What if your pencil had all the answers? Would you ace every test? Would
you know what your teachers were thinking?When Ava Anderson finds a scratched up pencil she doodles like she would with any other pencil. But when she writes a question in the margin of her math quiz, she hears a clear answer in a voice no one else seems to hear. With the help of her friend Sophie, Ava figures out that the pencil will answer factual questions only—those with definite right or wrong answers—but won't predict the future.
Ava and Sophie discover all kinds of uses for the pencil, and Ava's confidence grows with each answer. But it's getting shorter with every sharpening, and when the pencil reveals a scary truth about Ava's family, she realizes that sometimes the bravest people are the ones who live without all the answers...
A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans, by Laurence Yep. (Also available in audio, narrated by Susan Denaker.)
Crusty dragon Miss Drake has a new pet human, precocious Winnie. Oddly
enough, Winnie seems to think Miss Drake is her pet--a ridiculous
notion! Unknown to most of its inhabitants, the City by the Bay is home to many mysterious and fantastic creatures, hidden beneath the parks, among the clouds, and even in plain sight. And Winnie wants to draw every new creature she encounters: the good, the bad, and the ugly. But Winnie's sketchbook is not what it seems. Somehow, her sketchlings have been set loose on the city streets! It will take Winnie and Miss Drake's combined efforts to put an end to the mayhem . . . before it's too late.
The Kidney Hypothetical: Or How to Ruin Your Life in Seven Days, by Lisa Yee.
Lisa Yee gives us her most fascinating flawed genius since Millicent
Min. Higgs Boson Bing has seven days left before his perfect high school
career is completed. Then it's on to Harvard to fulfill the fantasy
portrait of success that he and his parents have cultivated for the past
four years. Four years of academic achievement. Four years of debate
championships. Two years of dating the most popular girl in school. It
was, literally, everything his parents could have wanted. Everything
they wanted for Higgs's older brother Jeffrey, in fact. But something's
not right. And when Higgs's girlfriend presents him with a seemingly
innocent hypothetical question about whether or not he'd give her a
kidney...the exposed fault lines reach straight down to the foundations
of his life...Read Between the Lines, by Jo Knowles.
Thanks to a bully in gym class, unpopular Nate suffers a broken
finger—the middle one, splinted to flip off the world. It won't be the
last time a middle finger is raised on this day. Dreamer Claire
envisions herself sitting in an artsy café, filling a journal, but fate
has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star;
another questions just how, as a "big girl," she fits in. A group of
boys scam drivers for beer money without remorse—or so it seems.Over the course of a single day, these voices and others speak loud and clear about the complex dance that is life in a small town. They resonate in a gritty and unflinching portrayal of a day like any other, with ordinary traumas, heartbreak, and revenge. But on any given day, the line where presentation and perception meet is a tenuous one, so hard to discern. Unless, of course, one looks a little closer—and reads between the lines.
The Tightrope Walkers, by David Almond.
A gentle visionary coming of age in the shadow of the shipyards of
northern England, Dominic Hall is torn between extremes. On the one
hand, he craves the freedom he feels when he steals away with the
eccentric girl artist next door, Holly Stroud—his first and abiding
love—to balance above the earth on a makeshift tightrope. With Holly,
Dom dreams of a life different in every way from his shipbuilder dad's, a
life fashioned of words and images and story. On the other hand, he
finds himself irresistibly drawn to the brutal charms of Vincent
McAlinden, a complex bully who awakens something wild and reckless and
killing in Dom.In a raw and beautifully crafted bildungsroman, David Almond reveals the rich inner world of a boy teetering on the edge of manhood, a boy so curious and open to impulse that we fear for him and question his balance—and ultimately exult in his triumphs.
The Walls Around Us, by Nova Ren Suma.
On the outside, there's Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there's Amber, locked up for so long she can't imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls' darkest mysteries...
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?
In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.
The Winner's Crime, by Marie Rutkoski.
A royal wedding is what most girls dream about. It means one celebration
after another: balls, fireworks, and revelry until dawn. But to Kestrel
it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches,
she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement: that she agreed
to marry the crown prince in exchange for Arin's freedom. But can
Kestrel trust Arin? Can she even trust herself? For Kestrel is becoming
very good at deception. She's working as a spy in the court. If caught,
she'll be exposed as a traitor to her country. Yet she can't help
searching for a way to change her ruthless world... and she is close
to uncovering a shocking secret. This dazzling follow-up to The Winner's Curse reveals the high price of dangerous lies and untrustworthy alliances. The truth will come out, and when it does, Kestrel and Arin will learn just how much their crimes will cost them.
(All descriptions from OverDrive.)
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