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Eon
Alison Goodman
Synopsis: Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he'll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragoneye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon's affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court, where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon's desperate lie comes to light, readers won't be able to stop turning the pages ...
Publication Date: 12/26/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Need
Carrie Jones
Synopsis:

Now fans of Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Marr have a new author to devour . . .

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life's been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother's pretty much checked out. Now Zara's living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays "safe." Zara doesn't think she's in danger; she thinks her mother can't deal.

Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn't a figment of her imagination. He's a pixie―and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He's the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he's trailing Zara.

With suspense, romance, and paranormal themes, this exciting breakout novel has all the elements to keep teens rapidly turning the pages.

Publication Date: 12/23/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Parties and Potions
Sarah Mlynowski
Synopsis: Perfect hair, cute clothes, healthy tans—life’s a breeze when you’re a witch! Even special witchcraft classes Rachel agrees to attend with Miri turn out to be fun. The sisters meet other teen witches just like them—who knew? Everyone’s preparing for a magical party called a Samsorta—a debutante ball for witches. And it wouldn’t be a ball without warlocks. Cute ones. Like Adam, who wants to slow dance with Rachel, and ski with her in the Rockies—on a school night! Of course, Rachel is madly in love with her boyfriend, Raf. So why can’t she bring herself to tell Adam—funny, charming Adam—that Raf exists?

Rachel knows Raf likes her. Maybe even, gulp, loves her. But Raf doesn’t know her secret. Unlike Adam, Raf doesn’t know who she really is. And she can never tell him. Or can she?
Publication Date: 12/23/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
The Breath of God
Harry Turtledove
Synopsis: Once the great Glacier enclosed the Raumsdalian Empire. Now it€™s broken open, and Count Hamnet Thyssen faces a new world. With the wisecracking Ulric Skakki, the neighboring clan leader Trasamund (politely addressed as Your Ferocity), and his lover, the shaman Liv, Hamnet leads an exploration of the new territory in hopes of finding the legendary Golden Shrine.But dangers abound. A violent and implacable group known as the Rulers has already killed many, and now they attack again. Riding deer and woolly mammoths and using powerful magic, the Rulers triumph and force the Raumsdalians to flee. In the spring another battle ends even more badly for Hamnet's side, but the Glacier is also retreating, so they are able to escape. Meeting a tribe whose desperate living conditions have led them to overcome the Raumsdalian taboo against eating fallen foes, they find unexpected allies. Now, returning to the capital city and its intrigues, Hamnet prepares to lead an a
Publication Date: 12/23/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Encyclopedia of The End
Deborah Noyes
Synopsis: How much do we truly know and understand about our own mortality? Enter Encyclopedia of the End, a compulsively readable and beautifully illustrated compendium that explores this most taboo of topics. Entries present a kaleidoscopic mix of topics from afterlife to assassination, forensic science to funeral foods, rigor mortis to reincarnation and more. With an appreciation for the profound and profane, Deborah Noyes helps lift the shroud of secrecy surrounding one of the most fascinating—and ordinary—phenomena of life.
After all, who says that a book about death can’t be lively?
Publication Date: 12/15/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Educational
Persistence of Memory
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Erin Misrahe just wants to be like everyone else in her new school. But Erin has more to worry about than passing AP Chemistry or making friends. In times of stress, she has always been overcome by her alter ego, Shevaun, whose violent behavior wreaks havoc on those around her. Erin can never remember anything about these episodes, and she’s grateful to have been spared them for a while.

But when a protective friend comes back into Erin’s life, he insists that Shevaun is a vampire who actually exists apart from Erin. Shevaun has dangerous allies, like the handsome witch Adjila—and they’re determined to sever Shevaun’s connection to Erin once and for all.
Publication Date: 12/09/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Paranormal
They Carry Their Own Water
Nancy Milakovic Mcgann
Synopsis: This book is a photographic journal of a day in the life of indigenous Indians protesting with fire blockades on the Pan American Highway against the U.S. free trade talks. Throughout most of South America, people struggle to make a living. More than half the people in Ecuador today live in poverty. In 2006, the Andean countries were negotiating a free trade pact with the United States. Washington decided to make changes in order to freely export American goods to South America. The indigenous groups understood that importing to Ecuador would flood their markets and make a stressed economic situation worse.
Publication Date: 12/05/08
Age Level: Any Age
Genre: Nonfiction
Hail to the Chef
Julie Hyzy
Synopsis: White House executive chef Ollie Paras has to put her own interests on the back burner when a kindly electrician is electrocuted to death, and the First Lady’s nephew dies in an apparent suicide less than 24 hours after cleaning shrimp with Ollie. Ollie suspects something fishy is going on. She’ll have to watch her back—and find a killer unlikely to be pardoned.
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
The Knights of the Cornerstone
James P. Blaylock
Synopsis: Dedicated to his work and to his collection of rare and quirky books, a reclusive Calvin Bryson finally takes the time to visit his aunt and uncle in the tiny town of New Cyprus, California, only to come face to face with a town hiding strange secrets and an enigmatic group, an incarnation of the Knights Templar, dedicated to the preservation of holy relics.
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Flaxen Femme Fatale
Synopsis: After being attacked by a laser-eyed librarian and a goon in a clown suit, Zach Johnson, the last freelance P.I. on Earth, is hired to track down a blonde bombshell named Natasha who just happens to be the World Council's ultra-secret weapon. Original.
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Humor
Devil May Ride
Wendy Roberts
Synopsis: Sadie Novak, the owner of a crime scene cleanup company who is gifted with the second sight, comes face-to-face with evil and a gang of meth-deprived motorcyclists, when she finds evidence of a chilling cult ritual in an abandoned meth lab. Original.
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
War and Peace
Larissa Volokhonsky, Richard Pevear, Leo Tolstoy
Synopsis:

From the award-winning translators of Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov comes this magnificent new translation of Tolstoy's masterwork.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men.

A s Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.

Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Unusual Suspects
Dana Stabenow
Synopsis: All-new from the top names in mystery and fantasy— including a never-beforepublished Sookie Stackhouse story from Charlaine Harris!

This follow-up to Powers of Detection showcases bestselling and award-winning names from Simon Green to Laurie King to Sharon Shinn—with original stories featuring otherworldly investigators trailing uncanny criminals across fantastical realms. From video game characters seeking civil rights and a cave dragon loan shark pondering an investment, to Santa Claus’s Australian vacation and an enemy of Sam Spade’s out for revenge—plus visits to the Nightside and Sookie Stackhouse’s hometown— these stories will take readers around the world on a magical mystery tour.
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Series
Dragon Strike
E.E. Knight
Synopsis: The author of the national bestselling Vampire Earth series continues the saga of the world?s last dragons.

Three dragon siblings are among the last of a dying breed, and the final hope for their species? survival. AuRon, Wistala, and Copper find themselves at odds over the coming human war. AuRon thinks dragons should have no part in the affairs of humans. Wistala believes dragons and man can peacefully co-exist. And Copper has designs of his own on the world.

And the civilized humans who have turned to Copper for assistance against their savage enemies have just given him the perfect opportunity to fulfill his plans?
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Moving Targets
Mercedes Lackey
Synopsis: Sixteen original stories?set in mercedes lackey?s valdemar universe

Includes a new novella by Mercedes Lackey!

Today?s hottest fantasy authors visit Mercedes Lackey?s bestselling world of Valdemar, adding their own special touches to the ancient land where Heralds ?Chosen? from all walks of life by magical horse-like Companions patrol their ancient kingdom, dispensing justice, facing adversaries, and protecting their monarch from whatever threatens. Travel with Tanya Huff, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Fiona Patton, Judith Tarr, Rosemary Edghill, and others in these exciting, all-new stories.
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Anthology
Peacekeeper
Laura E. Reeve
Synopsis: First in a brand new action-packed military science fiction series, meet Major Ariane Kedros—daring pilot, decorated soldier, war criminal.

Fifteen years ago, Ariane Kedros piloted a ship on a mission that obliterated an entire solar system. Branded a war criminal, she was given a new identity and a new life in order to protect her from retribution.

But now, twelve of Ariane’s wartime colleagues are dead— assassinated by someone who has uncovered their true identities. And her superiors in the Autonomist army have placed her directly in the assassin’s line of fire on a peacekeeping mission that will decide the fate of all humanity…
Publication Date: 12/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction

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