Mystery

The Circle of Blood by Alane Ferguson
Reading level: Young Adult (High School) ·
Hardcover: 256 pages ·
Publisher: Viking Juvenile (February 28, 2008) ·
ISBN-10: 0670060569 ISBN-13: 978-0670060566
Sequel to The Christopher Killer and the Angel of Death
ISBN-13: 978-0670060085 ISBN-10: 0670060550

As the assistant to her father, the county coroner of Silverton, Colorado, Cameryn Mahoney gets to witness all aspects of death, including the autopsy room. Yet somehow that feels easy, compared to her personal life. Now that her long-lost mother has made a surprise return, Cameryn’s more confused than ever. Things only get worse when she and her mother pick up a mysterious young hitchhiker. Cameryn senses that the girl is running away from something, but before she can find out more, the girl is found dead— a gun in her hand. Is it suicide? Or something even more sinister?
Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle ·
Reading level: Ages 9-12 (Middle School, High School) ·
Hardcover: 240 pages ·
Publisher: Philomel (May 18, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0399239634 ISBN-13: 978-0399239632

David, a 14-year-old aspiring journalist, suspects that his elderly neighbor, Ruben, has a story to tell about Prohibition in their Rhode Island town, and he wonders "how to pry it out of the geezer." Surprisingly, Ruben opens up, and his chapter-length recollections of "rumrunners and highjackers, fast boats and dark nights," form the bulk of this gripping, layered mystery, which begins with young Ruben's discovery of a dead body. Questions about the corpse's identity draw Ruben into a dangerous local smuggling war.
Edenville Owls by Robert B. Parker ·
Reading level: Young Adult(High School) ·
Hardcover: 194 pages ·
Publisher: Philomel (April 19, 2007) ·
ISBN-10: 0399246568 · ISBN-13: 978-0399246562

In a small, coastal Massachusetts town, eighth-grader Bobby witnesses a parking-lot altercation between his pretty new teacher and a shady-looking fellow. Then Miss Delaney comes to school with facial bruises, and Bobby, convinced that the unsavory man is to blame, recruits his best friends to protect her. Bobby has also organized his friends into a basketball team, the Owls, and with only Bobby as a stand-in coach, the boys begin to compete and dream of winning a local tournament. The poignant, well-articulated coming-of-age moments deepen the heart-pounding suspense, though, and Bobby's questions of what it means to be honorable and to feel attraction to a female friend will draw readers as much as will the exciting mystery.
Gilda Joyce: The Ghost Sonata by Jennifer Allison ·
Reading level: Ages 9-12(Middle School) ·
Hardcover: 288 pages ·
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (August 16, 2007) ·
ISBN-10: 0525478086 · ISBN-13: 978-0525478089

Killer ghosts and tarot death cards give spooky messages in the latest about the smart teen detective, Gilda Joyce. Gilda accompanies her best friend to an international piano competition in Oxford, England. The suspense builds nicely (Is there a serial killer after the students? Is a ghost looking for someone to take its place), and there's lots of romantic comedy and hilarious play with Briticisms, as when Gilda is snogging in the graveyard with a cute English boy. Once again, Allison uses moments familiar to us all in a haunting story.

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer Reading level: Ages 9-12(Middle School)
Hardcover: 234 pages
Publisher: Philomel (January 18, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0399245170 ISBN-13: 978-0399245176
Sequel to The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery

Fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes is intelligent, sassy, and a woman before her time, living incognito in Victorian London and working as a Perditorian. She is on the run from her famous older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, who feel she belongs in a boarding school learning to be a lady. Using various aliases, disguises, and ciphers, Enola is on the case to find the missing teenage daughter of Sir Eustance Austair while trying to elude "capture" by her siblings. She finds herself in the back alleys of London, using her wits to locate the missing Lady Cecily while also trying to keep herself out of mortal peril.

Snatched (Bloodwater Mysteries) by Pete Hautman
Reading level: Ages 9-12 (Middle school)
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Puffin (May 10, 2007)
ISBN-10: 014240795X ISBN-13: 978-0142407950

Two accomplished authors come together to construct a layered plot with lots of quirky characters and create a mystery centered on a girl's abduction. Have these authors managed to forge the perfect storm of young adult literature? Not quite, but it is pretty darn good. Hot on the trail of the unknown criminal are two unlikely collaborators, P. Q. Delicata, (real name Roni, which is short for Petronella), an intrepid newshound for the school paper, and Brian Bain, a thirteen-year-old claiming that he is fourteen. The pair first met in the principal's office. Brian had the slight problem of unauthorized use of the chemistry lab and Roni violated the school's zero-tolerance violence policy. From this unlikely connection, the amateur sleuths scour the town of Bloodwater, uncovering clues, suspects, and plenty of red herrings. Very short chapters-often less than two pages-mark this book as a quick read for readers younger than ninth grade. An alternating narrative format provides voices for Roni, Brian, and Alicia. Roni and Brian are clever and likeable teens, each determined to solve the felony, but astute mystery fans will home in on Alicia's issues and subsequent dilemma. Historical

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pub. Date: August 2007
ISBN-13: 9780374347017
Age Range: 9 to 12 (Middle School)
56pp

Born out of a question posed to Sís by his children ("Are you a settler, Dad?"), the author pairs his remarkable artistry with journal entries, historical context and period photography to create a powerful account of his childhood in Cold War-era Prague. Dense, finely crosshatched black-and-white drawings of parades and red-flagged houses bear stark captions: "Public displays of loyalty-compulsory. Children are encouraged to report on their families and fellow students. Parents learn to keep their opinions to themselves." Text along the bottom margin reveals young Sís's own experience: "He didn't question what he was being told. Then he found out there were things he wasn't told." The secret police, with tidy suits and pig faces, intrude into every drawing, watching and listening. As Sís grows to manhood, Eastern Europe discovers the Beatles, and the "Prague Spring of 1968" promises liberation and freedom. Instead, Soviet tanks roll in, returning the city to its previous restrictive climate. Sís rebels when possible, and in the book's final spreads, depicts himself in a bicycle, born aloft by wings made from his artwork, flying toward America and freedom, as the Berlin Wall crumbles below. Younger readers have not yet had a graphic memoir with the power of Maus or Persepolisto call their own, but they do now.

Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 by Elisa Carbone
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Pub. Date: May 2006
ISBN-13: 9780670060603
Age Range: 12 and up(Middle School, High School)
256pp

Plucked from an orphanage to serve Captain John Smith on his voyage to the New World, eleven-year-old Samuel Collier finds that the aggressive energy that served him well on London's streets is equally helpful for surviving the rigors of the Atlantic crossing and England's new colony on the Virginia shores. From his new master he learns that the independence he once prized is less valuable than the ability to get along with others, to work together to accomplish difficult tasks. Closely based on historical fact, this story of the early years of the James Town Colony comes to life through the eyes of this engaging character.

London Calling by Edward Bloor

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Pub. Date: September 2006
ISBN-13: 9780375836350
Age Range: 10 (Middle School)
304pp

Martin is an unhappy 8th-grade student at a snobbish New Jersey prep school that reveres the memory of such famous graduates as General "Hollerin' Hank" Lowery. When Martin inherits an old radio from his grandmother, he starts having weirdly realistic dreams set in London in 1940, where he meets a boy named Jimmy. With the help of his older sister, Martin researches historical details from his dreams. When they turn out to be true, he realizes that he is really traveling through time, and what he learns ends up changing the historical record on General Lowery, bringing peace to an old man's life, and altering a number of lives for the better, including his own. Bloor, author of Tangerine, Story Time, and other offbeat tales for YAs, neatly ties up all the strands in this tale of historical intrigue and wrongs righted. Martin's determination and the vivid scenes of London during the Blitz are sure to appeal.
The Ever-After Bird by Ann Rinaldi
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Pub. Date: November 01, 2007
ISBN: 0152026207 ISBN-13: 9780152026202
Age Range: Young Adult(High School)
240pp

Now that her father is dead, CeCe McGill is left to wonder why he risked his life for the ragged slaves who came to their door in the dead of night. When her uncle, an ornithologist, insists she accompany him to Georgia on an expedition in search of the rare scarlet ibis, CeCe is surprised to learn there's a second reason for their journey: Along the way, Uncle Alex secretly points slaves north in the direction of the Underground Railroad. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous pre-Civil War South, The Ever-After Bird is the story of a young woman's education about the horrors of slavery and the realization about the kind of person she wants to become.