Stand-Alone Titles

BEING
Kevin Brooks
Push/Scholastic
ISBN-10: 0439899737
ISBN-13: 9780439899734
Ages 12-up
336 pages

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It was just supposed to be a routine exam. But when the doctors snake the fiber-optic tube down Robert Smith's throat, what they discover doesn't make medical sense. Plastic casings. Silver filaments. Moving metal parts. In his anesthetized state on the operating table, Robert hears the surgeons' shocked comments: "What the hell is that?" "It's me," Robert thinks, "and I've got to get out of here." Armed with a stolen automatic and the videotape of his strange organs, he manages to escape and attempts to find out exactly who --- or what --- he is.

CURES FOR HEARTBREAK
Margo Rabb
Delacorte Press
ISBN-10: 0385734026
ISBN-13: 9780385734028
Ages 14-up
256 pages

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"If she dies, I'll die," are the words that 15-year-old Mia Perlman writes in her journal the night her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Nine days later, Mia's mother passes away, and Mia, her older sister and her father must find a way to cope with such a sudden, unfathomable loss. But even in grief, there is the chance for new beginnings in this poignant, funny and hopeful novel.

HARMLESS
Dana Reinhardt
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
ISBN-10: 0385746997
ISBN-13: 9780385746991
Ages 12-up
240 pages

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Anna, Emma and Mariah make up a story about why they're late getting home one night --- a story that will replace their parents' anger with concern. They just have to stand by it, no matter what. Suddenly the police are involved, and the town demands that someone be punished. And then there is the man who is arrested and accused of a crime that never happened.

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET
Brian Selznick
Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 0439813786
ISBN-13: 9780439813785
Ages 9-up
544 pages

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Orphan, clock keeper and thief, 12-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender and spellbinding mystery.

THE MINER'S DAUGHTER
Gretchen Moran Laskas
Simon & Schuster
ISBN-10: 1416912622
ISBN-13: 9781416912620
Ages 12-up
256 pages

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Willa Lowell is a miner's daughter whose existence consists of backbreaking work, threadbare clothes and black coal dust choking the air. She yearns for a better life --- enough food to eat, clothes that fit, and a home free of black grit --- and for the love of a boy who makes her laugh and shares the poetry she carries in her heart. When a much brighter future is suddenly promised to her family, Willa knows it's a miracle --- until she discovers that every promise has a price.

NOTES ON A NEAR-LIFE EXPERIENCE
Olivia Birdsall
Delacorte Press
ISBN-10: 0385733704
ISBN-13: 9780385733700
Ages 12-up
272 pages

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As Mia's family life crumbles (her father abruptly moves out), her love life is finally coming together. Julian, her brother Allen's best friend and her longtime crush, has finally noticed her --- and being with Julian makes her incredibly happy. Meanwhile, her mother has disappeared into work, her brother is skipping school and acting weird, and her father is living with another woman. Mia wishes her parents' divorce would just go away so she could focus on Julian. But she can't ignore her problems forever.

NOW YOU SEE HER
Jacquelyn Mitchard
HarperTeen
ISBN-10: 0061116831
ISBN-13: 9780061116834
Ages 12-up
208 pages

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Hope, a high school sophomore, has it all: brains, beauty, and acceptance at Starwood, a prestigious arts prep school. She has won the lead in Romeo and Juliet, beating out seniors for the role --- seniors who have been in movies and on Broadway! And with handsome Logan as her Romeo onstage and off, her life couldn't be more perfect. So why would this talented teen throw everything away? Why would she fake her own abduction? Hope wants to explain what really happened, and gradually the truth comes out: Maybe her life wasn't so perfect after all.

PRICE OF ADMISSION
Leslie Margolis
Simon Pulse
ISBN-10: 1416924558
ISBN-13: 9781416924555
Ages 14-up
224 pages

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Jasmine Green, the daughter of a major Hollywood producer, lives the kind of life that makes the public salivate. But even Jasmine (and her family and friends) have something to hide. Just to clear her head, Jasmine anonymously writes a thinly veiled exposé about her life in the form of a screenplay. But when the script is bought by her own father's studio, suddenly this juicy read is the talk of the town. Jasmine knows she has to do whatever it takes to stop her family's dirty laundry from becoming the next box-office hit. But she's up against one persistent tabloid reporter who's making it extremely difficult to keep her secrets.

Series Books

The Dreamhunter Duet

DREAMQUAKE: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet
Elizabeth Knox
Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux
ISBN-10: 0374318549
ISBN-13: 9780374318543
Ages 12-up
464 pages

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Tziga Hame, who discovered that he could enter the Place and share the dreams he found there with other people, has disappeared. Laura, his daughter, knows that the art of projecting dreams has turned sour. On St. Lazarus's Eve, when elite citizens gather at the Rainbow Opera to experience the sweet dream of Homecoming, Laura plunges them into the nightmare used to control the convict workers. The event marks the first blow in the battle for control of the Place, the source of dreams. Then, when Laura's cousin uncovers evidence that the government has been building a secret rail line deep into the Place, Laura follows it to find out what lies at its end. As she struggles to counter the government's sinister plans, a deeper mystery surfaces, a puzzle only Laura can unravel.

Companion to GEOGRAPHY CLUB

SPLIT SCREEN: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies
Brent Hartinger
HarperTeen
ISBN-10: 0060824085
ISBN-13: 9780060824082
Ages 14-up
304 pages

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It's a horror-movie extravaganza as best friends Min and Russell sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film --- then learn that there's nothing scarier than high school romance! In ATTACK OF THE SOUL-SOUCKING BRAIN ZOMBIES, Russell must choose between his long-distance boyfriend and a close-to-home ex who wants to get back together. Then flip the book over to read BRIDE OF THE SOUL-SUCKING BRAIN ZOMBIES, in which Min struggles to accept her new girlfriend's decision to stay in the closet.

Companion to MURKMERE

AMBERGATE
Patricia Elliott
Little, Brown for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 031601060X
ISBN-13: 9780316010603
Ages 12-up
400 pages

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An orphan girl turned kitchen maid at Murkmere Hall, Scuff is haunted by her dark past. With merely her amulet to protect her, she can only flee for so long. Someday, she will have to return to the orphanage where it all began. A companion book to MURKMERE and a compelling gothic mystery in its own right, AMBERGATE is rich with suspense and unforgettable characters.