New Arrivals |
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The Calder Game
Blue Balliett
When Calder Pillay travels with his father to a remote village in England, he finds a mix of mazes and mystery . . . including an unexpected Alexander Calder sculpture in the town square. Calder is strangely drawn to the sculpture, while other people have less-than-friendly feelings towards it. Both the boy and the sculpture seem to be out of place . . . and then, on the same night, they disappear! Calder's friends Petra and Tommy must fly out to help his father find him. But this mystery has more twists and turns than a Calder mobile . . . with more at stake than first meets the eye.
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Found (The Missing Book 1)
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who's also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."
Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere — and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives.
Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying? |
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Hate That Cat
Sharon Creech
The honest, observant, and expressive Jack is sure about two things: he hates poetry and cats. His journey begins in Miss Stretchberry's classroom where he faces the challenge of expressing himself through poetry. He encounters problems along the way including his Uncle Bill, who, unlike Miss Stretchberry, insists that good poetry consists of long lines, symbolism and regular rhyme and meter. Jack tangles with the likes of alliteration, consonance, metaphors and onomatopoeia, but by the end of the school year he finds new meaning and purpose for such conventions and learns to appreciate the diverse beauties of both sound and silence. His evolving relationship with poetry mirrors his relationships with cats. Jack's initial aversion to felines transforms one Christmas morning when a tiny, mewing kitten crawls from underneath the wrappings scattered around the tree and straight into his heart. Author Sharon Creech invites emerging poets to commiserate with Jack as he learns to navigate the world of poetry and tempts seasoned poets to appreciate her crafty allusions and creative expression. Figurative language, poetic devices and visual word manipulation abound in this book of poetry. |
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Inkdeath
Cornelia Funke
The Adderhead--his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo--has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrends. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story? |
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We Are The Ship
Kadir Nelson
" We are the ship; all else the sea. " Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League
The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball. |
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Saving Zoe
Alyson Noel
In Alyson Noël's newest teen novel, one sister's secrets save the other's life--in more ways than one. Meet fifteen-year-old Echo, a typical teen trying to survive high school without being totally traumatized by boy trouble, friend drama, and school issues. As if she didn't have enough on her plate, Echo is also still dealing with the murder of her sister Zoë. Although it's been over a year, Echo is still reeling from tragedy that changed everything. Beautiful and full of life, Zoë was the glue that held her family together, and although the two sisters were as different as night and day, they still had a bond that Echo can't let go of. When Zoë's old boyfriend Marc shows up one day with Zoë's diary, Echo doesn't think there's anything in there she doesn't already know. But as she gives in to curiosity and starts reading, she learns that her sister led a secret life that no one could have guessed--not even Echo. |
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Schooled
Gordan Korman
How many 13-year-old kids living in America can say that they have NEVER watched television? Probably very few. Cap Anderson can say it, however, with all the honesty in the world! Living on an almost abandoned alternative farm commune, his entire life has provided Cap with a childhood distinctly different from others; he was homeschooled, had no telephone, and was therefore oblivious to the generally accepted ways of the world. When his only companion on the commune (his grandmother, Rain) is hospitalized, Cap is sent to live with a former inhabitant of the commune and her snarky teenage daughter, who is less than receptive to Cap’s unusual ways. Sadly, many of the students at his public school decide to capitalize upon his ignorance by attempting to make a fool of him at every opportunity. Interestingly enough, they turn out to be the fools! Written in an alternating chapter format, this book is engaging even though it plays heavily on such classic characters as the class nerd, the reluctant hero, and well off, popular class bullies. |
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When I Was a Soldier
Valerie Zenatti
What is it like to be a young woman in a war?
At a time when Israel is in the news every day and politics in the Middle East are as complex as ever before, this story of one girl's experience in the Israeli national army is both topical and fascinating. Valerie begins her story as she finishes her exams, breaks up with her boyfriend, and leaves for service with the Israeli army. Nothing has prepared her for the strict routines, grueling marches, poor food, lack of sleep and privacy, or crushing of initiative that she now faces. But this harsh life has excitement, too, such as working in a spy center near Jerusalem and listening in on Jordanian pilots. Offering a glimpse into the life of a typical Israeli teen, even as it lays bare the relentless nature of war, Valerie's story is one young readers will have a hard time forgetting.
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Harmless
Dana Reinhardt
ONE FRIDAY NIGHT Emma, Anna, and Mariah, three best friends, are out doing something they shouldn’t. They make up a story so they won’t get in trouble at home. It seems like the easy way out. What happens next challenges their friendship, their community, their relationships with their families, and their sense of themselves. What happens next shows the harm one lie can do.
Told in the voices of the three girls who must learn to live with the lies they tell, Harmless is a gripping and provocative novel full of startling turns and surprises.
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Sherman Alexie
In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live. |
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