Summer Reading 2008

Register for the Teen Summer Reading program Saturday, May 31 - Monday, June 30. For more information, ask at the Reference Desk or call 852-6661.

Starting Monday, June 2 check this blog for special summer recommended reading lists and opportunities to receive treats and prizes.

Happy Reading!

New in May

The Book of Jude: Kimberley Heuston: 217 pages
In 1989, when fifteen-year-old Jude's mother wins a Fulbright fellowship to study art in Czechoslovakia, the family postpones a planned move to Utah to join her, but the political situation and the move itself are too much for Jude, who is overwhelmed by a previously undiagnosed psychological disorder.

Wake: Lisa McMann: 210 pages
Ever since she was eight years old, high school student Janie Hannagan has been uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams, but it is not until she befriends an elderly nursing home patient and becomes involved with an enigmatic fellow-student that she discovers her true power.

The Truth about Las Mariposas: Ofelia Dumas Lachtman: 171 pages
When sixteen-year-old Caro Torres goes to help her Tia Matilda at her bed-and-breakfast in Two Sands, California, she ends up also helping her aunt fend off the attempts of her ex-husband to buy the property and steal the treasures that are hidden there.

Primavera: Mary Jane Beaufrand: 260 pages
Growing up in Renaissance Italy, Flora sees her family's fortunes ebb, but encounters with the artist Botticelli and the guidance of her nurse teach her to look past the material world to the beauty already in her life.

Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Manga Edition: Adam Sexton: 185 pages
In this fast-paced manga edition, you're instantly caught up in the conflicts and passions--the murder of the king, supernatural visitations, deception, plots, poisoned wine, revenge--that make this one of Shakespeare's most beloved tragedies.

Mythbusters: Don't Try This at Home: Mary Packard: 144 pages
Based on the popular TV show, this book presents various urban myths and legends, describes how the "Mythbusters" set out to prove the myths, explains the results, and provides instructions for how to do similar "mythbusting" at home.

Once Upon a Time in the North: Philip Pullman: 95 pages
In a time before Lyra Silvertongue was born, the tough American balloonist Lee Scoresby and the great armoured bear Iorek Byrnison meet when Lee and his hare daemon Hester crash-land their trading balloon onto a port in the far Arctic North and find themselves right in the middle of a political powder keg.

New in April

The Highwayman's Footsteps: Nicola Morgan: 354 pages
In eighteenth-century England, William runs away from his father, only to be captured by an armed highwayman who turns out to be a girl, and together they seek vengeance against William's cruel father and the soldiers who killed the girl's parents. Inspired by Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman."

The Opposite of Invisible: Liz Gallagher: 153 pages
Artistic Seattle high school sophomore Alice decides to emerge from her cocoon and date a football player, which causes a rift between her and her best friend, a boy who wants to be more than just friends.

Omega Place: Graham Marks: 253 pages
After running away from home and joining a radical action group called Omega Place, Paul Hendry finds himself in the midst of something very serious when his new activist friends initiate their campaign to let the public know the type of spying the government is doing with their closed-circuit TV cameras.

Reincarnation: Suzanne Weyn: 293 pages
When a young couple dies in prehistoric times, their love--and link to various green stones--endures through the ages as they are reborn into new bodies and somehow find a way to connect.

Robot Dreams: Sara Varon: 205 pages
Tired of being alone, Dog orders a mail-order robot kit and makes himself a special friend who happily partakes in all of his new friend's adventures, in a wordless graphic novel.

Brothers, Boyfriends & Other Criminal Minds: April Lurie: 289 pages
While living on the same block as several members of the Mafia does have the advantage of a lower crime rate, fourteen-year-old April and her brother find there are times when it is also a major disadvantage.

Fight Game: Kate Wild: 279 pages
When he gets in trouble with the police, Freedom Smith, a rogue Gypsy boy, agrees to go undercover to expose a high-tech fight club that uses street children in drug-manipulated death-matches.

First Shot: Walter Sorrells: 279 pages
David Crandall, haunted by his mother's murder two years ago, uncovers a dark family secret that leads him to believe that his father, headmaster of the military school in which David is currently a senior, is the killer.

Good Enough: Paula Yoo: 322 pages
A Korean American teenager tries to please her parents by getting into an Ivy League college, but a new guy in school and her love of the violin tempt her in new directions.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall: Wendy Mass: 251 pages
After getting knocked out during a game of dodge ball in gym class, unhappy teen Tessa believes she has floated away to heaven and, while on her mystical journey, finally comes to terms with her past while learning to appreciate the loved ones in her life in an entirely new way.

New in March

Runemarks: Joanne Harris: 526 pages
Five hundred years after the end of the world and the destruction of gods, faeries, and goblins, Maddy is certain that some magic still exists based on the marking on her hand and so turns to the support of a mysterious traveler, One-Eye, to figure out her destiny in a world where she has been labeled an outcast.

Airman: Eoin Colfer: 412 pages
Falsely accused of murdering the king and sent off to an island prison, royal bodyguard Conor begins to plan his escape by building a glider so that he can fly to the mainland, clear his good name, and seek justifiable revenge on the real culprit, the evil Bonvilain.

Cindy Ella: Robin Palmer: 264 pages
Sophomore iconoclast Cindy's prom-bashing letter to her high school newspaper complicates her life when she develops a crush on her SAT tutor, added to the ones she has on a popular senior and a boy she has been instant messaging but has never met.

Bunker 10: J.A. Henderson: 253 pages
On a December night, a huge blast destroys a forest and remote valley where a hidden military base exists--a home to 185 people, including scientists, soldiers, and seven teenagers, who all try their best to survive what seems to be their inevitable demise.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me: Lisa Schroeder: 226 pages
When her recently deceased boyfriend, Jackson, reappears as a ghost, Ava is thrilled to have him in her life in any way she can, but when she finally begins to move on with her life, Jackson must find a way to let her go.

The London Eye Mystery: Siobhan Dowd: 322 pages
When Salim doesn't come back from his ride on the London Eye, his cousins Ted and Kat turn to the authorities for help, but when they offer no viable suggestions, the two use their sleuthing skills to figure out what actually happened.

New in February

Open Court: Carol Clippinger: 262 pages
A tennis prodigy grapples with her seemingly incompatible desires to be an exceptional athlete and a normal teenager.

Faerie Lord: Herbie Brennan: 430 pages
When a terrible plague takes over the faerie realm and causes its inhabitants to age unnaturally quickly, Henry and Blue must find a cure in order to save the realm. Book 4 of the Faerie Wars Chronicles.

General Winston’s Daughter: Sharon Shinn: 342 pages
Seventeen-year-old heiress Averie Winston travels with her guardian to faraway Chiarrin, a country her father’s army has occupied, and once she arrives and is reunited with her fiancé, she discovers that her notions about politics, propriety, the military, and even her intended have changed.

The Luxe: Anna Godbersen: 433 pages
In Manhattan in 1899, five teens of different social classes lead dangerously scandalous lives, despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow: Jessica Day George: 328 pages
A girl travels east of sun and west of the moon to free her beloved prince from a magic spell.

Teen, Inc.: Stefan Petrucha: 244 pages
Fourteen-year-old Jaiden has been raised by NECorp. since his parents were killed when he was a baby, so when he discovers that the corporation has been lying about producing illegal levels of mercury emissions, he and his two friends decide to try to do something about it.

New in January

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac: Gabrielle Zevin: 271 pages
After a nasty fall, Naomi realizes that she has no memory of the last four years and finds herself reassessing every aspect of her life.

Hush: An Irish Princess’ Tale: Donna Jo Napoli: 308 pages
Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.

1212: Year of the Journey: Kathleen McDonnell: 288 pages
During the religious crusades that pit Muslim against Christian against Jew, a young shepherd has a vision that prompts him to gather children of all faiths and lead them on a crusade for peace.

Cover-Up: John Feinstein: 298 pages
Fledgling fourteen-year-old sports reporters Susan Carol and Stevie investigate suspicious activities at the Super Bowl after Stevie gets fired from his co-anchor job on a ground-breaking teen sports show.

Redwall: The Graphic Novel: Brian Jacques: 143 pages
When the peaceful life of Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword which will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy. A graphic novel adaptation of the fiction series.

Cool Stuff 2.0 and How It Works: Chris Woodford and Jon Woodcock: 256 pages
Uses computer-generated images to explain how many devices and processes of modern technology work, covering such inventions as HDTV, game consoles, robot cars, helicopters, space probes, oil rigs, mass dampers, biometric id's, and tsunami alert systems.

Thirteen Reasons Why: Jay Asher: 288 pages
When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Transformers: The Movie Guide: Simon Furman: 69 pages
With breathtaking stills and in-depth character profiles, a guide to the new live-action Transformers movie starring Jon Voight and Bernie Mac lets readers get up close and personal with their favorite robots in disguise.

New in December

The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural: Deborah Noyes: 253 pages

Vampire romantics, grave stalkers, prankster devil worshippers, and others in the world of the undead are featured in a collection of ten spooky tales for young adults written by diverse authors, including Holly Black and Marcus Sedgwick.

Schooled: Gordon Korman: 208 pages

After his hippie grandmother ends up in the hospital, Cap Anderson is forced to leave the commune where he is homeschooled and attend Claverage Middle School, where his odd looks and behavior make him the target of bullies.

A Company of Swans: Eva Ibbotson: 374 pages

A young woman in early twentieth-century England must escape the strict confines of her proper Cambridge family to fulfill her dream of becoming a ballet dancer.

The Black Book of Secrets: F.E. Higgins: 273 pages

When Ludlow Fitch's parents cruelly betray him, he leaves the city for a remote village where he gets a job with a mysterious pawnbroker who trades people's deepest, darkest secrets for cash.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarian: Brandon Sanderson: 308 pages

When he comes into the possession of a special bag of sand that has the power to transform information, Alcatraz realizes the importance of this mysterious gift when it is stolen by a group of Evil Librarians who use it to suppress truth and spread lies in order to achieve world domination.

The Specialists: Model Spy: Shannon Greenland: 206 pages

Sixteen-year-old Kelly James, a beautiful but socially awkward orphan with an IQ of 190, is recruited by a secret government spy agency to go undercover as a model and rescue the kidnapped father of the boy she has a huge crush on.

Football Genius: Tim Green: 244 pages

Troy, a student 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.

Remembering Raquel: Vivian Vande Velde: 137 pages
Various people recall aspects of the life of Raquel Falcone, an unpopular, overweight freshman at Quail Run High School, including classmates, her parents, and the driver who struck and killed her as she was walking home from an animated film festival.