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Juvenile Fiction | Page 41 | LitPick Book Reviews
Juvenile Fiction
Keyholders #2: The Other Side of Magic (Keyholders Series)
The Other Side of Magic
Marcia Thornton Jones, Debbie Dadey
This Other Side of Magic is the second in a series of light fantasy chapter books set in Morgantown, a town on the border between the real world and the magical world, by the authors of the Publishers Weekly best selling BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS―a series of 50 books with more than 30 million copies sold!"I need your help, Natalie," Mr. Leery said. "Yours and Penny's and Luke's."Natalie is surprised to learn from her neighbor, Mr. Leery, that her classmates Penny and Luke are apprentice Keyholders. A Keyholder's job is to guard the border between the real world and the magical world. Natalie is even more surprised when she finds out that she could be a Keyholder too―if she forms a "link" with a rat named Buttercup. Will Natalie choose to join the Keyholders? Can she, Penny, and Luke learn how to work together with their links and protect the border from the goblins sent by the evil Queen of the Boggarts?

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Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt (Picture Book)
Stitchin' and Pullin'
Cozbi A. Cabrera, Patricia McKissack
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns—all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together—telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom.

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The Girl Who Could Fly
The Girl Who Could Fly
Victoria Forester
You just can't keep a good girl down . . . unless you use the proper methods.Piper McCloud can fly. Just like that. Easy as pie.Sure, she hasn't mastered reverse propulsion and her turns are kind of sloppy, but she's real good at loop-the-loops.Problem is, the good folk of Lowland County are afraid of Piper. And her ma's at her wit's end. So it seems only fitting that she leave her parents' farm to attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities.School is great at first with a bunch of new friends whose skills range from super-strength to super-genius. (Plus all the homemade apple pie she can eat!) But Piper is special, even among the special. And there are consequences.Consequences too dire to talk about. Too crazy to consider. And too dangerous to ignore.At turns exhilarating and terrifying, Victoria Forester's debut novel has been praised by Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga, as "the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men...Prepare to have your heart warmed." The Girl Who Could Fly is an unforgettable story of defiance and courage about an irrepressible heroine who can, who will, who must . . . fly.This title has Common Core connections.Praise for Victoria Forester and The Girl Who Could Fly:"It's the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men. I was smiling the whole time (except for the part where I cried). I gave it to my mom, and I'm reading it to my kids―it's absolutely multigenerational. Prepare to have your heart warmed." Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga"In this terrific debut novel, readers meet Piper McCloud, the late-in-life daughter of farmers...The story soars, just like Piper, with enough loop-de-loops to keep kids uncertain about what will come next....Best of all are the book's strong, lightly wrapped messages about friendship and authenticity and the difference between doing well and doing good."--Booklist, Starred Review "Forester's disparate settings (down-home farm and futuristic ice-bunker institute) are unified by the rock-solid point of view and unpretentious diction… any child who has felt different will take strength from Piper's fight to be herself against the tide of family, church, and society."--The Horn Book ReviewThe Girl Who Could Fly is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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Vampire Island
Vampire Island
Adele Griffin
From a National Book Award finalist comes a lively new spin on the classic vampire tale. When old-world dangers threaten a race of fruit bat hybrids, where can they run to? New York City, of course! And that?s where we meet the Livingstone kids?Lexie, Hudson, and Maddy?trying to blend their ?vampireness? with the regular people of the city. Unfortunately, their vampire traits keep complicating things. Lexie?s super speed, amazing strength, and poetry-quoting habit embarrass her in front of classmates?and her secret crush. Hudson can fly and is determined to save the planet, but with a vocabulary from the wrong century, he doesn?t quite fit in. And then there?s Maddy, who has a hard time sticking to her vegetarian diet, and an even harder time convincing her siblings that their new neighbors are vampires. With all these challenges, will Lexie, Hudson, and Maddy ever be able to navigate the normal world?

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The Marvelous Effect (Marvelous World)
Marvelous World
Troy CLE
Louis Proof is an ordinary kid. He loves listening to hip-hop, racing radio-controlled cars, and hanging out with his best friend, Brandon. Then a mysterious letter invites him to visit the local junkyard. There he finds a secret, underground amusement park like no other in existence. This is the best day of Louis's life. The park even has the most amazing race course for radio-controlled cars. Louis starts racing right away. It's a close contest; he's about to activate his nitro boost to take the lead, when... This is the worst day of Louis's life. Without warning or reason, thirteen-year-old Louis Proof falls into a coma due to a virus of a mysterious, celestial origin. When he awakens three months later, the world that he once knew and loved is totally out of control. He will learn that his illness is connected to everything that is wrong, and that it's not only his responsibility but his destiny to set things right. This story is a megadramatic, remarkably true, super action fantasy. Get ready!

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Summerhouse Time
Summerhouse Time
Eileen Spinelli, Joanne Lew-Vriethoff
Every year a rented pink cottage full of family, swapping stories, and riding waves mean Summerhouse Time for Sophie. Best of all is sharing a room with her favorite cousin and laughing and trading secrets like two happy peas in a cousin pod. Sophie can't wait! But when she asks the now-a-teenager Colleen if she's looking forward to their time together, Colleen just says "I guess so."What? It's the best time of the year, the time they both love. In just a little bit, they will all be together in the cottage on the beach. Will this year be just as wonderful, just like always?Accompanied by charming black-and-white illustrations, classic growingup experiences radiate throughout the pages of this sunny, anytime story.From the Hardcover edition.

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Shanghaied to the Moon
Shanghaied to the Moon
Michael Daley
Thirteen-year-old Stewart Hale dreams of Space Academy and becoming a famous pilot like his mother, and like his hero Val Thorsten. But after his mother’s death, his father has forbidden any talk of Stewart going into space. And Stewart suspects there’s something that is being kept hidden from him, something they don’t want him to remember from his past. A chance encounter with a washed-up old spacer gives Stewart an unexpected opportunity to sneak off on his own mission to the Moon. But when the old spacer’s intentions turn out to be less than honorable, Stewart realizes he hasn’t found his big break—he’s been shanghaied!

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Horse Power (Saddle Club(R))
Horse Power: The Saddle Club
Bonnie Bryant
Carole, Stevie, and Lisa have been looking for a fourth member to join the Saddle Club. So when Carole introduces her friends to Kate Devine, the championship rider, the girls know they've found the perfect fit. Except that Kate doesn't want to ride ever again. . . .

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Un Lun Dun
Un Lun Dun
China Miéville
Top Choice
What is Un Lun Dun?It is London through the looking glass, an urban Wonderland of strange delights where all the lost and broken things of London end up . . . and some of its lost and broken people, too–including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas; Obaday Fing, a tailor whose head is an enormous pin-cushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle. Un Lun Dun is a place where words are alive, a jungle lurks behind the door of an ordinary house, carnivorous giraffes stalk the streets, and a dark cloud dreams of burning the world. It is a city awaiting its hero, whose coming was prophesied long ago, set down for all time in the pages of a talking book.When twelve-year-old Zanna and her friend Deeba find a secret entrance leading out of London and into this strange city, it seems that the ancient prophecy is coming true at last. But then things begin to go shockingly wrong.From the Hardcover edition.

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Miss O and Friends: Room for One More by Speregen, Devra Newberger published by Watson-Guptill Paperback
Miss O and Friends: Room for One More

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