A new year is about starting fresh...so if you're looking for something new to read, may we recommend one (or all!) of these new and forthcoming titles? Each of them has recently earned a starred review, and we're excited to share them with you!
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd (March 2014) will receive a starred review in the January 2014 issue of School Library Journal: A "delightful and inspiring debut...It’s the characters that make this story shine...Added to these elements are a series of folkloric backstories about feuding brothers, doomed romances, mysterious do-gooders, lost children, and a curse."
Silver by Chris Wooding (April 2014) will received a starred review in the February 2014 issue of Booklist. They said: "A couple of boys on a biology field trip uncover a silver creature with chitin markings eerily like a computer chip. But it is only the first of many horrible creatures whose scratches turn humans into silver insects—or the Infected. It’s a biological weapon experiment gone awry, a horrifying precursor to an evil world bent on destroying itself...Wooding has morphed a traditional English boarding school story—bullies, evil headmaster, well-intentioned teacher, and boy/girl drama—into a horror/survival story that would make William Golding and Gary Paulsen envious...Carve out enough time to read Silver in a single sitting. You’ll need it."
Hi, Koo! by Jon J Muth (March 2014) is also earning multiple stars; its latest is from Kirkus, which says: "Though light in tone and geared toward pre-reader eyes and interests, the mostly outdoor scenes Muth depicts command serious attention from all. The first page simultaneously demonstrates both Muth’s adherence to haiku’s three-line form rather than its traditional five-seven-five syllabic sequence and his exquisite use of white space...Throughout, condensed poetic image coupled with spare illustration yields huge effect; in a word, magical."
Hidden Like Anne Frank: 14 True Stories of Survival by Marcel Prins and Peter Henk Steenhuis, translated by Laura Watkinson (March 2014) earns its first star from Kirkus. "During Hitler’s reign of terror, paths to survival for Jews were few and involved secrecy, danger, vigilance, and the kindness and bravery of strangers. Fourteen men and women recall their experiences with amazing clarity, detail and honesty...The accounts are told in a matter-of-fact tone, with no attempt at sentimentality or self-pity. Photos of the survivors before the war and of some of their temporary homes and families accompany the text, and photos as they are now are shown at the end. Each memoir is poignant and heartrending on its own, and the compilation gives the reader a stunning sense of the horror of the Holocaust. Terrifying, haunting and powerful."
The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty (March 2014) also earns its first star from Kirkus! "Picking up just after the revelations that ended A Corner of White (2013) and ratcheting the stakes up even higher, this middle volume moves from a balance between Madeleine, in our world, and Elliot, in Cello (which is kind of fairyland, but stranger and more modern), to a tighter focus on Elliot and Cello’s political situation...This is madcap, whimsical, smart and even heartbreaking, but Moriarty never drops the dozens of balls in the air. By turns coming-of-age and wild adventure (the Lake of Spells and the Turquoise Rain in Jagged Edge stand out), this volume complicates the characters, expands the worldbuilding and sets things up for a grand finish in the trilogy closer. Not for the impatient or new reader, but otherwise even better than the first."
Kirkus gave a starred review to Threatened (February 2014) by Eliot Schrefer, too. "The author of Endangered (2012) introduces another primate species, offering a poignant demonstration of connection between chimpanzees and humans. When AIDs orphan Luc goes into the Gabon jungle with professor Abdul Mohammed, a scientist who frees him from his bondholder and plans to study chimpanzees in the wild, the resourceful boy finds a surprising new family and makes a real home. Luc’s story is riveting and seldom comfortable, for him or for his readers...Luc’s first-person narration is so lively and detailed readers won’t notice that he seems remarkably acute for a 12- or 13-year-old, even one who has watched his mother and baby sister die and lived, afterward, by his own wits...Engrossing action and characters readers will keep thinking about in a splendid survival story."
And The Hit by Melvin Burgess (February 2014)scores one from Publishers Weekly! They say: "Burgess (Smack) returns with a boundary-pushing thriller that all-too-believably builds on contemporary threads including income inequality, the Occupy movement, and a YOLO mentality...Burgess's prose is straightforward and fast-paced, and his third-person narration hopscotches from character to character while giving readers clear insight into the motives that drive them. His plot swerves are unexpected but well-maneuvered, and his characters' flaws and self-absorptions make them complex and real. Amid violent action, existential anguish, and the heightened appreciation for life that death can bring, Burgess has created a premise that readers will find hard to forget."
And finally, from Booklist comes a starred review for The Finisher by David Baldacci (March 2014). "What happens when an international best-selling crime novelist tries his hand at a youth fantasy? Well, in this case, success. Baldacci, best known for writing thrillers, also has a talent for creating magical worlds...Baldacci gets several things just right. He offers readers a smart, tough heroine worth rooting for; provides enough hints of a mysterious backstory to keep them wondering; and builds each chapter to a cliffhanger that pushes them to turn the page. There is also head spinning action, which is sometimes a bit too repetitious. How often can Vega be chased by a monster and run faster than she’s ever run in her life? The ending is predictable, but leads seamlessly into the next book where, perhaps, some of Vega’s answers await."
Congratulations!
