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October 2008
October’s roundup of Cool New Books includes the National Book Award finalist CHAINS, Laurie Halse Anderson’s compelling examination of the very different implications of freedom and loyalty for slaves during the American Revolution; IF YOU’RE READING THIS, IT’S TOO LATE, a sequel to the Edgar Award-nominated THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET, which marks the return of mysterious narrator Pseudonymous Bosch; DOOMWYTE by Brian Jacques, a thrilling tale from Redwall featuring a hunt for long-lost treasure; and THE GATE OF DAYS, the second novel in Guillaume Prėvost’s The Book of Time trilogy, which finds Sam Faulkner on a desperate journey through the ages to collect the coins that will allow him to locate his father, who is trapped in a dungeon in Transylvania.
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Stand-Alone Chapter Books/Middle Grade Titles
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CATCALL
Linda Newbery
David Fickling Books/Random House
ISBN: 9780385751643
Ages 8-12
192 pages
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Although Josh has always had an affinity with animals, it’s his younger brother Jamie who falls under the all-pervading wild cat spell. “Leo” seems to have taken over Jamie’s life. He eats whatever he wants and speaks only when he needs to. Soon it becomes impossible for the family to cope with his frightening, unpredictable behavior. Only Josh understands Jamie’s moods, but is he brave enough to break through Jamie’s unhappy mask and save them all?
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CHAINS
Laurie Halse Anderson
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN: 9781416905851
Ages 10-up
320 pages
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As the Revolutionary War begins, 13-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.
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ERRATUM
Walter Sorrells
Dutton Juvenile
ISBN: 9780525478324
Ages 9-11
288 pages
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When Jessica Sternhagen walks into a bookstore and finds a volume entitled Her Lif waiting for her, she thinks it’s a joke. Who left the book for her? And shouldn’t the title be Her Life? This printer’s error turns out to be the first in a series of bizarre happenings. As Jessica reads, she realizes life is about to radically change. This stunning thriller by master storyteller Walter Sorrells raises as many questions as it answers about the power of books, the importance of free thought, and the potential our decisions have to change --- and even save --- the world.
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EVERY SOUL A STAR
Wendy Mass
Little, Brown for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316002561
Ages 8-12
336 pages
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Ally, Bree and Jack are strangers brought together to the isolated Moon Shadow Campground, where thousands have gathered to catch a glimpse of a rare and extraordinary total solar eclipse. Not only does the singular experience of seeing the eclipse shake up their perspectives on life, but their unlikely friendship will also change their lives forever.
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THE FAERIE DOOR
B. E. Maxwell
Harcourt Children's Books
ISBN: 9780152063450
Ages 10-up
480 pages
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Long ago the Faerie Queen created portals between our world and hers, so that children could summon help from faeries whenever the need arose. But a wicked entity called the Shadow Knight is endeavoring to control the doors between the two worlds, and only evil can get through. It falls to two imaginative 11-year-olds --- Victoria Deveny, from 1890 Britain, and Elliot Good, from 1966 America --- to thwart his plan.
The Faerie Queen dispatches the youths on separate quests to retrieve orbs of power that will ultimately defeat the Shadow Knight. Their bravery and friendship are tested as the children travel to fantastic realms and face life-threatening dangers --- from dragons to flying pirate ships to a wicked sorceress queen --- before they're reunited to confront the dreaded Shadow Knight.
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STOLEN CHILDREN
Peg Kehret
Dutton Juvenile
ISBN: 9780525478355
Ages 9-11
240 pages
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Amy learned a lot in her babysitting course, but not what to do if two thugs show up, intent on kidnapping. Armed with misinformation and a weapon, the men take Amy and little Kendra to a remote cabin in the woods. There they make videos of the girls and mail them to Kendra’s wealthy parents in an effort to get ransom money. After several of her escape attempts fail, Amy is forced to make one last, desperate move.
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THE UNNAMEABLES
Ellen Booraem
Harcourt Children's Books
ISBN: 9780152063689
Ages 10-up
336 pages
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Medford lives on a neat, orderly island called --- simply --- Island. Islanders like names that say exactly what a thing (or a person) is or does, and they like things (and people) to do what their names say they will. In fact, everything on Island is named for its purpose, even the people who inhabit it.
But Medford Runyuin is different. A foundling, he has a meaningless last name that is just one of many reminders that he's an outsider. And, to make matters worse, Medford has been keeping a big secret, one that could get him banished from Island forever. When the smelliest, strangest, unruliest creature Island has ever seen comes barreling right into his rigid world, Medford can’t help but start to question the rules he’s been trying to follow his entire life.
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Series Books/Sequels
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The Book of Time
THE GATE OF DAYS: The Book of Time II
Guillaume Prėvost
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
ISBN: 9780439883764
Ages 9-12
256 pages
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Sam Faulkner now knows his father is trapped in Vlad Tepes's castle, but he can't save him without the seven coins that will allow him to direct his travel to the right year in Time. So he sets off on a desperate journey through the ages to collect the coins: to the oracle at Delphi, Pompeii before Mt. Vesuvius --- even Chicago in 1932, where he meets his seven-year-old grandfather. But things get wilder still when he finally finds his father, who is sick, dying, raving…and who insists they must rescue Sam's dead mother from Time!
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Golden & Grey
GOLDEN & GREY: A GOOD DAY FOR HAUNTING
Louise Arnold
Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781416908630
Ages 8-12
336 pages
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After his triumph over a ghost collector and a doctor who does no good, Tom Golden thinks life is finally perfect. Grey Arthur and his ghostly crew have happily settled into their roles as Invisible Friends while Tom has made a new human friend with Pick-Nose Pete.
But when one friendly ghost is overly enthusiastic about his duties, the TV show “Exceedingly Haunted Homes of England” is called in to investigate. A hysterical fear of ghosts takes over the school, and the Invisible Friends are glad that they witness the chaos unheard and unseen. Too bad that the same cannot be said for the ghosts in the world beyond. The disappearance of the Crown Jewels in a rather Poltergeist-like manner is trouble enough, but a frightening specter caught on film and a knight seen charging through streets and pedestrians spell trouble.
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Redwall
DOOMWYTE: A Novel of Redwall
Brian Jacques
Philomel Books
ISBN: 9780399245442
Ages 10-up
336 pages
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On a moonless night, two rats follow hypnotic lights into the forest, never to be seen again. Such is the power of the Doomwytes, sinister ravens led by the deadly Korvus Skurr. And when the young mouse Bisky persuades the creatures of Redwall Abbey to go in search of a fabled treasure, hidden long ago by one of the abbey’s most notorious thieves, they do not suspect Skurr and his ravens will be vying for that very treasure.
Bisky and his fellow Redwallers must summon all their courage to face the evil horde of slithering snakes and vicious ravens. From underground tunnels to the tops of trees, the fearless Redwallers, with the help of their woodland friends, battle some of their most vicious enemies yet in an exhilarating, terrifying treasure hunt.
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Sammy Keyes
SAMMY KEYES AND THE COLD HARD CASH
Wendelin Van Draanen
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780375835261
Ages 10-13
304 pages
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Sammy Keyes has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was taking because Sammy had just scared the life right out of him. So, she has to get this man some help. She has to do it without being seen herself. And she has to figure out how to hide that money so no one can find it! |
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Sequel to THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET
IF YOU’RE READING THIS, IT’S TOO LATE
Pseudonymous Bosch
Little, Brown for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316113670
Ages 8-12
400 pages
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When we last left the heroes of THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET, Cass and Max-Ernest, they were about to discover the secret of the Terces Society and join the fight to stop the evil Ms. Mauvais and Dr. L. While waiting for a sign from the Terces Society, they stumble upon the Museum of Magic, where they finally meet the amazing Pietro, leader of the Terces and brother to evil Dr. L. The kids get caught up in a fast-paced mysterious adventure involving a Sound Prism, the nefarious Lord Pharaoh, and a homunculus who might finally unlock the secret for which they’ve been searching.
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Picture Books
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THE MOON OVER STAR
written by Dianna Hutts Aston
illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Dial Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780803731073
Ages 6-8
32 pages
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In July 1969, the world witnessed an awe-inspiring historical achievement when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. For the young protagonist of this lyrical and hopeful picture book, that landing is something that inspires her to make one giant step toward all of the possibilities that life has to offer.
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STITCHIN’ AND PULLIN’: A Gee’s Bend Quilt
written by Patricia C. McKissack
illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Random House Children's Books
ISBN: 9780375831638
Ages 6-10
48 pages
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For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns --- all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together --- telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom.
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--- Compiled and written by Tom Donadio
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