New Books January 2008: Fiction
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Title and Author |
Summaries from Titlewave.com |
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie ; art by Ellen Forney. |
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled
school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town
school where the only other Native American is the school mascot.
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 Alcatraz
Versus the Evil Librarians
by Brandon Sanderson. |
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world, and Alcatraz is introduced to his grandfather and his own special talent, and told that he must use it to save civilization. |
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The Alchemyst : The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott |
Fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, find themselves caught up in the deadly struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient book that holds the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life. |
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by Rick Yancey |
The last descendant of Sir Lancelot, teenage misfit Alfred Kropp is drawn back into the OIPEP to battle a group of demons bent on freeing themselves from the confines of an ancient relic. |
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by Louise Rennison |
Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie. |
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by Jenny Downham |
A terminally ill teenaged girl makes and carries out a list of things to do before she dies. |
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by Kevin Brooks |
After finding out he is part machine, sixteen-year-old Robert Smith runs from the covert government agents who are trying to pin a murder on him, and together with Eddi, a nineteen-year-old criminal, tries to uncover his true identity. |
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by Alex Flinn. |
Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father. |
 Clan
apis
by Jay Hosler |
A graphic novel that tells the life story of a young bee named Nyuki, showing the structure of life in a beehive and the struggles bees face to survive. Also includes an educational section on bee anatomy and behavior, and an extra comic on the bee sting allergy. |
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by Denise Vega |
Seventh-grader Erin Swift writes about her friends and classmates in her private blog, but when it accidentally gets posted on the school Intranet site, she learns some important lessons about friendship. |
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by John Feinstein |
Two teenagers learn that every player on a professional football team--which is supposed to play in the Super Bowl--has failed their drug test and the owner has covered up the results, and now they must find a way to prove it. |
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by David Lubar |
Thirty-five creepy stories about pigeons, ancient predators, Girl Scouts, and other terrifying things. Includes author's notes on how he got his ideas for these stories. |
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by Paul Fleischman ; collages by Gwen Frankfeldt & Glenn Morrow |
Horn Book starred (September, 2007)In this adroit, concise adaptation, Fleischman juxtaposes twentieth-century news items with the Trojan War. As the ancient story unfolds, present-day events are revealed on a facing page of each spread through reproductions of actual clippings, arranged within handsome collages in black, white, and sepia tones--providing a stirring if overt message. This updated volume includes ten new clippings. Reading list.
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 Diary
of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rulesby Jeff Kinney |
Secrets have a way of getting out, especially
when a diary is involved. Whatever you do, don't ask Greg Heffley how he spent his summer vacation, because he definitely doesn't want to talk about it. As Greg enters the new school year, he's eager to put the past three months behind him . . . and one event in particular. Unfortunately for Greg, his older brother, Rodrick, knows all about the incident Greg wants to keep under wraps. But secrets have a way of getting out . . . especially when a diary is involved. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules chronicles Greg's attempts to navigate the hazards of middle school, impress the girls, steer clear of the school talent show, and most important, keep his secret safe. |
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by Jerry Spinelli |
Horn Book starred (September, 2007)Nine-year-old David and thirteen-year-old Primrose share a unique, volatile friendship. Both have absent parents, and Spinelli skillfully portrays their fragile psyches, leading them to simultaneously cling to and lash out at one another. Though the children's wounds may heal too cleanly in the end, their fierce devotion to each other makes everything they do seem possible.
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by Nancy Garden |
Horn Book (Fall 2006)A victim of relentless bullying, Gray slowly loses perspective and compassion--and one day he brings a gun to school. His first-person narrative is framed as a post-arraignment interview, itself sandwiched between third-person glimpses of Gray's life in jail, heightening the sense that by the end of Gray's story, there's barely enough of him left to tell it.
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by Conor Kostick |
Horn Book (Fall 2007)Erik lives in a dual world: part primitive colony, part high-tech fantasy computer game called Epic. The game has real-life repercussions, and Erik must conquer it in order to save his family, changing both realities. The story's structure is high fantasy with sci-fi carefully mixed in, and the action is pulse-pounding. Kostick's clean writing and no-frills storytelling are highly effective.
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by Catherine Jinks |
Horn Book (Fall 2007)The son of a Bond-style supervillain, young genius Cadel Darkkon attends his father's despotic Axis Institute, taking classes such as Basic Lying, Infiltration, and Embezzlement. His worldview changes, though, when he discovers his dad's lies could hurt Cadel's pen-pal, Kay-Lee.
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by Scott Westerfeld |
In an alternative civilization where the social status of each person is monitored and rated and anyone can drop from celebrity to nobody, fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse's popularity ranking is so low her only chance of moving up is to find a good story, so when she meets a group of girls who hide an explosive secret, Aya decides to expose the group and unknowingly puts her own life in danger. |
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by Marissa Walsh |
Andie and her best friend Bess read through a manual Andie's Yale-bound sister wrote for her, which is filled with tips and tricks for excelling at Plumstead Country Day high school where Andie is about to be a freshman. |
 Football
genius
by Tim Green |
Troy, a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players. |
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by Chris Lynch |
Publishers Weekly (September 16, 2002)Will, a 17-year-old enrolled in a vocational woodworking class, falls under suspicion when his wood sculptures are found near the site of several teens' mysterious drownings or suicides. According to PW, this novel, narrated by Will in the second person, "focuses on the dark and murky corners of its main character's psyche."
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by Julie Halpern |
Anna Bloom, confined to a mental hospital by her parents who do not know how to deal with her depression and panic attacks, writes letters to her best friend Tracy sharing the funny details of her life and the people she is getting to know at Lakeland. |
 Girl
at sea
by Maureen Johnson |
Horn Book (Fall 2007)Seventeen-year-old Clio isn't thrilled about cruising the Italian coast with her father and his secretive colleagues who are looking for a turn-of-the-twentieth-century shipwreck, especially since it means being separated from her crush. However, once Clio gets into the search, she's hooked. Flashbacks are neatly woven throughout, tying Clio to the treasure hunt and increasing the story's suspense.
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by Lori Lansens |
A fictional autobiography of conjoined twins told by Rose and Ruby Darlen, two young women who, nearing the age of thirty, are about to become history's oldest surviving twins to be joined at the head. |
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by Carl Deuker |
Groomed by his father to be a star player, football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick Johnson, who works hard for a spot on the varsity team his freshman year, then tries to hold onto his edge by using steroids, despite the consequences to his health and social life. |
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by Gail Gauthier. |
Horn Book starred (Fall 2006)Following advice in a self-help book, insecure loner Kyle returns to school atypically saying hello to everyone--teachers, girls, even the class bully--beginning a pattern that sets him further apart. He starts to believe the book is sending him messages and feels impelled to follow its wisdom. Gauthier offers comic riffs on common middle school issues; readers will feel empathy for smart, self-deprecating Kyle.
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by Dana Reinhardt |
Instead of telling the truth about why they are home late, fourteen-year-old private school students Emma, Anna, and Mariah lie and say a strange man attacked one of them, and the untruth results in a slew of problems for themselves, their families, their community, and the wrongly accused man. |
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by Susan Patron ; with illustrations by Matt Phelan |
Fearing that her legal guardian plans to abandon her to return to France, ten-year-old aspiring scientist Lucky Trimble determines to run away while also continuing to seek the Higher Power that will bring stability to her life. |
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by Lurlene McDaniel |
Horn Book (Fall 2007)High school freshman Analise falls into a coma after athletic star Quin sideswipes her bike in a hit and run. The two teens, along with Analise's grieving boyfriend and Quin's calculating girlfriend, narrate the aftermath. McDaniel's fans won't be disappointed by the expected emotional roller coaster.
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by Mike Lupica |
In the wake of his parents' separation, ten-year-old Billy seems to have continual conflicts with his father, who is also his basketball coach, but his quiet, younger brother Ben, a piano prodigy, is having even more trouble adjusting, and only Billy seems to notice. |
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by Jack Gantos |
Joey's father returns, calling himself Charles Heinz and apologizing for his past bad behavior, and he swears that once Joey and his mother change their names and help him fix up the old diner he has bought, their lives will change for the better. |
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by Pete Hautman |
Horn Book starred (Fall 2005)Recognizably clever when constructing architectural models, Doug reveals that it's human interaction he can't figure out. This unreliable narrator reports one near-perfect relationship, the one he has with his best friend, Andy. Gradually, however, that relationship is revealed not to be what it seems. The tension in this psychological thriller comes from entering Doug's private hell and learning what put him there.
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by Sarah Dessen |
Isolated from friends who believe the worst because she has not been truthful with them, sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life. |
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by Lauren Myracle |
Throughout their senior year in high school, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela continue to share "instant messages" with one another about their day-to-day experiences as they consider college, sex, the importance of prom, and the inevitable end of their inseparable trio. |
 Lawn Boyby Gary Paulsen |
Horn Book starred (September, 2007)When the twelve-year-old narrator's grandmother gives him a lawnmower, the youngster decides he might as well earn a few bucks. He meets Arnold, an investor with a cash-flow problem, who promises to buy stocks for him as payment for a freshly trimmed yard. With all the energy of a bull market, this brief farce has summer escapism written all over it.
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by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley |
Forced to attend a Catholic middle school because of her conduct, Abigail discovers a talent for theater and develops a true religious faith. |
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by Kevin Brooks |
Martyn Pig's life goes from bad to worse when he accidentally kills his father, and he must choose whether to tell the police the truth about what happened and be suspected of murder, or he can get rid of the body and pretend nothing ever happened. |
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by Gabrielle Zevin |
Kirkus Review (August 15, 2007)Zevin constructs a unique take on the teenage question of "Who Am I?" New York City sophomore Naomi Porter must re-invent herself, re-construct her life and undergo a re-birth on her journey back from a head injury that leaves her with nine stitches and a memory loss spanning the four years since sixth grade. She struggles to adjust to her high school's caste system and to comprehend the roles of four males in her life. Ace, the tennis jock, is her forgotten boyfriend. Will, her yearbook co-editor, doubles as her best friend, and then there's the hauntingly intriguing James, her new crush. Her father, the fourth guy, loses her trust when Naomi discovers her parents are divorced and he plans to remarry. Rather than listing her many amnesia problems, Zevin deftly reveals Naomi's dilemma with concise phrasing. " 'Hello,' I greeted myself. 'I'm Naomi.' The girl in the mirror didn't seem convinced."
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by E.L. Konigsburg |
Amedeo and William find themselves working together on a house sale for Amedeo's eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Zender, whose house is crammed with memorabilia and stories that date back to Nazi Germany. |
 Night
of the soul stealer
by Joseph Delaney; illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith |
Tom is dismayed when his master the Spook decrees that they will be spending the winter on gloomy and forbidding Anglezarke Moor but soon discovers the reason for his master's decision, as they tangle with two dangerous witches and struggle to keep a dark mage from resurrecting an ancient evil. Includes excerpts from Tom Ward's journal. |
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by Anthony Horowitz |
After telepathic twins Jamie and Scott are attacked by the evil Nightrise Corporation, one of them is imprisoned while the other escapes, left to fight with the other three gatekeepers against the evil Old Ones in order to save his sibling and prevent the destruction of humanity. |
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by Scott Westerfeldi |
Horn Book starred (Spring 2006)Cal's former girlfriend Sarah has become a flesh-eating vampire, a "parasite-positive," or "peep," and Cal is a peep hunter. Westerfeld adroitly intersperses the fictional story with chapters describing actual parasites, their hosts, and the nitty-gritty, often repulsive, details of their existence. A clever blend of adventure, horror, romance, and science text, Peeps holds great appeal for teen readers.
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 The
Plain Janes
by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg ; with lettering by Jared K. Fletcher |
Horn Book starred (September, 2007)In Boy Proof, Jane was injured in a terrorist attack. Now her family's moved to suburbia, where Jane forms P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art In Neighborhoods) and plans "art attacks" while continuing correspondence with a comatose man. The graphic novel's core is Jane's struggle to see the world's beauty. Rugg's warm gray-scale scenes convey the drama, impact, and joy of unfettered expression. |
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Abridged by William Goldman |
The most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince in the world. |
 Project
17by Laurie Stolarz |
When six high school students sneak into an abandoned mental institution to make a film about their night there, they do not expect the inexplicable and terrifying events that keep occurring within the crumbling, maze-like building, causing them to question themselves and, ultimately, to make different choices about the course of their lives. |
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by Sharon Creech |
"Starring Leonardo with Aunt Angela, Aunt Carmella, Aunt Maddalena, Aunt Rosaria, Contento, Cousin Joey, Cousin Tina, Grandma, Granpa, Melanie, Mom, Nunzio, Orlando, Papa, Pietro, Ruby, Uncle Carlo, Uncle Paolo, Uncle Guido and featuring Mr. Beeber." While preparing for a role in the school play, twelve-year-old Leo finds an autobiography that his father wrote as a teenager and ponders the ways people change. Includes the text for the play, "Rumpopo's Porch." |
 Schooled
by Gordon Korman |
School Library Journal (August 1, 2007)Gr 6-9-Capricorn, 13, lives with his hippie grandmother on a farm commune. He's never been to school, never watched TV, and doesn't even own a phone. When Rain falls out of a tree while picking plums and is sent to rehab for several weeks, Cap stays with a social worker and is sent to the local junior high school. There he is introduced to iPods, cell phones, spit balls, and harassment. Cap, with his long frizzy hair, hemp shoes, and serene ignorance of everything most of the kids care about, is the dweebiest of the dweebs, and it's the custom at this school to elect such a kid to be eighth-grade class president (which offers extra humiliation opportunities). The story is told from multiple points of view, adding depth to even the most unsympathetic characters.
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by G.P. Taylor. |
In this sequel to Shadowmancer, Thomas, Kate, and Raphah flee from the evil sorceror Dumurral and head to London, where they soon discover that their battle with the forces of evil has just begun. |
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by Nick Hornby |
School Library Journal (October 1, 2007)Gr 9 Up-Sam has slammed many times while skateboarding, but he slams in a different way when he learns that he is going to be a father. He is nearly 16 when he meets Alicia, and the relationship moves quickly, ending just as fast. Then, on his birthday, he gets an "urgent" text message from her, and what she has to tell him when they meet doesn't surprise him. Alicia is pregnant. Sam turns to the poster of the person he can always trust to give him the answers, Tony Hawk. TH whizzes him into the future and shows him exactly what kind of father he will become to his child, Roof. These moments are the most touching and hilarious in the novel.
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by Anthony Horowitz |
Alex Rider crash lands off the coast of Australia where he is recruited by the Australian Secret Service to infiltrate one of the ruthless gangs operating across South East Asia, and in the midst of his dangerous mission, Alex discovers information about his parents' murder. |
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by Scott Westerfeld |
Horn Book starred (Spring 2005)"Coolhunters" Hunter and Jen find themselves in trouble when they find a pair of running shoes that seem impossibly cool. In this market-research thriller, the shoes propel what is essentially a book-length chase scene assiduously annotated with much clever dialogue and thinking about why we want the things we do.
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by Joan M. Wolf |
From her home in Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in 1942, eleven-year-old Milada is taken with other blond, blue-eyed children to a school in Poland to be trained as "proper Germans" for adoption by German families, but all the while she remembers her true name and history. |
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by Austin Grossman |
Brilliant scientist Doctor Impossible, always plotting to take over the world, comes up with an evil plan to knock the planet off its orbit, setting the stage for a confrontation with Fatale, a rookie cyborg superhero and newest member of the Champions team. |
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by Joan Bauer |
Horn Book (Spring, 2002)Sixteen-year-old Ellie Morgan is determined to win the blue ribbon at the Rock River Pumpkin Weigh-In, but coaxing her potentially prize-winning pumpkin, Max, to gain another two hundred pounds proves no easy task. Ellie copes with inclement weather, pumpkin thieves, and stiff competition in this reissue of a breezy, appealing novel.
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by Sara Zarr |
Horn Book (Fall 2007)At thirteen, Deanna is caught by her father having sex with Tommy, a seventeen-year-old. Three years later, Deanna's peers still whisper about her reputation, and her father hardly speaks to her. Deanna desperately struggles to escape her past, despite sometimes missing the way Tommy made her feel wanted. Deanna's motivations to have sex, and the consequences, are thoughtfully, honestly, and convincingly explored.
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by Ron Koertge |
Horn Book starred (September, 2007)After Ted's parents die in a car crash, he's placed in a foster home with a drill-sergeant father, a nut-case mother, and two foster brothers. Ted relates better to animals than people, and animals, in turn, speak freely to him. However, animal speech leaves Ted as he gradually forges his first real friendships. Koertge's young characters are interesting and three-dimensional.
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by Richard Adams |
Tells stories of what occurred in the lives of the rabbits after they defeated General Woundwort in the classic "Watership Down." |
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by M.T. Anderson |
From the moment he knows that he is destined to be a vampire, Chris thirsts for the blood of people around him while also struggling to remain human. |
 The
Traitor's Gateby Avi |
When his father is arrested as a debtor in 1849 London, fourteen-year-old John Huffman must take on unexpected responsibilities, from asking a distant relative for help to determining why people are spying on him and his family. |
 The
True Meaning of Smekday
by Adam Rex |
Twelve-year-old Gratuity "Tip" Tucci is left to fend for herself after Earth is colonized by aliens and her mother is abducted, and must try to stop another alien invasion with only the help of a cat named Pig and an alien named J. Lo. |
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by Lauren Myracle |
Now high school juniors, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela continue to share "instant messages" with one another as one of them experiments with marijuana, another gets her first boyfriend, and the third moves three thousand miles away. |
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by Mike Lupica |
Brainy Scott, a great kicker who otherwise struggles with football, and star quarterback Chris, who has dyslexia, team up to help each other succeed in both football and school. |
 War
Stories vol. 2by Garth Ennis |
The four lengthy stories here are inspired by real events: the civilian toll exacted by RAF bombing of German industrial cities, the British special forces who attacked the desert Afrika Corps, and soldiers from opposing sides who shared a trench during the Spanish Civil War. The murkiness of the moral waters in these settings is heightened by the unalloyed heroism in the final story about the pilot of an experimental camship--a small fighter aircraft launched from the deck of a merchant ship by catapult--that he was expected to ditch in the North Atlantic because it couldn't land back on the ship. Superheroes completely dominate mainstream comic books, so any revival of other genres is welcome; when done as well as this, it's cause for celebration. |
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by Sonya Sones |
Horn Book (Fall 2007)In What My Mother Doesn't Know, pretty, popular Sophie risked her social status to date Robin. Now Robin relates (in verse) the aftermath of their decision to go public. The teens' relationship is believably flawed, due in part to Robin's burgeoning self-confidence, though Robin's previous too-good-to-be-true boyfriend behavior makes his dalliance with another girl that much more difficult to believe.
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by Gregory Maguire. |
As a terrible storm rages, ten-year-old Dinah and her brother and sister listen to their cousin Gage's tale of a newly-hatched, orphaned, skibberee, or tooth fairy, called What-the-Dickens, who hopes to find a home among the skibbereen tribe, if only he can stay out of trouble. |
 Yellow
Flagby Robert Lipsyte |
When seventeen-year-old Kyle reluctantly succumbs to family pressure and replaces his injured brother in the family racecar, he struggles to keep up with his trumpet playing while deciding how--or if--he can continue making music with a brass quintet and headlines as a Nascar racer. |