New Books February 2014
YA FICAVA Avasthi, Swati Chasing Shadows
Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit—fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftops to rooftop.But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof…After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she’s chasing Corey’s killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly’s just running wild—and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crisis. But can you hold on too tight? Too long?
YA FICHAS Hassan, Michael Crash & Burn
On April 21, 2008, Steven "Crash" Crashinsky saved more than a thousand people when he stopped his classmate David Burnett from taking their high school hostage armed with assault weapons and high-powered explosives. You likely already know what came after for Crash: the nationwide notoriety, the college recruitment, and, of course, the book deal. What you might not know is what came before: a story of two teens whose lives have been inextricably linked since grade school, who were destined, some say, to meet that day in the teachers' lounge of Meadows High. And what you definitely don't know are the words that Burn whispered to Crash right as the siege was ending, a secret that Crash has never revealed.Until now.
YA FIC POB Poblocki, Dan The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe
Has Gabriel created a monster? Gabe and Seth used to play make-believe games in the woods behind Seth's family farm. It was the perfect creepy landscape for imagining they were up against beasts and monsters and villains.Just as Gabe's decided he's outgrown their childish games, though, it appears that their most monstrous creation could be real.Is there a ghoulish man-eating creature prowling the woods for victims? Or is Seth just determined to make Gabe think so -- no matter who gets hurt in the process?Gabe's not sure which answer would prove more unsettling, but he's determined to learn the truth
YA FIC PAV Paver, Michelle The Burning Shadow (Gods & Warriors v 2)
While searching for his kidnapped sister, Outsider Hylas takes a dangerous detour when he’s captured as a slave and sent to the copper mines of Thalakrea. Hylas faces brutal overseers and lethal cave-ins while evading his enemies, the Crows. With the aid of an orphaned lion cub and his friendPirra, Hylas must escape the mines and shatter the power of the Crows for good. Butthe prophecy is still at work and Hylas cannot escape its grasp,especially whenthe anger of the oldest god is awakened.
YA FICSCH Schreiber, Joe Lenny & CyrusSchool Virus
It seemed so logical at first. Fourteen-year-old Lenny Cyrus had loved Zooey Andrews since third grade. All the boy genius needed to do to win her heart, surely, was shrink down to the size of an amoeba, ooze into a gelatin capsule, and have his friend Harlan slip it (him!) into Zooey’s Diet Coke. Told in three voices, this fantastical middle grade novel takes Lenny deep into Zooey’s loud, splashing innards, where a talking astrovirus named Astro has a bad attitude about white blood cells (“self-righteous pus-bags”) and aromatic hormones disco dance. The question is, will Lenny and Zooey survive his crazy experiment in nanotechnology?
YA FICSTR Strasser, Todd No Place
It seems like Dan has it all. He’s a baseball star who hangs with the popular crowd and dates the hottest girl in school. Then his family loses their home.Forced to move into the town’s TentCity, Dan feels his world shifting. His friends try to pretend that everything’s cool, but they’re not the ones living among the homeless. As Dan struggles to adjust to his new life, he gets involved with the people who are fighting for better conditions and services for the residents of TentCity. But someone wants TentCity gone, and will stop at nothing until it’s destroyed…
YA FIC FAG Fagan, Jenny The Panopticon
Pa`nop´ti`con ( noun). A circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be observed at all times. [Greek panoptos 'seen by all'] Anais Hendricks, fifteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led her here, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and there is blood on Anais's school uniform. Smart, funny and fierce, Anais is a counter-culture outlaw, a bohemian philosopher in sailor shorts and a pillbox hat. She is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met. The residents of the Panopticon form intense bonds, heightened by their place on the periphery, and Anais finds herself part of an ad hoc family there. Much more suspicious are the social workers, especially Helen, who is about to leave her job for an elephant sanctuary in India but is determined to force Anais to confront the circumstances of her birth before she goes. Looking up at the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais knows her fate: she is part of an experiment, she always was, it's a given, a liberty - a fact. And the experiment is closing in.
YA FICSEN Senzai, N.H. Saving Kabul Corner
A rough and tumble tomboy, twelve-year-old Ariana couldn’t be more different from her cousin Laila, who just arrived from Afghanistan with her family. Laila is a proper, ladylike Afghan girl, one who can cook, sew, sing, and who is well versed in Pukhtun culture and manners. Arianna hates her. Laila not only invades Ariana’s bedroom in their cramped Fremont townhouse, but she also becomes close with Mariam Nurzai, Ariana’s best friend.Then a rival Afghan grocery store opens near Ariana’s family store, reigniting a decades-old feud tracing back to Afghanistan. The cousins, Mariam, and their newfound frenemy, Waleed Ghilzai, must ban together to help the families find a lasting peace before it destroys both businesses and everything their parents have worked for.
YA FIC BRA Brahmachari, Sita Mira in the Present Tense
Twelve-year-old Mira comes from a chaotic, artistic, and outspoken family in which it's not always easy to be heard. As her beloved Nana Josie's health declines, Mira begins to discover the secrets of those around her and also starts to keep some of her own. She is drawn to mysterious Jide, a boy who is clearly hiding a troubled past. As Mira is experiencing grief for the first time, she is also discovering the wondrous and often mystical world around her.
YA FIC GOO Goodman, Shawn Kindness for Weakness
In an environment where kindness equals weakness, how do those who care survive? A fifteen-year-old boy from an abusive home desperately seeking his older brother's love and approval starts pushing drugs for him and suffers the consequences.
YA FIC GOO Goodman, Carol Blythewood
At seventeen, Avaline Hall has already buried her mother, survived a horrific factory fire, and escaped from an insane asylum. Now she’s on her way to BlythewoodAcademy, the elite boarding school in New York’s mist-shrouded HudsonValley that her mother attended—and was expelled from. Though she’s afraid her high society classmates won’t accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family’s murky past, discover the identity of the father she’s never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother’s abrupt suicide. She’s also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do. Haunted by dreams of a winged boy and pursued by visions of a sinister man who breathes smoke, Ava isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or getting closer to the truth. And the more rigorously Ava digs into the past, the more dangerous her present becomes.
YA MYS JON Jones, Lloyd Wild Boy
In the seedy underworld of Victorian London, a boy is born and abandoned. Snatched up by an unscrupulous and abusive showman, Wild Boy, covered in hair from head to toe, becomes a sideshow freak. Isolated from other children and wickedly abused by the cruel master who bought him, Wild Boy becomes an avid observer, developing Sherlock Holmes–like deductive skills. Although he is tormented and insulted, kicked and spat at, his quick mind takes in everything he sees. When a murder occurs at the fair, Wild Boy is hastily accused. Can he use his powers of deduction to save himself? And will the talented and spunky young acrobat Clarissa be with him — or against him?
YA MYSFOX Foxlee, Karen The Midnight Dress
Quiet misfit Rose doesn't expect to fall in love with the sleepy beach town of Leonora. Nor does she expect to become fast friends with beautiful, vivacious Pearl Kelly, organizer of the high school float at the annual Harvest Festival parade. It's better not to get too attached when Rose and her father live on the road, driving their caravan from one place to the next whenever her dad gets itchy feet. But Rose can't resist the mysterious charms of the town or the popular girl, try as she might. Pearl convinces Rose to visit Edie Baker, once a renowned dressmaker, now a rumored witch. Together Rose and Edie hand-stitch an unforgettable dress of midnight blue for Rose to wear at the Harvest Festival—a dress that will have long-lasting consequences on life in Leonora, a dress that will seal the fate of one of the girls.
YA FICMAR Martinez, Jessica The Vow
No one has ever believed that Mo and Annie are just friends. How can a guy and a girl really be best friends? Then the summer before senior year, Mo’s father loses his job, and by extension his work visa. Instantly, life for Annie and Mo crumbles. Although Mo has lived in America for most of his life, he’ll be forced to move to Jordan. The prospect of leaving his home is devastating, and returning to a world where he no longer belongs terrifies him.Desperate to save him, Annie proposes they tell a colossal lie—that they are in love. Mo agrees because marrying Annie is the only way he can stay. Annie just wants to keep her best friend, but what happens when it becomes a choice between saving Mo and her own chance at real love?
YA FICAND Anderson, Laurie Halse Impossible Knife of Memory
For the past five years, Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.
YA FICKIN Kinney, Jeff The Last Straw (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
Let’s face it: Greg Heffley will never change his wimpy ways. Somebody just needs to explain that to Greg’s father. You see, Frank Heffley actually thinks he can get his son to toughen up, and he enlists Greg in organized sports and other "manly” endeavors. Of course, Greg is able to easily sidestep his father’s efforts to change him. But when Greg’s dad threatens to send him to military academy, Greg realizes he has to shape up . . . or get shipped out.
YA FIC LEV Leveen, Tom Sick
Brian and his friends are not part of the cool crowd. They’re the misfits and the troublemakers—the ones who jump their high school’s fence to skip class regularly. So when a deadly virus breaks out, they’re the only ones with a chance of surviving. The virus turns Brian’s classmates and teachers into bloodthirsty attackers who don’t die easily. The whole school goes on lockdown, but Brian and his best friend, Chad, are safe (and stuck) in the theater department—far from Brian’s sister, Kenzie, and his ex-girlfriend with a panic attack problem, Laura. Brian and Chad, along with some of the theater kids Brian had never given the time of day before, decide to find the girls and bring them to the safety of the theater. But it won’t be easy, and it will test everything they thought they knew about themselves and their classmates.
YA MYS SEP Sepetys, Ruta Out of the Easy
It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test. With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novelBetween Shades of Gray,Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.
YA FICBUR Burgess, Melvin The Hit
Take it. Live it. F*** it.A new drug is out. Everyone is talking about it. The Hit. Take it, and you have one amazing week to live. It's the ultimate high. At the ultimate price.Adam is tempted. Life is rubbish, his girlfriend's over him, his brother's gone. So what's he got to lose? Everything, as it turns out. It's up to his girlfriend, Lizzie, to show him...
YA FICBEN Benway, Robin Going Rogue (Also Known As v 2)
Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, goodandbad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver.
Pros:More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux.Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo.
Cons:High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names.Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.
YA COMICS FLA Flash: Gorilla Warfare
YA COMICS SUP Superman: Fury at World’s End
YA COMICS BAT Batman: Dark Knight: Mad
YA-RM 614.4 LOV Love, Ann & Jane Drake Pandemic Survival: It’s Why You’re Alive
The Black Death. Yellow Fever. Smallpox. History is full of gruesome pandemics, and surviving those pandemics has shaped our society and way of life. Every person today is alive because of an ancestor who survived--and surviving our current and future pandemics, like SARS, AIDS, bird flu or a new and unknown disease, will determine our future.Pandemic Survivalpresents in-depth information about past and current illnesses; the evolution of medicine and its pioneers; cures and treatments; strange rituals and superstitions; and what we're doing to prevent future pandemics.
YA-RM 812.6 DOE Doescher, Ian Williams Shakespeare’s Star Wars
Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language-and William Shakespeare-here is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas's epicStar Warsin the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age,Star Warsabounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.
YA-RM 370.92 SOK Sokolove, Michael Drama High: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, A Struggling Town, and the Magic of Theater
Why would the multimillionaire producer ofCats,Phantom of the Opera, andMiss Saigontake his limo from Manhattan to the struggling former steel town of Levittown, Pennsylvania, to see a high school production ofLes Misérables? To see the show performed by the astoundingly successful theater company at HarrySTrumanHigh School, run by its legendary director, Lou Volpe. Broadway turns to Truman High when trying out controversial shows likeRentandSpringAwakeningbefore they move on to high school theater programs across the nation. Volpe’s students from this blue-collar town go on to become Emmy-winning producers, entertainment executives, newscasters, and community-theater founders. Michael Sokolove, a Levittown native and former student of Volpe’s, chronicles the drama director’s last school years and follows a group of student actors as they work through riveting dramas both on and off the stage. This is a story of an economically depressed but proud town finding hope in a gifted teacher and the magic of theater.