CRUEL SUMMER by Alyson Noël
Having recently discarded her dorky image--and the best friend that went with it--Colby Cavendish is looking forward to a long hot season of parties, beach BBQ’s, and hopefully, more hook-ups with Levi Bonham, the hottest guy in school. But her world comes crashing down when her parents send her away to spend the summer in Greece with her crazy aunt Tally.
Stranded on a boring island with no malls, no cell phone reception, and an aunt who talks to her plants, Colby worries that her new friends have forgotten all about her. But when she meets Yannis, a cute Greek local, everything changes. She experiences something deeper and more intense than a summer fling, and it forces her to see herself, and the life she left behind, in a whole new way.
SPIRIT OF THE SAMURAI by Gary Reed and Rick Hoberg
When her brother David finds a strange book, Kat Anderson is shocked to read its plan for her future as the last guardian against the evil Clan of Black Rings, with David her sworn enemy! Finally she understands why her grandfather insisted she take her martial-arts training so seriously. The years of training have made her a formidable foe, but she’ll need the spirit of Toho, her Samurai warrior ancestor, to help. And what part will the mysterious newcomer who claims to be her father play? Rick Hoberg’s vivid artwork and Gary Reed’s compelling story make Spirit of the Samurai a white-knuckle ride.
GIRL AT SEA by Maureen Johnson
Sometimes you have to get lost . . .
The Girl: Clio Ford, seventeen, wants to spend the summer smooching her art-store crush, not stuck on a boat in the Mediterranean. At least she'll get a killer tan.
The Mission: Survive her father's crazy antics. Oh, and also find some missing underwater treasure that could unlock the secrets of civilization.
The Crew: Dad's wacky best friend Martin, his bizarre research partner Julia, her voluptuous daughter Elsa . . . and then there's Aidan, Julia's incredibly attractive, incredibly arrogant assistant.
What's going on behind Aidan's intellectual, intensely green eyes, anyway?
As Clio sails into uncharted territory she unveils secrets that have the power to change history. But her most surprising discovery is that there's something deeper and more cryptic than the sea—her own heart.
. . . to find what you're looking for
AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washedup child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy–loving best friend riding shotgun—but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.
CELEMENCY POGUE: THE SCRIVENER BEES by JT Petty
There's a renegade changeling on the loose and the future of Make-Believe hangs in the balance -- it's Clemency Pogue to the rescue!
As Inky Mess gains power and amasses goblin followers, he sets his sights on the Forgetting Book. With the book, Inky will become master of every goblin, hobgoblin, and fairy in Make-Believe. Clemency's hobgoblin friends desperately need her help to defeat the power-hungry changeling, but Clem has problems of her own: Her dad has unknowingly angered the Scrivener Bees and they want to exact painful revenge. Will Clem be able to save her father -- and Make-Believe?
THE SHADOW HUNT by Katherine Langrish
Wolf is on the run—from the oppressive monastery where he was raised, from the ghosts and demons that haunt the windswept moors of Devil's Edge, and from the shadows in the landscape that resemble the Devil himself.
When Wolf rescues a strange child on Devil's Edge, he takes her to a grand castle hoping to win the favor of its ruler. There he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a girl named Nest, and he thinks he's finally found a place to call home. Wolf is determined to fit in, but not everything is as it seems at the castle. Dark forces are conspiring against Wolf and Nest, and a sinister enemy is looming closer than they could ever realize.
With lies masquerading as reality, will Wolf and Nest learn who they can trust . . . before it's too late? Critically acclaimed author Katherine Langrish has created a wonderfully spooky and richly imagined world of ghosts and magical creatures, where good may be evil and light may give way to dark.
SONG OF THE SPARROW by Lisa Ann Sandell
Since the days of King Arthur, there have been poems and paintings created in her name. She is Elaine of Ascolat, the Lady of Shalott, and now there is a book all her own. The year is 490 A.D. and 16-year-old Elaine has a temperament to match her fiery red hair. Living on a military base with her father, brothers, and the rest of Arthur's army, Elaine pines for the handsome Lancelot, and longs for a female friend. But when the cruel, beautiful Gwynivere arrives, Elaine is confronted with startling emotions of jealousy and rivalry. Can Elaine find the strength to survive the birth of a kingdom?
ALICE'S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND by Lewis Carroll
Generations of readers have loved and embraced Lewis Carroll’s tale of the little girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures and absurd croquet matches, but how many can recount the history behind this famous story? It all began one golden July afternoon in Oxford in 1862, when the three Liddell siblings—Lorina, Edith, and young Alice—set out on a boating trip with two close friends of the family, Robinson Duckworth and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. To keep the children amused, Dodgson spun a tale about an inquisitive young girl and her escapades in a magical underground world, eventually writing it down at his heroine Alice Liddell’s request. The little book he produced, entitledAlice’s Adventures under Ground, was beautifully bound in morocco leather, illustrated with 37 charming pictures, and given to Alice as an early Christmas present in November of 1864. Friends and fellow novelists who saw the volume urged Dodgson to publish the book formally, and literary history was made in 1865 when the first of countless best-selling editions rolled off the press.
In this superb facsimile edition of Dodgson’s original manuscript, modern readers can at last enjoy the expressive script and vibrant illustrations of the original, one of the British Library’s most prized possessions. Perfect for the literary collector, the lover of Alice, or the child at heart, this remarkable volume includes fascinating biographical commentary on Dodgson as well as a recounting of all the stages through which the manuscript passed. This journey produced a new tale itself, as the manuscript was revised, expanded, and illustrated by Punch cartoonist John Tenniel en route to final publication as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, under Dodgson’s celebrated pen name of Lewis Carroll.
