Uncaged

Uncaged (The Singular Menace: Book 1)
John Sandford and Michele Cook
Fiction Sa45s

Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, searching for her brother, Odin.

Odin’s a brilliant hacker but a bit of a loose cannon. He and a group of radical animal-rights activists hit a Singular Corp. research lab in Eugene, Oregon. The raid was a disaster, but Odin escaped with a set of highly encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog.

When Shay gets a frantic 3 a.m. phone call from Odin—talking about evidence of unspeakable experiments, and a ruthless corporation, and how he must hide—she’s concerned. When she gets a menacing visit from Singular’s security team, she knows: her brother’s a dead man walking.

What Singular doesn’t know—yet—is that 16-year-old Shay is every bit as ruthless as their security force, and she will burn Singular to the ground, if that’s what it takes to save her brother.

(From publisher.)

The Queen of Attolia

The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief: Book 2)
Megan Whalen Turner
Fiction T855t2

When his small mountains country goes to war with the powerful nation of Attolia, Eugenides the thief is faced with his greatest challenge. He must steal a man, he must steal a queen, and he must steal peace.

But his greatest triumph-as well as his greatest loss-can only come if he succeeds in capturing something the Queen of Attolia may have sacrificed long ago.

(From publisher.)

Sketchy

Sketchy: The Bea Catcher Chronicles, Book 1
Olivia Samms
Ficiton Sa56u

A popular cheerleader—raped, beaten, and left for dead. An edgy outsider with a gift. An unlikely team that could take down a killer.

Bea Washington’s life has been a mess ever since that night—the night her best friend and boyfriend betrayed her, the night that got Bea kicked out of Athena Day School for Girls, the night that sent Bea straight into rehab.

Now clean, Bea is starting over at sprawling Packard High School, in a city shaken from two assaults on young women. The latest victim, Willa Pressman—the one who actually survived—doesn’t remember a thing. But Bea has a disturbing new “skill,” the ability to draw the truth out of people—literally. She can see—and then draw—images from other people’s minds. And when she looks at Willa, Bea is shocked by what she sketches.

Bea might be the only person who knows Willa’s secrets—and who can take down the killer before he strikes again.

(From publisher.)

The Islands at the End of the World

The Islands at the End of the World
Austin Aslan
Fiction As51i

Sixteen-year-old Leilani loves surfing and her home in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. But she's an outsider - half white, half Hawaiian, and an epileptic.

While Lei and her father are on a visit to Oahu, a global disaster strikes. Technology and power fail, Hawaii is cut off from the world, and the islands revert to traditional ways of survival. As Lei and her dad embark on a nightmarish journey across islands to reach home and family, she learns that her epilepsy and her deep connection to Hawaii could be keys to ending the crisis before it becomes worse than anyone can imagine.

Austin Aslan's dramatic debut beautifully combines Hawaiian mythology, culture, and adventure in this mesmerizing story about what happens when the future forces us to return to the past. 

(From publisher.)

The Crossover

The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
Fiction Al27c

“A bolt of lightning on my kicks . . . The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” raps twelve-year-old Josh Bell. Thanks to their dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his
blood—he’s got mad beats, too, which help him find his rhythm when it’s all on the line.

As their winning season unfolds, things begin to change. When Jordan meets a girl, the twins’ bond unravels. Josh and Jordan must grow up on and off the court and realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story’s heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family. Told in dynamic verse, this fast and furious middle grade novel bounces with rhythm and bursts with heart.

(From publisher.)

I Was Told There'd be Cake

I Was Told There'd be Cake
Sloane Crosley
814.54 C88i

From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions -- or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character who aims for the stars but hits the ceiling, and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. I Was Told There'd Be Cake introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.

(From publisher.)

The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
Fiction C497h
 

Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero.

Told in a series of vignettes – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous – it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.


(From publisher.)