The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner - Tree House Mystery #14

One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden used to live alone in a boxcar. Now they have a home with their grandfather and are helping their neighbors build a tree house. From the new tree house, the Alden's can keep an eye on the house next door. That house has a very old and special secret...and the Boxcar Children are determined to find out what it is!

Anthem by Ayn Rand

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age characterized by irrationality, collectivism, and socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated.

The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco

Franciscan friar William of Bakersville and Adso of Melk, a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological dusputation. Upon their coming, the monastery is disturbed by a suicide. As the story unfolds, several other monks die under mysterious circumstances. William is tasked by the monastery's abbot to investigate the deaths, and fresh clues with each murder victim lead William to dead ends and new clues. The protagonists explore a labyrinthine medieval library, discuss the subversive power of laughter, and come face to face with the inquisition, a reaction to the Waldensians, a heresy which started in the 12th century and claimed to advocate an adherence to the Gospel as taught by Jesus and his disciples. William's innate curiosity and highly developed powers of logic and deduction provide the keys to unraveling the abbey's mysteries.

Canterwood Crest Take The Reins By Jessica Burkhart

    When Sasha Silver and her horse, Charm, arrive on the campus of the elite Canterwood Crest Academy, Sasha knows that she's in trouble.  She's not exactly welcomed with open arms.  One group of girls in particular is used to being the best, the brightest, and the prettiest on the team, and when Sasha shows her skills in the arena, the girls' claws come out.  

     Sasha is determined to prove that she belongs at Canterwood.  Will she rise to the occasion and make the advanced riding team by the end of her first semester?  Or will the pressure send Sasha packing?

Warriors fire and ice By Erin Hunter

Fireheart is a ThunderClan warrior cat now, but danger still lurks in the forest - and possibly closer than he thinks. With the chill of winter setting in, the cats of rival RiverClan are growing restless, while WindClan turns weak and faces threats from all sides.

As tensions build up to an explosive climax, Fireheart faces not only imminent battle, but betrayal from within his own Clan.

Night by Elie Wiesel

Night - A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family...the death of his innocence...and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

Leyla The Black Tulip By Alev Lytle Croutier

After her artist father goes off to war, 12-year-old Leyla must help her family earn enough money to survive. She makes a deal with marriage brokers-- but discovers too late that she's sold herself into slavery instead. Her journey as a slave takes her to faraway Istanbul, into the harem of the sultan. There she finds her Kismet, or destiny.

The Boxcar Children: The Pizza Mystery #33

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny used to live alone in a boxcar. Now they have a home with their grandfather, and they're helping out at a pizzeria.

The pizzeria is run by their old friends, the Piccolos, who've been having lots of troubles keeping their business going. Working at the little restaurant is lots of fun, but the children wonder...is someone deliberately trying to shut down Piccolos' Pizzeria?

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

Advertising consultant Cayce Pollard, who reacts to logos and advertising as if to an allergen, arrives in London in August 2002. She is working on a contract with the marketing firm Blue Ant to judge the effectiveness of a proposed corporate logo for a shoe company. During the presentation, graphic designer Dorotea Benedetti becomes hostile towards Cayce as she rejects the first proposal. After dinner with some Blue Ant employees, the company founder Hubertus Bigendoffers Cayce a new contract: to uncover who is responsible for distributing a series of anonymous, artistic film clips via the internet. Cayce had been following the film clips and participating in an online discussion forum theorizing on the clips' meaning, setting, and other aspects. Wary of corrupting the artistic process and mystery of the clips, she reluctantly accepts. Cayce is not entirely comfortable with Ivy's chat group called "Fetish:Footage:Forum" (or F:F:F), as shown by the following excerpt:

There are perhaps twenty regular posters on F:F:F, and some much larger and uncounted number of lurkers. And right now there are three people in Chat, but there's no way of knowing exactly who until you are in there, and the chat room she finds not so comforting. It's strange even with friends, like sitting in a pitch-dark cellar conversing with people at a distance of about fifteen feet.^[5]

A friend from the discussion group, who uses the handle Parkaboy, privately emails her saying a friend of a friend has discovered an encrypted watermark on one clip. They concoct a fake persona, a young woman named Keiko, to seduce the Japanese man who knows the watermark code. Cayce, along with an American computer security specialist, Boone Chu, hired to assist her, travels to Tokyo to meet the man and retrieve the watermark code. Two men attempt to steal the code but Cayce escapes and travels back to London. Boone travels to Columbus, Ohio to investigate the company that he believes created the watermark. Meanwhile, Blue Ant hires Dorotea who reveals that she was previously employed by a Russian lawyer whose clients have been investigating Cayce. The clients wanted Cayce to refuse the job of tracking the film clips and it was Dorotea's responsibility to ensure this.

Through a completely random encounter Cayce meets Voytek Biroshak and Ngemi, the former an artist using old ZX81 microcomputers as a sculpture medium, the latter a collector of rare technology (he mentions purchasing Stephen King's word processor, for example). Another collector, and sometime 'friend' of Ngemi's, Hobbs Baranov, is a retired cryptographer and mathematician with connections in the American National Security Agency. Cayce strikes a deal with him: she buys a Curta calculator for him and he finds the email address to which the watermark code was sent. Using this email address Cayce makes contact with Stella Volkova whose sister Nora is the maker of the film clips.

Cayce flies to Moscow to meet Stella in person and watch Nora work. Nora is brain damaged from an assassination attempt and can only express herself through film. At her hotel, Cayce is intercepted and drugged by Dorotea and wakes up in a mysterious prison facility. Cayce escapes; exhausted, disoriented and lost, she nearly collapses as Parkaboy, who upon Cayce's request was flown to Moscow, retrieves her and brings her to the prison where the film is processed. There Hubertus, Stella and Nora's uncle Andrei, and the latter's security employees are waiting for her. Over dinner with Cayce, the Russians reveal that they have been spying on her since she posted to a discussion forum speculating that the clips may be controlled by the Russian Mafia. They had let her track the clips to expose any security breaches in their distribution network. The Russians surrender all the information they had collected on her father's disappearance and the book ends with Cayce coming to terms with his absence while in Paris with Parkaboy, whose real name is Peter Gilbert.

Guardians of the Lost by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

For two centuries the portion of the great Sovereign Stone belonging to the humans of Loerem was lost from sight and memory. But there are those who dare never to forget...

A magical relic has been miraculously recovered -- and the battle for the future of Loerem begins. It is a nightmare conflict that will ensnare dwarf, human, elf, and orken beings, as the immortal dark lord Dagnarus launches terrible war from the blackest depths of the Void. And now heros must emerge from the most unlikely corners of the world to deny Dagnarus the awesome power of the Stone -- or suffer the hideous damnation of his hellish reign.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance. 

Vector by Robin Cook

New York City cab driver Yuri Davydov is a disgruntled Russian emigre poised to lash out at the adoptive nation he believes has denied him the American Dream. A former technician in the Soviet biological weapons system, Biopreparat, Yuri possesses the knowledge to wreak havoc in his new home. But before he executes his planned piece de resistance of vengeance, he experiments first on his suspicious live-in girlfriend, then on a few poor-tipping fares.... Dr. Jack Stapleton and Dr. Laurie Montgomery (both last seen in Chromosome 6) begin to witness some unusual cases in their capacity as forensic pathologists in the city's medical examiner's office: a young, healthy black woman dies of respiratory failure, a Greek immigrant succumbs to a sudden, overwhelming pneumonia. At the same time, the pair are pressured from above to focus on a high-profile string of suspicious deaths of prisoners in police custody. When an unexpected breakthrough persuades Jack that these seemingly unrelated deaths are really connected murders, his colleagues and superiors are skeptical. Only Laurie is somewhat convinced. But the question soon becomes whether the pair will solve the puzzle before Yuri unleashes into the streets of New York the ultimate terror: a modern bioweapon. With signature skill, Robin Cook has crafted a page-turning thriller rooted in up-to-the-minute biotechnology. Vector is all-too-plausible fiction at its terrifying best.

Warriors #1: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

Join the legion of fans who have made Erin Hunter's Warriors series a #1 national bestseller! Epic adventures. Fierce Warrior cats. A thrilling fantasy world. It all begins here with Warriors #1: Into the Wild.

For generations, four Clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to the laws laid down by their ancestors. But the warrior code is threatened, and the ThunderClan cats are in grave danger. The sinister ShadowClan grows stronger every day. Noble warriors are dying—and some deaths are more mysterious than others.

In the midst of this turmoil appears an ordinary housecat named Rusty . . . who may turn out to be the bravest warrior of them all.

The Giver By Lois Lowry

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There is no choices.  Every person is assigned a role in the Community.
        When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver.  The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life.  Now it's time for Jonas to receive the truth.  There is no turning back.

Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy

At the end of the prologue to Clear and Present Danger, Clancy writes, "And so began something that had not quite begun and would not soon end, with many people in many places moving off in directions and on missions which they all mistakenly thought they understood. That was just as well. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected, illusory finish lines were things fated by the decisions made this morning--and, once decided, best unseen." In Clear and Present Danger nothing is as clear as it may seem.

The president, unsatisfied with the success of his "war on drugs," decides that he wants some immediate success. But after John Clark's covert strike team is deployed to Colombia for Operation Showboat, the drug lords strike back taking several civilian casualties. The chief executive's polls plummet. He orders Ritter to terminate their unofficial plan and leave no traces. Jack Ryan, who has just been named CIA deputy director of intelligence is enraged when he discovers that has been left out of the loop of Colombian operations. Several of America's most highly trained soldiers are stranded in an unfinished mission that, according to all records, never existed. Ryan decides to get the men out.

Ultimately, Clear and Present Danger is about good conscience, law, and politics, with Jack Ryan and CIA agent John Clark as its dual heroes. Ryan relentlessly pursues what he knows is right and legal, even if it means confronting the president of the United States. Clark is the perfect soldier, but a man who finally holds his men higher than the orders of any careless commander.

Along with the usual, stunning array of military hardware and the latest techno-gadgets, Clear and Present Danger further develops the relationships and characters that Clancy fans have grown to love. Admiral James Greer passes the CIA torch to his pupil, Ryan. Mr. Clark and Chavez meet for the first time. Other recurring characters like Robert Ritter and "the President" add continuity to Clancy's believable, alternate reality. This is Clancy at his best.

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Meet Laura Ingalls, the little girl who would grow up to write the Little House books.

Pa Ingalls decides to sell the little log house, and the family sets out for Indian country! They travel from Wisconsin to Kansas, and there, finally, Pa builds their little house on the prairie. Sometimes farm life is difficult, even dangerous, but Laura and her family are kept busy and are happy with the promise of their new life on the prairie.

Little House on the Prairie is the second book in the Laura Years series.

Daddy's Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark

Ellie Cavanaugh was only seven years old when her fifteen-year-old sister, Andrea, was murdered near their home in Oldham-on-the-Hudson, a rural village in New York's Westchester County. There were three suspects: Rob Westerfield, nineteen-year-old scion of a wealthy, prominent family, whom Andrea has been secretly dating; Paul Stroebel, a sixteen-year-old schoolmate, who had a crush on Andrea; and Will Nebels, a local handyman in his forties.

It was Ellie who had led her parents to a hideout in which Andrea's body was found -- a secret hideaway in which she met her friends. And it was Ellie who was blamed by her parents for her sister's death for not telling them about this place the night Andrea was missing. It was also Ellie's testimony that led to the conviction of the man she was firmly convinced was the killer. Steadfastly denying his guilt, he spent the next twenty-two years in prison.

When he comes up for parole, Ellie, now an investigative reporter for an Atlanta newspaper, protests his release. Nonetheless, the convicted killer is set free and returns to Oldham. Determined to thwart his attempts to whitewash his reputation, Ellie also returns to Oldham, intent on creating a Website and writing a book that will conclusively prove his guilt. As she delves deeper into her research, however, she uncovers horrifying and heretofore unknown facts that shed new light on her sister's murder. With each discovery, she comes closer to a confrontation with a desperate killer.

The Children's Bible

The world's greatest book, beautifully illustrated and written in a clear, simple style for children, has been approved by an editorial board consisting of leaders from the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths.

The Odyssy

"Gareth Hinds brings THE ODYSSEY to life in a masterful blend of art and storytelling. Vivid and exciting, this graphic novel is a worthy new interpretation of Homer’s epic."
—Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series

Fresh from his triumphs in the Trojan War, Odysseus, King of Ithaca, wants nothing more than to return home to his family. Instead, he offends the sea god, Poseidon, who dooms him to years of shipwreck and wandering. Battling man-eating monsters, violent storms, and the supernatural seductions of sirens and sorceresses, Odysseus will need all his strength and cunning—and a little help from Mount Olympus—to make his way home and seize his kingdom from the schemers who seek to wed his queen and usurp his throne. Award-winning graphic artist Gareth Hinds masterfully reinterprets a story of heroism, adventure, and high action that has been told and retold for more than 2,500 years—though never quite like this.

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn Chapter 21

Carter-Reagan-Bush:  The Bipartisan Consensus

bone

So far im in to chapter 3 and the character i've met so far are Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, smiley Bone, Thorn, and Grandma Ben. Although there is something weird going on, with rat creatures, kingok, and this one called the hooded one. It seems that the story is trying to tell me that something big is going to happen, and later in the story somthing even bigger happens.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to  hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility. All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursley's, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley-a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry-and anyone who reads about him-will find unforgettable. For it's there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter.

Current Events

Much of my reading time recently has been focused on trying to make sense of this election cycle, which is why I'm making a post about it.

With the ever progressing race for the next US leader, it is looking more and more like it will be Hillary Clinton and (yes, we're all surprised) Donald Trump going head to head in the general election. Although other candidates exist on both parties still, I don't see either Clinton or Trump having much contention from here on out. The closest thing to a threat to Trump's position, Ted Cruz, recently dropped out of the race. I and others believe that this is the best thing he has done in his campaign. I still don't trust the guy, but at least he had the dignity to drop out when there really wasn't a chance. On the democratic side, Bernie Sanders, although he took the underage voters by storm, has still so much ground to cover in so little time to catch up to Clinton. I think it would be better for him to drop out now and let Hillary focus on her upcoming battle with Trump for the presidential spot. I even find his persistence a bit irritating, the sooner Hillary can start preparing for the onslaught of sexist slurs and petty insults from Mr. Trump, the better.

What do you all think about this election's state of events?  If everyone could post something, even if you aren't caught up or interested in this sort of thing, that would be great! It would be awesome to get views from different backgrounds and maturities.

Counting on grace by Elizabeth Winthrop

It's 1910 in Pownal, Vermont. At 12 Grace and her best friend Arthur must go to work in the mill, helping their mothers work the looms. Together Grace and Arthur write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in the mill. A few weeks later, Lewis Hine, a famous reform arrives undercover to gather evidence. Grace meets him and appears in some of his photographs, changing her life forever.

Bone by Jeff Smith

even though I have already read this book, I don`t remember a lot of it so it would be fun to read again. Bone is a graphic novel that is about three little adventurers, Phoney, Fone Bone, and Smiley,  that travel to a place called " the valley", They go on adventures, avoiding rat creatures and learning more an more about thorns and roses history.

Wandering Star by: Romina Russell

Orphaned, disgraced, and stripped of her title, Rho is ready to live life quietly, as an aid worker in the Cancrian refugee camp on House Capricorn. 
 
But news has spread that the Marad—an unbalanced terrorist group determined to overturn harmony in the Galaxy—could strike any House at any moment.
 
Then, unwelcome nightmare that he is, Ochus appears to Rho, bearing a cryptic message that leaves her with no choice but to fight.     
 
Now Rho must embark on a high-stakes journey through an all-new set of Houses, where she discovers that there's much more to her Galaxy—and to herself—than she could have ever imagined.

The Invisible Man By H. G. Wells

A quiet country village, a heavy snowstorm, a mysterious stranger...more than enough to rouse the townspeople to gossip and speculation. Who can he be, this suspicious-looking man who keeps his face hidden and his back to everyone?

But when the stranger finally faces them, there are more questions than answers, and more terror of the most unspeakable kind, as outrage and murder put the once quiet countryside unto the grip of an unstoppable madman.

Ultimately it is up to one man to solve the mystery and end the rampage, to reveal the identity of the faceless Invisible Man!

How To Be A Normal Person by TJ Klune

Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.

Gus is not normal. And he's fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.

Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie’s Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.

But Gus isn’t normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Ready Player One by Ernest cline

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. 
   But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

I luv Halloween 3 by Keith Giffen (Art done by Benjamin Roman)

They say bad things come in threes, and this third round of trick o' treat is a close encounter of the twisted kind. We won't completely spoil the surprise, but this volume includes an alien invasion, defiled corpses, more lame candy, and some new, sick characters, including Keven Kyle Kramer-a.k.a Triple K- and Monica, a charming thirteen-year-old who really REALLY hates dogs. This Halloween, you won't what crazy is...

The Boxcar Children

The Aldens begin their adventure by making a home in a boxcar. Their goal is to stay together, and in the process they find a grandfather.

harry potter and the sorcerers stone.

Harry and dursleys have moved to the house in the ocean and hagrad had took harry to were need to get his stuff for school. I`m looking forward to see how the book is like the movie and how it is different.

The Coelura

Princess Caissa leaves her home in the Blue City in hopes of finding more freedom in Yellow Triadic City, but along the way she meets a coelura, a mysterious rainbow creature.

the last kids on earth by Max Brallier

"Terrifyingly fun! Max Brallier's The Last Kids on Earth delivers big thrills and even bigger laughs."--Jeff Kinney, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets The Walking Dead in this very funny post-apocalyptic graphic novel for middle-grade readers. 

The cat who knew Shakespeare by Lilian Jackson Braun

There's something rotten in the small town of Pickax-at least to the sensitive noses of the newspaper man Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum. An accident has claimed the life of the local paper's eccentric publisher, but to Qwilleran and his feline friends, it sounds like a murder. The soon sniff out a shocking secret, but Koko's snooping into an unusual edition of Shakespeare may prove CATastrophic...because somewhere in Pickax a lady loves not wisely but too well, a widow is scandalously merry, and a stranger has a lean and hungry look. The stage is set for Qwilleran, Koko, Yum Yum, and the second act of murder most meow...

Qwilleran- a prize-winning reporter with a nose for crime.
Koko- a Siamese cat with extraordinary talents and a flair for mystery.
Yum Yum- A lovable Siamese adored by her two male companions.
The most unlikely, most unusual, most delightful team in detective fiction!

harry potter and the sorceers stone

so far i made it to the part were harry is receiving the letter from Hogwarts and soon the house is going to fluid with letters.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Berlin, 1942: When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move to a new house far, far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different from his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

sounder

Set in the Deep South, this Newbery Medal-winning novel tells the story of the great coon dog, Sounder, and the poor sharecroppers who own him.
During the difficult years of the nineteenth century South, an African-American boy and his poor family rarely have enough to eat. Each night, the boy's father takes their dog, Sounder, out to look for food and the man grows more desperate by the day.

harry potter and the sorcerers stone

Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

Dragon Lance by Margaret Weis

Life-long friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales with strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chanced encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman who bears a magical crystal staff draws the companions deeper into the shadow forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

No one expected them to be heroes.

Least of all themselves.

Confessions of the private school murders

Wealthy young women are being murdered on Manhattan's exclusive Upper West Side, and the police aren't looking for answers in the right places. Enter Tandy Angel. The first case she cracked was the mystery of her parents' deaths. Now, while she's working to exonerate her brother of his glamorous girlfriend's homicide, she's driven to get involved in the West Side murder spree. 

One of the recent victims was a student at Tandy's own elite school. She has a hunch it may be the work of a serial killer, but the NYPD isn't listening to her...and Tandy can't ignore the disturbing fact that she perfectly fits the profile of the killer's targets. Can she untangle the mysteries in time? Or will she be the next victim?

the giver.

The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, includingGathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

the giver

The Giver is a 1993 American Young-adult fiction-Dystopian novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which at first appears as a utopian society but then later revealed to be a dystopian one as the story progresses." (Wikipedia)

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

This novel takes place in WWI and focuses on three Cree Indians, even though only two of them narrate. Xavier and Elijah, although exposed to the nuns and their teaching methods, know the ways of the bush. Due to this, when they sign up to fight alongside the Canadians in France, they become great assets to their Battalion. They face not only the Germans and the Huns as their enemies, but the weather, each other, and their inner conflicts as well. Can they triumph?

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Jonas's world is perfect.  Everything is under control.  There is no war or fear of pain.  There are no choices.  Every person is assigned a role in the Community.

When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver.  The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life.  Now it's time for Jonas to receive the truth.  There is no turning back.

Ghost of Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

Alone in the wilderness, Cole found peace.

But he's not alone anymore.

Cole Matthews used to be a violent kid, but a year in exile on a remote Alaskan island has a big way of changing your perspective. After being mauled by a Spirit Bear, Cole started to heal. He even invited his victim, Peter Driscal, to join him on the island and they became friends.

But now their time in exile is over, and Cole and Peter are heading back to the one place they're not sure they can handle: high school. Gangs and violence haunt the hallways, and Peter's limp and speech impediment make him a natural target. In a school where hate and tension are getting close to the boiling point, the monster of rage hibernating inside Cole begins to stir.

Ben Mikaelsen's riveting saga of survival and self-awareness continues in the sequel to his gripping Touching Spirit Bear. This time, he weaves a tale of urban survival where every day is a struggle to stay sane. As the problems in his school grow worse, Cole realize that it's not enough to change himself. He has to change his world.

Ender's Shadow By Orson Scott Card

Andres "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just hte best of the best. Here is the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean-the one who became Ender's right hand, his strategist, and his friend.

Beans's past was a battle just to survive on the streets of Rotterdam. He was a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else's. Bean's desperate struggle, and his remarkable success, brought him to the attention of the battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent to orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender...

the shorter novel of Herman Melville.

For anyone interested in the not-so-often read novellas of Melville, this is a great little collection. The titles include "Benito Cereno," "Bartleby the Scrivener," "The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles" and "Billy Budd, Foretopman." The introduction is full of information about Melville and gives an excellent overview of the nuances of his work.

Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher preachers

Harriet Beecher Stowe grew up in a family in which her seven brothers were expected to be successful preachers and the four girls were never to speak in public. But slavery made Harriet so angry she couldn't keep quiet. Although she used a pen rather than her voice to convince people of the evils of slavery, she 

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Temperance Brennan may not be competition for Kay Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell's medical examiner, in the romance department, but she's just as stubborn and almost as astute when it comes to sleuthing. While investigating a grisly discovery for the Montreal coroner's office, Tempe finds herself remembering a similar investigation she conducted on the remains of a woman who was savagely dismembered and stuffed in garbage bags. When Tempe's concerns about a serial killer are dismissed by the police, she decides to pursue the matter herself--a course of action that both puts her career on the line and so effectively upsets the murderer's plan that he sets his sights on her. Montreal, with its French culture, is an enticing setting for Reichs' first mystery, and as a forensic anthropologist who spends part of her time working for the Province of Quebec, Reich knows the city well. She also contributes a wealth of authentic medical detail as she follows Tempe on her gripping, convoluted quest to catch a psychotic killer. A high-voltage thriller that readers won't want to put down. Reichs' novel generated great interest at the Frankfurt Book Fair and prompted a big-numbers rights auction.

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R Martin

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.

Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all. 

star wars from the adventures of luke skywalker by George lucas

The classic tale of good versus evil set in a galaxy far, far away, quickly became a cultural phenomenon during its time, inspiring a generation of story lovers and storytellers. Now, the original trilogy of Star Wars shines anew with the vibrant concept art of Ralph McQuarrie, the legendary conceptual designer behind the original trilogy.

Collected in a picture book for the first time, McQuarrie's art is paired with captivating text byNew York Times bestselling author Tony DiTerlizzi-a winning combination that will delight Star Wars fans old and new and delight generations of readers to come.

the mystery of the moaning cave by William arden

Many years ago, the young bandit El Diablo disappeared into a cave, never to be seen again. Now an eerie moaning sound is coming from his old hideout, and the ranchers who live nearby think he may still be alive.

Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis

Narnia...the land between the lamp-post and the castle of Cair Paravel, where the animals talk, where magical things happen...and where the adventure begins.

Peter, Susuan, Edmund, and Lucy are returning to boarding school when they are summoned from the dreary train station (by Susan's own magic horn) to return to the land of Narnia- the land where they had ruled as kings and queens and where their help is desperately needed.

Enter this enchanted world countless times in The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The victim is a high-ranking agent of this ancient society who, in the moments before his death, manages to leave gruesome clues at the scene that only his granddaughter, noted cryptographer Sophie Neveu, and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle. The duo become both suspects and detectives searching for not only Neveu's grandfather's murderer but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect. Mere steps ahead of the authorities and the deadly competition, the mystery leads Neveu and Langdon on a breathless flight through France, England, and history itself.

plop, hah!

A graphic novel that has a funny a goofy story for all ages.

Zodiac by: Romina Russell

At the dawn of time, there were 13 Houses in the Zodiac Galaxy. Now only 12 remain....
 
Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories.

When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancrian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts.

Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians.

But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac?