"“Where is she? And what was she doing out on the waves that night?”
For Hal, now, this summer is different. Sure he’s spending it, as always, with his family at their cottage on the wild west coast of England. But this summer he meets Jackie, beautiful, impetuous Jackie. Lying with her on the beach while she sculpts mermaids from wet sand–it’s paradise. Or would be, if only he didn’t keep hearing the desperate pleas of his lost sister Charley in his head . . .
For Charley, then, last summer was different. Pete, the impossibly gorgeous surf god, wanted her, she couldn’t believe it! To lick the sand off his lips, to let the sun tan the outline of her hand over his heart–she’d do anything to be with him. Even if it meant sneaking out and leaving her tagalong brother Hal behind. Just for one night. How could she have known what would happen by dawn?
Set at a beach where growing up goes wrong, Waves is a coming-of-age mystery about first love and tragic loss. About a family drowning in sorrow, and the courageous son struggling against the tide to save them."
"Jay, Kelvin and Cia are The Lunar Ticks, a dedicated band who are convinced they are on their way up.
They hope to win an upcoming battle of the bands where the first prize is a full day in a recording studio. Jay is struggling to write new material but finds he lacks the experience to come up with a truly original song. Going up against Indigo Daze, a band from another school, Jay finds himself falling for Rowan, the leader of the other band. When Rowan's guitar is trashed right before the contest The Lunar Ticks are the prime suspects.
This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible. Available in Spanish as La guerra de las bandas."
"Random House presents the audiobook edition of Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman.
No one could begin to guess at the depth of the hatred I held for Sephy Hadley. Everything began with her and my brother. And that's how it would end.
Where there has been love, now there is hate.
Two families have been shattered by the divided and violent society they live in.
Sephy Hadley - a Cross, supposedly powerful and privileged - has bound herself forever to her nought lover Callum McGregor's family.
But Jude McGregor blames Sephy for all the tragedies his family has suffered. And he is determined to force her to take sides, and destroy her life . . . just like she destroyed his. . .
Voted as one of the UK's best-loved books, Malorie Blackman's Noughts & Crosses series is a seminal piece of YA fiction; a true modern classic.
'Moving and thought-provoking' Observer
'Devastatingly powerful' Guardian"
"Ellen loves Link and James. Her older brother and his best friend are the only company she ever wants. She knows they fight, but she makes it a policy never to take sides. She loves her brother, the math genius and track star. She is totally, madly in love with James, his face full of long eyelashes and hidden smiles. "When you grow out of it," James teases her, "you will break my heart."
Ellen knows she'll never outgrow it. She'll always love James just the way she'll always love Link. Then someone at school asks if Link and James might be in love with each other. A simple question.
Link refuses to discuss it. James refuses to stay friends with a boy so full of secrets. Ellen's parents want Link to keep his secrets to himself, but Ellen wants to know who her brother really is. When is curiosity a betrayal? And if James says he loves her, isn't that just another way of saying he still loves Link?
My Heartbeat is a fast, furious story in which a quirky triangle learns to change its shape and Ellen, at least, learns the limits of what you can ever know about whom you love."
"ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A PARADE BEST KIDS BOOK OF ALL TIME
A modern-day classic from Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli, this beloved celebration of individuality is now an original movie on Disney+!
Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl, Stargirl." She captures Leo Borlock' s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.
Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.
Don't miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, as well as The Warden's Daughter, a novel about another girl who can't help but stand out.
"Spinelli is a poet of the prepubescent. . . . No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion." -The New York Times"
"Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
Daniel Defoe lived between 1660 and 1731, a period of much historical change in England. The rapidly changing economic and political circumstances in England helped create a vibrant middle class that was mercantilist, protestant, desirous of political power, and hungry for cultural life. Defoe was born into such a middle class family, the son of a fairly wealthy tallow chandler. He received an excellent education and lived a varied and eventful life. He worked, often at the same time, as a spy, hosier, journalist, political pamphleteer, and businessman. Defoe, however, is best remembered for his literary work. Regarded by many as the father of the English novel, Defoe published his masterpiece, Robinson Crusoe, in 1719. Three years later he cemented his reputation with the novel Moll Flanders."
