The Squad: Perfect Cover
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published 2008 by Laurel-Leaf Books

Mass Market Paperbound, English. ISBN: 9780385734547

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Bayport High's Varsity cheer squad is made up of the hottest of the hot. But this A-list is dangerous in more ways than one. The Squad is actually a cover for the most highly trained group of underage government operatives the United States has ever assembled. They have the perfect cover, because, beyond herkeys and highlights, no one expects anything from a cheerleader.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 02/04/2008

Barnes launches a teen spy series with this campy and thoroughly addictive read. Sixteen-year-old Toby Klein, a tough-girl loner who'd rather sit in detention than pump up a game-day crowd, is appalled but intrigued when she receives an invitation to join the super-popular varsity cheerleading squad at Bayport High. Then she learns the squad is a cover for a top-secret group of teen girl government operatives whose mission is to protect America at all costs. Readers will easily suspend their disbelief to follow the exploits of these party girls whose picture-perfect appearances conceal their skills as brilliant profilers, linguists, weapons experts and computer hackers. Barnes (Platinum) handily blends scenes of mundane high school life with espionage as the girls sport necklaces with built-in microphones and bulletproof push-up bras. This over-the-top tale never takes itself too seriously, much like Charlie's Angels (to which Toby occasionally dryly refers). Despite a prolonged lead-up to the girls' first mission and an annoying younger brother who pops up too often, this is a terrific guilty pleasure. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

Tim: Defender of the Earth
by Sam Enthoven
Published 2008 by Sleuth RazorBill

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781595141842

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Tim, Defender of the Earth, is a rockaem, sockaem thriller filled with smoke, spectacle, and big-time adventure. Big Ben will fall! Westminster Abbey will crumble! London will never be the same! TIM, aka Tyrannosaurus: Improved Model, is the product of a top-secret government military experiment, and he couldnat be more loveable. Sure, heas an enormous monster to most, but at heart heas just a big, awkward, thirteen-yearold who realizes he could be all that stands between the earth and total destruction. (Take that, Godzilla.) Now TIM must form an unlikely alliance with fifteen-year-olds Chris and Anna in order to save humanity from the greatest threat it has ever known: Annaas father, the brilliant and demented Professor Mallahide, and his growing tide of vicious, all-consuming nanobots. Will TIM prevail and save the British Isles and the world from evil? Weall all have to hold hands, read, and believeain TIM, Defender of the Earth!

03/01/2008 REVIEW: School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-For anyone who has ever thrilled to the sight of gigantic creatures battling it out on the big screen-King Kong, T. rex, Godzilla, Gamera-here comes Tim, short for Tyrannosaur: Improved Model! Tim, a made-to-order superweapon modeled after T. rex but much, much larger, was created in a lab far beneath London's Trafalgar Square. When funding for the project is redirected by Britain's new prime minister, Tim is scheduled for execution. Fortunately for London and the rest of the world, he escapes his fate just in time to fight off a misguided scientist and his terrifying plot to take over the world using nanobots. Enthoven has created two of the most unlikely heroes ever in Tim and his sidekick, Chris, a 15-year-old who desperately wants to be cool and sophisticated, yet finds himself tied to Tim through an odd bracelet given to him by a mysterious woman during a class trip to the museum. Both characters are reluctantly resolute, neither is very bright, but together they just may save the world. This fun, action-driven, science fiction tale will be snapped up by restless boys who can never find books written just for them.-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

Ninth Grade Slays
by Heather Brewer
Published 2008 by Dutton Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780525478928

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Having made it through the eighth grade, Vlad Tod enters freshman year--and it sucks as much as the previous year. A trip to Siberia gives study abroad a whole new meaning as Vlad connects with other vampires and advances his mind-control abilities.

The Killing Joke
by Alan Moore
Published 2008 by DC Comics

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781401216672

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Writer Alan Moore, acclaimed author of "V for Vendetta," offers his take on the disturbing relationship between The Dark Knight and The Joker in this special 20th anniversary deluxe edition of one of the most famous Batman stories of all time.

Klepto
by Jenny Pollack
Published 2008 by Speak

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780142410721

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Julie Braverman is the coolest person Julie Prodsky has ever met. During their freshman year at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, the previously unexplored world of flirting, freedom, and fashion is revealed to Julie P. through the eyes of her new best friend. Learning the secret to Julie B.'s collection of Fiorucci jeans-shoplifting-only makes Julie P. admire her more. Before long, Julie P. has her own closet full of stolen clothing, and a new boyfriend, all thanks to Julie B. Then Julie P.'s conscience catches up with her. She wants to stop shoplifting, but Julie B. doesn't. Without stealing, can this friendship survive?

Lock and Key
by Sarah Dessen
Published 2008 by Viking Children's Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780670010882

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

The "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Just Listen" explores the heart of a gutsy, complex girl dealing with unforeseen circumstances and learning to trust again.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 02/18/2008

Dessen (Just Listen) inverts a familiar fairy tale: what if Cinderella got the prince, the castle and all its accoutrements, but wasnt remotely interested? After her mother abandons her, Ruby Cooper is flying below the radar of officialdom and trying to make it to her 18th birthday, when shes busted by the landlord and turned over to social services. Ruby gets taken in by her estranged sister, Cora, who left for college a decade earlier and never looked back, and Coras husband, Jamie, the wealthy founder of a ubiquitous social networking site. Resentful, suspicious and vulnerable, she resists mightily, refusing the risky business of depending on anybody but herself, and wearing the key to her old house around her neck. All the Dessen trademarks are herethe swoon-worthy boy next door who is not what he appears to be; and the supporting characters who force Ruby to rethink her cynical worldview, among them the frazzled owner of a jewelry kiosk at the mall. The author again defines characters primarily through dialogue, and although Ruby and her love interest, Nate, sound wiser than their years, they talk the way teens might want to - from the heart. A must for Dessen fans, it will win her new readers, too. Ages 12-up.

Skate
by Michael Harmon
Published 2008 by Laurel-Leaf Books

Mass Market Paperbound, English. ISBN: 9780553495102

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

There's not much keeping Ian McDermott in Spokane, but at least it's home. He's been raising Sammy practically on his own ever since their mom disappeared again on one of her binges. They get by, finding just enough to eat and plenty of time to skateboard.

But at Morrison High, Ian is getting the distinct, chilling feeling that the administration wants him and his board and his punked hair gone. Simply gone. And when his temper finally blows-he actually takes a swing at Coach Florence and knocks him cold-Ian knows he's got to grab Sammy and skate. Run.

Their search for the one relative they can think of, their only hope, leads Ian and Sammy across the entire state of Washington in the cold and rain-and straight into a shocking discovery. Through it all, Ian knows exactly what he has to do: protect Sammy, and let no one split up their family of two. Michael Harmon tells a nuanced and unflinching story of wilderness survival, the fierce bond between brothers, and teen rage-and redemption. "From the Hardcover edition."

The Trials of Kate Hope
by Wick Downing
Published 2008 by Houghton Mifflin Company

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780618891337

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

When she was not yet a teenager, Kate Hope started "reading law" in the office of "Judge" Hope, her half-blind grandfather, a grumpy eighty-nine-year-old lawyer with problems. One big problem is that he believes in justice for all, not just those who can afford it. He also needs a partner. Together they find a loophole in Colorado law, and Kate becomes a lawyer--technically. She has a law license hanging on the wall in her office, but she has no idea how to practice law. In a courtroom. With a judge and jury and defendants. It doesn't help that things don't start out so well for Kate's legal career. The firm of Hope and Hope has an unusual first case, and if they lose it, a dog named Herman--the only friend an old woman has--will be destroyed. But Grandfather falls ill, leaving Kate to try the case on her own. Will Kate be able to save Herman from doggy death row? Will Grandfather Hope recover in time to make it to the courtroom? Will life ever be normal again for Kate Hope? Will justice be served?