TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT

Are you ready for a book with adventure, romance, mystery, and just a touch of fantasy? Then take a look at Tiger's Curse by Collen Houck. The story starts with an ordinary girl looking for a summer job to help pay for college. By a twist of fate Kelsey gets a temporary job at a circus feeding the animals and cleaning up after performances. While at the circus Kelsey feels an attraction to a beautiful tiger who seems to understand her when she talks to it. Soon she learns that the tiger is really an East Indian prince under a curse and she may be the one to break the curse. Kelsey is now spending the rest of the summer in India working with the prince's guardian and experiencing unbelievable magical adventures to curse this 300-year-old curse. Tiger's Curse is the first book is a trilogy that will take you to exotic places and will challenge you to solve strange riddles. Coming soon -- Tiger's Quest.

IF YOU LIKED THE HUNGER GAMES...

Take a look at Neptune's Children by Bonnie Dobkin. Both books are part of a science fiction sub-genre called Dystopia. Dystopias are societies or cultures that are the opposite of uptopias (ideal worlds). In The Hunger Games, something has destroyed the United States that we know and replaced it with Capital City and the Districts. In Neptune's Children, a biological terrorist weapon is released killing all the adults and older children. For families that were visiting the Isles of Wonder Amusement Park, only young children and babies are left alive. How these children unite to survive is an amazing story filled with dangers and triumphs. But when mysterious things start happening inside and outside the park, many children begin to question the motives of the Core, the group of leaders who have been running this new society. Look for Neptune's Children on the New Book Shelves by the windows.

INSIGHTS INTO NAZI GERMANY

Even though this book won't be ready for check out until late next week, I have to tell you about The Auslander, by Paul Dowswell, which I just finished reading. Similar to Someone Named Eva, a 2010 Caudill nominee, this new book deals with a Nazi program that took Polish orphans who meet the Aryan physical standards (blond hair, physical measurements and proportions) and adopt them into Nazi-supporting families. Peter, whose parents were killed by a German tank, speaks perfect German and is anxious to leave the orphanage for a more exciting life in Berlin. However as the war continues Peter begins to notice that some of the Nazi policies are very unfair, especially to the Jews. He begins to wonder if he made the right choice just as British planes begin to bomb Berlin.

IF YOU LIKED POWERLESS, THE 2012 CAUDILL WINNER...

You might want to try Michael Owen Carroll's Quantum Prophecy series. In the first book The Awakening, a prologue describes a battle between superheroes and super villains that occurred ten years before the action of this book. After the battle all superheroes disappeared. Now on the tenth anniversary of the disappearance, Colin Wagner discovers he has the power of super speed. Other children, friends of Colin, soon discover that they have super powers, too, and someone or some organization is after them. I just finished reading the second book, The Gathering, which further explains what happened to the superheroes, why these children have super powers, and what the future might be. I plan to order the third book next year to finish the series. Believe me, it's very exciting.