Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 152 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Ignatius Macfarland
Synopsis: After being teased one too many times at school, Ignatius MacFarland decides to build a rocket. Maybe extraterrestrials are nicer than his classmates! But when his rocket takes an explosive wrong turn, Ignatius ends up in another frequency run by former English-teacher-turned-dictator, Chester Arthur. Mr. Arthur has taken the art, culture, and advancements of our world, shared them with this new frequency, and convinced the creatures around him that he's a genius. It's up to Iggy and Karen, another trapped earthling, to expose Mr. Arthur for the fraud that he is-and to hopefully make it home alive.

Part comedy, part science fiction, and part fantasy, this debut novel, with line art by talented newcomer Peter Chan, makes being a geek, well, kind of cool.
Publication Date: 09/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Watching July
Christine Hart
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old July MacKenzie can hardly recognize her own life anymore. A few months ago, she was enjoying her urban lifestyle in Vancouver, going to school, hanging out with the same old friends she’d had for years. Now, when she steps out her back door, the only evidence of human existence she sees is an empty road, stretching off in the distance to...nowhere. It all happened so fast! Her mom was killed in a hit and run accident, and before she knew it Marie, her other parent, had sold the house, packed up and moved them out into the Interior. How could she leave everything behind like that? July could never make new friends. She’d never get used to the dark nights of the countryside. And she’d never, ever, stop missing her birth mom as long as she lived!

Publication Date: 09/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Sucks To Be Me
Kimberly Pauley
Synopsis: Mina Hamilton's parents want her dead. (Or undead to be precise.) They're vampires, and like it or not, Mina must decide whether to become a vampire herself. But Mina's more interested in hanging out with best friend Serena and trying to catch the eye of the too-hot-for-high-school Nathan Able than in the vampire training classes she's being forced to take. How's a girl supposed to find the perfect prom date and pass third-year French when her mom and dad are breathing down her neck--literally?
Publication Date: 08/26/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Black Dragon Codex
R.D. Henham
Synopsis: What happens when an evil black dragon becomes your ally?

Snatched from the street by a young black dragon, Satia seems destined to end her life as a snack. But her position as a menu item quickly changes when her black dragon captor runs into two young red dragons and a wanna-be Dragonlord. In a quick twist of events, the black dragon is transformed into an ordinary teenaged boy. Always one step ahead of their pursuers, Satia makes a bargain with her captor: her life in exchange for her help. But now she must live up to her end of the bargain. With no magic and only the strength of two humans, how will Satia outwit the Dragonlord and his minions?
Publication Date: 08/26/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
I Am Apache
Tanya Landman
Synopsis: A young woman seeks to avenge her brother's death by becoming an Apache warrior — and learns a startling truth about her own identity.

After watching helplessly as Mexican raiders brutally murder her little brother, fourteen-year-old Siki is filled with a desire for vengeance and chooses to turn away from a woman's path to become a warrior of her Apache tribe. Though some men, like envious Keste, wish to see Siki fail, she passes test after test, and her skills grow under the guidance of her tribe's greatest warrior, Golahka. But Keste begins to whisper about Siki's father's dishonorable death, and even as Siki earns her place among the warriors, she senses a dark secret in her past — one that will throw into doubt everything she knows. Taking readers on a sweeping and suspenseful journey through the nineteenth-century American Southwest, Tanya Landman draws on historical accounts to imagine the Black Mountain Apache as a tribe in a fight for survival against the devastating progress of nations.
Publication Date: 08/26/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Ghosts of Kerfol
Deborah Noyes
Synopsis: In an enthralling work of Gothic suspense, an Edith Wharton story inspires five connected tales set in the same haunted manor over the centuries.

In her classic ghost story "Kerfol," Edith Wharton tells the tale of Anne de Barrigan, a young Frenchwoman convicted of murdering her husband, the jealous Yves de Cornault. The elderly lord was found dead on the stairs, apparently savaged by a pack of dogs, though there were no dogs — no live dogs — at Kerfol that day. In this remarkable collection of intertwining short stories, Deborah Noyes takes us back to the haunted manor and tells us Anne de Barrigan's story through the sympathetic eyes of her servant girl. Four more tales slip forward in time, peering in on a young artist, a hard-drinking party girl, a young American couple, and a deaf gardener who now tends the Kerfol estate. All these souls are haunted by the ghosts of Kerfol — the dead dogs, the sensual yet uneasy relationships, and the bitter taste of revenge.
Publication Date: 08/26/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Debs
Susan McBride
Synopsis: LAURA DELACROIX BELL—this dazzling trust fund girl’s size 14 figure doesn’t stop her from attracting the sexiest scoundrel in town, or the admiring eye of the Glass Slipper Club. However, a salacious secret could take her out of the running.

Michelle “Mac” Mackenzie—brainy, cynical, and maybe a tad judgmental, Mac would rather bury her nose in a good book than embrace her deb destiny. But being a debutante was her late mother’s dream.

Ginger Fore—this adorable tree-hugger wants to wear her grandmother’s vintage ball gown instead of splurging on an expensive dress. Yet when she gets tangled up with an older guy, Ginger will have plenty more to think about.

Jo-Lynn Bidwill—a former child beauty queen, Jo-Lynn is a bitchy vamp who makes it her mission in life to take out the debu-trash. And Jo-Lynn’s sights are set on Laura Bell.
Publication Date: 08/26/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Riding High
Donna King
Synopsis:

Billie and her beautiful gray gelding, Valentine's Kiss, are three-day eventing naturals--winning every regional trial they enter. But suddenly, Billie loses interest in the sport and avoids training with her beloved horse. While her rivals say that she's lost her nerve, the truth is that Billie witnessed a terrible accident during her last cross-country event, in which the horse broke its leg, and she's terrified that the same fate could befall Valentine's Kiss. A new trainer makes Billie face her demons and trust in her horse's exceptional ability.

Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Sovay
Celia Rees
Synopsis:

It's England, 1783. When the rich and beautiful Sovay isn't sitting for portraits, she's donning a man's cloak and robbing travelers―in broad daylight. But in a time when political allegiances between France and England are strained, a rogue bandit is not the only thing travelers fear. Spies abound, and rumors of sedition can quickly lead to disappearances. So when Sovay lifts the wallet of one of England's most powerful and dangerous men, it's not just her own identity she must hide, but that of her father. A dazzling historical saga in which the roles of thieves and gentry, good and bad, and men and women are interchanged to riveting effect.

Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Zoe's Tale
John Scalzi
Synopsis: How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?

I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.

Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.

It's a story you know. But you don't know it all.
Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark Vengeance
Ed Greenwood
Synopsis: Orivon Firefist was captured as a six-year-old child by the Nilfghar—the dark elves—who attacked his village by night on one of their surface raids. Fifteen years later, he was a moon-pale, scarred, muscular giant of a man, who  spent his days at forgework for a dark elf family. He had been trained (and flogged and ordered about) by the beautiful Tsarnarra, a lash-wielding matron who is icily cruel, but proud of the slaves that she has trained.   Through all of this, Orivon's spirit had never been broken and he rose up and opposed his underworld tyrants.  He has successfully returned to the surface world home that he thought only existed in his most distant dreams.   But the score is far from settled. Years of oppression and new revelations of the dark deeds of his former captors only fuel his forge of rage. And the fact that their evil still permeates the underworld only intensifies his desire for a dark vengeance.
Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Faust
Katsushi Ota, Takashi Takeuchi, Ueda Hajime, Takeshi Obata, Clamp, Otaro Maijo, Kinoko Nasu, Kouhei Kadono, Otsuichi, NISIOISIN
Synopsis: A stunning new collection of fiction inspired by the fantastic world of manga–and featuring artwork by the best in the business, including

“Outerholic,” by NISIOISIN (illustrated by CLAMP): CLAMP fans everywhere will appreciate the original art in this tale excerpted from NISIOISIN’s upcoming novel–set in the world of CLAMP’s bestselling xxxHOLiC–about a woman compelled to choose disaster.

“F-sensei’s Pocket,” by Otsuichi (illustrated by Takeshi Obata): What would you do if you could make all your dreams come true? Here’s the story of a girl who is really very ordinary–until a bunch of magic gadgets suddenly blow onto her porch.

“Outlandos d’Amour,” by Kouhei Kadono (illustrated by Ueda Hajime): For a boy who can make lightning strike, the only thing harder than learning how to control his powers is falling in love.

“The Garden of Sinners,” by Kinoko Nasu (illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi [TYPE-MOON]): Too many young girls are flying and dying. It has to stop–and only Shiki can put an end to it.

“Drill Hole in My Brain,” (Written and illustrated by Otaro Maijo): The ill-fated love story of a boy with a hole in his head and a girl with a horn on hers. It was great while it lasted, but the end of their affair just might mean the end of the world.

PLUS more illustrated stories, columns, interviews, and bonus features!
Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Seaborn
Craig Moodie
Synopsis:

“THE BOAT IS SINKING. YOU HAVE TO MOVE.”

When Luke’s sailing trip goes horribly wrong, he must face the vast and brutal sea in this story of one boy’s survival and coming-of-age. On the evening before Luke’s family’s annual summer sailing trip off Cape Cod, Luke’s mother leaves. Luke is left with his angry, confused father on a small boat for a week and the trip goes horribly wrong when a summer storm sweeps Luke’s father overboard. Not knowing whether his father is dead or alive, Luke must figure out how to survive on a wrecked sailboat far out to sea. Fans of Gary Paulsen and Will Hobbs will be captivated by Craig Moodie’s depiction of the North Atlantic in this coming-of-age adventure.

 

Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Balancing Act
Donna King
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Carli lives on her family's guest ranch in Colorado. She's a talented gymnast, but her parents are too busy running their business to give her much support. Carli develops a strong bond with her new coach, who believes that he can help her achieve her goal of Olympic glory. Carli dedicates herself to the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam, but just as she starts to excel, her parents decide that she needs to help out more on the ranch--putting her gold medal dreams in jeopardy.
Publication Date: 08/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Mousetraps
Bill Hauser, Pat Schmatz
Synopsis: Back in grade school, Maxie and Rick were best friends. Rick would design crazy inventions, and Maxie, the artistic one, would draw them. Then something terrible happened to Rick, and he vanished from her school and her life. Years later, he shows up at Maxie's high school. In some ways he's the same person she once knew. But in other ways - frightening ones - he's very, very different . . .
Publication Date: 08/18/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Lake That Stole Children
Douglas Glenn Clark
Synopsis: The Lake That Stole Children blends the magic of Disney's Pinocchio with the magnificent quest of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It begins with a boy's deep yearning and leads to a grown man's startling discovery. The story begins with a town troubled by a big secret. Children have been disappearing and no one knows why. A fisherman, who lives with his family on the outskirts of town, cared nothing about the town's troubles - until he too lost a son. Following a dangerous search on a nearby lake, the fisherman believes he knows where the children may be and vows to save them. When the town refuses to help in his quest, the fisherman realizes that to save his son he must face one seemingly insurmountable obstacle - himself.
Publication Date: 08/15/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS