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Juvenile Fiction | Page 114 | LitPick Book Reviews
Juvenile Fiction
The Witch Oak Street And Other Adventures With Debbie Folino
The Witch On Oak Street
Major L. Mitchell
Nine year-old Debbie Folino believes she can do most anything, but when she takes a dare to trick-or-treat the old witch living in the spooky house at the end of Oak Street, she discovers eighty-year-old Sara Baker, who will change her life forever. Sara becomes the mentor who opens a new world for her young friend. She guides her through the trials of growing, loving, sharing, and even death. Most of all, Sara introduces Debbie and her family to someone who will become an even more important person in their lives, Jesus Christ.

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Mia the Meek (Mia Fullerton)
Mia the Meek
Eileen Boggess
After one summer at the Little Tykes Theatre, Mia Fullerton is meek no more, but that doesn't make her life any easier―not in her sophomore year at St. Hilary’s, when her best friend Lisa forces her into a dangerously big part in The Music Man. Not when her ex-boyfriend, Tim, is teaching his little brother Chris to treat women like objects.And not when she learns to drive―with serious repercussions.Who is Mia? Is she an independent girl like Zoë, her acerbic goth friend from Little Tykes? Or is she the girl who misses Tim, even after the way he betrayed her? Can Mia forgive Tim? Should she instead choose Eric, Zoë’s cousin, a nicer and more respectful choice in every way? Or would either choice defeat her goals of independence?Between dog costumes and stage costumes, big embarrassments and bigger chickens, and everything else that could possibly go wrong, Mia the Magnificent is a hilarious, clever, and endlessly fun novel, and the best installment yet of the Mia Fullerton series.

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The Horse from the Sea
The Horse from the Sea
Victoria Holmes
When fourteen-year-old Nora Donovan hears that Spanish soldiers may be sailing near the west coast of Ireland, she never expects that one of their ships will actually crash on the shore next to her home. Helping to clear the wreckage, Nora discovers a beautiful white stallion, injured and lost. Nora boldly leads the horse to a nearby cave and nurses him back to health.But hiding in the cave is one of the soldiers. He's also injured, very young, and wanted by the English army. Nora wants to help the boy get home safely, but she'll have to risk everything—including the magnificent stallion.

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Shug
Shug
Jenny Han
Annemarie “Shug” Wilcox is clever and brave and true (on the inside anyway). And she’s about to become your new best friend in this enchanting middle grade novel from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.Annemarie Wilcox, or Shug as her family calls her, is beginning to think there's nothing worse than being twelve. She's too tall, too freckled, and way too flat-chested. Shug is sure that there's not one good or amazing thing about her. And now she has to start junior high, where the friends she counts most dear aren't acting so dear anymore -- especially Mark, the boy she's known her whole life through. Life is growing up all around her, and all Shug wants is for things to be like they used to be. How is a person supposed to prepare for what happens tomorrow when there's just no figuring out today?

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Cinderella (As If You Didn't Already Know the Story)
Cinderella
Barbara Ensor, Barbara Ensor
I know, I know. You’ve heard the story a million times before. Mean stepmother. Lots of sweeping. Fancy ball. You remember. Or do you? Did you remember that Cinderella was such a nice girl—so smart and funny? You probably would’ve liked her. Did you know that “Cinderella” was just a nickname? And that her handsome prince loved Jell-o and was a wonderful dancer? Readers will delight in following Cinderella through all the usual happenings, presented in a most unusual way. And they’ll finally see what becomes of her after she marries the prince. So maybe you should hear the story one last time. Because it’s actually way different than you might have thought. . . . Kids who have outgrown picture books and are ready for something longer—but still love illustrated texts—will gravitate toward this Cinderella, which was an IRA-CBC Children's Choice selection. Black-and-white silhouettes of everything from the ugly stepsisters to Cinderella’s slipper (actual size) are intermingled with Cinderella’s letters to her recently deceased mother in this totally original package. And don't miss the companion book to this fairy-tale reboot: Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.

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Alice in the Know
Alice in the Know
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
It's the summer before junior year, and Alice is looking forward to three months of excitement, passion, and drama. But what does she find? A summer working in a local department store, trying to stop shoplifters, and more "real life" problems than she could have ever imagined: A good friend becomes seriously ill, Lester has more romance problems than even Alice knows what to do with, and the gang from Mark Stedmeister's pool is starting to grow up a bit faster than Alice is comfortable with.... Fortunately for Alice her family and friends are with her through it all, and by the end of the summer, Alice finds she knows a whole lot more than she had in June.Funny, touching, and always provocative, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does it again, proving with this twenty-first book in the beloved Alice series that she understands what real girls think and feel.

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Golden
Golden
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
When Lissy James moves from California to Oklahoma, she finds herself in the middle of a teenage nightmare: a social scene to rival a Hollywood movie. And if understanding the hierarchy of the Goldens vs. the Nons isn’t hard enough, Lissy’s ever growing Aura Vision is getting harder and harder to hide, and if she’s not careful, she’s going to become a Non faster than you can say “freak.”But it’s becoming clear that Emory High has a few secrets of its own. Around the halls, the term “special powers” goes way beyond one’s ability to attract the opposite sex, and there may be something more evil than the A-crowd lurking in the classrooms. Lissy can see a lot more than the average girl, but she’s about to learn the hard way that things aren’t always as they appear and you can’t always judge a girl by her lip gloss.

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Diva
Diva
Alex Flinn
For most people, the word "diva" means brilliant and over–the–top. Caitlin, however, seems to be trapped in a not–so–glamorous life with serious ex–boyfriend issues and a permanent yo–yo diet. But when she auditions and gets into the performing arts high school, everything changes. Caitlin can sing like an angel, but it will take more than her voice to help her overcome her past and shape her future. In this companion novel to Alex Flinn's acclaimed Breathing Underwater, Caitlin puts her past as "the abused girlfriend" behind her and moves onward and upward to Diva–dom. Ages:12+

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Just for You to Know
Just for You to Know
Cheryl Harness
As her family noisily slurps root beers at a drive-in stop, Carmen longs to be invisible -- especially when Clark and Larry shout out the news about Mama. Can it get any worse than this? Carmen imagines she's been kidnapped -- how else did she wind up as one of the Cathcarts. . . . At almost thirteen she's the oldest, with five noisy little brothers, a dreamy mom, and a sometimes reckless dad. When she's a famous artist, she'll get away from them all!This wonderfully honest and bighearted first novel mirrors life. Carmen Cathcart becomes a friend as, with a voice that is deeply moving yet often funny, she shares the importance of holding on to your dreams and what it means to be a family.

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Theodora Twist
Theodora Twist
Melissa Senate
“I’m going to have to come up with something really good to get you back into the public’s good graces. I have no idea what, but trust me. I’ll think of something.”Well that’s what Theodora pays her agent $100,000 a year for, isn’t it? Theodora Twist is the girl everyone wants to be. She’s Hollywood’s hottest young actress. Producers court her, fans mob her, and the tabloids cover everything.Emilys life is Boring with a capital B. She’s a 16-year-old nobody to everyone, including her own mother. The only thing remotely interesting about Emily? She lives in Theodora Twist’s former house. But she’s about to get Twisted. How? On a reality show meant to clean up Theodora’s party girl rep—with Emily’s family as host. It’s just another role for Theodora. Emily is in panic mode. This isn’t just a part . . . it’s her life.

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