BROTHER HOOD
Janet McDonald
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374309957
Ages 12-up
176 pages

Nate Whitely attends a prestigious prep school in upstate New York, though the bond with his neighborhood in Harlem remains strong. Nate is doing well academically and is looking ahead to college, but his childhood friend Hustle won't give up his street-smart ways --- and he doesn't want Nate to either. Meanwhile, Nate's older brother Eli can't seem to keep his life in order and is headed for major trouble. Will Nate be able to sustain these powerful ties without jeopardizing his many accomplishments?

BUCKING THE SARGE
Christopher Paul Curtis
Wendy Lamb Books
ISBN: 0385323077
Ages 12-up
272 pages

Luther T. Farrell hates his vicious mother, and for good reason. His mom, a.k.a. The Sarge, runs an empire of slums and halfway houses in Flint, Michigan. Luther is just one of the many people trapped in the Sarge's Evil Empire --- but he's about to escape.

If Luther wins the science fair this year, he'll be on track for college and a future as America's best-known and best-loved philosopher. All he has to do is beat his arch-rival Shayla Patrick, the beautiful daughter of Flint's finest undertaker --- and the love of Luther's life.

DOORMAT
Kelly McWilliams
Delacorte Press
ISBN: 038573168X
Ages 12-up
144 pages
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Melissa wants to be a model --- she's beautiful, popular and talented. But there's one small problem --- she thinks she's pregnant and wants help (once again) from Jaime, her best friend. Jaime, however, is beginning to take charge of her own life; she has a lead in the school play and a new friendship with Zach. Jaime is sick and tired of being the same old reliable doormat for Melissa --- and she refuses to be stepped on again.

DOORMAT is the debut novel for Kelly McWilliams, who is only fifteen years old. Currently she attends high school, studies Aikido, and plays the piano. But that's not all --- she's also working on her second novel!

GIFTS
Ursula K. Le Guin
Harcourt Children's Books
ISBN: 0152051236
Ages 12-up
288 pages
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Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. These gifts can be wondrous: the ability --- with a glance, a gesture, or a word --- to summon animals, bring forth fire, and move the land. But they can also be fearsome: the ability to twist a limb, manipulate the mind, and inflict a wasting illness. The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another, but two young people --- friends since childhood --- decide not to use their gifts.

HEAD GAMES
Mariah Fredericks
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
ISBN: 068985532X
Ages 12-up
272 pages

Reality? I'd give it a C-.

That's what fifteen-year-old Judith Ellis thinks. Reality is her former best friend not talking to her this year. Reality is her dad living three thousand miles away. Reality is what happened outside 158 West Seventy-first Street in New York City.

To Judith, fantasy rules. Particularly in the Game, which she plays online with strangers she knows only as the Witch, the Drunken Warrior, and Irgan the Head Case. In the gaming world it's strictly alternative identities. No one knows who you are, and no one gets too close.

But one player in the Game is coming after her --- and he's a lot closer than Judith guesses.

PREDATOR'S GOLD
Philip Reeve
Eos
ISBN: 0060721936
Ages 12-up
336 pages

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When the grim aviators of the Green Storm suddenly attack their airship, Tom and Hester's carefree vacation comes to an abrupt halt. They stumble onto the ice city of Anchorage just in time. But Anchorage is not a safe refuge. Devastated by plague and haunted by thieves, the city is barely lurching along, always just out of reach of the savage Huntsmen of Arkangel and on its own fateful course for the Dead Continent --- America.

PREDATOR'S GOLD is the breathtaking sequel to Philip Reeve's award-winning MORTAL ENGINES, which was released in 2003.

THE SEA OF TROLLS
Nancy Farmer
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
ISBN: 0689867441
Ages 10-13
480 pages

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Jack was only eleven when the berserkers nabbed him. The year is A.D. 793, and in the following months, Jack and his little sister are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate, Thorgil. With a crow named Bold Heart for mysterious company, they are swept up into an adventure-quest highly reminiscent of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Other threats include a willful mother Dragon, a giant spider, and a troll-boar with a surprising personality. And let's not forget Ivar the Boneless and his wife, Queen Frith, a shape-shifting half-troll, and several eight-foot-tall, orange-haired, full-time trolls.

It's obvious that award-winning author Nancy Farmer has her creative juices flowing once again!

SO YESTERDAY
Scott Westerfeld
Razorbill/Penguin Young Readers Group
ISBN: 159514000X
Ages 12-up
256 pages

Did you ever wonder who the first person was to keep a wallet on a big chain, or wear baggy pants? How about the first guy to put his baseball cap on backwards? These are the Innovators, people on the very brink of cool.

Seventeen-year-old Hunter Braque's job is to find them for the retail market. But when a big-money client disappears, Hunter must use all of his cool-hunting talents to find her. Along the way he's drawn into a web of brand-name intrigue --- a missing cargo of the coolest shoes he's ever seen, ads for products that don't exist, and a shadowy group dedicated to the downfall of consumerism as we know it.

WORMWOOD
G. P. Taylor
Putnam
ISBN: 0399242570
Ages 12-up
259 pages

Panic fills the streets of London one night in 1756 when the earth suddenly lurches forward and starts spinning out of control. Within moments, eleven days and nights flash through the sky, finally leaving the city in total darkness. Is the end of the world approaching?

Agetta Lamian fears so. She's the young housemaid of Dr. Sabian Blake, a scientist who has recently acquired the Nemorensis, the legendary book said to unlock the secrets of the universe. And what he sees through his telescope confirms what he has read: this disaster is only a sign of things to come. Agetta overhears Dr. Blake's prophecy that a star called Wormwood is headed toward London, where it will fall from the sky and strike a fatal blow.

Dr. Blake believes the comet will either end the world as he knows it or hearken a new age of scientific and spiritual enlightenment. In the meantime, though, he must cope with the madness that grows in London as the comet approaches --- and the fears that the Nemorensis' power could be clouding his own reason and drawing dangerous spirits to his door.

Series Books

The A-List

BLONDE AMBITION: An A-List Novel, #3
Zoey Dean
Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 0316734748
Ages 15-up
240 pages
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BLONDE AMBITION is the third novel in the A-List series, which takes readers behind the scenes of the luxurious world of Hollywood's rich and famous. Anna Percy came to L.A. from New York to learn how to have a good time. Then her new beau, Ben Birnbaum, and his amazing disappearing act turned out to be anything but. Anna finally begins to understand that telling true love from true lust is far more easily said than done.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wicked Willow Trilogy

BROKEN SUNRISE: Wicked Willow #3
Yvonne Navarro
Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ISBN: 0689869541
Ages 14-up
272 pages

The Ghost of Tara has disappeared. At first Willow thought it was because of something she had done --- or worse, that the universe was again conspiring to hurt her. But it's almost impossible to keep secrets from a witch, especially one as powerful as Willow, and ultimately she learns that Buffy and the gang are the culprits.

Willow desperately wants Tara back. Not only does she miss her immensely, the spirit's presence is necessary to perform the resurrection spell that Willow has been working on. Though her first impulse is to charge off and bring her wrath down upon the heads of her old friends, her coven reminds her that in the past, when Willow has allowed anger to control her, she has failed. Willow must develop an alternate plan to regain Tara's spirit and perform the spell.

Charmed

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Jeff Mariotte
Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ISBN: 0689868529
Ages 12-up
240 pages

A number of UFO-like abductions have swept San Francisco. People everywhere are reporting loved ones missing...only to have them show up at home with no recollection of having been gone. The Charmed Ones can't help but become involved, especially when Phoebe receives a letter to her advice column from a woman who's convinced her sister was "taken." Since returning, the victim has developed an almost demonic devotion to a new workout program.

The exercise program, created by Meg Winship, has become incredibly popular in the Bay Area. Even Piper, after seeing an infomercial, suddenly finds herself jogging to the "Winship Way." Luckily there's a rally being held in San Francisco in the next few days. Meg Winship herself will appear there to further inspire and thank her new disciples. If there's something supernatural involved, as the sisters suspect, the fitness guru is their best bet to figure out who --- or what --- is in charge of the chaos.

Fearless

EXPOSED (Fearless #35)
Francine Pascal
Simon Pulse
ISBN: 0689869185
Ages 16-up
224 pages

Here's the description that Simon & Schuster has provided for EXPOSED, the next-to-last installment in the Fearless series (the final book, GONE, is scheduled to be released in November):

"Instead of choosing the good guy, I chose the bad guy. Instead of warding off the enemy, I moved in with him. And I thought the purpose of fear was to prevent you from doing stupid things."

Mates, Dates Series

MATES, DATES, AND SEQUIN SMILES
Cathy Hopkins
Simon Pulse
ISBN: 0689867239
Ages 12-up
208 pages
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Nesta receives devastating news in this seventh volume of the Mates, Dates series: she has to wear braces, and she firmly believes that no boy will be able to look at her the same way. There's only one option: to become a recluse. Lucy, Izzie and T.J. try to help Nesta understand that her looks haven't changed, but Nesta isn't convinced. Things do change, however, when she meets Luke, who not only restores her confidence in her ability to attract boys, but also introduces her to a whole new side of her personality.

The Pagan Chronicles

PAGAN'S VOWS
Catherine Jinks
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763620211
Ages 12-up
330 pages
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Having renounced the sword, Pagan and Lord Roland arrive at the Abbey of St. Martin to devote their lives to God. But Pagan suspects that something mysterious is going on. While the emotionally wrecked Roland tries to find peace in monastic life, the humility and blind obedience required of all novices don't come easily to the worldly Pagan --- especially when he learns that the monastery is riddled with deceit and corruption. Someone is stealing alms, and Pagan is determined to find out who the culprit is. But the truth may come at a price, one that could force him to reconsider his pious role --- and his dedication to Roland.

This medieval thriller by Catherine Jinks is the third of four books to feature Pagan Kidrouk and his many adventures.