Welcome to the Baltimore County Public Library.

Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray has taken readers to Victorian England, crashed us on a deserted island and driven us on mad road trips. In her newest title, The Diviners, Bray drops us in New York City during the Roaring Twenties. The issues of the day are Prohibition, Civil rights, corruption, speakeasies, and murder. Hot Socks!

Sixteen-year-old Evie O’Neill is much too wild and free-spirited for small-town Ohio. After a scandalous party, she is sent to New York City to live with her uncle, the curator of a museum. This sounds like a dream come true for Evie, who plunges headlong into the thrilling nightlife of the city. Fun is the name of the game until a serial killer begins a rampage and young flappers begin to fear the night.

Uncle Will’s museum contains unusual items of American folklore and superstition and is known around town as the Museum of the Creepy Crawlies. When the police come to Will for help in finding the killer, Evie must decide if she will share the secret that has been at the root of her wildness. Evie is a Diviner--she receives images and feelings from touching objects. Should she use her ability to aid in the investigation? If it will get her uncle off of her back and get her back to having fun in the big city, you bet-ski!

Bray has another winner in The Diviners, a well-researched and humorous treat. Evie’s voice is perfectly teenaged-Twenties, full of the colloquialisms and slang of the times. She treats the gruesome murders and her growing affection for the roguish thief Sam with the same level of concern, thus balancing the dark, heavy plot with light, hearty chuckles here and there. Supporting characters include numbers runners and Ziegfeld girls, and side stories are just developed enough to arouse curiosity, which will leave readers anxious for book 2 in this planned trilogy.

Finalists for the 2012 National Book Awards were announced yesterday. In the category of Young People’s Literature, three teen novels earned nominations. All three center around conflict and struggle, sometimes due to outside forces and sometimes from within.

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer examines the complexities of parent-child relationships with a unique twist. Sophie does not understand her mother’s dedication to the bonobos of the Congo, and she resents her life of forced compliance. When the sanctuary is attacked by armed revolutionaries, they must flee into the jungle with the apes. Sophie finds herself a surrogate mother to an infant bonobo named Otto, and she understands for the first time the worries of being a parent as they struggle to survive. View the author’s introduction to Endangered as well as footage from his trip to the Congo.

Family strife also figures prominently in Out of Reach, the lyrical debut by Carrie Arcos. Rachel’s idol has always been her big brother Micah; however, there is a darkness in him that threatens to engulf them both. Micah is a drug addict, albeit a “high-functioning” one, and he has always been able to control himself long enough to win the battle with his addiction. When he fails to come home one night, Rachel blames herself. As she searches for Micah, her own inner darkness rises to the surface and the lies that have woven through the fabric of their family begin to unravel. View the emotional book trailer.

Patricia McCormick earns her second National Book Award nomination with Never Fall Down, a novel based on the true story of a young survivor of the Cambodian Killing Fields. Read the previous Between the Covers review.

Journalist Erin Jade Lange turns to fiction to shine the spotlight on the epidemic of childhood obesity in Butter. Alternately chided by his mother for being too heavy and then for not eating enough, teenaged Butter cannot win the battles in his life. Worse than the bullying is the way his classmates, teachers, and even his father seem to look past him rather than at him. One day, a news story about an airline charging obese fliers for 2 seats prompts a reaction in Butter. Tired of being invisible, he decides to do what he does best…he will eat and eat and eat until he dies, and he invites his classmates to watch online.

The reaction to Butter’s announcement is swift and unexpected. Rather than prompting more taunting, the "event" gains him a morbid popularity. Everyone is talking not just about him but to him. He no longer sits alone at lunch, and everyone wants to wish him luck and make suggestions to his last meal menu. For the first time, Butter has friends, and it is intoxicating. If only things could be this way all of the time. But as his self-imposed deadline approaches, can he go through with it?

Lange’s writing is very matter-of-fact and her tough honesty blends well with her dry humor. She has created a fascinating character in Butter, who is by turns hilariously witty and tenderly heartbreaking. He gives voice to all of the geeks, nerds, and fat kids of the world who just want to be seen and heard.

Fans of James Dashner’s best-selling Maze Runner trilogy rejoice! The events preceeding the construction of the maze and the fates of the Gladers are now revealed in The Kill Order.

Long before Thomas created and entered the maze, the earth was bombarded by solar flares which destroyed most of the living creatures on the planet. Those who survived were left to fight against a disease that ravages both brain and body. Alec, Mark and Trina are among these survivors, and with a small group in tow they stay on the move in the mountains near what was Asheville, North Carolina. They do their best to avoid others at all costs, for fear of contagion, but other wanderers do find them. The group gets smaller and smaller as members succumb to the disease, and Mark and Alec strike out alone to find answers and hopefully a cure.

Much like the Maze Runner trilogy, Dashner presents as many questions as answers in this prequel; however, the background information regarding the solar flares and their consequences does explain some of the events that follow in latter books. As always, Dashner provides a good mix of high-octane action and intense emotion that will keep readers engaged. He is currently working on the screenplay for the film adaptation of The Maze Runner, which is now in pre-production with Wes Ball making his directorial debut.

In this year of the anniversary of the Titanic’s ill-fated voyage, survival at sea has been a common theme. In S.A. Bodeen’s deceptively simple novel The Raft, the clear-cut lines between life and death become as blurry as heat rising from asphalt, when a young girl struggles to stay alive. Fifteen-year-old Robie’s method for overcoming her fears has always been to ask people to "tell me something worse", but what do you do when there is nothing worse?

Robie lives a life that many her age would kill for. Her parents are research biologists, and the family lives on Midway Island, west of Hawai`i. Robie is home-schooled, makes her own schedule, and hangs out with naturalists and National Geographic photographers. When she gets bored, she hops a plane to Honolulu to visit her uber-cool aunt AJ. She is returning home from her aunt’s when the unthinkable happens—the engines fail and the small plane plummets into the sea. Robie and the co-pilot, Max, are the only survivors. Adrift in a leaky raft with an unconscious pilot, Robie is on her own. While food, water and the elements are the major physical concerns, keeping herself mentally present is proving to be an even greater challenge. As her body grows weaker, it becomes all-too-easy to simply close her eyes and give up. Max won’t let her do that, however, and he wakes just often enough to force her to stay alert, alive, and ready for rescue.

Bodeen is the author of many books for teens, including the best-seller The Compound. She ventures away from her usual science fiction fare with The Raft, but keeps firmly grounded in marine biology for her descriptions of ocean and island wildlife. Readers will be absorbed but also torn between lingering over the vivid details and rapidly turning the page to discover Robie’s fate.

“Albert had come to the conclusion that the key to survival in Old Australia was in picking a criminal element you liked and sticking with it.”

Albert of Adelaide is tired of his life. He is bored by his daily routine, the same meals over and over, the same neighbors arguing and complaining, the same people gawking at him day in and day out. He longs for freedom and adventure, to experience life as it was meant to be lived. He gets his chance when an inattentive staffer fails to lock his cage and Albert the platypus breaks out of the Adelaide Zoo, beginning his journey toward self-discovery.

Following tales and legends, Albert begins his search for “Old Australia,” a place where animals rule themselves and humans do not interfere. Along the way, he makes friends as well as enemies. Even among the animals Albert is a curiosity, which proves to be both an advantage and disadvantage for him. Curiosity soon turns to fear, and Albert must learn the difficult lesson that not everyone nice is inherently good and not every criminal is inherently bad.

Debut novelist Howard Anderson has created a thought-provoking and entertaining story. Comparisons to Watership Down or even Animal Farm are inevitable, but Albert is much more reminiscent of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The Wild West language and shoot ‘em up simplicity of Old Australia draws the reader in, with many laugh-out-loud moments to enjoy. The supporting characters are a literal hoot, namely the pyromaniac wombat and a pair of drunken bandicoots. Albert of Adelaide is recommended for fans of westerns, animal stories, or anyone who likes a good laugh.

The fairy tale world is one that is familiar to all of us. Hearing the words "My, what big teeth you have!" or "Somebody has been eating my porridge!" instantly transports us into a magical land of evil queens and brave heroes and heroines. Actor and debut author Chris Colfer takes readers on this journey in The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.

Twins Alex and Conner have not had much magic in their lives lately. Their father was killed in a car accident earlier in the year, and their mother has had to work double shifts just to keep the family afloat. Quiet, bookish Alex has had an especially hard time since her father died, since she has no close friends other than her brother. Neither twin holds out much hope for a happy birthday until their oft-absent grandmother appears for a visit. Among the birthday gifts she brings is "The Land of Stories", the book of fairy tales from which their father and grandmother used to read during happier times. When Alex takes the book to bed with her and it begins to hum loudly and glow, the magic truly begins. The twins literally fall into The Land of Stories.

As they try to find a way home by collecting magical items for the Wishing Spell, Alex and Conner encounter many of their favorite characters. They are not exactly as they remember them from the stories, however; Cinderella was scorned by her people for being lower class, Goldilocks is a master swordswoman on the run from the law for multiple crimes, and the Big Bad Wolf Pack (descendants of the original) is working for the Evil Queen who tried to kill Snow White. Will the twins find all of the items in time to return home to their mother?

Colfer credits his grandmother for his writing skill, as she often edited his childhood writing by tearing it up and telling him he could do better. He infuses his Land with witty humor and quick action. Alex and Conner complement each other as the star-struck fairy tale fan and cynical wise-cracker respectively. Kids will love going along with them on the ultimate scavenger hunt and learning what happened to their favorites beyond “happily ever after.” The audiobook is narrated by Colfer himself, and his voice adds child-like humor and whimsical charm to his tale.

What gives someone the will to live? Often it is nothing within themselves but rather someone else, someone who would not survive without you. In the debut novel Survive by Alex Morel, a teenage girl must overcome her own mental health issues and fight to save the life of another.

Jane has it all planned. She has been on her best behavior at the institute. She has not cut herself in months and has been very forthcoming in her sessions. This has earned her a plane trip home to see her mother for Christmas. She does not plan to arrive alive, intending to use a pocketful of pills in the bathroom to join her father and her grandmother, both of whom committed suicide. Fate has a cruel sense of irony, and when the plane crashes in the mountains due to the winter storm, she and Paul are the only survivors.

Morel creates an interesting dynamic between Jane and Paul, both of whom have experienced tragedies that left them with distant emotional connections to their parents. On the surface, Survive is simply a survival story—a modern-day Hatchet. The action is swift and will hold the attention of more challenged readers. If the reader chooses to delve a bit deeper, they will find a spiritual and emotional roller coaster that rises and falls as the survivors climb toward rescue.

An ordinary girl. A mysterious boy. A horrific accident. A countdown to…the end? The truth is indeed out there, and Janelle Tenner is determined to discover it at all costs in Elizabeth Norris’ debut novel Unraveling.

Upon leaving the beach where she works as a lifeguard, Janelle is hit by a pickup truck and dies. So why is she still thinking, breathing, and feeling?  Because of Ben, a “stoner” boy who Janelle barely notices until he is standing over her, whispering in her ear and laying his hands on her broken spine. He runs off as the ambulance arrives, and Janelle is convinced that he has brought her back to life.

The mystery of Ben is just one part of the puzzle for Janelle. The man who hit her was covered in radiation burns and, according to her father’s files (he is an FBI agent), the man was dead before he struck Janelle. She secretly begins her own investigation to discover the truth of the accident, including the numbers on her father’s files that seem to be a countdown. 

In the glut of paranormal and dystopian teen fiction, Unraveling is a refreshing change. Janelle is a fully-drawn character, a girl dealing with family issues as well as her own unexplained return from death. Fans of FBI dramas like The X-Files or young amateur investigators like Veronica Mars will enjoy undertaking this Unraveling.

The relationship between strong leadership and survival in an emergency are at the core of The Lifeboat, the debut novel by Charlotte Rogan. Speaking up, taking a stand, and following through with decisive action are usually recognized as qualities of an effective leader in a crisis situation. However, when the people you lead are adrift at sea on an overcrowded lifeboat, sometimes holding your tongue can be more effective.

The Lifeboat begins in a courtroom. Twenty-two-year-old Grace Winter is on trial, along with two other women, for a crime yet to be revealed. The story unfolds as Grace tells it, through alternating narratives of the current trial and her journaling of the three weeks spent in a lifeboat after the sinking of a luxury ocean liner in the Atlantic, two years after the sinking of the Titanic. Thirty-nine people are adrift in the filled-past-capacity boat, and the claustrophobic conditions only add to the mental anguish of the survivors. A power struggle between the sole crew member onboard and a strong-willed female passenger seethes beneath the surface of the group. 

All of the usual survival story arcs are at play here—lack of food and water, beating down of the sun, reliance on wind and weather-- but Rogan skillfully pushes these into the background. The true heart of the story is the survival of a sense of society and morality. Initially, the men take charge and make decisions for the group. As the days stretch on without rescue, the balance of power begins to shift. The women, led by the deceptively matron-like Mrs. Grant, soon take matters into their own hands. How will these actions be judged upon rescue?

The idea for The Lifeboat came to Rogan from an old criminal court case involving two soldiers who survived a shipwreck and found themselves floating on a plank that would only support one of them. Is it murder to ensure the survival of some rather than the probable death of all? Readers who enjoy survival stories like Jamrach’s Menagerie or psychological dramas like Room will read this in one sitting.