TEAM MEMBER BOOKS

NIGHTSHADE CITY ~ Hilary Wagner
(October 1st, 2010, Holiday House)
“Fans of Redwall and the Warriors series will love this heroic tale of good versus evil in a subterranean society of rats. Expect great adventures in Nightshade City.” ~ Rick Riordan, Author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series


THE WHITE ASSASSIN ~ Hilary Wagner
(October 2nd, 2011, Holiday House)
"Many surprises are in store in this volume, surprises that will cause the rats—and readers, too—to reevaluate their perceptions of family, loyalty, justice and culpability. Wagner's worldbuilding carries readers through these heavy themes with ease." ~ Kirkus



LORDS OF TRILLIUM ~ Hilary Wagner (March 2014, Holiday House)
The dramatic and satisfying conclusion to the Nightshade Chronicles reveals the secret of the Nightshade rats unique powers and resolves old rivalries and conflicts.
MAY B. ~ Caroline Starr Rose Schwartz & Wade (January 10th, 2012)

"As unforgiving as the western Kansas prairies, this extraordinary verse novel—Rose’s debut—paints a gritty picture of late-19th-century frontier life from the perspective of a 12-year-old dyslexic girl… May B. for short." ~Kirkus (starred review)

BLUE BIRDS ~ Caroline Starr Rose (March 10, 2015, G.P. Putnam's Sons) It’s 1587 and twelve-year-old Alis has made the long journey with her parents from England to help settle the New World, the land christened Virginia in honor of the Queen. Here she feels free. But the land, the island Roanoke, is also inhabited by the Roanoke tribe and tensions between them and the English are running high, soon turning deadly.

Amid the strife, Alis meets and befriends Kimi, a Roanoke girl about her age. Though the two don’t even speak the same language, these girls form a special bond as close as sisters, willing to risk everything for the other. Finally, Alis must make an impossible choice when her family resolves to leave the island and bloodshed behind.


JASPER AND THE RIDDLE OF RILEY'S MINE - Caroline Starr Rose (February 2017, G.P. Putnam's Sons) Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine is action, history, survival, and the bond of brotherhood all rolled into one…Caroline Starr Rose’s use of first person point of view allows us to experience the quest for gold and freedom through the eyes and mind of an eleven-year-old boy from a small northwest town. Jasper’s emotions become the reader’s emotions and we are drawn along with him through hope, despair, desperation, and perseverance, to a climactic end that strikes all the right chords.
— Barnes and Noble Kids’ Blog
  
THE ATOMIC WEIGHT OF SECRETS ~ Eden Unger Bowditch, Bancroft Press (March 15th, 2011) An amazing story about the wonders of science and the still greater wonders of friendship, The Atomic Weight of Secrets or the Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black, the first book of the Young Inventors Guild trilogy, is a truly original novel. Young readers will forever treasure Eden Unger Bowditch’s funny, inventive, poignant, and wonderfully fun fiction debut. 

THE RAVENS OF SOLEMANO ~ Eden Unger Bowditch, Bancroft Press (Sept. 24th, 2013)
It has been mere days since the brilliant children of the Young Inventors Guild escaped from the clutches of the horrible Komar Romak. They've escaped with their lovely and caring schoolteacher, Miss Brett; with their long-absent parents; and with their bizarre captors, protectors, or both--the mysterious men in black. And now they travel by train, destined for parts unknown.


THE GENIE'S GIFT ~ Chris Eboch, Spellbound River Press (2016) In this lighthearted action fantasy, shy Anise seeks the Genie Shakayak to claim the Gift of Sweet Speech. But how will she get past a vicious she-ghoul, a sorceress who turns people to stone, and mysterious sea monsters, when she can’t even speak in front of strangers?





THE EYES OF PHAROAH ~ Chris Eboch, Spellbound River Press (2016) Reya hints that Egypt is in danger from foreign nomads, then disappears. To save their friend, Seshta and Horus spy on merchants, soldiers, and royalty, and start to suspect even the secret police. Will they escape the traps, rescue Reya, and stop the plot against Egypt in time?





THE WELL OF SACRIFICE ~ Chris Eboch, Clarion Books (1999) A Mayan girl in ninth-century Guatemala rebels against the High Priest who sacrifices anyone challenging his power. Kirkus said, “The novel shines not only for a faithful recreation of an unfamiliar, ancient world, but also for the introduction of a brave, likable and determined heroine.”




YOU CAN'T HAVE MY PLANET, BUT TAKE MY BROTHER, PLEASE - James Mihaley (Feiwel and Friends, April 2012)
Thirteen-year-old Giles is the last person anyone would expect to save the planet. he's not as charming as his little sister, and not as brainy as his goody-goody older brother. But when Giles witnesses an alien realtor showing Earth to possible new tenants, he knows he'd better do something. With the help of an alien "attorney" and the maddest scientist in middle-grade fiction, Giles just might save humans from eviction from Earth. Let's hope so. The alternatives are...not so hospitable.

DEADWOOD - Kell Andrews (Spencer Hill Press, June 2014)
Seventh-graders Martin and Hannah get a message from a tree telling him it's cursed--and so are they. It's not just any tree either, it's the Spirit Tree, an ancient beech the football team carves for good luck before the season opener. But every year they lose. Now the Spirit Tree is dying, and if Martin and Hannah can't break the curse, it could mean the destruction of Lower Brynwood and a permanent case of bad luck.


SURVIVING BEAR ISLAND - Paul Greci (Move Books, March 25, 2015)
After a sea kayaking trip with his father takes a dangerous turn, Tom Parker is stranded on the remote, outer coast of unpopulated Bear Island in the waters of Prince William Sound, Alaska with only a survival kit in his pocket. Desperate to find his father, Tom doesn’t know how long he can survive and must put his survival skills to the test as he fights for his life.

“The tension is well-crafted and realistic. Bear Island is a challenging environment to survive but a terrific thrill on the page.” –Kirkus Reviews

Surviving Bear Island is a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection.



JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD - Donna Galanti (Month9Books, May 2015)
Twelve-year-old Joshua Cooper learns the hard way that lightning never strikes by chance when a bolt strikes his house and whisks away his best friend—possibly forever. To get him back, Joshua must travel the Lightning Road to a dark world where stolen human kids are work slaves ruled by the frustrated heirs of the Greek Olympians who come to see Joshua as the hero prophesied to restore their lost powers. New friends come to Joshua’s aid and while battling beasts and bandits and fending off the Child Collector, Joshua’s mission quickly becomes more than a search for his friend—it becomes the battle of his life.


JOSHUA AND THE ARROW REALM - Donna Galanti (Month9Books, August 30, 2016)
In book 2 in the Lightning Road series, Joshua never thought he’d return to the world of Nostos so soon. But, when King Apollo needs his help in the Arrow Realm, Joshua’s will and powers will be tested in order to save him. With his loyalties divided between our world and theirs, Joshua wonders whether he alone can restore magic to the twelve powerless Olympian heirs, or whether he is being tricked into making the one mistake that might cost them all.

“Fast-paced and endlessly inventive, Joshua and the Arrow Realm is a high-stakes romp through a wild world where descendants of the Greek gods walk beside you, beasts abound, and not everything—or everyone—is as it seems.” – Michael Northrop, New York Times bestselling author of the TombQuest series


THE CABINET OF EARTHS ~ Anne Nesbet (January 2012, HarperCollins)
Twelve-year-old Maya is miserable when she has to move from California to Paris. Not speaking French at a school full of snobby French girls is bad enough, but Maya believes there is something sinister going on in her new city. A purple-eyed man follows Maya and her younger brother, James. Statues seem to have Maya’s face. And an eerie cabinet filled with mysterious colored bottles calls to her.

When James becomes the target of dark forces, Maya decides she must answer the call of the Cabinet of Earths, despite the danger.



A BOX OF GARGOYLES ~ Anne Nesbet (May 2013, HarperCollins)
Sometimes it’s just when you think everything’s finally all right with the world that the gargoyles come looking for you . . .  Maya is starting to feel at ease in the magical old town of Paris, and she’s enjoying her friendship with Valko Nikolov. But then strange things begin to happen in the city. Stone gargoyles are showing up where they shouldn’t be, and Maya is being followed by a shadow. That shadow–or the magician he used to be–is behind the dark magic that ripples throughout Paris. And now he has bound Maya to make him whole again–even if that means trading her life for his.



THE WRINKLED CROWN ~ Anne Nesbet (November 10, 2015, HarperCollins) 
Up in the magical, wrinkled hills, Linny breaks an ancient law. No matter how musical a girl may be, she must not so much as touch a string of a lourka before she turns twelve, or she'll be spirited off to Away. When the curse meant for her strikes her best friend instead, Linny must leave her home behind to try to set things right. If you walk down out of the wrinkled hills, you will never find your way home--everyone knows that other law. But Linny has the gift of not getting lost, and she will risk everything to rescue her friend. With her father's young apprentice, Elias, she travels down into the Plain, where science may have found a cure for magic. Linny and Elias soon find themselves caught up in the age-old battle between the wrinkled places and the Plain. Can Linny keep the fractured land from falling apart—and save her best friend?