Synopsis: """There are certain shibboleths to our condition.""



At the end of the first book of The Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy, Jack and Shreve are incarcerado—physically locked up. Shreve's back in the custody of the state of Arkansas, and Jack's somewhere in the clutches of Mr. Quincrux—both problems Shreve aims to rectify.



Cages might hold Shreve's body, but the power that's been growing since his encounter with Quincrux has reached a pinnacle. Nothing can prevent his mind from scaling the etheric heights. Freed from his body, Shreve discovers the magnitude of the evil that's stirring in the east. The wave of insomnia that's paralyzed the nation is only the beginning.



To save Jack—and maybe all of the humanity he no longer feels part of—Shreve has no choice but to join Quincrux and the Society of Extranaturals."

Synopsis: From extraordinary novelist Sonya Hartnett comes a gently told fable of a lost soldier, heroic children, and a steadfast donkey.

One morning in the woods of World War I France, two young sisters stumble upon an astonishing find — a soldier, temporarily blinded by war, who has walked away from battle longing to see his gravely ill younger brother. Soon the care of the soldier becomes the girls' preoccupation, but it's not just the secret they share that emboldens them to steal food and other comforting items for the man. They are fascinated by what he holds in his hand — a tiny silver donkey. As the girls and their brother devise a plan for the soldier's safe passage home, he repays them by telling four wondrous tales about the humble donkey — from the legend of Bethlehem to a myth of India, from a story of rescue in war to a tale of family close to the soldier's heart. Sonya Hartnett explores rich new territory in this inspiring tale of kindness, loyalty, and courage.

Synopsis: In the repressive New Republic, the right to life does not exist. Such life matters are decided at special clinics called Parlors where abortion is mandatory if the unborn baby is a second daughter or is deemed defective in any way. Chrissie, sixteen and unwed, receives the terrible news from the Parlor. 'It is deformed, dear," the redheaded woman with green eyes tells Chrissie, as if she is giving her the time of day. 'It is missing its right foot, part of its right hand, and it probably has a mental deficiency.' That means mandatory abortion for Daniel, and sterilization for Chrissie and her boyfriend, Jason. Chrissie knows that Daniel is her baby's name. He is Daniel in the lion's den, because: 'That is what the voice calls him, the voice that whispers to me in my mind late at night when I am drifting away into sleep. I try to picture what a lion's den might look like. If it is as bad as what I picture, Daniel is definitely in it.' Tomorrow is abortion day for Chrissie and she decides, like her aunt before her, to run. That will make her an enemy of the state (it does not even help that her father is high up in the government) and, if she survives, an imprisoned felon. Chrissie will stop at nothing to save her baby. She searches for a mysterious place called Haven. Government police and specialists known as closers relentlessly hunt for her. But she will have unexpected help. Guides will appear to help her, with names like Moses, Samson, Angel and Dragon. These guides are gifted in many different ways, exceptional deadly fighters, and willing to risk everything to lead runners to safety. The closers are just as gifted in their own way, Hydra, Medusa, Medea, Goliath and: 'His name is Stingray, Chrissie,' Moses whispers with fear in his eyes as they hide in the mangroves along the beach, 'he is a very special closer, the baddest of the bad, and he's here for you!' What follows is an incredible action filled escape where Chrissie must come of age and stand by her choice to save her baby. Prepare to be swept toward an unimaginable conclusion in this non-stop, page turning thriller.

Synopsis: For decades, Ruth Chew's chapter books about matter-of-fact magic have enchanted early readers. Now a new generation of fantasy fans can discover the magic in these Stepping Stones books. 

How do you hide a wizard in the attic?

When Barbara and Rick Benton find a wizard named Harrison Peabody in an old bottle, they quickly discover that magic isn't as simple as it looks. But even tricky magic is better than no magic, and soon the Bentons fly around Prospect Park with a large black umbrella and befriend a sea serpent in the lake. How can they keep Harrison a secret, though, when he's living in their attic?

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one-night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him and his goody-goody superhero family. Damien gets shipped off to stay with them in their suburban hellhole, and he has only six weeks to prove he's not a hero in any way, or else he's stuck living with them for the rest of his life, or until he turns eighteen, whichever comes first. To get out of this mess, Damien has to survive his dad's "flying lessons" that involve throwing him off the tallest building in the city--despite his nearly debilitating fear of heights--thwarting the eccentric teen scientist who insists she's his sidekick, and keeping his supervillain girlfriend from finding out the truth. But when Damien uncovers a dastardly plot to turn all the superheroes into mindless zombie slaves, a plan hatched by his own mom, he discovers he cares about his new family more than he thought. Now he has to choose: go back to his life of villainy and let his family become zombies, or stand up to his mom and become a real hero.

Synopsis: From master storyteller David Almond comes a gripping, exquisitely written novel about a hidden-away child who emerges into a broken world.

Billy Dean is a secret child. He has a beautiful young mother and a father who arrives at night carrying the scents of candles and incense and cigarettes. Birds fly to his window. Mice run out from his walls. His world is a carpet, a bed, pictures of the holy island, and a single locked door. His father fills his mind and his dreams with mysterious tales and memories and dreadful warnings. But then his father disappears, and Billy’s mother brings him out into the world at last. He learns the horrifying story of what was saved and what was destroyed on the day he was born, the day the bombers came to Blinkbonny. The kind butcher, Mr. McCaufrey, and the medium, Missus Malone, are waiting for him. He becomes The Angel Child, one who can heal the living, contact the dead, bring comfort to a troubled world. But there is one figure who is beyond healing, who comes looking for Billy himself — and is determined on a kind of reckoning.

Synopsis: In the great land of Nebula, all boys reaching the age of eighteen must undertake a dangerous initiation into manhood. Will of Harken, a Prince of Noble blood, is no exception. On his eighteenth birthday, Will is sent alone to a desert isle where he must kill a vicious shape-shifting beast. The beast will test all of Will’s courage and resolve, but no more so than the evil men, who in his absence have murdered his father, and are now out to kill him. Will escapes the assassins, only to be kidnapped by sky pirates who pilot him thousands of miles from his home to be sold into slavery. Thus begins an epic journey that will take Will into the most savage and fantastical worlds ever imagined. Inspired by the works of Shakespeare, driven by the winds of Homer, and molded by the imagination of one of Hollywood’s greatest mythmakers, Mr. Wallace has invented an Elizabethan Fairy Tale and Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure story of the grandest order. Written with a nod to the poetry and style of the Bard, those who love Shakespeare are assured of a fantastic read. And for those who love Fantasy and Adventure, be prepared for a ride on one of the most incredible literary roller coasters ever invented. Welcome to the strange and beautiful world of D.J. Wallace.