New Books for the Best Month ~ March 2016 (part 9)

Traveler by Arwen Elys Dayton

Fantasy 

After learning that she pledged her life to deception, Quin and her oldest companion Shinobu search for answers in the past about the Seeker legacy and uncover a sinister plan, begun generations ago, with the power to end it.

Unbound by Neal Shusterman

Science Fiction 

A collection of stories about Connor, Risa, and Lev after they have destroyed the Proactive Citizenry and are, apparently, free to live in a peaceful future.

Utopia, Iowa by Brian Yancey

Paranormal 

For the most part, aspiring screenwriter Jack Bell is just your typical Midwestern kid. He's got a crush on his hot best friend, Ash. He's coping with a sudden frostiness between his once crazy-in-love parents. He's debating where to go to college next year - or whether to go at all. But then there's his gift (or curse): Jack can see dead people, just like the kid in The Sixth Sense. Lately, the ghosts are more distracting than usual, demanding that Jack get to the bottom of their mysterious deaths - all while avoiding the straitlaced Detective Bloodsmith, who doesn't believe in gifts or curses and can't help wondering why Jack keeps turning up at crime scenes. Is there a happily-ever-after in Jack's future, or is that only the stuff of movies?

The V-Word: True Stories About First-Time Sex by Amber Keyser

Nonfiction 

An honest and poignant collection of essays by women about losing their virginity in their teens. The V-Word captures the complexity of this important life-decision and reflects diverse real-world experiences. Includes helpful resources for parents and teens. Losing it. Popping your cherry. Handing in your V-card. First time sex is a big unknown. Will it be candlelight and rose petals or quick and uncomfortable? Is it about love or about lust? Deciding to have sex for the first time is a choice that's often fraught with anxiety and joy. But do you have anyone telling you what sex is really like? In The V-Word seventeen writers (including Christa Desir, Justina Ireland, Sara Ryan, Carrie Mesrobian, Erica Lorraine Scheidt, and Jamia Wilson) pull back the sheets and tell all, covering everything from straight sex to queer sex, diving-in versus waiting, and even the exhilaration and disappointment that blankets it all. Some of their experiences happened too soon, some at just the right time, but all paint a broad picture of what first-time sex is really like. Funny, hot, meaningful, cringe-worthy, gross, forgettable, magnificent, empowering, and transformative, the stories in The V-Word are never preachy, but provide a map for teens to chart their own course through the steamy waters of sex. With The V-Word girls can finally take control, learn what's on the horizon, and eliminate the fear and mystery surrounding this important milestone.

Thanks for the New Books! ~ November New Books Part 11

Undivided by Neal Shusterman

Three teens band together in order to sway the government to repeal all rulings in support of a procedure in which unwanted teenagers are captured and are unwound into parts that can be reused for transplantation.

Vango: Between Sky and Earth by Timothee de Fombelle

In a world between wars, a young man on the cusp of taking priestly vows is suddenly made a fugitive. Fleeing the accusations of police who blame him for a murder, as well as more sinister forces with darker intentions, Vango attempts to trace the secrets of his shrouded past and prove his innocence before all is lost. As he crisscrosses the continent via train, boat, and even the Graf Zeppelin airship, his adventures take him from Parisian rooftops to Mediterranean islands to Scottish forests. A mysterious, unforgettable, and romantic protagonist, Vango tells a thrilling story sure to captivate lovers of daring escapades and subversive heroes.

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh O'Brien

Rosie Sinclair, who attends an elite arts school where students are contestants on a high stakes reality show, skips her sleeping pill one night and discovers that the school is really a cover-up for the lucrative and sinister practice of dream harvesting.

Very Bad Things by Susan McBride

When a photo of Katie's popular boyfriend Mark having drunken sex with a tattooed girl at a party goes viral at their exclusive boarding school, Katie is devastated. Mark swears that he doesn't remember anything. But Rose, the girl in the photo, is missing--and Katie receives a gruesome present in the mail: a badly wrapped severed hand with a red rose tattoo.

Wildflower by Alecia Whitaker

Sixteen-year-old Bird Barrett is discovered by a country music record label while playing in her family's bluegrass band. As her star rises, she must learn to stay true to her roots while navigating a brave new world of glamour and gold records in Nashville, Tennessee.

In November I am Thankful for...New Books! (part 5)

Divided We Fall, United We Stand by Marvel

Washington lies in ruins. The president is dead. Sentinels rule the Southwest. But in America's darkest hour, its ultimate hero returns to lead its people back toward the light! Captain America answers his country's call to become its new president! But while Steve Rogers battles to reunite America, another leader embraces her destiny to defeat the Sentinels and save her own kind: Kitty Pryde! And with the nation crying out for heroes, Miles Morales is determined to prove he has what it takes to join the Ultimates!

 Unsouled by Neal Shusterman

After the destruction of the Graveyard, Connor and Lev are on the run, seeking a woman who may be the key to bringing down unwinding forever while Cam, the rewound boy, tries to prove his love for Risa by bringing Proactive Citizenry to its knees.

War Brothers by Sharon E. McKay

Jacob is a 14-year-old Ugandan who is sent away to a boys' school. Once there, he assures his friend Tony that they need not be afraid -- they will be safe. But not long after, in the shadow of the night, the boys are abducted. Marched into the jungle, they are brought to an encampment of the feared rebel soldiers. They are told they must kill or be killed, and their world turns into a terrifying struggle to endure and survive. In time, the boys escape. Hunted by the rebels, stalked by a lion, and even pursued by river crocs, they miraculously succeed in reaching safety. However, it is no longer enough. Jacob wrestles with the question of whether we are all really beasts inside. He decides the way through the pain is to record his story. 

Winger by Andrew Smith

Two years younger than his classmates at a prestigious boarding school, fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West grapples with living in the dorm for troublemakers, falling for his female best friend who thinks of him as just a kid, and playing wing on the Varsity rugby team with some of his frightening new dorm-mates.

 Arson by Estevan Vega
Arson Gable feels like a freak. He can create fire. He never asked for it. He never wanted it. But he can't shut it off. Before now, three things were true: he both loved and despised his grandmother; his life was going nowhere; and he was alone. But when a strange girl-who feels more normal behind a mask than inside her own skin-moves in next door, Arson hopes to find something he's never had: purpose. Using what he fears most about himself, Arson must face his consuming past and confront the nightmare that is his present as he walks the fine line between boy and monster.

New Books for September (part 3)

Unwholly by Neal Shusterman

Check the Catalog

Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa--and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp--people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished. Cam is a product of unwinding; made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam's fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he'll have to question humanity itself. Rife with action and suspense, this riveting companion to the perennially popular Unwind challenges assumptions about where life begins and ends--and what it means to live.

 The Raft by S. A. Bodeen
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Robie's last-minute flight to the Midway Atoll proves to be a nightmare when the plane goes down in shark-infested waters, but the real terror begins when the co-pilot Max pulls her onto the raft.

 Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams
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Although sixteen-year-old Sophie has grown up working in her family's Mediterranean restaurant in Washington, D.C., she is not prepared to compete on the new reality show, Teen Test Kitchen, when her best friend Alex convinces her to audition. Includes recipes.

 Stick It: 99 D.I.Y. Duct Tape Projects by T. L. Bonaddio
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From wicked wallets to wild wearables (and more!), go from sticky to stylin' with the hip projects in this book.

Ladies in Waiting by Laura Sullivan
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In the seventeenth-century court of England's King Charles II, three young ladies-in-waiting discover a palace teeming with love, intrigue, and treachery.