12 and up

The Rule of Lorques: Lorque Exposure
The first book of the TROL trilogy.
Jonas is lost, dazed and confused. His family are gone; his friends are gone. Everything he has ever known has changed; an army of invaders swarm across his planet - Hala. Creatures are falling from the sky, military battalions are breaking the cities, Jonas' home is being destroyed. His fight is dwindling fast. He's no good - he can't win...best to just be lying down; giving in...dying.
But hope appears! A fellow Halan evading the enemy; a wild man on the run. Someone he can trust? Someone who will protect him? Who knows...what choice does he have? The Wild Man has friends; promises him safety. They escape into the mountains, comrades in arms, overcoming their fears...living, running...surviving.
But the wild man knows things. Whispering dark secrets, tales of a clandestine alien race...a race orchestrating the invasion. What do they want? How does the wild man know so much? What does he want with Jonas? Why are they no longer running? Because now they're fighting, rebelling, turning against the invaders...attacking.
Jonas is frightened...he wants his family and home. They're moving...into the heart of the enemy. He's unsure; bewildered. He's told of an alien prophecy; it talks of a weapon that fills him with fear...
…not because it can stop the invasion...
…not because it can bring home his family...
…but because the weapon...
...is Jonas.
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A Volcano Beneath the Snow: John Brown's War Against Slavery
Albert Marrin
John Brown is a man of many legacies, from hero, freedom fighter, and martyr, to liar, fanatic, and "the father of American terrorism." Some have said that it was his seizure of the arsenal at Harper's Ferry that rendered the Civil War inevitable.Deeply religious, Brown believed that God had chosen him to right the wrong of slavery. He was willing to kill and die for something modern Americans unanimously agree was a just cause. And yet he was a religious fanatic and a staunch believer in "righteous violence," an unapologetic committer of domestic terrorism. Marrin brings 19th-century issues into the modern arena with ease and grace in a book that is sure to spark discussion.
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The Summer I Saved the World . . . in 65 Days
It's summertime, and thirteen-year-old Nina Ross is feeling kind of lost. Her beloved grandma died last year; her parents work all the time; her brother's busy; and her best friend is into clothes, makeup, and boys. While Nina doesn't know what "her thing" is yet, it's definitely not shopping and makeup. And it's not boys, either. Though . . . has Eli, the boy next door, always been so cute? This summer, Nina decides to change things. She hatches a plan. There are sixty-five days of summer. Every day, she'll anonymously do one small but remarkable good thing for someone in her neighborhood, and find out: does doing good actually make a difference? Along the way, she discovers that her neighborhood, and her family, are full of surprises and secrets. In this bighearted, sweetly romantic novel, things may not turn out exactly as Nina expects. They might be better.
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The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy
Kate Hattemer
Whip-smart dialogue and an inside look at the seedy underbelly of reality TV come together in this critically-acclaimed debut perfect for fans of Unreal, John Green, and Frank Portman. Witty, sarcastic Ethan and his three best friends are students at Selwyn Arts Academy, which has been hijacked by For Art’s Sake, a sleazy reality-television show. In the tradition of Ezra Pound, the foursome secretly writes and distributes a long poem to protest the show. They’re thrilled to have started a budding rebellion. But the forces behind the show are craftier than they seem. The web of betrayal stretches farther than Ethan could have ever imagined, and it’s up to him, his friends, and a heroic gerbil named Baconnaise to save Selwyn.
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What We Hide
Marthe Jocelyn
An engrossing novel-in-stories that paints a tapestry of secrets and lies: why we keep them, why we tell them, and what happens next. Americans Jenny and her brother, Tom, are off to England: Tom to university, to dodge the Vietnam draft, Jenny to be the new girl at a boarding school, Illington Hall. This is Jenny's chance to finally stand out, so accidentally, on purpose, she tells a lie. In the small world of Ill Hall, everyone has something to hide. Jenny pretends she has a boyfriend. Robbie and Luke both pretend they don't. Brenda won't tell what happened with the school doctor. Nico wants to keep his mother's memoir a secret. Percy is hush-hush about his famous dad. Oona lies to everyone. Penelope lies only to herself. Deftly told from multiple points of view in various narrative styles, including letters and movie screenplays, What We Hide is provocative, honest, often funny, and always intriguing. “Poignant and often witty.” —Kirkus Reviews “An evocative representation of the tumultuous ’60s.” —Publishers Weekly “Juicy, fast-paced.” —SLJ
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Deception's Princess
Some lies lead to true adventure. . . .Maeve, princess of Connacht, was born with her fists clenched. And it's her spirit and courage that make Maeve her father's favorite daughter. But once he becomes the High King, powerful men begin to circle--it's easy to love the girl who brings her husband a kingdom.Yet Maeve is more than a prize to be won, and she's determined to win the right to decide her own fate. In the court's deadly game of intrigue, she uses her wits to keep her father's friends and enemies close--but not too close. When she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the son of a visiting druid, Maeve faces a brutal decision between her loyalty to her family and to her own heart.Award-winning author Esther Friesner has a remarkable gift for combining exciting myth and richly researched history. This fiery heroine's fight for independence in first-century Ireland is truly worthy of a bard's tale. Hand Deception's Princess to fans of Tamora Pierce, Shannon Hale, and Malinda Lo.
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Between Two Worlds
Katherine Kirkpatrick
Inspired by a true story, Between Two Worlds is an impassioned coming-of-age novel set in a land of breathtaking beauty and danger, where nature and love are powerful and unpredictable forces. On the treeless shores of Itta, Greenland, as far north as humans can settle, sixteen-year-old Inuit Billy Bah spots a ship far out among the icebergs on the bay—a sight both welcome and feared. Explorers have already left their indelible mark on her land and its people, and a ship full of white men can mean trouble. The ship carries provisions for Robert E. Peary, who is making an expedition to the North Pole. Peary and Billy Bah have a history—as a child, she spent a year in America with his family. When Peary’s ship gets caught in the ice, Billy Bah sets out on a harrowing quest to find him. Billy Bah’s journey is one that will bring her to the very literal edge of the earth, imperil her life and question what it means to be between two worlds. “Rich details . . . create a total immersion in Inuit life.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred “An intriguing viewpoint to a place and time rarely written about in young adult fiction.” —SLJ “A compelling . . . portrait of a community accustomed to life on the knife edge of survival, of extraordinary beauty and harsh realities. . . . A rare look at culture clash arising from polar exploration.” —Kirkus Reviews
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Illusion
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Be careful what you wish for. . . You just might get it. Nick Gautier is tired of his destiny. He doesn't want to be the son of a demon who's fated to end the world. Nor does he want to see another demon or other preternatural creature who wants to kill or enslave him. He just wants to be normal teenager and have normal problems like everyone else. But normality isn't all it's cracked up to be. When he gets sucked into an alternate reality where his mother has married his mentor and his Atlantean god best friend has become a human geek, he begins to understand that no life is free of pain, and that every person has a specific place in the universe . . . even the son of a hated demon. Most of all, he sees that his powers aren't the curse he thought they were, and that the world needs a champion, especially a champion the world's enemies can't imagine rising up to defend the very people he should destroy. Old enemies and new friends square off for a major battle that will either restore Nick to his real world, or end him forever
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Cold Calls
Charles Benoit
Three high school students—Eric, Shelly, and Fatima—have one thing in common: “I know your secret.” Each one is blackmailed into bullying specifically targeted schoolmates by a mysterious caller who whispers from their cell phones and holds carefully guarded secrets over their heads. But how could anyone have obtained that photo, read those hidden pages, uncovered this buried past? Thrown together, the three teens join forces to find the stranger who threatens them—before time runs out and their shattering secrets are revealed . . .This suspenseful, pitch-perfect mystery-thriller raises timely questions about privacy, bullying, and culpability.
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The Almost Truth
From the author of Unraveling Isobel and The Education of Hailey Kendrick, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head.Sadie can’t wait to get away from her backwards small town, her delusional mom, her jailbird dad, and the tiny trailer where she was raised…even though leaving those things behind also means leaving her best friend Brendan. Sadie wants a better life, and she has been working steadily toward it, one con at a time. But when Sadie’s mother wipes out Sadie’s savings, her escape plan is suddenly gone. She needs to come up with a lot of cash—and fast—or she’ll be stuck in this town forever. With Brendan’s help, she devises a plan—the ultimate con—to get the money. But the more lies Sadie spins, the more she starts falling for her own hoax…and perhaps for the wrong boy. Sadie wanted to change her life, but she wasn't prepared to have it flipped upside down by her own deception. With her future at stake and her heart on the line, suddenly it seems like she has a lot more than just money to lose...