CHILDREN'S
Released: Jan. 1, 2010
"Great fun. (Fiction. 11-13)"
Three children and their inventor dad on the run from government agents, international superspies AND corporate baddies are finally forced to take a stand in this picaresque debut.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Feb. 1, 2010
"The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page. (Historical fiction. 9-12)"
A flight from New York to Oakland, Calif., to spend the summer of 1968 with the mother who abandoned Delphine and her two sisters was the easy part.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Feb. 23, 2010
"It's the best beginning since The Bad Beginning (1999) and will leave readers howling for the next episode. (High melodrama. 10-12)"
Fresh from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, 15-year-old Penelope Lumley reports to remote but palatial Ashton Place and discovers just why the advertisement for a governess indicated a strong preference for "Experience with Animals."
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CHILDREN'S
Released: March 9, 2010
"This book is rich in detail of both the essential normalcy and the difficulties of a young person with cerebral palsy. (Fiction. 10 & up)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: April 1, 2010
"A gem. (author's note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 10-14)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: May 1, 2010
"A truly extraordinary page-turner that embraces life's big and small aspects with humor and a healthy respect for its profound contradictions. (Historical fiction. 11 & up)"
It seems unfair to 11-year-old Georgie Mason that in Indiana's summer heat she can't go swimming or even to the movies for fear of catching polio.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: May 18, 2010
"Beautiful and evocative—an absolute "keeper." (author's note) (Fiction. 8-10)"
On a day when everything goes wrong, a little girl relies on the magic of the blue moon to turn things around.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: May 25, 2010
"Sweet, funny and superb. (Historical fiction. 9-13)"
Eleven-year-old Turtle falls in with the Diaper Gang—her boy cousins Beans, Kermit and Buddy and their friends Ira and Pork Chop—when she is packed off to stay in her mother's hometown of Key West because her housekeeper mother has a new job with a woman who doesn't like kids.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: June 8, 2010
"An outstanding achievement. (Fiction. 9-12)"
Funny and deeply affecting, this novel by the Steptoe Award winner for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It (2007) revisits the still largely unexplored world of multiracial heritage.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: July 1, 2010
"Charming and thoughtful. (Fiction. 9-12)"
Those who might be tempted to dismiss this heavily illustrated saga of middle-school angst and family upheaval as a Wimpy Kid knock-off will miss an engaging, original heroine, a satisfying story and lots of great pictures.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Aug. 1, 2010
"Initially perplexing and surreal, the narrative's juxtaposition of fantasy and reality eventually blends beautifully in the convincing conclusion. (Fiction. 10 & up)"
In this debut novel, two seemingly unrelated stories merge into a poignant journey from anger to acceptance.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 1, 2010
"Each carefully posed subject is a fascinating enigma. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)"
Set in 1905 Charleston, W.Va., this richly lyrical and historically persuasive coming-of-age story explores the ties that bind, break and renew an affluent African-American family.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 1, 2010
"Love, belief and caring. (Fiction. 8-12)"
Mo mostly loves living on Fox Street, which has everything except foxes, girlfriends and her mom (who died when she was young).
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2010
"A triumph. (Fiction. 9-13)"
Fifth grade BFFs Katie-Rose, Yasaman, Violet and Camilla ride again in this stride-hitting second entry in the Flower Power series (Luv Ya Bunches, 2009).
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2010
"Brilliantly crafted, thoroughly enjoyable and, though so very like Dahl, unique as a fascinating new way to ponder dreams and memories. (Fiction. 8-12)"
Children's literature has a long history of cruel parents, but Hope Scroggins's are so heartless, they kick their tiny girl Honey out of the car for laughing… and never turn back.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 12, 2010
"The absolute necessity of story as a way to redemption and healing past wounds is at the heart of this beautiful debut, and readers will cherish every word up to the heartbreaking yet hopeful and deeply gratifying ending. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)"
When 12-year-old Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kan., in 1936 to stay with her father's boyhood friend, little does she know her sojourn will take her back, via mesmerizing tales, newspaper clippings, curious mementoes and World War I letters, to Manifest as it was in 1918—and into the life of the mysterious boy nicknamed Jinx.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 12, 2010
"Absolutely outstanding. (Historical fiction. 10-16)"
The childhood of African-American literary giant Zora Neale Hurston is brought to life with this fictionalized account.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 26, 2010
"Rich, real and utterly engrossing. (Historical fiction. 10-14)"
This sequel to The Georges and the Jewels (2009) is Smiley at her finest—detailed, nuanced, absorbing.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Nov. 1, 2010
"Undoubtedly one of the cleverest graphic novels of the year; let's hope this isn't the last of Mirka. (Graphic fantasy. 10-14)"
Like all 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girls, ebullient Mirka must face a six-armed troll to avoid becoming his dinner and obtain a dragon-slaying sword—wait, what?
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