Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls.

Snyder, Scott, Greg Capullo, and Jonathan Glapion. Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls. 2012. New York, NY. DC Comics. ISBN 13: 9781401235413 Pages: 176 Hardbound US $24.99

This volume collects the first six issues of the modern reboot of the classic Batman franchise.  In this new edition, Scott Snyder incorporates new background elements into the Gotham City mythos.

Before Batman, before Bruce Wayne, Gotham was a city in decline.  Bruce Wayne decided to stand up and make a difference.  As he administered his own justice, he gathered enemies, like Joker, Penguin, Killer Croc, Clayface, Two-Face, Professor Pyg, Scarecrow, and the Riddler.  This reboot offers a new twist on the batman mythos.

Coraline

Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. HarperCollins, 2002. Paperback ISBN 13 978-0380977789 $6.99

Awards: 

• Publishers Weekly Best Book (WINNER)

• Book Sense 76 Pick (WINNER)

• Child Magazine Best Book of the Year (WINNER)

• New York Public Library's "One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing" (WINNER)

• Amazon.com Editors Choice (WINNER)

• ALA Notable Children's Book (WINNER)

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults (WINNER)

• New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age (WINNER)

• IRA/CBC Children's Choice (WINNER)

• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Masterlist (Vermont) (WINNER)

• Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers (WINNER)

• Hugo Award for Best Novella (WINNER)

• School Library Journal Best Book (WINNER)

Annotation: Coraline has moved to a new flat.  Inside are fourteen doors.  Thirteen are locked; the fourteenth contains a strange world that is both similar and strangely different.

In this highly imaginative story Neil Gaiman creates a modern fairy tale.  Coraline, bored with her conventional life, finds a door leading to an alternate reality.  The world seems perfect, everything that is wrong in the real world is solved in the "other house."  But her other mother has sinister plans.  Coraline must rescue her parents and solve the mystery of the ancient portal.  She must summon all of her courage and wits to outfox the other mother and solve the riddles.  I highly recommend this book to teens, pre-teens and adults.  

Damien L. age 14 suggests "if you have seen the movie, don't expect the novel to match...it's good for it's own reasons.

A Street Girl Named Desire

Blue, Treasure.  A Street Girl Named Desire: a Novel.  One World, Ballentine, New York, NY.  2007 ISBN 978-0345493286.  336 pages.  Paperback $11.26

Desire is born on the streets on Harlem and is quickly taken away from her drug addicted, prostitute mother.  After years of neglect and torment in foster homes she find a loving home.  Her talent in the church choir leads to her discovery by a record label executive who promises her everything.   In her path to fame Desire faces the same problems that plagued her birth mother, drugs, sex, violence.  Can she overcome the brutal realities of the world or will she be another street girl, named Desire?

Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging: confessions of Georgia Nicolson

Rennison, Louise. Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging: confessions of Georgia Nicolson Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY 1988.  ISBN 978-0064472272 247 pages Paperback $8.99

Awards/Honors:

--Not Just for Children Anymore! (Children's Book Council)

--Michael L. Printz Honor Book

--Book Sense 76 Pick

--IRA/CBC Young Adults’ Choice

--New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

--ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

 Georgia Nicolson is an awkward teen with an awkward family, and she is trying to make sense of all the things that are wrong in her life: school, family, acne and boys.

Georgia's list of things that are going wrong:

1. -her Cat Angus and his crazy behavior
2. -her self consciousness and acne
3. -English slang terms, tosser, knickers, snogging
4. -her “stupid dad”
5. -discovering her sexuality (bras, thongs and boys)
6. -her three year old sister, and the pains of family life

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

Allsburg, Chris Van. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales / With an Introduction by Lemony Snicket. 1st ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade, 2011.

Amazon Editor's pick for notable books of 2011


“Thirty years ago a man called at Peter Wenders’s office, introducing himself as Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick explained that he had fourteen stories and had drawn many pictures for each one. He’d brought with him just one drawing from each story, to see if Wenders liked his work........ The artist agreed to bring the stories the next morning. He left the fourteen drawings with Wenders But he did not return the next day. Or the day after that. Harris Burdick was never heard from again……”

This novel is a collection of short stories that draw on the drawings in "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick." Stephen King, Jon Scieszka, Gregory Maguire and Lois Lowry are just a few of the literary powerhouses that collaborated on this collection.  These masters of the short story add their own creative spin on the eerie, elaborate drawings.  This book is essential reading for anyone who loved "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick."  I highly recommend it for teen and pre teen audiences.  Arthur S. age fifteen said "This book is better than Inception meets Dark City."

Twilight

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York: Pap/Pstr M edition, 2006 

ISBN-13 978-0316038386 | Paperback | 544 pages | $10.99 USD 

Awards/Honors:

One of Publishers Weekly's "Best Children's Books of 2005"

One of School Library Journal's "Best Books of 2005"

“And the lion fell in love with the lamb” Edward murmured.  When a vampire falls in love with a human there are two competing forces.  Love must overcome the overwhelming thirst for blood.  This book mixes suspense, romance, love and betrayal.  Could you fall in love with someone who wants to kill you?  Could you keep secrets from you friends, family and the one you love?  Could you choose to love someone, even if that meant betraying your friends and family?  Can you really trust a vampire?

The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. NY: Scholastic Press, 2008. 

ISBN:978-0-439-02352-8  |Paperback  | 374 pages  | $8.99 USD. 

Awards: 

Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of the Year" 2008

The New York Times "Notable Children's Book of 2008

2009 winner of the Golden Duck Award

2008 Cybil Winner for fantasy and science-fiction books

School Library Journal's Best Books 2008

Booklist Editors' Choice 2008

2011 California Young Reader Medal

The Hunger Games are held once a year, forcing former rebel states to send a girl and boy “tribute” to fight to the death.  Katiss has taken her sister’s place in the deadly game where the only rule is to stay alive at any cost.  Does she have the courage and the strength to win the hunger games? Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. NY: Scholastic Press, 2008.