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  Must Reads for 7th-9th Graders  
Booked

Kwame Alexander - HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

National Book Award Long ListNew York Times Bestseller Like lightning/you strike/fast and free/legs zoom/down field/eyes fixed/on the checkered ball/on the goal/ten yards to go/can't nobody stop you/can't nobody cop you ... In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel...
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Chains

Laurie Halse Anderson - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious...
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Red Queen (Red Queen, 1)

Victoria Aveyard - HarperTeen
Format: Audio CD

The #1 New York Times bestselling series!Red Queen, by #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Aveyard, is a sweeping tale of power, intrigue, and betrayal, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martins Game of Thrones series.Mare Barrows world is divided by blood - those with common, Red blood...
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Empress of a Thousand Skies

Rhoda Belleza - Razorbill
Format: Print book

For fans of Pierce Brown and Firefly comes an epic sci-fi fantasy that Kiersten White, author of And I Darken, calls "dazzling--an adventure as sweeping in scope as the galaxies it spans!"Empress Rhee, also known as Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta'an, is the sole surviving...
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As Old as Time: A Twisted Tale

Liz Braswell - Disney Press
Format: Print book

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind-memories of a mother she thought she would...
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Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up

Jessica Brody - Delacorte Press
Format: Print book

A middle school girl finds out that being a teenager isn't all it's cracked up to be in this realistic read about friendship with plenty of LOL moments--and a magical twist!Seventh grader Addie Bell can't wait to grow up. Her parents won't let her have her own phone, she doesn't have any...
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The Testing

Joelle Charbonneau - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Print book

It's graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about - hope for - is whether she'll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates...
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If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period

Gennifer Choldenko - Harcourt Children's Books; First Edition edition
Format: Hardcover

Kirsten's parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has fallen under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. It seems like only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side.               Walker's...
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City of Bones

Cassandra Clare - Margaret K. McElderry Books
Format: Paperback

Discover the world of the Shadowhunters in the first installment of the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and "prepare to be hooked" (Entertainment Weekly) - now with a gorgeous new cover, a map, a new foreword, and exclusive bonus content! City of Bones...
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Atlantia: Book 1

Allyson Braithwaite Condie - Dutton Books, and imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Format: Print book

"Rio has always dreamed of leaving the underwater city of Atlantia for life in the Above; however, when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, Rio is left stranded below where she must find a way to unlock the secrets of the siren voice she has long hidden and save Atlantia...
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Matched

Ally Condie - Dutton Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face...
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Waste of Space

Gina Damico - HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Cram ten hormonal teens into a spaceship and blast off: that's the premise for the ill-conceived reality show Waste of Space. The kids who are cast know everything about drama - and nothing about the fact that the production is fake. Hidden in a desert warehouse, their spaceship...
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The Maze Runner

James Dashner - Delacorte Press
Format: Paperback

Book one in the blockbuster Maze Runner series that spawned a movie franchise and ushered in a worldwide phenomenon! And don't miss The Fever Code, the highly-anticipated series conclusion that finally reveals the story of how the maze was built! When Thomas wakes up in the lift,...
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The Name of the Star

Maureen Johnson - G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific...
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Alex and Eliza: A Love Story

Melissa de la Cruz - G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Witches of East End and the Descendants series comes the love story of young Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. 1777. Albany, New York. As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance,...
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The Breadwinner

Deborah Ellis - Groundwood Books
Format: Hardcover

The Breadwinner brings to life an issue that has recently exploded in the international media - the reality of life under the Taliban. Young Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan. Because he has a foreign education, her father...
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Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

Richard Paul Evans - Simon Pulse/Mercury Ink
Format: Hardcover

The electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling first installment of the action-packed Michael Vey series from author Richard Paul Evans.My name is Michael Vey, and the story I'm about to tell you is strange. Very strange. It's my story. To everyone at Meridian High School,...
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Mystery at the Final Four

John Feinstein - Yearling
Format: Paperback

After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game.
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Me and Miranda Mullaly

Jake Gerhardt - Viking Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

They each have 33% chance with her, but shes 0% interested.Meet Sam, the comedian; Duke, the intellectual; and Chollie, the athlete. Their fates converge at Penn Valley Middle as each falls desperately for the enigmatic Miranda Mullaly - the girl who smiles like she means it, the girl who makes...
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Gone

Michael Grant - HarperTeen
Format: Paperback

The first in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant's breathtaking dystopian sci-fi saga, Gone is a page-turning thriller that invokes the classic The Lord of the Flies along with the horror of Stephen King.In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for the young....
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Refugee

ALAN GRATZ - Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover

JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft,...
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Half Bad

Sally Green - Speak; Reprint edition
Format: Print book

"Highly entertaining and dangerously addictive" - Time magazine"A bewitching new thriller." - The Wall Street JournalIn modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and sixteen-year-old Nathan, who is both....
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Full Ride

Margaret Peterson Haddix - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Becca has plenty to hide and everything to lose - but with her future on the line, she's willing to risk it all. A gripping novel from New York Times bestselling author Maragaret Peterson Haddix.Becca's claim to fame is one she's been hiding from for the past three years: Her father...
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The Goose Girl

Shannon Hale - Bloomsbury
Format: Paperback

A New York Public Library "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"A Texas Lone Star Reading List BookA Josette Frank Award WinnerA Utah State Book Award WinnerA Utah Speculative Fiction Award Winner
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The Goose Girl

Shannon Hale - Bloomsbury
Format: Paperback

A New York Public Library "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"A Texas Lone Star Reading List BookA Josette Frank Award WinnerA Utah State Book Award WinnerA Utah Speculative Fiction Award Winner
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One Trick Pony

Nathan Hale - Harry N. Abrams
Format: Hardcover

The aliens have arrived. And they're hungry for electricity. In the Earth of the future, humans are on the run from an alien force - giant blobs who suck up electrical devices wherever they can find them. Strata and her family are part of a caravan of digital rescuers, hoping to keep the memory...
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The Lie Tree

Frances Hardinge - Amulet Books
Format: Print book

Read this thought-provoking, critically acclaimed novel (6 starred reviews ) from Frances Hardinge, winner of the Costa Book of the Year, Costa Children's Book Award, and Horn Book-Boston Globe Award. Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy...
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Slider

PETE HAUTMAN - Candlewick
Format: Hardcover

Competitive eating vies with family expectations in a funny, heartfelt novel for middle-grade readers by National Book Award winner Pete Hautman.David can eat an entire sixteen-inch pepperoni pizza in four minutes and thirty-six seconds. Not bad. But he knows he can do better. In fact,...
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Skink--No Surrender

Carl Hiaasen - Alfred A. Knopf
Format: Print book

Carl Hiaasen serves up his unique brand of swamp justice in the New York Times bestseller Skink - No Surrender. A National Book Award Longlist Selection When your cousin goes missing under suspicious circumstances, who do you call? There's only one man for the job:...
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The Enemy

Charlie Higson - Disney Pr
Format: Paperback

In the wake of a devastating disease, everyone sixteen and older is either dead or a decomposing, brainless creature with a ravenous appetite for flesh. Teens have barricaded themselves in buildings throughout London and venture outside only when they need to scavenge for food. The group...
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Soldier Boy

Keely Hutton - Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Hardcover

Soldier Boy begins with the story of Ricky Richard Anywar, abducted at age fourteen in 1989 to fight with Joseph Kony's rebel army in Uganda's decades-long civil war. Ricky is trained, armed, and forced to fight government soldiers alongside his brutal kidnappers, but never stops...
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The Name of the Star

Maureen Johnson - Speak
Format: Print book

New York Times bestseller Maureen Johnson takes on Jack the Ripper in this captivating paranormal thriller! The day that Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school is also the day a series of brutal murders breaks out over the city, killings...
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I Am Number Four

Pittacus Lore - Harper
Format: Hardcover

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books...
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I Am Number Four

Pittacus Lore - Harper
Format: Hardcover

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books...
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Legend

Marie Lu - Speak
Format: Paperback

"Marie Lu's dystopian novel is a Legend in the making."--USA Today"Taut and exciting."--The Los Angeles TImes"Legend doesn't merely survive the hype, it deserves it."A New York Times bestseller!5 Starred Reviews!What was once...
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Heartless

Marissa Meyer - Feiwel & Friends
Format: Hardcover

The #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller that Gregory Maguire (Wicked and After Alice) calls "full of heart."Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite...
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The Stars Beneath Our Feet

DAVID BARCLAY MOORE - Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: Library Binding

A boy tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother's death in this outstanding debut novel that's been described as a "fast and furious read in which we meet some amazing people, people that stay with us" by Newbery Honor and National Book...
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A Corner of White: Book 1 of The Colors of Madeleine

Jaclyn Moriarty - Arthur A. Levine Books
Format: Hardcover

This is a tale of missing persons. Madeleine and her mother have run away from their former life, under mysterious circumstances, and settled in a rainy corner of Cambridge (in our world) .Elliot, on the other hand, is in search of his father, who disappeared on the night his uncle was found...
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The Recruit

Robert Muchamore - Simon Pulse
Format: Hardcover

CHERUB agents are all seventeen and under. They wear skate tees and hemp, and look like regular kids. But they're not. They are trained professionals who are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists and international drug dealers. CHERUB agents hack into computers, bug entire houses,...
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It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers)

Trevor Noah - Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, tells the story of growing up half black, half white in South Africa under and after apartheid in this young readers' adaptation of his bestselling adult memoir Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.BORN A CRIME...
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Eragon (Inheritance)

Christopher Paolini - Alfred A. Knopf
Format: Hardcover

Perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings, the New York Times bestselling Inheritance Cycle about the dragon rider Eragon has sold over 35 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy - until his destiny as a Dragon...
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The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Mary E. Pearson - Square Fish; Reprint edition
Format: Paperback

Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life....
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Life as We Knew It

Susan Beth Pfeffer - HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's still would be open.High school sophomore Miranda's disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, like "one marble hits another." The result is catastrophic....
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Starters

Lissa Price - Delacorte Press
Format: Print book

"Readers who have been waiting for a worthy successor to Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games will find it here. Dystopian sci-fi at its best, Starters is a terrific series kickoff with a didn't-see-that-coming conclusion that will leave readers on the edges of their seats...
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Virals

Kathy Reichs - ‎Puffin Books; Reprint edition
Format: Paperback

Adventure is in Tory Brennans blood. After all, shes the grandniece of world-famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Always up for a challenge, Tory and her science-geek friends spend their time exploring the marshlands of Loggerhead Island, home to the very off-limits...
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Divergent

Veronica Roth - Katherine Tegen Books
Format: Paperback

This first book in Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy is the novel the inspired the major motion picture starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet. This dystopian series set in a futuristic Chicago has captured the hearts of millions of teen and adult...
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Echo

Pam MunÌ?oz Ryan - Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover

Winner of a 2016 Newbery Honor, ECHO pushes the boundaries of genre, form, and storytelling innovation. Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades...
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Small Steps (Holes Series)

Louis Sachar - Ember
Format: Hardcover

SMALL STEPS is a contemporary young adult novel from Louis Sachar, the New York Times bestselling author of the Newbery Award-winning smash hit phenomenon book and movie/DVD sensation Holes, and The Cardturner. Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is home in Austin,...
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Orbiting Jupiter

Gary D. Schmidt - Clarion Books
Format: Hardcover

The two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he's placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn,...
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Salt to the Sea

Ruta Sepetys - Philomel Books
Format: Hardcover

New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! "Masterfully crafted" - The Wall Street JournalFor readers of Between Shades of Gray and All the Light We Cannot See, Ruta Sepetys returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war's...
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Scythe

Neal Shusterman - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback

Two teens must learn the "art of killing" in this Printz Honor-winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology.A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered...
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Unwind (Unwind Dystology)

Neal Shusterman - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback

The first twisted and futuristic novel in the perennially popular New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology by Neal Shusterman.In America after the Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched...
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Making Bombs for Hitler

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch - Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover

Lida thought she was safe. Her neighbors wearing the yellow star were all taken away, but Lida is not Jewish. She will be fine, won't she?But she cannot escape the horrors of World War II.Lida's parents are ripped away from her and she is separated from her beloved sister, Larissa. The Nazis...
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Stargirl

Jerry Spinelli - Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition, 3rd printing edition
Format: Hardcover

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students...
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Goodbye Stranger

Rebecca Stead - Wendy Lamb Books
Format: Hardcover

This brilliant, New York Times bestselling novel from the author of the Newbery Medal winner When You Reach Me explores multiple perspectives on the bonds and limits of friendship. Long ago, best friends Bridge, Emily, and Tab made a pact: no fighting. But it's the start of seventh...
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An Ember in the Ashes

Sabaa Tahir - Razorbill
Format: Print book

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. Click Here to Read the First Two Chapters! Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy...
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The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien - Ballantine Books
Format: Paperback

THE GREATEST FANTASY EPIC OF OUR TIMEBilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest, facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse unknown dangers....
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The Prince and the Dressmaker

JEN WANG - First Second
Format: Hardcover

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride -- or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia -- the hottest...
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Code Name Verity

Elizabeth Wein - Hyperion
Format: Print book

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand...
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Uglies

Scott Westerfeld - Simon Pulse
Format: Paperback

The first installment of Scott Westerfeld's "New York Times "bestselling series a global phenomenon that started the dystopian trend. The Uglies series has more than 3 million books in print, has been translated into twenty-seven languages, and spent more than fifty weeks on the New York...
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I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

Malala Yousafzai - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The bestselling memoir by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.I Am Malala. This is my story. Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls...
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The 5th Wave

Rick Yancey - Listening Library
Format: Paperback

The Passage meets Enders Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey. After the first wave, only darkness remains. After the second, only the lucky escape. And after the third, only the unlucky survive. After the fourth wave, only one rule applies: Trust no one. Now,...
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The Book Thief

Markus Zusak - Knopf
Format: Hardcover

The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that is now a major motion picture, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.Liesel...
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