Read This!: THE ART OF NOT BREATHING by Sarah Alexander

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The Art of Not BreathingThe Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander

Summary: Since her twin brother, Eddie, drowned five years ago, sixteen-year-old Elsie Main has tried to remember what really happened that fateful day on the beach. One minute Eddie was there, and the next he was gone. Seventeen-year-old Tay McKenzie is a cute and mysterious boy that Elsie meets in her favorite boathouse hangout. When Tay introduces Elsie to the world of freediving, she vows to find the answers she seeks at the bottom of the sea.

Elsie is the kind of fantastically real character, likable yet flawed, that we rarely see in fiction. She does dumb things, just like, you know, real teenagers do, and she is sometimes selfish to the point of being oblivious to things her family is going through. But she’s also determined and stubborn and strong. Sure that she can figure out the mystery of what really happened on the day her twin brother, Eddie, disappeared into the North Sea, she takes up freediving and gets mixed up with a couple of boys who know a lot more than they let on. Everyone in Elsie’s family is crumbling under the weight of secrets and guilt, and it’s only when Elsie uncovers the truth – learning a whole lot about herself and her own capabilities along the way – that they can begin to heal.

THE ART OF NOT BREATHING is out now.

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Read This!: I WOKE UP DEAD AT THE MALL by Judy Sheehan

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I Woke Up Dead at the MallI Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan

Summary: When you’re sixteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. Unless you’re Sarah. Not to give anything away, but . . . she’s dead. Murdered, in fact. Sarah’s murder is shocking because she couldn’t be any more average. No enemies. No risky behavior. She’s just the girl on the sidelines.  It looks like her afterlife, on the other hand, will be pretty exciting. Sarah has woken up dead at the Mall of America—where the universe sends teens who are murdered—and with the help of her death coach, she must learn to move on or she could meet a fate totally worse than death: becoming a mall walker.  As she tries to finish her unfinished business alongside her fellow dead teens, Sarah falls hard for a cute boy named Nick. And she discovers an uncanny ability to haunt the living. While she has no idea who killed her, or why, someone she loves is in grave danger. Sarah can’t lose focus or she’ll be doomed to relive her final moments again and again forever. But can she live with herself if she doesn’t make her death matter?

When Sarah wakes up dead, in an ugly bridesmaid dress, in an afterlife situated in the Mall of America, her story is just beginning. She soon meets the quirky cast of characters who populate this in-between place while they wait to be born into new lives: tough girl Lacey, optimistic Harry, sad, sweet, Alice, dim pretty-boy Declan, and swoony Nick. Watching over them all is a no-nonsense angel named Bertha. Sarah soon learns that she and all her new friends have all been murdered, and worse – her murderer is now after her grieving father. Her quest to save him will take her in and out of the mortal world as she confronts her own hidden powers and makes choices about the kind of person she wants to be. Not even death can take away Sarah’s wry sense of humor, and the mall is filled with delightful details – the zombie mall-walkers, the dead camping out in Crate and Barrel, the elevator to the mortal world. Who knew a story about death could be so funny and uplifting?

I WOKE UP DEAD AT THE MALL is out now.

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Read This!: MY SEVENTH-GRADE LIFE IN TIGHTS by Brooks Benjamin

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My Seventh-Grade Life in TightsMy Seventh-Grade Life in Tights by Brooks Benjamin

Summary: All Dillon wants is to be a real dancer. And if he wins a summer scholarship at Dance-Splosion, he’s on his way. The problem? His dad wants him to play football. And Dillon’s freestyle crew, the Dizzee Freekz, says that dance studios are for sellouts. His friends want Dillon to kill it at the audition—so he can turn around and tell the studio just how wrong their rules and creativity-strangling ways are. At first, Dillon’s willing to go along with his crew’s plan, even convincing one of the snobbiest girls at school to work with him on his technique. But as Dillon’s dancing improves, he wonders: what if studios aren’t the enemy? And what if he actually has a shot at winning the scholarship? 

DIZZEE FREEKZ 4-EVA!

Dillon Parker has the music in him – he loves being part of a dance crew with his friends Kassie and Carson (and videographer Austin), but he longs to learn some real technique, not just the “ninja freestyle” he invented using karate moves. Kassie and Carson, both veterans of years of dance lessons, insist that Dillon’s way is more creative, more true, but he’s not convinced. When an opportunity comes up to compete for a dance studio scholarship, Kassie wants Dillon to use it to take a stand against the creativity-stifling studios – but Dillon *really* wants those lessons. Torn between loyalty to his crew and his own desires, Dillon has to learn how to be true to himself. Dillon is a winning protagonist, willing to put up with ridicule if necessary to do what he loves, and his honest nature is refreshing. Benjamin populates his whole novel, actually, with fresh, realistic characters whom I’d love to hang out with, from good-guy football player DeMarcus to the strong-willed Kassie to the eternally sunny Carson – heck, even complicated sorta-mean-girl Sarah is winningly drawn. A delightful dance from start to finish.

MY SEVENTH-GRADE LIFE IN TIGHTS is out now.

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Read This!: THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY by Laura Shovan

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The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson ElementaryThe Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary

by Laura Shovan

 

 

Summary:

Eighteen kids,
one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.
Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They’re going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

You will fall in love with the kids of THE LAST FIFTH GRADE. Each one emerges as an individual, and the class dynamics becoming achingly clear as each poem brings new perspectives. You’ll pull for these kids to succeed in saving their school.  Shovan creates authentic voices for these kids individually and as a group, and each poem resonates within the whole.

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY is out now.

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Deleted Scene from SWORD AND VERSE

Extras, Sword and Verse, Young Adult Fantasy,

Those of you who participated in the YA Scavenger Hunt got to see this deleted scene from the book already, but now that the hunt is over I am posting it for everyone!

This is the story of Raisa’s Selection and first day in the Adytum, the sacred courtyard where the language of the gods is taught.

Raisa dreams of learning to write the language of the gods so that she can finally understand her heart-verse, given to her by her father long ago.  But if anyone finds her heart-verse, she could be immediately executed.  When the Tutor-in-training is executed for treason and a new girl must be chosen to take her place, Raisa’s greatest desire and her greatest fear lead her down the same path.

Alterations: A Story from the World of SWORD AND VERSE

More extras from Sword and Verse

Stay tuned for even more in the upcoming months!