12 and up
Radioactive
Vanessa Acton
Every year Zack and his family spend a week at a Pacific island getaway. The ocean is beautiful, the town is quaint, and the people are easygoing. It's a great place to relax. So why do the locals seem so tense this year? There's definitely trouble in paradise when a tourist goes missing. Local legend has it that the locale is cursed since nuclear testing there in the 1950s. It sounds like fiction, but is it?
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At the Center
Patrick Jones
Cody's best friend Jayson is new to the basketball team and to the nearly all-white high school. When Coach kicks Jayson off the team, a school-wide dispute falls along racial lines. Can Cody step up his game where it counts?
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The Keepers
Sixteen-year-old Isra Kalb has grown up starving in the slums of Islamabad. But hunger is only the beginning. When her father is mysteriously murdered and madness corrupts her mother's mind, she's left alone to fend for herself and her sister. Homeless and destitute, the only thing she has to remember her loving family by is a commonplace necklace--an amulet barely worth keeping. Or so she thinks. Swept into a web of lies, deceit and turmoil, Isra struggles to find a place for herself and Zaffirah, wondering if the strange creatures and visions she's seeing are indications of the madness that took her mother. But when Snatchers capture Zaffirah, Isra learns her amulet isn't so useless after all. Transported to Zarcane--the beastly garden where Adam and Eve were born--Isra comes face to face with her destiny. She's a Keeper, charged with protecting the borders of Zarcane and keeping the demon hordes lurking in the shadows from taking realms that are not their own. And she's not the only one; there's a second Keeper, a boy whose identity hasn't been revealed. Now, in order to save her sister and fulfill her family's legacy as Keeper of the Amulet, she has to find the second Keeper and close the borders. Surrounded by betrayal, trapped between warring factions of angels, and desperate to save the only family she has left, Isra must decide: Who can she trust when nothing is what it seems?
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Never Missing Never Found
Amanda Panitch
A juicy thriller about a girl who returned from the missing. . . . Hand to fans of We Were Liars, Bone Gap, and Vanishing Girls. Some choices change everything. Scarlett chose to run. And the consequences will be deadly. Stolen from her family as a young girl, Scarlett was lucky enough to eventually escape her captor. Now a teen, she's starting a summer job at an amusement park. There are cute boys, new friends, and the chance to finally have a normal life.Her first day on the job, Scarlett is shocked to discover that a girl from the park has gone missing. Old memories come rushing back. And now as she meets her new coworkers, one of the girls seems strangely familiar. When Scarlett chose to run all those years ago, what did she set into motion? And when push comes to shove, how far will she go to uncover the truth . . . before it's too late?A New York Public Library's Best 50 Books for Teens"Panitch tells a harrowing story of captivity, survival, and the pursuit of hope. . . . A jaw-dropping final twist gives way to a surprising, satisfying conclusion to this tense, clever thriller." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"With flashbacks that slowly reveal the terrible secret of Scarlett's escape and Pixie's fate, this psychological thriller evokes well-paced fear." --Kirkus Reviews "This layered, satisfying read brims with spine-tingling psychological suspense." --Booklist"Don't start the last fifty pages without time to finish this absorbing thriller." --The Bulletin
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Spring of Elves
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Fair to Hope
Velma had lived two lives: her first as a former foster kid, and her second as an unlikely recruit into a secret order that satisfied her need for retribution. Her fifteen-year-old self had given up on hope, but after three years with the Taram, she'd found her life's purpose. That is, until she is surprisingly named Kachina, the fabled chosen empowered to fight the last battle for the fate of the world. Having to kill someone she loves was never part of the bargain, even if it means saving everyone else from damnation. Building a normal life free from the pull of the Taram--seems like the only answer to her prayers. Except her best friend, the other Kachina, is coming. The legend is clear that one of them must die. Velma will have to weigh the cost of her life against a world that's constantly betrayed her and quite literally decide if she'll be damned in dying, taking the whole world with her.
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Just a Few Inches
All Carrie Roberts wants is to be a little bit smaller.To fit into the perfect dress for the Valentine's Day Dance. To look beautiful for her boyfriend, the school's star basketball player. To keep his jealous ex-girlfriend, a rival cheerleader, away from him. And to be noticed by her classmates.Exercising and dieting don't work, but an advertisement for weight loss pills promises a quicker solution to her problem. As time runs out, she takes more than the recommended dose until she's just a few inches slimmer. Heads turn when she arrives at the dance, and the wonderful night with her boyfriend is beyond what she dreamed it would be.Days later, Carrie discovers that her body is changing in ways that should be impossible. While her doctor searches for a cure, she desperately turns to her friends and family for support. Everyone is noticing her now whether she likes it or not, and even the media is intrigued by her incredible story. Getting everything she once wanted has created new problems--problems that are growing more terrifying every day.Because Carrie Roberts is shrinking.- - - - -"Just a Few Inches" is a Young Adult novel that deals with issues of body image, self-esteem, and teenage relationships. It is intended for readers age 13 and up.
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The Lotus Saga
Lotus Saga is a quest fantasy in which the young scribe, Rook, leaves his home village and goes on a journey with the Lotus Sword to find the Water of Life. After the death of his mentor, Rook seeks this mythical substance in order to defeat Amaranth, a thief of time. In the process Rook travels through murderous forests, endless deserts, and bends air in order to descend an unscalable cliff.He must find out who his real allies are, and uncover the motivations of a being who lives within him.
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Crazy Cat Kid
Lilly Thornton is a fourteen-year-old girl who lives on an acreage just outside Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. She owns four rescued cats and has helped find homes for many more. Her mother belongs to a dragon boat race team and some of the team members have decided to go camping around the island with their families.Lilly is considered too young to be left at home alone. Since one of Lilly's cats is diabetic and needs an insulin shot twice a day she has to bring her along. The other three have never been left alone before so Lilly convinces her parents that they have to come, too. It sounds like a simple solution until they begin to drive away from their house and the cats start howling.While camping the cats try to find ways to get out. They hover at the screen door waiting for it to open. One checks every open door searching for the magic way outside and spends the night pawing at the metal window blinds so she can look out. Are they going to ruin the camping trip or is boredom? The first day there is no one Lilly’s age and by the afternoon she wants to go home. And then she meets Jesse, the fifteen-year-old Metis son of another team member.
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Sea Spell
At the end of Dark Tide, Book 3 in the Waterfire Saga, Astrid leaves her mermaid friends to confront her ancestor, Orfeo, the evil force behind the rise of the monster Abbadon. Orfeo possesses one of the six talismans that the merls need in order to keep the monster locked up forever. But without the ability to songcast, how will Astrid be able to defeat the most powerful mage in history? Meanwhile, Serafina and her Black Fins train goblin troops for battle against her uncle Vallerio's death riders. Will Sera ever see her beloved home--and her beloved Mahdi--again, or will the Volneros take over the mer realms while Orfeo takes on the gods themselves? Nothing less than the fate of the underwater world is at stake in this breathtaking finale. Praise for Deep Blue"A richly imagined novel. Themes of conquering fear and believing in oneself are woven throughout, along with an acknowledgment of humans' environmental impact on the sea and its inhabitants. Despite the high stakes and a few frightening moments, the story is never over serious; it's just right for readers who have grown up with, but aged out of, The Little Mermaid and the Disney Fairies franchise." - Publishers Weekly "A fantastic addition to the genre of mermaids, this book will also appeal to readers of action and those who appreciate usurped leaders taking back their kingdom. It starts with a common enough concept: a royal girl who is worried about her betrothal and about love. Donnelly then adds layers of complexity to the tale and weaves her story into that of Atlantis. Friendship, trust, and responsibility are major themes as Sera struggles to grasp that she is really her kingdom's only hope. Quick-witted, loveable characters and a well-planned fantasy world make this an all-encompassing book. Readers will eagerly await future volumes and the answers they will provide." - VOYA"Best-selling Donnelly (Revolution, 2010) builds an alluring mermaid civilization and history, filled with painterly descriptions of Sera's underwater palace and its unearthly architecture, her sumptuous wardrobe, and the menagerie of half-human, half-marine animal denizens. There's also plenty of romantic tension with handsome mermen, strife between merls (that's girl mermaids) from rival regions, and some powerful female friendships amid the fast-paced plot, filled with wondrous magic." - Booklist
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