Synopsis: When you’re caught in a traffic jam, you’ve got nowhere to go… Val Delton’s life is spiraling and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. Her dad lost his job, her mom works fourteen hour days to pay the bills and yet somehow there are high-end shopping bags and an iPod in her older sister’s room. Naturally, Val becomes suspicious but her sister’s lips are sealed. Then by accident, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret hidden behind her sister’s bright smiles and cool indifference. Val has no idea how far and how deep the repercussions of her sister’s secret will reach but she’ll do whatever it takes to keep her family safe. Will she succeed before her sister’s secret destroys everyone she loves?

Synopsis: It's never too late to change your ways; especially when you're young. Troubled teen Mark Crowe has twenty-five weeks to do just that. At that point, he'll turn eighteen and all his problems will go away (so he thinks). But it will take more than just reaching a date on a calendar. Mark carries around a checkered past, has never known a stable home life, and believes all his problems originate from the neighboring golf course. He feels the odds are stacked against him and nobody is willing to give him a chance. A probation officer provides some routine counseling, but Mark is often leery of him and the process. It is at the least-likeliest of places, on the links, working with a most-improbable ally, a visually-impaired golfer, that Mark finds encouragement and catches glimpses of a better path through life.

Synopsis: The annual Great Quest is about to be announced in Quendel, a task that will determine the future of Marcus and the other boys from the village who are coming of age. The wizard Zyll commands them to find the Rock of Ivanore, but he doesn’t tell them what the Rock is exactly or where it can be found. Marcus must reach deep within himself to develop new powers of magic and find the strength to survive the wild lands and fierce enemies he encounters as he searches for the illusive Rock. If he succeeds, he will live a life of honor; if he fails, he will live a life of menial labor in shame. With more twists and turns than a labyrinth, and a story in which nothing is at it seems, this tale of deception and discovery keeps readers in suspense until the end.


Middle readers will find that The Rock of Ivanore fits nicely among the traditional fantasies they so enjoy. They will also appreciate its fresh and inventive take on the genre.

Synopsis: The distance we go for Love! All Martin ever wanted was a mother who loved him. At just five-years-old she walked out, leaving Martin to be raised by his grandma and grandad. Life became a constant battle for him, enduring countless traumatic events with his mother, and Linford, the school bully. Martin wished for an escape, and that day came when he met Gerald. Together they endured years of mental and physical bullying. Masking their fears with fun, they created a distraction from all the hurt and upset, by mustering up mischievous adventures packed with adrenalin pumped fun and laughter. However, their fun takes a turn for the worst, and they're both put face to face with a much greater fear than school bullying, a fear that two thirteen year old boys should never have to experience.

Synopsis: Amazon Best Books of the Month for Kids, May, 2012: 12-year old Fern just wants to be normal. Instead she must endure her father’s endlessly embarrassing advertising ploys to boost the family business and the invisibility that comes with being the middle child in a family of strong personalities….including her adored younger brother Charlie. While everyone seems to be too busy for Fern—her mom dotes on Charlie, her brother Holden is mysterious and absent, and her sister Sarah seems not to care—Fern is left feeling she is all alone. But when a sudden tragedy occurs, Fern’s family must learn to stick together to overcome their grief and sadness. With engaging characters and an endearing protagonist who transports the reader back to the tumult of adolescence, See You at Harry’s is the kind of book that will make you laugh, cry, and wish you could go back and read it again for the first time. --Heather Dileepan

Synopsis: Imagine! Enter a chaotic world where your only true weapon is your imagination! It can be your best friend or your worst enemy... Eleven-year-old Buggy Crenshaw deems herself a writer whose imagination has nodded off lately. But her dull life takes an abrupt turn toward the fantastically unimaginable when her father’s curious invention, his Tremendous Time-Traveling Trailblazer, suddenly explodes, catapulting their family to the very brink of the Underworld: a secret pocket of our planet known as Lloyd’s Hollow where magic runs rampant and dreams are far more than just idle imaginings! Buggy quickly discovers that her family’s arrival in Lloyd’s Hollow was by no means an accident, and that coincidence is truly a myth for the magically uninformed. In a harrowing tale of good versus evil, Buggy learns that she is, and through time has always been, a Warrior for the Greater Good of Mankind. When the Darkest Evil threatens to ensnare us all, Buggy and her friends Sid Piccolo and Veronica Hamburg must find a way to thwart the Demon Electrocucius before he captures our souls and commits them to eternal torture! She learns firsthand, however, that evil is hard to kill… Her message to you is this: The magic is real…if you can only imagine! Dream big!

Synopsis: Winesburg, Ohio By Sherwood Anderson