New in December

Dani Noir
By Nova Ren Suma

Imaginative thirteen-year-old Dani feels trapped in her small mountain town with only film noir at the local art theater and her depressed mother for company, but while trying to solve a real mystery she learns much about herself and life.

Wish You Were Dead
By Todd Strasser
Madison, a senior at a suburban New York high school, tries to uncover who is responsible for the disappearance of her friends, popular students mentioned in the posts of an anonymous blogger, while she, herself, is being stalked online and in-person.

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival
By Dene Low

When guests begin to disappear at Petronella Arbuthnot's sixteenth birthday party, and strange ransom notes are found, it is up to her bug-eating guardian, Uncle Augustus, to figure out who is behind such dastardly deeds.

This Family Is Driving Me Crazy
Edited by M. Jerry Weiss and Helen S. Weiss

A collection of ten amusing tales from an ensemble of talented authors, including Mel Glenn and Dian Curtis Regan, about an array of wacky families and their wild ways.

Once a Witch
By Carolyn MacCullough

Born into a family of witches, seventeen-year-old Tamsin is raised believing that she alone lacks a magical "Talent," but when her beautiful and powerful sister is taken by an age-old rival of the family in an attempt to change the balance of power, Tamsin discovers her true destiny.

ArchEnemy
By Frank Beddor

Virtuous Queen Alyss, who has lost the power of imagination, and her murderous Aunt Redd battle for control of Wonderland.

Second Skin
By Jessica Wollman

Despite the consequences, sophomore Samantha Klein pursues her dream of becoming popular at Woodlawn High School.

The Book of the Maidservant
By Rebecca Barnhouse

In 1413, a young maidservant accompanies her deeply religious mistress, Dame Margery Kempe, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Includes author's note on Kempe, writer of "The Book of Margery Kempe," considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language.

I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President
By Josh Lieb

In Omaha, Nebraska, twelve-year-old Oliver Watson has everyone convinced that he is extremely stupid and lazy, but he is actually a very wealthy, evil genius, and when he decides to run for seventh-grade class president, nothing will stand in his way.

Hate List
By Jennifer Brown

Sixteen-year-old Valerie, whose boyfriend Nick committed a school shooting at the end of their junior year, struggles to cope with integrating herself back into high school life, unsure herself whether she was a hero or a villain.

New in November

The Monstrumologist
By Rick Yancey

In 1888, twelve-year-old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a scientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi.

The Demon King
By Cinda Williams Chima

Relates the intertwining fates of former street gang leader Han Alister and headstrong Princess Raisa, as Han takes possession of an amulet that once belonged to an evil wizard and Raisa uncovers a conspiracy in the Grey Wolf Court.

The Betraying Season
By Marissa Doyle

In 1838, Penelope Leland goes to Ireland to study magic and prove to herself that she is as good a witch as her twin sister Persy, but when Niall Keating begins to pay her court, she cannot help being distracted.

The Compound
By S. A. Bodeen

After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust, fifteen-year-old Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind, discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.

Doomraga's Revenge
By T. A. Barron

The dragon Basil, now grown mighty in strength, size, and courage, addresses and seeks the cause of a new series of crises that threaten the stability of Avalon, while his friend Merlin is distracted by problems with his son, Krystallus.

Rapture of the Deep
By L. A. Meyer

In 1806, star-crossed lovers Jacky Faber and Jaimy Fletcher are kidnapped by British Naval Intelligence and forced to embark on yet another daring mission--this time to search for sunken Spanish gold off the Florida coast.

Viola in Reel Life
By Adriana Trigiani

When fourteen-year-old Viola is sent from her beloved Brooklyn to boarding school in Indiana for ninth grade, she overcomes her initial reservations as she makes friends with her roommates, goes on a real date, and uses the unsettling ghost she keeps seeing as the subject of a short film--her first.

Riot
By Walter Dean Myers

In 1863, fifteen-year-old Claire, the daughter of an Irish mother and a black father, faces ugly truths and great danger when Irish immigrants, enraged by the Civil War and a federal draft, lash out against blacks and wealthy "swells" of New York City.

New in October

Ghostgirl: Homecoming
By Tonya Hurley

When Petula becomes deathly ill, her sister Scarlet seeks help from former classmate Charlotte, for whom the afterlife has become burdensome, leaving her just as insecure and isolated as she was while she was alive.

Killer Pizza
By Greg Taylor

While working as summer employees in a local pizza parlor, three teenagers are recruited by an underground organization of monster hunters.

My Life, the Musical
By Maryrose Wood

Sixteen-year-old Emily Pearl's obsession with Broadway shows, and one musical in particular, lands her in trouble in school and at home, but it might also allow her and her best friend, Phillip, to find a dramatic solution to the problems.

Eyes Like Stars
By Lisa Mantchev

Seventeen-year-old Bertie strives to save Theater Illuminata, the only home she has ever known, but is hindered by the Players who magically live on there, especially Ariel, who is willing to destroy the Book at the center of the magic in order to escape into the outside world.

Dull Boy
By Sarah Cross

Avery, a teenaged boy with frightening super powers that he is trying to hide, discovers other teenagers who also have strange powers and who are being sought by the icy and seductive Cherchette, but they do not know what she wants with them.

The Squad: Perfect Cover
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

High school sophomore Toby Klein enjoys computer hacking and wearing combat boots, so she thinks it is a joke when she is invited to join the cheerleading squad but soon learns cheering is just a cover for an elite group of government operatives known as the Squad.

Ghost Town
By Richard W. Jennings

Thirteen-year-old Spencer Honesty and his imaginary friend, an Indian called Chief Leopard Frog, improbably achieve fame and riches in the abandoned town of Paisley, Kansas, when Spencer begins taking photographs with his deceased father's ancient camera and Chief Leopard Frog has his poems published by a shady businessman in the Cayman Islands.

Libyrinth
By Pearl North

In a distant future where Libyrarians preserve and protect the ancient books that are housed in the fortress-like Libyrinth, Haly is imprisoned by Eradicants, who believe that the written word is evil, and she must try to mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all.

The Morgue and Me
By John C. Ford

Eighteen-year-old Christopher, who plans to be a spy, learns of a murder cover-up through his summer job as a morgue assistant and teams up with Tina, a gorgeous newspaper reporter, to investigate, despite great danger.

Recipe for Disaster
By Maureen Fergus

Francie's life is almost perfect before new girl Darlene shows up. She has her own business as a weekend baker, a best friend named Holly, and a crush on Tate Jarvis. But Darlene thinks Francie's obsession with baking is weird, she acts like Holly is her best friend, and she's somehow managed to steal Tate's attention away. Just as Francie's pastry-filled dreams are starting to slide, she gets a chance to meet celebrity baker Lorenzo LaRue....

Football Champ
By Tim Green

Twelve-year-old Troy's uncanny gift for predicting football plays proves a powerful secret weapon for the Atlanta Falcons, but a seedy reporter with a vendetta suspects something is going on and sets out to shred the reputations of Troy and star linebacker Seth Halloway.

Distant Waves
By Suzanne Weyn

In the early twentieth century, five sisters and their widowed mother, a famed spiritualist, travel from New York to London, and as the Titanic conveys them and their acquaintances, journalist W.T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor, home, Tesla's inventions will either doom or save them all.

New in July

Wings
By Aprilynne Pike

When a plant blooms out of fifteen-year-old Laurel's back, it leads her to discover the fact that she is a faerie and that she has a crucial role to play in keeping the world safe from the encroaching enemy trolls.

Look Both Ways
By Jacquelyn Mitchard

When psychic twin Mallory Brynn starts seeing images of a white wildcat in her dreams, she tries to figure out the connection of her images to an injured cheerleader and her Native American friend Eden.

The Lighthouse Keepers
By Adrian McKinty

After teenage friends Jamie and Ramsay travel back to Altair to save the last citizens of that dying planet, the ancient race who built the mysterious, wormhole-seeking Salmon returns with a terrible proposition for Jamie.

Evermore
By Alyson Noel

Since the car accident that claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras and hear people's thoughts, and she goes out of her way to hide from other people until she meets Damen, another psychic teenager who is hiding even more mysteries.

The Demon's Lexicon
By Sarah Rees Brennan

Sixteen-year-old Nick and his family have battled magicians and demons for most of his life, but when his brother, Alan, is marked for death while helping new friends Jamie and Mae, Nick's determination to save Alan leads him to uncover a devastating secret.

Generation Dead
By Daniel Waters

When teenagers that die come back to life and are labeled "living impaired" or "differently biotic," they are integrated into the school population, but the living teens don't want them around.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
By Carrie Ryan

Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the Unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

Get Real!

The Teen Summer Reading Program runs May 30-July 31. Register and be eligible to win a Wii and other great prizes!

Pick up a booklist of great nonfiction to read this summer. Or check out the Library's online booklists for reading suggestions.

New in May

The Princess and the Bear
By Mette Ivie Harrison

In the follow-up to The Princess and the Hound, a hound who was once a princess and a bear who was once a king travel back in time to save a kingdom and find their human selves.

Vampire Kisses: The Beginning
By Ellen Schreiber

Sixteen-year-old Raven, an outcast who always wears black and hopes to become a vampire some day, falls in love with newcomer Alexander Sterling, who turns out to be a vampire, and their relationship faces a variety of challenges.

The Sorceress
By Michael Scott

While armies of the Shadowrealms gather and Machiavelli goes to Alcatraz to kill Perenelle Flamel, fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman accompany the Alchemist to England to continue their search for the Codex.

Being Nikki
By Meg Cabot

After a horrific accident that resulted in her brain being transplanted into the body of a teen supermodel, everything in the world changes for Emerson Watts as she struggles to come to terms with living a celebrity lifestyle, managing a crazy modeling schedule, and dealing with an entirely new clique of egocentric friends.

A Kiss in Time
By Alex Flinn

After a horrific accident that resulted in her brain being transplanted into the body of a teen supermodel, everything in the world changes for Emerson Watts as she struggles to come to terms with living a celebrity lifestyle, managing a crazy modeling schedule, and dealing with an entirely new clique of egocentric friends.

The Last Olympian
By Rick Riordan

The greatest monster of all, the storm giant Typhon, is on the loose, wreaking havoc and destruction across the US - while Kronos' army lays siege to Manhattan. Soon Percy Jackson must make the hardest choice of his life - a choice that will save or destroy the world.

The Secret Keeper
By Mitali Perkins

When Asha's father goes off to America and leaves his daughters behind in Calcutta, they feel constrained by their life with their traditional uncle and his family, but a friendship with a local boy helps to ease Asha's pain.

New in April

Find You Style and Knit It Too: Sharon Turner: 165 pages
Provides advice, instructions, and patterns for knitting, from basic techniques to advanced stitchery, and introduces ideas for knitting such stylish items as ankle warmers, wristbands, scarves, and hats.

Necropolis: Anthony Horowitz: 400 pages
Journeying to the dark underworld that exists beneath the busy streets of Hong Kong, Matt and three other Gatekeepers go in search of the final Gatekeeper named Sarah in order to stop the evil corporation Nightrise from taking over the world with their devastating powers.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group: Catherine Jinks: 368 pages
Fifteen-year-old vampire Nina has been stuck for fifty-one years in a boring support group for vampires, and nothing exciting has ever happened to them--until one of them is murdered and the others must try to solve the crime.

Firebirds Soaring: 574 pages
A collection of fantasy and science fiction stories includes contributions by such authors as Ellen Klages, Jane Yolen, and Nancy Farmer.

The Musician's Daughter: Susanne Emily Dunlap: 322 pages
In eighteenth-century Vienna, Austria, fifteen-year-old Theresa seeks a way to help her mother and brother financially while investigating the murder of her father, a renowned violinist in Haydn's orchestra at the court of Prince Esterhazy, after his body is found near a gypsy camp.

The True Adventures of Charley Darwin: Carolyn Meyer: 321 pages
In nineteenth-century England, young Charles Darwin rejects the more traditional careers of physician and clergyman, choosing instead to embark on a dangerous five-year journey by ship to explore the natural world.

Extreme Balloon Tying: Shar Levine: 92 pages
Provides instructions and techniques for creating balloon sculptures, including animals, fruits, and holiday-themed objects.