Puppet

Puppet by Eva Wiseman
The year is 1882. A young servant girl named Esther disappears from a small Hungarian village. Several Jewish men from the village of Tisza Eszvar face the ‘blood libel’ — the centuries-old calumny that Jews murder Christian children for their blood. A fourteen-year-old Jewish boy named Morris Scharf becomes the star witness of corrupt authorities who coerce him into testifying against his fellow Jews, including his own father, at the trial.

Girls Against Girls: Why We Are Mean to Each Other and How We Can Change

Girls Against Girls: Why We Are Mean to Each Other and How We Can Change by Bonnie Burton
This guide for teenage girls explains why girls can sometimes be mean to each other, what to do if you are a victim of bullying, and the importance of treating other girls with respect.

Earthgirl

Earthgirl by Jennifer Cowan
Earthgirl follows the eco-evolution of sixteen-year-old Sabine Solomon, who is thrown into the fray one afternoon when she's riding her bike downtown to join her friends, and an idling minivan driver carelessly tosses leftovers from McDonald's out the car window, blindsiding Sabine and leaving her covered in plum sauce. When Sabine tosses the garbage back at the offensive driver, an altercation ensues that is captured on the videophones of her friends. In a technological blink, footage is posted on YouTube, and Sabine finds herself at the center of a heated eco-debate. A crusader is born.

The September Sisters

The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor
Abigail Reed and her younger sister, Becky, are always at each other's throats. Their mother calls them the September Sisters, because their birthdays are only a day apart, and pretends that they're best friends. But really, they delight in making each other miserable. Then Becky disappears in the middle of the night, and a torn gold chain with a sapphire heart charm is the only clue to the mystery of her kidnapping.

Same Difference

Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian
Feeling left out since her long-time best friend started a serious relationship, sixteen-year-old Emily looks forward to a summer program at the Philadelphia College of Art but is not sure she is up to the challenges to be faced there, including finding herself and learning to balance life and art.

Wild Orchid : A Retelling of the Ballad of Mulan (Once Upon a Time Series)

Wild Orchid : A Retelling of the Ballad of Mulan (Once Upon a Time Series) by Cameron Dokey
The Emperor of China summons a great army, and each family must send a male to fight. Tomboyish Mulan, who can wield sword and bow and arrow as deftly as an embroidery needle, is determined to spare her aging father and bring her family honor, so she disguises herself and answers the call. Visit the publisher's website to find out about other books in the Once Upon a Time series.

Flight Volume Six

Flight Volume Six by Kazu Kibuishi

Flight is a full-color anthology of short stories by some of the hottest creators in the field. The artists range from top animators working at Pixar and other major studios, to emerging web cartoonists and established comic book and graphic novel creators. Each contributor's story in the anthology represents a labor of love, and that fact shines through in the overall quality of the anthology. It's no wonder Flight has ascended so rapidly, developing such a rabid following.

Inside Nan: Honestly, we are talking about more than just a book here: Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl

Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl by Susan Campbell
Journalist Campbell's funny, sweet, and yet biting memoir recounts growing up in a fundamentalist church and "dating Jesus." She offers a look into a world that many will find alien; her explanatory footnotes will help readers who may not have grown up in the Bible belt or be as scripturally literate. Campbell writes of trying to be good and gain heaven, but even as a young girl she revels in small acts of subversiveness and continually asks questions that are never answered satisfactorily. She feels about her childhood and youth that, "like a sword, fundamentalism was plunged into [my body] and then it got broken off in [me] so that [it] will never heal." Campbell knows her subject well and hopes through this book to keep a dialog open about such issues as the role of women in the church and in the world and to refocus attention upon the teachings of Christ-unfiltered. She notes that Christ's teachings are truly egalitarian in their attitude and "downright revolutionary."-Nancy Richie/Library Journal
Read Susan Campbell's blog here.

Little Bee

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
A haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers--one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London. "...You know it is not a good idea to collect stories, I said. Sarah shook her head. I don't agree. I think it's the only way we'll make you safe..."/page 253

All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem: An Inappropriate Book for Young Ladies (Or, Frankly, Anybody Else)

All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem: An Inappropriate Book for Young Ladies (Or, Frankly, Anybody Else) written and illustrated by Laurie Rosenwald
Here’s a look at life from artist and professional nonconformist Laurie Rosenwald, who insists that she doesn’t want to tell anyone what to do. But when you are as irreverent as she is people sort of DO want to know what you think. All the Wrong People Have Self Esteem is for young women and, frankly anyone else, who asks good questions about life and then likes to laugh at the answers.

Hollywood and Maine

Hollywood and Maine by Allison Whittenberg
In 1976 Pennsylvania, middle-schooler Charmaine Upshaw contemplates a career as a model or actress while coping with boyfriend problems and the return of her uncle, a fugitive who cost her family $1,000 in bail money a year earlier.

If I Grow Up

If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser
Growing up in the inner-city projects, DeShawn is reluctantly forced into the gang world by circumstances beyond his control. Strasser has a website here. Here's a comment about the book from Richie's Picks: "A hell of a story for all of us who have no clue as to what kind of daily lives these young people in the projects experience, and how their dreams are beaten down."

Starclimber

Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel
As members of the first crew of astralnauts, Matt Cruse and Kate De Vries journey into outer space on the Starclimber and face a series of catastrophes that threaten the survival of all on board. Visit Kenneth Oppel's website here.

Bloodline

Bloodline by Katy Moran
While traveling through early seventh-century Britain trying to stop an impending war, Essa, who bears the blood of native British tribes and of the invading Anglish, discovers that his mother is alive and he, himself, is a prince of the northern kingdom, but he has loyalties and loved ones in the south to whom he is compelled to return.

Response

Response by Paul Volponi
When an African American high school student is beaten with a baseball bat in a white neighborhood, three boys are charged with a hate crime.

Inside Nan: The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology

The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology by Thich Nhat Hanh, Introduction by Alan Weisman
Thich Nhat Hanh links his contemplation of environmental destruction in the world around us, to the Buddhist teachings of the impermanence of all things. Rather than seeing the nature of impermanence as reason to passively accept environmental destruction, he demonstrates how this teaching can offer inner peace and the possibility of using our collective wisdom and technology to help restore the Earth's balance.

The Anatomy of Wings

The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee
After the suicide of her troubled teenage sister, eleven-year-old Jenny struggles to understand what actually happened.
"...I hated her and loved her that final winter...I saw her try to turn her face away from painful things: struggling insects; a three legged dog; Kylie, clumsy, dropping her bag, calling out to her across the oval; a simple boy pushing supermarket trolleys, two women staggering across the highway with a carton of beer...On those days she felt everything suffering...That winter the nothingness of still days slipped into her, drop by drop. Days when everything was so bright and each and every thing had a shining clear edge..."

Marcelo In The Real World

Marcelo In The Real World by Francisco Stork
Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.
"...Every time you decide, there is loss, no matter how you decide. It's always a question of what you cannot afford to lose. I'm not the one playing the piano here. You're the one that needs to decide what the next note will be...But how do I know the next note is the right one?...The right note sounds right and the wrong note sounds wrong..."/page 168

Jumped

Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia
The lives of Leticia, Dominique, and Trina are irrevocably intertwined through the course of one day in an urban high school after Leticia overhears Dominique's plans to beat up Trina and must decide whether or not to get involved.

Flygirl

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Read an interview with the author here. The book has a homepage here.