ACTION AND HIGH ADVENTURE

The first book in David Gilman's Danger Zone series is The Devil's Breath. The action starts right in Chapter 1 as Max Gordon is out on an evening run in the woods near his boarding school when someone starts shooting at him. Barely missing this assassination attempt Max returns to school only to learn that his father is missing somewhere in Africa. Trying to find his father, Max evades other death attempts, tries to survive in the desert on foot, learns of a Bushman prophecy with him as the savior, sneaks into the stronghold of the dangerous Shaka Chang,and tries to fly an airplane to safety with no flying experience except on a flight simulator on his computer. Each thrilling chapter will keep you reading to the very end.

CREEPY NEW BOOK

Three middle school friends, Zach, Poppy, and Alice, find themselves on a strange quest from a ghost who appeared to Poppy in dreams. A creepy, bone-china doll known as the Great Queen must be buried in the ghost's hometown for the ghost Eleanor to rest. As the three set off on this adventure, nothing seems to go right. Poppy believes that the doll contains Eleanor's ground-up bones. A passenger on the bus the teens take claims to see Eleanor. As the trio gets closer to their destination, Zach starts to see Eleanor in his dreams. If the teens fulfill their quest, will ghostly Eleanor let them go? Three teens who enjoyed playing make-believe games for years, now have a real-life adventure in Holly Black's new Newbery Honor book, Doll Bones.

COUNTING BY 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

This is a book of oddballs starting with the main character Willow. Willow doesn't fit in. This little girl is a genius about many things, but is considered odd by her schoolmates. And school is boring! Then tragedy strikes when her loving parents are killed in a car crash. With no next of kin Willow is lucky enough to find a temporary home with the family of her best friend, a highschooler named Mai. Mai's family are oddballs, too. Mother Patti operates a nail salon and considers the color red is lucky. The family lives in a garage behind the shop. Mai's older brother,Quang-ha, a troublemaker at school, has the same inefficient guidance counselor as Willow -- Dell Duke. Yet somehow all of these people come together create a new life for Willow and themselves. An amazing story of change and family that is destined to win awards.

THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING by Maryrose Wood

This is not a new book, but one that I have wanted to read since last year. It was worth the wait. Set in the 1800s the story follows Miss Penelope Lumley as she gets her first job as governess to three feral children, children raised by wolves but now recovered and returned to human society by Lord Frederick of Ashton Place. Unfortunately Lady Constance, Lord Frederick's young wife, is terrified by the children. With Lady Constance's first Christmas Ball is coming up, Lord Frederick insists that the children be part of the party. Miss Lumley has trained then well in the social graces and all is fine until a squirrel is let loose in the ballroom and the children go wild chasing it destroying the party and most of the manor house. Just when a mysterious howling is discovered by Miss Lumley and the children in the high attic, the book ends making the reader eager to learn more. I call this pulling a Tarzan because Edgar Rice Burroughs did the same thing at the end of his first Tarzan forcing readers to buy his next book. I am asking students to tell me if they want the library to buy more books in this series called The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place.