New Books for June - Part 5

The Great Wide Sea by M. H. Herlong

Action/Adventure 

Still mourning the death of their mother, three brothers go with their father on an extended sailing trip off the Florida Keys and have a harrowing adventure at sea.

Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun

Fantasy 

As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits: by her duties as a member of the royal family, by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman, and by the edge of the only world she's ever known--a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what's left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft. When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks and other terrifying creatures. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Contemporary Fiction 

Agoraphobic sixteen-year-old Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to change that--and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results.

Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano

Paranormal 

John "Smoke" Conlan uses his supernatural ability to travel outside the walls of a juvenile detention center to try to clear his name and help his fellow inmates find redemption.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Contemporary Fiction 

Amanda Hardy only wants to fit in at her new school, but she is keeping a big secret, so when she falls for Grant, guarded Amanda finds herself yearning to share with him everything about herself, including her previous life as Andrew.

New Books for June - Part 1

Hi all, I know this post is a little late, but the new books have been on the shelf!  I just hadn't gotten around to posting about them yet.  Enjoy!

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gaviel Savit

Historical Fiction 

When her university professor father is sent by the Gestapo to a concentration camp, seven-year-old Anna travels the Polish countryside with the mysterious Swallow Man during World War II.

The Apple Tart of Hope by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

Mystery 

Oscar Dunleavy, a teenager who used to make incredible apple tarts, has gone missing and everyone thinks he is dead, but Oscar's best friend Meg and his little brother Stevie, form a band as they try to figure out what happened to him.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Contemporary Fiction 

David Piper, always an outsider, forms an unlikely friendship with Leo Denton who, from the first day at his new school wants only to be invisible, but when David's deepest secret gets out, that he wants to be a girl, things get very messy for both of them.

Assassination Classroom vol 9 by Yusei Matsui

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

Nagisa risks life and limb in an attempt to take down the mastermind behind a biological attack. After the dust settles, Koro Sensei tries to ignite some summer romances between the students of 3-E. Their teacher Irina Jelavitch, at least, has her sights on someone…and everyone happily conspires to bring them together! Back at school, one of the 3-E students defects from the ranks for all the wrong reasons. How will they bring him back before he inflicts irrevocable damage on them all…?

Attack on Titan vol 11 by Hajime Isayama

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

Thanks to Eren's timely arrival, the 104th has managed to turn the tide at Wall Rose. But this momentary victory forces two more traitors into a corner – and the identity of the Titans who have been destroying the walls is revealed! What can Eren do against the two most dangerous monsters humanity has ever faced? And who else might be an enemy in disguise?

Biggie by Derek Sullivan

Contemporary Fiction 

Henry "Biggie" Abbott has hidden behind his weight for years, and although he is the son and stepson of two of Finch, Minnesota's most famous athletes, he prefers academic success until the girl of his dreams suggests he join the baseball team, and, with his stepbrother's help, he discovers he is a great pitcher.

New Books for April 2016 (part 3)

Front Lines by Michael Grant

Action/Adventure 

World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled, the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering: Rio fights to honor her sister; Frangie needs money for her family; Rainy wants to kill Germans. For the first time they leave behind their homes and families—to go to war.

These three daring young women will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, they will discover the roles that define them on the front lines. They will fight the greatest war the world has ever known.

Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Science Fiction

Tenley (Ten) Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she'll live after she dies. There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death. In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul.

The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens & Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity by Rylan Jay Testa, Deborah Coolhart, & Jayme Peta

Nonfiction 

This one-of-a-kind, comprehensive workbook will help you navigate your gender identity and expression at home, in school, and with peers. If you are a transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) teen, you may experience unique challenges with identity and interpersonal relationships. In addition to experiencing common teen challenges such as body changes and peer pressure, you may be wondering how to express your unique identity to others. The Gender Quest Workbook incorporates skills, exercises, and activities from evidence-based therapies--such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)--to help you address the broad range of struggles you may encounter related to gender identity, such as anxiety, isolation, fear, and even depression. Despite outdated beliefs, gender no longer implies being simply male or female, but rather a whole spectrum of possibilities. This fun, engaging workbook is designed specifically for teens like you who want to explore the concept of gender and gender identity and expression--whether you already identify as TGNC or are simply questioning your gender identity. 

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Science Fiction 

Sixteen-year-old Nix has sailed across the globe and through centuries aboard her time-traveling father's ship. But when he gambles with her very existence, it all may be about to end.  Nix's life began in Honolulu in 1868. Since then she has traveled to mythic Scandinavia, a land from the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, modern-day New York City, and many more places both real and imagined. As long as he has a map, Nix's father can sail his ship, The Temptation, to any place, any time. But now he's uncovered the one map he's always sought--1868 Honolulu, before Nix's mother died in childbirth. Nix's life--her entire existence--is at stake. No one knows what will happen if her father changes the past. It could erase Nix's future, her dreams, her adventures. her connection with the charming Persian thief, Kash, who's been part of their crew for two years. If Nix helps her father reunite with the love of his life, it will cost her her own.

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Fantasy 

Mare Barrow's blood is red--the color of common folk--but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince--the friend--who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind. Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

New year, new books ~ Happy 2015! (part 4)

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

Grayson, a transgender twelve-year-old, learns to accept her true identity and share it with the world.

Halley by Faye Gibbons

Times are hard in Depression era Georgia mountain country. Even so, fourteen-year-old Halley Owenby, her younger brother, Robbie, and their parents, Jim and Kate manage to get by until Jim dies suddenly in an accident, and Kate decides she and her children have no choice but to move in with her parents.

How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla has had a crush on classmate Josh since their freshman year at the School of America in Paris, but after a chance encounter over the summer in Manhattan they return to France for their senior year where they are forced to confront challenges every young couple in love must face.

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Violet, a poor girl from the outer city, finds forbidden romance and uncovers brutal secrets when, after three years of training, she is purchased by a royal family as a surrogate mother for royal children.

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.