Synopsis: YOU MEET THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE LOBBY OF A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL.  The author of Dead Connection proves that what goes on in our minds just may be the scariest thing of all. Ben Mander's junior year is derailed when his mentally ill mother erupts in the school office.  Visiting her in the psych hospital, Ben meets Marco, who also has a mentally ill mother.  Marco tells a story that turns Ben's idea of reality upside down.  Soon, the story begins to uncomfortably mirror Ben's own life.  Lizard People races along the edge of madness as Ben wrestles with his greatest fear--that deep within him lie the seeds of his own insanity.

Synopsis: OUT OF WORK AND OUT OF LUCK.  Ed "Collie" Collier encounters hobos, misers, racists, and even some kindness while riding the rails during the Great Depression. Collie leaves home in search of his older brother, who has run off.  Battling hunger, hostility, and wrathful weather, he meets an unlikely ally in a young drifter.  They jump a freight train, joining thousands and thousands of young boys and men who try riding out the Great Depression by riding the rails.

Synopsis: When a young girl finds a mysterious silver bauble hiding beneath a cabinet in her grandmother's house, a spellbinding, epic tale unfolds Wynne, a humble kitchen maid, and her friends, Princess Avariella, Prince Jared, and Aric, a stable hand, find adventure and wonder in the world of Lymeria. The four friends are pulled into a labyrinth of riddles and trickery in their desperate attempt to stop the evils of the dreaded wizard Cepheus. Kristina Coia, author of Falcon's Prey, has written a captivating tale full of twists and turns, in which four friends work together to outwit the forces of evil while discovering the power of love and the bond of friendship.

Synopsis: Here is the astonishing true story of Bollywood, a sweeping portrait about a country finding its identity, a movie industry that changed the face of India, and one man's struggle to become a star. Shah Rukh Khan's larger than life tale takes us through the colorful and idiosyncratic Bollywood movie industry, where fantastic dreams and outrageous obsessions share the spotlight with extortion, murder, and corruption. Shah Rukh Khan broke into this $1.5 billion business despite the fact that it has always been controlled by a handful of legendary film families and sometimes funded by black market money. As a Muslim in a Hindu majority nation, exulting in classic Indian cultural values, Shah Rukh Khan has come to embody the aspirations and contradictions of a complicated culture tumbling headlong into American style capitalism. His story is the mirror to view the greater Indian story and the underbelly of the culture of Bollywood.


"A bounty for cinema lovers everywhere."
--Mira Nair, Director, The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding

"King of Bollywood is the all-singing, all-dancing back stage pass to Bollywood. Anupama Chopra chronicles the political and cultural story of India with finesse and insight, through fly-on-wall access to one of its biggest, most charming and charismatic stars."
-- Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend it Like Beckham

"The "Easy Rider Raging Bull" of the Bollywood industry and essential reading for any Shah Rukh Khan fan."
--Emma Thompson, actress

"Anu Chopra infuses the pivotal moments of Shah Rukh Khan's life with an edge-of-your-seat tension worthy of the best Bollywood blockbusters."
--Kirkus

Synopsis: Certain to appeal to boys, Miracle Wimp takes readers on an episodic journey that is sure to keep them laughing. The story follows Tom Mayo as he navigates his way through wood shop, dating, driving, and the meat-headed Donkeys, bullies who are determined to make his life miserable. Filled with humorous details and sardonic wit, Erik Kraft deftly portrays high school through the eyes of a wise-cracking misfit.

Synopsis: First in a series of imaginative children's books this is the wild tale of a small blue horse named Glory (guardian of the morning glory vine) who takes Turner Flint off to the land of Joya, where she can forget her earthly worries, like her taunting older brother and what she should wear on the first day of school. Lippencott's drawings, together with Chester's prose, take us on a very exciting gallop, filled with fun and fright.

Synopsis: The secret lives and loves of cats are revealed in this adventurous novel that peeks into a year in the life of the mischievous feline Adrian Cat. Adrian is having trouble keeping his new year's resolutions (especially "I will not be condescending to my humans"), and he's also adjusting to the fact that his humans have a new baby, his best friend needs constant advice, and he's in love for the first time—with the angelic-seeming Snowball. When Snowball turns out to be less than perfect and tries to lead Adrian into organized crime, he refuses to follow her and instead joins up with a scruffy yet tender alley cat named Gypsy. After Snowball's gang runs Adrian out of town, he is forced to make some strange friends and travel a rough road in order to get home safely to his family and to his new love, Gypsy.