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The Opposite of Invisible
Synopsis: Alice and Jewel have been best friends since grade school. Together, they don’t need anyone else, and together they blend into the background of high school. Invisible. To Alice, Jewel is the opposite of invisible. Jewel is her best friend who goes to Indie concerts and art shows with her. Jewel scoffs at school dances with her. Alice is so comfortable around Jewel that she can talk to him about almost anything. But she can’t tell him that she likes the cool, popular Simon. And then Simon asks her to the school dance the same day that Jewel kisses her for the first time. Still, she can’t say no to Simon. He seems like the easy choice, the one she’s attracted to, the one she’s ready for. But will it mean losing Jewel? In a bright debut novel set against the lively backdrop of Seattle, Alice must learn the difference between love and a crush, and what it means to be yourself when you’re not sure who that is yet.
Publication Date: 01/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Romance
The Celebutantes: In The Club
Antonio Pagliarulo
Synopsis: The school year’s almost over, and Madison, Park, and Lexington Hamilton are ready to trade in their Birkin bags for bikinis. But before vacation comes work, and the triplets have plenty of it. Cleopatra, the newest, hottest, and most expensive club in Manhattan, is opening–and it just happens to also be Hamilton Holdings’ latest business venture. The girls must throw the party to end all parties. But this is one opening the sisters won’t soon forget. Before the night ends, the body of a classmate is found with a bloody wound on the side of his head. At first glance, the case appears to be open-and-shut. But the girls smell trouble. They know the murderer is still out there, and they’re willing to bet their sizable inheritance that the police won’t be able to unravel the mystery. Murder is so out, but until this crime is solved, it’s arrivederci Italia. And the Hamilton sisters simply won’t accept that as an option.
Publication Date: 01/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Three Little Words
Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Synopsis: "Sunshine, you're my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system.

Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative,humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice.
Publication Date: 01/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Red Dragon Codex
R.D. Henham
Synopsis: For fans of The New York Times best-selling A Practical Guide to Dragons, a new series of fantasy fiction focusing on the power of dragonkind.

The Dragon Codices chronicle adventures with each of ten dragons of Krynn. From the fiery, evil red dragon to the playful copper, each dragon's tale is unique. Sindri Suncatcher, narrator of A Practical Guide to Dragons, shared these tales from his travels with library scribe R.D. Henham.

Mudd lives a peaceful life in his small town, tinkering with the mill and any mechanical devices that he can find. But his peaceful life soon changes when, out of nowhere, a red dragon attacks, burning the town and kidnapping Shemnara, the village seer. Only one clue is left behind--a cryptic note telling Mudd, "Seek the silver dragon."
Publication Date: 01/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Fan's Guide to The Spiderwick Chronicles
Synopsis:

For fans of The Spiderwick Chronicles comes the ultimate unauthorized guide to the facts behind Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black's world. This new book by Lois Gresh takes young readers beyond the creepy and captivating fairy world of The Spiderwick Chronicles and answers the burning questions kids have been aching to know. With illustrations, quizzes, facts, and mythology, The Fan's Guide to The Spiderwick Chronicles will provide hours of fun.

Digging deep into history, legend, and lore, this magical guide helps fans enjoy their favorite series as they never have before. This is the perfect gift for that young reader who can't get enough of the series or wants to find out what the excitement is all about.

 

Publication Date: 01/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Comet's Curse
Dom Testa
Synopsis:

In the gripping start to this young adult science fiction adventure series by popular Colorado radio host Dom Testa, the teenage crew of the starship Galahad must find a new home for humanity among the stars--if they fail, it will be the end of the human race....

When the tail of the comet Bhaktul flicks through the Earth's atmosphere, deadly particles are left in its wake. Suddenly, mankind is confronted with a virus that devastates the adult population. Only those under the age of eighteen seem to be immune. Desperate to save humanity, a renowned scientist proposes a bold plan: to create a ship that will carry a crew of 251 teenagers to a home in a distant solar system. Two years later, the Galahad and its crew―none over the age of sixteen―is launched.

Two years of training have prepared the crew for the challenges of space travel. But soon after departing Earth, they discover that a saboteur is hiding on the Galahad! Faced with escalating acts of vandalism and terrorized by threatening messages, sixteen-year-old Triana Martell and her council soon realize that the stowaway will do anything to ensure that the Galahad never reaches its destination. The teens must find a way to neutralize their enemy. For if their mission fails, it will mean the end of the human race….

Publication Date: 01/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
American  Fringe
Valerie Frankel
Synopsis: Spring has arrived, and everything's coming up roses. Not only is Adora Benet madly in love with Nate, she's landed her own teen advice column in he local paper. When her response to an anonymous letter-writer prompts a senator to run for president, Adora's column becomes the headlines. The media frenzy introduces Dora to the candidate's charming son, Toby, whose larger-than- life personality is distracting her from Nate, just when things are heating up.

Despite her newfound celebrity, Adora the advice queen can't help her friends, Eli and Liza, patch things up. Maybe the cute barista at the local coffee shop can do his part by serving Eli a spring fling that will make her forget all her troubles...
Publication Date: 01/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Boxcar Kid
Norma Charles
Synopsis:

Runner-up for the 2009 Chocolate Lily Book Award and commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens

In 1909, 13-year-old Luc Godin arrive in British Columbia from Quebec only to discover that the house they thought they’d move into hasn’t been built. So the Godins have to make due with living in a railway boxcar with three other families.

Luc’s father and the many other newcomers to the Fraser Valley have come to work in the lumber industry. Their new home still has vestiges of the wilderness, and Luc and his family find find pioneering life difficult, especially as French speakers in a world of English. Luc’s father, who becomes a teamster in one of the many lumber mills, is old-fashioned. Horses are what he knows, while Luc has an eye for the modern, particularly the new-fangled bicycles and occasional automobiles.

However an accident with a bicycle has profound consequences for Luc and highlights the clash between the old and the new, the settled East and the brash frontier.

Publication Date: 01/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Off Armageddon Reef
David Weber
Synopsis:

Humanity pushed its way to the stars - and encountered the Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out.

Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they've built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever.

800 years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This "rebirth" was set in motion centuries before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a concocted religion. Via automated recordings, "Nimue" - or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban - is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking the technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent.

Nothing about this will be easy. To better deal with a medieval society, "Nimue" takes a new gender and a new name, "Merlin." His formidable powers and access to caches of hidden high technology will need to be carefully concealed. And he'll need to find a base of operations, a Safeholdian country that's just a little more freewheeling, a little less orthodox, a little more open to the new.

And thus Merlin comes to Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a talent for naval warfare. He plans to make the acquaintance of King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb, and maybe, just maybe, kick off a new era of invention. Which is bound to draw the attention of the Church...and, inevitably, lead to war.

It's going to be a long, long process. And David Weber's epic Off Armageddon Reef is can't-miss sci-fi.

Safehold Series
1. Off Armageddon Reef
2. By Schism Rent Asunder
3. By Heresies Distressed
4. A Mighty Fortress
5. How Firm A Foundation
6. Midst Toil and Tribulation
7. Like A Mighty Army
8. Hell's Foundations Quiver
9. At the Sign of Triumph

Publication Date: 01/02/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Rich Girl
Carol Culver
Synopsis: At an exclusive school like Manderly Prep, you really need your BFFs to get you through.

Victoria Lee, who spent her childhood in Hong Kong, has been transplanted to her parents' McMansion-unsupervised. Anyone else would think they were dreaming, but for Victoria, it's closer to a nightmare. Life alone in a big house can make you feel really empty.

Victoria feels like she's stepped out of the book she has to read for Brit Lit, A Tale of Two Cities. And it's not just Hong Kong vs. San Francisco. It's her parents' Ivy League dreams vs. her own dream of fashion school. And the snotty kids at Manderley Prep vs. her real friends, Cindy and Maggie. Then there's her crush Steve, who doesn't even notice her anymore.

She doesn't even feel at home at home-since the housekeeper's son, Gabe, acts like Victoria's very breath is destroying his precious environment. Maybe he's got a point. Maybe Victoria is miles from where she really belongs.

Publication Date: 01/02/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Embrace the Night
Karen Chance
Synopsis: View our feature on Karen Chance's Embrace the Night.\n\nCassandra Palmer may be the world's chief clairvoyant, but she's still magically bound to a master vampire. Only an ancient book called the Codex Merlini possesses the incantation to free Cassie-but harnessing its limitless power could endanger the world...
Publication Date: 01/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Kandide The Secret of the Mists
Diana S. Zimmerman
Synopsis:
Publication Date: 01/01/08
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Paraworld Zero
Matthew Peterson
Synopsis: Simon Kent is just an ordinary 12 year old trying to cope with the loss of his parents and the bullies at school . . . or so he thinks. After meeting an outspoken girl with strange hair that changes colors with her mood, he is swept into a futuristic world filled with dragonlike creatures, vast technology, and enslaved giants. But Simon also stumbles upon a secret: He can perform magic in this parallel world! While fighting mystical creatures, unraveling an ancient mystery, and even experiencing his first kiss, Simon discovers that he, an outsider from Earth, is the only person who can save the high-tech planet from an impending doom.
Publication Date: 01/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Year My Sister Got Lucky
Synopsis: In this hilarious, heartrending novel, New York Times bestselling author Aimee Friedman reminds us of the importance of sisters. . . and of not wearing stilettos in the mud.

When Katie and Michaela Wilder are uprooted from NYC and planted in rural Fir Lake, Katie is horrified by their new surroundings: the too-friendly neighbors, the local uniform of sandals paired with socks, the very idea of milking a cow. But while Katie suffers through shopping withdrawal, Michaela transforms into a small-town social firefly, flirting with the hot quarterback and soaking up nature with her new hick-town friends. As in, people who think camping is *fun*. Does Katie even know her sister anymore? And after Michaela hides a jaw-dropping secret from her, does Katie even want to?
Publication Date: 01/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Kayla Chronicles
Sherri Winston
Synopsis: Kayla Dean, junior feminist and future journalist, is about the break the story of a lifetime. She is auditioning for the Lady Lions dance team to prove they discriminate against the not-so-well endowed. But when she makes the team, her best friend and fellow feminist, Rosalie, is not happy.

Now a Lady Lion, Kayla is transformed from bushy-haired fashion victim to glammed-up dance diva. But does looking good and having fun mean turning her back on the cause? Can you be a strong woman and still wear really cute shoes? Soon Kayla is forced to challenge her views, coming to terms with who she is and what girl power really means.

Narrated with sharp language and just the right amount of attitude, The Kayla Chronicles is the story of a girl's struggle for self-identity despite pressure from family, friends and her own conscience. Kayla's story is snappy, fun and inspiring, sure to appeal to anyone who's every questioned who they really are.
Publication Date: 01/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Year of the Rat
Synopsis: In this sequel to Year of the Dog, Pacy has another big year in store for her. The Year of the Dog was a very lucky year: she met her best friend Melody and discovered her true talents. However, the Year of the Rat brings big changes: Pacy must deal with Melody moving to California, find the courage to forge on with her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator, and learn to face some of her own flaws. Pacy encounters prejudice, struggles with acceptance, and must find the beauty in change.

Based on the author's childhood adventures, Year of the Rat, features the whimsical black and white illustrations and the hilarious and touching anecdotes that helped Year of the Dog earn rave reviews and satisfied readers.
Publication Date: 01/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Series

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