofty city of Sanctaphrax—built on a giant rock, floating high in the sky—is at the point of disaster. The city’s future is dependent on stormphrax—a valuable substance available only from the heart of a Great Storm. And only the Stormchaser, with Twig onboard, could risk entering a storm. . . .
Publication Date: 06/22/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Beloved
Toni Morrison
Synopsis: Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.
Publication Date: 06/08/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Good, the Bat, and the Ugly
Alan Snow, Paul Magrs
Synopsis: After his puppet Tolstoy begins to take over his thoughts, ventriloquist Frank decides to lock his puppet away for his own safety, but when Frank's son decides that he wants to get into the act, Tolstoy decides to use young Jason's new career choice to break free from his attic prison and seek his revenge.
Publication Date: 06/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Devil's Toenail
Sally Prue
Synopsis: A bullied boy is lured by the dark power of revenge in this haunting fantasy by the author of COLD TOM.

Stevie, 13, has started at a new school and is desperate for acceptance. Like any teenager, he is self-conscious and embarrassed by his family. But he also hates himself for being cruelly bullied at his old school, and he will do anything to be accepted by bullies here rather than be their victim. Then he finds an odd fossil called a Devil's Toenail, which fills him with an almost evil sense of daring. The Devil's Toenail's tauntings and urgings to take revenge on the world are relentless, but in the end, Stevie discovers that believing in himself is what brings true power and happiness.
Publication Date: 06/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Troll Fell
Katherine Langrish
Synopsis:

A secret kingdom of trolls, and their legendary gold, lies in the mysterious shadows of Troll Fell. It is to this eerie and dangerous place that Peer must go after his father's sudden death, to live with his greedy uncles, Baldur and Grim, at their mill.

When Peer discovers his uncles' plan to sell children to the trolls, he has to bury his fears and set out to stop them somehow. In a world filled with magic and mystery, Peer has only his bravery, his wits, and two new allies -- a daring girl looking for adventure and a mischievous house spirit looking for a good meal. Their story will become part of the legends and lore that fill this extraordinary land by the sea.

Publication Date: 06/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Godless
Pete Hautman
Synopsis: "I refuse to speak further of the Ten-legged One...but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Why mess around with Catholicism when you can have your own customized religion? All you need is a disciple or two...and a god."
Fed up with his parents' boring old religion, agnostic-going-on-atheist Jason Bock invents a new god -- the town's water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail-farming best friend, Shin, cute-as-a-button (whatever that means) Magda Price, and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the new faith even more exciting -- and dangerous.
When the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely dangerous to terrifying and deadly. Jason soon realizes that inventing a religion is a lot easier than controlling it, but control it he must, before his creation destroys both his friends and himself.
Pete Hautman, author of Sweetblood and Mr. Was, has written a compelling novel about the power of religion on those who believe, and on those who don't.
Publication Date: 06/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
Buds: A Story of Friendship
Jonathan Pearce
Synopsis:
Publication Date: 05/30/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Hunter
Joy Cowley
Synopsis: A Maori boy with the gift of sight in 1803--a slave to Maori warriors hunting for the Moa bird--and fourteen-year-old Jordan--a plane crash survivor marooned on a deserted New Zealand island in the present day--experience interconnecting visions.
Publication Date: 05/24/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Environment

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