Synopsis: Parker is a normal sixth grader--or he was normal before the puppet. It's just an old hand puppet, sticking out of a garbage can, and even though Parker's best friend says leave it, Parker brings the puppet home and tries it on. Or maybe it tries him on. "You will call me Drog!" the puppet commands once they're alone. And now, no matter how hard Parker tries, he can't get Drog off his hand.

Drog is sarcastic, cruel, unpredictable, and loud--everything Parker isn't. Worse yet, no one believes that Drog--not Parker--is the one saying the outrageous things that get Parker into trouble. Then Drog starts sharpening his snarky wit on the most fragile parts of Parker's life--like his parents' divorce. Parker's shocked, but deep down he agrees with Drog a little. Perhaps Drog is saying things Parker wants to say after all.

Maybe the only way to get rid of Drog is to truly listen to him.

Synopsis: When you're sixteen and no one understands who you are, sometimes the only choice left is to run. If you're lucky, you find a place that accepts you, no questions asked. And if you're really lucky, that place has a drum set, a place to practice, and a place to sleep. For Kid, the streets of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, are that place. Over the course of two scorching summers, Kid falls hopelessly in love and then loses nearly everything and everyone worth caring about. But as summer draws to a close, Kid finally finds someone who can last beyond the sunset.

Brooklyn, Burning is the story of two summers in Brooklyn, two summers of fires, music, loss, and ultimately, love.

Synopsis: Flower, her parents and her baby brother have escaped from the plantation where they were kept as slaves and are making their way north to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Their journey is dangerous and often desperate, as they are helped and sheltered by some, and hunted by others. Flower's courage helps her family through illness, recapture and to escape again to safety.

Interwoven with Flower's narrative is the story of Felicia, a young girl living over 150 years later in Canada in a small community that was once an end-point of the Underground Railroad. Felicia, one of the few black children in her school, is researching her ancestry for a class project. As she talks to her mother and grandmother and learns about her ancestors' struggles and successes, their bravery gives her the strength to confront the racism of a bullying classmate.

Synopsis: Lesson 2: The people we love most may be the ones we know least. . .

Archangel Academy is more than a school to Michael Howard. Within its majestic buildings and serene English grounds, he's found friends, new love, and a place that feels more like home than Nebraska ever did. But the most important gift of Archangel Academy is immortality. . .

Life as a just-made vampire is challenging for Michael, even with Ronan, an experienced vamp, to guide him. Michael's abilities are still raw and unpredictable. To add to the turmoil, the ancient feud between rival vampire species is sending ripples of discord through the school. And beneath the new headmaster's charismatic front lies a powerful and very personal agenda.

Yet the mysteries lurking around the Academy pale in comparison to the secrets emerging from Michael's past. And choosing the wrong person to trust--or to love--could lead to an eternity of regret. . .

Michael Griffo is an award-winning writer and one of six playwrights whose career will be tracked by WritersInsight.com until 2010. He is a graduate of New York University, has studied at Playwrights Horizons and Gotham Writers Workshop, and has written several screenplays.

Synopsis:

 

When Gabi and Lia finally learn to surf the river of time, they realize they must make hard choices about life and love in Torrent, the third and final book in the River of Time series.  Gabi and Lia Betarrini have learned to control their time travel, and they return from medieval Italy to save their father from his tragic death in modern times. But love calls across the centuries, and the girls are determined to return forever—even though they know the Black Plague is advancing across Europe, claiming the lives of one-third of the population. In the suspenseful conclusion of the River of Time series, every decision is about life … and death. 

 

Synopsis: Things are looking up for Tyler Sato (literally!) as he and his friends scan the night sky for a star named for him by his Tokyo cousins in honor of his eleventh birthday. Ordinary stars tend to stay in one place, but Ty's seems to be streaking directly toward Earth at an alarming rate. Soon the whole world is talking about TY SATO, the doomsday asteroid, and life is turned upside down for Ty Sato, the boy, who would rather be playing hoops in his best friend's driveway.

Meanwhile, aboard a silver spaceship heading for Earth, M'Frozza, a girl with three eyes and five nose holes, is on a secret mission. M'Frozza is the captain of planet Mrendaria's Galaxy Games team, and she is desperate to save her world from a dishonorable performance in the biggest sporting event in the universe.

What will happen when Ty meets M'Frozza? Get ready for the most important event in human history--it's off the backboard, around the rim, and out of this world!

Synopsis: "Superpowers" is a very funny, but serious account of a responsible, perhaps too responsible, young man growing up abruptly over a period of a few weeks. Chipper's mother died on a Sunday. He was admitted to the hospital the following Tuesday with what the doctor described as a "life-threatening" asthma attack; and then, as Chipper remarks, "Things began to run downhill." When he wakes up in the hospital, Chipper encounters an apparition, named Hal. Hal, who turns out during his different appearances throughout the book to be moody, sarcastic, funny and cynical, is dressed farcically in strange hats and mismatched socks and a variety of costumes. He explains to Chipper that the world is in peril; and at such times he appears on earth to award a superpower to someone, in this case Chipper, so that person can save the world. It is not clear why Chipper is chosen. Neither, for that matter, is it clear why others throughout history were chosen to receive a superpower. Hal's account of their misadventures for the most part are a hilarious retelling of historical events and stories from mythology. It is, of course, critically important that Chipper picks the right superpower because the life he will lead eventually will be determined by that ability, just as the life everyone else leads is determined by that particular person's strength and weaknesses. Chipper's mother was a loving, but overprotective, woman who thought her son could do anything, any wonderful thing, but was unable to cross the street safely by himself.Without her overbearing guidance, Chipper has to suddenly decide for himself what to do next. Helping him to work out his future, and theirs, are his two best friends: Albert, an enthusiastic but credulous young man who feels doomed by the prospect of going into his father's dress business and by the existence of a younger sister, and John, "the smartest kid in the world," who has self-doubts, nevertheless, and is trying to come to terms with being homosexual. There are vivid and very funny accounts of a seance, a visit to a psychic, and, of course, a poker game. Barbara is Chipper's assertive girl friend who accompanies him to the Junior Prom, although he doesn't remember inviting her. When she is badly burned in an accident, as is Chipper, the two of them are brought to the hospital where Chipper in a benumbed state from pain medication disarms a terrorist who is threatening to blow up the hospital with a bomb. This comical scene takes place in the middle of a police stand-off with the terrorist. Another important character is Pannio, a street kid whose philosophy of enjoying life now represents a counterpoint to Chipper's struggle to decide his future. A still further contrast to Chipper's seriousness of purpose is his older brother's decision to become a hedge-fund manager. Then there is Super, the school superintendent, who is, indeed, super in one particular way, the ability to keep working and enjoying life despite enormous physical handicaps. Finally, there is Chipper's father, a sullen and embittered man whose resentment of his son may rise to dangerous levels. Before dying, Chipper's mother warned him to "watch out" for his father. And there is always in the background of "Superpowers" the tragedy of illness and death. Chipper, who is especially6 maginative and sensitive, tries to put his mother's death out of mind until a psychiatrist brings him back gently to dealing with her loss. But the book is at its heart a witty and optimistic celebration of growing up and of life itself. Growing up means separating from parents and developing one's own values. To some extent, it means challenging authority. It means coping with the uncertainties of sex; and it means, of course, deciding on a career and with it a way of living. In the case of Chipper it means learning how to fulfill his responsibility to other people. And then he gets his superpower.