Croak by Gina Damico

Damico, Gina. Croak. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.  ISBN 978-0-547-60832-7; Paperback; $8.99.

Annotation: 

Lex is angry and out of control so she gets shipped to the country to live with her uncle Mort where she can put her skills to use, as a Grim Reaper.

Book Talk:

Lex Bartleby used to be a good girl but all that has changed.  Sarcastic, volatile, prone to smashing people in the face, Lex is on her last straw with school authorities when her parents send her off to visit her weird uncle Mort in the country to see if she can sort out her "anger issues."  Instead of chanting Kumbaya and churning butter, Lex quickly learns that Croak, the tiny town where Mort lives, is the home of reapers who haunt the dead and Lex is there to learn the family business.  Now that Lex has an explanation for her sudden fascination with death and endless anger, what will happen when she is turned loose with the power to take lives without seeming consequence?  Is Lex even a little too hardcore for the residents of Croak? 

Available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook. 

Teen quote:

"Anyone will love this book."

~Marie, 16.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel by Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean

Riggs, Ransom, and Jean Cassandra. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel. New York, NY: Yen Press, 2013. Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-24528-9; Hardcover; $20.00.

Annotation: 
Jacob's grandfather Abe dies and leaves him with an eerie message: go back to the foster home Abe grew up in and learn about the monster that killed him and the friends he left behind.

Book Talk: Jacob Portman is very close with his eccentric and adventurous grandfather, Abe.  Abe regales Jacob with stories about being sent away from his homeland in Poland to a tiny island on the edge of Wales to escape terrifying monsters.  The foster home he is sent to is for children with unusual gifts, such as lifting heavy objects or levitating.  Abe even has pictures to prove it.  As Jacob gets older he begins to doubt his grandfather's stories and presumes the photos are fake.  Until one day, Abe is killed and Jacob sees the monster who did it.  Convinced Jacob is losing his mind with grief, his parents send him to a psychiatrist who convinces Jacob's father that it's ok for Jacob to visit the island his grandfather always talked about, that it may provide some closure to Abe's horrific passing.  Once Jacob arrives at Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and meets Abe's childhood friends, he doesn't get closure, only finds himself asking more and more questions.  Read Ransom Riggs exciting story made into a chilling graphic novel and find out for yourself if Jacob and Abe are telling the truth about the monsters or if mental illness and peculiarities just run in the family.

Available in hardcover and eBook.

Teen quote:
"I found this to be a quick, fun read."
~Christy, 19.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

King, A S. Everybody Sees the Ants. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-12927-5; Paperback; $9.99.

Annotation: 
Lucky Linderman escapes from Nader, the Squid and the Turtle by visiting his grandfather in his dreams and imagining ants seek revenge on his behalf.

Book Talk: 
Lucky Linderman doesn't feel so lucky.  He has no real friends and no girlfriend.  He has been bullied by Nader McMillan for as long as he can remember, and it is getting worse.  But no one seems to care.  His granddad never came home from the Vietnam War and no one in his family has recovered.  His mother hides from her problems at the local public pool and his dad works too much.  After Nader's last attack leaves him disfigured, depressed and vengeful, Lucky begins hallucinating tiny ants to enact his revenge.  In order to escape oppressive reality Lucky travels into his dreams where he tries to rescue his grandfather from the jungle and rescue himself from Nader McMillan.  Read A.S. King's engaging and haunting novel to discover how Lucky, and everyone else who is suffering, sees the ants.

Available in paperback, hardcover, eBook and audio CD.

Awards: 2011 Cybils Award finalist
2011 Andre Norton Award finalist

Teen quote:
"I really like this book because it talked about how your (sic) the one who builds your own prisons so your (sic) the only one who can tear them down. I also liked that whenever he woke up from a dream he had an object from the dream. That was COOL."
~Jill, 15.

The Program by Suzanne Young

Young, Suzanne.  The Program.  New York: Simon Pulse, 2013.  Print.  ISBN 978-1-4424-4580-2; Hardcover; $16.99.

Annotation: Sloane can't reveal any emotions or she risks being taken away to have her memory erased and never being able to kiss her boyfriend James again, or remember him.

Book Talk:
What would you do if you weren't allowed to show any emotions?  Not even to your own family?  

Sloane and James are a normal high school couple, except it's the near future and an epidemic of teen suicide becomes a nation-wide crisis and the government implements a terrifying program where at-risk teens are whisked away by handlers to have their memories erased and their senses dulled.

Who would you trust?  Would you choose death too?

Available in eBook, paperback, hardcover, and digital audio book.

Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff

Cliff, Tony. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. New York: First Second, 2013. Print.  978-1-59643-813-2; Paperback; $15.99.

Annotation: 
Watch Delilah Dirk plunder, kick and fly her way through various exploits while dragging along her mild, tea-drinking new friend Selim.

Book Talk:
Delilah Dirk is a feisty, sword-wielding, globetrotting adventure-seeker who refuses to be tied down to any man or place for too long.  When she is detained by and later rescues Selim, a Turkish soldier with a penchant for tea and relaxation, he tags along on her latest escapade.  It doesn't take long for Selim to discover he isn't cut out for explosions, murder, stealing treasure or flying ships.  Read Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant to witness Selim's amazing reaction when Delilah gives him a compass and tells him to follow it.

Available in paperback.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Alexie, Sherman, and Ellen Forney. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2009. Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-01368-0; Hardcover; $20.00.

Annotation: 
Junior leaves the reservation to attend the all-white high school 20 miles down the road.  Will he survive tragedy and illness to get the girl and graduate?

Book Talk:
Junior is a nerdy, sickly, reading and drawing obsessed Spokane Native who leaves his friends and family behind on the reservation to attend a racist all-white high school in the next town.  Despite meeting the girl of his dreams, Penelope, and making new friends, like Gordy, tragedy strikes and one horrible thing after another happens, until Junior isn't sure if he can go on.  Does being Native destine him to a life of drunken poverty, unhappiness and early death?  He says, 

"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes...By black and white.  By Indian and white.  But I know that isn't true.  The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."

Read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to discover if Junior is willing to change everything in order to change his life.  When given the choice, which tribe will he choose?

Available in paperback, hardcover, eBook and audio CD. 

Awards:

2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Fiction and Poetry
2009 Odyssey Award as the year's "best audiobook for children or young adults"
2010 California Young Reader Medal, Young Adult Book

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina.  New York: Random House, 2012. Print.  ISBN 978-0-385-66839-2; Hardcover; $21.00.

Annotation:
Seraphina is half-dragon, half-human in a world where that is forbidden and a handsome young prince is about to find out.

Book Talk:

Would you tell the truth for love?  Seraphina is a young woman with a terrible secret: she’s a half-breed, with a dragon mother and human father, a musical gift and the ability to locate and communicate with other half-breeds in her mind.  Phina lives in a kingdom with an unstable peace treaty between the emotional, impulsive humans and the calculating, rational dragons who assume human form to become scholars and noblemen.  Even though everyone is supposed to get along, dragons and humans rarely trust each other and interspecies marriage is strictly forbidden.  After a member of the royal family is murdered shy, introverted Seraphina gets swept up into an investigation that leads her to falling in love with the princess’s finance, the handsome and perceptive Lucian Kiggs.  In order to save the Royal family and her beloved uncle, Seraphina has to reveal her special talents and the scales she hides under layers of clothing, but will Lucian ever see her the same way?  Would you tell the truth for love?

Here's a great video of Rachel Hartman talking about how her dragons have sensory processing issues, like her son:

There's a sequel, The Shadow Scale, coming out in March 2015!

Seraphina is available in ebook, hardcover, paperback, and audio CD.

Awards:

Winner of the 2013 YALSA Morris Award for Best YA Debut Novel
Finalist for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award (Canada)
Short-listed for the Kitschies’ Golden Tentacle Award (UK)
Long-listed for the Carnegie Medal (UK)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman, Neil. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. New York: Harper Audio, 2013. Sound recording.  978-0-06-226303-2; 5 CDs; $36.99.

Annotation: 
A young boy witnesses a tragedy and gets pulled into a magical world at the end of his lane where a family of women offer him the promise of protection.

Book Talk:

I first read Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane the moment it came out, as soon as I could get my hands on it.  Then I listened to it on audio in the car again just for the pleasure of hearing Neil Gaiman’s voice describe the incredible adventures of an introverted seven year old boy who has a worm hole in his foot, a nanny who is trying to lock him in the attic and seduce his father, a distracted mother, a contrary sister, and a family of women who live down the lane and who know that fresh baked bread, a warm cup of tea, and radical acceptance of everything that is, even when it feels like it shouldn’t be, are the very definition of home.  Gaiman’s narrator blows apart the shaky façade of adulthood and exposes people for the monsters they really are.  He writes:

“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”

This book will appeal to anyone who is struggling with the idea of what it means to be human, what it means to be responsible for oneself or another, or anyone who likes an intelligent and philosophical swim through the metaphorical ocean of our lives.  Highly recommended.

Rumor has it they are turning it into a movie!  Stay tuned!!!

Did you know Neil Gaiman has a website for Teens?  Check it out: http://www.mousecircus.com/

Awards:
2013 National Book Awards (British), Book of the Year
2013 Kirkus Reviews, The Best Books of 2013 (100 titles
2013 Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nominee 
2013 Goodreads Choice Awards, Fantasy
2014 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
2014 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, Nominee

Presently available in paperback, hardcover, large print, ebook, and audio.

Teen quote:
"This book is like experiencing a fleeting dream."
~Jessie, age 17.