Archives de catégorie : Children’s Books

ORDINARY GIRLS de Blair Thornburgh

A heartfelt and humorous contemporary YA novel, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Mylnowski, about two sisters—polar opposites—who struggle to find themselves outside of the shadow of their late father

ORDINARY GIRLS
by Blair Thornburgh
Harper Teen, May 2019

Fifteen-year-old Plum Blatchey’s real name is Patience, but with an older sister like Ginny—who flings herself on furniture when she’s stressing about college admissions—patience is not a virtue Plum can easily identify with. Sort of like how she is definitely not a writer even though her late father was an acclaimed author. Ginny got the genius genes, unfortunately. Plum’s skills are limited to analyzing Brontë novels, getting her cat to eat his heartworm pill, and—oh!—making a fool of herself in front of fellow classmate Tate Kurokawa, who she has been tutoring for extra cash since her mother’s finances have hit a snag. Ginny Blatchley is not getting into the University of Pennsylvania. Her straight As aren’t straight enough, she only speaks three languages, and she did not even take advanced calculus. Is this what her dad meant when he called her, in one of his last essays, a genius? It’s not like she’s clever or brilliant like Plum… But this has always been the sisters’ dynamic. So why does everything feel different this year? Maybe because Ginny is going to leave for college. Maybe because Plum has a secret for the first time in her life. Or maybe because the girls are forced to come to terms with who they really are instead of who their late father said they were.

Blair Thornburgh writes stories for and about teenagers. A graduate of the University of Chicago and a graduate of Hamline University’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, she lives in Philadelphia. Her first book, “Who’s That Girl”, was named a Bank Street Best Book of the Year.

THE HEALER de Donna Freitas

An intensely romantic story of love, faith, betrayal and redemption

THE HEALER
by Donna Freitas
HarperTeen, October 2018

Marlena Oliveira has been given an extraordinary gift. She has been given the power to heal. She can cure paralysis, mental illness, even a broken heart. People with all kinds of ailments come from around the world seeking an audience with her, believing her to be a saint. But it all comes at a price. Marlena must remain untainted by the influences of the secular world. She can’t have friends or go to school. She can’t date. She can’t even touch anyone. And the older she gets, the more trapped she feels. Marlena has never questioned her abilities until she meets Finn, a boy who makes her want to be the kind of girl who could fall in love. For the first time, she begins to doubt her gift, and herself. Is her gift real? And even if it is, is it worth it to sacrifice her chance at a happy life? And who would—or could—she be without it? All Marlena wants is to experience what it is to be normal. To swim in a bathing suit. To eat lunch in the diner in town. To be kissed. But if she gives up her gift, will she ever be able to get it back?

Donna Freitas is the author of several young adult and middle grade novels. She is also the author of adult nonfiction. She has written for national newspapers and magazines about religion, sex, hookup culture, and life on a college campus today, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post.

THROWBACK de Peter Lerangis

Peter Lerangis, the New York Times bestselling author whose more than 160 books have sold over 5.5 million copies, returns with THROWBACK, the first book in an electrifying action-adventure trilogy about a boy who discovers that he alone may be able to alter the course of history

THROWBACK
(The Throwback Trilogy #1)
by Peter Lerangis
Harper Teen, Fall 2019

Think of me. And time will fly.
Those are the words that 13-year-old Corey Fletcher’s beloved grandfather, his Papou, left on his bedside before he disappeared a year ago.
Corey misses him desperately and refuses to give up hope that he’ll see his grandfather again. But as time passes it seems less and less likely, until the day Corey happens upon a vintage picture of the very block where he lives from 1862, and suddenly Corey finds himself transported back to that very place in time. The very place in time where Papou had been trapped.  Without meaning to, Corey saves a life, changing the past in a way no time traveler ever has been able to before. When they return to the present, Papou explains that Corey may be the first known “throwback.” Plenty of people can time travel, but until now, no one had ever been able to alter the past. Suddenly, everyone is looking for Corey—to kidnap him, to use his powers for their gain— even to kill him. Papou warns Corey that, tempting as it may seem, using his powers is incredibly dangerous. But to Corey, the chance to right certain wrongs is too tempting, and so he goes back to the day his grandmother died, determined to save her. But when things go awry, Corey winds up all the way back in New York City in 1917. Lost and alone, Corey has to use his wits to find a way to make it back to the present alive without changing the past and, perhaps, forever altering his future.

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than 160 books, which have sold more than 5.5 million copies. These include the New York Times bestselling SEVEN WONDERS series, THE COLOSSUS RISES; LOST IN BABYLON; THE TOMB OF SHADOWS; THE CURSE OF THE KING; and THE LEGEND OF THE RIFT, and two books in the 39 CLUES series. Peter is a Harvard graduate with a degree in biochemistry. He has run a marathon and gone rock climbing during an earthquake-though not on the same day. He lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their two sons, Nick and Joe.

THIS IS MY BOOK! de Mark Pett

A hilarious and playful romp about making books, perfect for fans of Press Here and The Book with No Pictures

THIS IS MY BOOK!
by Mark Pett
Knopf Books for Young Readers, September 2016

What happens when a writer learns that he doesn’t quite have as much control over his book as he thinks? When Mark Pett’s characters, led by a panda bear named Spike, take over his book and begin telling a story of their own, pandemonium ensues! Who’s really in charge of this book? With clever interactive elements, including a pull tab, flap, and pop-up, This Is My Book is sure to appeal to a large and varied audience—kids who will identify with the “my” aspect of the book and adults who will appreciate the humor.

Writer and illustrator Mark Pett makes books. He is the “authorstrator” of “The Boy and the Airplane”, “The Girl and the Bicycle”, “The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes”, and “Lizard from the Park”. Before books, he created the syndicated comic strips “Mr. Lowe and Lucky Cow”.

 

THE SURVIVAL LIST de Courtney Sheinmel

A heartbreaking yet uplifting teen novel from veteran author Courtney Sheinmel, a grieving girl follows a mysterious list across the country after her older sister’s death. Perfect for fans of I WAS HERE by Gayle Forman and FAR FROM THE TREE by Robin Benway

THE SURVIVAL LIST
by Courtney Sheinmel
Katherine Tegen Books, September 2019

The only thing connecting Sloane to her older sister Talley is a list—random places, unfamiliar names, a phone number that she doesn’t recognize. Ever since Talley died, Sloane has been completely fixated on it: maybe understanding how the items on list connect is the key to understanding why Talley took her own life. Except the clues on the list seem to be pointing her to California, and Talley had never even been there, right? Turns out the list of things Sloane didn’t know about her sister is much longer than she realized.
She heads out west in search of Adam, the owner of the mysterious phone number, who claims he’d never met Talley. Even though Adam is clearly hiding something, Sloane can’t deny that she’s drawn to him. Can unraveling the cryptic non-sequiturs Talley left behind— and putting her trust in a stranger— heal the hole her sister’s death has left in Sloane’s life?

Courtney Sheinmel is the author of over a dozen highly celebrated books for kids and teens, including the YA novel Edgewater, and the Kindness Club and Stella Batts series for middle grade readers.