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Kandide and the Secret of the Mists
Synopsis: What if everything you loved was suddenly taken away . . .

And everything you feared became your only hope?

Still a teen in human years, Kandide is spoiled, vain, and the personification of perfection. She is also heir to the throne of Calabiyau and keeper of The Gift, the key to survival for all Fae. When a tragic accident leaves her less than perfect, her own mother casts her away to a treacherous world where strange beasts roam the dark, lifeless forest and even stranger Fae rule the land. Kandide must battle hideous creatures, as well as her own internal repulsion for the 'Imperfects' she is now like, if she is to survive. But these are just the beginning of her troubles; within Calabiyau, a presence far more deadly emerges. Joined by her prankster brother, Teren, her tomboy sister, Tara, and a group of misfit Imperfects, the Fae Princess must challenge the darkest of creatures to face an evil worse than any she could have imagined if she is to save the very Fae who sent her away. Calabiyau will forever change, or will it?

Praise for Kandide: 'Kandide gives its readers one captivating, enthralling adventure after another.' --S. Earl Statler, critic correspondent, The Los Angeles Newspaper Group

'Kandide is pure magic!' --Lance Burton, internationally acclaimed magician

'Mixing adventure and fantasy with life lessons is making Kandide and the Secret of the Mists a favorite in my class for two years in a row. We were lucky to read it in pre-publication. Now, this year's students are REALLY enjoying Kandide. . .' --Jeff Smith, teacher, Sable Point Elementary School, Florida

'Throughout my career, I've traveled everywhere and I've seen a lot of magic. Kandide's world is without a doubt one of the most magical places I've ever visited, and I can't wait to go back'--Cyril Takayama, International Magic Star and Magic Castle Magician on the Year

Publication Date: 05/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Mines of the Minotaur
Julia Golding
Synopsis:

"The clock continued to tick calmly in the hall, out of step with the stormy sea of panic surging inside Connie. She could make no sense of this. How had she ended up on the beach? She felt a hum in her bones as if she had been meeting with some powerful creature. But what beast or being had the power to draw her out of her house without her knowing about it? And what had happened when they were together?"

Thirteen-year-old Connie Lionheart is the only Universal Companion, able to communicate with all the mythical creatures hidden in our world. She is the most important member of a secret society sworn to protect the bonds between humans and creatures. But her power brings great responsibility and great danger.

Publication Date: 05/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Blitzed
Robert Swindells
Synopsis: George is fascinated by World War II—even evacuation and rationing has got to be more exciting than living in dreary old Witchfield! He is looking forward to his school trip to Eden Camp, a World War II museum, but he never could have imagined how authentic this visit to wartime Britain will be. A hand reaching out of the fake rubble, a slip in time, and George has to survive something much worse than boredom. The rubble is now real—he has slipped through time into 1940s London. Imagine being alive before your parents were even born!  
Publication Date: 05/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Compound
S.A. Bodeen
Synopsis:

Eli and his family have lived in the Compound for six years.

The world they knew is gone.

Eli's father built the Compound to keep them safe. Now, they can't get out.

He won't let them.

The Compound is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Publication Date: 04/30/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Newes From The Dead
Mary Hooper
Synopsis: "Intriguing and captivating."—Celia Rees, author of Witch Child WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)Anne can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies immobile in the darkness, unsure if she'd dead, terrified she's buried alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows. Meanwhile, a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive? Beautifully written, impossible to put down, and meticulously researched, Newes from the Dead is based on the true story of the real Anne Green, a servant who survived a hanging to awaken on the dissection table. Newes from the Dead concludes with scans of the original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon. Newes from the Dead is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Temptress Four
Gaby Triana
Synopsis:

Four best friends, one graduation cruise, a week of partying.

Eight days of strife and storms . . .

It's supposed to be the best eight days of their lives.

Bonds will be broken...

But when a fortune-teller predicts trouble the night before their trip,

One of you will not come home...

Fiona, Killian, Alma, and Yoli are left on edge, wondering what it could all mean.

Gaby Triana gets right to the heart of that thrilling, nerve-wracking, exhilarating, terrifying, amazing time that comes right after graduation, when the big question is: Where do we go from here?

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Little Vampire
Joann Sfar, Joann Sfar
Synopsis:

Living in a house filled with grown-up ghouls and monsters, Little Vampire is so lonely that he’s even willing to go to school if that’s what it takes to find friends.  Unfortunately, school seems to be filled with children who are still alive. . . .

Little Vampire finds friendship with a boy named Michael, and they embark on adventures in the three stories in this collection.  Included in this book are Little Vampire Goes to School (a New York Times Bestseller), Little Vampire Does Kung Fu, and Little Vampire and the Society of Canine Defenders (now published in the United States for the first time).  Insightful and inventive, Joann Sfar brings Little Vampire and Michael’s fantastical world to young readers in stories that both feed the imagination and resonate with emotional truth.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dog Gone
Cynthia Chapman Willis
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Dill (short for Dylan) is desperately trying to keep her family from falling apart. Her father is always at work, her mother is gone, and their dog, Dead End, seems to be here one moment and missing the next.     And big trouble is brewing. A wild pack of dogs is destroying local livestock and property, and the sheriff has ordered them to be shot. Is this where Dead End has been disappearing to? How far will Dill and her best friend, a boy nicknamed Cub, go to uncover the truth, and hold together the last strands of a family that seems to be unraveling?
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark Power Collection
Synopsis: Some doors are better left unopened. Some doors, you don't want to find out what lies behind them. In the Forbidden Doors series by bestselling author Bill Myers, teenager Rebecca 'Becka' Williams, her younger brother Scott, and her friend Ryan Riordan are swept into heart-stopping encounters with an all-too-real invisible world---a world fraught with deception and spiritual adversaries that promise goodness and enlightenment but will stop at nothing to destroy life, sanity, and human souls. Witchcraft. Reincarnation. Ouija Boards. UFOs. Shamanism. Counterfeit spiritualities are widespread and popular with spiritually searching young adults such as Becka's peers. What's the harm? Find out. Join Becka, Scott, and Ryan as they head for mind-bending clashes between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God. Combining meticulous research, realistic settings, and masterful storytelling, the Forbidden Doors novels take you from the mountains of New Mexico to the inner workings of a secret society---and into the truth of God's Word, which exposes lies and reveals the reality of spiritual warfare. Each volume in the series contains three books that center around a particular kind of Forbidden Door. Book One: Dark Powers contains The Society, The Deceived, and The Spell; Book Two: Invisible Terror contains The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter; Book Three: Deadly Loyalty contains The Curse, The Undead, and The Scream; Book Four: Ancient Forces contains The Ancients, The Wiccan, and The Cards
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
Synopsis: Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Fire Thief Fights Back
Synopsis: The final book in the critically acclaimed Fire Thief trilogy concludes the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods. Forced to travel through time to escape Zeus's avenging eagle, Prometheus arrives in 1785 Eden City and befriends a boy named Sam. Together, Prometheus and Sam must defend Eden City from seven terrifying mythological monsters. Packed full of wry puns, wisecracking gods, and sarcastic footnotes, this action-packed story pokes fun at narrative tradition and takes readers on a wild ride through Greek mythology. Fans who have followed Prometheus's flight through the trilogy's first two adventures will be dazzled by the very surprising ending.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Religion
Tim Willocks
Synopsis: May 1565. Suleiman the Magnificent, emperor of the Ottomans, has declared a jihad against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist. The largest armada of all time approaches the Knights€™ Christian stronghold on the island of Malta. The Turks know the Knights as the €œThe Hounds of Hell.€ The Knights call themselves €œThe Religion.€ In Messina, Sicily, a French countess, Carla la Penautier, seeks a passage to Malta in a quest to find the son taken from her at his birth twelve years ago. The only man with the expertise and daring to help her is a Rabelaisian soldier of fortune, arms dealer, former janissary, and strapping Saxon adventurer by the name of Mattias Tannhauser. He agrees to accompany the lady to Malta, where, amidst the most spectacular siege in military history, they must try to find the boy - whose name they do not know and whose face they have never seen€“and pluck him from the jaws of Holy War.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
The Joys of Love
Léna Roy, Madeleine L'Engle
Synopsis:

During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She’s never felt so alive. And soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth’s ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth’s perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.

Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Léna Roy, the protagonist Elizabeth is close to an autobiographical portrait of L’Engle herself as a young woman—“vibrant, vulnerable, and yearning for love and all that life has to offer.”

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Lucky (by Rachel Vail)
Synopsis:

It's all good . . . and lucky Phoebe Avery plans to celebrate by throwing an end-of-the-year bash with her four closest friends. Everything will be perfect—from the guest list to the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. The only thing left to do is find the perfect dress . . . until Phoebe goes from having it all to hiding all she's lost.

Phoebe's older sisters warn her to keep the family's crisis totally secret. Unfortunately, her alpha-girl best friend looks increasingly suspicious, and Phoebe's crush starts sending seriously mixed signals. Phoebe tries hard to keep smiling, but when her mother is humiliated in Neiman Marcus while buying Phoebe that perfect dress and her father decides to cancel her party, she panics. How far will she go to keep up her image as a lucky girl?

With lucky, Rachel Vail begins a powerful sisterhood trilogy, comprised of one book for each of the three fascinating Avery sisters, with all their secrets laid bare during the year that completely changes their lives. Phoebe is the youngest; her story combines first love and flip-flops, friendship and sisterhood, humor and tears. Breezy, witty, and poignant, lucky is Rachel Vail at her breathtaking best.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Neptune's Children
Bonnie Dobkin
Synopsis:

A day at the fabled amusement park Isles of Wonder turns deadly when a world-wide biological attack kills every adult, leaving behind only the kids to fend for themselves. Isolated from the world, unsure of what lies ahead, the young survivors assemble under the statue of King Neptune, the mythical ruler of the Isles, to form a new society. Led by the children of the park workers, they choose to remain closed off from the outside world living relatively comfortably inside the self-contained park. But when violence from the infested outside world appears to infiltrate their safe zone, one small group discovers a secret society and a hidden system of underground tunnels, and the stage is set for a war that will determine the future of everyone on the Isles.

As alliances are formed and broken, readers will find themselves taking sides in this suspenseful adventure story that addresses the duality of human nature.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
Abomination
Robert Swindells
Synopsis: Martha is 12 and very different from other kids—no TV, no computer, no cool clothes, and especially no friends. It's all because of her parents, who are strict members of a religious group called the Brethren. Their rules dominate Martha's life, and one rule is the most important of all: she must never ever invite anyone home. If she does, their terrible secret—Abomination—could be revealed. But as Martha makes her first real friend in Scott, a new boy at school, she begins to wonder, Is she doing the right thing by helping to keep Abomination a secret? And just how far will her parents go to prevent the truth from being known?
Publication Date: 04/28/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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