Young Adult (ages 14-18)

Material appropriate for young adults

The Truth About Las Mariposas

Sixteen-year-old Carolina “Caro” Torres is excited about spending six weeks of her summer vacation working for her Tía Matilde, mainly because she needs money to buy the car she has been eyeing. But her excitement turns to bewilderment when she finds her aunt hobbling around on a broken foot and, much to her surprise, the owner of a bed and breakfast called Las Mariposas. Almost immediately Caro meets two young people–Andy and Sara–who fill her in on the goings-on around town. For reasons no one understands, the mayor is trying to put her Tía Matilde out of business. His efforts have forced many of the townsfolk to stop doing business with her. A broken foot and a relentless antagonist are too much for Matilde, and she is ready to give up her home and her livelihood. But the three young people convince Matilde that they can help her run the B&B while she recovers. Busy with cleaning rooms, buying groceries, and cooking meals for their guests, Caro and her new friends still find time to wonder why the mayor is so determined to run her aunt out of business. When Caro finds a piece of a mysterious, old letter that makes reference to a fortune left to an unknown individual, the young people are sure there’s a connection to the mayor’s attempts to gain ownership of Las Mariposas. Who could have written the letter? What “bequest” is it talking about? Popular young adult author Ofelia Dumas Lachtman has once again crafted an entertaining and intriguing mystery novel for teen readers.

The Throwaway Piece

Jewel is shuttled from one foster home to another. But Jewel wasn’t always a “State Kid.” Her mother Angela’s constant search for happiness through a steady stream of unsavory boyfriends leads to the state’s intervention in Jewel’s life. Listening to her new foster mother’s list of “nos”—no drugs, no lying, no stealing, no skipping school, no boys in or out of the house, no being late—Jewel realizes that her mother said “yes” a lot. Probably too much. She remembers saving Angela’s life when one of many boyfriends beat her, trying to hide another boyfriend’s attempts to rape her when she was fourteen, and being sent to a foster home to please the latest boyfriend. But still, Jewel worries about her mother and knows that she will once again pick up the pieces when the latest jerk leaves. Bit by bit Jewel’s life begins to change for the better after her latest move to a new foster home and school. Although most people can’t see past her tough “State Kid” façade—spray-painted hair, heavy make-up, ripped clothing and unlaced shoes—her English teacher realizes there’s more to her then meets the eye. He convinces Jewel to tutor a fellow student who needs help with math, and gradually she learns how to make friends. In the process, she touches the lives of many people around her, including her social worker, teachers who believe in her, her new-found, tentative friends, and even their parents. But when she’s forced to choose between her life-long job—taking care of her mother”—and doing what’s right for herself, old habits and loyalties are hard to break. Jewel is sure that this time, she can save her mom. But will she be able to save herself?

Bog Child

Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she’s been murdered. Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him–his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck, blackmailed into acting as courier to God knows what. A little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls. Bog Child is an astonishing novel exploring the sacrifices made in the name of peace, and the unflinching strength of the human spirit.

Read a review of Bog Child in WOW Reviews.

Bait

baitWhen a guy in his class looks at him funny, Diego punches him in the face, and ends up on probation. At first he wants nothing to do with his probation officer. But as Diego starts to open up, he begins to realize that Mr. Vidas is the first person in his life who ever really wanted to listen to him. With Vidas’s help, Diego begins to make real progress in controlling his anger. He even opens up enough to tell Vidas about the shark tooth that his stepfather gave him that he uses to cut himself. But only if Diego can find the courage to trust Vidas with the darkest secrets from his past will he be able to heal completely. In this story of a boy trying to grow beyond a painful past, award-winning author Alex Sanchez calls upon his personal experience as a probation officer to reveal the complexities of one of his most genuinely realized characters to date.

Finn The Half-Great

The story of a time when giants roamed the earth.Finn the half-Great, Theo Caldwell’s first novel for young adults, tells the story of Ireland’s most beloved heroes with humor and heart. Finn McCool, at fourteen feet, thinks he is the tallest thing in the Emerald Isle. That is, until he ventures outside his childhood valley. Finn soon discovers that ancient Britain is a land of giants, dragons, wizards, and men, in which he is only one little fellow. Despite treating those about him as decently as he can, Finn finds he has enemies all over. Even before he was born, cruel creatures known as the Frost Giants killed Finn’s father and tried to do away with his mother. When Finn learns what befell his parents, his first order of business is to seek out the Frost Giants and take revenge. In later years, Finn becomes a calmer chap, living in idle bliss on his hill, known as Knockmany, with his beloved wife, Oonagh. But Finn the half-Great’s troubles are not over. Ireland and all of Britain are being overrun by mortal men, who have no patience for bigger fellows like Finn. When Knockmany is attacked by humans, and Oonagh is kidnapped by their leader, Finn sets out to rally Britain’s remaining giants and bring her back. Steeped in legend, Finn the half-Great is completely thrilling as it introduces an unforgettable character and adventures both ancient and new.

Tiger Moon

Fate brings together a talking tiger, a doomed princess, and a rascally thief in a thrilling, old-fashioned tale from an exciting, internationally acclaimed new talent. How does a story of India begin?Does it begin with the three rivers—the Ganges, the Yamuna, the unseen Sarasvati pouring her dreaming waters down from the snowy mountains to the hot, dry plain? Like other great storytellers of India, newcomer Antonia Michaelis weaves a tale that is grand in spirit and earthy in humor. She introduces the young thief Farhad, master of many disguises but not of his own heart, who, with the help of a sarcastic tiger, must save a Hindu princess from marriage to a demon king. It is the unlikely friendship between boy and tiger, and the sacrifice their journey demands, that is the soul of this lushly told, beautifully felt novel. Praise for Tiger Moon from the foreign press “The most beautiful and important adolescent book of the season”  —Libri Harry Pooh “Antonia Michaelis has succeeded in writing a wonderful and exciting novel, which is thrilling to the last page. You want to read more of her!”  —Der Tagesspiegel

Click here to read the Worlds of Words review.

The Silver Blade

A stirring tale of magic and revolution- fans of The Red Necklace won’t want to miss it. The year is 1794. With his beloved Sido safely in England and the Reign of Terror at its height, mysterious Yann returns to revolutionary France to smuggle out aristocratic refugees who will otherwise face the guillotine. But while the two are apart, Yann’s Gypsy origins prejudice Sido’s guardian against their marriage, thwarting their longed-for reunion. When Sido is kidnapped under strange circumstances, however, Yann must use all his strength and courage to outwit the evil Count Kalliovski, rescue Sido, and help save all of France.

Lockdown

Furnace Penitentiary: the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, “new fish” Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where inhuman creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood-drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison. Together with a bunch of inmates—some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers—Alex plans an escape. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex’s actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that’s hidden from the eyes of the world.

Fire: Tales Of Elemental Spirits

Master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, the team behind Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, collaborate again to create five captivating tales incorporating the element of fire. In McKinley’s “First Flight,” a boy and his pet foogit unexpectedly take a dangerous ride on a dragon, and her “Hellhound” stars a mysterious dog as a key player in an eerie graveyard showdown. Dickinson introduces a young man who must defeat the creature threatening his clan in “Fireworm,” a slave who saves his village with a fiery magic spell in “Salamander Man,” and a girl whose new friend, the guardian of a mystical bird, is much older than he appears in “Phoenix.” With time periods ranging from prehistoric to present day, and settings as varied as a graveyard, a medieval marketplace and a dragon academy, these stories are sure to intrigue and delight the authors’ longtime fans and newcomers alike.