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Dream Girl
Lauren Mechling
Synopsis: CLAIRE VOYANTE HAS been having strange visions ever since she can remember. But the similarity between her name and her talents is purely coincidental. The name is French, and unlike the psychics on TV, she can’t solve crimes or talk to the dead. Whenever Claire follows her hunches, she comes up empty—or ends up in pretty awkward situations.
But that all changes on Claire’s 15th birthday, when her grandmother, Kiki—former socialite, fashion icon, and permanent fixture at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel—gives her something a little more extraordinary than one of her old cocktail dresses: a strange black-and-white onyx cameo on a gold chain. It’s not long before Claire’s world becomes a whole lot clearer. And a whole lot more dangerous.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Dragon in the Sock Drawer
John Shroades, Kate Klimo
Synopsis: For Magic Tree House readers who are ready for something longer, the Dragon Keepers series has the perfect length and reading level, along with the fast-paced writing, adventure, and sense of teamwork that kids love to read.

TEN-YEAR-OLD COUSINS Jesse and Daisy have always wanted something magical to happen to them. So it’s a wish come true when Jesse’s newly found thunder egg hatches, and a helpless, tiny but very loud baby dragon pops out. Soon the two kids are at the dragon’s beck-and-call, trying to figure out what to feed her.

An Internet search leads them to the library, which leads them back to the Internet, where they find a very strange Web site called “foundadragon.org.” It is here that the cousins discover that the dragon’s hatching has designated them “Dragon Keepers” and that not only do they have to feed her, but they have to keep her safe from the villainous Saint George who has kept himself alive over centuries by drinking dragons’ blood.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Kasumi
Hirofumi Sugimoto, Surt Lim
Synopsis: THE INVISIBLE GIRL

Kasumi is a special girl–and not just because she’s a super-cute high schooler with a heart of gold. She has a major secret: She can turn invisible when she holds her breath. But when she transfers to an elite private school, it gets harder to keep her superpowers secret, especially when she catches the eye of the handsome student-body president, Ryuuki, and becomes the target of his number one fan, mean girl extraordinaire Reina. Can Kasumi keep hiding who she really is?
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel
Zaregoto
take, Nisioisin
Synopsis: It’s the vacation of a lifetime, a trip to a remote island filled with geniuses–and murder.

On Wet Crow’s Feather Island, a tiny speck in the Sea of Japan, lives Akagami Iria, the exiled daughter of a powerful family. Born into great wealth, she was a princess of the highest pedigree–until she was cut off by the leader of the Akagami Foundation. For the last five years, she’s lived on Feather Island with her maids. But she hasn’t been alone. She has invited the best minds Japan has to offer to come and stay with her.

And so nineteen-year-old college student Ii-chan and his best friend, computer genius Kunagisa Tomo, find themselves as Iria’s guests at her elaborate mansion. Surrounded by fascinating women–a chef, a fortune-teller, a scholar, and an artist, not to mention his own friend Tomo–Ii-chan is feeling a little overmatched intellectually. But the sudden discovery of a grisly murder sends the island into shock. And Ii-chan discovers that he does possess a bit of genius: the ability to discover what is real and what is fake . . . who is who they claim to be–and who is a killer.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel
The Veil of Gold
Kim Wilkins
Synopsis:

When an ancient gold bear is found walled up in a dilapidated St. Petersburg bathhouse, researcher Daniel St. Clair and his frosty colleague Em Hayward set out for the university in Arkhangelsk to verify its age. Along the way they are mysteriously set adrift. Maps are suddenly useless. Lost and exhausted they turn north, sinking even deeper into the secrets and terrors of the Russian landscape.

Daniel’s lost love, the wild and beautiful Rosa Kovalenka, fears the worst when Daniel goes missing and resolves to find him. To do so will mean confronting her past and secrets that she has fought to suppress. The only way to save him is to go forward, where she encounters the haunted Chenchikov clan, a family with their own shadowy tangle of grief, desire, and treachery.

In the unknowable, impenetrable Russian forest, Rosa meets an enigmatic wanderer who is full of tales and riddles of times past. Who might hold the key to Rosa and Daniel’s future--or the destruction of their world.

Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Kujibiki Unbalance 1
Shimoku Kio, Koume Keito
Synopsis: SCHOOL HERO

Chihiro has been cursed with bad luck all his life. But all that changes when he wins a mysterious lottery that earns him a spot at the prestigious Rikkyoin High School, a strange place where everything is decided by chance–even who gets appointed to the student council. Although Chihiro has drawn the winning ticket, this is no ordinary honor. Each day the student-council members must risk their lives to save the school from various forces of evil. Chihiro’s luck is about to be put to the test yet again, and one wrong move could mean death!
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel
Tantalize
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Synopsis: "Readers will be tantalized by this dark, romantic, and disturbing fantasy of vampires, werewolves, and a strong no-nonsense heroine. " — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

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Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? TANTALIZE marks Cynthia Leitich Smith’s delicious debut as a preeminent author of dark fantasy.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Marvel The Marvelous
Laura Chester
Synopsis: As they travel to the famed Treasure House that will show Leezie the way home from the magical kingdom of Joya, she and Marvel, a little pink pony, become best friends while sharing the adventure.
Publication Date: 07/15/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
A Darkness Forged in Fire: Book One of the Iron Elves
Synopsis: Forcibly summoned out of exile to resurrect the Iron Elves regiment he once had led, disgraced elf officer Konowa Swift Dragon is ordered to fight an elf witch of immense dark power, a mission that is compromised by doubts about the elves' loyalty to their empire. A first novel.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Travelers Market
John Murphy, Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Synopsis: In this exciting second installment of The Wolfproof Trilogy the perilous worlds of myth and middle school once again collide as Timothy James, his sister Sarah and their friend Jessica race against time and an ancient Evil to save their mother and restore peace and harmony to the Travelers Market.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Love and Lies
Ellen Wittlinger
Synopsis: Marisol Guzman has deferred college for a year to accomplish two things: She will write a novel and she will fall in love. How hard could that be? She gets her very own apartment (with her high school best friend as roommate) and a waitressing job at a classic Harvard Square coffeehouse. When she enrolls in an adult education class -- "How to Write Your First Novel" -- there are two big surprises waiting for her: John Galardi, aka "Gio," a fellow zine writer who fell head over heels for her last spring (despite the fact that she's a lesbian) and her instructor, Olivia Frost, the most exquisitely beautiful woman she's ever seen.

But as Marisol ventures into what seems to be her storybook romance with Olivia, things start to go off track. Between the ups and downs of her new relationship, her strained friendship with Lee (a newly out lesbian who is crushing big-time on Marisol), and her roommate's new boyfriend (who is equally afraid of Marisol and their cat) moving in, Marisol starts losing sight of her goals. Is she too blinded by love to see the lies?

In this long-anticipated companion novel to the Printz Honor Book Hard Love, which critics called "A bittersweet tale of self-expression and the struggle to achieve self-love," Ellen Wittlinger offers a novel just as emotionally honest and deeply felt.

Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Man in the Moon
Dotti Enderle
Synopsis: JANINE IS PREPARED for a sticky, boring summer on her family’s land in the middle of nowhere. Far from town and with only her ailing brother Ricky for company, Janine spends half her time stuck inside with him, wishing that their mother would let them out to play. But when Mr. Lunas—a mysterious man who saved Janine’s father’s life in the war— arrives through the cornfields, strange things begin happening. Ricky sets his heart on building a go-cart. Mr. Lunas eats them out of house and home, then suddenly stops eating at all. And then Ricky’s health takes a turn for the worse, and it looks like Janine’s world is about to spin out of control. Janine’s overprotective mom locks Ricky in his bedroom with her, and Janine is desperate to find a way to say goodbye. In the end, it’s Mr. Lunas who comes to her rescue, encouraging her to break Ricky free—and then giving them both an enormous gift. Thought-provoking and gracefully written, this short literary novel is a small gem.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Lang Lang
Andrew Pang, Michael French, Lang Lang
Synopsis: Lang Lang started learning to play the piano when he was three years old in Shenyang, China. Today he is one of the world€™s most outstanding pianists. In this engrossing life story, adapted by Michael French, Lang Lang not only recounts the difficult, often thrilling, events of his early days, but also shares his perspective on his rapidly changing homeland. He thoughtfully explores the differences between East and West, especially in the realm of classical music and cultural life. Shining through his rags-to-riches story of a child prodigy who came of age as a renowned musician, Lang Lang€™s positive spirit, his dynamic personality, and his enduring passion for music will inspire listeners of all ages.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Nonfiction
Shadows In The Twilight
Henning Mankell
Synopsis: JOEL WILL SOON be 12, and he thinks nothing is going on in the small community where he lives. But he’s wrong. One day, an incident that could easily have been a catastrophe turns into a miracle. Now Joel believes he owes the world a good deed, to prove that he deserved what might have been divine intervention. He thinks up an elaborate scheme, but it doesn’t go as anticipated. Even though his heart is in the right place, feelings are hurt. If he confesses what he’s done and why, will things be put right again?
Readers who met Joel Gustafson, his father, and their friends in A Bridge to the Stars will follow, with appreciation, Henning Mankell’s shrewd depiction, in this companion novel, of the surprising changes in Joel’s existence. Mankell deftly explores Joel’s self-discovery, his realization that lives can be altered in a single moment, and his new understanding that a choice between telling the truth and keeping silent can make all the difference.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Poison Ink
Christopher Golden
Synopsis: SAMMI, TQ, CARYN, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School—except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes. Faster than you can say “airbrush,” Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends’ backs: the original tattoo has grown tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls’ entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what—if anything—can Sammi do to get them back? This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Search for the Pegasus
Synopsis: Pick a path to adventure!

In Endless Quest, readers become heroes in their own fantasy quest. Fight a dragon; ride a flying carpet, or fling spells at an evil wizard. The adventure is endless and the choices are yours!

In the latest Endless Quest adventure your best friend Clarion the pegasus has been kidnapped by the Evil Blue Hag. It's up to you and your friends, a noble gnome and a colorful leprechaun, to save Clarion before it's too late.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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