What's New in November? (Part 7)

Taking Aim: Power and Pain, Teens and Guns by various, edited by Michael Cart

Contemporary Fiction 

Powerful, riveting, and real. Sixteen celebrated authors bring us raw, insightful stories that explore guns and teens in a fiction collection that is thought provoking and emotionally gripping. For fans of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and Give a Boy a Gun, and with an array of YA talent like the late great Walter Dean Myers, the poetic Joyce Carol Oates, the prophetic Elizabeth Wein, and the gritty Chris Crutcher, these are evocative voices that each has a different perspective to give. Capturing the hurt and the healing, victims and perpetrators, these stories get to the heart of the matter.

From a boy whose low self-esteem is impacted when a gun comes into his possession to a student recalling a senseless tragedy that befell a favorite teacher, from a realistic look at hunting to a provocative look at a family that defies stereotypes, each emotional story stirs the debate to new levels. The juxtaposition of guns and their consequences offers moving tales, each a reminder of how crucial the question of guns in our society is, and the impact they have on all of us.

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Mystery 

Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon--like all the girls in her class--she'll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo dreams of becoming a writer--a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly. Wild aspirations aside, Jo's life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort shot himself while cleaning his pistol. One of New York City's wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was a partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun. The more Jo hears about her father's death, the more something feels wrong. Suicide is the only logical explanation, and of course people have started talking, but Jo's father would never have resorted to that. And then she meets Eddie--a young, smart, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father's newspaper--and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. But now it might be too late to stop. The past never stays buried forever. Life is dirtier than Jo Montfort could ever have imagined, and this time the truth is the dirtiest part of all. 

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

Contemporary Fiction 

Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school. Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance--but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.

Trollhunters by Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus

Paranormal 

Jim Sturges is your typical teen in suburban San Bernardino-one with an embarrassingly overprotective dad, a best friend named "Tubby" who shares his hatred of all things torturous (like gym class), and a crush on a girl who doesn't know he exists. But everything changes for Jim when a 45-year old mystery resurfaces, threatening the lives of everyone in his seemingly sleepy town. Soon Jim has to team up with a band of unlikely (and some un-human) heroes to battle the monsters he never knew existed. From the minds of Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus comes a new illustrated novel about the fears that move in unseen places.

The Trouble in Me by Jack Gantos

Contemporary Fiction 

Set in the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood of his family's latest rental home, The Trouble in Me opens with an explosive encounter in which Jack first meets his awesomely rebellious older neighbor, Gary Pagoda, just back from juvie for car theft. Instantly mesmerized, Jack decides he will do whatever it takes to be like Gary. As a follower, Jack is eager to leave his old self behind, and desperate for whatever crazy, hilarious, frightening thing might happen next. But he may not be as ready as he thinks when the trouble in him comes blazing to life.

Who's ready for summer?

Well...while summer is taking it's sweet time coming, try out a summer themed read instead!

All I Need by Susane Colasanti
When Skye, a hopeless romantic, meets Seth, hurt by a recent break-up, at an end-of-summer party they connect instantly, but their love is tested when she returns to high school and he begins to work his way through an Ivy-League college.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux
Three teens at a summer program for gifted students uncover shocking secets in the sanatorium-turned-dorm where they're staying--secrets that link them all to the asylum's dark past.

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald
Seventeen-year-old Jenna, an ardent vegetarian and environmentalist, is thrilled to be spending the summer communing with nature in rural Canada, until she discovers that not all of the rugged residents there share her beliefs.

The Complete History of Why I Hate Her by Jennifer Jacobson
Wanting a break from being known only for her sister's cancer, seventeen-year-old Nola leaves Boston for a waitressing job at a summer resort in Maine, but soon feels as if her new best friend is taking over her life.

Dead End in Novelt by Jack Gantos
In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

Forever Summer by Alyson Noel
Summer. A break from the burdens of school. Deep tans, deeper thoughts. Far away from the everyday. Closer to making dreams come true . . . What does summer mean to you? For the two teenage girls in these two unforgettable novels, summer means being torn away from the familiar and finding new friends. A new place in the world. A new sense of self. And maybe even new love along the way . . .When you're having the time of your life, you never want it to end.

Goddess Games by Niki Burnham
Three high-school girls from very different social backgrounds deal with their problems and learn how to get along together while working at a mountain resort for the summer.

How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Doktorski
Placed under a temporary retstraining order for torching her former boyfriend's car, seventeen-year-old Rosie embarks on a cross-country car trip from New Jersey to Arizona while waiting for her court appearance.

How to Steal a Car by Pete Hautman
Fifteen-year-old, suburban high school student Kelleigh, who has her learner's permit, recounts how she began stealing cars one summer, for reasons that seem unclear even to her.

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
Over the course of several summers on the Atlantic coast, Chase struggles with his feelings for his best friend's sisters in the beach house next door while trying to get his own family through seemingly insurmountable problems.

The Lifeguard by Deborah Blumenthal
Spending the summer at her aunt's beach house, teenaged Sirena struggles with her parents' divorce and falls in love with a mysterious lifeguard.

Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Bell
Thirteen-year-old Genevieve's summer at a frontier family history camp in Laramie, Wyoming, with her parents and brother is filled with surprises, which she reports to friends back home on the cell phone she sneaked in, and which they turn into a blog.

Past Perfect by Leila Sales
Sixteen-year-old Chelsea knows what to expect when she returns for a summer of historical reenactment at Colonial Essex Village until she learns that her ex-boyfriend is working there, too, and then meets the very attractive Dan who works at a rival historical village.

Slept Away by Julie Kraut
Fifteen-year-old Manhattanite Laney Parker, a city girl all her life, is horrified when her mother insists that she spend the summer at sleep-away camp in the Pennsylvania countryside.

The Summer I Got a Life by Mark Fink
Andy Crenshaw, 15, is about to have a summer he didn't expect. He lives in the shadow of his good-looking, athletic older brother, Brad, and they don't get along. Lately they only agree on their excitement over their upcoming trip to Hawaii. But the family's plans change at the last minute, packing the boys off to rural Wisconsin. They'll be stuck with their wacky, free-spirited aunt and uncle--on a farm with no cable TV and Internet.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
While spending the summer in the Hamptons, sixteen-year-old Mia is disappointed that her cousin Corinne has grown so distant, but when she meets the irresistible and adventurous boy next door, everything changes for the better.

That Summer by Sarah Dessen
During the summer of her divorced father's remarriage and her sister's wedding, fifteen-year-old Haven comes into her own by letting go of the myths of the past.

Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally
Seeking God's forgiveness for a past sin, eighteen-year-old Kate finds summer employment at a church camp, where she is tempted to have a fling with co-counselor Matt.

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
The summer after graduating from an Iowa high school, eighteen-year-old Dade Hamilton watches his parents' marriage disintegrate, ends his long-term, secret relationship, comes out of the closet, and savors first love.

Where Things Come Back by John Whaley
Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.

March's New Books - Part 6

Sketchy Behavior by Erynn Mangum

Check the Catalog

As part of an art class assignment, high school junior Kate unwittingly sketches a wanted murderer, propelling her into instant celebrity and extreme danger while her parents fret and police provide constant protection.

Skyship Academy by Nick James

Check the Catalog

In 2095 when a fifteen-year-old slacker discovers that he has the power to control Pearls, fragments of space debris that are a dying Earth's most important energy source, government forces work to capture him.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Check the Catalog

In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

 Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Check the Catalog

Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.