New and Noteworthy

Check out Voya's Nonfiction Honor List to get last-minute ideas for your summer reading here. The reviews (not available online) included a few books I can't wait to get my hands on - maybe you are ahead of the curve and this is old news. But just in case, you may want to check these out (of your public library - we're not open for TWO more weeks!): Sovay, Celia Rees: historical fiction about a female highway robber. The Calder Game, Blue Balliet: the food court at my mall back home on Lawn Guyland was called "Calder Court" after the giant baby's mobile hanging over the place. Turns out Calder was a REAL, FAMOUS artist, and his sculptures (along with a boy who shares his name) are disappearing in Balliet's latest art and math themed mystery. Things That Are, Andrew Clements: Bobby and Alicia are again in danger as they decide whether or not to help someone else who has turned invisible. The Sky Inside, Clare B. Dunkle: the reviewer compared it to Among the Hidden and Holes - she had BETTER not be kidding! Twice Upon a Marigold, Jean Ferris: oh, wait, someone donated that to the library! And it was on my summer reading list - what happened to that??? The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman: What was I just saying about Gaiman needing to write more for our younger yet sophisticated audience? Woo-hoo! Superior Saturday, Garth Nix: the penultimate book in his Keys to the Kingdom series is out. The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson: Jenna wonders if life is worth living when her consciousness is saved after her body is destroyed in a car accident. Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel, Michael Scott: the sequel to The Alchemyst, by the author who visited Hillview in the Spring of 2007. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, Naholo Uehashi: for manga fans, translated from the original Japanese. * And, of course, you don't need ME to tell you that Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer's new book, is out. I'm rooting for the werewolf, but I know I'm in the minority here. You'll need to tell me how it ends - I'll never get to it!

Waiting for Normal, Leslie Connor

Leave it to Addie to make the most out of living in a trailer right under a train overpass in a sea of asphalt near a toxic dump site. But while she finds amazing friends at the mini-mart next door, Addie knows it's not normal for her mother to disappear for days. And she gets a distressingly brief glimpse of what normal might feel like when she visits her ex-stepfather and her half sisters in their new home, with their new mother. How can she go back to eating canned soup in an empty trailer after that? * My buddies at Kepler's introduced this gem to me and they did not steer me wrong. This is not another "oh my life is so hard" book, but keep the tissues nearby just in case.

Bunker 10, J.A. Henderson

A handful of genius teenagers who live on a hidden military base are hatching an elaborate escape plan so that two of them can go on a date. What they don't know is that deep below, on the tenth level underground, a dangerous experiment has mutated one of them beyond recognition, and she is desperately trying to escape and wreck havoc on the world. * Okay, so don't read this if you're looking for something deep. But it will keep you guessing until pretty much the last page - lots of fun twists and turns. The body count is pretty high, but the gore factor is fairly low. Good for non-sci-fi fans too.