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12 and up | Page 94 | LitPick Book Reviews
12 and up
Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing
Fashion 101
Erika Stalder
Each year, we spend hours shopping and getting dressed, but do we ever think about what we’re wearing? What’s the name of the style of your shirt? Who invented your favorite jeans cut? Who made your baby-doll nightie famous? There is a story behind every piece of clothing and with Fashion 101 you’ll learn those stories and more: Where did the miniskirt come from? Why has the military had a stronger influence on fashion than Audrey Hepburn? How do denim makers work those perfect "whiskers" into your "worn-out" jeans? Filled with tons of intriguing factoids about designers and celebrities, and more than 300 illustrations, Fashion 101 offers the total scoop on underwear, outerwear, accessories, and everything in between. With this crash course, you’ll learn not only how to put together smarter looks, but also how to become a fashion expert in the process.

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Indie Girl: From Starting a Band to Launching a Fashion Company, Nine Ways to Turn Your Creative Talent into Reality
Indie Girl
Michael Wertz, Karen Macklin, Arne Johnson
Are you a girl who’s tired of waiting for someone to design the perfect skirt? Bored by what adults think makes great "teen literature"? Insulted by the onslaught of fluffy spring break movies? Good - then you’re on the right track. The next step is to take matters into your own hands.A fun and comprehensive guide for young women, Indie Girl contains all of the information you’ll need to start independent creative ventures, like dance companies, rock bands, art galleries, fashion companies, and more. Inside you’ll find out how to shoot a new TV show, cast and produce a play, pull together a poetry slam, make your own zine, and even build a float for a parade. You’ll also read quotes from teen and professional artists, receive technical and creative advice from pros, and get a better understanding of why and how women should be working together in the arts.Indie Girl shows you that when girls get come together to be creative, there’s virtually nothing they can’t do!

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The City in the Lake
The City in the Lake
Rachel Neumeier
THE KINGDOM’S HEART is the City. The City’s heart is the King. The King’s heart is the Prince. The Prince is missing.Ever since the Prince disappeared, nothing has been right in the Kingdom. Something has disturbed the strange, old magic that whispers around its borders . . . something cunning and powerful. And the disturbance extends to the farthest reaches of the Kingdom, including the idyllic village where Timou is learning to be a mage under her father’s tutelage.When Timou’s father journeys to the City to help look for the Prince, but never returns, Timou senses that the disturbance in the Kingdom is linked to her—and to the undiscovered heritage of the mother she never knew. She must leave her village, even if it means confronting powers greater than her own, even though what she finds may challenge everything she knows. Even if it means leaving love behind.This breathtaking first novel spins a web of magic, bravery, and the power of love.

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Burn
Burn
Suzanne Phillips
"Are our schools safe?" It's hard to turn on the news without hearing this question, and the answer is typically "no." This novel explores what happens when bullying escalates to violence, and it challenges our definition of victimization. With thought-provoking prose, Suzanne Phillips explores the psyche of Cameron, a bullied freshman who ultimately does the unthinkable: he kills another student. As she did with Chloe Doe, Suzanne has found a way to make this seemingly dark story ultimately redemptive. But she also dares readers to look at the behavior that provokes violence as having the potential to be as dangerous as the violence itself. It's Suzanne's hope that Burn will inspire readers to take a precautionary stance against bullying rather than waiting to react to it.

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Kujibiki Unbalance 1
Kujibiki Unbalance 1
Shimoku Kio, Koume Keito
SCHOOL HEROChihiro has been cursed with bad luck all his life. But all that changes when he wins a mysterious lottery that earns him a spot at the prestigious Rikkyoin High School, a strange place where everything is decided by chance–even who gets appointed to the student council. Although Chihiro has drawn the winning ticket, this is no ordinary honor. Each day the student-council members must risk their lives to save the school from various forces of evil. Chihiro’s luck is about to be put to the test yet again, and one wrong move could mean death!

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[ Discovering Pig Magic [ DISCOVERING PIG MAGIC ] By Crabtree, Julie ( Author )Nov-01-2008 Hardcover
Discovering Pig Magic
Julie Crabtree

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The Last Block In Harlem
The Last Block In Harlem
Christopher Herz
A young couple seeking a fresh start moves into a fourth floor walk-up in Sugar Hill, Harlem--where kids still run through fire hydrants and music blares from stereos plugged into lampposts. When the husband notices trash marring the streets, he jumps on what he believes to be his cause. However, his clean-up efforts bring media coverage that sets off a rash of evictions and ushers in an influx of new and affluent tenants.The choices they make cannot change the past and the secrets that haunt the young lovers. What exists beneath the surface can't be held down for long. On the last block in Harlem, accomplishment and love will clash, but which force is strong enough to win?

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Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra
Secrets, Lies, and Algebra
Wendy Lichtman
Tess loves math because it's the one subject she can trust—there's always just one right answer, and it never changes. But then she starts algebra and is introduced to those pesky and mysterious variables, which seem to be everywhere in eighth grade. When even your friends and parents can be variables, how in the world do you find out the right answers to the really important questions, like what to do about a boy you like or whom to tell when someone's done something really bad? Will Tess's life ever stop changing long enough for her to figure it all out?

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The Dimension Next Door
The Dimension Next Door
Kerrie Hughes, Martin H. Greenberg, Paul Genesse
13 original stories about the realities just around the corner... Movements glimpsed out of the corner of your eye, inexplicable sounds, knowledge for which there is no rational explanation, dreams that seem as real as our own everyday life?products of overactive imaginations, or unexpected glimpses into dimensions beyond our own? Join thirteen intrepid writers as they explore those unknown territories that may be found in any of countless Dimensions Next Door. From a Celtic knot maze that could trap an unwary archaeologist; to an Internet site that offers to bring karmic balance into one man?s life; to a man bespelled to walk the future in the service of his queen?here are tales of the strange, challenging, and often wondrous worlds just waiting to be discovered by those with the ability to perceive them.

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Forever Changes
Forever Changes
Brendan Halpin
5:30 a.m., Brianna Pelletier gets ready for her daily pounding. As she lies on the couch, her dad beats her chest, then her back, coaxing the mucus out of her lungs. The pounding doesn’t take care of everything. Brianna’s held out for a long time, but a body with cystic fibrosis doesn’t last forever. It doesn’t matter that Brianna has a brilliant mathematical mind or that she’s a shoo-in for MIT. Or even that her two best friends are beautiful, popular, and loyal. In the grand scheme of things, none of that stuff matters at all. The standard life, lasting maybe seventy-five years, is no more than a speck in the sum total of the universe. At eighteen, and doubting she’ll make nineteen, Brianna is practically a nonentity. Of course she’s done the math. But in her senior year of high school, Brianna learns of another kind of math, in which an infinitely small, near-zero quantity can have profound effects on an entire system. If these tiny quantities didn’t exist, things wouldn’t make the same sense. Funny, tear-jerking, and memorable, the author’s second novel for teens introduces readers to an extraordinary girl who learns that the meaning of forever can change, and that life – and death – is filled with infinite possibilities.  Forever Changes is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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