Regional library booklist showcases what’s new for teens

Teen readers can chose from a wide range of writing styles and genres from this week’s booklist. The booklist provides readers with names of books recommended by the staff of the Western Counties Regional Library. All books recommended by the staff are posted at www.westerncounties.ca under Recommended Reading with links to the library’s catalogue. Book summaries are provided by library staff.



A Posse of Princesses

by Sherwood Smith

Rhis, princess of a small kingdom, is invited along with all the other princesses in her part of the world to the coming of age party of the Crown Prince of Vesarja, which is the central and most important kingdom. When Iardith, the prettiest and most perfect of all the princesses, is abducted, Rhis and her friends go to the rescue. What happens to Rhis and her posse has unexpected results not only for the princesses, but for the princes who chase after them. Everyone learns a lot about friendship and hate, politics and laughter, romantic ballads and sleeping in the dirt with nothing but a sword for company. But most of all they learn about the many meanings of love.



House Party

by Eric Walters

As the new girl in a strange town, Casey is trying desperately to fit in and make friends. When her parents leave town for the weekend, her friend suggests she have a house party. Casey is reluctant to go along, until she realizes maybe this is the answer to fitting in and making friends – and getting back at her parents. They invite a few people and then a few more, using msn and text messaging. Hundreds of people show up and things get out of hand. Casey is in more trouble than she thought possible and now she must decide whether – and how – to do the right thing.



Me, the Missing, and the Dead

by Jenny Valentine

When a series of chance events leaves him in possession of an urn with ashes, 16-year-old Londoner, Lucas Swain, becomes convinced that its occupant, Violet Park, is communicating with him, initiating a voyage of self-discovery that forces him to finally confront the events surrounding his father’s sudden disappearance.



Afrika

by Colleen Craig

For 13-year-old Kim, travel to South Africa with her journalist mother will mark the end of her childhood and the beginning of a remarkable journey. Expecting nothing more than three months in her mother’s homeland, Kim comes to terms with the country’s diverse and often shocking history. The Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in post-apartheid South Africa open her eyes to the tragedy and brutality of its segregationist policies. Kim's first meeting with her relatives, her contact with schoolmates and cousins, bring her face-to-face with the realization that she is not as removed from this powerful story as she thought.

Bewitching Season

by Marissa Doyle

In 1837 London, young daughters of viscounts pined for handsome, titled husbands, not careers. And certainly not careers in magic. At least, most of them didn’t. Shy, studious Persephone Leland would far rather devote herself to her secret magic studies than enter society and look for a suitable husband. But right as the inevitable season for “coming out” is about to begin, Persy and her twin sister discover that their governess in magic has been kidnapped as part of a plot to gain control of the soon-to-be Queen Victoria.



Copper Sun

by Sharon M. Draper

Stolen from her village, sold to the highest bidder, 15-year-old Amari has only one thing left of her own – hope. Amari’s life was once perfect. Engaged to the handsomest man in her tribe, adored by her family, and living in a beautiful village, she could not have imagined everything could be taken away from her in an instant. But when slave traders invade her village and brutally murder her entire family, Amari finds herself dragged away to a slave ship headed to the Carolinas, where she is bought by a plantation owner and given to his son as a birthday present. Survival seems all that Amari can hope for.



Death in Kingsport

by Curtis Parkinson

Kingsport, a small town on the shores of Lake Ontario, is struggling through the fall and winter of 1941 in the aftermath of the Great Depression. For 15-year-old Neil, life is simple and routine, until his favorite uncle, Chester, suddenly dies, and he is engulfed by an aching loneliness. At his uncle’s cremation aboard a freighter in the harbour, Neil has a strange sense of foreboding as he inadvertently hears a thumping sound inside the coffin. Could Uncle Chester be alive?



Touching Snow

by M. Sindy Felin

In her debut novel, Felin tells the story of a young girl coming of age amid the violent waters that run just beneath the surface of suburbia – a story that has the courage to ask how far one will go to protect a loved one.



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