Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 155 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Baby Grape and Huskey
Thom Rogers
Synopsis: Set in western Pennsylvania in the 1840's, "Baby Grape and Huskey" tells the story of an unlikely pair who are in a race for their lives to complete a delivery over the roughest terrain this side of the Mississippi. Toby's one-hundred mile mission turns into a life-threatening journey as he and an indentured servant girl, Gina, find themselves running from the men who wish to kill them and steal their precious cargo. As the journey continues, Toby becomes a man of honor and is determined to deliver the cargo to its rightful owner, all the while dodging the murderous pursuers. Toby and Gina encountered surprising allies, heart-wrenching hardship, near-death experiences, and unexpected feelings of loyalty to their duty, and each other. The first in a captivating series of books, "Baby Grape and Huskey" is an adventure you'll never forget.
Publication Date: 07/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Anna Smudge: Professional Shrink
Greg Horn, Glenn Fabry, MAC
Synopsis:

Recent Awards

  <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->

Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Juvenile Fiction


Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Children’s Fiction


Gold Medal at the Young Voices Awards for Best Juvenile Fiction


Gold Medal at the Young Voices Awards for Best Juvenile Mystery


Silver Medal at the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards for Best First Book


Top Choice Award from the popular kid’s review site, Flamingnet


Gold Medal at the Young Voices Awards for Best Youth Fiction- NE Region


Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist for Best Cover Design-Children’s Books

A DANGEROUS ESCAPED HITMAN

AN ART TEACHER WHO HAS LOST HER MIND

A NAKED MAN COVERED IN SEAWEED AND TALKING IN RHYMES

BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL HAVE TO DO WITH THE CRIMINAL MASTERMIND MR. WHO?

It's up to Anna Smudge to find out. But Anna's no ordinary eleven-year-old. She's the top shrink in Manhattan, holding therapy sessions in a cramped storage closet in the lobby of her apartment building. And hordes of nutty New Yorkers are nearly kicking down her door, desperate to schedule an appointment. But Anna's got major issues of her own: a mysterious blackmailer, a violent new patient, and more homework than a tenth grader. Oh, and she has to catch Mr. Who, the most horrendous criminal mastermind the world has ever known. Her father's life depends on it.

Teaming up with a motley crew of friends, Anna embarks on an adventure that spans the landmarks of New York City. But how do you find a man when no one has ever seen his face? Does Mr. Who even exist? And if so, who is he?

Publication Date: 06/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Kamichama Karin Chu
Koge-Donbo
Synopsis: GODDESS OF LOVE!

Karin is your lovable girl-next-door type–if the girl next door also happens to be a goddess! Karin has a magic ring that gives her the power to do anything she’d like. What she’d like most, though, is to live happily ever after with Kazune, the boy of her dreams. Magic brought Kazune to her, but it also has a way of complicating things. It’s not easy to be a goddess and a girl in love!
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
City of Time
Eoin McNamee
Synopsis: CATI, THE BOLD Watcher readers met in The Navigator, returns from the shadows of time to summon Owen and Dr. Diamond, for time is literally running out. The moon is coming closer to the earth, causing havoc with weather, tides, and other natural cycles; people fear the world will end. To discover what’s gone wrong, Cati, Owen, and the Doctor must take an astonishing journey to the City of Time, where time is bought and sold. There, Owen begins to understand his great responsibility and power as the Navigator.
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Catwalk
Deborah Gregory
Synopsis: IN Catwalk, DEBORAH GREGORY creates a new YA series that takes her famously upbeat urban voice and combines it with the appeal of Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model. Catwalk follows Pashmina, Felinez, Angora, and Aphro, four best friends at Manhattan’s Fashion International High School who are about to enter the contest of their lives. Each year, students split up into Fashion Houses and compete to design, produce, and show fully original fashion lines. The winner gets a scholarship, a professional show, and a real shot at a career in fashion. Bouncy, smart, and nearly irresistible, Catwalk is a fierce introduction to a fashion world where fabulosity trumps waist size, and there truly is room for everyone.
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Slipping
Cathleen Davitt Bell
Synopsis:

Michael Kimmel is an average eighth grader who's too short to be good at basketball and too unmotivated to care about school. When the grandfather he barely knows suddenly dies, Michael can't understand why his dad seems so detached. But when the ghost of his grandfather contacts Michael and begins to show him scenes from the past, Michael suspects it's up to him to right the wrongs between his father and grandfather – before he himself becomes trapped in the river of the dead.

Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Magician
Michael Scott
Synopsis: Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And he might still be alive today! Discover the truth in Michael Scott’s New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel in The Magician, book two.
   After fleeing Ojai, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris, the City of Lights. Home for Nicholas Flamel. Only this homecoming is anything but sweet. Perenell is still locked up back in Alcatraz and Paris is teeming with enemies. Nicollo Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, is working for Dee. He’ s after them, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. For every day spent without the Book of Abraham the Mage, they age one year—their magic becoming weaker and their bodies more frail. For Flamel, the Prophesy is becoming more and more clear.
    It’s time for Sophie to learn the second elemental magic: Fire Magic. And there’ s only one man who can teach it to her: Flamel’s old student, the Comte de Saint-Germain—alchemist, magician, and rock star. Josh and Sophie Newman are the world’s only hope—if they don’t turn on each other first.

“Readers will be swept up by a plot that moves smartly along, leaving a wide trail of destruction and well-timed revelations.”—Kirkus Reveiws, Starred
 
Read the whole series!
The Alchemyst
The Magician
The Sorceress
The Necromancer
The Warlock
The Enchantress
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Writing on the Wall
Wendy Lichtman
Synopsis:

Eighth grade, like algebra, has become pretty complicated for Tess. For one thing, there are the patterns she's noticing everywhere—like how charming-on-the-outside Richard keeps playing scary pranks on her, and how annoying copycat Lynn always has to follow what everyone else is doing. Then there's the pattern of graffiti that keeps appearing on the wall by her school—could those numbers be a code meant for Tess? Is it up to her to find out what they mean? And most importantly, if Damien keeps up with his pattern of waiting for her after school, does it mean he likes her? Or is that just a coincidental system?

Tess looks for formulas to help her figure it all out, but she's afraid there may be none. Sometimes you have to make up your own solutions.

Sometimes, you just have to risk it.

Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Elissa's Odyssey
Erica Verrillo
Synopsis: IT’S HARD FOR Elissa to comprehend everything that has happened to her. In Elissa’s Quest, she discovered the truth about her father, and she and her new friend, Maya, just barely escaped a madman’s clutches. And Elissa’s Gift is not only growing in power . . . it’s changing. Elissa could always speak to animals, but now she’s able to control other things in the natural world. But when Elissa becomes separated from her friend and her faithful donkey, she embarks on a perilous voyage that introduces her to others who have special Gifts, too. It’s almost as if an unseen hand is guiding her to the pieces of the prophecy . . . the Prophecy of the Phoenix. The climax is building! In Book 2 of the Phoenix Rising trilogy, Erica Verrillo manages to make us laugh while falling even more deeply in love with a fabulous, strong, girl coming of age.
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dirty Jersey (Kimani Tru)
Phillip Thomas Duck
Synopsis:

From zero to hero

What's cool at Eric Posey's high school? A player's swagger, a baller's style, and game enough to catch every girl. Unfortunately, Eric is seriously uncool—unlike his popular sister, Kenya, who sings like an angel. But forget the choir; Kenya wants the fabulous life—bad boys and fly girls.

A chance encounter with Fiasco, one of the hottest rappers around, gives Eric entr?into the world of the "Dirty Jersey" crew, where he's introduced to everyone and everything. Suddenly, Eric is cool and has access to anything he's ever wanted. Never mind that Fiasco isn't exactly a good guy— so what? But so what has a price. And Fiasco has just named it: Kenya.

Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Elissa's Quest
Erica Verrillo
Synopsis: THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD ELISSA LEADS a solitary life. She knows nothing of her parents—only that her mother is dead. Her caretaker, Nana, keeps her father's identity a secret from her. Meanwhile Elissa carries her own secret—the people of the valley must not know that she has the gift of speaking to animals. For now she is just a healer's apprentice in peaceful High Crossing, but Elissa dreams of a more exciting life, and of, one day, finding her father.

When an unexpected royal guest arrives at the Manor, Elissa's life changes forever. She leaves home with him, only to discover that she's become a pawn in a battle for his kingdom. Accompanied by her dear donkey, Gertrude, she is delivered to the evil Khan. Elissa's quest for freedom and the truth about her past leads to questions about the future. Is she the key to a prophecy—the prophecy of the Phoenix—that everyone seems to know about, except her?

In Book One of the Phoenix Rising trilogy, new author Erica Verrillo has crafted a classic—and often humorous—fantasy adventure with a strong, unwitting heroine.


From the Hardcover edition.
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Avalon High: Coronation
Jinky Coronado, Meg Cabot
Synopsis:

Meg Cabot's magical Arthurian epic continues . . . Manga style!

Will's dangerous brother, Marco, has been released from the mental hospital, and it seems as if he's turned over a new leaf. But Ellie isn't sure she trusts him yet, especially when she keeps having creepy nightmares about him every night.

Meanwhile, Mr. Morton is still convinced that Ellie's boyfriend, Will, is the reincarnation of King Arthur and that if Ellie doesn't help Will believe this, too, the world is going to end—this Friday. But all this won't stop Ellie from trying to pull off the big dinner party she's arranged to reunite Will with his parents . . . even though it might be a total disaster.

When you and your friends are reliving Arthurian legend, you can never catch a break!

Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Time Cavern
Todd Fonseca
Synopsis: When ten-year-old Aaron moved from the big city to the middle of Amish country, he felt transported to a different and simpler time and place. But after finding a faded and long forgotten diary page of a boy gone missing over one hundred years earlier, Aaron began an adventure more wondrous and exciting than he could have ever imagined. Befriended by a local farm girl named Jake, together they search for answers to this century long mystery and uncover the secrets of an astounding cavern that will take them to the edge of time itself.
Publication Date: 06/23/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Frozen Fire
Tim Bowler
Synopsis: A paranormal thriller from Carnegie Medal?winner Tim Bowler!

It starts with a phone call. ?I?m dying,? a voice tells Dusty. Who is he and how has he gotten her cell number? Dusty wants no part of this strange boy . . . until he begins saying things that only someone who knows her intimately could say?things that lead her to think he knows the whereabouts of her brother, who disappeared over a year ago. Suddenly drawn in, Dusty very much wants to save this boy. Trouble is, she cannot find him. Part human, part spirit, he won?t let himself be found. He is too dangerous, he says. There are mobs of people who agree and who want to see this boy dead . . . and who will hurt anyone who stands in their way.

A gripping, hair-raising mystery about a boy not of this world, and a girl determined to protect him.

Publication Date: 06/19/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Bird
J Marshall Martin
Synopsis: "We are off on a race against time, through such specific geography from West Coast to East - Seattle to Savannah - that the land itself is part of the adventure. J. Marshall Martin (in his second novel) slips 16 year old Tripp into the driver's seat of his father's beloved black Thunderbird. Unfolding quick page by quick page, Tripp fulfills the last request of his powerful grandfather - to 'kidnap' him from a nursing home and return him to their real home (for both of them) Savannah. Grandfather guides as backseat driver and Tripp travels to try to keep his memory of his mother, while his father is locked away in grief over her death. Hobble, companion and fellow traveler, rides shot-gun as a salami eating, unstoppable three legged dog. Then they are joined by Angie, in all black, with pierced belly button, purple hair and dragon tattoo, hitching her way to find somewhere, too. Martin has powered this novel with the soft spots and rough edges milled by these strong characters in the act of finding how hard the responsibility is to step off into a new part of their lives. Who will Tripp be once back home after going against his father's demands, while aiding the irrepressible will of a sneaky, quirky grandfather." -- Carol Lee Lorenzo, author of "Nervous Dancer."
Publication Date: 06/18/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Looks
Madeleine George
Synopsis: An unforgettable debut novel about the way we look at others, and the way we see ourselves.

Meghan Ball is both the most visible and the most invisible person in school. Her massive size is impossible to ignore, yet people freely spill their secrets in front of her, perhaps because they think she isn?t listening. But she is. Now her attention has turned to a new girl: Aimee Zorn, with her stick-figure body and defiant attitude. Meghan is determined to befriend Aimee, and when she ultimately succeeds, the two join forces to take down their shared enemy.

This provocative story explores the ways in which girls use food and their bodies to say what they cannot: I?m lonely.

Publication Date: 06/12/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS