PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ by A.S. King

Vera's life is about secrets.  Living with only a father doesn't exactly inspire her to share her many secrets.  He has done his best to raise a teenage daughter himself, but not only is he tight with his money but also with his ability to communicate.

Vera is the result of a teen pregnancy.  One of her secrets is that after she was born her mother was a stripper.  Her best friend Charlie knows that secret, but she would like to keep it from everyone else if at all possible.

Charlie is at the center of many of Vera's secrets.  They have been each other's best friend forever, and they share the secret that Charlie's father abuses Charlie's mother.  As neighbors it has been difficult to ignore the sounds of shouts and slaps, but Vera's father says keeping their secret makes things easier for everyone.

It isn't until Charlie's untimely death that Vera fully embraces the secret love that she has felt for him.  As she deals with a full-time job, keeping up her grades, and pleasing her father, Vera's stress level has her visualizing Charlie everywhere.  It takes a while to realize that the "Charlies" are trying to communicate something.  There are secrets that Charlie wants Vera to uncover and use to clear his name.  The circumstances around his death were suspicious and involved the destruction of a place Vera loved, but these are secrets she finds it incredibly frightening to share.  Will she find the courage she needs to do the right thing?

PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ is presented through multiple voices including both the past and present.  A.S. King draws readers into Vera's world and then slowly peels away the layers to reveal each and every secret.  The characters speak realistically and the situations ring true making King's story flow smoothly despite the many shifts in focus.  This novel will please King's fans and earn her many new ones.

ANNOUNCING THE CONTEST WINNER!

The winner of a signed copy of LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE by Catherine Ryan Hyde is

* Bailey*

THE CRUISERS by Walter Dean Myers

DaVinci Academy in Harlem is focused on gifted and talented learners.  Unfortunately, Zander Scott and a few of his friends are not making the grade.  They haven't been performing up to their potential lately, and the principal is about to make an example of their lax study habits by kicking them out.  The four friends must find a way to prove themselves.

They are given the opportunity when the school begins a unit about the Civil War.  Students are becoming divided along racial lines.  As they study the historic conflict, the school itself is reenacting the events by taking sides - the Union and the Confederacy.  Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi are given the task of making peace between the two sides.  The challenge is to create the peace within school rules and without any resulting violent behavior.  But with tempers running on high and tension reminiscent of the slave owners versus the abolitionists, they have their work cut out for them.

In addition to the battle going on in the classroom, Zander is fighting his own battle on the home front.  His father is threatening to sue for full custody if his mother doesn't demonstrate that she can meet the financial and educational needs required to parent his son.  The last thing Zander wants is to move from Harlem to Seattle.

THE CRUISERS is book #1 in a new series by Walter Dean Myers.  At less than 130 pages it is written in a unique blend of narrative combined with articles and writing assignments from students at DaVinci Academy.  Readers will get a taste of Harlem life along with the familiar classroom subject of the Civil War.  If they develop a connection with the characters, they'll want to keep an out for book #2 KING'S GAMBIT.

RULES TO ROCK BY by Josh Farrar

Playing bass guitar with the kid rock band Egg Mountain is all Annabelle "Belle" wants to do.  They have become quite a sensation in New York.  Being the kid of two famous indie rock musicians has given her a chance to learn and play with some of the best.  Everything in Belle's life is about to change.

Belle's parents are knee-deep in recording a new album, and they've decided they need to get away from all the distractions of the big city.  They are moving Belle and her little brother Xavier to Providence, Rhode Island.  Belle can't believe she'll have to leave behind her band and her Abuela (grandmother) to live in a music studio where her parents will be busy every minute and she'll have no privacy at all.

The living conditions are bad enough, but it's even worse when Belle discovers how horrible Federal Hill Middle School is.  The very first day she encounters one of the school's many bullies.  They seem to take a special pleasure in shaking down the smaller kids for their lunch money.  The only bright light in her terrible first days is Mr. V and his English class.  With his help she might be able to master the art of song writing.

Things are a mess at home.  Belle is constantly left with the job of babysitting her brother while their parents work on the new album.  Thanks to the group's drummer who fixes chocolate chip pancakes at least four nights a week, they don't starve, but it's beyond ridiculous, and Belle has had it.  All she wants is some time alone so she can work on getting a new band together.

With encouragement from her old band mate Ronaldo, Belle plugs away at trying to find other musicians in her new school.  She discovers a guitar player with some promise, but he only agrees to practice not actually perform.  With his help they find a keyboard player nicknamed Crackers who not only plays well but also has a terrific voice.  Now all that's left is a drummer, but finding someone may be more of a challenge than Belle wants.

RULES TO ROCK BY is the story of drive and determination.  Author Josh Farrar introduces readers to Belle whose love of music pushes her to accomplish her dream.  Farrar creates countless obstacles for Belle, but she tackles them all.  Middle grade readers will enjoy the rock and roll backdrop and the relatable characters Farrar uses to make RULES TO ROCK BY an entertaining read.

CONFESSIONS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS by Natalie Standiford

The Sullivans are in for quite a shock.  Their normally joyous Christmas holiday is tarnished when the family matriarch, known to everyone as Almighty, announces she is dying and threatens to write the whole family out of her will unless the family member who committed some unimaginable sin confesses.  She wants their confessions in writing by New Year's Day.

The three Sullivan girls immediately assume they have committed whatever crime has offended their dear, controlling grandmother.  Each sister begins writing her confession.

Norrie, the eldest, is certain that she offended Almighty at her debutante ball.  Almighty had such specific plans and wishes for Norrie's special day, and Norrie knows her behavior was not at all up to her grandmother's rigid standards.

Middle sister, Jane, has never really conformed to Almighty's ideal of a perfect grand-daughter, so it is not a huge leap for her to imagine she is the guilty party.  It is also fairly easy to guess that her offense is the creation of a blog called myevilfamily.com.  Oh, the things Jane has revealed about everyone in her prestigious Baltimore family.

Sassy, the youngest, was been riddled with guilt long before Almighty threatened to write them all out of inheriting her millions.  Sassy is convinced that she is guilty of murdering someone near and dear to her grandmother's heart.  Her confession will hopefully restore the family honor but will most likely result in her own imprisonment. 

Author Natalie Standiford takes readers on a wild ride as each sister recounts recent scandalous events in an effort to soothe their grandmother's ruffled feathers.  The novel is filled with pleas for forgiveness, some motivated by honest feelings and regret, and others not.  The results of everyone's soul searching turn out to reveal some surprising information about everyone in the family.  Fans of Standiford's HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT will want to check this one out.

HALF BROTHER by Kenneth Oppel

Ben can't believe he is being forced into becoming part of his father's latest science experiment.  Being the only son of a college professor/research scientist hasn't really bothered Ben, but things have suddenly changed.  First of all, the family has moved clear across Canada so he will be getting used to a new home, new school, and a whole new group of friends.  The other big change is that he is about to become a brother.  Well, sort of...

Dr. Tomlin is beginning a research experiment to prove that chimpanzees can learn to communicate with humans.  He and his wife will be working together to raise a baby chimp as part of their family and attempt to teach the chimp to communicate using ASL - American Sign Language.  As part of the family, their son Ben will be expected to treat the chimp as a younger sibling and help in the teaching process.

Ben thinks the idea is crazy.  Yes, the chimp is cute and cuddly, but it's a chimp not a human.  Why does he have to participate in this wild experiment?  Much to his surprise, it doesn't take long for him to bond with the little chimp and become just as excited as his parents when the little guy begins to catch on to the whole communication experience.

The chimp is christened Zan, and he quickly becomes part of the family.  Ben's life starts changing at a fairly rapid pace.  As news of Zan begins to spread, Ben's popularity at his new school soars.  Everyone is interested in watching Zan and hearing about his crazy antics.  Ben and his parents are busy night and day helping the chimp assimilate to his new surroundings.  So busy, in fact, that Ben's father hires multiple graduate students to help care for Zan and record the endless videos and written notes necessary to chart the chimp's progress.  Ben's life is a whirlwind of activity. 

HALF BROTHER by author Kenneth Oppel is set in 1973, at a time when chimpanzee experiments dominated the science world.  He deftly combines the fascinating results of animal studies with the daily life of a teenage boy.  As the chimp grows and learns to interact with humans, so does Ben as he finds his place in new surroundings and as a maturing teenager.  The complexities of the research study and the growing emotional attachment of raising Zan, make HALF BROTHER a novel that will have readers laughing and cheering one minute and gasping in horror the next.  Prepare to be entertained but also touched by emotion and regret.

PAYBACK TIME by Carl Deuker

Dan "Mitch" True sees his school newspaper as his ticket to a career in journalism someday.  He has his sights set on leaving Seattle and heading to college in New York City.  What better place to find, write, and report the news of the world!  There is only one problem.  How is he supposed to become a top-notch journalist when he's being assigned to write the sports column?

Mitch can't believe it when Alyssa is chosen as editor for the paper.  He was sure he would get the job.  To make matters worse, she tells him he will be writing all the sports stories.  It should be obvious to anyone observant enough to notice his overweight, out of shape body that sports are not a priority for Mitch.  The only thing Alyssa says to encourage him is that at least people will read his stories since the sports section is really the only part of the paper anyone reads.

Mitch heads off to the first football game with Kimi, the staff photographer.  They both focus on the team's star player, the quarterback Horst Diamond.  His talent looks like the only hope for an interesting season, that is until Mitch and Kimi notice Angel Marichal. 

Coach McNulty doesn't seem the least bit interested in Angel.  Even though Mitch watches the kid throw practice passes on the sidelines that would make an NFL player jealous, the coach shrugs away any suggestions that Angel should be given more playing time.

Mitch begins to suspect something is going on when he writes about this new player's amazing potential only to have those sections of his stories removed before they appear in the paper.  When he points this out to Kimi, she agrees that perhaps they should do a bit of investigative journalism.  They work together to uncover the mystery of Angel Marichal.  Is the coach using Angel to cheat his way into a championship position, or is there something else illegal going on?

Author Carl Deuker uses his expertise as a sports fiction writer to entertain teen readers with some great football action as well as an intriguing mystery.  Readers will follow this high school football team's winning season and at the same time witness Deuker's characters as they encounter slashed tires, gang threats, and physical violence.  In an incredible combination of action and adventure, PAYBACK TIME is sure to be a satisfying read.