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The Princess and the Unicorn
Synopsis: Noble, with hooves and horn of gold, the unicorn is the embodiment of magic. When Princess Eleanor of England catches sight of him in Swinley Forest, she can’t resist taking him back with her to Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, once the unicorn leaves the forest, both he and the forest begin to sicken. As the only witness to the unicorn’s departure, Joyce, an intrepid and curious young fairy, sets out for London on a grand adventure to rescue the unicorn—and maybe help the princess while she’s at it.
Publication Date: 02/24/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Singing
Alison Croggon
Synopsis: The climactic volume of the epic quartet follows the Bards of Edil-Amarandh on a vital quest to merge their powers against a nameless evil.In an increasingly battle-ravaged land, Maerad, Cadvan, and Hem desperately search for one another as they make their separate journeys. The Black Army is advancing north, and even as Maerad faces a mighty confrontation with the Landrost to save Innail, all of the Seven Kingdoms are threatened with bitter and devastating defeat. Yet in Maerad and Hem lives the secret to the mysterious Singing, and legend holds that if they release the music of Elidhu together, they have the power to defeat the Nameless One. Can brother and sister find each other in time to fight this all-powerful enemy, and are they strong enough ? even reunited ? to defeat him before all is lost?
Publication Date: 02/24/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Deader Still
Anton Strout
Synopsis: It’s hard to defeat evil on a budget. Just ask Simon Canderous.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF DEAD TO ME.

View our feature on Anton Strout’s Deader Still.

It’s been 737 days since the Department of Extraordinary Affairs’ last vampire incursion, but that streak appears to have ended when a boat full of dead lawyers is found in the Hudson River. Using the power of psychometry—the ability to divine the history of an object by touching it—agent Simon Canderous discovers that the booze cruise was crashed by something that sucked all the blood out of the litigators. Now, his workday may never end—until his life does.
Publication Date: 02/24/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Forever War
Joe Haldeman
Synopsis:

The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic-- Featuring a new introduction by John Scalzi

The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...

Publication Date: 02/17/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Lamentation
Ken Scholes
Synopsis:

An ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir.   From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising.  He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands.

Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city – he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant.

Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others' throats, as alliances are challenged and hidden plots are uncovered.

This remarkable first novel from an award-winning short fiction writer will take readers away to a new world – an Earth so far in the distant future that our time is not even a memory; a world where magick is commonplace and great areas of the planet are impassable wastes. But human nature hasn’t changed through the ages: War and faith and love still move princes and nations. 

Publication Date: 02/17/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Cave
Steve McGill
Synopsis: When World War I began, Arthur Pratt did what many other Americans did, joining a foreign army to fight while the United States was still trying to avoid entering the conflict. He was reportedly killed in action, though no body was ever recovered, and his surviving family had only letters and photos from the war to remember him by. Eighty years later, Arthur?s great-great-grandson Ian is fascinated by the war he?s learned about from his family scrapbooks. He wants to be adventurous and brave just like Arthur, which for Ian means testing his mettle against the spooky Butterfield Ranch and a mysterious nearby cave. When weird things begin happening around him, Ian realizes he?s being called upon to solve a mystery?but doing so will require venturing into the cave. What he discovers there is more magical?and more dangerous?than he ever imagined, leading the boy to a revelation that will change his life forever. The Cave is a haunting, touching novel, sure to enchant young-adult readers.
Publication Date: 02/13/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Gecko and Sticky
Stephen Gilpin, Wendelin Van Draanen
Synopsis: Dave Sanchez is an average boy with an after-school job and a pet gecko named Sticky. All very normal—until the day Sticky talks. Sticky tells Dave a wild tale of a former life of crime, searching for Aztec gold with a treasure hunter named Damien Black, and of a magical Aztec wristband with shiny gold power ingots that will give the wearer super powers. Dave doesn’t believe a word—until Sticky shows him the wristband. But while Sticky managed to escape with the wristband, Damien Black has the power ingots. So the lizard and treasure hunter each have something the other wants . . . very badly.

Filled with outrageous adventures, over-the-top characters, snappy-funny dialogue, and a tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek narration, this new series is sure to be a hit with young superheros everywhere.

Wendelin Van Draanen spent many years as a teacher before devoting herself to writing full-time. She lives in Central California.
Publication Date: 02/10/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Anatomy of Wings
Karen Foxlee
Synopsis: Ten-year-old Jennifer Day lives in a small mining town full of secrets. Trying to make sense of the sudden death of her teenage sister, Beth, she looks to the adult world around her for answers.

As she recounts the final months of Beth’s life, Jennifer sifts through the lies and the truth, but what she finds are mysteries, miracles, and more questions. Was Beth’s death an accident? Why couldn’t Jennifer—or anyone else—save her?

Through Jennifer’s eyes, we see one girl’s failure to cross the threshold into adulthood as her family slowly falls apart.
Publication Date: 02/10/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Walls of the Universe
Synopsis: John Rayburn thought all of his problems were the mundane ones of an Ohio farm boy in his last year in high school. Then his doppelgø¤nger appeared, tempted him with a device that let him travel across worlds, and stole his life from him. John soon finds himself caroming through universes, unable to return home€”the device is broken. John settles in a new universe to unravel its secrets and fix it.Meanwhile, his doppelgø¤nger tries to exploit the commercial technology he€™s stolen from other Earths: the Rubik€™s Cube! John€™s attempts to lie low in his new universe backfire when he inadvertently introduces pinball. It becomes a huge success. Both actions draw the notice of other, more dangerous travelers, who are exploiting worlds for ominous purposes. Fast-paced and exciting, this is SF adventure at its best from a rising star.
Publication Date: 02/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Inchworm
Ann Kelley
Synopsis: Gussie is back and she's stronger than ever. She's finally got the heart and lung transplant that she needs and now she craves adventure. All her new heart wants is to escape London and get her divorced parents back together. But her fight isn't over yet. In fact, it's only just beginning. Original.
Publication Date: 02/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Mousehunter
Alex Milway
Synopsis: In Emiline's world, there are thousands of species of mice, some rarer than others. Mousehunters travel the world collecting the rarest and most special breeds, from the wily and deadly Sharpclaw Mouse to the dog-sized Elephant Mouse and the quick-as-lightning Comet Mouse.

For Emiline, a mousekeeper in the employ of wealthy Isiah Lovelock, there is no greater dream than becoming a famous mousehunter. So when she is given the opportunity to join the hunt for the legendary pirate Mousebeard, she sets off on the most dangerous, most thrilling, most swashbuckling adventure of a lifetime.

The Mousehunter is an extremely accessible, dark and thrilling story, featuring original black & white illustrations, maps and character portraits.
Publication Date: 02/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Seeing Red
Anne Louise MacDonald
Synopsis: Frankie Uccello seems like just another fourteen-year-old boy -- Ace of Average, King of Common, Master of Middle. Everything he does has a tendency to turn out average. Even when Frankie dreams recurrently of flying, his father tells him that at least one in three people does this. He's perfectly normal, normal, normal. Or is he? When Frankie discovers something ominous about his dreams -- that he can dream the future, especially when something bad is about to happen -- he realizes that he might be talented, after all. But seeing the future was only cool in movies and TV. In real life, you're just a whacko. Besides, the future doesn't look good. One night Frankie dreams his best friend, Tim, falls from a horse. Is Tim going to be killed? Can Frankie save him? Something about the dream doesn't fit, and that something is Weird Maura-Lee, one of three people Frankie avoids like the plague. Maura-Lee can read minds, and she seems to be reading his.
Publication Date: 02/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Wheel of Nuldoid
Norman Felchle, Russ Woody
Synopsis: After one of his students is kidnapped by two small creatures, Warren Worst and his neighbor Lily journey to the center of the Earth to a place called Nuldoid to try and find him.
Publication Date: 01/28/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Fighting Ground
Synopsis:

Scott O’Dell Award for Best Historical Fiction * ALA Notable Book * ALA Best Books for YA

Newbery Medal-winning author Avi tells the “compelling story of a young boy’s first encounter with war and how it changes him.”—Publishers Weekly

Jonathan may be only thirteen years old, but with the Revolutionary War unfolding around him, he’s more certain than ever that he wants to be a part of it—to fight for independence alongside his brother and cousin to defeat the British. But Jonathan’s father, himself wounded from battle, refuses to let his son join the front lines.

When Jonathan hears the tavern bell toll, calling all soldiers to arms, he rushes to enlist without telling his dad. Gun in hand, Jonathan falls in with a militia and marches onward to the fighting ground. It feels like he’s been waiting his whole life for this moment.

But no amount of daydreaming could prepare Jonathan for what he encounters. In just twenty-four hours, his life will be forever changed—by his fellow soldiers, unsuspecting enemies, and the frightening and complicated realities of war. 

More than thirty years after its publication, award-winner The Fighting Ground continues to be an important work of historical fiction for young readers.

Publication Date: 01/27/09
Age Level: 5 - 8
Genre: Adventure
Scat
Carl Hiaasen
Synopsis: From Newbery Honoree Carl Hiaasen comes this New York Times bestseller set in Florida's Everglades in which an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a wannabe Texas oilman, a singing substitute teacher, and a ticked-off panther can’t stop two kids on a mission to find their missing teacher!
 
Bunny Starch, the most feared biology teacher ever, is missing. She disappeared after a school field trip to Black Vine Swamp. And, to be honest, the kids in her class are relieved.
 
But when the principal tries to tell the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a "family emergency," Nick and Marta just don't buy it. No, they figure the class delinquent, Smoke, has something to do with her disappearance.
 
And he does! But not in the way they think. There's a lot more going on in Black Vine Swamp than any one player in this twisted tale can see. It’s all about to hit the fan, and when it does, the bad guys better scat. 
 
“Ingenious . . . Scat won’t disappoint Hiaasenphiles of any age.” —The New York Times
 
“Woohoo! It’s time for another trip to Florida—screwy, gorgeous Florida, with its swamps and scammers and strange creatures (two- and four-legged). Our guide, of course, is Carl Hiaasen.” —DenverPost.com
Publication Date: 01/27/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Runner
Thomas Perry
Synopsis: Jane WhitefieldNew York Times best-selling writer Thomas Perry’s most popular characterreturns from retirement to the world of the runner, guiding fugitives out of danger.
After a nine-year absence, the fiercely resourceful Native American guide JaneWhitefield is back, in the latest superb thriller by award-winning author Thomas Perry.
For more than a decade, Jane pursued her unusual profession: I’m a guide . . . I show people how to go from places where somebody is trying to kill them to other places where nobody is.”Then she promised her husband she would never work again, and settled in to live a happy, quiet life as Jane McKinnon, the wife of a surgeon in Amherst, New York. But when a bomb goes off in the middle of a hospital fundraiser, Jane finds herself face to face with the cause of the explosion: a young pregnant girl who has been tracked across the country by a team of hired hunters.That night, regardless of what she wants or the vow she’s made to her husband, Jane must come back to transform one more victim into a runner. And her quest for safety sets in motion a mission that will be a rescue operationor a chance for revenge.
Runner is Thomas Perry at the top of his form.
Publication Date: 01/14/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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