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Mark Walden’s debut novel, H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute for Villainous Education) is a fast, fun story with similarities to Artemis Fowl, The Alex Rider adventures, Austin Powers and James Bond.  Here, talented teens attend an elite boarding school learning to be the world’s future criminal masterminds.  13 year old orphan Otto Malpense awakens on a helicopter on the way to a tropical volcanic island; he has no memory of being taken and no idea of where he’s headed.  He soon discovers that he and 200 other teens have been abducted to HIVE, a secret school to nurture those with “a special talent for the supremely villainous.” Otto, who hasRead More →

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We just love Tucson author & illustrator Chris Gall!  His books are awesome, his art is amazing, and he’s a funny guy.  His new book, Dinotrux, is due out in June 2009 and the rights have been acquired by Dreamworks for a full-length, 3-D animated feature.  Yeah Chris!  Check out his blog for an animated trailer of the book, which will, of course, confirm your suspicions – that prehistoric trucks once roamed the earth!  Posted by CoriRead More →

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Kurtis Scaletta’s novel about a cursed Minnesota town and its youth baseball team is a home run.  Moundville has seen 22 years straight of rain – is it a curse or just freaky weather?   Roy McGuire knows he’s in for a dreary, wet summer.  Baseball camp is over but when he returns home, he finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch. As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival, the sun comes out. No one can explain why the rain has finally stopped, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball. It’s time toRead More →

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Sunny Hathaway is just the kind of girl I would have loved to have had as a best friend going into 6th grade: she’s smart, creative, a bit of a day-dreamer, and funny.  She freely admits that change is not her strong suit, she often goes off on tangents, and she’s an entrepreneur.  Well written, sassy, and thoughtfully drawn characters abound in Marion Roberts’ debut novel, Sunny Side Up. The start of 6th grade and a lot of things are happening: her best friend Claud(ia) is now frustratingly boy-crazy, her mom’s boyfriend and his annoying kids are moving in, and her dad & his newRead More →

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The best stories, and the best authors, in my opinion, show you the true human experience underlying an issue, situation, or place & time.  Julia Alvarez’s latest novel for young people, Return to Sender, is just such a story by just such an author. After Tyler’s father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont dairy farm.  Tyler isn’t sure what to make of this situation and of these workers and their daughters.  The Mexican family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty theyRead More →

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Suzanne LaFleur’s debut novel, Love, Aubrey, will be released in June 2009, and I can’t wait to sell it to our customers.  It is honest, heartbreaking and hopeful and it brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion.  Truly a remarkable debut.  11-year old Aubrey’s little sister and father were killed in a tragic car accident. Her mother, who was driving, and Aubrey survived.  When the novel opens, Aubrey’s mother has slipped so deeply into depression that she has abandoned Aubrey in their Virginia home.  At first Aubrey enjoys the days of eating cheese & crackers and watching TV; but then she runs outRead More →

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Tales from Outer Suburbia is a collection of short stories, in which we meet an exchange student who’s really an alien, a secret room that becomes the perfect place for a quick escape, a typical tale of grandfatherly exaggeration that is actually even more bizarre than he says – it’s an assortment of the odd and magical details  that are brought to life in mesmerizing and fantastic illustrations. Combining the amazing drawing style from his bestseller, The Arrival,with eloquent prose, Shaun Tan weaves a scrapbook tapestry of our modern world that is at times both strangely familiar and unbelievable.  My favorite story is “The Nameless Holiday” whereRead More →

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12 year-old Henry York’s parents have been kidnapped.  He is sent to live with his plain & boring Aunt Dottie and Uncle Frank in Henry, Kansas.  He’s bored, disconnected and unemotional; simply an observer of life, never a participant.  Yet, as we get to know Henry, we learn that he longs for connection, for family, for the simple pleasures in life (like baseball).  As he settles into his attic bedroom and gets to know his 3 cousins and the farm on which he now lives, he starts to think maybe he can find something here he’s been missing – love and family. Then in theRead More →

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In Maze of Bones, The 39 Clues Book One, Amy and Dan Cahill are orphans whose world falls apart with the death of their beloved (and wealthy) grandmother, Grace. At the funeral, the lawyer calls together a select few of her many relatives into the mansion’s Great Hall and offers them each a choice: take a one-million-dollar inheritance and leave, or, instead of money, be given the first of 39 clues that “might lead you to the most important treasure in the world and make you powerful beyond belief . . . or it might kill you.” Amy and Dan take a clue, although they are mystified and confusedRead More →