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Fifty summer-themed titles, beach reads, and other books for vacation reading from CBC member publishers.
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6X: The Uncensored Confessions
Written by Nina Malkin
Ages 12 and up
ISBN: 0-439-72421-X
Price: $8.99
Scholastic Paperbacks/Scholastic Inc.
Four teens on the fast track to pop-rock superstardom reveal the uncensored truth about the glamorous, backstabbing world of sudden celebrity.
Introducing . . .
The Voice: Sweet, trusting Kendall sings like an angel—and is about to discover her devilish side.
The Body: Rich, spoiled Wynn can't keep a beat to save her life. But with curves like that . . . who cares?
The Boss: No-nonsense Stella is all confidence, attitude, style, and smarts. But her relationship with the band's manager makes her more vulnerable than she thinks.
The Boy: A/B has got real talent. Now if only he can keep his mind on the music . . . instead of on the girls.
6X: Idolize THIS!
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The A-List 4: Tall Cool One
Written by Zoey Dean
Ages 15 and up
ISBN: 0316735086
Price: $9.99
Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
In this fourth novel in the juicy and risqué A-List series, Anna and Sam jet down to Las Casitas Mexico to soak in the rays of of sun, the attention of boys, and the stench of scandal!
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Abner Doubleday
Boy Baseball Pioneer
Written by Montrew Dunham
Illustrated by Cathy Morrison
Ages 7-12
ISBN: 1-882859-50-2
Price: $9.95
Young Patriots Series/Patria Press, Inc.
Sportsman. Mexican-American War and Civil War hero, Abner Doubleday is credited not as baseball's inventor, but as an early pioneer in bringing the rules of modern baseball into the mainstream of American sporting life. Featured in Volume 11 of the Young Patriots Series, Abner's boyhood near Cooperstown, New York revolve around his love of playing ball with his brother Tom and friends Charley and Hans. Whether playing one old cat, where the batter runs to one goal and back to score a run, or three old cat, with the traditional three bases, Abner is never happier than with a bat in his hand and his dog Brownie by his side. When not on the playing field, Abner's adventures range from an historic meeting with French Revolutionary War hero General Lafayette to recovering a stolen trunk hidden deep in the woods to hitching a ride (without permission!) aboard the dangerously swaying local stagecoach. On the playing field, young Abner displays the leadership and sportsmanship that foreshadows his success both in advancing the rules of baseball and leading soldiers into battle in two major wars. Young readers will share Abner's enthusiasm and love of the game that became the great American pastime as well as recognize him as an heroic general who fought bravely in two great wars. Cathy Morrison's illustrations bring Abner and his sporting world to life in this latest installment from the series that focuses on the childhoods of American historical heroes and heroines.
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Aria of the Sea
Written by Dia Calhoun
Ages 10 and up
ISBN: 0-374-40454-2
Price: $7.95
Sunburst Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers
On the island of Normost, in the kingdom of Windward, 13-year-old Cerinthe Gale is a folk healer who dreams of being a dancer. When her mother falls ill, Cerinthe fights to save her—but fails. She blames herself for her mother's death, gives up healing, and decides to pursue dance. Cerinthe travels across Windward to audition at the School of the Royal Dancers, which accepts her even though she is a commoner. It should be the beginning of a brilliant future, but Cerinthe feels an emptiness she can't identify. A disagreement with a young man, a conflict with a cruel teacher, a rivalry with an aristocratic classmate, Elliana, and a meeting with a mederi—a healer with magical powers—add to her anguish. When the rivalry between the two girls causes a terrible accident, Elliana's life hangs in the balance. Cerinthe faces the same awful choice she had faced with her mother: Should she try to heal Elliana herself or hope that the mederi arrives in time? Only the song of the Sea Maid holds the answer. Aria of the Sea is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Book Sense 76 Recommended Children's Book, and a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age.
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The Boy in the Burning House
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Ages 10 and up
ISBN: 0-374-40887-4
Price: $5.95
Sunburst Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers
In this Edgar Award-winning novel, two years after his father's mysterious disappearance, Jim Hawkins is coping—barely. Underneath, he's frozen in uncertainty and grief. What did happen to his father? Is he dead or just gone? Then Jim meets Ruth Rose. Moody, provocative, she's the bad-girl stepdaughter of Father Fisher, Jim's father's childhood friend and the town pastor, and she shocks Jim out of his stupor when she tells him her stepfather is a murderer. "Don't you want to know who he murdered?" she asks. Jim doesn't. Ruth Rose is clearly crazy—a sixteen-year-old misfit. Yet something about her fierce conviction pierces Jim's shell. He begins to burn with a desire for the truth, until it becomes clear that it may be more unsettling than he can bear. What is the real meaning of the strange prayers Father Fisher intones behind the door of his private sanctuary? Why does Ruth Rose suddenly disappear? And what really happened thirty years ago when a boy died in a burning house? "A gripping, fast-moving plot that offers the pure adrenaline rush of a thriller." —The Horn Book, starred review
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Chasing Vermeer
Written by Blue Balliett
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
Ages 9-12
ISBN: 0-439-37297-6
Price: $6.99
Scholastic Paperbacks/Scholastic Inc.
This bewitching first novel is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art and a national bestseller!
"A DaVinci Code for tweens." —Newsweek
"Fans of Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game and E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will welcome this novel. Puzzles, codes, letters, number and wordplay, a bit of danger, a vivid sense of place, and a wealth of quirky characters enrich the exciting, fast-paced story that's sure to be relished by mystery lovers." —School Library Journal
"Balliett is an original Helquist compounds the fun with drawings that incorporate the pentomino idea to supply visual clues as well. Thick with devilish red herrings, this smart, playful story never stops challenging (and exhilarating) the audience." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
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The Dating Game: Breaking Up Is Really, Really Hard To Do
Written by Natalie Standiford
Ages 12 and up
ISBN: 0316110418
Price: $9.99
Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
In this second book of the edgy new Dating Game series, best friends Holly, Mads, and Lina must confront the problems of having a super-popular dating website—namely liking too many guys at once. Will any of them ever know when a guy is "IT"?
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Dean Duffy
Written by Randy Powell
Ages 12 and up
ISBN: 0-374-41698-2
Price: $5.95
Sunburst Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers
Dean Duffy, baseball star, is just out of high school and all washed up. His pitching arm's gone bad and he can't seem to hit anymore. As he tries to decide what to do with the rest of his life, the offer of another chance in baseball comes his way. But is that what he wants? Sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious, this story of a young man's quiet odyssey sparkles with life. "Like a string of firecrackers, a series of epiphanies explodes as the deadline for Dean's decision draws near. . . . Powell creates a recognizable world and peoples it with characters who are remarkably sympathetic and complex." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
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A Different Kind of Hero
Written by Ann R. Blakeslee
Ages: 10-14
ISBN: 0-7614-5147-1
Price: $5.95
Marshall Cavendish Children's Books
Twelve-year-old Renny has a big problem—his father. It's the 1880s in a Colorado mining camp, where a fistfight, rather than the law, settles all differences. The toughest fighter in the camp and the hero of the other Irish miners is Renny's dad. Lon Sholto expects his son to follow in his footsteps, but Renny doesn't want to fight, and he doesn't want to see people get hurt.
When Wong Gum Zi and his father arrive, Renny befriends Zi against Lon's wishes. The gap between father and son widens. Renny eventually takes a stand in support of Zi and the other Chinese, knowing he risks losing his father's love. The pride and prejudice of an 1881 mining camp rage throughout this powerfully written and poignant novel. As Renny resists Lon's efforts to turn him into something he isn't, father and son discover that they are alike in many ways and learn to tolerate each other's differences.
"In a novel that is a near-perfect combination of brutal realism and piercing lyricism, the kindhearted son of a brawling (Irish) miner becomes a pariah in his lawless frontier mining town when he befriends a Chinese immigrant boy." —Kirkus Reviews
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The Dog of Knots
Written by Kathy Walden Kaplan
Ages 9 and up
ISBN: 0802852742
Price: $7.50
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
When nine-year-old Mayim must move from Jerusalem to Haifa, a city in northern Israel, she leaves behind her best friend, Uri, and much-loved grandfather. Her war-torn country in turmoil, Mayim finds hope in new friendships in Haifa. Chaim, the butcher, Mr Saludi, the Palestinian vegetable seller, and Mrs. Koslovsky, a neighbor, all share Mayim's affection for a mysterious stray dog that lives down in the wadi. No one seems to know anything about the dog but everyone has a special name for him. Mayim calls him Knotty.
Set in Israel in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, The Dog of Knots tells the story of Mayim's struggle to find her voice during the terror of war. As she becomes closer to the stray dog, Mayim discovers a new courage within herself.
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