Teenreads.com Blog

We have quite a juicy roundup of new releases to share with you today, brimming with more than 20 new titles that range from the works of YA heavyweights like Avi, Patricia McCormick, Darren Shan and Suzanne Collins to those of inspiring debut authors like Max Turner, Malinda Lo, and Jennifer Brown. The Teenreads staff will be on hiatus this week until after Labor Day, so we hope this jam-packed list will leave you with enough book fodder to tide you over until you hear from us again next Tuesday. In the mean time, happy reading!


New Releases for September 1st

Hardcover

ASH by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love --- and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, ASH is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

THE DEVIL’S KISS by Sarwat Chadda (Disney-Hyperion)
As the youngest and only female member of the Knights Templar, Bilquis SanGreal grew up knowing she wasn't normal. Instead of hanging out at the mall or going on dates, she spends her time training as a soldier in her order's ancient battle against the Unholy.

Billi's cloistered life is blasted apart when her childhood friend, Kay, returns from Jerusalem, gorgeous and with a dangerous chip on his shoulder. He's ready to reclaim his place in Billi's life, but she's met someone new: amber-eyed Michael, who seems to understand her like no one else, effortlessly claiming a stake in her heart.

But the Templars are called to duty before Billi can enjoy the pleasant new twist to her life. One of the order's ancient enemies has resurfaced, searching for a treasure that the Templars have protected for hundreds of years --- a cursed mirror powerful enough to kill all of London's firstborn. To save her city from catastrophe, Billi will have to put her heart aside and make sacrifices greater than any of the Templars could have imagined.

HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

THE HOLLOW by Jessica Verday (Simon Pulse)
When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead, and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her --- one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

HOW TO STEAL A CAR by Pete Hautman (Scholastic Press)
Some girls act out by drinking or doing drugs. Some girls act out by sleeping with guys. Some girls act out by starving themselves or cutting themselves. Some girls act out by being a bitch to other girls.

Not Kelleigh. Kelleigh steals cars.

In HOW TO STEAL A CAR, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman takes teen readers on a thrilling, scary ride through one suburban girl's turbulent life --- one car theft at a time.

THE MILES BETWEEN by Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Destiny Faraday makes a point of keeping her distance from her classmates at Hedgebrook Academy. Her number-one rule: Don’t get attached. But one day, unexpectedly finding a car at their disposal, Destiny and three of her classmates embark on an unauthorized road trip.

They’re searching for one fair day --- a day where the good guy wins and everything adds up to something just and right. Their destination: Langdon, a town that Destiny’s unsuspecting companions hope will hold simply a day of fun. But, as Destiny says, “Things are not always what they seem.” Only she knows that Langdon holds far more than that --- a deep secret she has never shared with anyone.

THE MILES BETWEEN explores the wonder and magic of a very real world where chance, mystery, and secrets abound.

MURDER AT MIDNIGHT by Avi (Scholastic Press)
A plot to overthrow King Claudio is brewing in the Kingdom of Pergamontio. Scholarly Mangus the magician -- along with his street-smart and faithful new servant boy, Fabrizio --- have been marked as easy scapegoats for the traitor lurking within the king's court. Together, these two unlikely partners must gather clues to solve the mystery and prove their innocence before the stroke of midnight. . . or face death!

Intricate plotting, surprise twists, and lively prose make for another suspenseful page-turner that stands alone or sets the stage for MIDNIGHT MAGIC!
- Click here to read our review and an excerpt of MURDER AT MIDNIGHT.

NIGHT RUNNER by Max Turner (St. Martin's Griffin)
For Zack Thomson, living in the Nicholls Ward isn't so bad. After his parents died, he developed strange and severe allergies, and the mental institution was the only place where he could be properly looked after. As strange as it was, it was home. He could watch as much television as he wanted; his best friend Charlie visited him often enough; and Nurse Ophelia --- the prettiest no-nonsense nurse ever --- sometimes took him bowling. Of course, that didn't mean he had it easy. His allergies restricted his diet to strawberry smoothies, and being the only kid at the hospital could get lonely. But it never once crossed Zack's mind to leave...until the night someone crashed through the front doors and told him to run. Now he's on a race for answers --- about his past, his parents, and his strange sickness --- even as every step takes him closer to the darkest of truths.

PURPLE HEART by Patricia McCormick (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)
When Private Matt Duffy wakes up in an army hospital in Iraq, he's honored with a Purple Heart. But he doesn't feel like a hero.There's a memory that haunts him: an image of a young Iraqi boy as a bullet hits his chest. A little boy who'd been Matt's friend. And Matt can't shake the feeling that he was somehow involved in his death. But because of a head injury he sustained just moments after the boy was shot, Matt can't quite put all the pieces together. Eventually Matt is sent back into combat with his squad --- Justin, Wolf, and Charlene --- the soldiers who have become his family during his time in Iraq. He's counting on his buddies to help find out the truth. But in combat, there is no black and white, and Matt soon discovers that the notion of who is guilty is very complicated indeed. National Book Award Finalist Patricia McCormick has written a visceral and compelling portrait of life in a war zone, where loyalty is valued above all, and death is terrifyingly commonplace.

THE TEAR COLLECTOR by Patrick Jones (Walker Books for Young Readers)
Fans of urban fantasy should prepare for a new kind of vampire --- one that feeds off of tears instead of blood. Descended from an ancient line of creatures that gain their energy from human tears, Cassandra Gray depends on human sorrow to live. Only Cass has grown tired of living this life and wants to live like a human, especially now that she's met someone worth fighting for.
- To read Patrick Jones's guest blog, click here.

VIOLA IN REEL LIFE by Adriana Trigiani (HarperTeen)
I'm marooned.

Abandoned.

Left to rot in boarding school . . .

Viola doesn't want to go to boarding school, but somehow she ends up at an all-girls school in South Bend, Indiana, far, far away from her home in Brooklyn, New York. Now Viola is stuck for a whole year in the sherbet-colored sweater capital of the world.

Ick.

There's no way Viola's going to survive the year --- especially since she has to replace her best friend Andrew with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to like it there. She resorts to viewing the world (and hiding) behind the lens of her video camera.

Boarding school, though, and her roommates and even the Midwest are nothing like she thought they would be, and soon Viola realizes she may be in for the most incredible year of her life.

But first she has to put the camera down and let the world in.

THE CIRCLE OF GOLD: The Book of Time III by Guillaume Prevost (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Sam rescued his father from Dracula's castle, but that doesn't mean their troubles are over. Now Allan Faulkner lies in a coma in the Sainte-Mary hospital, tossing about and muttering aloud about saving Sam's late mother. Sam has no choice but to go back in Time to see her. His inability to control his destination, however, means he journeys to ancient China, Renaissance Rome, and even 2025 --- where he sees his own grave! Can Sam prevent this grisly ending and save his mother once and for all?

DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA: HANNAH by Kathryn Lasky (Scholastic Press)
DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA tells the story of 3 mermaid sisters who are separated at birth by a storm and go on to lead three very different lives. Book 1 is about Hannah, who spent her early days in an orphanage and is now a scullery maid in the house of rich, powerful family. She is irresistibly drawn to the sea and through a series of accidents and encounters discovers her true identity. Hannah relizes that she must keep the truth a secret but she also knows that soon she will have to make the choice --- to be a creature of the land or the sea.
- Click here to read our review of and an excerpt from DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA: HANNAH.

SOULSTICE: The Devouring, Book 2 by Simon Holt (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
The terrifying, nail-biting, and grossly intriguing sequel to THE DEVOURING.

It's been six months since Reggie first discovered and fought against the Vours, malicious and demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on the eve of the Winter Solstice.

The Vours still haunt Reggie, but only in her dreams-until one night, when an unexpected visitor turns her nightmares into reality.

CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

Paperback

DEATH’S SHADOW: BOOK 7 OF THE DEMONATA SERIES by Darren Shan (Little, Brown Young Readers)
With Beranabus, Grubbs and Kernel off exploring the universe of the Demonata for clues about the Shadow behind the demon invasion, Bec is left behind in Carcery Vale for safekeeping. But with Dervish's health on the decline, Lord Loss knows she's the most vulnerable piece of the Kah-Gash. As hoards of demons, werewolves and zombies advance, Bec needs to figure out how to reach Beranabus with crucial information about the Shadow-fast.
- Click here to read our review of DEATH’S SHADOW.

THE DRAGON HEIR by Cinda Williams Chima (Hyperion Books for Children)
Relationships are tested, strange alliances are made (and broken) and startling secrets are revealed, as THE DRAGON HEIR brings Cinda Williams Chima’s series to a gripping yet bittersweet conclusion that will leave readers wanting to revisit the previous two installments, THE WARRIOR HEIR and THE WIZARD HEIR.
- Click here to read our review of THE DRAGON HEIR.

New Releases for September 3rd

Hardcover

NEWSGIRL by Liza Ketchum (Viking Juvenile)
It’s the spring of 1851 and San Francisco is booming. Twelve-year-old Amelia Forrester has just arrived with her family and they are eager to make a new life in Phoenix City. But the mostly male town is not that hospitable to females and Amelia decides she’ll earn more money as a boy. Cutting her hair and donning a cap, she joins a gang of newsboys, selling Eastern newspapers for a fortune. And that’s just the beginning of her adventures. Participating in the biggest news stories of the day, Amelia is not a girl to let life pass her by --- even and especially when it involves danger!


Paperback

THE SMILE by Donna Jo Napoli (Speak)
In the 1490s, the women of Florence don’t have much say in their lives. Most likely, Elisabetta’s father will arrange a suitable marriage for her when she turns 15. However, an acquaintance of the family, a famous painter named Leonardo da Vinci, introduces Elisabetta to a young man who instantly steals her heart --- and calls her Mona Lisa.
- Click here to read our review of THE SMILE.

DEATH RUN by Jack Higgins with Justin Richards (Speak)
Twins Rich and Jade Chance are on vacation with their father, master spy John Chance --- or so they think. The British government actually sent their father to keep tabs on a Swiss banker who is trying to escape from the Tiger, a ruthless criminal. But the banker is captured and taken to a remote Scottish castle --- along with Rich! Now it’s up to Jade and her father to rescue them. Will they be able to stop the Tiger before Rich’s time runs out?


New Releases for September 7th

Hardcover

CRAZY BEAUTIFUL by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself.

Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her.

But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering.

Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.


New Releases for September 8th

Hardcover

THE GEORGES AND THE JEWELS by Jane Smiley (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Jane Smiley makes her debut for young readers in this stirring novel set on a California horse ranch in the 1960s. Seventh-grader Abby Lovitt has always been more at ease with horses than with people. Her father insists they call all the mares “Jewel” and all the geldings “George” and warns Abby not to get attached: the horses are there to be sold. But with all the stress at school (the Big Four have turned against Abby and her friends) and home (her brother Danny is gone --- for good, it seems --- and now Daddy won’t speak his name), Abby seeks refuge with the Georges and the Jewels. But there’s one gelding on her family’s farm that gives her no end of trouble: the horse who won’t meet her gaze, the horse who bucks her right off every chance he gets, the horse her father makes her ride and train, every day. She calls him the Ornery George.

MUCHACHO by Louanne Johnson (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
An inspiring YA debut from the author of DANGEROUS MINDS.

Eddie Corazon is angry. He’s also very smart. But he’s working pretty hard at being a juvenile delinquent. He blows off school, even though he’s a secret reader. He hangs with his cousins, who will always back him up --- when they aren’t in jail.

Then along comes Lupe, who makes his blood race. She sees something in Eddie he doesn’t even see in himself. A heart, and a mind, and something more: a poet. But in Eddie’s world, it’s a thin line between tragedy and glory. And what goes down is entirely in Eddie’s hands.

Gripping, thought-provoking, and hopeful, Muchacho is a rare and inspiring story about one teen’s determination to fight his circumstances and shape his own destiny.

ONE OF THE SURVIVORS by Susan Shaw (Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster)
Anger. Sadness. Rage. Grief. Guilt.

Joey Campbell experiences them all, even though he knows what he should really feel is lucky. Lucky to have survived the fire that burned Village Park High School to the ground. Lucky that his best friend, Maureen, also survived, when no one else in his freshman history class managed to make it out alive.

Writing in a journal provides some solace, but Joey knows that redemption lies with the living. If only the living students and parents didn't blame him for the fire...

Startling, relevant, and honest, Joey's story is simply unforgettable.

RAGE: A Love Story, by Julie Anne Peters (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Johanna is steadfast, patient, reliable; the go-to girl, the one everyone can count on. But always being there for others can’t give Johanna everything she needs --- it can’t give her Reeve Hartt.

Reeve is fierce, beautiful, wounded, elusive; a flame that draws Johanna’s fluttering moth. Johanna is determined to get her, against all advice, and to help her, against all reason. But love isn’t always reasonable, right?

In the precarious place where attraction and need collide, a teenager experiences the dark side of a first love, and struggles to find her way into a new light.

Paperback

LIVING DEAD GIRL by Elizabeth Scott (Simon Pulse)
When Alice was 10, Ray took her away from her family and friends. She learned to give up all power and endure the pain, and waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is 15 and Ray still has her, but speaks more and more of her death. However, she doesn’t know that he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
- Click here to read our review of LIVING DEAD GIRL.

Labels: New Releases

For most authors, launching a new book is probably more a nerve-wracking experience than a celebratory occasion. Below, Frank Portman --- author of KING DORK --- shares how he conquered his case of release-date angst for his latest novel, ANDROMEDA KLEIN.

The most common advice you hear from writers about book release dates is a warning that the date itself can be a somber, deflating, anti-climactic day of mourning.

Sure, some books cause rioting in the streets and start wars and get in the paper and such, but most aren't so lucky: the date comes and goes, you get a note from your mom, your Amazon ranking remains on a par with someone's self-published book about how to sing to your dog, and you do a reading at a Barnes & Noble in a mall miles away from viable human settlements with an audience so small it couldn't riot its way out of a paper bag. You look at the rows of empty folding chairs and file the image in your head so it can be retrieved the next time you're in front of a mirror and used as supporting evidence when you tell your reflection: wow, you really suck.

So for the ANDROMEDA KLEIN release date, I was determined to distract myself and make it all okay, and the way I chose to do that was: stay away from mirrors. Also, to set up a crazy, complicated party involving a hodgepodge of unrelated people and a difficult-to-execute schedule in a small, claustrophobic space. And, throw it all together at the last second so that it has no chance of being covered by local press or listed anywhere, making it extremely unlikely that anyone will go, or even know enough about it to make an informed decision not to go as usual. The result was big ball of anxiety and panic that drove all thoughts of the feared release date let-down right out of my head.

And it turned out great. I'd recommend this approach to anyone who has an impending release of anything. It was a night of weird, beautiful, and perhaps slightly awkward, chaos, a real "happening."

We did it at Cato’s Ale House, where I hang out and wrote most of my two books. My friend Beth Lisick was the emcee. ANDROMEDA KLEIN is a portrait of a teenage occultist, so there was a magic/occult theme to the shindig (if shindig is the word I want). We handed out tarot cards as raffle tickets, and Becky Walsh the Stand-up Psychic chose one (The Moon) and quickly "read" the winner.

Jennifer Sky Band, billed as a witch poet/YA author/fairy person, came all the way up from Los Angeles to read some otherworldly poetry.

As for the magic of STALLION and his minions, Team Cherokee, that's pretty hard to explain. It's stage magic meets performance art, I guess, and perfect comedic timing was the secret to making his single four-minute trick (preceded by what seemed like ages of masterful tension-building commotion behind a curtain to music from the Rocky soundtrack) pretty much the greatest thing I've ever seen. Basically, he lubed himself up and crawled inside a giant balloon and back out again. But somehow, it was so much more.

We also had some guest readers. Casey read some stuff about gnomes and sylphs from a 17th-century treatise on angel magic. Greg read from a translation of an 18th-century French text on "How to Gain Knowledge of Everything through the Medium of an Egg" (which apparently works even if the egg is rotten. He said he was going to try it.

Kari and Kayla each read a passage from ANDROMEDA KLEIN, and so did my pal Jesse Michaels from the band Operation Ivy and Classics of Love. (That’s Greg, Kari, and Kayla in the photo, practicing before their readings.)

Finally, I played the songs I’d written for the book (“Andromeda Klein” and “Bethlehem”) and an assortment of other songs. We were streaming it live via webcam, so I was able to take requests from the internet, which felt cool and “modern.”

All in all, a pretty good way to start out a book, as it turns out. So the next time someone asks me what to do about release-date angst, I’m going to tell them to fight anxiety with anxiety and panic with chaos. And play songs.

-- Frank Portman

Labels: Andromeda Klein, Frank Portman

In case you hadn't already marked your calendars and begun counting down the days, CATCHING FIRE --- the highly anticipated sequel to last year's bestseller, THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins --- hits shelves next week on September 1st! To give you just a little taste of what's in store for Katniss and Peeta in this second installment of the trilogy, you can read the first chapter of the book on Scholastic's website, here. Also, Suzanne is scheduled to appear on National Public Radio's All Things Considered next week, so NPR's site is featuring an exclusive "First Look" of CATCHING FIRE, including text and audio excerpts from chapter two, which you can check out here.

PS - For those of who've read THE HUNGER GAMES, which camp do you belong to, Team Gale, or Team Peeta?

Labels: Catching Fire, Excerpt, Suzanne Collins

Susan McBride may have never been a debutante herself, but growing up, she was immersed in enough of the Deb culture to pen seven novels set in the Texas social scene. Below, she explains how she began writing the new YA series, The Debs, and shares some of the real-life inspirations behind LOVE, LIES AND TEXAS DIPS.


In case you’re wondering how a nice girl like me got into telling tall tales about Texas debs, the truth is that I sort of fell into it. I was never actually a debutante, though I used to pal around with debs during high school and college. I was even invited to their cotillions. But, my parents never coughed up the cash so I could wear a tiara and poofy white dress and do the Texas Dip before a roomful of society types. (FYI: the “Texas Dip” is a larger-than-life curtsy, not a salsa-inspired appetizer.) Writing about Texans is fun besides, and I was one for a long while so that part is true enough.

I lived in the Lone Star State for 20 years, 11 of that in Houston where I went through junior high and high school. I spent my freshman year at the University of Texas in Austin, going through sorority rush and joining Pi Beta Phi before I left UT and transferred to the University of Kansas. Post-college, I moved to Dallas and stayed for nine years. It was there I first toyed with the idea of writing about the Dallas debs who practiced their curtsies in the sorority’s study hall. The memories inspired BLUE BLOOD, the debut of my Debutante Dropout Mysteries, which feature a web designer named Andy Kendricks who disappointed her socialite mom by shucking her debut. I set the series in Dallas, sprinkled the pages with real-life locales, and poked fun at my ex-debutante classmates.

In the midst of writing five Deb Dropout novels, my agent had lunch with an editor from Random House who was seeking an author to write “a Southern Gossip Girl series.” Always eager to stretch my literary muscles, I wanted to give it a try. My proposal for THE DEBS read a lot like “THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS meets GOSSIP GIRL with a Texas drawl,” and it was quickly accepted.

So, you ask, what is THE DEBS? Well, I stole a bit from my own school days in Houston by setting the series in H-town, making up a posh prep school that sits on the grounds of a former elementary school, and having one of the characters live on a street very similar to my old stomping grounds. I even borrowed bits and pieces of people I knew and infused them in my debutantes: Laura Belle, who’s anything but a cookie-cutter beauty; the tough-on-the-outside but soft-on-the-inside Mac Mackenzie; environmentally conscious Ginger Fore, who always crushes on the wrong guys; and beauty pageant product Jo Lynn Bidwell (think Tiaras & Toddlers), whose perfect looks belie her messed-up head.

Laura reminds me of a gorgeous girl in my high school class who gained a few pounds through the years. I remember how differently the guys looked at her when she wasn’t a size 6 anymore. I wanted Laura Belle to succeed even if she isn’t a toothpick, and I wanted her to have a hot guy after her. I mean, why the heck not? Ginger’s name was borrowed from a college friend who was very granola and sweet. Since the Ginger in THE DEBS shared those traits, it’s sort of like paying homage to her. As for the nickname “Mac,” well, I just plain liked the sound of it. And Jo Lynn is borrowed from a fellow varsity cheerleader and such a spot-on Texas name that I couldn’t resist.

Working out the plot lines for a YA series was definitely a learning curve. In my mysteries,
every novel had a conclusion with each thread of the story wrapped up. I had to channel my inner soap opera scribe and repeat the mantra of “storylines never die, they just split into more and more secrets” as I wove my tall Texas tales from THE DEBS through LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS and GLOVES OFF (due out in 2010).

With LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS out in June and GLOVES OFF done, I’m ready to start working on a non-series YA book due to Random House next. So while y’all are heading back to school, I’ll be keeping my fingers on the keyboard and my tiara firmly ensconced in my big ol’ beehive of hair, all the while hoping that more and more readers discover THE DEBS and cheer on the three , Mac, Ginger, and Laura, while “boo-hissing” Jo Lynn, a true Miss Un-Congeniality if there ever was one.

-- Susan McBride

Labels: Lies and Texas Dips, Love, Susan McBride

Just in time for the start of the school year, this week’s new releases offer compelling tales of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption as everyone is heading back to their desks. Secrets are uncovered as we follow the Faust teenagers to the elite Marlowe School, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary "gifts" in ANOTHER FAUST. Boarding school girls are clawing their way to the top in ALPHAS, more adventures ensue in the fourth VAMPIRE ACADEMY book, Will and Ernie are struggling with high school jocks in DIARY OF A WITNESS, and David Levithan revisits the tragic September 11th events through the lives of three teens in LOVE IS A HIGHER LAW. What kind of back-to-school trouble will you get yourself into? (We mean with all these detention-worthy reads, of course!)

New Releases for August 25th

Hardcover

ALPHAS by Lisi Harrison (Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
At OCD the losers are tormented.

At Alpha Academy, they're sent home.

Skye Hamilton has scored an invitation to the ultra-exclusive Alphas --- only boarding school where beta is spelled LBR. What happens when the country's best, brightest, and hawtest begin clawing and scratching their way to the top?
- Click here to read our review of ALPHAS.

ANDROMEDA KLEIN by Frank Portman (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Andromeda Klein has a few problems.

Her hair is kind of horrible.

Her partner-in-occultism, Daisy, is dead.

Her secret, estranged, much older and forbidden boyfriend-in-theory, has gone AWOL.

And her mother has learned how to text.

In short, things couldn't get much worse. Until they do. Daisy seems to be attempting to make contact from beyond, books are starting to disappear from the library, and then, strangely and suddenly, Andromeda's tarot readings are beginning to predict events with bizarrely literal accuracy.

Omens are everywhere. Dreams; swords; fires; hidden cards; lost, broken, and dead cell phones . . . and what is Daisy trying to tell her?

In the ensuing struggle of neutral versus evil, it's Andromeda Klein against the world, modern society, demonic forces, and the "friends" of the library.
- Click here to read our review of ANDROMEDA KLEIN, and Frank Portman's guest blog.

ANOTHER FAUST by Daniel and Dina Nayeri (Candlewick)
One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish --- only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city’s most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary "gifts." But as the students claw their way up --- reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty --- they start to suffer the side effects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins. At once chilling and wickedly satirical, this contemporary reimagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.

AS YOU WISH by Jackson Pearce (HarperTeen)
Ever since Viola's boyfriend broke up with her, she has spent her days silently wishing --- to have someone love her again and, more importantly, to belong again --- until one day she inadvertently summons a young genie out of his world and into her own. He will remain until she makes three wishes.

Jinn is anxious to return home, but Viola is terrified of wishing, afraid she will not wish for the right thing, the thing that will make her truly happy. As the two spend time together, the lines between master and servant begin to blur, and soon Jinn can't deny that he's falling for Viola. But it's only after Viola makes her first wish that she realizes she's in love with Jinn as well . . . and that if she wishes twice more, he will disappear from her life --- and her world --- forever.

BLOOD PROMISE: Vampire Academy, Book 4 by Richelle Mead (Razorbill / Penguin)
How far will Rose go to keep her promise?

The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir’s Academy was the deadliest ever in the school’s history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers, and guardians alike. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them. . . including Dimitri.

He’d rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa --- the one she has sworn to protect no matter what—and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?

DIARY OF A WITNESS by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
One day, something’s going to snap. . . .

Ernie doesn't have a lot of friends at school. Just Will. They have stuff in common --- like fishing. But more important, they have common enemies: the school jocks, who seem to find bullying just another sport.

For the most part, Ernie and Will take life at high school in stride. Until Will has one very bad day. Now nothing is remotely funny. Ernie finds himself a witness --- to loss, to humiliation, and to Will’s anger --- an anger that’s building each and every moment.

Ernie doesn’t want to believe his best friend is changing, but he can’t deny the truth. Soon he has a choice: join or die. Or can he find another way?

THE LAST APPRENTICE: CLASH OF THE DEMONS by Joseph Delaney (Greenwillow Books)
As the Spook's apprentice, Thomas Ward's first duty is to protect the County from ghosts, boggarts, and other dangerous creatures. But now his mother has come back from her homeland to seek his help. One of the most dangerous of the old witches, Ordeen, is about to return to earth, bringing with her suffering and devastation. Tom's mother has mustered a powerful army --- including Tom's friend Alice, the Pendle witches, and the assassin Grimalkin --- to confront Ordeen. If Tom joins them, the Spook will refuse to take Tom back as his apprentice. What sacrifices will be made in the battle against the dark?

LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW by David Levithan (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
First there is a Before, and then there is an After....

The lives of three teens --- Claire, Jasper, and Peter --- are altered forever on September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents' frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he's okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire's, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.

Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other's in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.

David Levithan has written a novel of loss and grief, but also one of hope and redemption as his characters slowly learn to move forward in their lives, despite being changed forever.

POP by Gordon Korman (HarperTeen)
When Marcus moves to a new town in the dead of summer, he doesn't know a soul. While practicing football for impending tryouts, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with an older man. Charlie is a charismatic prankster—and the best football player Marcus has ever seen. He can't believe his good luck when he finds out that Charlie is actually Charlie Popovich, or "the King of Pop," as he had been nicknamed during his career as an NFL linebacker. But that's not all. There is a secret about Charlie that his family is desperate to hide.

When Marcus begins school, he meets the starting quarterback on the team: Troy Popovich. Right from the beginning, Marcus and Troy disagree—about football, about Troy's ex-girlfriend, Alyssa, but most of all about what's good for Charlie. Marcus is betting that he knows what's best for the King of Pop. And he is willing to risk everything to help his friend.

SENT by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster)
"I think it's probably safe to say, given when you should have landed, that you're...um..."

"Tell me!"

"I think, right now, you're the king of England."

Thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip are reeling from the news that they're both missing children from history, kidnapped from their proper time period. Before they can fully absorb this revelation, a time purist named JB zaps Chip and another boy, Alex, back to the fifteenth century, where they supposedly belong. Determined not to lose their friends, Jonah and his sister, Katherine, grab Chip's arms just as he's being sent away. The result? Jonah and Katherine also end up in the fifteenth century, where they decidedly do not belong.

Chip's true identity is Edward V, king of England, and Alex is his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. But Chip is convinced that his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, plans to kill them and seize the throne for himself.

JB promises that if the kids can "fix time," he will allow them to return to the present day. But how can they possibly return home safely when history claims that Chip and Alex were murdered?

In a riveting tale that climaxes on the battlefield at Bosworth, master storyteller Margaret Peterson Haddix brings readers back in time to an unforgettable moment in history and plunges them into the adventure of a lifetime.

SHOOTING STAR by Fredrick McKissack Jr. (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)
Jomo Rodgers finished his first year on varsity hearing "if onlys," as in, if only he were bigger.

His talent on the field is easy to spot, and local papers and college recruiters are taking notice. But with his best friend on speed dial for recruiters at big-time college programs, and treated like a king at football-crazy Cranmer Academy, Jomo decides he wants to be more than merely good, he wants to be the real deal...now.

Taking his coach's lecture about commitment to heart, Jomo plunges into a new workout regimen that will make him stronger and faster. But is that enough? A little juice --- as in steroids --- might be the difference between being good and being great. It's an easy choice...that is about to make his life a whole lot harder.

TOMBSTONE TEA by Joanne Dahme (Running Press Kids)
In order to be accepted by the “in crowd” at her new high school, Jamie accepts a dare to spend one night in a local cemetery collecting rubbings from ten gravestones. Once inside the gate of the dark and frightening burial ground, Jamie meets Paul, a handsome boy who works as a caretaker at the cemetery. Paul explains to Jamie about Tombstone Tea: a fund-raising performance in which actors impersonate the people buried in the cemetery. The actors are supposedly rehearsing on this particular evening, but Jamie quickly discovers that they aren’t actors at all but the ghosts of men and women buried in the cemetery. When one woman decides to adopt Jamie to replace her lost daughter, our heroine fears she may never escape the cemetery.
- Click here to read our review of TOMBSTONE TEA.

TRICKS by Ellen Hopkins (Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster)
Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story --- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"


Paperback

THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by E. Lockhart (Hyperion Books for Children)
Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father's "bunny rabbit."
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Landau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer.
Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society.
Not when her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew's lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.
This is the story of how she got that way.
- Click here to read our review and an excerpt of THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU BANKS.

JET SET by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman (HarperTeen)
I'm Lucy Peterson, and let me tell you --- I don't fit in at my new boarding school in Switzerland at all. Caviar at every meal, white-tie affairs (because black-tie is so last season), trips to Geneva to pick up the latest couture, and real live royals lurking around every corner? None of that is really my speed. I'm just your average American teen, here on scholarship, ready to kick some academic and tennis butt so I can have my pick of Ivy League colleges.

Only now I'm falling all over myself to impress my crush, who just happens to be a prince, I've gotten myself tangled up in a tabloid disaster --- literally --- and the "It" clique on campus has decided that I am worthy of their evil scorn. What have I gotten myself into?

KINGDOM KEEPERS II: DISNEY AT DAWN by Ridley Pearson (Disney – Hyperion)
It's supposed to be a happy day at the Magic Kingdom --- the return of the teenaged holographic hosts. But things go very wrong when a sudden lightning storm disrupts the celebration, and Amanda's mysterious sister, Jez, disappears. The only clue is the sighting of a wild monkey in the Magic Kingdom during the storm.
- Click here to read our review and an excerpt of DISNEY AT DAWN.

THE LAND OF THE SILVER APPLES by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum)
THE LAND OF THE SILVER APPLES, Nancy Farmer's sequel to THE SEA OF TROLLS, continues the adventures of Jack, an apprentice bard and his companions as they travel underground to the Hollow Road in search of the faerie realm.
- Click here to read our review of THE LAND OF SILVER APPLES.

SPIRIT by J. P Hightman (HarperTeen)
Seventeen-year-old ghost hunters Tess and Tobias spend their days and nights searching for the paranormal in the cold, dark heart of the Victorian era --- an age of black clothes and black moods. Their latest investigation has them seeking the truth about a couple that was murdered two centuries earlier during the Salem witch trials. But in all their adventures, Tess and Tobias have never before encountered a force as evil as the one that awaits them in Salem. . . .

UP ALL NIGHT by Peter Abrahams, Libby Bray, David Levithan,
Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, Gene Luen Yang, and Ariel Pollak (HarperTeen)
Six great writers equal six fantastic short stories in this flawless collection of tales dealing with encounters of the world of sleepless nights. Each story has a different twist for situations that people experience as they skip sleep and struggle through the night.
- Click here to read our review of UP ALL NIGHT.

New Releases for August 26th

Paperback

THE DEBS by Susan McBride (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
LAURA DELACROIX BELL --- this dazzling trust fund girl’s size 14 figure doesn’t stop her from attracting the sexiest scoundrel in town, or the admiring eye of the Glass Slipper Club. However, a salacious secret could take her out of the running.

Michelle “Mac” Mackenzie --- brainy, cynical, and maybe a tad judgmental, Mac would rather bury her nose in a good book than embrace her deb destiny. But being a debutante was her late mother’s dream.

Ginger Fore --- this adorable tree-hugger wants to wear her grandmother’s vintage ball gown instead of splurging on an expensive dress. Yet when she gets tangled up with an older guy, Ginger will have plenty more to think about.

Jo-Lynn Bidwill --- a former child beauty queen, Jo-Lynn is a bitchy vamp who makes it her mission in life to take out the debu-trash. And Jo-Lynn’s sights are set on Laura Bell.

Labels: New Releases

In preparation for a class she'll teach in the fall on writing teen fiction, Beth Ann Bauman --- whose own YA novel, ROSIE & SKATE, was released this month --- has been pondering over what sorts of things attract young adult readers and what elements make up a good story. Below, she shares some of her YA faves that meet her criteria.


Not only do I write, but I also teach an assortment of creative writing classes, from how to story a short story to advanced novel writing. I’m excited because in the fall I’m going to teach my first class on writing the YA novel. So I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a good teen novel, and what readers are looking for in a story. What follows is a short list of some of my current favorites.

WEETZIE BAT by Francesca Lia Block.
Weetize and Dirk. They’re cool and hip but not the least bit cynical, and isn’t that refreshing? What drives the book is their quest for love, and they find it many different forms. Oh, love... Isn’t this what we most want to read about?

DAIRY QUEEN by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Now this one is about football and dairy farms. I almost passed, because quite honestly reading about football is about as interesting to me as watching paint dry, but my cousin who’s a YA librarian told me I had to read it. Read it I did, and what I found was a touching, funny story about DJ, the tom-boy narrator, whose life sucks once she’s forced to run the family farm after her dad’s injury. Despite a life of baling hay and mucking out the barn, she slowly develops a true bond with a high school quarterback as she coaches him.

OWL IN LOVE by Patrice Kindl
This appealing tale is about a girl who’s a school girl by day and owl by night. At night she hangs out in a tree outside the window of her science teacher’s house and watches him sleep in his underwear: Fruit of the Loom, size 34. She’s in love, and owls are devoted creatures. This imaginative story brings us a girl full of yearning who finds her destiny in a surprising way.

WOULD YOU by Marthe Jocelyn
After a car accident, the narrator’s sister is left brain dead. While this sounds like a real downer, and it is achingly sad, there’s also warmth as family and friends come together to help each cope. How does one go on when the unimaginable happens? 16-year-old Natalie learns to, and there are funny and quirky pockets of life amid the grief.

Check out these good books, if you haven’t already. Happiest reading!

p.s. --- Tell me what appeals to you in a YA novel.

-- Beth Ann Bauman

Labels: Beth Ann Bauman, Rosie and Skate

Books, like life, can be rather unpredictable sometimes, where even the best laid plans or most detailed outlines can't always dictate how a story will begin or end. Today's guest blogger, Michelle Zink --- author of PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS --- proves that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, and gives us a peek into her own unique and organic writing process, which allows her stories to take on lives of their own.


There was a time, back when I was a teenager, that I wanted to be a writer. Of course, there was a time when I also wanted to be a lawyer and an actress and, at one point, even the first woman president of the United States. I also wanted to travel to Egypt, go on Safari, live in Paris, see the world, get married, have children, live dangerously, skydive.

I suppose you could call them outlines of a sort, though they were ever-changing and never seemed to last for long. I was a strange sort of paradox --- the ultimate planner who was willing (happy even!) to let things happen and revel in the surprises of life.

Which is why it should probably come as no surprise that as a writer (for the record, I reached that benchmark much later than expected), I hate outlines.

For a long time, I thought something was wrong with me. I listened as other writers shared detailed outline processes and their procedures for color coding spreadsheets to insure that plot threads were all concluded. I listened and felt like a fraud, because the truth is, I just write. I just write as the words came to me --- though always with a general direction and an ending loosely plotted in my mind --- and then I go back when I’m done and fix anything that just feels... wrong.

I tried writing with an outline once in an effort to make myself feel more legitimate, but it just didn’t work for me. I’d have to work back and forth between my outline and the book I was working on, trying to keep my creative flow as I went, and at the end of the day I’d be left with a bunch of words that made perfect sense but had no magic. Worse, I hated it. I hated staying within the confines of an outline I’d written before I’d gotten to know my characters. Before I could hear their voices in my heads. I hated feeling like I was writing an essay instead of telling a story.

So I stopped. I went back to my... organic way of writing and hoped for the best.

I work that way to this day, starting with a general idea where the story is going and one page (if I’m lucky and actually have that much to start with) of miscellaneous notes on characters' names, appearances, and other random details that seem to appear out of the mist when I’m in the early, obsessive days of an idea. By the time I write the last line, the story is often very different from how I imagined it in the beginning. Somewhere along the way, the story just takes on a life of its own. It goes its own way, and the truth is, I kind of like it that way.

I guess life is much the same way. I never became a lawyer or President of the United States. I still haven’t been to Egypt or lived in Paris (I still hope to do both someday), though I did get married and have children --- with quite a few bumps along the way. But I’ve lived like a gypsy all over the United States, sometimes picking up and moving on a moment’s notice. I’ve worked in computers, sold antiques, taken care of other people’s children and stayed home to take care of my own. I’ve renovated a house, driven across country, and studied subjects far and wide. I’ve raised children who are artists, musicians, baseball players, and yes, perhaps even writers.

Really, nothing is exactly as I’ve planned in any of my outlines, literary or otherwise. Shadows of my original hopes and dreams lurk in the corners of those I have realized just as I hear echoes of my original story ideas in my finished books.

Best of all, there is still room for the unrealized. For the promise of things yet imagined and hoped for both in life and literature. Every day holds magic, because I’m never quite sure what will happen.

And I’ve finally figured out that for me, all the magic is in not knowing.

-- Michelle Zink

Labels: Michelle Zink, Prophesy of the Sisters

In case you're in search of a late-season beach read or an excuse to put off those dreaded summer reading assignments for just a little bit longer, this week's new releases offers five escapist novels packed with everything from family skeletons, a sweeping 13th century romance, a hippie colony in the mountains, and of course... zombies!

New Releases for August 18th

Hardcovers

BREATHLESS by Jessica Warman (Walker Books for Young Readers)
When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She’s smart, she’s cute, and she’s an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won’t let her go. And when he does the unthinkable, it’s all Katie can do to keep her head above water.

KARMA FOR BEGINNERS by Jessica Blank (Disney-Hyperion)
Fourteen-year-old Tessa has never had a normal life. Her mother, a frustrated hippie with awful taste in men, has seen to that. But when her mom pulls her out of school to live at an ashram in the Catskills, Tessa goes from being a freak among normal people to being an outcast among freaks. Freaks who worship an orange robe-wearing guru. And while her mom is buzzing with spiritual energy, and finding a little too much favor with the guru, all Tessa feels are weird vibes.

Unless she's with Colin, the gorgeous boy who fixes trucks for the ashram. The connection they share is the most spiritual thing Tessa has ever felt. But he's older --- like illegally older --- and Tessa's taking dangerous risks to spend time with him. Soon her life is blooming into a psychedelic web of secrets and lies and it's clear that something's about to give way. When it does, will she have anyone to hold on to? Will she even know herself?

TROUBADOR by Mary Hoffman (Bloomsbury USA)
A story of persecution and poetry, love and war set in 13th century Southern France. As crusaders sweep through the country, destroying all those who do not follow their religion, Bertrand risks his life to warn others of the invasion. As a troubadour, Bertrand can travel without suspicion from castle to castle, passing word about the coming danger. In the meantime Elinor, a young noblewoman, in love with Bertrand, leaves her comfortable home and family and becomes a troubadour herself. Danger encircles them both, as the rising tide of bloodshed threatens the fabric of the society in which they live.


Paperback

NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE (Tor)
Principal Taft's 3 Simple Rules for Surviving a Zombie Uprising:

Rule #1: While in the halls, walk slowly and wear a vacant expression on your face. Zombies won't attack other zombies.

Rule #2: Never travel alone. Move in packs. Follow the crowd. Zombies detest blatant displays of individuality.

Rule #3: If a zombie should attack, do not run. Instead, throw raw steak at to him. Zombies love raw meat. This display of kindness will go a long way.

On the night of her middle school graduation, Margot Jean Johnson wrote a high school manifesto detailing her goals for what she was sure would be a most excellent high school career. She and her best friend, Sybil, would be popular and, most important, have boyfriends. Three years later, they haven't accomplished a thing!

Then Margot and Sybil arrive at school one day to find that most of the student body has been turned into flesh-eating zombies. When kooky Principal Taft asks the girls to coexist with the zombies until the end of the semester, they realize that this is the perfect opportunity to live out their high school dreams. All they have to do is stay alive....


New Release for August 20th

Hardcover

LIVING ON IMPULSE by Cara Haycak (Dutton)
Mia Morrow is impulsive, plain and simple. While her friends are concerned with grades and colleges, Mia would rather focus on the things that make her happy --- like chasing boys or snatching something off a department store shelf. No big deal, right? But then Mia gets caught shoplifting, and her thoughtless behavior doesn’t just push her friends away, it gets her into a lot of trouble, too. In this eye-opening tale of friendships, family, and negative impulses, Cara Haycak subtly shows that the power to heal is within all of us, and it almost always starts with forgiveness.

Labels: New Releases

Aside from writing and producing for television and occasionally playing in a rock band called The Enablers, Barbara Hall has also authored several novels for young adults, including DIXIE STORMS, THE NOAH CONFESSIONS, and THE MUSIC TEACHER. In today's guest blog, she revisits a particularly life-altering moment from her past, muses on teenage soul searching, and describes how both of those things eventually inspired her to pen her latest novel, TEMPO CHANGE.


Imagine a world without the Internet. Imagine a world without cell phones. Without iPods or CDs or cable TV or satellite radio or GPS systems. Imagine there are only land line telephones, which you have to share with your siblings and parents, and three channels on the TV and radio stations which sometimes work but sometimes don’t, depending on the weather. Imagine you are a teenager in that world, and you are growing up in a small town far from anything important, and the only connection you have to the outside world is through books you get from the library and magazines you use your allowance to buy. Imagine your only connection to music is through your radio (which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, depending on the weather). Imagine you have a guitar and you want to learn to play it but music lessons are too expensive, so the only way you can learn is by listening to the handful of records you can afford to own and the songs that unpredictably come through the radio.

Is this the start of some kind of end of the world scenario movie? No. It’s the world I grew up in, not all that long ago.

Aside from the lack of technology, my teenhood was not that different from yours. I bumped around in the universe, trying to figure out who I was, what I wanted to do, where I fit in, if I were pretty enough, if my clothes were right, if boys would like me, if I were cool, if I were smart, if I mattered, if I’d ever find my way. I did all that while trying to keep my parents happy, get along with my siblings and get good grades. And like any other teen in the whole wide universe, I wondered if I had a talent, a calling, a reason for being.

My reason for being peeked out of the fog of my striving for acceptance, so quietly and so subversively that I almost didn’t recognize it when it appeared. It happened this way: I was lying on my bed in my room in a small town in Southern Virginia, contemplating all the aspects of my condition, while tuning into an AM radio station on my bedside transistor radio. I heard the last few chords of a song called “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen and it caused me to sit straight up and pay attention. I heard this strange man singing to me, and I heard the harmony of his guitars and the rawness of his voice, and I vaguely heard the words, and I knew it had something to do with me. The song ended suddenly and the DJ mumbled something about who it was and then it all disappeared into the ether. I couldn’t text anyone or Google anything. I caught a glimpse and then the glimpse was gone. I spent the next several years of my life hunting that voice down and trying to figure out what it had to do with me.

This happened and that happened. But basically what happened was that I went to college and I rediscovered Bruce Springsteen, and then I went to see him in concert and then my whole life changed. Bruce, who has managed to span several generations with his music, had a whole lot to say to me and I hunted it down as if I were on the mission to solve a mystery. The mystery was what to do with my life. And Bruce told me, in his own way.

I became a professional writer because of Bruce Springsteen. Because after I hunted him down and solved the mystery, I found what I was looking for in his message. Bruce, like me, had grown up in a tiny town far away from anything that mattered and all of his music was about how he intended to escape that condition and join the real world. He figured out how to do it because he had two things: a guitar and a car. I figured out how to do it because I had those things, too, but because I heard a third thing in his music: he had a dream. I had a dream, too. But until I heard him, I had no idea what to do with it.

I am a full-grown woman now, with a teenager who has the internet and Facebook and a cell phone and an iPod and a GPS system and all of those things that connect us to the world. She also has library books and has spent a lot of her time rediscovering records --- the kind you buy in vinyl and spin on a record player. Only because it is exotic and interesting to her, not because it connects her to anything vital. At the same time, I still have a career as a professional writer, something I never would have had if I hadn’t caught those last few notes of a Bruce Springsteen song on a transistor radio.

The point of this is this: that Bruce Springsteen song truly and really changed my life. It catapulted me out of some sleepy dream where I had to accept the circumstances of my existence, and into another reality where I could be anything I wanted to be if I set my mind to it. Bruce taught me that. Not because he was some exalted celebrity --- there really was no such thing in those days --- but because he was just some lower middle-class guy from nowhere who, like me, managed to make his way out by following what he loved and believed in.

Here we are, years later, and I’m in the great position of talking about how I came to write a book like TEMPO CHANGE. It is my sixth young adult novel. I began writing young adult novels over ten years ago because I never ever forgot how important it felt to be a young adult. I remember being collapsed on my bed one night, during my turbulent teens, and my mother leaning over me saying, “One day you’re going to look back and laugh at this.” The concept of that offended me so much that I vowed never to let it be true. I knew that my pain in that moment was real and I would be damned if I would ever forget it or minimize it. I am proud to say that I never ever looked back and laughed and I never will. Young adult pain is not only real --- it’s possibly the most real pain a person can ever experience. My advice? Always resist the person who tells you otherwise.

In addition to becoming a professional writer, thanks to Bruce, I also became a musician when I grew up. I learned to play the guitar --- mostly by listening to the radio but eventually by taking lessons when I could afford it --- and I formed a band called The Enablers. I still play in that band from time to time. There were many times when I had band rehearsals at my house and my daughter would stomp out of her room and say, “When is the band leaving? I have homework.” It might seem like the coolest thing ever to have a parent in a band but the truth is that a kid just wants to be a kid and anything a parent does is lame, even if it means plugging in rock and roll instruments.

My daughter never thought my band was cool, but she grew up around music and musical instruments, and eventually became a musician in her own right. Her involvement in music is so different than my own at her age. She has all these various networks through which to communicate her interest in music. She isn’t clinging to a transistor radio --- music is just a natural part of the fabric of her life. She never had to fight for it but she found it all the same.
So this is what led me to write TEMPO CHANGE. I wanted to write about the second, or maybe third, generation of music --- a parent like me, who had to fight for it, who marginalized herself in order to have it, in contrast to a girl who simply grew up with it as a fact of life. My daughter will never have to defy anyone to claim music. But wanting to stake out your place in a musical environment will never really change. The call may come over different channels but when the call comes, all you can do is answer it.

In the ever-changing world of communication, music shifts and mutates and forms and reforms, but there is something about it that never really changes. It’s a call in the wild. To follow it, one always has to take a chance. It has to pierce your ears, your consciousness and your dreams. There has to be something in you that sits up and says, yes, that’s it, that’s where I want to go.
This is the story of a girl who heard the call and followed it. What I added was a parent who, because he never fulfilled his own dreams, has an unevolved desire to squelch his daughter’s ambition. This happens, I’m afraid. My generation was led to believe we could have anything we wanted. This was ultimately no more true in my generation than it has ever been, but we fell for it momentarily. The truth is, when you have a child, you sacrifice your immediate desires in exchange for theirs. This doesn’t mean that your parents give up their dreams. They simply postpone them. By choice.

But if a parent hasn’t settled with that choice, the journey can be arduous and difficult. Once the parent has made peace, the journey looks much different. And the parent sees this:
Our paths aren’t so very different. Only the equipment has changed.

Imagine a girl lying on her bed, anywhere in the world, wondering where she fits into the universe. That, I suspect, will never change.

-- Barbara Hall

Labels: Barbara Hall, Tempo Change

Three teens dare to bare it all in a new teen-authored memoir series, Louder Than Words.

Marni suffers from Trichotillomania, a disorder that causes her to pull out her own hair.

Chelsey’s father was murdered days before her 14th birthday.

Emily has been diagnosed with West Nile Virus.

Their stories are told in a 3 book series that combines a mixture of prose, poetry and journal entries.

In support of the new series, HCI Books has launched a week-long live Web show, which premiered this past Monday, August 10th on Kyte.tv.

The Web shows are offering viewers a chance to interact directly with the three young authors in a video chat format. Teens have the opportunity to interact with Marni, Emily and Chelsey directly during hour-long episodes. Viewers are able to submit their questions and comments through email, text message, and Facebook.

Tonight's live Web show starts at 8:00 PM EST, and will be hosted by Chelsey. Join her as she discusses life after her father's death and the female writers that helped her through that trying time. Be sure to catch Friday's show as well, where Marni will be discussing her unique condition and how the internet and other channels have helped her understand and cope with trichotillomania.

The Louder Than Words series is now available in stores.

Labels: Louder Than Words

Amy Efaw's buzzworthy new novel, AFTER, just hit stores yesterday and has a fantastic new book trailer that really caught our eye. So, we wanted to share it with you, along with a quick video of Amy discussing a couple of the real-life events that inspired her to write this story. It's about a seemingly perfect Stepford student and daughter, Devon, who suffers from a pretty bad case of denial over the fact that she's pregnant --- so much so that when the baby finally arrives, she abandons it in the trash.

It looks to be pretty powerful, edgy, dark, sad, and a little creepy, so check out the videos below, and let us know what you think!

Labels: After, Amy Efaw, Book Trailer

There's no shortage of interesting characters in this week's new releases, where you'll encounter a high school debutante, a Danish prince with a lot on his plate, an otherwise good girl who just did a very bad thing, a first-year psych major with boyfriend issues, some stranded sailors, a young girl fighting against an unfortunate (to say the least) family curse, and more.


New Releases for August 11th

Hardcover
AFTER by Amy Efaw (Viking)
An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made --- Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

HAMLET by John Marsden (Candlewick Press)
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, but Hamlet can’t be sure what’s causing the stench. His rage at his mother’s infidelities --- together with his greed for the sensual Ophelia and his dead father’s call to revenge a "murder most foul" --- have his mind in chaos, and he wants to scatter his traitorous uncle’s insides across the fields. But was it really his father’s ghost that night on the ramparts, or a hell-fiend sent to trick him? "Action is hot," he tells Ophelia, who lives shut up in a tower with her longings and lust. "Action is courage, and reflection is cowardly. Picking up the knife has the colors of truth. As soon as I hesitate. . . ." In this dark, erotically charged, beautifully crafted novel, John Marsden brings one of Shakespeare’s most riveting characters to full-blooded life in a narrative of intense psychological complexity.

PSYCH MAJOR SYNDROME by Alicia Thompson (Disney-Hyperion)
Using the skills you've learned so far in Introduction to Psychology, please write a brief self-assessment describing how things are going in your freshman year. Presenting Concerns: The Patient, Leigh Nolan (that would be me), has just started her first year at Stiles College. She has decided to major in psychology (even though her parents would rather she study Tarot cards, not Rorschach blots).

Patient has always been very good at helping her friends with their problems, but when it comes to solving her own...not so much.

Patient has a tendency to over-analyze things, particularly when the opposite sex is involved. Like why doesn't Andrew, her boyfriend of over a year, ever invite her to spend the night? Or why can't she commit to taking the next step in their relationship? And why does his roommate Nathan dislike her so much? More importantly, why did Nathan have a starring role in a much-more-than-friendly dream?

Aggravating factors include hyper-competitive fellow psych majors, a professor who's badly in need of her own psychoanalysis, and mentoring a middle-school-aged girl who thinks Patient is, in a word, naive. Diagnosis: Psych Major Syndrome

ROSIE & SKATE by Beth Ann Bauman (Wendy Lamb)
It's off-season at the Jersey shore, when the boardwalk belongs to the locals. Rosie is 15 and her sister Skate is 16. Their dad, an amiable drunk, is spending a few weeks in jail while their cousin Angie looks after them in their falling-down Victorian on the beach. Skate and her boyfriend Perry are madly in love, inseparable --- until now, when Perry goes off to Rutgers. Rosie is shyer than Skate, but she’s drawn to Nick, a boy in their Alateen group. What happens to Rosie and Skate in a few tumultuous weeks is deftly shaded, complex, and true. Readers will be caught up in each girl’s shifting feelings as the story plays out within the embrace of their warmhearted community.

WHEN THE SNOW FELL by Henning Mankell (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Joel Gustafson’s journey toward becoming a man continues.

As it has in the past, the first snow of the year signifies to Joel Gustafson his very own New Year’s Eve. So when the snow begins to fall on a cold November day, Joel gets busy making new resolutions --- three, to be exact.

As the winter days pass, life becomes ever more complicated. Joel has questions and the answers don’t necessarily come easily, but he is determined to keep his resolutions --- for his father, for himself, and for their future.

In this companion novel to A BRIDGE TO THE STARS and SHADOWS IN THE TWILIGHT, readers follow Joel’s journey as he realizes along the way that it will require determination, strength, and valor to truly become a man.

Paperback

IMPOSSIBLE by Nancy Werlin (Speak)
Inspired by the ballad “Scarborough Fair,” this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy, and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale.

Lucy Scarborough is 17 when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or fall into madness upon their child’s birth. Unless she can complete these tasks, Lucy will go mad, just like her mother and all the Scarborough women before her. But Lucy is the first girl who won’t be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. As they struggle to make sense of the puzzle in the ballad and play by the dangerously important rules, time is slipping away and Lucy’s fate hangs in the balance. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?

LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL by Jo Knowles (Candlewick)
Leah Greene is dead. For Laine, knowing what really happened and the awful feeling that she is, in some way, responsible set her on a journey of painful self-discovery. Yes, she wished for this. She hated Leah that much. Hated her for all the times in the closet, when Leah made her do those things. They were just practicing, Leah said. But why did Leah choose her? Was she special, or just easy to control? And why didn’t Laine make it stop sooner? In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laine is left to explore the devastating lessons Leah taught her, find some meaning in them, and decide whether she can forgive Leah and, ultimately, herself.

A BRIDGE TO THE STARS by Henning Mankell (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Two things are hard for Joel Gustafson to cope with: not knowing why, and not being able to do anything about it. Joel’s father was once a sailor who lived by the sea. Joel’s mother once lived with them. Joel’s father abandoned the sea. Joel’s mother abandoned Joel and his father.

While looking out his window one night, Joel sees a lonely dog on the street. Joel spots the animal again and begins sneaking out night after night, trying to find it. During these nocturnal outings, Joel discovers aspects of life he has never imagined. And then one night he discovers that his father’s bed, too, is empty.

As Joel investigates his father’s mysterious absences and continues to search for the dog, he discovers his own inner strength and learns about adult disappointments and needs.

THE DEBUTANTE by Kathryn Williams (Hyperion)
Annie McRae has her whole senior year planned out. Early acceptance to Brown University, a field hockey scholarship to pay the bills, and days spent with her best friend Jamie and her boyfriend Jake. It is going to be perfect. Then her parents ruin it all by moving--to Alabama. Now, Annie finds herself in an unfamiliar world where she isn't even sure she speaks the same language. To top it off, she discovers that if she ever wants to escape back to her comfortable Yankee life, she will have to become a debutante. As in white-dress-wearing, perfect-manners-practicing, curtsying girly-girl. Fighting every step of the way, Annie spends the year learning to be a lady. Along the way, she discovers that friends can come from the most unlikely of places and that change is not always a bad thing...

THE CASTAWAYS: The Curse of the Jolly Stone Trilogy, Book III by Iain Lawrence
(Laurel Leaf)
The spirited adventure that began in THE CONVICTS and continued in THE CANNIBALS has its riveting conclusion in THE CASTAWAYS --- in which Tom Tin and his four convict companions save two sailors stranded on an iceberg. There’s Mr. Beezley, with his tattooed hands and icy stare; and Mr. Moyle, with his pig-like face and rotten teeth, who supposedly eats children. As Tom grows wary of the men, he suspects they are plotting to get rid of him. But
how? And if Tom and the other boys can’t stop the sailors, will they ever make it home to England, where Tom’s diamond remains buried, and where he still stands a chance of sorting out his tangled fate?

Labels: New Releases

How many non-school-related books do you read a year? Are you part of a book club? Would you ever consider buying a Kindle? Everyone here at Teenreads.com is always curious about these sorts of book-related things and more, so every few years, we put together a survey in hopes of identifying trends and learning about what's most important to our readers. We haven't done one of these since 2005, so we'd love to hear from you and see how much --- or how little --- has changed in the last four years!

The survey may seem a little daunting, but we ask some pretty easy questions --- about your favorite genres, how often you buy books or visit the library, where you like to shop, etc. --- which will only take about 15 minutes to answer. As a thank you for participating, you can submit your name in a drawing to be one of 775 readers to win a free book, courtesy of our publishing friends. We're giving away 27 fantastic titles, including CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins, ANDROMEDA KLEIN by Frank Portman, AIRHEAD by Meg Cabot, MARKED by P. C. and Kristin Cast, and EVERMORE by Alyson Noel. You can check out the complete list here.

The survey will officially end on August 31st, 2009 at 11:59 PM, which leaves just under a month for all of you to give us a hand by filling out the questionnaire (and entering the drawing!). If you haven't already, you can access it here. And if you know of other readers who may be interested in responding to this survey, please spread the word! The more feedback we receive, the better!

Labels: Reader Survey

How many times have we finished a great book and asked ourselves, "Did the events in this story actually happen?" In today's guest blog, Jo Knowles --- author of LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL and JUMPING OFF SWINGS --- explores the truths behind her fiction, and shares what she hopes people take away from the act of reading.


One of the most common questions I’ve received when talking to readers about LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL is, “Where did you get your idea?” Often when I give the usual answer, I can see a bit of disappointment on some faces. Or is it suspicion? I think this is because the real question some people want to know is, is the book “true”? In other words, did it happen to me?

And that is such a difficult question to answer. So much of what I write is a part of me --- my memories, my questions, my journey to who I am, and who I’m yet to become. There are so many truths. Which one is it you’d like to know?

In LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL, was it the memory of a childhood friend who pinned down my arms and spit in my face because she thought it was funny? My two best friends who dared me to scream in the middle of our English class in ninth grade? The friend who thought it would be hysterical to chase my sister and me around the house with a butcher’s knife one night when my parents were out? Or the girl whose bruises I saw when she undressed after gym class, when she thought no one was looking.


In JUMPING OFF SWINGS, was it the conversation I overheard my senior year between four boys who were bragging about who did the kinkiest sex act with same girl? Was it the rumor about my friend’s sister, who was reported to have had two abortions? Or the classmate I hardly knew, who one night at a party, pulled me into the bathroom and told me it was her child’s second birthday, but she’d given him up for adoption and didn’t know where he was.

These and many other memories that have found their way --- however transformed --- into the pages of my books, are fragments of my life that pressed into my heart and left lasting imprints. Some were thrilling! Some were heartbreaking. Some were the most tender moments of my life. And they all shaped how I see the world and the people in it.

Almost always, what’s followed these powerful moments have been questions I can’t easily answer: Why did she do that? Why did he say that? What on earth were we thinking??? What follows these questions is my attempt to answer them. I often do this by exploring the answers through stories. I want to understand the girl who slept with all those guys in high school when it was clear she had no interest in any of them. I want to understand the boy who seemed so angry all the time. I want to know why that girl never raised her hand in class even though something in the way she looked at me when our eyes met said she had something to say. And while I can never know the “true” answers to any of these questions, I can gain some compassion and understanding by exploring some possible ones.

What my favorite books do best is tell the truths I want or need to know and understand myself. No matter what the story, I think I always see the world a little differently after I’ve walked in the shoes of another in the pages of a book. That’s what books like THE CHOCOLATE WAR, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and A SEPARATE PEACE did for me as a young reader, and what they still do now. They make me feel less alone.

So to get back to the original question. Did it happen to me? The honest answer is yes, and no. I am not Laine. And I am not Ellie. But we share similar injustices. Similar heartbreaks. And similar triumphs. I know this won’t be the most satisfactory answer to some, but that is as true as I can make it. And really, whether any of these things happened to me doesn’t matter to --- or change --- the story. And it doesn’t change the reader, or the person asking the question. What matters is whether the person has gained some compassion, some deeper understanding of how someone might be silently suffering. And how he or she will use that understanding to look at the world a little differently, too. And especially for those people asking the question because something similar happened to them, I truly, deeply hope they feel less alone.

-- Jo Knowles

Labels: Jo Knowles, Jumping Off Swings, Lessons From a Dead Girl

This week's roundup of new releases brings us a real mixed bag --- we've got a few gritty coming-of-age novels, some fiction of the paranormal variety, a couple of romances and thrillers, and new installments of some of your favorite series. Also, be sure to check out a new line of memoirs from HCI Teens called Louder Than Words, in which real teens authors share their very real --- and rather heart-breaking --- stories. The first three are available today.


New Releases for August 1st

Hardcover

FADE TO BLUE by Sean Beaudoin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Sophie Blue started wearing a black skirt and Midnight Noir lipstick on her last birthday. It was also the day her father disappeared. Or spontaneously combusted. Which is sort of bad timing, since a Popsicle truck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. His sneakers cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds.

Acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin's wildly innovative novel combines uproarious humor with enough plot twists to fill a tube sock. Part thriller, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, and accompanied by a comic book interstitial, FADE TO BLUE is a whip-smart romp that keeps readers guessing until the last paragraph.

PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS by Michelle Link (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
An ancient prophecy divides two sisters ---

One good... One evil.... Who will prevail?

Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents' deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.

Lia and Alice don't know whom they can trust. They just know they can't trust each other.

RUINED: A Ghost Story, by Paula Morris (Point/Scholastic)
Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. There's just one catch: Lisette is a ghost. A ghost with a deep, dark secret, and a serious score to settle. As Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend --- and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey --- she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Will Rebecca be able to right the wrongs of the past, or has everything been ruined beyond repair?

PETTY IN PINK: Poseur #3 by Rachel Maude (Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Poseur's hot new handbag captures Hollywood tastemaker Ted Pelligan's eye, and now everyone's atwitter. Will those delicate straps hold his attention? Or snap under the strain...

To prove their worth, fashion foursome Melissa, Charlotte, Petra, and Janie must a) dangle their bag on celebrity armage b) sneak into the most anticipated event of the year, and c) convince the paparazzi to point their Canons. And all without couture-competitor Vivien Ho noticing.

Yeah, right.

Get ready to rumble, baybees! A party's not a party until something --- or someone --- breaks.


New Releases for August 3rd

Original Paperback

CHELSEY by Chelsey Shannon (HCI Teens)
Having already lost her mother to cancer as a young girl, Chelsey Shannon's life was turned upside when her father was tragically murdered when she was only thirteen years old. Through a mixture of captivating prose and poetry, Chelsey tells the story of how one girl experienced the unthinkable and found a way to grow and flourish despite the odds.

EMILY by Emily Smucker (HCI Teens)
Prone to illness throughout her life because of a weak immune system, Emily Smucker was used to having to sit things out. But when she got sick the summer before her senior year in high school, she was hit with a year of tests, wrong diagnoses, fading hopes, and a senior year sitting on the sidelines. Ultimately diagnosed with West Nile virus, EMILY is one girl's inside glimpse of living with chronic illness.

MARNI by Marni Bates (HCI Teens)
Marni Bates has battled a stress-related disorder known as trichotillomania for roughly six years. The impulse to pull out all her hair (including her eyelashes and eyebrows), has been a source of much pain, frustration, and in rare moments, humor. It wasn't until Marni searched 'hair-pulling' on Google that she discovered what she was doing had a name and an explanation. Hiding her condition took a lot of work, but being confronted with it was far more difficult. Unfortunately, the majority of high school students don't know how to react when faced with trich. Health courses tend to focus on already highly publicized conditions such as anorexia and bulimia, ignoring other stress-related disorders. In MARNI, author Marni Bates powerfully shares her journey, from the roots of her anxiety which was caused by her parents' messy divorce when she was eight, a dysfunctional relationship with her sister and father, and feeling like such a misfit that she convinced her mom to let her drop out of middle school to be homeschooled, to having her emotional turmoil give birth to trichotillomania.

New Releases for August 4th

Hardcover

IMMORTAL by Gillian Shields (HarperTeen)
Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated than she could have dreamed. Strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave Evie drowning in loneliness.

Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a rebellious, mocking, dangerously attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian grow with each secret meeting, she starts to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl --- a girl who is so eerily like Evie, she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. And as the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.

Gillian Shields's electrifying tale will dazzle readers with suspense, mysticism, and romance.

SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf --- her wolf --- is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human --- or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

SUNSET BOULEVARD: The A-List: Hollywood Royalty #2 by Zoey Dean (Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Starlet Amelie Adams's new movie is being shot on location-at Beverly Hills High. But the drama on-screen is nothing compared to what's happening off-screen.

Lights, camera, deception!


Paperback

THE DEATH OF JAYSON PORTER by Jaime Adoff (Hyperion Books for Children)
Sixteen-year-old Jayson Porter wants to believe things will get better. But the harsh realities of his life never seem to change. Living in the inland-Florida projects with his abusive mother, he tries unsuccessfully to fit in at his predominately white school, while struggling to maintain even a thread of a relationship with his drug-addicted father. As the pressure mounts, there's only one thing Jayson feels he has control over-the choice of whether to live or die. In this powerful, gripping novel, Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Jaime Adoff explores the harsh reality of a teenager's life, giving hope even in the bleakest of hours.

DARKSIDE Book 1 by Tom Becker (Orchard Books)
Jonathan Starling's home has been attacked, his dad is in an asylum, he's running for his life, and there's nowhere to hide. Jonathan has stumbled upon London's greatest secret: Darkside. Incredibly dangerous and unimaginably exciting, Darkside is the creepiest place Jonathan has ever seen. It's a world of nightmares and secrets, where vampires and werewolves stalk the streets, where fear and evil rule, and Jonathan has to find a way out. . . .

Join Jonathan on the Darkside for a nail-biting, nonstop adventure!

Will Jonathan learn the truth behind his father's mysterious illness and his mother's disappearance? And will he ever make it back to the Lightside of London again?


New Releases for August 6th

Hardcover

LIPSTICK APOLOGY by Jennifer Jabaley (Razorbill/Penguin Young Readers Group)
When Emily Carson’s parents die in a plane crash, she’s left with nothing but her mother’s last words scrawled in lipstick on a tray table: “Emily, please forgive me.”

Now it’s fall and Emily moves to New York City --- where she attracts the attention of two very different boys: the cute, popular Owen, and her quirky chemistry partner, Anthony. With the help of some surprising new friends, Emily must choose between the boy who helps her forget and the one who encourages her to remember, and ultimately heal.

Debut author Jennifer Jabaley has written a wonderful, feel-good romantic comedy with real emotional depth. Full of lovably wacky characters, LIPSTICK APOLOGY is a heartwarming story about the true meaning of forgiveness.

Labels: New Releases