The Best Man, by Richard Peck. (Also available
in audio.)
Archer Magill has spent a lively five years of grade school with one eye
out in search of grown-up role models. Three of the best are his
grandpa, the great architect; his dad, the great vintage car
customizer,; and his uncle Paul, who is just plain great. These are the
three he wants to be. Along the way he finds a fourth—Mr. McLeod, a
teacher. In fact, the first male teacher in the history of the school.
But now here comes middle school and puberty. Change. Archer wonders
how much change has to happen before his voice does. He doesn't see too
far ahead, so every day or so a startling revelation breaks over him.
Then a really big one when he's the best man at the wedding of two of
his role models. But that gets ahead of the story.
In pages that
ripple with laughter, there's a teardrop here and there. And more than a
few insights about the bewildering world of adults, made by a boy on
his way to being the best man he can be.
The Female of the Species, by Mindy McGinnis.
Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn't feel bad about it.
Three
years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer
walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of
violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can't be
trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to
really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the
night Anna's body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher's
kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an
animal shelter. Not anyone.
As their senior year unfolds, Alex's
darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision
course that will change their lives forever.
The Forgetting, by Sharon Cameron.
What isn't written, isn't remembered. Even your crimes.
Nadia lives in
the city of Canaan, where life is safe and structured, hemmed in by
white stone walls and no memory of what came before. But every twelve
years the city descends into the bloody chaos of the Forgetting, a day
of no remorse, when each person's memories — of parents, children, love,
life, and self — are lost. Unless they have been written. In Canaan,
your book is your truth and your identity, and Nadia knows exactly who
hasn't written the truth. Because Nadia is the only person in Canaan who
has never forgotten. But when Nadia begins to use her memories to solve
the mysteries of Canaan, she discovers truths about herself and Gray,
the handsome glassblower, that will change her world forever.
As the
anarchy of the Forgetting approaches, Nadia and Gray must stop an unseen
enemy that threatens both their city and their own existence - before
the people can forget the truth. And before Gray can forget her.
The Forgetting Machine, by Pete Hautman.
Absentmindedness in Flinkwater, a town overflowing with eccentric
scientists and engineers, is nothing new. Recently, however, the number
of confused, forgetful citizens has been increasing, and no one seems to
know why. Ginger Crump figures it's none of her business. She has her
own problems. Like the strange cat that's been following her around—a
cat that seems to be able to read. And the report for school due Monday.
And the fact that every digital book in Flinkwater has been vandalized
by a fanatical censor, forcing Ginger to the embarrassingly retro
alternative of reading books printed on dead trees.
But when
Ginger's true love and future husband Billy Bates completely forgets who
she is, things suddenly get serious, and Ginger swings into action.
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, by Debbie Levy.
Get to know celebrated Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—in the
first picture book about her life—as she proves that disagreeing does
not make you disagreeable!
Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality, arguing
against unfair treatment, and standing up for what's right for people
everywhere. This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG,
tells the justice's story through the lens of her many famous dissents,
or disagreements.
Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Córdova.
Alex
is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation...and she hates
magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself
of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin
air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can't trust. A boy
whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The
only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a
land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland...
Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri Maniscalco.
Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter,
with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But
between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden
secret life.
Against her stern father's wishes and society's
expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study
the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string
of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a
serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own
sheltered world.
The story's shocking twists and turns, augmented
with real, sinister period photos, will make this dazzling debut from
author Kerri Maniscaclo impossible to forget.
The Swan Riders, by Erin Bow.
Greta Stuart has become AI. New transmitters have silvered her
fingerprints. New receptors have transformed her vision. And the whole
of her memory has become one book in a vast library of instant
knowledge. Greta is ready to rule the world.
But the new technology is also killing her.
Greta
is only sixteen years old, but her new enhancements are burning through
her mortal body at an alarming rate. Of course the leader of the AIs,
an ancient and compelling artificial intelligence named Talis, has a
plan. Greta can simply do what he's done when the time comes, and take
over the body of one of the Swan Riders, the utterly loyal humans who
serve the AIs as part army, part cult.
First though, Greta will
have to find a way to stay sane inside her new self. Talis's plan for
that involves a road trip. Escorted by Swan Riders, Greta and Talis set
out on a horseback journey across the strange and not-quite-deserted
landscape of Saskatchewan. But there are other people interested in
Greta, people who want to change the world...and the Swan Riders might
not be as loyal as they appear...
Three Dark Crowns, by Kendare Blake.
In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is
born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a
coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry
flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a
poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a
stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom
the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.
But becoming
the Queen Crowned isn't solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has
to fight for it. And it's not just a game of win or lose...it's life or
death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.
The last queen standing gets the crown.
(All descriptions from OverDrive)
