True Believer
by Virginia Euwe Wolff
Age Level: 12-17

Awards:
Winner of the 2001 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

We have a multitude of obstacles to overcome here.
We'll begin...

When LaVaughn was little, the obstacles in her life didn't seem so bad. If she had a fight with Myrtle or Annie, it would never last long. If she was mad at her mother, they made up by bedtime. School was simple. Boys were buddies. Everything made sense.

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Stravaganza-City Of Masks by Mary Hoffman

"A completely magical tale which catapults you into a sixteenth century Venicesque world of intrigue and magic. I simply loved it." Claire Nuttall, WHSmiths.

'In Stravaganza Mary Hoffman has created not only a convincing fantasy world but a captivating thriller as well. Told in rich and sensuous prose, this is one of my must-read books of 2002.' Helen Davies, Borders.

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The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 5)
by Lemony Snicket

Age Level: 10-14

Review:
"The Beaudelaire orphans enroll as students at Prufrock Academy in the fifth Series of Unfortunate Events book. The Academy, run by nasty, mimicking Vice Principal Nero, is shaped like a large tombstone, and the perpetually unlucky Violet, Klaus, and Sunny must stay in a tin shack with biting crabs, dripping tan fungus, and green walls decorated with tiny green hearts. Series followers will be keeping their eye out for evil Count Olaf in one of his disguises, and the author doesn't disappoint. Snicket once again uses comical word definitions in the text ('the phrase "impressionable age" here means "ten and eight years old, respectively"'), and just when things seem a little too predictable, Count Olaf makes off with the Beaudelaire's new friends, the Quagmire orphans, so setting things up for book six. Kids not familiar with the previous books will also enjoy this." Booklist

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From the Publisher
"Great Britain circa 1985: time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. Amidst all this, Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed!

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