2012 Newbery Winner really delivers!

Jack Gantos (of Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza fame) wins the 2012 Newbery with this laugh out loud semi-biographical account.  The story opens in June 1962 with 12 year old Jack Gantos getting grounded "for life" for accidentally firing his dad's WW II Japanese rifle that he did not know was loaded. Jack will only escape his home prison to help his elderly neighbor: feisty, smart Miss Volkers.  The elderly original inhabitants of Norvelt, PA are dying and Miss Volkers is not only the town coroner but also the obituary writer for the town newspaper. Miss Volker does not write the average obit. She needs Jack to do the typing and delivery including the driving of her car (did I mention he is only 12?). But strange things are happening in Norvelt. They include the funeral director, a Hell's Angels' curse, Jack's friend Bunny, Girl Scout cookies, Eleanor Roosevelt, an old guy on a tricycle and maybe murder! You will gain some real perspective on how history might be the past, present and future all at the same time. Get ready to enjoy this excellent author's well deserved win. If you like this one your LTC has most of his novels in the fiction section. Jon Scieszka and Dave Barry love this book - two authors who know humor and great writing when they read it.

Crossed - #2 of Matched by Ally Condie

For all the Hunger Games fans out there, here is another excellent dystopian society series full of well realized characters and thought provoking action. If Matched set the stage for Cassia, Ky and Xander, Crossed is a strong, compelling second act.  Told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Cassia and Ky, the story traces their attempts to reconnect since leaving the Society. Readers anxious for answers will get some but not others. The Carving and the Outer Provinces are finally reached. New characters enter the story pulling the action in surprising and unexpected ways.  The Rising, or Rebellion, has new light shed on it forcing the reader to question how and why individuals make the decisions they make. Well written, fast action in some spots, lyrical and slower in others, the pace mirrors the young protagonists struggling with their mixed emotions about their world and their places in it. The final installment, Reached, is tentatively due out in November. Be sure to visit the author's website at http://www.allysoncondie.com for a peak at the excellent cover for Reached as well as some interesting insights about the colors and titles of the cover art. Yes a books' cover does make a difference!

Cahills vs Vespers Book 2 - A King's Ransom

Jude Watson returns to write installment #2 in the "39 Clues" second series. Dan and Amy are back fighting for the lives of Cahill family members being kept prisoners for ransom by the mysterious Vesper One. This adventure takes you to Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic as the siblings track down Nazi stolen treasure and more information about the Madrigals side of the Cahill family.  Aided by the Massachusetts based family command center, Gideon, technology and quick wits combined with gutsy moves (not to mention some sizable amounts of cash) permit our heroes to escape harm or capture.  Hidden clues and coded messages are particularly tough in this installment but you always have the Internet based resources at www.the39clues.com. Book #3 The Dead of Night is on order and Book #4 is due out in August. Keep enjoying the ride with multiple copies in the LTC found on the last rack of the PB towers!

New fantasy series: The Crowfield Curse

The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh is #1 in a new series. Part historical fiction part fantasy this first installment is atmospheric, dark, rich in detail and gripping. Set in 1387 England, 14 year old orphan William Paynel is trying to manage a life as a servant at Crowfield Abbey. At the very bottom of the pecking order, William is still grateful to have a roof over his head and meals, even meager ones. While taking care of the monks' pigs he encounters a strange creature caught in a trap. With little fear he saves the creature and from that point on his life takes some wild and frightening turns that  involve very old secrets, a very long feud and possibly a dead angel.
Readers will drawn into the amazing secret world of the forest, the hard life at the abbey in middle ages Britain and William himself, who is more than even he knows.

Lisa Yee's Junior High students

So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yee is one part of a four part group of books that is not so much a series as individual stories about the same group of students at same middle school.

Emily has just moved to California with her mom after her parents' divorce.  In a series of letters to her dad, you will experience Emily's various wants and needs missing her dad, missing her friends, making new friends, not understanding her mom and trying to cope with junior high school.  Emily is funny, bright, creative, prone to drama and sometimes confident and sometimes not. The letters eventually turn in to diary entries as she does not hear from her dad very much and begins to better understand both her parents. Emily is well worth getting to know.

Other characters from the three other stories appear in each installment and will prompt most readers to want to continue to get to know each of them better: Sanford Wong, Millicent Min and Marley Sandelski. 

They are also people worth meeting through their own stories.