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The Joys of Love
Léna Roy, Madeleine L'Engle
Synopsis:

During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She’s never felt so alive. And soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth’s ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth’s perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.

Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Léna Roy, the protagonist Elizabeth is close to an autobiographical portrait of L’Engle herself as a young woman—“vibrant, vulnerable, and yearning for love and all that life has to offer.”

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
If I Were Your Boyfriend
Synopsis:

Social zero meets unlikely hero

How had Keysha gone from popular to social outcast? One word: frenemy. A girl Keysha thought was her friend planted drugs on her—and Keysha got caught. The media blitz on their wealthy suburb turned everyone against her. First day back at school, and Keysha is stared down in the halls. Whispered about. No one will talk to her. And the girl who ruined Keysha's reputation laughs in her face. So when a guy with his own bad rep offers to help, Keysha's first reaction is yeah, right. Talk about an unlikely hero.

But soon she realizes that Wesley Morris is more than just hot, more than just talk. He's been there, done that and turned his life around. But no one wants this so-called bad-news boyfriend anywhere near Keysha. Including her family. Still, Wesley isn't willing to walk away and let Keysha Also Available pay for someone else's crime. He'll even risk everything to save her…and their relationship.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Lucky (by Rachel Vail)
Synopsis:

It's all good . . . and lucky Phoebe Avery plans to celebrate by throwing an end-of-the-year bash with her four closest friends. Everything will be perfect—from the guest list to the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. The only thing left to do is find the perfect dress . . . until Phoebe goes from having it all to hiding all she's lost.

Phoebe's older sisters warn her to keep the family's crisis totally secret. Unfortunately, her alpha-girl best friend looks increasingly suspicious, and Phoebe's crush starts sending seriously mixed signals. Phoebe tries hard to keep smiling, but when her mother is humiliated in Neiman Marcus while buying Phoebe that perfect dress and her father decides to cancel her party, she panics. How far will she go to keep up her image as a lucky girl?

With lucky, Rachel Vail begins a powerful sisterhood trilogy, comprised of one book for each of the three fascinating Avery sisters, with all their secrets laid bare during the year that completely changes their lives. Phoebe is the youngest; her story combines first love and flip-flops, friendship and sisterhood, humor and tears. Breezy, witty, and poignant, lucky is Rachel Vail at her breathtaking best.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Wicked Lovely
Melissa Marr
Synopsis:

Fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black won’t be able to resist the world of Melissa Marr's #1 New York Times bestselling series, full of faerie intrigue, mortal love, and courtly betrayal.

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom, her best friend Seth, her life—everything.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Neptune's Children
Bonnie Dobkin
Synopsis:

A day at the fabled amusement park Isles of Wonder turns deadly when a world-wide biological attack kills every adult, leaving behind only the kids to fend for themselves. Isolated from the world, unsure of what lies ahead, the young survivors assemble under the statue of King Neptune, the mythical ruler of the Isles, to form a new society. Led by the children of the park workers, they choose to remain closed off from the outside world living relatively comfortably inside the self-contained park. But when violence from the infested outside world appears to infiltrate their safe zone, one small group discovers a secret society and a hidden system of underground tunnels, and the stage is set for a war that will determine the future of everyone on the Isles.

As alliances are formed and broken, readers will find themselves taking sides in this suspenseful adventure story that addresses the duality of human nature.

Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Science Fiction
Abomination
Robert Swindells
Synopsis: Martha is 12 and very different from other kids—no TV, no computer, no cool clothes, and especially no friends. It's all because of her parents, who are strict members of a religious group called the Brethren. Their rules dominate Martha's life, and one rule is the most important of all: she must never ever invite anyone home. If she does, their terrible secret—Abomination—could be revealed. But as Martha makes her first real friend in Scott, a new boy at school, she begins to wonder, Is she doing the right thing by helping to keep Abomination a secret? And just how far will her parents go to prevent the truth from being known?
Publication Date: 04/28/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Kingdom of Malinas
Synopsis: Sorrel knows what she must do. Enter the Kingdom of Malinas to rescue her people from slavery. It should be easy. But the Kingdom of Malinas harbours evil…
Publication Date: 04/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Golden Path
Anson Montgomery
Synopsis: FROM: Dianna Torman (dtorman@deadmail.anonymous.guyana.000)
SUBJECT: Warning and Plea.
Sweetheart, I don't want to alarm you, but I fear I must. If you are getting this email it is because something has happened to us. This note is rigged to be sent from a special dead letter drop if I have not checked back in three days.

So begins the email that changes your life forever.
Where have your parents gone? Were they kidnapped? Did they travel on their own to Ungava Bay? Were the explosions at Carlsbad, New Mexico volcanic or something more sinister? Why is the government so interested? And why do your parents, who are college professors, suddenly have $74 million in the bank?

It starts with a simple call into the headmaster's office on a perfect fall day. It turns into a search for your missing parents that takes you and your two best friends on a trip into the hollow Earth. Part thriller, part travelogue, part personal quest, The Golden Path - Volume One weaves a labyrinthine journey as you search for answers to the truth about your past and the clues to your future. Every choice you make could be the difference between your parents life and death, and your ultimate destiny.

Four story lines continue from Volume One to Volume Two. Can you find the ultimate Golden Path?

A Multi-Volume Interactive Epic
Publication Date: 04/25/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Willing Sacrifice (The Sugar & Spice Series)
Synopsis: Raised in isolation, La’tiera has been coddled and secluded, her mission too important to risk anything happening to her. The Herald—a harbinger comet--has appeared in the sky, telling all the Time of Trial is near. She is ready to do as her duty requires, though the very world she will die to preserve is one she will never see. Dal has led a free life, serving the Order established centuries ago to find and instruct the Bearer in how to perform the Trial established by the covenant made between the Four Gods and the Demons who seek to take over his world. Yet as the latest Trial approaches, there has been no news of the Bearer. The Order is worried.
 A lively child draws these two together. La’tiera is elated at seeing a person or two from the outside, even as she worries her selfish desire for companionship might put all in jeopardy. Suspicion then arises on both sides, as what she has been taught and what Dal knows to be true are widely different. La’tiera knows the truth—she is the sacrifice that will save the world, no matter who says it should be otherwise. Her task has always been clear. She will not be swayed from her course. But Dal knows her death will open their world to the savage Demons—the exact opposite of what she has been told. He must find a way to get her to accept this before it is too late. But can he? Her very dedication and stubbornness might just doom their world to destruction. Let the battle of wills begin.
Publication Date: 04/23/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Crispin- At the Edge of the World
Synopsis:
The more I came to know of the world, the more I knew I knew it not.

He was a nameless orphan, marked for death by his masters for an unknown crime. Discovering his name— Crispin—only intensified the mystery.  Then Crispin met Bear, who helped him learn the secret of his full identity. And in Bear—the enormous, red-bearded juggler, sometime spy, and everyday philosopher—Crispin also found a new father and a new world.

Now Crispin and Bear have set off to live their lives as free men. But they don’t get far before their past catches up with them: Bear is being pursued by members of the secret brotherhood who believe he is an informer. When Bear is badly wounded, it is up to Crispin to make decisions about their future—where to go, whom to trust. Along the way they become entangled with an extraordinary range of people, each of whom affects Crispin and Bear’s journey in unexpected ways.  To find freedom and safety, they may have to travel to the edge of the world—even if it means confronting death itself.

In this riveting sequel to the Newbery-Award winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead—the second book in a planned trilogy—Avi explores themes of war, religion, and family as he continues the adventures of Crispin and Bear.
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Love Me Tender
Audrey Couloumbis
Synopsis: Elvira’s family has never been the warm, fuzzy type. Most of the time, Elvira can’t stand the sight of her little sister, Kerrie. Elvira and her mother, Mel, fight more often than not. Mel hasn’t spoken to her own family in years. And when Mel announces she’s pregnant again, Elvira’s daddy storms off to Las Vegas to enter an Elvis impersonator competition. But when an urgent phone call sends Elivra, Mel, and Kerrie on an unexpected trip to visit Mel’s family, Elvira discovers that love doesn’t always look like it does in television commercials–it can be as simple as a bucket of blueberries, an attic full of memories, or a song. But it’s there all right. You just have to know how to look for it.
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Found
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who's also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere -- and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives.

Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying?

With Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix begins a new series that promises to be every bit as suspenseful as her Shadow Children series -- which has sold more than 41/2 million copies -- and proves her, once again, to be a master of the page-turner.
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Mother Daughter Book Club
Heather Vogel Frederick
Synopsis: Acclaimed author Heather Vogel Frederick will delight daughters of all ages in a novel about the fabulousness of fiction, family, and friendship.

The book club is about to get a makeover....

Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month.

But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. They can't help but wonder: What would Jo March do?
Publication Date: 04/22/08
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Classic
Trouble
Gary D. Schmidt
Synopsis:

“Henry Smith’s father told him that if you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.”

But Trouble comes careening down the road one night in the form of a pickup truck that strikes Henry’s older brother, Franklin. In the truck is Chay Chouan, a young Cambodian from Franklin’s preparatory school, and the accident sparks racial tensions in the school—and in the well-established town where Henry’s family has lived for generations. Caught between anger and grief, Henry sets out to do the only thing he can think of: climb Mt. Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, which he and Franklin were going to climb together. Along with Black Dog, whom Henry has rescued from drowning, and a friend, Henry leaves without his parents’ knowledge. The journey, both exhilarating and dangerous, turns into an odyssey of discovery about himself, his older sister, Louisa, his ancestry, and why one can never escape from Trouble.

Publication Date: 04/21/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Attack of the Spider Bots
Synopsis: Know Your Star-FightersBeamer: California transplant to a weird Midwestern town. Feels like he’s living on another planet. Scilla: the gangly tomboy next door. Ghoulie: the class nerd. Add one spaceship-shaped tree house capable of taking them most anywhere in the universe. Hop in and blast off for fantastic outer space adventures in Star-Fighters of Murphy Street―the quirky, funny, fast-paced new trilogy by Robert West.Taking a shortcut home from school, the Star-Fighters are chased by a horrible one-eyed creature into a cavern that houses an entire miniature world. Everything is animated―cars, trucks, moon, clouds, stars―but no one is at the controls. Who would make such a thing and then abandon it?The Star-Fighters’ search leads them on a wild adventure to a palatial mansion within a wintry jungle that hides a terrible secret―a secret that defines the limits of trusting God.
Publication Date: 04/20/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
There's a Spaceship in My Tree
Synopsis: Know Your Star-FightersBeamer: California transplant to a weird Midwestern town. Feels like he’s living on another planet. Scilla: the gangly tomboy next door. Ghoulie: the class nerd. Add one spaceship-shaped tree house capable of taking them most anywhere in the universe. Hop in and blast off for fantastic outer space adventures in Star-Fighters of Murphy Street―the quirky, funny, fast-paced new trilogy by Robert West.Newly arrived from California, thirteen-year-old Beamer MacIntyre feels like an alien in this bizarre Midwestern town. Strangest of all is the spaceship-shaped tree house in his yard. Surprises await Beamer and his two new friends, Ghoulie and Scilla, when they climb inside and blast off to a universe full of adventure―including a surefire way to make the school bully stop harassing Ghoulie (provided it doesn’t backfire!).
Publication Date: 04/20/08
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure

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