New, New, New!

These new books are tiring me out.

Well, not really. I bet it was the late showing of the new Harry Potter movie that did that. But here are some more!

Walter Dean Myers' novel Sunrise Over Fallujah gives us an inside view of war in the Middle East.


Robin "Birdy" Perry leaves Harlem as a new army recruit and soon is deployed to Iraq as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion. The battalion was designed to secure and stabilize the country as the soldiers interact with the Iraqi people.

But Birdy finds himself not so much relating to civilians as immersed in all-out war.

This will definitely appeal to male readers trying to escape the Twilight/romance craze. I try so hard to find things like this!

Another novel for guys struggling to find a book that isn't Gossip Girl is The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.


Again, I tell you that Patterson's novels always read like action movies, so reluctant readers will LOVE this book. As will anyone who is a fan of his Maximum Ride books. This novel follows in that tradition, as Daniel, blessed and cursed with the ability to create goes on a manhunt for the people responsible for the brutal murders of his parents.

He has a list of names, and as he tracks down each person on the list, he struggles to keep ahead of the murderer--a killer who knows exactly what Daniel can do.

All while he keeps the world from ending.

Gentlemen, you will also find that the new books in the Tales of the Otori series are not girly in the slightest and very suitable for you, as are Deadline, Something Rotten, the new Dekker books (see below), and Chasing the Bear. And those are just from the last month.

Also, remember: if you're having trouble finding a good book, drop me a line or come downstairs to the Children's Room and ask me for some help. There's no use struggling when I can find you tons of good books! You can also request books we don't have in our collection.

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples!


Najmah, an Afghan girl whose family has been lost in the fighting, is fleeing her war-torn homeland. She looks to the stars, her namesake, because her father always promised her the stars would take care of her.

Meanwhile, Elaine, an American Muslim, is in Pakistan, teaching refugee children as her husband runs a clinic in Afghanistan. He promised her the stars would tell her where he was and that he was safe. Elaine's school awaits Najma's arrival as both seek their way home.

I so did not do that justice. This will not be a fluff book. But I think it will also be very uplifting. And, it will give us all a glimpse of what the war in Afghanistan has done to the people who live there.

And, just so that we can end this post on a light note (in case you didn't notice, this sentence is dripping with sarcasm), here is Before I Die by Jenny Downham.


Needless to say, 16-year-old Tessa has only months to live.

And she has a list, of all the things she wants to do before the end. But as the great philosopher Jagger once told us, "You can't always get what you want." And Tessa finds that out on her quest, discovering that getting what she wants doesn't mean getting what she needs, and sometimes the most unexpected things become important to us as we face losing it all.

Now I tell you all, this book is not the downer that it claims to be. It might be about death, but it is also about life.

But don't blame me if you have a good cry somewhere in the middle.