Monday, March 30, 2015

New Fiction










The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong by Tam Holland
“When Vee Crawford-Wong’s history teacher assigns an essay on his family history, Vee knows he’s in trouble. His parents—Chinese-born dad and Texas-bred Mom—are mysteriously and stubbornly close-lipped about his ancestors. So, he makes it all up and turns in the assignment. And then everything falls apart.”—Goodreads

Face-Off by Michael Betcherman
“Seventeen-year-old Alex Petrovic is surprised when he discovers that he has a twin brother he never knew about. This meeting with his brother uncovers family secrets that involve a civil war that tore apart their home country. Two war criminals from this conflict escape and Alex hopes to bring them to justice.”—WorldCat

Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass
“After a childhood cut short by war and the harsh strictures of Nazi Germany, sixteen-year-old Wilm is finally tasting freedom. In spite of the scars World War II has left on his hometown, Leipzig, and in spite of the oppressive new Soviet regime, Wilm is finding his own voice. It’s dangerous, of course, to be sneaking out at night to leave messages on police buildings. But it’s exciting, too, and Wilm feels justified, considering his family’s suffering. Until one mission goes too far, and Wilm finds he’s endangered the very people he most wants to protect.”—Goodreads

In Darkness by Nick Lake
“In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, fifteen-year-old Shorty, a poor gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a ruined hospital, and as he grows weaker he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in the 1804.”—WorldCat

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
“With his family still grieving over his sister's death in a terrorist bombing five years earlier, twelve-year-old Jamie is far more interested in his cat, Roger, his birthday Spiderman T-shirt, and keeping his new Muslim friend Sunya a secret from his father.”—WorldCat

One Plus One Equals Blue by MJ Auch
“Twelve year-old Basil knows he’s special—he’s been associating numbers with colors since he was a kid. His gift (or curse) has turned him into somewhat of a loner, but his world begins to change when he meets Tenzie, the new girl in school who has similar freakisms. She, too, has synesthesia (a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another). At first, Basil is somewhat annoyed with Tenzie’s pushiness, but after Basil’s estranged mother returns, his life is turned upside down . . . and Tenzie may be the only person to help him put it back together again.”—Goodreads

Paper Daughter by Jeanette Ingold
“When her father, a respected journalist in Seattle, is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Maggie Chen, a high school intern at her father's newspaper, searches for clues to the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, an investigation that forces her to confront her ethnicity and a family she never knew. Includes historical notes on Chinese immigration to the United States, 'paper sons,' and the Exclusion Era laws.”—WorldCat

Soldier Dog by Sam Angus
"It's 1917. In the trenches of France, miles from home, Stanley is a boy fighting a man's war. He is a dog handler, whose dog must be so loyal that he will cross no-man's-land alone under heavy fire to return to Stanley's side, carrying a message that could save countless lives. But this journey is fraught with danger, and only the bravest will survive. As the fighting escalates and Stanley experiences the true horror of war, he comes to realize that the loyalty of his dog is the only thing he can rely on."—WorldCat

Soldier Doll by Jennifer Gold
"When Elizabeth spots an antique doll dressed in a soldier's uniform at a local garage sale, she thinks that it might be a good last-minute birthday gift for her dad, who's about to ship out to Afghanistan. But is it more special? Could it be the very soldier doll that inspired a famous poem written during World War I? In finding the doll, Elizabeth has become the latest link in a chain of love and loss that began in England during World War I, when a young woman gave the doll to her fiancé before he left to join the fighting in Europe.”—WorldCat

Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat
"On her first voyage as a stewardess aboard the Empress of Ireland, Ellie is drawn to the solitary fire stoker who stands by the ship's rail late at night, often writing in a journal. Jim. Ellie finds it hard to think of his name now. After their wonderful time in Quebec City, that awful night happened. The screams, the bodies, the frigid waters-- she tries hard to tell herself that he survived, but it's hard to believe when so many didn't. So when Wyatt Steele, journalist at The New York Times asks her for her story, Ellie refuses. But when he shows her Jim's journal, she jumps at the chance to be able to read it herself, to find some trace of the man she had fallen in love with, or perhaps a clue to what happened to him. There's only one catch: she will have to tell her story to Steele and he'll "pay" her by giving her the journal, one page at a time."—WorldCat