Marcelo in the Real World
by Francisco X Stork
Published 2009 by Arthur A. Levine Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780545054744

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Publishers Weekly 01/05/2009

Artfully crafted characters form the heart of Storks ("The Way of the Jaguar") judicious novel. Marcelo Sandoval, a 17-year-old with an Aspergers-like condition, has arranged a job caring for ponies at his special schools therapeutic-riding stables. But he is forced to exit his comfort zone when his high-powered father steers Marcelo to work in his law firms mailroom (in return, Marcelo can decide whether to stay in special ed, as he prefers, or be mainstreamed for his senior year). Narrating with characteristically flat inflections and frequently forgetting to use the first person, Marcelo manifests his anomalies: he harbors an obsession with religion (he regularly meets with a plainspoken female rabbi, though hes not Jewish); hears internal music; and sleeps in a tree house. Readers enter his private world as he navigates the unfamiliar realm of menial tasks and office politics with the ingenuity of a child, his voice never straying from authenticity even as the summer strips away some of his differences. Stork introduces ethical dilemmas, the possibility of love, and other real world conflicts, all the while preserving the integrity of his characterizations and intensifying the novels psychological and emotional stakes. Not to be missed. Ages 14up. "(Mar.)" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

03/01/2009 School Library Journal

Gr 8 UpLike Christopher Boone, the protagonist in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (Doubleday, 2003), Marcelo Sandoval is a high-functioning, extremely self-aware teenager with Asperger's syndrome. He has an empathetic mother and a father, Arturo, who appears to be less empathetic as he pushes Marcelo to live in the "real world." The form the real world takes is a summer job in the mailroom at Arturo's law office. The teen is forced to think on his feet, multitask, and deal with duplicitous people who try to take advantage of him. Over the course of a summer, Marcelo learns that he can function in society; he is especially surprised to find that he can learn to read people's expressions, even to the point of knowing whom he can and cannot trust. Writing in a first-person narrative, Stork does an amazing job of entering Marcelo's consciousness and presenting him as a dynamic, sympathetic, and wholly believable character. At a little over 300 pages, the story drags at some points, bogging down in the middle. However, the dilemmas that Marcelo faces are told in a compelling fashion, which helps to keep readers engaged."Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Peace, Love & Baby Ducks
by Lauren Myracle
Published 2009 by Dutton Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780525477433

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Publishers Weekly 03/30/2009

An honest narrator grounds this sweet story about two sisters learning to accept their differencesand help each other grow up. The sisters, who live in an exclusive Atlanta neighborhood, both attend the most prestigious prep school in the South, but while narrator Carly thrives on being an individual, Anna's pretty face and developing body earn her a different kind of attention. Carly stands up for her softer sister often (telling their mom to stop treating curvy Anna like she is fat, for example). She realizes, though, that she is jealous of Anna's looks even though I'm her big sister, who should be above such things. As the sisters get different friends and interests, Carly spends less time with Anna, and they find themselves saying mean things and betraying each other (Anna even hooks up with Carly's crush). The conclusion gets emotionally overwrought with a teary scene in which the sisters turn into a puddle of ridiculous-ness, but mostly readers will find both the characters and their problems genuine. Ages 12up. "(May)" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

One Lonely Degree
by C K Kelly Martin
Published 2009 by Random House Books for Young Readers

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780375851636

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Jacket Notes:

"Anything is possible. . . ."

Finn has always felt out of place, but suddenly her world is unraveling. It started with The Party. And Adam Porter. And the night in September that changed everything. The only person who knows about that night is Audrey--Finn's best friend, her witness to everything, and the one person Finn trusts implicitly. So when Finn's childhood friend Jersy moves back to town--reckless, beautiful Jersy, all lips and eyes and hair so soft you'd want to dip your fingers into it if you weren't careful--Finn gives her blessing for Audrey to date him. How could she possibly say no to Audrey? With Audrey gone for the summer, though, Finn finds herself spending more and more time with Jersy, and for the first time in her life, something feels right. But Finn can't be the girl who does this to her best friend . . . can she?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance-Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem
by Seth Grahame-Smith
Published 2009 by Quirk Books

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9781594743344

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06/01/2009 School Library Journal

Adult/High SchoolAusten's England is overrun with "unmentionables." Etiquette and polite society still reign, but they do become strained when, for example, the ball at Netherfield is interrupted by an attack on the household staff. In this parody, Grahame-Smith maintains the structure and language of the original while strategically inserting zombies into the story. The surprise is how little changes. Elizabeth Bennett is still known for her beauty and intelligence. Here, she is also known for her expertise in the "deadly arts," abilities that only make her a less-desirable marriage partner. There is the constant physical peril that echoes the menace underlying the original. In addition to a life of homeless spinsterhood, the sisters fear having their brains eaten, or being bitten and turned into zombies themselves (a fate to which one character does unfortunately fall prey). The unmentionables also magnify the satirical aspects of the story. A few key arguments, such as the final confrontation between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine, become all-out brawls to the death. (Lady Catherine is famous for her fighting skills and army of ninjas.) And of course Darcy is a renowned swordsman, known for his gentlemanly ferocity. The concept alone is worth a chuckle. The undead are popular at the moment, and teens will be attracted to this clever version of a frequently assigned classic. However, they should be prepared for a somewhat slow read. The author has not accelerated the pace or created suspense in this mashup."Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

The Uninvited
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Published 2009 by Candlewick Press (MA)

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780763639846

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Publishers Weekly 05/04/2009

Wynne-Jones ("Rex Zero, King of Nothing") creates a tale of twisted family ties that begins with a college coed running from an affair turned sour. Wanting to get as far away as possible from NYUand the professor who is stalking herMimi heads to Canada to stay at her artist father's long-abandoned country cottage. When she arrives, she is startled to find the house occupied by a stranger, Jackson (Jay) Page, a half-brother she didn't know existed. After the siblings agree to temporarily share living quarters, more surprises are in store as personal items go missing and Mimi has the eerie sensation of being watched. In chapters focusing on a local and his mother, readers get hints about the big picture, but suspense remains high as the book races to its climax. The characters have strong voices and personalitiestheir realness, coupled with the idyllic setting, contrasts starkly (and thrillingly) with the story's dark side. If the number of letches and unbalanced individuals that Mimi attracts appears extreme, readers will probably be too caught up in the action to care. Ages 14up. "(May)" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Hunger: A Gone Novel
by Michael Grant
Published 2009 by Harper Teen

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780061449062

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Jacket Notes:

In the second action-packed story about the creation of society in a world without adults, food is running out for those trapped in the bubble known as the FAYZ. Soon, tension rises between those with powers and those without--and when an unspeakable tragedy occurs, chaos erupts. It's been three months since everyone under the age of fifteen became trapped in the bubble known as the FAYZ. Three months since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Food ran out weeks ago. Everyone is starving, but no one wants to figure out a solution. And each day, more and more kids are evolving, developing supernatural abilities that set them apart from the kids without powers. Tension rises and chaos is descending upon the town. It's the normal kids against the mutants. Each kid is out for himself, and even the good ones turn murderous. But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ. Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them. The Darkness has awakened. And it is hungry. 

Along for the Ride
by Sarah Dessen
Published 2009 by Viking Children's Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780670011940

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Publishers Weekly 04/27/2009

Studious good girl Auden, named for the poet, makes a snap decision to spend her summer before college at her father's beach house rather than with her mother, a professor whose bad habits include male grad students. Auden's parents divorced three years earlier, a split she's not yet over. Her remarried father has already produced another heir, a colicky baby named Thisbe (after a tragic figure from Shakespeare), with his young wife, Heidi, who owns a boutique. Feeling sympathy for stressed-out Heidi, Auden agrees to do the shop's bookkeeping, providing her with an instant social circlethe teenage clerks plus the boys from the neighboring bike rental, including hunky, wounded Eli. Both night owls, Auden and Eli bond when he coaxes her to experience childhood activitiesbowling, food fights, learning to ride a bikethat her insufferable parents never bothered to provide. Auden's thoughtful observations make for enjoyable readingthis is solid if not top shelf Dessen: another summer of transformation in which the heroine learns that growing up means propelling yourself forward, into whatever lies ahead, one turn of the wheel at a time. Ages 12up. "(June)" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

06/01/2009 School Library Journal

Gr 8 UpIt's the summer before college and Auden goes to her father's house in the small coastal town of Colby for some well-earned R&R. Having no plans other than to preread textbooks for her first-semester classes at Defriese University, the would-be bookworm's solitude is quickly disrupted by Thisbe, her colicky new half sister. Strolling the boardwalk with a fussy baby and late night coffee runs at the Gas/Gro lead to chance encounters with the locals, whose main pastime revolves around Colby's bike park. Auden's curiosity is piqued by Eli, a bike-shop worker whose reserved, solitary nature seems to match her own. Her social sphere widens when Heidi, her sleep-deprived stepmom, asks for some bookkeeping help in her fashion boutique, and Auden is drawn into the circle of girls who work and hang out there, including Maggie, the clerk also bound for Defriese in September, and sidekicks Leah and Esther. Auden joins in on evening rituals of "store-going," eating junk food, and house parties while keeping her budding relationship with Eli to herself. Even Dessen's minor characters are multifaceted and interesting. Readers will be most absorbed by Auden and Eli's romantic friendship, the type soul mates are born of, played out in the bike shop, Colby's all-night Laundromat, and coffee shops. This summer vacation-themed story will be savored."Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Streams of Babel
by Carol Plum-Ucci
Published 2008 by Harcourt Children's Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780152165567

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07/01/2008 School Library Journal

Gr 811In 2002, high school outcast Cora Holman's mom dies of a mysterious brain aneurysm, preceded by flulike symptoms. Then Cora, Owen Eberman, and two of their friends gradually come down with a similar ailment. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, 16-year-old computer genius and cyber-spy Shahzad, who is working for the U.S. government, has uncovered information about a terror threat called Red Vinegar, and he is taken to New York in order to follow the terrorist chatter more directly. Through the alternating narratives and interwoven lives of six teens (including the child of a terrorist working on behalf of North Korea), Plum-Ucci offers a compelling tale of bioterror. It is, however, unclear why she chose to depict a group of religious terrorists celebrating by "popping champagne and drinking forties," unless, perhaps, it is to indicate hypocrisy in their ranks. The characters, particularly Shahzad, are well drawn and have unique voices, and the unresolved ending leaves a lot of room for thought and discussion. Ultimately, this is a tautly paced thriller that will force readers to think about the complexities of living in a post-9/11 world."Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH" Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.