New year, new books ~ Happy 2015! (part 2)

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Search parts 2 & 3 by Gene Luen Yang

Continuing his quest to uncover his mother's fate, Fire Lord Zuko, his sister Azula, and his friends enter the Forgetful Valley, a mysterious forest from which some people never emerge.

Catalyst by S. J. Kincaid

Tom Raines and his friends return to the Spire for their third year as superhuman government weapons, but the rules have been changed and Tom's training is put to the test.

Chernobyl's Wild Kingdom: Life in the Dead Zone by Rebecca Johnson

After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion, scientists believed radiation would make the area a barren wasteland. Today the Dead Zone is teeming with wildlife. But every plant and animal is radioactive, leaving scientists wondering how their survival is possible.

Dangerous Deceptions by Sarah Zettel

An unwelcome engagement, a mysterious plot that hints at treason, and a possible murder add even more excitement to sixteen-year-old Peggy Fitzroy's life as she continues to serve as both a lady-in-waiting and confidential agent to King George of England.

A Different Me by Deborah Blumenthal

Allie Johnston's secret wish since the day she was twelve is to have her nose done. But she hasn't told anyone--not her parents, or even her best friend, Jen. But when she starts visiting a plastic surgery discussion board on the Web, she finds people who get her, for the first time in her life. Her new friends, including two girls her age with vastly different backgrounds who share her obsession with changing their faces--but for very different reasons. 

Don't Touch by Rachel Wilson

16-year-old Caddie struggles with OCD, anxiety, and a powerful fear of touching another person's skin, which threatens her dreams of being an actress--until the boy playing Hamlet opposite her Ophelia gives her a reason to overcome her fears.

MAY I have some New Books Please? (Part 5)

Aang and Katara work to maintain peace between the Fire Lord Zuko and Earth King Kuei, while Sokka helps Toph prepare her metalbending school to defend itself against a rival class of firebenders.

What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens? Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks brings charming humor to the trials and tribulations of a young, female superhero, battling monsters both supernatural and mundane in an all-too-ordinary world

 Seventeen-year-old Maddy has always felt a hole in her life, but she has finally found a way to fill it with her quest to mold her body into her ideal, thinnest shape. When she comes across the world of "pro-ana" websites, where young people encourage each other in their mission to lose ever more weight, she realizes she is no longer alone. Finally, she has found a place where she is understood. Maddy quickly becomes addicted to the support and camaraderie she finds on thinandbeautiful.com. Now in a rehab facility where they are trying to "fix" a problem she doesn't think she has, Maddy's diary entries trace how she arrived at this point. 

 This work contains over 300 of the world's most intoxicating and spectacular motorcycles, especially chosen by Hugo Wilson. It covers each bike in depth with photographs, a historical profile, and key technical information.

When homeless teenager Marvin realizes his dream of working for the Core, an elite squad of costumed heroes, he discovers that the superstars he's idolized for so long aren't the people he thought they were.

Fabulous February New Books ~ Part 2

Pirouette by Robyn Bavati

YA FIC BAV

When Simone and Hannah, fifteen-year-old identical twins, meet for the first time at dance camp, they switch places in order to change the role that dance plays in their lives.

 

Vitro by Jessica Khoury

YA SFF KHO

On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings--the Vitros--have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.  Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. She enlists hunky charter pilot Jim Julien to take her there. But once on the island, Sophie and Jim encounter more than they bargained for, including a charming, brilliant Vitro named Nicholas and an innocent, newly awoken one named Lux.  In a race for their lives, Sophie and Jim are about to discover what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.

 

 Thrice Told Tales: Three Mice Full of Writing Advice by Catherine Lewis

YA 803 LEW

Can one nursery rhyme explain the secrets of the universe? Well, not exactly--but it can help you understand the difference between bildungsroman, epigram, and epistolary.

 

 Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

YA GN YAN

In China in 1898 bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough: harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers--commoners trained in kung fu--who fight to free China from "foreign devils."

 

Saints by Gene Luen Yang

YA GN YAN

China, 1898. An unwanted and unwelcome fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family when she's born. She finally finds friendship-- and a name, Vibiana -- in the most unlikely of places: Christianity. But China is a dangerous place for Christians. The Boxer Rebellion is in full swing, and bands of young men roam the countryside, murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike. Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie-- and whether she is willing to die for her faith.

 

 Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

YA PAR GAR

Seventeen-year-old Kennedy Waters discovers she is a member of an ancient secret society formed to protect the world from a powerful demon determined to find a way out of his dimension and into ours. She joins the Legion on a mission to find a weapon that can defeat the demon.

 

 

 

A birthday for a graphic novel author

Author of American Born Chinese and Level Up, Gene Luen Yang, is celebrating a birthday today.  American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and a Michael L. Printz award!