Jinx

Jinx
by Meg Cabot

Jean Honeychurch has always had bad luck. She seems to be cursed in all she does. When she was born, the hospital was struck by lightning, which led to her being nicknamed "Jinx". And that nickname has followed her in more ways than one. Wherever she walks, she falls. If there's something nearby to crash in to, she does. When shes leaves Iowa to get away from a stalker, she doesn't even get picked up at the airport by her aunt and uncle.
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Of course, the reason for her bad luck could be as simple as her inability to accept who she is: a witch. One hundred fifty years before, Jinx's ancestor predicted that there would be a very powerful witch in the family, and the two top contenders are Jinx and her cousin, Tory. The questions remain, can they both be witches? And, can two witches in the same family, with very different views about HOW to use magic, get along?
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Add to all of that Zach, the boy on whom both cousins have a crush, and you have bad magic in the making.
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This is a typical Meg Cabot book. If you've read any of her other books and enjoyed them, this will be familiar to you. And while Jean and Tory do attempt spells from time to time, the story is more about Jean's need to come to accept herself before she can feel accepted by others. It also has Cabot's signature boy-in-love-with-girl-who- loves-him-but-she-doesn't-realize-he-even-thinks-about-her-that-way story. Essentially, this is a cotton candy book; it's fluffy, light, and sweet, but basically empty. If you're looking for something light and easy to read, without draining your brain, this is for you.

Beastly

Beastly

by Alex Flinn

Kyle Kingsbury has always been a bit of a beast. He's gorgeous and knows it. He has always treated people according to their appearance, no matter what they're like on the inside. Kyle even surrounds himself with people who think the same way he does, which is easy because they're all pretty, too. His dad is much the same way, being a famous television news personality himself. Everything seems to be perfect for Kyle, until the day he meets Kendra.
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Kendra is ugly and doesn't care, and this seems strange to Kyle. Even more strange is how she acts when he's near. She doesn't just fall all over him and idolize him like all the other girls do; she stands up to his beastliness and calls him out. And when he invites her to the spring dance, only to leave her standing while he goes to make out with the prettiest girl in school, he's truly surprised when she doesn't cry. He is even more surprised when he comes home after the dance only to find her in his room. And before she leaves, he finds out how beastly he can be.
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This retelling of the classic "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale is told from the beast's point of view and proves that fairy tales aren't just for girls anymore.

Silent to the Bone

Silent to the Bone

by E. L. Konigsburg

Have you ever had a secret that was so horrible, so unspeakable, that you literally had to stop talking to protect it and yourself? When 13-year-old Branwell's baby sister, Nikki, is severely injured and taken to the hospital, Branwell suddenly cannot speak. No matter how hard he tries, the words don't come out. And, since he was the last person with the baby before the call to 911, he's the prime suspect of the police and even his own parents. No one knows what happened and Branwell can't tell them, so his best friend, Connor, must seek out the truth and help Branwell find his voice before it's too late.
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WARNING: Contains some mature themes. May be unsuitable for children under 13.

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

by Ron Koertge

Kevin is your average 8th grader. He likes girls, LOVES baseball, and just wants to be able to hang with his friends. However, his life changes when he gets mono, is forced to sit out part of the season, and is bored out of this mind. When his father, a writer, hands him a composition book, Kevin thinks little of it. Over time however, he begins to use the book as a journal to discuss his life, his memories, the girls he's liked, the game he loves, and his mother, who died and left him alone with his dad.

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Written in verse, this is an easy read for students, parents, and teachers. It's a great way to begin learning about poetry without reading poems that are only about love, dying, or dying after losing a love.

No More Dead Dogs

No More Dead Dogs
by Gordon Korman

Tired of reading all those award-winning books with dogs on the cover, only to find that the dog kicks the bucket at the end?!
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So is Wallace Wallace.
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Wallace Wallace has grown up all his life refusing to tell lies because lies are all he was ever told from his father. This same dad then ditched Wallace and his mom and left them to fend for themselves. So Wallace believes that truth is the only way to go.
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Unfortunately, Wallace is a little TOO honest. He compares a person's cake to vacuum cleaner fluff and the icing on it to antifreeze. He's never been one to be anything other than VERY blunt with his honesty. And when his English teacher tells him to write a review for the book Old Shep, My Pal, a book where the dog snuffs it in the end, Wallace tells his teacher the truth... bluntly. And the consequences for his honesty include detention in the gym, while the drama club rehearses a play written by his English teacher... a play that just happens to be called Old Shep, My Pal.
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If you want to read about Wallace Wallace, honesty, dying dogs, and a play that eventually becomes a rock musical complete with rollerblading and a moped, check this book out!

Fairest

Fairest

by Gail Garson Levine

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the... well, you know the rest!

Aza isn't pretty. In fact, she's really pretty ugly. But you couldn't tell that by her voice. When Aza is asked to escort someone to the royal wedding, she becomes the best friend of a very needy new queen. When the king becomes injured and the queen takes over, things quickly get out of control.

This retelling of Snow White is set in the same land as Ella Enchanted and is just as enchanting a tale. With ogres, gnomes, magical spells, fairies, and a bespelled mirror, it has everything a good fairy tale needs, without all of the once upon a times.

Harry Potter is HERE!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

by J. K. Rowling

In this seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series, Rowling leads her readers on an adventure that stays almost completely outside of the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. As Harry struggles to come to terms with the sacrifices that must be made to win a war, he also must deal with the fact that he might not have known Dumbledore as well as he had believed. He also must decide which quest he really should be on: the search for the Horcruxes that are holding pieces of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named soul? or the mysterious Deathly Hallows that are said to control death.

Who lives? Who dies? And who steps up to fight for what is right when everyone is just trying to fight to survive? Read this amazing epic story to find out!

Fairy tales can comes true!

The Wish

by Gail Garson Levine

From the author of Ella Enchanted comes a new modern fairy tale.

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Wilma Sturtz has always been a bit of an outsider. She wears the wrong clothes. She says the wrong things. She can't ever seem to fit in no matter how hard she tries. When she does a good deed for an old woman on the subway, she is granted one wish... to be the most popular girl in her school.

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Immediately, things change.

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Not only is Wilma popular, she's the most important person on campus. All the boys want to date her. All the girls want to be her. And while she hasn't changed, she can do no wrong.

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However, it turns out that there is a loophole to her wish and if she doesn't find that old, wish-giving woman soon, everything could go suddenly, horribly wrong.

Here's another one...

Midnight Magic

by Avi

Fabrizio is the young servant of Magnus the Magician. And while Magnus has sworn off magic in order to protect himself from being hanged as a wizard, Fabrizio has no problem performing a few tricks to dazzle and frighten those around him. When the king calls for Magnus to solve the mystery of the ghost who is haunting the princess, both Magnus and Fabrizio must survive on wits and reason, with just a little "magic" to smooth the way.

Here's a "chick" book...

Blister

by Susan Shreve

Alyssa Reed's life is good, even if she doesn't realize it. She has a home, parents who love her, four cats, a goat, and friends. But Alyssa's life turns upside-down when her new sister is stillborn, her mother falls into a deep depression, and her father finds a new woman and a new apartment. Furthermore, she is forced to move to a new apartment away from all that she loves and start at a school where she has no friends.

Because her life is changing so much and so quickly, she decides to change her name as well. She becomes Blister, "Like when your shoes are too tight... That's my new name." (38)

To try and fit in better at school, she lies about her family, steals her father's girlfriend's clothes and jewelry, and then tries out for the cheerleading squad. But will all these changes and lies really help make her life better? Or will they only make things much, much worse?

Here's a good one....

Godless

by Pete Hautman

Jason Bock is a former Catholic, now agnostic, soon-to-be-Atheist questioning God and his place in the universe. When he creates his own religion worshipping the town's water tower, he has no idea the effect he will have on himself, his friends, and the town. It's easy enough to create a religion, but controlling it is a whole other matter. Things get out of control and Jason soon learns that questioning his religion is normal; what isn't normal is how those simple questions turn everything upside-down.

Recommendation of the Week

Runner

by Carl Deuker

Chance is a lonely loner. Abandoned by his mother and constantly having to put up with a drunken father, the only time Chance feels at all normal is when he runs. Things get worse when his father loses his job and the small boat they live on, the only home they have, is in danger of being taken from them. When a man who works at the dock where Chance lives offers him a job that Chance knows is illegal, he feels he has no choice but to take it. As the months go by, however, Chance's runs get more and more dangerous especially since a girl from school, the only girl who even looks at him, is getting a little nosy and figures out what he's been doing.

Maybe you'd like....

Now You See It by Vivian Vande Velde

When Wendy, who is blind without her glasses, finds a pair of ugly mirrored sunglasses that fit her prescription exactly, she has no idea that the world as she knows it will turn upside-down and even a little backwards. Not only does her new find allow her to see with 20/20 vision, it also lets her see everything else.... like the cheerleader who is really an old crone, the geek who is an elf, and the little blue men who steal what you're looking for and eat freshly laundered socks.

All this is a bit much for Wendy, especially when the geek/elf turns out to be a prince and she is responsible for his kidnapping. With the help of her grandmother who travels through time to aid her, she has to rescue him, avoid getting killed by the dragon, and find out how good and brave a person she really can be.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer’s debut novel is a clever new way to tell the stories of love, loss, obsession… and vampires. Isabella Swan leaves her home in the dry land of Phoenix, Arizona when her mother remarries and goes to one of the wettest towns in the country to live with her father. A shy, cynical girl, she is fully prepared to hate her last two years of high school in this overly green land where her father is the town sheriff and all the kids know each other and of her. But things change when she meets Edward Cullen.
Initially, he frightens her with his antagonistic behavior and obvious desire to be as far away from her as possible. As the days pass though, she finds herself more and more drawn to him. After a brush with death, they both find themselves getting closer to each other despite the fact that Edward keeps warning her that he is the most dangerous thing in her life. And he’s right.
Edward is a vampire and Bella is the best thing he’s smelled in years. She’s so tempting, that he’s almost willing to break his own rules and taste a human for the first time in decades. However, he’s not as dangerous as the hunter vampire who catches her scent and chases her back to her home in Phoenix that ends in a dramatic climax for the novel.
Written in first person from Bella’s point of view, the reader sees what Bella sees and understands why she needs to be with Edward despite the danger she’s in whenever she’s near him. The story is well-written and a quick read. Girls will especially enjoy reading about Bella’s fears and foibles, as well as her desire for the boy she loves: the quintessential bad boy.Only two things mar this amazing book: the ending, which seems rushed and a bit confused, and the fact that Bella seems to be a slightly submissive heroine to Edward’s dominant personality. Otherwise, this is a story well-worth reading, and it’s sure to be a pleasure even for those who are not fans of horror stories and vampire tales.

btw - this is my current favorite book and, while it looks long, it's actually a very easy and quick read... TRY IT!

Image taken from the Borders Bookstore website - Thank you!