Angelini, Josephine. STARCROSSED

Angelini, Josephine. STARCROSSED 
New York : HarperTeen, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0062011995 
Helen is growing up on Nantucket and has never really known life off the island. Her mother left soon after she was born but her dad has been great to her. She is a bit too tall and a bit too athletic to really fit in with the other kids so she tries to hide her talents. But when a new family moves to town, she finds that she can't hide any more. There is something about the new boy that makes her go crazy and want to kill him. Well, it turns out that Helen is actually a demi-god and the Fates are trying to keep her and Lucas apart by making them hate each other. But will that work? How will Helen adjust to her new identity? This is the first volume in the Starcrossed series.

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK 
New York : Random House, 2009 
IL YA 
ISBN 0375843663 

When the story opens Sam is hacking into the White House Security system, well it's there and supposed to be impenetrable, but when he tries to cover his tracks on the way out he accidentally crashes the international computer grid, and that gets him busted. Not long after he is incarcerated, he gets recruited to work for the government in their super secret cyber defense force. As such he essentially joins a select group of elite hackers as they work to track down and outwit cyber terrorists. “Use your skills to keep the world and our country safe!” 

In not too long evidence of a deadly neuro-virus surfaces on the web; however, their newest and best weapon, a neuro headset that connects your brainwaves directly to the internet thus ramping up response time, skills, and range, also creates an open door that could expose your very mind to the terrorists you are hunting. So, have fun, and buckle your headset! (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
IL YA
ISBN  0399254544

What Your Wish For: A Book for Darfur is a collection of writing and art from an international roster of some of the best authors and artists who are currently working.  Authors like Meg Cabot and Alexander McCall Smith, Francisco Stork, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jeanne DuPrau, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Karen Hesse, Cornelia Funke, Ann M Martin, Meg Cabot, R.L. Stine, Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Nate Powell, Cynthia Voigt -- have all donated their work to this project.  Each piece explores wishes – some are funny, some are creepy, some are inspiring – but all are linked by the universal power of a wish, the abstract things we wish for: home, family, safety and love.

The book was created to raise awareness of the plight of the Darfuri refugees forced to live in camps in eastern Chad.  And funds from sales of the books go toward granting the Darfuri’s wishes – building libraries in the refugee camps.  Their wish is that children growing up in refugee camps will become educated about good and evil and their history and their future, and will therefore be less likely to be recruited as child  soldiers.

What You Wish For is a thoughtful book that sheds light on an important international tragedy. But readers will also become exposed to some very fine writing that will encourage them to continue to read more of these authors’ works.   (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Higson, Charlie. THE DEAD

Higson, Charlie. THE DEAD

New York : Hyperion, 2010
IL YA
ISBN 1423134125

The Dead is about zombies…perfectly suited for readers who couldn't get enough of The Enemy, Charlie Higson has written a prequel that throws an entirely different set of characters into jeopardy.

If you don't know or haven't read The Enemy, the zombie disease only affects people sixteen or older. It starts with the symptoms of a cold. Then the skin begins to itch, and spots appear--spots that soon turn into pus-filled boils.

Once the teachers at Rowhurst School in London go on the attack, Ed, Jack, Bam and the other students know it's time to escape and make their way to London. It's a bit easier to escape the adults - they're usually disoriented and wandering. But once on the move, the students run into teens, who are stronger and more energetic, and hide in the shadows for unsuspecting victims.

It's all a desperate journey to get to a fortified shelter - a journey that brings them to hitch a ride on a bus driven by the seeming last lone uninfected adult on the planet…unless…

The Dead is an exciting book. And it's gross. The descriptions of decaying zombies is vivid. But the other characters are fleshed out and well-rounded. We care about them, and we want them to get to safety (even the annoying girls on the bus) Higson doesn't pull any punches or favor one character over the other. The Dead will keep readers enthralled because you never know what might be waiting around the corner. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS 
New York : Delacorte, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 038573977X 

Orchards is a novel in verse that deals with a difficult subject – bullying and teen suicide. 

Kanako Goldberg is half-Japanese and half-Jewish, and a member of the clique of girls whose teasing had something to do with a classmate’s suicide. The classmate was bipolar and had all these issues anyway, and besides, it’s not like Kana was the ringleader… but she didn’t do anything to stop it either. 

Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior and develop some sensitivity to the situation, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's mikan orange groves. 

Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But Kana gets to know her relatives, and Japan, and village culture. Through imaginary conversations with Ruth, the classmate who killed herself, Kana begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. But news of another tragedy sends her world spinning out of control. 

Orchards is a contemplative, beautifully written book that will evoke important conversations about some very important topics. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Sheehan, Anna. A LONG, LONG SLEEP

Sheehan, Anna.  A LONG, LONG SLEEP
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011
IL YA
ISBN 0763652601

Rosalinda Fitzroy is awakened by a kiss. Bren, a handsome young man, was exploring the
basement of the apartment building where he lives with his parents, and found her stasis tube
and kissed her.  Biologically, Rose is 16 years old, but she learns that it’s been 62 years since
she went into stasis.  True, stasis protected her from the plague-ridden Dark Times, but she is
heartbroken to learn that everyone she knows is long dead -- particularly her beloved Xavier, a
childhood friend and first love.  Her waking also spurs a media frenzy: She’s the heir to her
father’s billionaire company that owns and operates most of the world of the future.

It’s expected that Rose will eventually take over the company – a task that she isn’t sure she’s
qualified to do.  She’s quiet and withdrawn.  Her guardians enroll her in the best intergalactic
high school but Rose struggles to keep up and fit in.  She picks up her art again and finds some
comfort in that.  She might be able to piece some kind of life together in this strange future,
except –

The media frenzy surrounding Rose’s awakening triggers another stasis sleeper – a dangerous,
virtually unstoppable killing machine called a Plastine who is programmed to assassinate her.
With the help of a few friends, and her own surprising strength, Rose must face reality –
finally – and defeat the Plastine.

This is a fast moving story, with both anticipated and surprising plot twists.  We move between
the present and the past; Rose is a complex girl whose heartbreaking past is eventually
revealed—we are constantly asking why she was in stasis at all…and the reason is really
disturbing.   ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Roth, Veronica. DIVERGENT

Roth, Veronica. DIVERGENT 

In the future, society has been reorganized; at 16, teens are evaluated and must choose which of the five factions they will join. Each faction highlights a particular virtue to address society’s shortcomings: out of weakness grew the Dauntless, who value bravery; from stupidity grew the Erudite, for those who value knowledge. From selfishness grew the Abnegation, for those who want to serve others; from dishonestly grew Candor for those who value truth, and from hate grew Amity, where happiness reigns. If a teen chooses a faction that differs from the one in which they grew up, they must sever all ties with their family. Beatrice Pryor is turning 16. She lives and serves with her family in Abnegation – a position that she finds very challenging. So perhaps it’s no surprise that her evaluation reveals that she can’t be easily sorted into one faction – she is Divergent, which her tester cautions her is a very dangerous label to have, and she must keep this secret. 

At her choosing ceremony she selects the Dauntless – a rowdy and reckless group. Not all initiates will be accepted and Tris (as she calls herself) must shed her selfless upbringing and excel at the intense initiation period, or risk a fate worse than death: exile and becoming factionless. 

The violent initiation – plenty of hand to hand combat here and some underhanded practices during which Tris is threatened and beat up – combined with a budding romance with a fellow Dauntless will attract many fans of The Hunger Games. Tris is a strong young woman who genuinely struggles with finding her place. She misses her family. She begins to question the “rightness” of the way her society is organized. Can people really be categorized? (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Dashner, James. THE DEATH CURE

Dashner, James. THE DEATH CURE 
New York : Delecorte, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0385738773 
In the conclusion to the Maze Runner trilogy, we find Thomas and the rest of the survivors of the Scorch Trials being held by WICKED (World in Catastophe, Killzone Experiment Department). WICKED has been formed by the governments of the surviving nations and now have combined forces. They have vowed to keep Flare at bay. Although many of the survivors believe that WICKED is in fact a good thing, Thomas and others do not agree. Together they plot an escape to join forces with The Right Arm who want to overthrow the new government.