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Likely Story: Red Carpet Riot
Synopsis: It’s award night—will Mallory make it down the red carpet?

When we last left Mallory, her first show had just aired to rave ratings; her conniving mother was engaged to her dreaded producer boyfriend, Richard; she wasn’t sure if her boyfriend, Keith, would stick by her; and the school secretary had some unwelcome news about her student status. Now, just when her show gets a Daytime Emmy nomination, she’s got to fend off sneaky saboteurs, decide between Keith and Dallas, her show’s hunky star, break off her mother’s engagement, and pass gym class!

Hang on for a wild ride that takes us to the end of Mallory’s story, and maybe her rope, as the Emmy Awards inch closer and closer and she’s got to do-sido as fast as she can to keep up.
Publication Date: 06/09/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Tempo Change
Barbara Hall
Synopsis: It’s tough enough defining your identity—imagine if your father was a rock legend.

Blanche Kelly's dad is a famous indie rock icon, but not many people at the private school she attends on scholarship know this. Her father left when she was in the first grade, and she can’t quite forgive her mom for not understanding that an artist like her dad needs the time and space to connect to his muse.

When Blanche creates an all-girl rock band, their sound captures a wide audience and the band is invited to compete at the Coachella Music Festival. Blanche feels this could be the perfect time for a reunion with her father. Won’t he be proud to hear her band? Won’t he be happy to get to know his only daughter?

Author Barbara Hall sensitively explores the expectations between parents and teens, as well as the value of learning about your past to make your own future.
Publication Date: 06/09/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Love, Aubrey
Suzanne LaFleur
Synopsis: "I had everything I needed to run a household: a house, food, and a new family. From now on it would just be me and Sammy–the two of us, and no one else."

A tragic accident has turned eleven-year-old Aubrey’s world upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: SpaghettiOs and Sammy, her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happened to her. Writing letters is the only thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them.
With the aid of her loving grandmother and new friends, Aubrey learns that she is not alone, and gradually, she finds the words to express feelings that once seemed impossible to describe. The healing powers of friendship, love, and memory help Aubrey take her first steps toward the future.
Readers will care for Aubrey from page one and will watch her grow until the very end, when she has to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.
Love, Aubrey is devastating, brave, honest, funny, and hopeful, and it introduces a remarkable new writer, Suzanne LaFleur. No matter how old you are, this book is not to be missed.
Publication Date: 06/09/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Faith, Hope, and Ivy June
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Synopsis: When push comes to shove, two Kentucky girls find strength in each other.

Ivy June Mosely and Catherine Combs, two girls from different parts of Kentucky, are participating in the first seventh-grade student exchange program between their schools. The girls will stay at each other’s homes, attend school together, and record their experience in their journals. Catherine and her family have a beautiful home with plenty of space. Since Ivy June’s house is crowded, she lives with her grandparents. Her Pappaw works in the coal mines supporting four generations of kinfolk. Ivy June can’t wait until he leaves that mine forever and retires. As the girls get closer, they discover they’re more alike than different, especially when they face the terror of not knowing what’s happening to those they love most.
Publication Date: 06/09/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Outlandish Adventures of Liberty Aimes
Kelly Easton, Greg Swearingen
Synopsis: Everyone has a destiny. Sometimes it takes an adventure to find it.

Liberty Aimes has spent all of her ten years captive in her parents' crooked house on Gooch Street. Her spry father, Mal Aimes, is a crook who sells insurance, while her overweight mother sits at home in front of the TV, demanding that Liberty cook nonstop. Liberty’s only knowledge of the outside world comes from the secret stash of children’s books and fairy tales she discovers beneath the floorboards. One day, Liberty enters her father’s forbidden basement laboratory. There she discovers a world of talking animals and magic potions. With the aid of one such potion, Liberty escapes into the world in search of her destiny.


From the Hardcover edition.
Publication Date: 06/09/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Junto Racing to the Bell
Synopsis: This is a story about an African American boy growing up poor on the streets of South Philadelphia, the same stomping grounds as Rocky. His name is Jamil Jamil and he was born with a special gift, a secret passed down through generations since time began. That secret is Jamil's ability to communicate with animals by exchanging mind messages with them. Communicating on a wave his Grandma Rody calls the "sixth dimension." When Jamil stumbles upon a terrorist plot to blow up Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell, and when no one believes him, he takes the advice of his Grandma Rody: "Boy, you've got to use those zoo animals and save the city." Then, it’s a race to the bell, a bell that once rang for freedom. Breaking out zoo animals is no easy feat; neither is hiding them in the city. It's an edge of the seat finish with twists and turns along the way. The Junto Racing to the Bell is an inspiring account of determination overcoming poverty. Jamil’s love of animals is equal to the love from his Grandma Rody, who is a guiding light in a storm of bullies and a bad home life. Kids 12 to 20 will love The Junto. It is fun to read and action packed. The Junto is also about teachers who care, tricks played on the principal, and sad tales from the ‘hood. It’s about having friends and loving animals. It’s about why kids learn in some schools and don’t in others. And, it’s about defending America.

Review

“I could not put this book down. In fact, I read it in two days. The main character, Jamil Jamil reveals the heart of so many of our African American students in urban settings. The author has captured the essence of Jamil Jamil– courageous, lonely, creative, isolated--has a grandmother who supplements a crack head mother—and he has a smart, engaging personality.
The setting is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the time is now. Jamil’s charter school provides an option for a safe effective education. Jamil has inherited a gift that allows him to transcend human communication; a secret gift that enables him to deal with a possible 9-11 terrorist attack on his beloved city. The book is rich with behind the scene information regarding governmental and international intrigue. Readers from elementary through high school as well as adults will find this an exciting and enjoyable experience. Whether the book is read to or read by youth and their family members, a good feeling will result.”
Fredricka Reisman, Ph.D.
Professor and Founder of the Drexel University School of Education
Director of the Drexel/Torrance Center for Creativity and Innovation
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

Publication Date: 06/03/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pretty Little Liars
Sara Shepard
Synopsis:

#1 New York Times bestselling series

The fifth book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that inspired the hit ABC Family TV show Pretty Little Liars.

In idyllic Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four very pretty girls just can't help but be bad. Hanna will do anything to be Rosewood's queen bee. Spencer's digging up her family's secrets. Emily can't stop thinking about her new boyfriend. And Aria approves a little too strongly of her mom's taste in men. The girls think they’re in the clear now that Ali's killer is finally behind bars. But someone new is mimicking “A’s” blackmailing ways with wicked and mysterious messages. And it’s only a matter of time before they let some secrets slip.

Full of unexpected twists and shocking revelations, Wicked is the fifth book in New York Times bestselling author Sara Shepard’s compelling Pretty Little Liars series. 

Publication Date: 06/02/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Gray Baby
Scott Loring Sanders
Synopsis: At six, Clifton watched as two white police officers beat his black father to death. The official report called it an accident. But Clifton and his mother, who was also there, know the truth.

Ten years later Clifton's life has been shaped by that horrible event. He's a social outcast, his mother has sunk deep into alcoholism, and the only connection has with a living thing is with the dog next door whose life is as bad as Clifton's.

But then Clifton's principal comes up with the idea to have all the students release balloons with notes attached. It's meant to build school spirit, but it also gives Clifton an idea. What if, somehow, he was able to reach someone somewhere far away, and actually make a connection? Maybe even have a friend. So instead of balloons he uses bottles, and sets them afloat with notes inside down the New River.

Amazingly, Clifton actually does here from someone. His name is Swamper, he's got to be at least 70, and he lives in a shack on the river, meaking out a living selling fish. Swamper and Clifton strike up a friendship and it looks like Clifton may be okay after all.

But then the kidnapping of a young girl that Clifton witnesses brings back all of his old demons. How can he go to the police after what they did to his father? And his mother, she's useless. So he turns to Swamper, and in the end, discovers truths about his family, his life, and himself, that he never would have imagined.
Publication Date: 06/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival
Synopsis: You would think Petronella’s sixteenth birthday would be cause for celebration. After all, fashionable friends are arriving at her country estate near London, teas are being served, and her coming out party promises to be a resplendent affair. Everything is falling nicely into place, until, suddenlyit isn’t. For Petronella discovers that her guardian, Uncle Augustus T. Percival, has developed a most unVictorian compulsion: He must eat bugs. Worse still, because he is her guardian, Uncle Augustus is to attend her soiree and his current state will most definitely be an embarrassment.
During the festivities, when Petronella would much rather be sharing pleasantries with handsome Lord James Sinclair (swoon), important guests are disappearing, kidnapping notes are appearing, many of the clues are insects, and Uncle Augustus is surreptitiously devouring evidence. It’s more than one sixteen-year-old girl should have to deal with. But, truth be told, there is far more yet to come . . .
Publication Date: 06/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Mind-Rain
Scott Westerfeld
Synopsis: Mind-Rain:Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series by Unknow...
Publication Date: 06/01/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute: Lunch Lady #1
Synopsis: From the author of National Book Award finalist Hey, Kiddo.

Serving justice . . . and lunch!

Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady. What does she do when she isn’t dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home? Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn’t just serve sloppy joes—she serves justice! Whatever danger lies ahead, it’s no match for LUNCH LADY!
Publication Date: 06/01/09
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Slept Away
Julie Kraut
Synopsis: Laney Parker is a city girl through and through. For her, summertime means stepping out of her itchy gray school uniform and into a season of tanning at rooftop swimming pools, brunching at sidewalk cafes, and—as soon as the parents leave for the Hamptons—partying at her classmates’ apartments.
But this summer Laney’s mother has other plans for Laney. It’s called Camp Timber Trails and rustic doesn’t even begin to describe the un-air-conditioned log cabin nightmare. Laney is way out of her element—the in-crowd is anything but cool, popularity seems to be determined by swimming skills, and the activities seem more like boot camp than summer camp.
Splattered with tie dye fall out, stripped of her cell, and going through Diet Coke withdrawal, Laney is barely hanging on. Being declared the biggest loser of the bunk is one thing, but when she realizes her summer crush is untouchably uncrushable in the real world, she starts to wonder, can camp cool possibly translate to cool cool?
Summer camp might just turn this city girl’s world upside down!
Publication Date: 05/26/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
MythOS
Kelly McCullough
Synopsis: Computer savvy sorcerer Ravirn learns that not every world is user friendly in this WebMage novel from Kelly McCullough.

In the 21st century, magic has advanced with the times and gone digital. Ravirn—umpteenth great-grandson of one of the three Fates—is a talented sorcerer, a computer hacker extraordinaire, and in the process of becoming a minor demi-god. His best friend and familiar is both a goblin and a laptop, changing shape from one to the other as needed.
 
While repairing Necessity (the badly-broken sentient computer that runs the multiverse), Ravirn is thrown into a very different place, a parallel world where the Greek gods are only myths. This strange realm is ruled by the Norse pantheon of gods—Odin, Thor, and other fun-loving brutes—and their magic uses a completely different operating system. A system that Ravirn will have to hack if he ever wants to get out of Asgard alive…
Publication Date: 05/26/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Hunger
Michael Grant
Synopsis:

The second book in Michael Grant's New York Times bestselling Gone series, Hunger is a thrilling, action-packed story that is impossible to put down.

It's been three months since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Food ran out weeks ago and starvation is imminent. Meanwhile, the normal teens have grown resentful of the kids with powers. And when an unthinkable tragedy occurs, chaos descends upon the town. There is no longer right and wrong. Each kid is out for himself and even the good ones turn murderous. But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ. Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them.

The Darkness has awakened. And it is hungry.

 

Publication Date: 05/26/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Love You Hate You Miss You
Elizabeth Scott
Synopsis:

Get this, I'm supposed to be starting a journal about "my journey." Please. I can see it now: Dear Diary, As I'm set adrift on this crazy sea called "life" . . . I don't think so.

It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her.

And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone now, and she doesn't want to talk about it. They wouldn't get it, anyway. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to have your best friend ripped away from you.

They wouldn't understand what it feels like to know it's your fault.

Amy's shrink thinks it would help to start a diary. Instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia.

But as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past wasn't as perfect as she thought it was—and the present deserves a chance too.

Publication Date: 05/26/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Dessert First
Christine Davenier, Hallie Durand
Synopsis: Dessert Schneider has her very own personal style. But sometimes walking to the beat of her own drum means walking right into a heap of mischief, especially when it comes to the legendary family recipe (and Dessert's all-time favorite treat), Grandma Reine's Double-Decker Chocolate Bars. As the oldest in a rambunctious, restaurant-owning family, with a four-year-old sister who is going through a "phase" and two little brothers called “the Beasties,” Dessert seems to be better at getting into trouble than getting out of it. And that's because for this eight-year-old, saying sorry is definitely not a piece o'cake!
Publication Date: 05/19/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction

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