Teens Growing

Newbery Medal winner Laura Amy Schlitz's gothic novel in the grand Victorian tradition, Spledors and Glooms, is set in London and centered around the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl, who goes missing. Two children realize it is their guardian, a Venetian-born puppeteer and magician, who has kidnapped her and used his dark powers to imprison her mind and body in the form of a puppet and strive to return her to human form.

School is just like a film set: there's The Crew, who make things happen; The Extras, who fill the empty desks; and The Movie Stars, whom everyone wants tagged in their Facebook photos. But Jude doesn't fit in. He's not part of The Crew because he isn't about to do anything unless it's court-appointed; he's not an Extra because nothing about him is anonymous; and he's not a Movie Star because even though everyone knows his name like an A-lister, he isn't invited to the cool parties.

From the creator of the Land of Elyon comes a riveting adventure set in an extraordinary satellite world—created as a refuge from a dying Earth—that begins to collapse and forever change the lives of its inhabitants.

Littlest One is a tiny creature slowly learning her job of giving dreams to humans. Each night she and her teacher, Thin Elderly, visit an old woman’s home where she softly touches beloved objects, gathering happy memories, and drops of old scents and sounds. Littlest One pieces these bits together and presents them to her sleeping human in the form of pleasant dreams. But the dreaded Sinisteeds, dark fearsome creatures that plague their victims with nightmares, are always at work against the dreamgivers.

Dawn tries to give herself a new image by changing her hair, makeup, clothes, and personality, but then she worries about whether her friends and her penpal Lewis will like the new Dawn.

With Father in Washington and Cuffy away visiting a sick cousin, almost anything might happen to the Melendys left behind at the Four-Story Mistake. In the Melendy family, adventures are inevitable: Mr. Titus and the catfish; the villainy of the DeLacey brothers; Rush's composition of Opus Three; Mona's first rhubarb pie and all the canning; Randy's arrowhead; the auction and fair for the Red Cross.

Mafatu's name means "Stout Heart," but his people call him a coward. Ever since the sea took his mother's life and spared his own, he has lived with deep fear. By the time he is twelve years old, Mafatu can bear it no longer. He must conquer his fear alone...even if it means certain death. This classic tale of a young boy's hidden strength has been a favorite of readers of all ages since 1940.

Torrey Grey is famous. At least, on the internet. Thousands of people watch her popular videos on fashion and beauty. But when Torrey's sister is killed in an accident - maybe because of Torrey and her videos - Torrey's perfect world implodes. Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn't know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey's internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems to accept Torrey for who she is?

Claudia's sister, Janine, is too busy being smart to be nice to anyone - even their grandmother, Mimi. But Claudia doesn't have to see Janine too much this summer, since the Baby-Sitters Club is starting a new play group. It's going to be so much fun! But then Mimi has a stroke, and the whole summer changes. Now Claudia is "Mimi-sitting," and Janine is no help at all. How can the Kishi sisters get along when Janine is always so mean?

Winnie Perry went through a lot when she was 11, from shifting friendships to her teenage sister's mood swings. But now that Winnie is 12 - and one step closer to being a teenager herself - there is so much more to deal with. Will her new friendship with Dinah last? Can she handle the pressures of junior high? And, most important, will Winnie survive bra shopping (in public!) with Mom?

What’s worse than being fat your freshman year? Being fat your sophomore year. Life used to be so simple for Andrew Zansky - hang with the Model UN guys, avoid gym class, and eat and eat and eat. He’s used to not fitting in: into his family, his sports-crazed school, or his size-48 pants. But not anymore. Andrew just met April, the new girl at school and the instant love of his life! He wants to find a way to win her over, but how? When O. Douglas, the heartthrob quarterback and high-school legend, saves him from getting beaten up by the school bully, Andrew sees his chance to get in with the football squad.

Farrah "Digit" Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year. But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group's number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping - all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously.

Matt and Mike are best friends, just two working-class guys trying to earn some money in Montauk for the summer. When they meet Driana, JoJo, and Stef, three friends who live much different lives of privilege, Matt and Mike find themselves in a sticky situation where temptation rivals sensibility. Worlds collide when the group ventures out to sea aboard a small boat that Stef sneaks out from her dad's dock. As the waves rise and the fragile vessel weakens, things go horribly wrong. Adrift at sea for days, who will have what it takes to survive?

As a young adult in wartime Vienna, Georg Rauch helped his mother hide dozens of Jews from the Nazis behind false walls in their top-floor apartment and arrange for their safe transport out of the country. His family was among the few who worked underground to resist Nazi rule. Then came the day he was shipped out to fight on the eastern front as part of the German infantry—in spite of his having confessed his own Jewish ancestry.

How to Talk to Boys gives a realistic picture of the challenges and choices that face girls today when they're talking to boys. Written by a highly experienced educator, it provides a clear and informative guide to help girls through obstacles like shyness and awkwardness. Featuring 'uncut' individual comments from girls, this audiobook links their ideas about their ability to develop boys as friends and looks at what is needed to further a friendship into a relationship.

kira-kira (kee' ra kee' ra): glittering; shining

Glittering. That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it's Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare.

One early morning in 1754 an Indian raid on a small New Hampshire settlement shatters all young Miriam Willard’s hopes and dreams. Suddenly she and her family are victims of the French and Indian War. Forced to march north to Canada, they will either be held captive by the Indians or sold to the French as slaves. After the nerve-wracking experience of running an Indian gauntlet, Miriam is sold to a wealthy French family in Montreal. Held captive for a ransom that may never arrive, she longs for the handsome young soldier she left behind.

For seven years bad luck has followed Ivy around like a dog on a leash. Her father disappeared. Her mother is a washed up beauty pageant winner. Her aunt Viola has died. Viola did leave Ivy and her mother a house on Gumm Street, but it's not much of a house, and Ivy's next-door neighbors (bookish Pru, stuck-up Cat, and wannabe adventurer Franny) are worse than unfriendly. But then a mysterious pair of ruby red slippers turn up, and the four girls are swept away.

I should have died when I was shot at the Halloween dance. Instead I woke up - one week earlier, in a parallel universe where my mom's fatal car accident six months ago never happened

Justin Somper, internationally acclaimed author of young adult fiction, returns with the exciting sequel to the thrilling Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean. This swashbuckling adventure takes the bold seafaring twins,Connor and Grace, across the treacherous oceans where the notorious vampirates prowl.