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Beating Heart
A. M. Jenkins
Synopsis:

She haunts his dreams.

She is a momentary chill in warm sunlight, a shadow, and a memory of secret kisses and hidden passion. He is seventeen, and ever since he moved into this house he has dreamt of her . . . hot, wordless dreams that turn darker and more intense every night. Ghost and boy fascinate each other—until her memories and his desire collide in a moment that changes them both forever.

Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Cycler
Lauren McLaughlin
Synopsis: “It will keep pages turning.”—Chicago Tribune

As far as anyone at her high school knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get her dream date to ask her to the prom. But what no one knows, except for Jill’s mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts—who lives his four days of the cycle in the solitude of Jill’s room. But Jack’s personality has been building over the years since the cycling began. He is growing less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are more frequent. Now Jill’s question about prom isn’t about who she will go with, but who will she be when the big night arrives?

“The narrative toggles back and forth between Jill’s and Jack’s points of view, comically detailing the problems you can get into when you’re half boy and half girl, including what happens when the boy falls for the girl’s best friend.”—The New York Times
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
The Stone Child
Dan Poblocki
Synopsis: What if the monsters from your favorite horror books were real?

Eddie Fennicks has always been a loner, content to lose himself in a mystery novel by his favorite author, Nathaniel Olmstead. That’s why moving to the small town of Gatesweed becomes a dream come true when Eddie discovers that Olmstead lived there before mysteriously disappearing thirteen years ago. Even better, Eddie finds a handwritten, never-before-seen Nathaniel Olmstead book printed in code and befriends Harris, who’s as much an Olmsteady as he is. But then the frightening creatures of Olmstead’s books begin to show up in real life, and Eddie’s dream turns into a nightmare. Eddie, Harris, and their new friend, Maggie, must break Olmstead’s code, banish all gremlins and monster lake-dogs from the town of Gatesweed, and solve the mystery of the missing author, all before Eddie’s mom finishes
writing her own tale of terror and brings to life the scariest creature of all.
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Gone From These Woods
Donny Bailey Seagraves
Synopsis: I didn't want to go hunting with Uncle Clay that morning. Now I have to live with what happened for the rest of my life. It was just an accident. The rabbit ran away. Clay fell.

Nothing has been the same for Daniel since that morning in the woods when Uncle Clay went down. Mom tries to hold the family together. Mrs. Hardy, Daniel’s guidance counselor, tries to help Daniel after he loses his role model and best friend. Daniel’s alcoholic father just makes the situation worse. The memory of that cold morning will stay with Daniel forever. But somehow, he must find a way to go on . . . for Uncle Clay . . . and most of all, for himself.
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Love is the Higher Law
David Levithan
Synopsis: Bestselling author David Levithan (Every Day; Boy Meets Boy; Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) treats the tragic events of September 11th with care and compassion in this novel of loss and grief, but also of hope and redemption.
 
First there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . .

The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered forever on September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents’ frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he’s okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire’s, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.

Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.

David Levithan has written a novel of loss and grief, but also one of hope and redemption aAs histhe characters slowly learn to move forward in their lives, despite being changed forever, one rule remains: love is indeed the higher law.
 
A MARGARET A. EDWARDS AWARD WINNER
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Star Trek: The Never-ending Sacrifice
Synopsis:
Continuing the post-television Deep Space Nine saga, this original novel shows the fall of the Cardassian empire as seen through the eyes of a young man with a foot in two worlds.

Rugal is an orphaned Cardassian who has been raised by the people his race once conquered, the Bajorans. Reluctantly repatriated to Cardassia as a teenager, Rugal becomes the living witness to the downfall of the proud people to whom he was born, first by the invading Klingons, then during the Cardassians’ unholy pact with the Dominion—a partnership that culminated in a near-genocide. Through it all, Rugal’s singular perspective illuminates the choices that brought the Cardassians to their ruin...even as he learns that the Cardassian soul is not as easy to understand as he imagined.
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Diary of a Witness
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Synopsis: One day, something’s going to snap. . . .

Ernie doesn't have a lot of friends at school. Just Will. They have stuff in common—like fishing. But more important, they have common enemies: the school jocks, who seem to find bullying just another sport.

For the most part, Ernie and Will take life at high school in stride. Until Will has one very bad day. Now nothing is remotely funny. Ernie finds himself a witness—to loss, to humiliation, and to Will’s anger—an anger that’s building each and every moment.

Ernie doesn’t want to believe his best friend is changing, but he can’t deny the truth. Soon he has a choice: join or die. Or can he find another way?

Praise for The Day I Killed James:
“Teens who have experienced crushing rejection or who have laughed at the ardent feelings of a classmate will devour this original, gripping story.”—Kirkus Reviews
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Recycler
Lauren McLaughlin
Synopsis: How do you grow up, if who you are keeps changing?

Jill McTeague is not your average high school graduate, she’s a scientific anomaly. Every month for four days she turns into Jack, a guy—complete with all the parts. Now everyone in her hometown knows that something very weird is up with her. So what’s a girl (and a guy) to do? Get the heck out of town, that’s what! With her kooky best friend, Ramie, Jill sets out for New York City. There both she and Jack will have to figure out everything from the usual (relationships) to the not so usual (career options for a “cycler,” anyone?).

As in Cycler, the first book featuring Jack and Jill, author Lauren McLaughlin deftly weaves the downright mundane with the outright bizarre in a story that, while defying classification, is peopled with characters that readers can fully relate to.

“The sort of book that makes your eyes widen and that you don’t want to put down.”—Bookavore
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark of the Moon
Rachel Hawthorne
Synopsis:

I've loved him forever, but he can never be mine.

brittany is determined to prove herself to the Dark Guardians. And yet she's been keeping a devastating secret: She hasn't experienced any of the intense, early signs of change that mark a Dark Guardian's transformation. The only intense feelings she has are for Connor—and she's kept that a secret, too. But she knows she'll never truly have Connor's love if she's not a Shifter like him.

At the first full moon after her birthday, her greatest fear is realized: She doesn't transform. Brittany is so desperate to become a wolf that she'll go to extremes she never thought possible . . . and put all the Dark Guardians in incredible danger.

Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Birdies Book
Andrea Burden, Jan Bozarth
Synopsis: Where do fairy godmothers come from?

When Birdie goes to visit her grandmother for the first time, she learns that her grandmother is a fairy godmother—which means Birdie's a fairy godmother too! Trained by fairies in a magical land called Aventurine, human fairy godmothers have been hidden protectors of the world for centuries. Birdie' s family talisman, a singing stone, has been broken, and now only Birdie can use the stone to travel to Aventurine to repair it.

When she gets there she meets Kerka, a warrior-like girl who has been sent to help her find the other half of the stone. Will Birdie and Kerka have the knowledge and strength to banish the shadow that has come over both the garden in Aventurine and Birdie's family? One thing's for sure—no one who travels to Aventurine will ever be the same again!

For girls who are fans of Harry Potter and have outgrown the Disney Fairies series and the American Girl books, the Fairy Godmother Academy is the perfect series—fantasy books filled with magic and adventure but grounded by contemporary girls and issues.

The series boasts an amazing Web site that allows girls to enter the world they visit in the books. There they can do activities both on- and offline, vote for things they'd like to see in the books, and connect with other Fairy Godmother Academy fans.

Join the Fairy Godmother Academy!
Visit the Web site for games, activities, and networking with friends!
www.fairygodmotheracademy.com
Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Snap
Carol Snow
Synopsis:

Madison Sabatini thought she knew who she was: an almost-sophomore with a bright future. The newest photographer on her school paper. A shopaholic with great hair and a fabulous wardrobe. Then, in a flash, everything changed.

Now she's stuck in Sandyland, a gloomy beach town in the middle of nowhere, living with her parents in a crappy hotel "suite." Instead of spending the summer with her friends at home, she's hanging out with pink-haired Delilah, an artist who works in a shop called Psychic Photo, and a skater boy named Duncan who's totally not her type. Except, maybe he is . . .

Determined to make the best of things, Madison throws herself into her one passion: photography. But when strange figures start appearing in her pictures—people who weren't there when she snapped the shots, people who are later reported dead—she begins to question everything about who she is . . . and who she wishes she could be.

Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Switch
Carol Snow
Synopsis:

Claire Martin has some serious body issues.

Ever since Claire hit her teens, electrical storms have been making her switch bodies. Usually she's back to her old self in no time. But when something goes terribly wrong, she finds herself stuck in the fabulous body—and life—of Larissa, the icy blonde beauty who has caught the eye of Nate, Claire's longtime crush.

Will Claire ever figure out how to get her old life back? And, more importantly, will she even want to?

Publication Date: 08/25/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Fear of Falling
Hannah R. Goodman
Synopsis: Fresh off "the worst year of her life," sixteen-year-old Maddie Hickman has sworn off love and her once-beloved self-help books in favor of editing the school paper and "banging out weepy poems." When she receives an anonymous letter from a gay student who's been physically threatened, Maddie is forced to step out of her self-imposed isolation, face her own personal problems, and take a stand. But how far is she willing to go? Will her best friends Peter and Susan stand with her? Can friendship survive past and present personal problems as well as challenging parents and unbending school administrators? And just how far are the three friends willing to go?
Publication Date: 08/24/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Rescuing Seneca Crane
Susan Runholt
Synopsis: When Kari and Lucas first see Seneca Crane up on stage, playing the piano in front of hundreds of people, they are in awe. She is beautiful. She is amazingly talented. And she is only thirteen! But then they get to know her at the Edinburgh Arts Festival and realize that she envies them. Soon the three are becoming friends . . .until Seneca disappears. There?s no stopping Kari and Lucas from jumping on the trail and tracking her down. Even when it leads to the heart of the Scottish highlands!

Following in the spine-tingling tracks of The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, Susan Runholt?s second book featuring super sleuths Kari and Lucas is just as smart and fast-paced as the first!

Publication Date: 08/20/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Piper Reed Gets A Job
Christine Davenier, Kimberly Willis Holt
Synopsis:

Piper Reed and her fellow Gypsy Club members are in need of a clubhouse. Raising money to buy one proves a challenge. Piper, being the resourceful fifth grader that she is, launches her own party-planning business and gets her first job throwing young Brady's birthday celebration. But things don't go as expected on the day of the big event. Fortunately for Piper, her friends and family come to her rescue!

Publication Date: 08/18/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Circle of Friends:  Book III
Synopsis: Haunted by a troubled past... The future appears bright for James Sheppard. Emerging from a troubled childhood, he is blessed with talent and a good work ethic. Excelling in his classes and at the campus newspaper, James's goal of editor appears within his grasp. However, years of abuse and loneliness have dampened his spirit. By the time Maria enters his world, James is nearing the breaking point. Her innocent love slowly fills the void in his life, boosting his confidence and giving him hope. When a crisis abruptly forces him into adulthood, James is saddled with more responsibility than expected. Struggling to cope with the situation, the past returns to haunt him. Will James find peace before the mistakes of his father destroy him completely? Described as "encouragement personified", Wolfe's five-book Southern-based series portrays love and friendship overcoming all obstacles. Known as "Spunk On A Stick" to her fans, Wolfe is also a professional speaker. Originally from Oregon, she now resides in North Carolina. "With a positive attitude, any goal can be achieved!"
Publication Date: 08/18/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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