Friday Finds! (Dec. 18, 2009)

Credit goes to MizB from Should Be Reading.

The Best And The Hardest Thing by Pat Brisson
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Release Date: May 13, 2010
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pages: 244

Summary: The story of a good girl gone bad Fifteen-year-old Molly Biden has always been studious, dependable, some might even say saintly. And she’s sick of herself. So when she spots mysterious bad boy Grady Dillon, she devises a plan to make herself over into someone new, someone who will attract Grady’s attention. She succeeds—but a little too well.
When Molly discovers she’s pregnant, she’s forced to make the hardest choice of her life. This addictively readable portrayal of Molly’s struggle to accept her pregnancy and the fact that her life will never be the same is told entirely in poetry, from sonnets to haiku.

Somebody's Crying by Maureen McCarthy
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Release Date: July 1, 2010
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pages: 384

Summary:When Alice looks up and sees Tom staring at her, everything closes down around them and becomes very still. No one is breathing. No one else is in the room. Tom feels as if he can see right into the soul of Alice Wishart. It lies open before him, like a wide, long pane of glittering glass. So delicate and beautiful and . . . ready to break. Three years have passed since the murder of Alice's mother, but still the killer is unknown. Alice, her cousin Jonty, and his friend Tom are drawn together by the mystery, but what is each of them hiding? Will their secrets bind them tighter or tear everything apart? Maureen McCarthy's intensely real characters will draw readers deep into a world of suspicion, betrayal, desire, and redemption.

Thin Executioner by Darren Shan
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Release Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 496

Summary: In a brutal nation of warriors, Jebel’s family holds the highest honor: his father is executioner. But Jebel is considered too thin to compete to replace him. Humiliated and furious, Jebel vows to regain his honor in a quest to petition the fire god for invincibility. The journey is long, filled with unknown monsters. And by the end of it Jebel isn’t quite sure what he wants anymore. In Darren Shan’s imaginative first standalone novel, he explores themes of religious tolerance and cultural understanding, and champions the idea that peace is often the bravest choice of all.