Category: Mystery

Newbery Award-winning novelist Rebecca Stead’s debut novel/audiobook is an exciting mix of science fiction, mystery, and adventure, just right for readers ages 10-14.

Twelve year-old Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland, where his father studies global warming. Peter will get to skip school, drive a dogsled, and finally share in his dad’s adventures. But on the ice cap, Peter struggles to understand a series of visions that both frighten and attract him.

Thea, fourteen, has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world. As Thea dreams of a different life, Peter’s search for answers to his visions brings him close to her hidden home.

The chapters alternate between Peter’s and Thea’s story, and are read with great expression by David Ackroyd as Peter, and Coleen Marlo, as Thea. If you like trying to solve a mystery and like to see fantasy in everyday life, then this book/audiobook is for you!

Here are three new books in the J Fic section that: 1) are not too long, 2) involve mystery and 3) are getting good reviews!

The Danger Box, by Blue Balliett, takes place in Dearborn, Michigan, where twelve-year-old Zoomy and his new friend Lorrol investigate the journal found inside a mysterious box and find family secrets and a valuable treasure, while a dangerous stranger watches and waits.

Departure Time, by Truus Matti, involves a run-down hotel on a bare plain: the only hiding place for a girl in the rain. Once inside, a fox offers her a chair. A suspicious rat acts like he has met her before. But she can’t remember anything. Not even her own name…. At the hotel she finds more questions than answers. She hears piano music, but can’t find the piano. And what about the pieces of paper flying around the plain? While she tries to mend these pieces together, the pieces in her mind start to come together as well. And then she remembers the question she really wants answered.

Trash, by Andy Mulligan, takes place in an unnamed Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, where three dumpsite boys make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city. One unlucky-lucky day, Raphael finds something very special and very mysterious. So mysterious that he decides to keep it, even when the city police offer a handsome reward for its return. That decision brings with it terrifying consequences, and soon the dumpsite boys must use all of their cunning and courage to stay ahead of their pursuers.

Each year the American Library Association (ALA) honors books and media for children and teens. Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the ALA Youth Media Awards guide parents, educators, librarians and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media.

The 2010 ALA Youth Media Awards, including the Newbery Medal winner, were announced on January 18.   

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. 

 The 2010 Newbery Medal winner is When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. 

Four mysterious letters change Miranda’s world forever.

By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life.

The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet.

Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.