12 and up
Nicky Deuce: Welcome to the Family
Charles Fleming, Steven R. Schirripa
It’s July, and Nicholas Borelli II’s parents are scheduled to spend two weeks on a cruise. Nicholas will spend those two weeks, as he does every summer, at Camp Wannameka. The night before he’s to leave, however, there’s a phone call: thanks to an explosion in the septic system, camp is canceled. The only place for Nicholas to go instead is to his grandmother’s house in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York.Nicholas’s father grew up in Brooklyn, but you’d hardly know it. An Italian dinner at Nicholas’s house in the suburbs is whole wheat pasta, organic tomato sauce, and, if he’s lucky, a tofu meatball. And Brooklyn? Well, Brooklyn is the place his father left and never talks about. Nicholas has never been there, and he doesn’t want to go now.But when Nicholas tastes his grandma Tutti’s meatballs for the first time, gets a nickname from his uncle Frankie, and makes a friend in the neighborhood, his feelings about Brooklyn–and family–begin to change.
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Barry, Boyhound
Andy Spearman
This is the story of a boy named Barry. Some stuff happens, and overnight like magic he turns into a boyhound. Not a hound, but a boyhound–which means while he may still look like a boy, he is, in fact, a dog. And even in his boyhound brain, Barry knows there are lots of advantages to being a dog. You don’t have to clean your room or use dental floss, for example. But things get crazy. He eats something too disgusting to mention. He’s attacked by telepathic squirrels. An innocent squashed frog becomes involved. Plus, his mother’s getting pretty mad. And that’s all before the really bad thing happens. . . .
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The Dark Flight Down
Marcus Sedgwick
In the morning you should thinkYou might not last unto the nightIn the evening you should thinkYou might not last unto the mornBoy has survived the terrors of life with the magician Valerian, dark magic, and deadly chases, but he is still on the run. Now, as the City lies frozen, he is captured and incarcerated in the Emperor Frederick’s palace. Boy is transported to a world of splendor, and wealth beyond his wildest imagining. But beneath its golden veneer, this world is full of madness and cruelty, closely guarded secrets, and terrifying revelations.In a mesmerizing conclusion to the enthralling story begun in The Book of Dead Days, Boy and Willow are plunged into the heart of it–the furies of the Emperor; the tricks of necromancers; a trail of blood that will lead to the grisly Phantom. Holding all their lives between its pages, The Book of Dead Days waits to deceive its next reader.
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Ball Don't Lie
Matt de la Pena
Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong.But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be.A breakout urban masterpiece by newcomer Matt de la Peña, Ball Don’t Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it.
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Invisible Threads
Maria Dalton, Annie Dalton
Naomi was never going to be like her mother. The crazy highs and underground lows. Naomi was in control. When the time came she would be the perfect mother–nothing like her own.On the day Carrie-Anne turned 16, she surpassed her. The girl-woman who gave away her own child. Her biological mother. Carrie-Anne got to 16 without making that mistake. That’s what she was, really–a mistake. And now the invisible threads tying her to the past are driving her to find out why and how it happened. After all, if you don’t know where you come from, how can you know where you belong?But sometimes asking questions is harder than hearing the answers. And sometimes the answers don’t matter at all.
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The Cannibals
Iain Lawrence
As Tom Tin nears Australia, where he’s to serve a lengthy sentence for a murder he didn’t commit, he and his fellow convict, Midgely, plot their escape. No matter that the ship carrying them and the other juvenile criminals is captained by Tom’s father. Tom knows his father can’t help him clear his name and regain his freedom–not as long as Mr. Goodfellow, a man who wants the ruin of the Tin family, wields power back in London. So Tom and Midgely decide to go overboard! So do other boys who seize their chance at liberty–boys who aren’t so innocent, and who have it in for Tom.To make things worse, the islands in the Pacific look inviting, but Tom remembers his father’s warnings: headhunters and cannibals lurk there! The boys go anyway. And as conflict among them mounts, as they encounter the very dangers Captain Tin spoke of, Tom must fight to keep himself and Midgely alive.
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The Outlaw Varjak Paw
S. F. Said, Dave McKean
Having saved the city cats from a fate worse than death, Varjak Paw finds himself the leader of a new gang. But will the pressure take its toll on this brave but sometimes naive cat? Soon the city erupts in an all-out gang war as the evil Sally Bones attempts to control all cats. Horrified and outnumbered, Varjak and the others must fight for their freedom or die trying.
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The Perfect Distance
Kim Ablon Whitney
Seventeen-year-old Francie Martinez rides with one of the best equitation trainers in the country, and works as a groom to pay her way. She’s dreamed of winning the Maclay finals, and now that it’s her last year to compete the pressure is really on. But just when Francie needs to focus more than ever, everything turns upside down, and soon she’s not so sure if winning is really all that important, much less the point. In this fast-paced coming-of-age story, brimming with fascinating details about the competitive horse world, Kim Ablon Whitney has drawn on her own experiences to create a backdrop perfect for Francie’s story as she tries to figure out who she wants to be and what really matters in life.
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The Killer's Tears
Anne-Laure Bondoux
On the afternoon when Angel Allegria arrives at the Poloverdos’ farmhouse, he kills the farmer and his wife. But he spares their child, Paolo–a young boy who will claim this as the day on which he was born. Together the killer and the boy begin a new life on this remote and rugged stretch of land in Chile.Then Luis Secunda, a well-to-do and educated fellow from the city descends upon them. Paolo is caught in the paternal rivalry between the two men. But life resumes its course . . . until circumstances force the three to leave the farm. In doing so, Angel and Luis confront their pasts as well as their inevitable destinies–destinies that profoundly shape Paolo’s own future.
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Eldest
Christopher Paolini
Don’t miss the latest book from the author of Eragon, The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Tales from Alagaësia, coming December 31, 2018! Perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings, the New York Times bestselling Inheritance Cycle about the dragon rider Eragon has sold over 35 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.Darkness falls…despair abounds…evil reigns… Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesmera, land of the elves, for further training in the skills of the Dragon Rider: magic and swordsmanship. Soon he is on the journey of a lifetime, his eyes open to awe-inspring new places and people, his days filled with fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and nothing is what it seems. Before long, Eragon doesn’t know whom he can trust. Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle–one that might put Eragon in even graver danger. Will the king’s dark hand strangle all resistance? Eragon may not escape with even his life. . . . Praise for Eragon: “Unusual, powerful . . . fresh and fluid. An impressive start to a writing career that’s sure to flourish.” –Booklist, Starred “Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic with his precocious debut.” –People “The new ‘It’ book of children’s lit.” –U.S. News & World Report “An auspicious beginning to both career and series.” –Publishers Weekly A #1 New York Times Bestseller A #1 Publishers Weekly Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A Book Sense Book of the Year A #1 Book Sense Selection
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