New Books for the New Year - January 2016 New Books part 2

Calvin by Martine Leavitt

Contemporary Fiction 

Born on the day the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published, seventeen-year-old Calvin, a schizophrenic, sees and has conversations with the tiger, Hobbes, and believes that if he can persuade the strip's creator, Bill Watterson, to do one more strip, he will make Calvin well.

The August 5 by Jenna Helland

Fantasy 

Tommy Shore, one of the twin sons of the chief administrator of Seahaven, learns to his dismay that the government has been keeping secrets, and when he joins up with some rebels at the Seminary, he must go against everything his father stands for.

Attack on Titan vol 7 by Hajime Isayama

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

The Survey Corps sets a cunning trap to capture the mysterious Abnormal Titan that broke through their ranks. As Armin tries to determine the grotesque creature’s identity and purpose, scouts report Titans closing in on all sides! But they don’t seem to be after the humans – instead they’re targeting the Titan!

Assassination Classroom vol 6 by Yusei Matsui

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

The 3-E students discover that Koro Sensei's greatest weakness might be a common substance. Will they be able to use it to assassinate him while he helps Meg, formerly of the varsity swim team, with her greatest weakness? The next assassination attempt, implemented by Terasaka, is more elaborate but endangers his fellow students. Can he save them without saving his target? Then, the top class at school, including Principal Asano's son, conspires to prevent 3-E from ever rising closer to the top!

The Death Code by Lindsay Cummings

Science Fiction 

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is the dark and compelling sequel to the bestselling The Murder Complex, which Booklist praised as "carefully crafted ... chilling" and Justine magazine called "a must for fans of action-packed dystopians like The Hunger Games and Divergent."With short, fast-paced, alternating point-of-view chapters, The Death Code starts several weeks after The Murder Complex ends. Zephyr keeps the secret about Meadow close that if she dies, The Murder Complex will be destroyed, too. Meadow, desperate to find her brother, father, and little sister, is determined to fight fearlessly to the end, even if it means sacrificing herself and her friends, new and old. The Death Code introduces a memorable cast of secondary characters and delivers a vivid and scary thrill ride read.

My Gift to You ~ New Books for December (part 9)

The Ultimate Unofficial Encyclopedia for Minecrafters by Megan Miller

Nonfiction 

From abandoned mineshafts to mini-games, mods, and zombie sieges, The Ultimate Unofficial Encyclopedia for Minecrafters reveals expert tricks of the trade for gamers. Want to know where you’ll find the most diamonds or how to protect your villagers at night? This A–Z reference is a quick guide to all the tips you want to know, including:

• How to spawn and kill the Wither boss
• How to rescue a baby zombie villager
• How to make a portal without a diamond pickaxe
• How to make a secret passageway using paintings

This exciting book will cover everything players need to know about mining, farming, building, villagers, the Nether, and more! A big book of players’ hacks for Minecrafters organized in an easy-to-reference A–Z encyclopedia format, this book will show readers the ins and outs of the game, how to survive and thrive, and various mods that can improve play. The book will be illustrated with screenshots throughout, making it easy for new and experienced Minecrafters to build, fight, protect, and survive in their creative worlds.

Untwine by Edwidge Danticat

Contemporary Fiction 

Identical twin teenagers Giselle and Isabelle Boyer have always been inseparable, and expected to stay that way even though their Haitian American parents are separating--but when when the entire family is caught in a car crash, everyone's world is shattered forever.

Violent Ends by various

Contemporary Fiction 

Relates how one boy--who had friends, enjoyed reading, playing saxophone in the band, and had never been in trouble before--became a monster capable of entering his high school with a loaded gun and firing on his classmates, as told from the viewpoints of several victims. Each perspective is written by a different writer of young adult fiction.

What We Left Behind by Robin Talley

Contemporary Fiction 

Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. They've been together forever. They never fight. They're deeply, hopelessly in love. When they separate for their first year at college--Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU--they're sure they'll be fine. The reality of being apart, though, is very different than they expected.

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Contemporary Fiction 

The party at John Doone's last Saturday night is a bit of a blur. Kate Weston can piece together most of the details: Stacey Stallard handing her shots, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early. . . . But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills's shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn't have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate's classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can't be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same questions: Who witnessed what happened to Stacey? And what responsibility do they have to speak up about what they saw?

Willful Machines by Tim Floreen

Action/Adventure

In a near-future America, a sentient computer program named Charlotte has turned terrorist, but Lee Fisher, the closeted son of an ultraconservative President, is more concerned with keeping his Secret Service detail from finding out about his developing romance with Nico, the new guy at school, but when the spider-like robots that roam the school halls begin acting even stranger than usual, Lee realizes he is Charlotte's next target.

July New Books (Part 7)

Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander

Contemporary Fiction 

Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he'll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover solutions to the universe's greatest unanswered questions. He's that smart. But Charlie's future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the tattoo on a beautiful girl's neck. The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she's counting on the present. She's not impressed by the strange boy at the donut shop--until she learns he's a student at Brighton where her sister has just taken a job as the English teacher. With her encouragement, Charlie orchestrates the most effective prank campaign in Brighton history. But, in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy. By the time he learns she's ill--and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms. Finch from Charlotte's illness--Charlotte' gravitational pull is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he's always relied on or the girl he's falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second squared).

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

Contemporary Fiction 

Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

The Messengers by Edward Hogan

Paranormal

Fifteen-year-old Frances is sent to her aunt's house for the summer to escape difficulties at home. Soon she meets Peter, a man unlike anyone she has ever known. Peter is a messenger--but his messages never bring good news. Peter believes that Frances is a messenger, too. In a compelling page-turner as complex as it is chilling, the author of Daylight Saving poses the provocative question: If you could change the future, where would you start?

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

Contemporary Fiction 

Shortly after her boyfriend, Peter, is deployed to Afghanistan, high school senior Michelle dies in a car crash and when her bereft twin, Kelsey, connects with Peter she is unable to tell him the truth as, through their separate woes, they support each other and begin to fall in love.

Mindwalker by A. J. Steiger

Science Fiction 

At seventeen, Lain Fisher has already aced the Institute's elite training program for Mindwalkers, therapists who use a direct neural link to erase a patient's traumatic memories. A prodigy and the daughter of a renowned scientist-whose unexplained death left her alone in the world-Lain is driven by the need to save others.

When Steven, a troubled classmate, asks her to wipe a horrific childhood experience from his mind, Lain's superiors warn her to stay away. Steven's scars are too deep, they say; the risk too great. Yet the more time Lain spends with him, the more she begins to question everything about her society. As she defies the warnings and explores Steven's memories, it becomes clear that he's connected to something much bigger…something the Institute doesn't want the world to discover.

Lain never expected to be a rule breaker. She certainly didn't plan on falling in love with a boy she's been forbidden to help. But then, she never expected to stumble into a conspiracy that could ignite a revolution.

Modern Art Adventures: 36 Creative, Hands-On Projects Inspired by Artists from Monet to Banksy by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

Nonficiton 

Introduces the major movements of modern art and provides representative examples from individual artists, with thirty-six art projects that can be done in imitation of each style.

MAY I have some New Books please? (May new books part 3)

Denton Little's Death Date by Lance Rubin

Paranormal 

In a world where everyone knows the day they will die, a teenage boy is determined to outlive his upcoming expiration date.

Dragonball vol 6 by Akira Toriyama

Graphic Novel 

Collects volumes 16-18.

Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier

Paranormal 

Liv Silver, fifteen, has lived in six countries in eight years and she and her sister yearn for a real home and normalcy, but soon after moving in with her mother's boyfriend in London, Liv's dreams turn bizarre, filled with talking stone statues, mysterious corridors, and strange rituals conducted by four boys who happen to be her new classmates.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Fantasy 

Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong

Fantasy 

Separated while trying to save the children of their village, twin sisters Ashyn and Moria must draw on all their power and influence to defeat enemies of legend and avert war in the empire.

Endangered by Lamar Giles

Mystery 

When Lauren (Panda), a teen photoblogger, gets involved in a deadly game, she has to protect the classmates she despises.

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 5)

Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff

Contemporary Fiction 

After his best friend, Hayden, commits, suicide, fifteen-year-old Sam is determined to find out why--using the clues in the playlist Hayden left for him.

Polly and the One and Only World by Don Bredes

Science Fiction 

Set in a much-diminished future America called the Christian Protectorates, a poor country ravaged by coastal flooding, drought, and cataclysmic social upheaval, the story features 15-year-old Polly Lightfoot, a maiden witch of rich heritage and tender ability in the craft.  When the story opens, Polly is forced to flee New Florida, where she has taken temporary refuge to escape a military purge of the country’s infidels, pagans, and followers of false creeds.  With the help of her steadfast familiar, Balthazar, a raven, and her brave teenage companion, Leon, whom she meets on the way, Polly undertakes an epic journey from the deep south to the wild north to be reunited in Vermont with her family and to save her ancient craft from obliteration.

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen

Nonfiction

Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at 'pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here,' Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise-meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. 

The Prey by Tom Isbell

Science Fiction 

After the apocalyptic Omega, a group of orphaned teen boys learn of their dark fate and escape, joining forces with twin girls who have been imprisoned for the 'good of the republic.' In their plight for freedom, these young heroes must find the best in themselves to fight against the worst in their enemies.

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson

Contemporary Fiction 

Robert "Cali" Callahan, seventeen, gets swept up into the private-investigator business and must deal with the ramifications of looking for fellow runaways who may not want to be found--and with falling in love with one of them.

New Books for February (part 5)

Contemporary Fiction

 Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else; an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they'd have a chance to remake their world. 

Action/Adventure 

Cassie Hobbes and the other members of the Naturals program of the FBI work to solve a string of serial murders carried out by a copycat killer.

Contemporary Fiction

Seventeen-year-old Kevin tries to reinvent himself when he runs away from home and the father he hates, but living with a mysterious uncle and befriending two homeless girls just adds more complications.

Historical Fiction

Inspired by a true story, this relates the tale of siblings Sosi, Shahen, and Mariam who survive the Armenian genocide of 1915 by escaping from Turkey alone over the mountains.

Nonfiction - Biography

When fifteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai spoke out against the Taliban's policy of forbidding education for girls, an attempt was made on her life. This is her story, which also includes information on other hardships faced by young women in Pakistan.

My gift to you...New Books for December! (part 8)

Random by Tom Leveen

The night before going on trial in a sensational felony case that has ruined her life, sixteen-year-old Tori Hershberger receives a random phone call from a stranger contemplating suicide and she begins a race against time to save him.

Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat by Gail Jarrow

One hundred years ago, a mysterious and alarming illness spread across America's South, striking tens of thousands of victims. No one knew what caused it or how to treat it. People were left weak, disfigured, insane, and in some cases, dead. Award winning science and history writer Gail Jarrow tracks this disease, commonly known as pellagra, and highlights how doctors, scientists, and public health officials finally defeated it.

The Revelation of Gabriel Adam by S. L. Duncan

Seventeen-year-old Gabriel Adam is used to relocating a lot. When a mysterious assassin burns his home to the ground, Gabriel’s father reveals the truth of why they are always on the move: Gabriel is one of four archangels, born human and sent to stop Armageddon. Now Gabe must set aside dreams of attending NYU to try to fulfill his newly discovered role.

Separated @ Birth: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited by Anais Bordier and Samantha Futerman

It all began when design student Anaïs Bordier viewed a YouTube video and saw her own face staring back. After some research, Anaïs found that the Los Angeles actress Samantha Futerman was born in a South Korean port city called Busan on November 19, 1987—the exact same location and day that Anaïs was born. This propelled her to make contact—via Facebook. One message later, both girls wondered: Could they be twins?

Thus begins their remarkable journey to build a relationship as sisters, continents apart. Over Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, they learned that they shared much more than a strikingly similar appearance. Eventually, they traveled to Korea together to discover more about the land of their separation. Separated @ Birth is a story that spans the world and peels back some of the complex and emotional layers of foreign adoption.

Seventeen Ultimate Guide to College: Everything You Need to Know to Walk Onto Campus and Own it! by Ann Shoket

Offers college-bound young women advice on maneuvering life on the college campus, sharing tips from real students on such topics as how to bond with roommates, navigate the hookup scene, and avoid going broke.

New Books for October ~ Part 5

When Tommy Smythe, a high school junior and particle physics genius, goes missing, multiple lives intersect--or don't--as the residents of a small Texas town relate, in their separate voices, what each thinks might have happened to Tommy.

In 1941, having a German plane crash near your house is exciting, but when twelve-year-old Peter Dixon and his friend Kim find a wounded German airman, Peter is faced with a dilemma--should he help take care of the man as Kim wants to do, or report him to the soldiers searching for him?

Twin sisters Moria and Ashyn were marked at birth to become the Keeper and the Seeker of Edgewood, beginning with their sixteenth birthday. Trained in fighting and in the secret rites of the spirits, they lead an annual trip into the Forest of the Dead. There, the veil between the living world and the beyond is thinnest, and the girls pay respect to the spirits who have passed. But this year, their trip goes dreadfully wrong.

With this fun and friendly beginners guide, you will quickly grasp how to play Minecraft in the three modes of game play: survival, creative, and hardcore. The easy-to-understand writing style walks you through every step of the way, from downloading the game to choosing a gaming platform to defending your creations against monsters and winning the game by defeating the Ender Dragon.

Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair--the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she's a freak. A mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA. After all, her father is from Romania. Everyone else in Nebraska is about as American as an apple pie . . . wrapped in a flag . . . on the Fourth of July. Spider stew. That's what Anika is made of. But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauser, first most popular girl in school, will make her life a living hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can't get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it . . . ? Logan. Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who?

New Books for a New School Year - September books part 3

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

When aspiring astronaut Maisie Danger Brown, who was born without a right hand, and the other space camp students get the opportunity to do something amazing in space, Maisie must prove how dangerous she can be and how far she is willing to go to protect everything she has ever loved.

Do You Know Who You Are?: Discover the Real You by Megan Kaye

What do your music choices reveal about your personality? What kind of a risk-taker are you? How have your changed since you were a kid? Where do you fit in your immediate family? What makes you happy -- really, truly happy?

Learn about your skills, dreams, desires, and personality with "Do You Know Who You Are?," a guided journal for young adults who want to discover more about themselves. Part quiz book, part self-help book, and part activity book, "Do You Know Who You Are?" is packed with questionnaires, creative activities, fascinating analysis, and psychological wisdom.

Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan

In a heart-pounding, atmospheric ghost story, a teenage boy must find the resources within himself to save his haunted twin brother. After their nan accidentally burns their home down, twin brothers Pat and Dom must move with their parents and baby sister to the seaside cottage they've summered in, now made desolate by the winter wind. It's there that the ghost appears -- a strange boy who cries black tears and fears a bad man, a soldier, who is chasing him. Soon Dom has become not-Dom, and Pat can sense that his brother is going to die -- while their overwhelmed parents can't even see what's happening. Isolated and terrified, Pat needs to keep his brother's cover while figuring out how to save him, drawing clues from his own dreams and Nan's long-ago memories, confronting a mystery that lies between this world and the next -- within the Grey. 

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Five strangers. Countless adventures.One epic way to get lost. Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most. 

There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. 

And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday-and a few stolen goods along the way. 

ELLIOT believes in happy endings...until his own life goes off-script. 

And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love. 

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth-sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.

The Isobel Journal: Just a Girl from Where Nothing Really Happens by Isobel Harrop

This quirky, narrative scrapbook gives readers a witty, honest look at what it means to be a teenager.Using mini-graphic novels, photos, sketches, and captions, The Isobel Journal offers a unique glimpse into the creative life of eighteen-year-old Isobel,just a northern girl fromwhere nothing really happens.

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.