New books on the young adult bookshelves as of August 20, 2008:
Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee
Rosemary Goode is smart and funny and loyal and the best eyebrow waxer in Spring Hill, Tennessee. But only one thing seems to matter to anyone, including Rosemary: her weight. When your mom runs the most successful (and gossipy) beauty shop in town, it can be hard to keep low profile... Worse, Christmas brought nothing but unwanted presents: A treadmill from Mother and two tickets to Healing the Fat Girl Within from nosy Aunt Mary. Rosemary resolves to lose the weight, but her journey turns out to be about everything but fat. A life-changing, waist-shrinking year is captured with honesty and humor - topped with an extra-large helping of Southern charm - in this enchanting debut by Suzanne Supplee.
Ranger's Apprentice Book Four: The Battle for Skandia by John Flanagan
For Will and Evanlyn, freedom has never felt so fleeting. Still far from their homeland after escaping slavery, their plan to return to Araluen is spoiled when Evanlyn is taken captive by a Temujai warrior. Will employs his Ranger training to locate his friend, but an enemy scouting party has him fatally outnumbered. Will is certain death is close at hand until old friends make a daring, last-minute rescue. The reunion is cut short, however, when they make a horrifying discovery: Skandia's borders have been breached by the entire Temujai army. And Araluen is next in their sights. If two kingdoms are to be saved, the unlikeliest of unions must be made. The battles and drama are nonstop in Book Four of this hugely popular epic.
Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper
Anne Green can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies paralyzed in absolute darkness, terrified by her final memory - being hanged. An innocent woman caught up in a nightmare, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events - and the man - that led her to the scaffold. Meanwhile, a shy young medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools ... Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive? Hanuting, thrilling, and impossible to put down, Newes from the Dead is based on the true story. The book concludes with an excerpt fron an original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon.
Airhead by Meg Cabot
Emerson Watts didn't even want to go to the new SoHo Stark Megastore grand opening. But someone needed to look out for her sister, Frida, whose crush, British heartthrob Gabriel Luna, would be singing and signing autographs there - along with the newly appointed Face of Stark, teen supermodel sensation Nikki Howard. How was Em to know that disaster would strike, changing her - and life as she'd known it - forever? One bizarre accident later, and Em Watts is no longer herself. Literally. What Em's pretty sure she'll never be able to accept might just turn out to be the one thing that's going to make her dream come true...