New YA Books at CA

1. New
YA Books
Autumn, 2015

2. Twelve-year-old Peter Lee and his family are baseball
lovers, who bond over backlot games and talk of the
Pittsburgh Pirates. But when tragedy strikes, the
family flies apart and baseball no longer seems to
matter. Is that true? Peter wonders if just maybe the
game they love can pull them together and bring
them back, safe at home.
"Shang (The Great Wall of Lucy Wu) skillfully balances the
different aspects of Peter’s life, robustly characterizing his
friendships and his time at school and home. Issues of
sexism, racism, and struggles with depression are handled
deftly in scenarios grounded in reality, including an ending
that’s hopeful without being pat."
-- Publishers Weekly --

3. Malik's mother has been missing for days, his home
has become unrecognisable, and his grandfather is
insisting that they leave on the next and final ship:
The Samaritan. This journey will take them to a
country which promises safety and a new life. The
only problem is, they don't have a ticket, and people
are stopping at nothing to get a place on board.
Luckily Papa has a secret that could change
everything. But who can they trust to help them?
This is very definitely a children's book, and is all the better
for that. Walter has created something very special with
Close to the Wind. While I look forward to reading what he
writes next, I'm also happy to ponder the lives of Malik,
Papa and the others because they are now so very real to
me.
-- theguardian --

4. This alternative history re-imagines the 1815 Battle of
Waterloo as a victory for the French emperor Napoléon
Bonaparte, when he unleashes a terrible secret weapon -
giant carnivorous survivors from pre-history - on his
unsuspecting British and Prussian adversaries. In this
world, smaller "saurs" are an everyday danger in the
forests of Europe, and the Americas are a forbidden zone
roamed by the largest and most deadly animals ever to
walk the earth. But in his quest for power, Napoléon has
found a way to turn these giant dinosaurs into nineteenth
century weapons of mass destruction. Only Willem
Verheyen, an outsider living in hiding in the tiny village of
Gaillemarde, has the power to ruin the tyrant's plans. And
Napoléon will stop at nothing to find him.
War is coming, and young Willem is no longer safe, for
Gaillemarde is just a stone's throw from the fields of
Waterloo -- fields which will soon run red with blood.
This alternative history asks, what if Napoléon won the battle at
Waterloo . . . The novel quickly ramps up to suspense,
immersing the reader in the swiftly moving plot. Characters are
very well drawn, capturing the reader's sympathy. With an
ending wide open for a sequel, complete with a plot-thickening
cliff-hanger, one can only hope that Falkner is a swift writer.
-- Booklist --

5. Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the
heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life
and true love. But what hope is there for adventure,
beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania
where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911,
Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a
new, better life for herself—because maybe, just
maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six
dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only
dream of—a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist
Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan’s journey from the
muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society
household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers!
Sending out the laundry!), taking readers on an
exploration of feminism and housework; religion and
literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions.
Coming-of-age drama and deeper questions of faith,
belonging, and womanhood are balanced with just the right
blend of humor.
A wonderful look into the life of strong girl who learns that
she needs the love of others to truly grow up.
-- School Library Journal --

6. Bridge is an accident survivor who’s wondering why
she’s still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-
boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture.
Tabitha sees through everybody’s games—or so she
tells the world. The three girls are best friends with
one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh
grade?
This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as
he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean
to fall for a girl—as a friend?
On Valentine’s Day, an unnamed high school girl
struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in
plain sight?
Each memorable character navigates the challenges
of love and change in this captivating novel.
“Masterly. . . . Sensitively explores togetherness,
aloneness, betrayal and love.”
-- The New York Times --

7. It is the summer of 1892, one year since Sophia Tims and
her friend Theo embarked upon the dangerous adventure
that rewrote the map of the world. Since their return home
to Boston, she has continued searching for clues to her
parents’ disappearance, combing archives and libraries,
grasping at even the most slender leads. Theo has
apprenticed himself to an explorer in order to follow those
leads across the country—but one after another proves to
be a dead end.
Then Sophia discovers that a crucial piece of the
puzzle exists in a foreign Age. At the same time, Theo
discovers that his old life outside the law threatens to
destroy the new one he has built with Sophia and her uncle
Shadrack. What he and Sophia do not know is that their
separate discoveries are intertwined, and that one
remarkable person is part of both.
There is a city that holds all of the answers—but it
cannot be found on any map. Surrounded by plague, it can
only be reached by a journey through darkness and chaos,
which is at the same time the plague’s cure: The Golden
Specific.
“I am in no doubt about the energy of S.E. Grove as a full-fledged,
pathfinding fantasist. I look forward to the next installment to
place upon the pile. Intensely.”
-- The New York Times --

8. Everyone says that middle school is awful, but Trent
knows nothing could be worse than the year he had in
fifth grade, when a freak accident on Cedar Lake left
one kid dead, and Trent with a brain full of terrible
thoughts he can't get rid of. Trent’s pretty positive the
entire disaster was his fault, so for him middle school
feels like a fresh start, a chance to prove to everyone
that he's not the horrible screw-up they seem to think
he is.
If only Trent could make that fresh start happen.
It isn’t until Trent gets caught up in the whirlwind
that is Fallon Little—the girl with the mysterious scar
across her face—that things begin to change. Because
fresh starts aren’t always easy. Even in baseball, when
a fly ball gets lost in the sun, you have to remember to
shift your position to find it.
"Weighty matters deftly handled with humor and grace will
give this book wide appeal."
-- School Library Journal --

9. Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter. She
and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they
weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life,
Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be
in love with two boys at once?
“In this lovely, lighthearted romance...readers will
remember the Song sisters and the boys in their lives long
after the final page turn.”
-- School Library Journal --

10. Nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a whole
heap of problems, including a reversal of family
fortune, moving, new-school hell, a mother with a
failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and
a massive crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life
is a mess, but for now he's narrowe
d it down to just six impossible things....
"Australian author Wood (Wildlife, 2014) has created a
pitch-perfect teen voice in Dan's first-person narrative. He's
by turns sorrowful, impulsive, caring, and funny, with
occasionally brilliant turns of phrase: "I feel like a lemon
rolling down the apple chute." It's refreshing to see a
romance from a teen boy's perspective, and Dan is a
Romeo to root for."
-- Booklist --

11. Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple and her best friend,
Harpreet, are revolutionaries, determined to expose
the Church’s diabolical power grab . . . and to locate
Viv’s missing heartthrob, Peter Ivey. This fast-paced,
entertaining sequel to Vivian Apple at the End of the
World challenges readers to consider how to live
with integrity in a disintegrating world.
"Nonstop twists and breathless action flirt with crossing the
line into absurdity, but that's just part of this sequel's
appeal. Fans shouldn't hesitate to continue Viv's quest
along with her, and they'll be satisfied with how her mission
to save humanity from fear-fueled delusion plays out."
-- Horn Book Magazine --

12. Josie may live in the most haunted town in America,
but the only strange thing she ever sees is the parade
of oddball customers that comes through her family's
auction house each week. But when she and her
brothers discover a Polaroid camera that prints
pictures of the ghost of local recluse John Goodrich,
they are drawn into a mystery dating back over a
hundred years. A desperate spirit, cursed jewelry,
natural disasters, and the horrible specter of
Mothman all weave in and out of the puzzle that Josie
must solve to break the curse and save her own life.
“An ectoplasmic extravaganza...tailor-made for reading
beneath the bedcovers.”
-- Kirkus --

13. In Pumpkins County, weird things happen every day,
but nobody ever makes a fuss. Nobody, that is, except
the Creeps: Carol, a big-city girl new to Pumpkins
County, who finds kindred spirits in Mitchell
(monster expert), Jarvis (military brat with logistics
know-how), and Rosario (girly girl on the outside,
muscle underneath). The Creeps are on the case to
figure out the spooky mysteries and still get to class
on time. Last week it was a pudding monster. This
week, it’s killer frogs—reanimated from the team’s
biology class dissection experiment. Who’s behind the
Frankenfrog attacks? The Creeps will track down the
answers!
"An excellent complement to his prose, Schweizer's cleanly
paneled art is bright and busy, ever ready with a gag that
helps blend the ghastly with the goofy, making his gang's
antics reminiscent of Scooby Doo...Silly fun with a
smattering of science."
-- Kirkus Reviews --