The Supernaturalist

by Eoin Colfer

Cosmo Hill is 14 and fed up. He knows if he’s going to survive he’s got to get away from the Clarissa Frayne Institute for the Parentally Challenged. A freak accident and a crazy marshal offer Cosmo a chance of escape, only to leave him near death on a rooftop.

Does an angel appear in Cosmo's final moments? No such luck: A strange blue parasite just landed on his chest. The pain and energy are being sucked away. It's killing him.

But wait, who are those three kids? And why are they carrying weapons? Cosmo is about to be saved by a renegade hunters called The Supernaturalists.

If you want non-stop action, lots of laughs, believable characters, and a solid mystery, check out Eoin Colfer’s science-fiction hit, The Supernaturalist."

Booktalk by Sarah Evans, Sno-Isle Library System
 

The Year of Secret Assignments

by Jaclyn Moriarty

Lydia interacts with the “writer’s notebook” throughout the story, even though it began as a thoughtless gift from her absent father, not necessarily the way the notebook’s authors expect, but always with keen and hilarious observations.

[Then read starting with “Okay time for your first Quick Flick” and response.]

Lydia and her friends, Emma and Cassie, interact with a notebook, a diary, and ultimately, through letters they are forced to exchange with the neighboring public school. In fact, even Cassie’s dad interacts with the family through letters. Pranks are requested and pulled,; some people really click; some get stalked; and some get even. Finally, all correspondents come together to pull one last prank, making for hilarity, some really excellent kissing, and always laugh out loud funny!"

Airborn

by Kenneth Oppel

Matt’s dream was to become a sailmaker. Matt’s father had been a sailmaker. Sailmakers kept the huge hydrium filled airships ready for flying and repaired them if necessary in flight. Sailmakers had real dangers to deal with like pirates and weather.

Then one day Matt helped rescue a crippled balloon and heard the dying words of its pilot. The old man spoke of magnificent creatures, an undiscovered species, he had seen flying around an unknown island. Of course, he was delirious. Matt knew that, everybody knew that. Until a year later when his granddaughter, Kate, showed up as a passenger on the Aurora, carrying her grandfather’s log, and determined to see what he had seen.

When Matt examines the log he finds an amazing, unbelievable story. And he becomes involved in a search for creatures that may rival or surpass anything airborn in his world? "

Booktalk by Tom Reynolds, Sno-Isle Regional Library System.
 

Who's Your Daddy?

By Lynda Sandoval

That’s the dilemma shared by Lila, Meryl and Caressa, three social outcasts in White Peaks, Colorado all because of their daddies. They are all cute enough, bright enough, and talented enough, but what boy in his right mind would be BRAVE enough to date one of them when the girls have fathers like that?

These three desperate girls decide to take their dateless matters into their own hands. At midnight on the night of Homecoming, they convene to conduct a Dumb Supper- dumb as in silent-which is a traditional ritual from 17th century England. They hope to reveal the identities of potential boyfriends- maybe even prom dates. But, despite their excellent planning, everything goes wrong. They are interrupted before they can carry out the supper. Yet… three guys are revealed. But, how could that be? And, perplexingly, some of the guys are not who the girls wished for at all. Did the supper somehow work, or was it fate?

It may surprise you to find out that the author, Linda Sandoval, is a police officer-turned-writer. Nevertheless, you will laugh out loud with this book, and hope for a sequel!"

Booktalk by Kathy Caldwell, Woodward Middle School Library.
 

Chanda's Secrets

by Allan Stratton

You really wouldn't want to get sick would you? And if you did, you'd keep it a secret.

Chanda lives in sub-Saharan Africa. Her family is really poor—ever since her father went off to work in the South African diamond mines and never came back. Her mom had remarried three times—once to a man who abused Chanda badly, another time to a drunken loser.

But Chanda won't give up. She protects her little sister and brother as best she can, and she goes to school. A good education could change everything in her life!

And then they get sick. Really sick.

Chanda hopes for a brighter future, a better life: But her secrets may kill that hope—and Chanda, herself.

Read Chanda's Secret – but don't forget a box of Kleenex."

Booktalk by Kirsten Edwards, King County Library system
 

Runaways No. 1: Pride and Joy

by Brian Vaughan et al.

Teenagers Alex, Karolina, Gert, Chase, Molly, and Nico, would probably agree—sometimes—but mostly mom and dad are just, well, parents, and they love them.
They're typical teenagers: goth chick, smart kid, jock—and they mostly get along because their parents are friends.

So it's a bit of shock when they attend what's supposed to be a dinner party thing—a boring "just parents" get-together and they witness mom and dad murdering someone—and not just murder—human sacrifice.

Mom and dad aren't just kind of irritating. They're greedy, overbearing—and EVIL.

What do you do? Pretend you don't know anything? What if you let something slip? What if their parents were only pretending to care about them, and they actually plan to use their kids in some completely evil scheme—?

Alex, Karolina, Gert, Chase, Molly, and Nico have to run away. And of course their parents—and their evil henchmen—come after them. Luckily for these teenagers, they're no more "normal" than their parents, and life on the run brings out strange new talents. Mutants, aliens, werewolves—their whole world has gone crazy and they're in the middle of it.

What do you do when you discover your parents are super-villains?

Read Runaways: Volume 1, "Pride and Joy" and find out!"

Booktalk by Matt Laxton, Lynnwood Library & K. Edwards, King County Library System
 

Premonitions

by Jude Watson

Ever since her parents' death, Grace has had premonitions. Strange moments when she sees things, hears things that couldn't be real… but are. Not that anyone believes Grace. She begged her mom not to board the plane, begged her, but her mom wouldn't believe and died when the plane crashed.

Uprooted from everything she's ever known, mourning her mom, sent to live with an Aunt she hardly knows on an island here in Washington, Grace shuts everyone out. Until she has visions of her friend's kidnapping—and Emily disappears. When the visions continue, she realizes that Emily must still be alive—but terrible things are happening to the girl.

Grace has to reach out—to try share her strange abilities, understand and master them, if she has any hope of saving Emily. Grace is afraid people won't believe her, will laugh at her, and think she's crazy. What Grace doesn't realize is that she's unless she's very, very lucky that's far from the worst thing that can happen to her—or will.

I love twists and turns. Sneaky plots that trick you into thinking you know what's going down—then completely surprise you.

Read Premonitions for a story that will keep you guessing right up to the end!"

Booktalk by Kirsten Edwards, King County Library System

Double Helix

by Nancy Werlin

Booktalk by Jane Wheeler, Whatcom County Library System

The Secret Hour: Midnighters   Vol. 1

Scott Westerfeld

Nobody moves.

For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour -- only they are free to move about the midnight time.

These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakable midnight aura appears at Bixby High School.

Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they're determined to stop her before she can use it.

A story of courage, shadowy perils, and unexpected destiny, the secret hour is the first volume of the mesmerizing Midnighters trilogy by acclaimed author Scott Westerfeld."

Booktalk from the front flap.

by Scott Westerfeld

The trendsetters like me, Hunter Braque. We participate on product focus groups, or “cool tastings” as my boss Mandy calls them. We tell clients whether their products and commercials are cool or uncool.

Most people think they can spot cool but they really can’t. Most people are just consumers. What consumers think is cool is generally “so yesterday.” That is why I like being a trendsetter. Consumers depend on trendsetters to guide them to what is cool. Most people don’t see us. We don’t wear signs around our necks. Rather we work our magic from the shadows through the messages we help craft.

Trendsetters are number two on the cool pyramid. On top are the innovators. Every new product has a beginning and an innovator. What every trendsetter wants to find is an innovator with the next big idea. But innovators can be hard to spot. There is often just one thing that sets them apart, one little thing that is revolutionary.

I knew Jen was an innovator when I saw the shoelaces on her black runners.

Are you an innovator, a trendsetter, or a consumer?

Maybe you are not on the cool pyramid at all. Maybe you are one of the others. People who want to destroy this system. Most people think such groups don’t exist. But I know they do. They are called the Jammers, and they are all around you too. Their agenda is to make trendsetting obsolete. They want the cool system to become so yesterday.

Jen and I have met them. This is that story."

Booktalk by Tom Reynolds, Sno-Isle Library System
 

So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld

"Here's a great source for visual aids: Snazzy graphics of all the different (and v. cool!) ways to tie shoelaces:"

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/index.htm