Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 164 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Paul Ostler and the Secret of Sky Lake
Synopsis: Paul Ostler, a kid who doesn’t feel very special, and his guardian Frank are moving again. This time they find themselves in a strange town on the shores of Sky Lake, where myths and legends are more than stories. They meet strange creatures, ancient spirits, and mystical healers who show them a reality beyond what they have seen. Exploring this magical world, Paul discovers secrets about his past and family that show him he is anything but normal. He learns that a hidden group has been hunting him and his family for years. He also discoveries that something is not right in Sky Lake, and must figure out how to fix it before it is too late. In his struggles, Paul discovers that it is the people he cares about and what he does for them that truly make him special.
Publication Date: 11/05/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fantasy
Resonating The Sound
Linda Mitchell Maddox
Synopsis: "Resonating the Sound" is a teen-middle school novel that takes place during the eighth grade year of a girl who has suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury during sixth grade and finally agrees to use an augmentative communication device after not regaining any of her vocal abilities. A special relationship develops between her and a boy in her class who has Gifted Aspergers. He plays a major role in altering the device, which gives the main character access to pieces of a dream she thinks are lost forever.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Court of the Fey
Russell Davis, Martin H. Greenberg
Synopsis: Fantasy, whether classic or contemporary, has always been based on the conflict between the forces of Light and Darkness. Now some of the genre's most inventive authors bring readers into the Seelie Court, where all serve the Queen of Air and Light, and the Unseelie Court, where the forces of Darkness hold sway.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Fire Works in the Hamptons
Synopsis: Graphic novelist Willow Tate has a paranormal talent for "drawing" beings from the realm of Faerie into our world. So why did she foolishly make the hero of her next book a fire wizard? Now she has to contend with a rash of "fire" flies, a gorgeous firefighter, and an arsonist who seems determined to set East Hampton ablaze...
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Death Magic
Eileen Wilks
Synopsis: Recovering from an attempt on his life by an FBI traitor, Lily Yu's boss forms a ghost unity that will operate in secret-and outside the law. Lily's conscience won't let her join. Her fiancé, lupi Rule Turner, has no such reservations. But when a senator is killed, Lily's decision becomes a matter of life and death-and all the magic in between.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
The Black Hawk
Joanna Bourne
Synopsis: Attacked on a rainy London street, veteran spy Justine DeCabrillac knows only one man can save her: Hawker, her oldest friend . . . her oldest enemy. London's crawling with hidden assassins and someone is out to frame Hawker for murder. The two spies must work together to find who's out to destroy them...
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Romance
Heart of Darkness
Lauren Dane
Synopsis: Someone is illegally siphoning magic from the font of the Clan. When Meriel Owen, next in line to control the largest organization of witches in the country, discovers that it's the hot owner of a notorious underground club, she strokes an unusual deal that may plunge them all into the heart of darkness.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark Eden
Patrick Arrasmith, Patrick Carman
Synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Patrick Carman's Dark Eden is a provocative exploration of fear, betrayal, memory, and— ultimately—immortality.

Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Crossed
Ally Condie
Synopsis: The hotly awaited second book in the dystopian Matched trilogy

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Dark Inside
Jeyn Roberts
Synopsis: Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
The Wild Ways
Tanya Huff
Synopsis: "The Gales are an amazing family, the aunts will strike fear into your heart, and the characters Allie meets are both charming and terrifying." -#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

Alysha Gale's cousin Charlotte is a Wild Power, who allies herself with a family of Selkies in a fight against offshore oil drilling. The oil company has hired another of the Gale family's Wild Powers, the fearsome Auntie Catherine, to steal the Selkies' sealskins. To defeat her, Charlotte will have to learn what born to be Wild really means in the Gale family...

Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Brotherband Chronicles
John Flanagan
Synopsis: From the author of the global phenomenon Ranger's Apprentice!

They are outcasts. Hal, Stig, and the others - they are the boys the others want no part of. Skandians, as any reader of Ranger's Apprentice could tell you, are known for their size and strength. Not these boys. Yet that doesn't mean they don't have skills. And courage - which they will need every ounce of to do battle at sea against the other bands, the Wolves and the Sharks, in the ultimate race. The icy waters make for a treacherous playing field . . . especially when not everyone thinks of it as playing. John Flanagan, author of the international phenomenon Ranger's Apprentice, creates a new cast of characters to populate his world of Skandians and Araluens, a world millions of young readers around the world have come to know and admire. Full of seafaring adventures and epic battles, Book 1 of The Brotherband Chronicles is sure to thrill readers of Ranger's Apprentice while enticing a whole new generation just now discovering the books.

Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Mirror of N'de
L.K. Malone
Synopsis: In the mythical city of N’de lives thirteen-year-old Hadlay and her people, the Ramash. Scorned and abused by the unloving and absent Emperor, the Ramash are poor people, placed second to the ruling class of the Oresed. Young but bold, Hadlay rages against the injustice in her city. When she is chosen for the honor of serving the Prince in the Tower, she hopes to find a way to right the wrong . . . but soon discovers that things are worse than she believed.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Running with Chaos
Elicia Clegg
Synopsis: Chaos stood, after yet another failed attempt, on the embankment, breathless in both body and mind. Day after day, night after night, over and over, doomed time after doomed time; he could not save eight-year-old Raven Clayton. The anguish had not lessened and now the sorrow was unbearable and growing out of control, plaguing him, and all those around him, like a cancer. Yet here he stood and here he would stay. He made a promise a long time ago and though death is relentlessly staking her with permission from a voracious force, Chaos will find a way around Raven's cruel fate and save her life.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
A Million Shades of Gray
Cynthia Kadohata
Synopsis: Y'Tin is brave.

No one in his village denies that—his mother may wish that he’d spend more time on school work than on elephant training, but still she knows that it takes a great deal of courage and calm to deal with elephants the way that Y'Tin does. He is almost the best trainer in the village—and, at twelve-years old, he’s certainly the youngest. Maybe he’ll even open up his own school some day to teach other Montagnards how to train wild elephants? That was the plan anyway—back before American troops pulled out of the Vietnam War, back before his village became occupied by Viet Cong forces seeking revenge, back before Y'Tin watched his life change in a million terrible ways.

Now, his bravery is truly put to the test: he can stay in his village, held captive by the Viet Cong or he can risk his life (and save his elephant’s) by fleeing into the jungle. The Montagnards know their surroundings well. After all, this is why Y'Tin’s village had become loyal US allies during the war, having been tapped by Special Forces for their tracking skills and familiarity with the jungle. But that also means that Y'Tin knows how unsafe it can be—and how much danger he is in if he chooses to head out with no destination in mind.

At once heartbreaking and full of hope, Newbery Medal-winning author Cynthia Kadohata’s exploration into the depth of the jungle and the not-so-distant past brings us close to a world few people know about—and none will ever forget. Y'Tin’s story is one of lasting friendships, desperate choices and all that we lose when we are forced to change.
Publication Date: 11/01/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Historical Fiction
Gamadin: Gazz [Book IV]
Tom Kirkbride
Synopsis: Finally, the Boys have a series the Girls love to read! In this fourth installment, Harlowe is surfing in the South Pacific with his little brother, Dodger, when Riverstone calls in a panic from the Omini Prime quadrant. All life on the planet Gazz is about to be wiped out by a lethal gamma ray burst in 11 days. According to Wiz, saving the planet with Millawanda's force field is a slam dunk. The plan was going smoothly until hostile forces dropped out of hyperspace, moments before the deadly rays struck. Battling two forces at once, Millie still saves the planet, but at a cost: her power is sucked dry! Unable to maintain orbit, Millawanda plunges into the planet's ocean. Adding to their peril, Riverstone, Lu and Sizzle have vanished and a second gamma ray burst will hit the planet in 37 days! There is a source of thermo-grym to bring back Millie, but Gazz is a 16th century planet of wind-powered ships and slithering beasts called Traas. In a race against time, Harlowe must borrow and commandeer a pirate ship to find the yellow crystals that will power Millawanda back to life before the crew, his girl, the planet and his own life are lost...
Publication Date: 10/31/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS