New Books for a New School Year - September books part 4

No Dawn Without Darkness by Dayna Lorentz

With the power cut and the quarantined mall thrown into darkness, teens Shay, Marco, Lexi, Ryan, and Ginger must change in order to survive, and, when the doors finally open, they may not like what they've become.

Going Over by Beth Kephart

It is February 1983, and Berlin is a divided city with a miles-long barricade separating east from west. But the city isn't the only thing that is divided. Ada lives among the rebels, punkers, and immigrants of Kreuzberg in West Berlin. Stefan lives in East Berlin, in a faceless apartment bunker of Friedrichshain. Bound by love and separated by circumstance, their only chance for a life together lies in a high-risk escape. But will Stefan find the courage to leap? Or will forces beyond his control stand in his way?

High and Dry by Sarah Skilton

Framed for a stranger's near-fatal overdose at a party, blackmailed into finding a mysterious flash drive everyone in school seems anxious to suppress, and pressured by his shady best friend to throw an upcoming game, high school soccer player Charlie Dixon spends a frantic week trying to clear his name, win back the girl of his dreams, and escape a past that may be responsible for all his current problems.

Briony Hatch by Ginny & Penelope Skinner

Briony Hatch hates reality. She prefers the fantasy world of her favourite novels: The Starling Black Adventures, in which ghosts are real and you can cast magic spells to defeat your enemies. In her real life, Briony's parents are getting divorced and her friends are preoccupied by losing weight and shagging boys. Briony has tried all Starling Black's magic spells in her bedroom but they don't seem to be working. Her mother wants her to grow up, get her head out of those books and pack - they're leaving Dad and moving into a bungalow the other side of town. Worst of all, Briony has almost finished the last ever Starling Black novel; life will soon have no meaning at all. But Briony is about to learn that fantasy and reality aren't always so easy to distinguish, and life doesn't have to be dull just because you're getting older.

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens. Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender , and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

First New Books of 2014~ Part 2

World After by Susan Ee

Penryn's search for her kidnapped sister, Paige, leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, while Raffe must choose between reclaiming his wings--and his role as the angels' leader--or helping Penryn survive.

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

A year after vanishing from a party, screaming and drenched in blood, seventeen-year-old Annaliese Rose Gordon appears hundreds of miles from home with no memory, but a haunting certainty that she is actually another girl trapped in Annaliese's body.

The Pitcher by William Hazelgrove

A boy with a golden arm but no money for lessons. A mother who wants to give her son his dream before she dies. A broken down World Series pitcher who cannot go on after the death of his wife. These are the elements of The Pitcher . A story of a man at the end of his dream and a boy whose dream is to make his high school baseball team. In the tradition of The Natura l and The Field of Dreams , this is a mythic story about how a man and a boy meet in the crossroads of their life and find a way to go on. You will laugh and you will cry as The Pitcher and Ricky prepare for the ultimate try out of life.

No Easy Way Out by Dayna Lorentz

Teens Marco, Shay, Ryan, and Lexi form new allies in the quarantined mall-as the bodies pile up, the disease mutates, the Senator's authority is questioned, and it becomes clear there's no one to trust.

Break These Rules by various YA Authors

If you're a girl, you should strive to look like the model on the cover of a magazine. If you're a boy, you should play sports and be good at them. If you're smart, you should immediately go to college after high school, and get a job that makes you rich. Above all, be normal. Right? Wrong , say 35 leading middle grade and young adult authors. Growing up is challenging enough; it doesn't have to be complicated by convoluted, outdated, or even cruel rules, both spoken and unspoken. Parents, peers, teachers, the media, and the rest of society sometimes have impossible expectations of teenagers. These restrictions can limit creativity, break spirits, and demand that teens sacrifice personality for popularity. In these personal, funny, moving, and poignant essays, Kathryn Erskine ( Mockingbird ), Matthew Quick ( The Silver Linings Playbook ), Gary D. Schmidt ( The Wednesday Wars ), Sara Zarr ( Story of a Girl ), and many others share anecdotes and lessons learned from their own lives in order to show you that some rules just beg to be broken.

In November I am Thankful for...New Books! (part 4)

So You Want to be a Comic Book Artist by Philip Amara

A step-by-step guide to creating, publishing and marketing comic books shares professional insights into developing compelling characters and approaching publishers, offering additional advice for such topics as adapting storylines for video games and movies.

 

Soda-Pop Rockets by Paul Jarvis

Anyone can recycle a plastic bottle by tossing it into a bin, but it takes a bit of skill to propel it into that bin from 500 feet away. Skill, and a copy of Soda-Pop Rockets.

 Author and engineer Paul Jarvis has designed 20 different easy-to-launch rockets that can be built from discarded plastic drink bottles. After learning how to construct and fly a basic model, readers will find out new ways to modify and improve their designs.  Clear, step-by-step instructions with full-color illustrations accompany each project, including how to build a launch pad, along with photographs of the author firing his creations into the sky. 

 

 SYLO by D. J. MacHale

They came from the sky parachuting out of military helicopters to invade Tucker Pierce's idyllic hometown on Pemberwick Island, Maine. They call themselves SYLO and they are a secret branch of the U.S. Navy. SYLO's commander, Captain Granger, informs Pemberwick residents that the island has been hit by a lethal virus and must be quarantined. Now Pemberwick is cut off from the outside world. Tucker believes there's more to SYLO's story. He was on the sidelines when the high school running back dropped dead with no warning. He saw the bizarre midnight explosion over the ocean, and the mysterious singing aircraft that travel like shadows through the night sky. He tasted the Ruby--and experienced the powers it gave him--for himself. What all this means, SYLO isn't saying. Only Tucker holds the clues that can solve this deadly mystery. Look to the sky because Pemberwick Island is only the first stop.

 

 Taken by Erin Bowman

In the isolated town of Claysoot, every male is mysteriously "Heisted" on his eighteenth birthday, and seventeen-year-old Gray Weathersby is determined to figure out why.

 

 

This is NOT a Writing Manual by Kerri Majors

You're an aspiring writer. Maybe you've just discovered your love of words and dream of being a novelist someday. Maybe you've been filling notebooks with science-fiction stories since middle school. Maybe you're contemplating a liberal arts degree, but you don't know what the heck you're going to do with it. The last thing you need is another preachy writing manual telling you how you should write. This book isn't a writing manual. It is a series of candid and irreverent essays on the writing life, from a writer who's lived it.

New book time - June Post 1

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Check the Catalog

Seventeen-year-old Jazz learned all about being a serial killer from his notorious "Dear Old Dad," but believes he has a conscience that will help fight his own urges and right some of his father's wrongs, so he secretly helps the police apprehend the town's newest murderer, "The Impressionist."

 Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Check the Catalog

In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

 Taken by Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Check the Catalog

Alpha Bryn's humanity becomes a bigger problem as she takes her place in the werewolf Senate and tries to address a new threat to the pack.

Fullmetal Alchemist vol 2 by Hiromu Arakawa

Check the Catalog

There are many types of alchemy in the world.  Edward's commanding officer, "Flame Alchemist" Roy Mustang, can control fire.  Shou Tucker, the "Sewing-Life Alchemist," specializes in the most difficult alchemy of all...biological transmutation, the ability to alter the tissue of living things.  But no matter what their power, alchemist are still human.  And when a mysterious killer begins stalking state alchemists, no one can escape his vengeance...

No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz

Check the Catalog

Teens Shay, Marco, Lexi, and Ryan, quarantined in a shopping mall when a biological bomb igoes off in an air duct, learn that in an emergency people change, and not always for the better, as many become sick and supplies run low.

 The Enchantress by Michael Scott

Check the Catalog

Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel have one day left to live, and one job left to do. They must defend San Francisco. The monsters gathered on Alcatraz Island have been released and are heading toward the city. If they are not stopped, they will destroy everyone and everything in their path. But even with the help of two of the greatest warriors from history and myth, will the Sorceress and the legendary Alchemyst be able to defend the city?