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Juvenile Fiction | Page 43 | LitPick Book Reviews
Juvenile Fiction
Amira: Immortal Daughter from Penglai
Amira, Immortal Daughter from Penglai
Ying Ding, Lon Dee
Amira has a pretty good life on the peaceful island of Penglai. She has amazing powers and abilities. She's friends with the animals and creatures around her. And, of course, she's immortal. But she's also the only person on Penglai, which makes her more than a little lonely.One quiet day, a magical tortoise named M'lan appears and whisks her out to sea. He needs her help to rescue Raiden--a mortal--from angry sea spirits. She's never met a mortal before, and once she sees Raiden, she finds a strange attraction to him. She returns with him to his homeland in Dragon Hollow, where powerful dragons have protected his people for millennia.She quickly discovers that life in the mortal world is very different. Warlords and bandits battle in unending warfare. People get hurt. Some die. And her arrival upsets the balance that's kept Dragon Hollow safe. She struggles to understand and trust others. Do they really care for her or do they just need her help? Why do the dragons hate her? Can she believe and even love Raiden or is he deceiving her? And what about trusted M'lan--is even he turning against her?In the end, she has to decide whether or not to risk her own destruction to save the people of Dragon Hollow. And she discovers hidden powers and passions, long dormant within her.

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The Lantern Menace
The Lantern Menace
Darren Craske
Princess Castria is a hurricane in a tiara that pushes her royal powers (and her best friend Finch Balfour’s nerves) to their absolute limits with her pranks. But when she steals a dusty old lantern belonging to a one-eyed wizard, not only has she put the kingdom of Fanthia at risk, there’s a distinct possibility that the Wold itself might be in danger…Castria has no idea that the lantern contains the incarcerated soul of D’Monica Grace: the witch single-handedly responsible for the darkest period in the Wold’s history – and now it has fallen into Fanthia’s most hated enemies’ hands, with plans to reconstitute the ultimate evil into flesh, blood and bone once more. Along with Fanthia’s resident spell-crafter, Rufus Lightfoot, the troublesome princess (with Finch swept up in her wake) must set forth on a race against time to retrieve the lantern before D’Monica’s soul is reborn and the Wold is plunged into despair. It’s going to be an impossible journey with danger and betrayal at every turn, and many factions conspiring against Finch and Castria, determined to see them fail…

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Otherkin
Otherkin
Nina Berry
In her fresh, inventive debut, Berry introduces a teenage feline shapeshifter coming to terms with her strange powers in the first in a mesmerizing new series that deals with such teen issues as body image and the strength to be found in friendship.

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Alice-Miranda on Vacation
Alice-Miranda on Vacation
Jacqueline Harvey
Girls who are fans of Judy Moody, Matilda and Clementine will love Alice-Miranda, the  precocious and endearing heroine whose adventures continue in book #2 of the Alice-Miranda series. Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones has survived her first semester at boarding school. Now she's headed home for break—and she's invited Jacinta Headlington-Bear, the school's second-best tantrum thrower, to join her. The two girls are looking forward to a fun mini-vacation. Nothing too eventful! But a cranky boy is causing mischief, a movie star has come to visit, and a stranger is snooping around. Add a naughty pony, a hint of romance, and a dastardly scheme, and Jacinta and Alice-Miranda might have a more exciting time than they ever expected. . . .

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The Metamorphosis of Kaden Parsons
The Metamorphosis of Kaden Parsons
M. L. Clayton
The Metamorphosis of Kaden Parsons is about a boy who is bullied at school following the loss of his mother and mid-year transfer to a new school. As a new single-parent, his dad must learn how best to help his son while fighting the guilt of not knowing. Using the amazing transformation of the Monarch butterfly as a metaphor, Kaden's journey reveals who he really is and launches his dad on a quest to become the father his son needs him to be. The conversation starters at the end of the book help busy parents to personalize the major themes of the story--which include bullying and the power of standing up, love and loss, and single parenting--to their own family values and experiences.

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Amaranthine
Amaranthine
Tricia Rigli
Amaranthine is a tale of the dark side of desire. Crimson Wilkinson is a seemingly normal high school senior who, bored with life, finds her kicks in reading a popular vampire series. But her boredom is well remedied when she becomes an active part in the very true vampire stories the world thought were fiction and falls in love with their author, Nicholae Albaric, the dangerously gorgeous and sweetly lonely vampire celebrity. The rush she once so longed for becomes a burden as Crimson discovers she has a rare gene that makes the carrier extremely powerful once they are made into a vampire, and she is targeted as the vampire community's number-one most wanted, some who want to kill her before she can become a threat and others who want to use her powers to their own ends.

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Paper Planes
Paper Planes
Martin Burton
The distance we go for Love! All Martin ever wanted was a mother who loved him. At just five-years-old she walked out, leaving Martin to be raised by his grandma and grandad. Life became a constant battle for him, enduring countless traumatic events with his mother, and Linford, the school bully. Martin wished for an escape, and that day came when he met Gerald. Together they endured years of mental and physical bullying. Masking their fears with fun, they created a distraction from all the hurt and upset, by mustering up mischievous adventures packed with adrenalin pumped fun and laughter. However, their fun takes a turn for the worst, and they're both put face to face with a much greater fear than school bullying, a fear that two thirteen year old boys should never have to experience.

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Lucy And Cecee's How To Survive (And Thrive) In Middle School
Lucy and CeCee's How to Survive in Middle School
Kimberly Dana
Time to put the freak-out on pause because outgoing, boy-crazy Lucy Pringle and shy, studious, bespectacled CeCee Cruz have the goods on how to make middle school the best three years ever! Lucy and CeCee-the official self-proclaimed Madison Heights Middle School experts on how to deal with haters, hormones, and hot lunch dilemmas-are ready to demystify swirlie urban legends and dish about academic and social topics. They're keeping it real, lacing diary entries with their own daily escapades regarding skater slacker boyfriend crushes, BFF shopping trips to the mall, and BEE (Bitter Eternal Enemies) text wars. The two seventh graders swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . . . so help them Good Fairy of Popularity. In this handbook, two girls who have already survived boyfriends, sleepovers, nerd crushes, detentions, and runaway pimples share helpful hints and lingo lessons that will help tweens not only survive, but thrive while navigating through all the gory glory of middle school.  Check out Lucy and CeCee's official website at tweengirlsrule.blogspot.com.  Winner of Editor's Choice, Rising Star, Young Adult Honorable Mention - San Francisco Festival of Books, Paris Festival of Books, and New York Festival of Books.

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The Black Stone Prophecy
The Black Stone Prophecy
Alex Baj
Tom O'Malley is a sarcastic, popular 12-year old who has spent the past year avoiding friends and hiding out at home after a terrible accident. But when Tom finally agrees to leave home for summer camp, he is drawn into the transformative world of Nyi, where the secrets of Earth -- from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the origins of trolls -- are revealed, and where Tom and his friends must face an ancient evil. This suspenseful, witty debut novel deftly explores the power of friendship and the importance of believing in and accepting one's own transformation. It leaves readers begging for the second book in what has the potential to become a beloved middle grade fantasy series.Best Sellers in Kindle Store -- Top 100 Free (April 2012)Best Sellers in Kindle Store -- #3 Free Children's eBooks Science Fiction and Fantasy (April 2012)Best Sellers in Kindle Store -- #73 Children's eBooks Science Fiction and Fantasy -- Science Fiction (April 2012)

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Happy Families
Happy Families
Tanita S. Davis
   Teenage twins Ysabel and Justin Nicholas are lucky. Ysabel's jewelry designs have already caught the eyes of the art world and Justin's intelligence and drive are sure to gain him entrance into the most prestigious of colleges. They even like their parents. But their father has a secret--one that threatens to destroy the twins' happy family and life as they know it.   Over the course of spring break, Ysabel and Justin will be forced to come to terms with their dad's new life, but can they overcome their fears to piece together their happy family again?

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