Friendship

Vermonia #6: To the Pillar of Wind

When the Blue Star Warriors seek to infiltrate Uro’s fiercely guarded headquarters as they try to save the Pillar of Wind from destruction, Doug is captured by soldiers and Naomi and Fly are transported back to the planet of Blue Star, revealing the mysterious pathways connecting galaxies while exposing some of Uro’s weaknesses.

Red Thread Sisters

After an American family adopts eleven-year-old Wen from a Chinese orphanage, she vows to find a family for her best friend, too.

This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

The Vindico

X-Men meets The Breakfast Club in this darkly humorous adventure. The Vindico are a group of supervillains who have been fighting the League of Heroes for as long as anyone can remember. Realizing they’re not as young as they used to be, they devise a plan to kidnap a group of teenagers to take over for them when they retire–after all, how hard can it be to teach a bunch of angsty teens to be evil?Held captive in a remote mansion, five teens train with their mentors and receive superpowers beyond their wildest dreams. Struggling to uncover the motives of the Vindico, the teens have to trust each other to plot their escape. But they quickly learn that the differences between good and evil are not as black and white as they seem, and they are left wondering whose side they should be fighting on after all . . .With fast-paced action, punchy dialogue, and sarcastic humor, this high-stakes adventure from a talented new YA voice pulls you in from the first page.

Winter Shadows

It is the winter of 1856, and Beatrice Alexander has just returned from Upper Canada to her home on the Red River, in what is now Manitoba. Her father’s new wife is threatened by Beatrice and is driving a wedge into the family. Five generations later, in the same house, Christmas promises to be a miserable time. Cass’s mother died of cancer and her father has remarried a woman with an attitude that’s very hard to take. Miraculously, when Cass discovers the star brooch belonging to Beatrice, her visions lead her to Beatrice’s diary. Is she really able to communicate with Beatrice across time, or is it all in her imagination? Margaret Buffie’s great skill as a storyteller creates a splendid, engaging novel that offers readers a rich combination of fine history, suspenseful shifts in time, and unforgettable characters.

The Bridge

The City is divided. The bridges gated. In Southside, the hostiles live in squalor and desperation, waiting for a chance to overrun the residents of Cityside.

Nik is still in high school but is destined for a great career with the Internal Security and Intelligence Services, the brains behind the war. But when ISIS comes recruiting, everyone is shocked when he isn’t chosen. There must be an explanation, but no one will talk about it. Then the school is bombed and the hostiles take the bridges. Buildings are burning, kids are dead, and the hostiles have kidnapped Sol. Now ISIS is hunting for Nik.

But Nik is on the run, with Sol’s sister Fyffe and ISIS hot on their trail. They cross the bridge in search of Sol, and Nik finds answers to questions he had never dared to ask.

The Bridge is a gritty adventure set in a future world where fear of outsiders pervades everything. A heart-stopping novel about friendship, identity, and courage from an exciting new voice in young-adult fiction.

Girl Out Loud

Fifteen-year-old Kass is trying to resist her manic-depressive father’s attempts to make her try out for “The X Factor” while she also deals with her crush on the same older boy her best friend likes, her distant mother’s mysterious comings and goings, and her younger brother’s criminal activities.