Adult/High School—A baby is found dead in its crib. The police call it sudden infant death syndrome, but the distraught mother is convinced that it is murder. Lena, a fingerprint specialist known for solving a puzzling child-murder case a few years earlier, is drawn into the investigation. Her almost uncanny intuition-and the deaths of several more babies in short order-sends her searching for a killer. Lena has distanced herself from people, choosing to live in a sparse, cold apartment after separating from her philandering, controlling husband. In fact, life-threatening cold permeates this chilling tale, a metaphor for many elements of the eerie mystery, including Lena's childhood. She has strange, fractured memories of the time before she was three when she moved in with foster parents. As the investigation progresses, there is a sense of urgency to catch the killer as it becomes apparent that Lena's life is in danger, and that her mysterious childhood is somehow connected to the infant's. She is helped and protected by a young detective with his own past. As the weather thaws, Lena also begins to warm to the people around her as she learns the deep, dark secret of her origin. Teens fascinated by CSI will find this haunting mystery gripping, all the way to its surprising conclusion.—Ellen Bell, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA

Adult/High School— Hydrogen Steel features a main character who has only recently figured out that she's a machine. As she spirals into an identity crisis, she wonders which of her memories were implanted and whether an android is worthy of love. The story takes off when an old friend arrives with a bomb in his stomach. This novel covers much of the same terrain as Phillip K. Dick's work, including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Bedford's novel features a similarly vulnerable and confused protagonist, reality is fluid, and no one can quite say what it means to be human. But he also offers a more humane take than Dick ever gave his subjects, with characters who are amiable and sane compared to Dick's usual misanthropic outcasts. Action is nonstop, and there are endless plot twists in this satisfying story. Bedford makes the far-out seem familiar: spaceships have make and model numbers, interplanetary travel can be done business class. This familiarity brings readers back to the story's heart. These people may be enhanced with robotics and nanocomputers, but they're really not so different from us. The author builds a well-realized portrait of someone trying to understand who she is, something that will resonate with almost any teen.—Emma Coleman, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—Xerxes Meticula is a 30-year-old man whose million-dollar dot-com company failed spectacularly. He is living in his parents' basement, trying to deal with his schizophrenic twin sister. He also has a virtual life in the massive multiplayer online game The Realm. In fact, most of the main characters in this debut novel are Realm players, and this is the story of the gamers and their "real" and "virtual" lives. From the ex-Olympic skier who is now a quadriplegic to the 14-year-old street orphan befriended by the owner of an Internet café in Thailand, all of the figures in this intriguing story are vividly drawn and fascinating to know. The title of the novel comes from a song by the rock band R.E.M., and all of the chapters open with lyrics from songs. Teens will like World Leader because Frost ultimately is writing about the connections between people and how those connections can fail or succeed in the manmade world of The Realm or in the real time, real world of the 21st century.—Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL

Adult/High School—Thirty-three-year-old Jane Hayes, who has a fairly serious addiction to the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, inherits a trip to Pembrook Park, Kent, England, the location of a resort where guests dress, talk, think, and act in ways that Jane Austen would approve. Refusing to lie about her age, even on vacation in a place right out of Austen's England, Jane finds herself quickly overcoming the obsession with Mr. Darcy that may very well have jeopardized her 13 "relationships" over the years. Left to walk in last to dinner, mildly obsessed with one of the hotel's gardeners, and annoyed by another guest's overeager attempts to bag a man, Jane is eager to return to Manhattan. Then she decides to give it all one more chance, since Great-Aunt Carolyn did see fit to pay for the entire vacation. Hale does a lovely job with the tale of a single woman who would appreciate a genuine shot at love. The book is well written, quite readable, and the myriad characters, especially those working at the resort, are quirkily funny. Given the immense popularity of Jane Austen's novels among teen girls, this book definitely has cross-over appeal.—Sarah Krygier, Solano County Library, Fairfield, CA

Adult/High School—Fiona, a New York librarian filled with a sense of adventure and a desire to do good, heads to Kenya to run the camel bookmobile. She has long romanticized Africa, and she arrives determined but naive. Her most remote stop is Mididima, a seminomadic farming village with a makeshift school, led by Matani, who has studied in Nairobi but returned to educate his fellow villagers. Young Kanika, who wants to leave and study as well; the reclusive Scar Boy; and their families are among Fiona's patrons. When Scar Boy doesn't return the books he's borrowed, the overly rigid local librarian threatens to end the Mididima stop. Fiona, Matani, and Kanika each have stake in keeping the bookmobile coming, so they all try to get the boy to return them. However, he has his own compelling reason to keep them. All of the characters take a turn at narrating chapters, allowing readers to understand their place in the story more fully. Ultimately, each one is changed by the bookmobile, but not in ways that they (or we) might expect. Teens can enjoy not only the multicultural aspect of this novel but also the quiet drama and plot twists that impart the differences and similarities among the characters.—Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD

Adult/High School—Jono Riley, a bartender and sometime actor, looks back on a series of childhood events that have mystified him over the years. As a means of self-preservation, he has scrupulously avoided introspection most of his adult life. However, he has just received a letter from a close childhood friend, Cubby D'Agostino, letting him know that Cubby's sister, Marie, has passed away unexpectedly. Forty years earlier, 12-year-old Marie was 11-year-old Jono's first love. She was also the central figure of a mystery that has subliminally haunted him ever since. Now, Cubby's letter triggers memories that Jono can no longer ignore. As the story marches toward its inevitable conclusion, readers begin to see why Jono has buried many of his childhood recollections. McLarty skillfully uses alternating chapters to flash back and then propel the story forward as he builds suspense and gradually unravels the mystery that Jono wants very much to forget. The protagonist is a very human character who must deal with issues of loyalty, friendship, and ambiguity.—Catherine Gilbride, Farifax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School—A poetic meditation on poverty, development, and the unwavering strength of family ties among the rural poor in the Third World. Set in an unnamed Latin nation, this novel chronicles the search by a 14-year-old for her older brother, who has moved to the city for a better life. The two grew up near a sugarcane plantation, and Isabel cherishes the memory of Isaias taking her on long walks in the hills, where he would find wild cactus fruit and brush off the dirt before giving it to her, or jump into the plants to pick a pink flower. One day, after he reluctantly starts working in the fields, she is ordered to find him. Dwarfed by the tall sugarcane, she is soon lost, but seems to have an uncanny ability to "see through" and locate Isaias. After Isabel sees a spirit in the fields, her mother fears the girl is an "open" person, poised between two worlds, and takes her to a healer, who attempts to "close" her. With exquisite prose and a subtle nod to magical realism, Mason helps readers experience the starvation that causes Isabel and her parents to eat dirt, as well as the discarded tires and chaotic noise of the city. This is a quiet novel for teens who want to understand the poverty that can rend families apart and one girl's determination to see hers whole again. Isabel's journey is one that everyone will understand and no one will forget.—Pat Bangs, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School—This is the story of the impact of small revolutions, not on the men and women who participate in the upheavals, but on the children who barely understand the world in which they find themselves. Suleiman is a nine-year-old in Qaddafi's Libya, proud of his country and his father, and worried about his mother's "illness." He is unprepared to understand the danger his father, a believer in democracy, is in, or the role that he, just a child, must play to protect his family. What is most disturbing is that he must play the games of adults, but without knowing the rules. There is no heroism here, only fear, betrayal, and mistrust. This is a difficult book: the characters are fatally flawed, the plot revels in the gray area of a child's memories and immature perceptions, and in the end there is little redemption. The plot unfolds credibly through the boy's eyes, and it is readers who shed light on the secrets. There is no judgment, and yet there is a heavy patina of guilt in the narrative. Well written, with evocative descriptions of heat and landscape that intensify readers' experience, the story lingers long after the book is closed. Teens serious about understanding the complex nature of patriotism will find much to ponder here.—Mary Ann Harlan, Arcata High School, CA

Adult/High School—Although the basic plot is simple, the emotional impact of this book is complex. Robey, 14, is sent to find his father, a Civil War soldier, after his mother has a premonition. At the beginning of the journey, he is given a coal black horse that takes on almost mythic connotations. The early part of the quest is like any other, and the portrayal of the countryside is beguiling and effective. Those whom Robey meets along the way become increasingly threatening. At one point, he is the trapped observer of a brutal rape. He later meets its victim and must confront his sense of guilt. Robey finds his dying father on the battlefield and, in order to survive, he must learn to kill. Certainly this novel invites comparison with Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, but there are more layers of guilt and redemption here. The story can be read on several levels: some teens will enjoy Robey's adventure and close association with the coal black horse, while other readers will be rewarded by a book that raises troubling issues about the nature of war and carnage. The writing is lyrical and descriptive throughout.—Teri Titus, San Mateo County Library, CA

Adult/High School—Phoebe is a college student in Buffalo, NY, engaged to her high school sweetheart, and comfortable with her place in society. Then a sorority sister points out that Phoebe's fiancé's eyes, and probably his amorous attentions, are wandering; bad girl and sorority pledge Shandra seems intent on busting up the relationship. In short order, Phoebe battles insecurity, raging jealousy, her boyfriend, a second male friend for whom she feels more than platonic affection, and, of course, Shandra. She and her best buds perform a hazing, with no intention of causing Shandra any lasting harm-but things go awry, and before they can rescue the pledge from a deserted place in nighttime Buffalo, someone murders her. The young women-and Phoebe's fiancé-act with credible immaturity throughout this suspenseful story. While adult readers may be tempted to throttle Phoebe for being so self-obsessed that she can't extricate herself from a downward spiral of bad behavior, teen girls will be sympathetic. The novel is as much suspense as romance, and Perrin's authentic, middle-class African-American cast of college students is an alternative for both urban-lit-reading teens and readers looking for stories featuring a protagonist who is neither white nor middle-aged.—Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—The 18th-century world of Venice and famed composer Antonio Vivaldi come to life in this novel. The story depicts the imagined life of the real Anna Maria dal Violin, an orphan at the Ospedale della Pietà who was his renowned pupil. Through Anna Maria's eyes, Quick introduces readers to the dazzling world of Venetian society, but she does not flinch from portraying the darker side of a city in decline. Anna Maria experiences a life of ambiguity. As an orphan living a cloistered and regimented existence, she wants desperately to uncover the mystery of her mother's true identity. As she blossoms into a young woman and an amazing talent, her private pain drives her to risk all in order to discover who she really is and where she came from. Like Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring (HarperCollins, 1999), this book has great appeal, especially for teenage girls; it also offers much to those readers interested in the composer and his influence on Venetian society in the early 1700s.—Catherine Gilbride, Farifax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School—In this eighth novel set in the Star Wars universe, five Stormtroopers led by Daric LaRone become fugitives when they defy orders to kill a group of defenseless civilians. On the run, the unit turns into a team of self-appointed vigilantes fighting to protect the rights and safety of the citizens of the Empire. A second story line features Mara Jade, a force-wielding apprentice to Emperor Palpatine, and her investigations into a world governor who is stealing Imperial tax money to fund a team of brutal space pirates. LaRone and his team bring a uniquely human touch to the men behind the Stormtrooper armor, while Jade is a highly likable woman filled with enough guile and drive to rival Princess Leia herself. Chronologically, this story takes place between the films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. While it focuses on the new characters, some of the more familiar names are here as side characters to draw in the fans and drive the plot along. There are some fine moments as a young Luke Skywalker struggles to learn the secrets of the Force and Han Solo questions how involved he wants to become in Princess Leia's rebellion. Jade's and LaRone's plotlines intersect and interweave, leading to a fast-paced climax filled with blaster shoot-outs, star-fighter battles, and Jade's clever tricks with the Force. Tightly plotted and fast paced, Allegiance will appeal to hard-core and intermittent fans alike.—Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA

Adult/High School—This quirky little craft book has a "Hello Kitty" feel; it's a how-to manual for creating small felt mascots that induce smiles but apparently have no serious purpose. There is an illustrated table of contents, and the book includes patterns and instructions for making 19 different creatures. There are also instructions for making a kidnapper, a bad guy, a liar, and an alien. Narrators White Rabbit and Brown Bunny, two of the felt mascots, assure readers that "you can do this…it's fun and easy." The book assumes no knowledge of or previous experience with handicrafts and opens with an illustrated spread listing basic supplies and explaining techniques. Each pattern is introduced with an amusing thumbnail biography of the mascot, and encouraging words to readers. The tone is light and goofy, but the instructions are clear, with numbered diagrams and photographs of finished work. The book concludes with appliqué techniques and photographs of suggested uses for and misuses of the mascots (e.g., use as a bookmark is not recommended as it looks painful). This book will appeal to young teens interested in crafting and could also be used in a library craft program.—Sondra VanderPloeg, Tracy Memorial Library, New London, NH

Adult/High School—When Bernstein, who is in his 90s, was a boy, his older sister, Lily, was in love with Arthur. This would not have been a problem except that Arthur was Christian and Lily was Jewish, and in their pre-Great War mill town in northern England, an invisible wall ran down their street, separating them. Neighbors rarely crossed those few cobblestoned feet. In winter, the Jews built a snow slide on their side and the Christians built one on theirs. There was not much other frivolity in those hard times. Home was not a happy place for Harry, his mother, and his five brothers and sisters when his mean, alcoholic father was there. When 12-year-old Lily won a scholarship to grammar school, her father dragged her by the hair to work with him. Harry's mother started a shop in her front room to make ends meet, selling slightly damaged fruit and providing a place for socializing and gossip. She always hoped for better, having Harry write letters to their relatives in America, beseeching them on a regular basis to send passage for her family, and then, finally, only for Lily when the lovers were discovered. Barriers were finally broken as Lily refused to give up either Arthur or her mother. Readers will be taken with this memoir, reminiscent of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes (Scribner, 1996). It will grab them from the start, drawing them into an intimate relationship with Harry, Lily, their mother, and the various neighbors who lived on their street.—Ellen Bell, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA

Adult/High School—Light in tone, this guide is chatty and hip. Projects range from a sundress to a flower pin, a banana bag, and an iPod case. Each pattern takes one spread. The introduction notes that the authors' 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim & Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special (Potter, 2006) requires less-advanced skills. Readers are instructed to review the illustrated glossary of techniques and to go over a pattern before beginning work on it. Projects are rated on a scale of difficulty and approximate time for completion is listed. Use of a sewing machine is recommended. Each pattern includes a line drawing, with a superimposed photograph depicting the finished project, and illustrated diagrams with step-by-step, basic instructions. The book also includes two techniques for creating patterns and explains how to take body measurements. Instructions for each pattern are very basic and assume some knowledge of sewing/tailoring or studious use of the glossary.—Sondra VanderPloeg, Tracy Memorial Library, New London, NH

Adult/High School—The full-color photos in this volume are uniformly stunning and are expertly used by Collier to illustrate how mountains form, evolve, deteriorate, and die. Without reverting to textbook prose, the author covers the fundamentals of mountain geology: rock types, plate tectonics, and erosion, employing his photographs and illustrations to further explicate these principles. It is one thing to write about glaciers, fault zones, plateaus, erosion, alluvial fans, subduction, and volcanoes. It is altogether a higher level of accomplishment to render all of these aspects of geology in photographs as beautiful as they are informative. Collier has put his 50-year-old Cessna 180 and arsenal of photographic equipment to good use, spending thousands of hours in the cockpit, traveling to remote regions of the Earth, up mountain faces, down into canyons, constantly in search of the best shot. He has found many best shots, and readers will enjoy them all. This is an excellent choice for all teen collections.—Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—Comins predicts that space tourism as far afield as the Jovian system may be feasible by the end of this century. This book, however, is less a sightseer's travel guide to our solar system than a description of the myriad hazards and unresolved problems facing humans traveling in interplanetary space. Landslides on Mars, volcanic eruptions on Io, quakes on Europa, galactic cosmic rays, meteoroids, a lack of water, fragile bones, genetic mutation, motion sickness, computer hackers-all these dangers and more await them. The author clearly presents basic information on the source of the danger, its effects on travelers, and the difficulties involved in protecting against it. The text is supplemented by fictitious entries from a space traveler's diary that illustrate how particular hazards might be addressed, as well as by clear black-and-white photographs and diagrams and an extensive bibliography. Future scientists will find this book thought-provoking, and SF fans can also enjoy it.—Sandy Schmitz, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—An international team of specialists has created a beautiful resource explaining, mapping, and illustrating bird migrations worldwide. In consistently clear, jargon-free prose, and with an abundance of superb visual aides, one of nature's greatest wonders is presented in a manner sure to appeal to everyone from the trained biologist and expert birdwatcher to those who barely know the difference between a hawk and a sparrow. Only recently, with the aid of new scientific methods including global-satellite tracking, have scientists begun to understand the full complexity of the awe-inspiring spectacle. The authors incorporate the latest knowledge on how migration evolved; on patterns of migration; and on how birds know when to start, where to go, and what happens when weather, climatic changes, and manmade obstacles get in the way. Using innovative and attractively presented computer-generated maps, they illustrate the migration routes of more than 100 species around all parts of the globe. They also provide helpful breeding/migration calendars, a fact box for each species, and numerous full-color illustrations and photographs. In addition, the volume contains a catalog of migrations summarizing the routes of some 500 species and essays addressing environmental threats to birds and conservation efforts worldwide. This atlas is a good choice for the reference shelf, but many readers might also want to read it cover to cover.—Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—One of the most widely known and accessible of science writers, Gould reveled in living in a period of rapid scientific progress. Exploring this "best of all enterprises at the best of all possible times," he communicates his wonder and enthusiasm. The editor draws from hundreds of essays published from the 1970s until the scientist's death in 2002, organizing his choices into eight sections. The book starts with some of the best-loved autobiographical pieces (for example, Gould's scientific attitude defines his fight with cancer; he illustrates problems in statistics through examples in his favorite sport, baseball). Subsequent essays offer insights and anecdotes about other scientists, and then represent key points in the evolutionary scientist's career. In the final sections, Gould focuses his laser eye on the blunders and misunderstandings when sociology, psychology, culture, and religion have interacted with and impinged upon one another. The informative and provocative essays on topics like racism, misogyny, and creationism (including "Darwin and the Munchkins of Kansas") are sure to spark discussion. Readers browsing this volume will be fascinated and inspired by the man's creativity-and swept away by the surprising and often humorous tactics he employs to draw them in. Though his many other books are likely to stay in print, this anthology presents, with a Gould-like liveliness and breadth of perspective, a taste of his entire lifetime of insight. For collections that have room for only one volume of his writing, this is the essential one.—Christine C. Menefee, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School—According to Hoffer, America is a nation strung out on gambling. The book is loosely modeled on Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (Houghton, 2001), and the author theorizes that the pioneer spirit is so ingrained in the collective American psyche that we can't help being a nation of risk takers succumbing to the "thrill of possibility." Taking readers on a fast and frenzied romp, he explores the adrenaline-pumping highs and inevitable lows of what he considers the American fixation on risk-reward schemes. He covers the gamut from illicit Utahan gambling parlors hidden away in dingy dark corners to the glitz and glamour of Vegas, and from rural West Virginian slot-machine establishments to those betting on their own genetic luck while undergoing DNA testing for proof of Indian blood (so as to capitalize on Indian-casino fortunes). Even the government seems on the take, having created the lottery as a legal form of gambling to subsidize "budgetary shortfalls." The testosterone-laden narrative employs such descriptions as "snot cracking frigid," which may resonate with young males. Gambling- and sports-oriented jargon is freely used, rendering some sentences incomprehensible to the virgin gambler. Less serious and more anecdotal than Schlosser's researched book, Jackpot Nation will appeal to pop-culture enthusiasts, teens with a penchant for gambling, and social-studies students researching addictive behaviors.—Jodi Mitchell, Durham County Library, NC

Adult/High School—Although Jack Sparrow is not mentioned, teens interested in learning more about the real lives of the men and women who were maritime raiders should find this book most appealing. The introduction describes the differences among pirates (they attacked any ship, regardless of nationality), privateers (persons or vessels under contract to a government), and buccaneers (mainly English and French raiders of the Spanish Main). In the next three sections, Konstam carefully describes each group's culture and traditions: dress; hygiene (they were "clearly exceptionally smelly"); organization; weapons; and tactics in war, battles, and while fighting at sea. Short biographies of famous individuals follow. Some readers may be surprised to learn how important privateers were to the American Revolution. Since the Colonies had fewer than 50 warships, they depended on letters of marque to fight the British. Many well-reproduced prints, diagrams, charts, and maps help make the subject come alive and add to readers' understanding of this swashbuckling time in history.—Joanne Ligamari, Rio Linda School District, Sacramento, CA

Adult/High School—It is perhaps the breadth and diversity of these essays that leave the collection feeling slightly uneven but allow various types of readers to browse it with some satisfaction. The selections are by professors, psychoanalysts, graduate students, and clinical psychologists. Robin Rosenberg's "What Do Students Learn from Hogwarts Classes?" seems a well-suited (and entertaining) addition to the syllabus of an education major, not "just" a Potter enthusiast. Some of the genuinely good pop-psychology fun comes from essays on such topics as Dobby and self-mutilation; Lord Voldemort and antisocial personality disorders; the romantic attachment styles of Ron, Harry, and Hermione; and, yes, even Harry Potter therapy (step-by-step instruction on "learning to cast positive spells of thought instead of negative"). This book would be an innovative choice for educators looking to engage older students of literary criticism or theoretical psychology; it's a hit-or-miss indulgence for fans of the series.—Shannon Peterson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA