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June 30, 2006

New DVDs

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

2006 Rogue Pictures. Unrated.

A mix of Dave Chappelle's sketch comedy and musical interludes, inspired in part by the 1973 documentary Wattstax.

Eight Below

2006 Buena Vista Home Video, Rated PG

In the Antarctic, after an expedition with Dr. Davis McClaren (Bruce Greenwood), the sled dog trainer Jerry Shepherd (Paul Walker) has to leave the polar base with his colleagues due to the proximity of a heavy snow storm. He ties his dogs to be rescued after, but the mission is called-off and the dogs are left alone at their own fortune. For six months, Jerry tries to find a sponsor for a rescue mission while his dogs fight for survival.

Failure to Launch

2006 Paramount Pictures. Rated PG-13
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel
A thirtysomething slacker suspects his parents of setting him up with his dream girl so he'll finally vacate their home.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

2006 Warner Home Video. Rated R. Language, violence and sexuality/nudity.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen.
While fleeing from the cops, small time hood Harry Lockhart stumbles into an acting audition. He does so well he gets to go to Hollywood. While there, Harry pursues a girl he loved in high school and ends up geting caught up in twisted murder mystery. His only chance of getting out alive is a private detective named Gay Perry, who also works as a consultant for movies.

The World's Fastest Indian

2006 Magnolia Pictures. Rated PG-13. Starring Anthony Hopkins.

In `60s New Zealand, at the bottom of the world, Burt Munro takes a 1920 Indian motorcycle and, delightfully without resources other than his own obsession and a Kiwi #8 wire mentality, spends his retirement rebuilding the bike and following his dream to go to Speed Week at Salt Lake in Utah. Under funded, without the support of a team and against all the odds he not only makes it to Bonneville, he sets a national land speed record, not once, but again and again.

June 29, 2006

New Romance/Romantic Suspense

Captive of My Desires by Johanna Lindsey

"A Malory novel"

Cover of Night by Linda Howard

In the charming rural town of Trail Stop, Idaho, accessible to the outside world by only a single road, young widow Cate Nightingale lives peacefully with her four-year-old twin boys, running a bed-and-breakfast. Though the overnight guests are few and far between - occasional hunters and lake fishermen - Cate always manages to make ends meet with the help of the local jack-of-all-trades, Calvin Harris, who can handle everything from carpentry to plumbing. But Calvin is not what he seems, and Cate's luck is about to run out.

Sandcastles by Luanne Rice

Some things, like sandcastles, don't survive the changing tides. But love, family, and friendship-just as fragile-have a way of standing against anything. It will take nothing short of a miracle to heal the rift between father and daughter, husband and wife, the past and the present-but a miracle is exactly what is in the works at Star of the Sea Academy. The only question is: Do you believe?

New Large Print Books

Coming Out by Danielle Steel

Looking for Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

New Mysteries/Suspense Novels

Black Order by James Rollins

A sinister fire in a Copenhagen bookstore ignites a relent-less hunt across four continents. Arson and murder reveal an insidious plot to steal a Bible that once belonged to Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory. And Commander Gray Pierce dives headlong into a mystery that dates back to Nazi Germany . . . and to horrific experiments performed in a now-abandoned laboratory buried in a hollowed-out mountain in Poland.

A continent away, madness ravages a remote monastery high in Nepal, as Buddhist monks turn to cannibalism and torture. Lisa Cummings, a young American doctor investigating the atrocity, is suddenly a target of a bru-tal assassin working for clandestine forces that want the affair buried at any cost. Lisa's only ally is a hidden pilgrim, Painter Crowe -- director of SIGMA Force, an elite command of American scientists and Special Forces operatives -- who is already showing signs of the baffling malady that destroyed the minds of the monks.

Now it is up to Gray Pierce to save both Painter and Lisa -- and a world in jeopardy -- as SIGMA Force races to expose a century-old plot that threatens to destroy the current world order . . . and alter the destiny of humankind forever.

Proof Positive by Phillip Margolin

Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen

Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the best-until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead-but her life was shattered forever.
Now Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again. She dreams about placing the cold steel between her lips and pulling the trigger one last time. Because for a woman who's lost everything, what is there left to lose?
She's about to find out.

The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood: The cottage tales of Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

America's favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is back in her twelfth bestseller and sure to win more fans than ever before. Trenton, New Jersey's premier troublemaker is once again struggling with her tangled love life, her chaotic family, and her gift for destroying every car she drives. Not to mention her attempts to bring in the sometimes scary bail jumpers of Trenton, and the sudden appearance of a mysterious female stalker—who turns out to have a close connection to Ranger. Twelve Sharp has twists that will drive readers wild and prove that once again, for sheer reading entertainment, no one tops Janet Evanovich.

The Wrong Hostage by Elizabeth Lowell

Orphaned at thirteen, Grace Silva clawed her way out of poverty and violence to become one of the most respected judges on the federal bench. Grace believes in the rule of law -- lives it, breathes it. She has always been buttoned up and buttoned down.

Except once.

Joe Faroe has learned that laws are made by politicians, and politicians are all too human. He believes in the innocents, the ones getting ground up by governments that are too polarized or too corrupt to protect their own citizens. He's been through the political meat grinder himself. It cost him his career, his freedom, and the woman who still haunts him. Since then Faroe has worked outside the rules and politics of government as a kidnap specialist for St. Kilda Consulting, a Manhattan-based global business that concentrates on the shadow world where governments can't go. He is good at his work -- intelligent, confident, ruthless.

Until a friend dies trying to kill him.

Now Faroe is out of the business. Retired. He's through trying to save a world that doesn't want to be saved.

Then Grace comes to him, past and present collide, and Faroe finds himself sucked back into the shadows, tracking a violent killer who holds the life of Grace's son in his bloody hands.


New Nonfiction

American Gospel: God, the founding father, and the making of a nation by Jon Meacham

In American Gospel (literally meaning the "good news about America"), New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham sets the record straight on the history of religion in American public life. As Meacham shows, faith --meaning a belief in a higher power, and the sense that we are God's chosen people-- has always been at the heart of our national experience, from Jamestown to the Constitutional Convention to the Civil Rights Movement to September 11th. And yet, first and foremost, America is a nation founded upon the principles of liberty and freedom. Every American is free to exercise his own faith or no faith at all. And so a balance is struck, between public religion and private religion; and religious belief is distinct from morality.


Design Ideas for Home Storage by Elaine Martin Petrowski

Don't manage the mess—banish it with Design Ideas for Home Storage. Here's how to keep frequently used items nearby yet neat; archive important papers, photos, and family keepsakes; organize closets; manage clothing overflow; store seasonal items, such as sporting gear or holiday decorations; and make better use of freestanding and built-in furniture. Plus, learn how to discover additional storage nooks around the house. Ideal for anyone looking to reorganize, Design Ideas for Home Storage is an essential resource.

First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A son's memoir by Howard Reich

On the evening of February 15, 2001, Sonia Reich, Howard Reich's mother, packed some clothes into two brown shopping bags, put on her gray winter coat, locked the door to her home in Skokie, Illinois and fled. Someone was trying to kill her, "to put a bullet in my head," Sonia told anyone who would listen.

The First and Final Nightmare... is Reich's moving and bittersweet memoir of growing up in Skokie, discovering an odd and personal American freedom in jazz, and his riveting, revealing investigation into his family's past and the nature of his mother's illness, called late-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a poignant story of a mother and a son, a haunted past, and the irony of what may happen when that often repeated admonition to "never forget" becomes a curse.

Heat: An amateur's adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a Dante-quoting butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford

Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a memoir of Buford's kitchen adventure, the story of Batali's amazing rise to culinary (and extra-culinary) fame, a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters. It is a book to delight in, and to savour.

The North Pole was Here: Puzzles and perils at the top of the world by Andrew Revkin

Discover the North Pole and the arctic ice that covers the ocean water there. Learn about historical expeditions, and the recent one the author joined and where these chapters were written.

On the Couch by Lorraine Bracco

Known to millions as psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on HBO's hit series The Sopranos, a role for which she has received multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations, Lorraine Bracco is one of the most recognizable actresses working today. A glamorous and intelligent presence on both the big and small screen, as well as on the Broadway stage, it's hard to imagine that this formidable woman was once voted the "ugliest girl in the sixth grade." But with guts, determination, and a very good sense of humor, Lorraine Bracco triumphed-and did it her way.

In this engaging memoir, Lorraine opens up about her career, her marriages, her determination to be a good mother, and her refusal to be marginalized as an actress and a woman in a society obsessed with youth and beauty. She is also startlingly honest about her victory over depression, her willingness to seek treatment, and how she found her way again. And when she was cast on The Sopranos, yet another incredible new chapter began.Forthright, funny, and, at fifty, a woman of both uncommon beauty and intelligence, Lorraine Bracco knows what she wants out of life. In a conversational memoir as frank and candid as a heart-to-heart with an old friend, Lorraine Bracco's On the Couch delivers with all the force of this amazing woman's marvelous personality.

June 22, 2006

New Children's Nonfiction

Albert Einstein: A life of genius by Elizabeth MacLeod

Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney

A newly illustrated edition of the classic fable of the hen who is forced to do all the work of baking bread and of the animals who learn a bitter lesson from it.

Move! by Steve Jenkins

Animals move! Follow them as they swing, dance, float, leap, and slide from page to page, then learn why these animals move the way they do. Move! is a playful introduction to motion in the animal kingdom that invites young readers to guess some of the unusual ways that animals get around. Action is the name of the game, so Move!


New YA

Wait for Me by An Na

As her senior year in high school approaches, Mina yearns to find her own path in life but working at the family business, taking care of her little sister, and dealing with her mother's impossible expectations are as stifling as the southern California heat, until she falls in love with a man who offers a way out.

New Mysteries

Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

Kate Martinelli has seen her share of peculiar things as a San Francisco cop, but never anything quite like this: an ornate Victorian sitting room straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story-complete with violin, tobacco-filled Persian slipper, and gunshots in the wallpaper that spell out the initials of the late queen.

Philip Gilbert was a true Holmes fanatic, from his antiquated décor to his vintage wardrobe. And no mere fan of fiction's great detective, but a leading expert with a collection of priceless memorabilia-a collection some would kill for.

And perhaps someone did: In his collection is a century-old manuscript purportedly written by Holmes himself-a manuscript that eerily echoes details of Gilbert's own murder.

Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker

Buddy Bollen is a C-list movie mogul who made his fortune producing films of questionable artistic merit. When Buddy hires Sunny Randall to protect his rising star and girlfriend, Erin Flint, Sunny knows from the start that the prickly, spoiled beauty won't make her job easy. And when Erin's sister, Misty, is found dead in the lavish home they share with sugar daddy Bollen, there doesn't seem to be a single lead worth pursuing.

Tracking Misty's murderer reveals a host of seedy complications behind Erin's glamorous lifestyle as well as Buddy Bollen's entertainment empire, made up of shady film deals and mobsters out for revenge. But in a world where there's little difference between the good guys and the bad, exposing the killer could prove to be Sunny's undoing.

Book of the Dead by Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child

The New York Museum of Natural History receives their pilfered gem collection back...ground down to dust. Diogenes, the psychotic killer who stole them in Dance of Death, is throwing down the gauntlet to both the city and to his brother, FBI Agent Pendergast, who is currently incarcerated in a maximum security prison. To quell the PR nightmare of the gem fiasco, the museum decides to reopen the Tomb of Senef. An astounding Egyptian temple, it was a popular museum exhibit until the 1930s, when it was quietly closed. But when the tomb is unsealed in preparation for its gala reopening, the killings--and whispers of an ancient curse--begin again. And the catastrophic opening itself sets the stage for the final battle between the two brothers: an epic clash from which only one will emerge alive.

Copy Cat by Erica Spindler

Five years ago, three young victims were found dead, posed like little angels. There were no witnesses. Strangely clean scenes. The Sleeping Angel Killer called his despicable acts "the perfect crimes."

The case immobilized the close-knit community of Rockford, Illinois, and nearly destroyed homicide detective Kitt Lundgren's career -- and her life. During the investigation, Kitt tragically lost her own child to illness. She was overwhelmed by the death of her daughter, and the final blow was the crushing realization that she let the killer get away.

Now the Sleeping Angel Killer is back.

New Nonfiction

Godless: the church of liberalism by Ann H. Coulter

Warlord: No better friend, no worse enemy by Ilario Pantano with Malcolm McConnell

New Fiction

Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde

Two weeks before Christmas, Diana Duprey, an outspoken abortion doctor, is found floating in her pool, a bruise the size of a golf ball visible through her dark curls. A national figure, Diana inspired passion and ignited tempers, never more so than on the day of her death.

Her husband, Frank, an attorney in the D.A.'s office for more than twenty years, had fought bitterly with her on the day of her murder. Yet to reveal the nature of their fight would cost him not only his career but something greater still-a relationship he will go to any lengths to protect. Diana's daughter, Megan, a college freshman, had also quarreled with Diana that day, and her role in her mother's murder will prove more significant than she ever could have anticipated. The Reverend Stephen O'Connell, founder of the town's pro-life coalition, obviously had issues with Diana, but his anger extended beyond the political to the personal-namely, Dr. Duprey's involvement with his own troubled teenager. Meanwhile, the detective on the case grapples to make sense of it all. His investigation implicates many in this town and reveals a series of gross miscalculations, each one challenging what we know, or think we know, about community, fidelity, justice, and love.

By a Slow River by Philippe Claudel

As the First World War rages on, the daily life of a small town near the front is hardly disturbed by the report of artillery fire and the parade of wounded in its streets. But within the space of a year, this illusion of ordinary days is shattered by the deaths of three innocents-a charming schoolmistress from "the north," who captured every male heart only to take her own life without apparent reason; an angelic eight-year-old girl, who is strangled, her body abandoned by the canal; and the cherished wife of the local policeman, who dies in labor while her husband is hunting the little girl's murderer.

Twenty years on, the policeman still struggles to make sense of these mysteries that both torment and sustain him. In the pages of his notebooks he continually-desperately, obsessively-summons up the past and its ghosts. But excavating the town's secret history will bring neither peace to him nor justice to the wicked. And as his solitary detective work continues on these long-closed cases, we come to see that his efforts can lead only to an unimaginable widening of the tragedy.

In the policeman's simple, plangent voice--full of unflinching scrutiny and the compassion of weary experience--Philippe Claudel gives us a tale of galvanizing suspense and an indelible meditation on morality.

Foreign Correspondent: A novel by Alan Furst

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

Seven oddly matched pairs--a mother and daughter, two business partners, two flight attendants, a born-again Christian couple, two former child stars, and other unlikely couples--are thrown together to compete in a high-stakes, televised contest. It is the new reality show, Lost and Found, a global scavenger hunt whose initial purpose is entertainment, but with each challenge, the drama builds as the number of players is whittled down.

As the game escalates, tensions mount, temptations beckon, and the bonds between teammates begin to fray. The question is not only who will capture the final prize, but at what cost?

Rapture: in the twinkling of eye: countdown to the earth's last days by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

In the moments leading up to the Rapture, nobody knows it is coming as the clock silently ticks down. Choices are made. The stage is set as Nicolae Carpathia ruthlessly eliminates any obstacles in his rise to power. In the twinkling of an eye, loved ones disappear without a good-bye. Heaven rejoices as millions are welcomed into the unspeakable presence of God. The darkest days may lie ahead for those who have been left behind. On o6-o6-o6, read the story that leads you right into Left Behind.

Saboteurs By W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth

The welcome, all-new return of Griffin's New York Times - bestselling series about the OSS in World War II.


Second Wives Club: A Novel by Jane Moore

Alison and her groom, Luca, have just exchanged wedding vows and are preparing to cap off their perfect day at the reception. But before the champagne even hits the crystal stemware, Luca's first wife storms in and snatches back her children in front of the horrified guests. When the fuss has died down, Alison's friend Sarah confides that a few women she knows have started the Second Wives Club, where they get together to vent about the drama that inevitably unfolds when you share your husband with another woman.

Turning the tables on the usual sympathy for first wives, Jane Moore's dishy novel and lovable ensemble cast is a brilliant, unputdownable look at the modern marital love triangle.

Sparkle Life By Kara Lindstrom

Wholly contemporary and compulsively readable, this sparkling debut is a finely honed tale of sex, love, and making movies that is sure to appeal to fans of Nick Hornby and Melissa Bank.

Sparkle Life is about the movie business, sex, globalization, and real estate as told through the lives of three women in their 30s—Liv, Joy, and Sara. Liv is rich, talented, and promiscuous, tremendously attached to the men who raised her: her father, a very religious clothing manufacturer and her uncle, a Park Avenue psychiatrist. Joy makes lists: be a producer, married, and rich. Sara is extraordinarily observant, seeing details and identifying patterns, including her own inability to explain what the patterns mean.

Winner of the National Book Award: A novel of fame, honor, and really bad weather Jincy Willett

Set in Rhode Island, Winner of the National Book Award tells the story of twins who could not be more different. Abigail Mather is a woman of passionate sensual and sexual appetites, while her sister, the book loving local librarian Dorcas, lives a quiet life of the mind. But when the sisters are sought out by the predatory and famous poet, Guy DeVilbiss, who introduces them to Hollywood hack writer and possible psychopath Conrad Lowe, they rapidly become pawns in a game that leads to betrayal, shame and ultimately, murder.

June 12, 2006

New Mysteries

Blow the House Down by Robert Baer

Cold Moon: A Lincoln Rhyme novel by Jeffery Deaver

Husband by Dean Koontz

Killer Dreams by Iris Johansen

#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen returns with a new suspense thriller guaranteed to keep readers turning pages all night long -- an adrenaline-laced shocker that pits a mother and son against a killer who’s the stuff of nightmares.

Marked Man by William Lashner

Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp

Welcome to Familyland, an offshoot of Lamaar Studios. Once a small, Southern California animation house, it has grown into an entertainment conglomerate encompassing movies, television, music, video games, and a sprawling theme park.

When an actor portraying Familyland’s beloved mascot, Rambunctious Rabbit, is brutally murdered on park grounds, Lamaar executives are worried that the idyllic image of ‘50s America represented in Familyland will be shattered. They ask Mike Lomax and his partner Terry Biggs, the LAPD detectives assigned to solve the case, to keep the circumstances surrounding the death of their mascot quiet.

Terrorist by John Updike

New Large Print

Killer Dreams by Iris Johansen

June 9, 2006

New Children's DVDs

Backyardigans: Surf's up

Bob the Builder: Hold onto your hard hats

LazyTown: Sports Candy Festival

The people of LazyTown love to lounge. They find inactivity invigorating and they revel in relaxation. The children are in dire need of a hero to look up to, someone to show them alternatives to all the bad habits and easy solutions they see around them.
Includes episodes Sports candy festival -- Happy brush day.

Little Einsteins: Team up for adventure

Rated G.
Join Leo, June, Quincy and Annie as they meet their music ship, Rocket, for the very first time and become the biggest little "superheroes" ever. Take a whirlwind voyage around the globe, and experience close encounters with a bald eagle, an erupting volcano and friendly whales to learn how teamwork cn save the day.
Includes episodes: How we became the Little Einsteins-the true story -- I love to conduct -- Rocket Safari.

What's New Scooby-Doo? Route scary six

Sesame Street: Guess that shape and color

New DVDs

Casanova

Rated R for some sexual content.
Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, Lena Olin.
He was the world's most notorious seducer. A swashbuckler, master of disguise and wit. It was said no woman could resist Casanova's amorous charms. Until now. For the first time in his life he's about to meet his match with an alluring Venetian beauty.

Monarch of the Glen: Season 4

White Countess

Winter Passing

MPAA rating: R; for language, some drug use and sexuality.
Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell, Amelia Warner, Amy Madigan, Dallas Roberts.
Actress Reese Holden has been offered a small fortune by a book editor if she can secure for publication the love letters that her father, a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. Returning to Michigan, Reese finds that an ex-grad student and a would-be musician have moved in with her father, who cares more about his new friends than he does about his own health and well-being.

New Children's Nonfiction

Hello, Squirrels! Scampering through the seasons by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Gay W. Holland

Wings of Light: The migration of the yellow butterfly by Stephen R. Swinburne, illustrated by Bruce Hiscock

June 8, 2006

New picture books

I Love Tools! by Philemon Sturges

A boy and girl use a variety of tools to make a house for a friendly bluebird.

Walk on! A guide for babies of all ages by Marla Frazee

Trying something new is never easy. Like walking, for instance. But aren't you sick of sitting on your bottom day in and day out? Hasn't lying around all the time become a little bit boring? This handy guide, both practical and inspirational, is here to help. With useful tips, common pitfalls, and Marla Frazee's adorable illustrations, this book is perfect for anyone--from a baby to a graduate to a grown-up--who's about to take a scary first step.

Young Man's Dance by Laurei Lazzaro Knowlton

New board books

I Love Trains! by Philemon Sturges

My Very First Book of Numbers by Eric Carle

Upper and lower halves of divided pages can be turned separately, to match numbers with pictures.

New Easy-Read

In the Doghouse: an Emm & Bo story by Leslie Kimmelman

New nonfiction

Wisdom of Our Fathers: lessons and letters from daughters and sons by Tim Russert

New book on CD

Dead Watch by John Sandford

June 6, 2006

New Picture Books

Amy & Ivan by Charise Mericle Harper.

Ivan wants to surprise his best friend, Amy, with flowers. Headed to the flower shop, he passes lots of trucks. One red truck, one blue, green, orange, yellow...What could they be carrying? With a lift of a flap, readers will discover an ascending number of party supplies being delivered to Amy’s house, where the real surprise is on birthday boy Ivan!

Baby shoes by Dashka Slater.

After taking a walk with his mother, Baby's new white shoes with the blue stripe are covered with a variety of colors.

Best best friends by Margaret Chodos-Irvine.

Mary and Clare do everything together at preschool, but Mary's birthday celebration puts a strain on the girls' friendship.

New Teen Fiction

Rash by Pete Hautman.

In the late twenty-first century Bo Marsten is unjustly accused of a causing a rash that plagues his entire high school. He loses it, and as a result, he's sentenced to work in the Canadian tundra, at a pizza factory that's surrounded by hungry polar bears. Bo finds prison life to be both boring and dangerous, but it's nothing compared to what happens when he starts playing on the factory's highly illegal football team. In the meantime, Bork, an artificial intelligence that Bo created for a science project, tracks Bo down in prison. Bork has spun out of control and seems to be operating on his own. He offers to get Bo's sentence shortened, but can Bo trust him? And now that Bo has been crushing skulls on the field, will he be able to go back to his old, highly regulated life?

Sand dollar summer by Kimberly K. Jones.

Twelve-year-old Lise watches her safe world fall apart when her strong, self-reliant mom is injured in a car accident. To recuperate, Mom takes Lise and her bright little brother to live in a rattletrap house on the beach in Maine for the summer. Although her mother grew up there, this is Lise's first experience with the ocean. She's terrified by what may be lurking in the cold depths and confused by the ways that Maine is changing her mother.

Water Shaper by Laura Williams McCaffrey.

Margot is the daughter of a king, but she is beloved by neither his court nor his kingdom. She has "water in her blood," a trait associated with magic and looked upon with distaste and suspicion. When she meets Orrin, a foreign king who is respectful, not scornful, of her affinity for water, she flees with him to his castle by the sea, though she soon realizes he is not as benevolent as she first thought. Intertwined with Margot's story is that of Bird, a storyteller who must tell stories for Orrin, though he can barely stand him. When Orrin steals the Book of the Sea, a magical gift given to Margot by her mother, Margot knows she must run away once again, and the threads of the two stories begin to intertwine. A convincing and beautifully realized world, a strong-minded female protagonist, and elements of Celtic folklore mark this rich, multilayered fantasy.

New Children's Fiction

Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen by M. T. Anderson.

In need of a vacation after their last laser-beam-filled adventure, Lily, Jasper, and Katie have flown off for a restful stay at a distant mountain lodge, which just so happens to be hosting a gathering for characters from other middle-grade series novels. Two--the marvelous Manley Boys--look suspiciously like a pair of crime-solving brothers named Frank and Joe Hardy. Two others are a pair of boy-crazy twin sisters who attend a high school in some sweet valley somewhere. And then there are the Hooper Quints, who, along with a wealthy heiress's priceless diamond necklace, have suddenly gone missing.

Fairies of Nutfolk Wood by Barb Bentler Ullman.

In the country town of Plunkit, where Willa and her mom start anew after her parents' divorce, Willa catches sight of a strange sparkle by the creek and in the old woods. Her older-than-old neighbor, Hazel Wicket, has an amusing story about these surroundings and an imagined family of tiny people that inhabit a tree stump. Willa knows there's no such thing as fairies, but when she spots more and more oddities around her, she can't stop an itchy feeling that there's some certainty to Hazel's curious tales of the Nutfolk.

Junie B., first grader: Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park.

Excitable Junie B. Jones manages to find trouble both before and during a trip to Hawaii and records each incident in a photo journal given to her by her teacher.

The Pack by Tom Pow.

A band of children must scavenge to survive in a post-apocalyptic future where forbidden territories exist and the line between man and beast is blurred.

The Unvisibles by Ian Whybrow.

After twelve-year-old Oliver recites an ancient Indian magical spell and becomes invisible, he enlists the aid of his classmate, Nicky, and the two of them join forces to undo the damage as well as to help their families and themselves.

New Paperback

Black powder war by Naomi Novik.

After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty’s Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire, and Laurence and Temeraire must detour to Istanbul to escort the precious cargo back to England. Time is of the essence if the eggs are to be borne home before hatching.

New Mystery and Suspense

At Risk by Patricia Cornwell.

A field of darkness by Cornelia Read.

The King of Lies by John Hart.

New Fiction

The Englisher by Beverly Lewis.

Fort Pillow by Harry Turtledove.

Full of Grace by Dorothea Benton Frank.

It Might Have Been What He Said by Eden Collinsworth.

Last Voyage of the Valentina by Santa Montefiore.

On Off by Colleen McCullough.

Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot.

The saddlemaker's wife by Earlene Fowler.

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig.

A Whole World Over by Julia Glass.


New Teen Novels

Dead connection by Charlie Price.

Murray, a loner who communes with the dead in the town cemetery, hears the voice of a murdered cheerleader and tries to convince the adults that he knows what happened to her. But who believes him? He's a loser. Can he even believe in himself? Also comes Pearl, the daughter of the cemetery caretaker, who befriends Murray and tries to enter his world. Together they may prove the astonishing possibility that Nikki is closer than anyone thinks.

Endgame by Nancy Garden.

Fifteen-year-old Gray Wilton, bullied at school and ridiculed by an unfeeling father for preferring drums to hunting, goes on a shooting rampage at his high school.

The foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgwick.

Having always been able to know when someone is going to die, Alexandra poses as a nurse to go to France during World War I to locate her brother and to try to save him from the fate she has foreseen for him.

Maxiumum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson.

After a short stay with an FBI agent who gives them a chance to attend school and live a normal life, the six genetically-altered, winged youths head toward Florida and Max's ultimate destiny--to save the world, whether she wants to or not.

Monster blood tattoo: Book One: Foundling by D.M. Cornish.

Set in the world of the Half-Continent—a land of tri-corner hats and flintlock pistols—the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy is a world of predatory monsters, chemical potions and surgically altered people. Foundling begins the journey of Rossamund, a boy with a girl’s name, who is just about to begin a dangerous life in the service of the Emperor. What starts as a simple journey is threatened by encounters with monsters—and people, who may be worse. Learning who to trust and who to fear is neither easy nor without its perils, and Rossamund must choose his path carefully.

Samurai shortstop by Alan Gratz.

Tokyo, 1890. Toyo is caught up in the competitive world of boarding school, and must prove himself to make the team in a new sport called besuboru. But he grieves for his uncle, a samurai who sacrificed himself for his beliefs, at a time when most of Japan is eager to shed ancient traditions. It’s only when his father decides to teach him the way of the samurai that Toyo grows to better understand his uncle and father. And to his surprise, the warrior training guides him to excel at baseball, a sport his father despises as yet another modern Western menace.

Twice Upon a Time: Rapunzel the one with all the hair by Wendy Mass.

Rapunzel is having the ultimate bad day. She's been stolen from home by an evil witch, locked in an incredibly high tower, and doesn't even have a decent brush for her hair. Prince Benjamin is in a pretty uncomfortable situation himself. His father wants him to be more kingly, his mother wants him to never leave her sight, and his cousin wants to get him into as much trouble as possible. Plus, there's the little matter of prearranged marriages. . . . Both Rapunzel and Prince Benjamin are trapped . . . in very different ways. It's only when their paths cross that things change.

New Nonfiction

Atlas of the breeding birds of Wisconsin

Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper.

Few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict around the world than Anderson Cooper, whose groundbreaking coverage on CNN has changed the way we watch the news. In this gripping, candid, and remarkably powerful memoir, he offers an unstinting, up-close view of the most harrowing crises of our time, and the profound impact they have had on his life.

More natural cures revealed: previously censored brand name products that cure disease by Kevin Trudeau.

The no sweat exercise plan: lose weight, get healthy and live longer by Harvey B. Simon.

New Mysteries

Dead Before Dying by Deon Meyer.

A brilliantly atmospheric new suspense novel from rising African thriller writer Deon Meyer about a detective racing to solve a terrifying series of murders.

The Lost Van Gogh by A. J. Zerries.

When Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Monsieur Trabuc turns up unexpectedly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—a $50 million painting shipped from Argentina via UPS, like an ordinary package—the case goes to Clay Ryder, the NYPD Major Case Squad detective assigned to art theft.