L.F.M.S.S. Library - What's New to Read?

Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

Pursuing her dream to be a Harper of Pern, Menolly studies under the Masterharper and learns that more is required than a facility with music and a clever way with words.

When his boy soprano voice begins to change, Piemur is drafted by Masterharper Robinton to help with political work and is sent on missions that lead him into unusual and sometimes dangerous adventures.

High school junior and columnist for the school newspaper, Jenny Greenley is good at dispensing advice to others, but when nineteen-year-old film heartthrob Luke Striker pays a visit to research a role, he creates such havoc that not even Jenny is sure she can fix it.

Mia, who is finally a senior at Albert Einstein High, faces difficult choices about boys and her status as princess while her future, and Genovia's, hang in the balance.

In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace of killing and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Thomas and Denyse have a lot in common. They both love basketball and sugar on their popcorn, but they have one major difference: Thomas is white and Denyse is black. Some people start making racist remarks when they go out, and their parents warn them of the hardships ahead. They can’t understand what the big deal is, but will the pressure of this relationship break them apart?

Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.

Ama, Jo, and Polly, three close friends from Bethesda, Maryland, are looking forward to high school, but wonder if their relationship will survive the challenges that each girl faces over the summer break.

Sequel to: Toad heaven.;"A Yearling book." In his third adventure, Limpy the cane toad goes to the Amazon to learn the secret of living in harmony with humans.

After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.

After his younger brother commits suicide, Kyle Kirby decides to exact revenge on the person he holds responsible.

Bean must overcome his past and prove to the recruiters at the Battle School that he can help save the planet from an alien invasion.

Journalist G. Willow Wilson brings an extraordinary fable to Vertigo in October with CAIRO, an original graphic novel illustrated by Turkish artist M.K. Perker, himself a contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker. Set in bustling modern-day Cairo, this magical-realism thriller interweaves the lives of a drug runner, a down-on-his-luck journalist, an American expatriate, a young activist, an Israeli soldier, and a genie as they navigate the city's streets and spiritual underworld to find a stolen hookah sought by a wrathful gangster-magician.

Eggs is a quirky and moving novel about two very complicated, damaged children. David has recently lost his mother to a freak accident, his salesman father is constantly on the road, and he is letting his anger out on his grandmother. Primrose lives with her unstable, childlike, fortuneteller mother, and the only evidence of the father she never knew is a framed picture. Despite their age difference (David is 9, Primrose is 13), they forge a tight yet tumultuous friendship, eventually helping each other deal with what is missing in their lives.

Grace Ace Kincaid has it all. She's a teen sports sensation. Her face and body are on the cover of every magazine. She's front and center on the red carpet. She has the world at her feet, as long as she toes the line. But then she says three little words. Three words that take her out of the spotlight to Medicine Hat, Alaska. Population 272. Grace has the chance to start all over again. Its something she wanted so much. Now the question is: Who will she be?

Imagine discovering that your whole life has been a fiction, your identity altered, and a new family history created. Suddenly nothing is as it once seemed; you can trust no one, maybe not even yourself. It is exactly this revelation that turns 14-year-old Adam Farmer's life upside down. As he tries to ascertain who he really is, Adam encounters a past, present, and future too horrible to contemplate. Suspense builds as the fragments of the story are assembled--a missing father, government corruption, espionage--until the shocking conclusion shatters the fragile mosaic. Young adult readers will easily relate to the shy and confused Adam, whose desperate searching for self resembles a disturbingly exaggerated version of the identity crisis common to the teenage years.

Call it fate, call it intuition, or just call it common sense, but somehow young Alanna knows she isn't meant to become some proper lady cloistered in a convent. Instead, she wants to be a great warrior maiden--a female knight. But in the land of Tortall, women aren't allowed to train as warriors. So Alanna finds a way to switch places with her twin, Thom, and take his place as a knight in training at the palace of King Roald. Disguising herself as a boy, Alanna begins her training as a page in the royal court. Soon, she is garnering the admiration of all around her, including the crown prince, with her strong work ethic and her thirst for knowledge. But all the while, she is haunted by the recurring vision of a black stone city that emanates evil... somehow she knows it is her fate to purge that place of its wickedness. But how will she find it? And can she fulfill her destiny while keeping her gender a secret?

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery... Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.  This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

As the fourth novel in the spellbinding Gatekeepers series begins, the world is under the greatest threat it’s ever known. The evil corporation Nightrise has amassed an immense amount of power and the devastating force of the Old Ones is about to be unleashed around the globe. To stop this from happening, Matt and three of the Gatekeepers head to Hong Kong not just the modern city of skyscrapers and wealth, but the secretive underworld beneath. In Hong Kong they will meet the final Gatekeeper, a girl named Scarlet, whose fate is inextricably joined to their own....

It’s not easy being Nikki. Ever since former tomboy Emerson Watts’s accident at the SoHo Stark Megastore—and subsequent brain transplant into the body of teen supermodel Nikki Howard—her life has changed dramatically. Em’s trying to handle the demands of school, modeling, fending off Nikki’s creepy ex-boyfriends, and living with celebutante Lulu Collins. She’s also trying to figure out what the Stark Corporation is really up to, and why she can’t stop thinking about her former best friend Christopher—AND British heartthrob Gabriel Luna. Will this former tomboy be able to make it in the world of high fashion? And…what will happen if she can’t?

This summer, Arturo Sandoval declares, his son Marcelo will learn about the real world. He will work in the mailroom of Arturo’s law firm. He will interact with everyone in the office. He will be normal, as Arturo has always said he is, and not have a highly functioning form of Asperger’s Syndrome, as Marcelo knows he does. And Marcelo, reluctantly, must agree to his father’s terms. He soon learns reality isn’t easy. Wendell, the son of Arturo’s partner, offers friendship to further his own ends. The law firm hides an injustice that will transform Marcelo’s world. But through it all, there is Jasmine, his beautiful and tenacious coworker, his true friend…and perhaps more. Reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in the intensity and purity of its voice, this extraordinary novel encompasses a legal battle, a subtle love story, and the primal coming-of-age narrative: discovering the truth of one’s own capabilities.

Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek . . . and Ryan and Sarah are trying to get to the heart of it. But after an eerie accident leaves Ryan housebound and forbidden to see Sarah, their investigation takes two tracks: Ryan records everything in his journal, while Sarah uses her videocam to search things out. . .and then email the clips for Ryan to see. In a new, groundbreaking format, the story is broken into two parts -- Ryan's text in the book, and Sarah's videos on a special website, with links and passwords given throughout the book.

The time is the early 1990s, the setting a girls' academy in Toronto. Enter "Skim," aka Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth. When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. It's a weird time to fall in love, but Skim does just that after secret meetings with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. When Ms. Archer abruptly leaves the school, Skim has to cope with her confusion and isolation, as her best friend, Lisa, tries to pull her into "real" life by setting up a hilarious double date for the school's semi-formal. Skim finds an unexpected ally in Katie. Suicide, depression, love, being gay or not, crushes, cliques of popular, manipulative peers — the whole gamut of tortured teen life is explored in this masterful graphic novel by cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki.

"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.  Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all. In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the other districts in line by forcing them to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death on live TV. One boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and sixteen are selected by lottery to play. The winner brings riches and favor tohis or her district. But that is nothing compared to what the Capitol wins: one more year of fearful compliance with its rule. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her impoverished district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Acclaimed writer Suzanne Collins, author of the New York Times bestselling Underland Chronicles, delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this stunning novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.

Conor Broekhart was born to fly. In fact, legend has it that he was born flying in a hot air balloon at the world's fair. In the 1890's Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. Conor spends his days studying the science of flight with his tutor and exploring the castle with the king's daughter, Princess Isabella. But the boy's idyllic life changes forever the day he discovers a conspiracy to overthrow the king. When Conor tries to expose the plot, he is branded a traitor and thrown into jail on the prison island of Little Saltee. There, he has to fight for his life as he and the other prisoners are forced to mine for diamonds in inhumane conditions. There is only one way to escape Little Saltee, and that is to fly. So he passes the solitary months by scratching drawings of flying machines into the prison walls. The months turn into years, but eventually the day comes when Conor must find the courage to trust his revolutionary designs and take to the skies.

Teenagers Kevork and his betrothed Marta are the lucky ones. They have managed so far to survive the Armenian genocide in Turkey, and both are disguised as Muslims. But Marta is still in Turkey, pregnant with another man's child. And Kevork is living as an Arab in Syria. Kevork yearns to get back into Turkey and search for Marta, but with the war raging and the genocide still in progress, the journey will be impossibly dangerous. Meanwhile, Marta worries that even if Kevork has survived and they are reunited, will he be able to accept what she has become? And what has happened to her sister, Mariam, who was sold as a slave to the highest bidder?
Daughter of War is a gripping story of enduring love and loyalty set against the horrors of Turkey during World War I.

Fourteen-year-old Jessie moves to a new city and learns teamwork, self-reliance and a new kind of friendship when she joins the girls' hockey team. Jessie has left the close friendships she's had since her childhood and isn't having an easy time fitting into her new Grade Nine class. An older girl, Kim, takes a disliking to her, pushing her around and setting her up to be attacked by a group of really rough kids who land her in jail. It looks like life is going to be downhill from now on. Then, because she used to play ringette, Jessie is invited to try out for the girls hockey team. She doesn't expect to like it, but as her skills grow, she makes new friends - girls who respect each other and rely on each other's strength and hard work. Some even help her resist the bullies, until she can stand up for herself - stand up to Kim, who's a pretty good hockey player herself, although not as good as she thinks she is. A fast-paced story about hockey, peer pressure and finding yourself.

Kurt's opa--or grandfather--has never been willing to talk about his time as a German soldier and Kurt has a deep feeling of anxiety about what he might have done during the war. He thinks of films he's seen, like Schindler's List, and hopes his grandfather couldn't have been involved in atrocities. Spending a year in Germany seems like a good chance to find out more, or at least to improve his German. One day he visits the graveyard in the town he's living in (just outside Berlin) and an old man speaks to him, calling him by his grandfather's name, which was also Kurt Schreiber. In time Kurt gets to know this man, who is the only one who can tell him all about his grandfather's time in the war--because he was there. Kurt learns about his grandfather's childhood in the Hitler Youth and his time in the German army on the Eastern Front. Herr Brandt doesn't try to minimize the horror of those times or to absolve himself of responsibility as a soldier, but through his story, Kurt comes to understand how as children and later as young men the two were drawn into participation in a war based on lies. This wonderfully written and carefully researched novel tells a story that illuminates history and fills in the texture and complexity that lie behind the bare facts.

The Broken Thread by Linda Smith

Destroying a deadly prince, in a violent court far from her home, was not what Alina expected when she was chosen to serve on the Isle of the Weavers. Fifteen-year-old Alina comes from a long line of women who have gone to serve on the Isle of the Weavers, and she has always dreamed of doing the same. Her older sister is going to inherit the farm. She hasn't found any boy in the village that she's attracted to, like her other sister. And she loves her 10-year-old brother, but he's getting to be a pain to look after all the time. Still, a girl must be chosen to be a weaver, and Alina's already older than others were when they were called. Then the weavers come. Her dreams come true, and she's taken to the Isle of Weaving, where the destiny of the world is born. Alina enters a long period of mental/spiritual training to prepare her to be a weaver. But she struggles with her trademark impatience. To the amusement of her trainers, she's anxious to begin weaving after only a few months training. Then Alina is asked to take spools of thread to the weaving room, and she gets her first glimpse of the awesome tapestry, with its multitude of threads, and colours, and shifting patterns. Left alone for a minute, she discovers a red thread - red like her own hair - which is short and broken, and she impulsively takes a strand of her hair and ties the red thread to a tawny thread nearby. Immediately, thousands of other threads in the tapestry break. What has she done? The tapestry reflects what goes on in the world, as well as affecting events. By reconnecting a thread that was meant to be broken, she has caused the end of thousands of other threads/lives. She must undo what she has done and the story begins. Get lost in a magical time where adventure and danger abound and the strength of our heroine, Alina, is put to the test.

Eleven-year-old Timothy Freshwater has been expelled from every school in his city. With nowhere else to go, he joins his father at the Tall and Imposing Tower of Doom and lands himself an (unpaid) internship with Evans Bore, a hopelessly awkward CEO who hasn’t been invited to single fancy party in his entire life. When his father is called away on business, his real education begins. Left in the care of an eccentric neighbour named Mr. Bazalgette, Timothy learns some curious facts about Mr. Bore and his unusually loyal mail clerk, Mr. Shen—facts that lead to unbelievable revelations: about dragons, servants, and the laws that bind them. With time running out, Timothy takes it upon himself to change one dragon’s fate, and begins an adventure that will not end until he is relentlessly pursued by a pack of blood-thirsty black cabs, a crazed ninja and the most feared pirate in the South China Sea! This stand-alone read is the perfect introduction to Adrienne Kress’ wild imagination. Those readers who loved her first book, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, will rejoice in the reappearance of Alex, Captain Magnanimous and the peculiar Jack Scratch.

The stories in this book come from behind the walls and barbed wire of Europe’s ghettos during the Nazi regime. We hear the voices of young boys and girls as they live with the fear that they might be deported to the death camps at any moment. Theirs are stories of courage and determination, of struggle and resistance. They speak for those who, like them, managed to survive the war. And they speak for those who did not.

Straight-laced Candy McFarlane encounters life on the edge when she starts hanging out with some cool older kids and finds herself in over her head. Candy is thirteen, living in Saskatoon with her parents, her little brother "Carboy," and Murphy the dog. She is tired of waiting for Grade 8 to end, her mom's constant nagging, and Gerald the geek hurling insults from across the street. She starts hanging out with some new and exciting friends - friends her mother wouldn't approve of.

Aba Zytka Jones (Abi) doesn't expect to get anything from anybody. Her dad's stuck in his chair and her mom's taken off, but she's going to work out what to do on her own. At least that's what she thinks. Sixteen, almost seventeen, Abi Jones hasn't got cool clothes, friends, or, since last year, a mother. What she has is a lot of questions. And a need to make a life of her own. Abi lives with her dad in an odd little house by the Fraser River. Over it, actually. Sometimes the water flowing under the house makes her think they'll both be swept away some day. The summer before her last year of high school, Abi's solitary life begins to change. A woman she calls Ernestine - because she's so earnest - becomes her Big Sister. The cute guy from the paint shop, Jude, starts to take an interest. And a girl called Amanda offers Abi a summer job cleaning houses, work Abi enjoys more than she could have imagined. Jude and his two-year-old son, Dyl, present some urgent new questions and Abi has to find the answers fast - what Jude wants from her and how she feels about it; what Dyl might need from her. The life of Abi Jones, the Mud Girl, might be the last thing any teenager would choose. But it's her life, and Abi has to find out whether she's got the courage and intelligence to live it well.

Shadow Boxing by Sherie Posesorski - COMING SOON

Sixteen year old Alice is living in the shadows: the shadow of her mother's death, continued rejection by her father and her aunt's coldness. Will she ever know happiness again? Can she get past her secret torture? Alice is struggling to cope with the death of her mother, after a long depilating illness. Her father has shut her out of her life and her aunt is only worried about her next spa appointment and the two are conspiring to send her away. Her angst is so deep it cuts like knife, will she ever feel whole again? Chloe is the only person that truly understands and when she becomes pregnant, Alice must look inside to find the strength to get them both out of their downward spiral. With the help of John, the caring bookstore owner that provides Alice's escape, the girls devise a plan to live a life that excludes their self-absorbed parents. When they meet Caleb, a struggling artist, he introduces them to the creative and inspiring world of shadowboxes. Filled with heart-wrenching scenes and characters you will never forget, Sherie Posesorski creates a story of loss and love. Alice and Chloe each have a story of teenage struggle and finding their place in the world. The ultimate triumph of these two determined teens is an inspiration. Set in the High Park neighbourhood of Toronto, the authentic and edgy dialogue will resonate with teens and their unique struggle to adulthood.

Addie is waiting for normal. But Addie's mom has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta or an empty pantry, jubilation or gloom, her way or no way. All or nothing never adds up to normal. All or nothing can't bring you all to home, which is exactly where Addie longs to be, with her half sisters, every day. In spite of life's twists and turns, Addie remains optimistic. Someday, maybe, she'll find normal.