Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Electrifying NEW Books for Young Readers

Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep by Liz Kessler 
Emily Windsnap Series Book # 2

Picture an island set in a glittering blue sea, sparkling with white sand and palm trees, a secret place where humans and merfolk live together and where a girl who grows a mermaid's tail when she enters the water is not considered a problem. 

To Emily Windsnap - half mermaid, half human - her new home is perfect. That is, until Emily ruins everything by waking a legendary sea monster known as the Kraken from its hundred-year sleep. As the Kraken rises from the deep, putting the future of the islanders in jeopardy, Emily makes a desperate attempt to save them. 

But how could she have dreamed that her best friend, Shona, would stop talking to her, or that Mandy Rushton, her old enemy from junior high, would turn up when least expected?
 
The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

Hiding is Roo Fanshaw's special skill. Living in a frighteningly unstable family, she often needs to disappear at a moment's notice. When her parents are murdered, it's her special hiding place under the trailer that saves her life.

As it turns out, Roo, much to her surprise, has a wealthy if eccentric uncle, who has agreed to take her into his home on Cough Rock Island. Once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children of the rich, the strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets. Roo doesn't believe in ghosts or fairy stories, but what are those eerie noises she keeps hearing? And who is that strange wild boy who lives on the river? People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth.

Despite the best efforts of her uncle's assistants, Roo discovers the house's hidden room--a garden with a tragic secret.

Inspired by The Secret Garden, this tale full of unusual characters and mysterious secrets.

 

Christmas Miracle Pets by Allan Zullo

Have you heard about the dachshund who was snatched up by an eagle, but fought back in midair? How about the two pigs who escaped from a sausage factory, leaped into an icy river, and swam to safety? Can you believe a pet cat was trapped for two months under the concrete floor of a new building under construction?

Inside this book, you'll find these and more incredible true tales of brave animals who overcame life-threatening situations. You will never forget these animals or their amazing stories of survival!
 
Step by Step by N.B. Grace

The cast and crew of Shake It Up, Chicago! are headed to Alabama to do some environmental clean up, and CeCe is less than thrilled. She would much rather head to the glamorous city of Los Angeles to audition for a new dance-themed reality show! 

But CeCe's best friend Rocky isn't on board with this idea at all. 

Will CeCe be able to convince her friend to join her? Or will Rocky spend her days doing volunteer work, while CeCe might possibly land the dance role of a lifetime?

Octavius Grimwood's Graveyard Guide by Rod Green 

Boys and girls who relish scary stories and macabre movies will love this coffin-shaped book. It's an illustrated collection of short articles that present thumbnail descriptions of vampire bats, the Frankenstein monster, the spooky tunnels beneath the streets of Paris, the Dracula legend, and much more. Each two-page spread is devoted to a separate category of factual or fictitious creature, such as Vampires, Skeletons, Werewolves, Zombies, and others. 

Kids will also find fact lists of descriptive details about terrifying beings, and even ghoulish jokes, such as: " Why doesn't Dracula have any friends? Because he's a pain in the neck. "